Here's why you haven't heard from me. On September 7th or thereabouts, I rode my motorcycle to Lubbock, Texas, to the Buddy Holly Center there to join folks from all over the US and elsewhere. The occasion? Buddy Holly's 90th birthday.
I got home tired but glad I had gone, and glad I'd had a chance to visit with two old friends in Lubbock, old bicycle racing friends. I'd been home five or six days when I was right here in my office downstairs in our home, and started feeling a bit strange.
I walked up the two flights and asked Tamar to feel my forehead. Cool, she said. I sat on a bed and asked her to get the device that fits on my finger that indicates pulse rate and blood/oxygen level. For the first time ever, it didn't indicate anything.
We were baffled. Tamar put the thing on her finger and it worked fine. I said, get my Apple Watch. She did, and when I put it on, my pulse, still sitting on the edge of the bed, was 137. It would drop to about 85 and then surge to 150.
We're going to the ER, she said. And we did. I spent two days at a hospital close to our home, half a day in the ER and a day and a half in a room. I got a series of recordings of the sounds of my heart the second day.
At the end of the second day, no conclusions were formed. Tamar had spent hours both days with me at the hospital. We were dismayed not to have learned more, but delighted to go home.
I feel fine but I will not know what is going on with my heart until the 30th, when I have another echocardiogram and a stress test on a treadmill at the VA.
I've been riding my trainer, watching films on a tablet, and I've been walking a bit to do errands and just for exercise. I'm off the bicycle per doctor's orders after getting light-headed on a ride or two a few weeks ago. My doc doesn't want me falling off; I'm on blood thinner, and a minor crash could have consequences.
All this medical stuff has kept my mind off of posting. And I'm not doing any cycling, or not doing any cycling outdoors.
My VA tests are on the 30th of this month. I should see the results within a few days thereafter. I'll post here when I know something...
Thanks for your patience. Sorry for my absence.