GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!?

[Tim Gainer]

So, to answer all the "Gee, Tim - where ya been!?" questions ( and I can tell there's just oodles of them!):

PREFACE: Less my birth and an overnight stay when I was a baby, I have never had any major injuries, illnesses, broken bones, etc. that require a hospital stay. I 've luckily been in very good health for my 58 years of life on this planet.

In late March, I started feeling a little under the weather. I went and saw my family doctor who prescribed the usual antibiotics. But while checking my heart, he suddenly looked at me and said, "did you know you have a heart murmur?" I was very surprised by this news but was assured by the docotr that this normal in the aging process and probably will need to to be looked at in the future.

A couple of weeks later, I woke up on a Saturday morning with a severe case of chilles; i also was having a hard time breathing. A friend suggested I go to a clinic nearby.

Long story short: I ended up with pneumonia caused by a blood infection which would require a hospital stay.

"What would cause a blood infection?" you ask?

...remember that heart murmur thing?

Long story shorter: open heart surgery was performed on me on May 11 to replace a mitral valve.

I'm finally back home and on the mend, although I still have to give myself home IV injections of antibiotics for the next five weeks.

To say this was the scariest time in my life is an understatement. I'm glad to be home..i wouldn't wish this on anyone.


So...what'd I miss? 

[Jigger]

I am Glad you are back home now, look after yourself and your health.

[milky]

Welcome back, Tim, and glad to hear you are on the mend.

My story was similar, although it was a small spot of blood in the toilet bowl that let to a long series of hospital stays. I don't know about American men, but Aussie men traditionally shun doctor visits, when, in all truth, we should all go for regular check-ups, especially for heart-related, prostate and bowel cancers.

[DICEDJ]

Tim

Glad to hear that you are on the mend.

What did you miss? Not a lot, unfortunately, however most of the same old faces are still here. Waiting


Andy

[Jumpin' Jeff]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Tim, but am also glad you are on the mend.
You didn't miss a thing here.

My oldest son supposedly had a heart murmur when he was a under 10 years old. Doctors watched it, but the last time he had gone, they said not to worry about it. Knowing that these can arrive later in life would give me caution though, as it could come back.

Our Dentist wanted him to have an anti-biotic before each visit to prevent possible infection that could be caused by such a condition.
He graduated high school just last week, as healthy as a horse!

[clover-leaf-productions]

We all know you can't keep the Mighty Tim Gainer down!.  Glad to have you back with us!

It is really frightening when suddenly you can not breathe.  Did not like that feeling at all; sorry you had to experience it.  It is amazing how well they do pull us through these things compared to even 15 years back.

Take care of yourself, and get lots of reset.

[Jammin' Adam]

Bout the only thing you missed here is us! Scary stuff you went through for sure Tim, but your way too stubborn to let it get the best of you. Glad your getting yourself back to normal again, but take it slow and easy. Nothing but a clean bill of health dude.

Get it?
Got it?
GOOD!

[Glen J. Millar]

Yowsers!!!

Glad you are on the mend Tim. Get better soon.

[Tim Gainer]

MILKY: It's neither an Oz or American thing...it's just a guy thing!   In fact, a lady friend of mine who was with me at the time suggested I go to a clinic to get checked out..that's how the whole series of events started. My cardiologist later told me, "if you had waited another week, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

I'm completely reversing my stance on that one, now: ALL MEN - listen to your body and get checked regularly.

JEFF: Always good news about your oldest, pal! It's bad enough when you have to go through something like that..but then to watch one of your children? Thankfully, I don't have to go through that part. Definitley, he needs to keep an eye on that. It's worth it in the long run.

ADAM: ...you were expecting anything less?   Slow and easy are the rule the next few weeks, to be sure. But after that...

ANDY, GLEN AND JIG: Thanks for the kind words, gents.

BRIAN: To be honest, thats kind of what tipped it in; The chills were one thing...the breathing thing was another. That's what prompted the resquested from the aforementioned friend to go get checked.

My main goal for the moment is to be healthy enough to hit the golf course before the end of the summer. I just bought a new driver, so I have added incentive!

Thanks again to all for the kind words and well-wishes. It's a help to the spirit and a blessing knowing I have friends like this.

[milky]

I sure hope that all the surgery and gunk they stick down your throat hasn't damaged those great pipes of yours, Tim.

[Tim Gainer]

I sure hope that all the surgery and gunk they stick down your throat hasn't damaged those great pipes of yours, Tim.

We were all quite worried about that here well before the procedure. They ended up sticking two tubes down my throat along with several other little nasties in various places on and in me. My running joke with the staff the whole time along was, "I've got more plugs and wires in me right now than Eddie Van Halen's sound board!"

Although it's still a little early to tell, early indications are that all is well in the vocal department and there was no residual damage to the throat or vocal cords. WHEW!! More on this as made available.

[Lane]

There is always the blues.

Glad you're on the mend Tim.