Stent Up Straight
The cat seems better.
Tomorrow I go to the hospital to have the the third stent inserted, as explained in this prior post. This one is a little more complicated than the first two, because there are branches off the artery. There’s a small chance — about 10% — that as the stent is inserted, a chunk of the plaque it dislodges could block one of those branches, causing an extremely mild heart attack. The doctor says less than 1% of the heart muscle would be affected, and once the pain subsides, I’ll never know the difference. Still, the prospect produces a little anxiety.
If all goes well, they’ll keep me in the hospital overnight for observation; standard procedure. If I’m one of the 10%, I’ll have to stay another day or two; also standard procedure.
So I may miss posting for a day or two, despite my new resolve to do it daily.
Anxiety of one sort or another has taken a very large toll on my work — or rather, on my output of work — for the past decade and a half. It’s something I need to master. Soon.
More on that another time…
December 13th, 2006 at 11:20 AM
Hope all goes well. I had the three stents put back in October and all went well. Had some after surgery angina but feeling a lot better now.
December 13th, 2006 at 1:03 PM
Good luck Steve. We’ll start bugging you to post again in a few days.
December 13th, 2006 at 2:52 PM
I hope all goes well for you, and that you’ll be feeling much less anxious soon.
December 13th, 2006 at 3:43 PM
Best for tomorrow. Mebbe we can let you off your 3 lines for a day or two.
December 13th, 2006 at 4:12 PM
Godspeed and good luck my friend. I’m figuring you’ll be feeling a lot better than you’ve felt in a long time with each passing day.
Funny thing about anxiety and worry, it does nothing but make situations worse – stops us from dealing with the things we have to deal with. Sounds simple but oh so hard to follow. When anxiety and doubt rear their ugly heads, you must stomp on them – hey isn’t one of your lines, ‘Whosoever knows fear, burns at the Man Things touch!’ Just got to make the effort to keep from getting burned.
December 13th, 2006 at 8:25 PM
Good luck from germany too.
December 13th, 2006 at 11:21 PM
All the best for a trouble free op.
December 14th, 2006 at 1:41 AM
Call me you fuck!
M-
December 14th, 2006 at 9:16 AM
So, how is your cat doing?
*ponders an Alan Moore-written zombie story*
Hmmm, it would probably deal with a quasi-fascist government trying to curtail the actions of zombie dissidents who want freedom to eat who they chose, and the reader must decide which scenario is preferable.
December 14th, 2006 at 11:06 AM
I just received an e-mail from a close friend who is struggling after losing his cat only a day ago. Glad to hear yours is getting better.
Take care of yourself.
December 15th, 2006 at 8:16 AM
Hey Steve…just discovered your blog, but I’m a longtime fan (there’s a complete run of “Howard the Duck” and a good stretch of “Defenders” in the next room…most were purchased off the spinner rack).
Anyhow, wishing you all the best on the surgery.
December 15th, 2006 at 9:14 AM
Steve, e-mail me!
December 15th, 2006 at 7:30 PM
Good luck and take care of yourself. You have a lot of fans of your work who are really looking forward to seeing you craft more stories.
December 16th, 2006 at 10:00 AM
Our thoughts are with you, Steve!