A Reunion and its Consequences

We were in San Diego for 4 days for a Brenner family reunion. Relatives were there from Missouri, Florida and across southern California. Part of the reunion was a celebration of Sy's 87^th birthday. It was a wonderful long weekend even though there was less than an hour of sunshine the whole time.

Like any good family reunion, most of the activity was carried out in the midst of food. Dinner Friday at Harbor House in Seaport Village, Saturday night at the Jamacha Grille in El Cajon, Sunday brunch at our hotel with deli brought in from D.Z. Akin's, and a serendipitous dinner Sunday night at Brian's Eatery in downtown San Diego. Food, food and more food! Talk, talk and more talk! Memories galore. Remembering places and people long forgotten.

Oh, was it fun. Oh, was the food good. Do you think The Ancient One's cardiologist will believe him when he says that he really lost weight over the past three months . . . but then gained 8 pounds just by attending a family reunion? Well, we'll see what happens at this afternoon's appointment.

I mean, how can you go to a family reunion and not overeat? It's part of a full life. You understand, don't you Doctor?

Tis the Season. . .of Too Much Food

It starts with Thanksgiving and runs through New Years Day. Wherever one turns there is food, Wonderful food. . .but not very healthy food. Actually, for The Ancient One it begins with the leftover Halloween candy. Oh, that sweet tooth! Food, food, wonderful food!

A few years back, The Ancient One lost over 40 pounds. When asked how he did it, he always answered with one word, "Fear." Even after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1990, the weight did not go away. The diet changed to the extent that a fast food restaurant has not been visited in the past 18 years. Then came the coronary bypass surgery in August, 2004. That did get The Ancient One's attention and the weight came off and hit a plateau 3 months later. There is still a need to lose at least 20 more pounds but it is a constant battle. When faced with all that good food of the season, any season, there seems to be no will power.

So now there is a Thanksgiving resolution made while feeling the consequences of all that good food: Lose weight between now and New Year's day. I'll try but I'm not confident. I'll even try to keep it off with continuation of daily exercise. Getting exercise is more certain than controlling the diet.

It seems that The Ancient One is satisfied if at the end of December his weight is no higher than it was at the same time the previous year. That's really not acceptable any more. . .but, oh, all that wonderful, tempting, good food!

Celebrating Good Health - An Anniversary

Today marks the 4^th anniversary of The Ancient One's emergency triple coronary artery bypass surgery. I remember the early part of August 30, 2004 very well. I remember when an angioplasty didn't get the artery open and being rushed into the operating room. I remember little else of that day. I seemed to heal well and went home 5 days later. Recovery was slow and I finally felt "good" again after about 3 months.

The Ancient One's open heart surgery was one week to the day before Bill Clinton's. Following his surgery I watched too much TV news and learned more than I wanted to know about the procedure and the use of heart/lung machines. I just wanted to get well.

Today, I am still heavier than I should be although 40+ pounds less than at the time of the surgery. I am obsessive about exercise; 3 days a week at the cardiac rehab center (my health club staffed by cardiac nurses) and walking every other day of the week. Strength training with 8 pounds weight is added in, usually twice a week (on walking, not rehab days).

I am a lot healthier now than I was 4 years ago. This is a happy anniversary. While it came about because of a medical threat to my life, that surgery added many years to my existence on this earth. I have now enjoyed 4 of those additional years and plan to be around for many more. I retired from my "job" and now do consulting and acting on my schedule, not someone else's.

Life is good! Sometimes it takes something like open heart surgery to appreciate all we have and how good life can be when it is lived in the now and the future. And The Ancient One is planning on being around for a lot of "future."

Amen!

Middle of May Musings

It seems like more than just 4 days since my last post. The middle 1/3 of the month of May has been a potpourri of events, activities and happenings that have kept The Ancient One very busy indeed.

There have been the CCPT auditions and callbacks. In addition to a hoped for role in To Kill a Mockingbird, I am taking on a first-ever theater task for me this summer as I assist Director Heidi Dotson as a Producer for the Children's Popcorn Theatre production of Sluefoot Sue and Pecos Bill. It should be interesting.

There have been numerous events surrounding Alicia's completion of her 2 Masters Degrees including a Saturday evening reception/ceremony and Monday's graduation at Hebrew Union College's Los Angeles campus. To celebrate her accomplishments as well as Seth's new teaching credential and "permanent substitute for the rest of this school year" as drama teacher at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, we hosted a party on Sunday evening. It seemed like at least a 100 people were here at the house (and in the yard) drawn from family, friend and the worlds of both Alicia and Seth as well as older brother Bill (even though he could not get here from New York). Then yesterday, Alicia left on a 2 week trip to Germany.

It's also been an intense "medical" period for the family. Back on March 28, I posted about my brother Andy's quadruple bypass surgery and his wife Sandy's hospitalization with MRSA. Fortunately, they found the right anti-biotic to which her infection responded a few days later. But it was 7 weeks before Andy was able to be awake and breathing on his own for any length of time. Finally, he is doing well in rehabilitation and late last week I was able to talk with him for the first time since the surgery. A great weight was lifted from my heart when I heard his voice.

Two weeks ago, my older sister Bobby, who lives in the Detroit area, had shoulder replacement surgery (a relatively new procedure). She is now doing very well in rehabilitation and is delighted with the near disappearance of what had been years of incessant pain. She can't wait to reach the point of having full use of both arms again.

And then today; Donna went in to have arthroscopic surgery on her right knee. It went well and quickly and the entire time at the hospital was only about 5 hours. She is home and resting. Hopefully it will be many years before she will have to go back for knee replacement surgery.

Our two visits to Dodger Stadium were discussed earlier here and here. And there were even a couple of other events I may talk about later. Well, I guess that's it for our Middle-of-the-Month-of-May-Madness. Soon to bed; after all, I was up at 4:00 a.m. today and it could take days for this old body to recover.

In Sickness and In Health. . .

I'm in a bit of a daze at the moment and I find that I need to write about it. It began yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m. when the phone rang. When I answered, a familiar sounding voice announced, "Just wanted to let you know I'm having quadruple by-pass surgery in 30 minutes." The voice was that of my brother Andy in Houston. We talk maybe once or twice a year and this time he got my attention. The doctors had been after him for several years to have a single bypass but he kept putting them off. Yesterday he told me that he had was not given a choice this time and. . . Then he stopped, said someone had come into the room and that one of his sons would call me later and let me know how it went.

A few minutes later the phone rang again. This time it was a niece in Lansing, MI (my sister's daughter) calling to find out if I had heard about Andy's surgery. She had just heard from one of my brother's 3 daughters-in-law. Fran gave me a few more details and then said, "You do know that Sandy has been sick, don't you." My brother didn't have time to tell me that his wife has been hospitalized for some time with what we now know is MRSA, a virulent staph infection, and is in a different hospital than the one where he was having his surgery. Later, around noon, my Sister Bobby called from Detroit to fill me in on all that she knew. Later in the afternoon, I got an e-mail from Fran saying Andy was out of surgery and doing well. (That news had gone from Houston to the Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL area to Lansing to me. And I also got a call from Fran's brother Stave, my oldest nephew, in Arizona with the same news that he had gotten from Mike.

I was in a daze the rest of the day. I finally reached Mike, Andy's oldest son, late in the afternoon. He was able to tell me that the surgery went well. I started to tell him a few things to tell his dad that I learned when I had my bypass 3½ years ago and he stopped me saying, "Please, you tell that to Dad when you get a chance to talk to him!" I promised I would. Mike than filled me in on his mother's condition and the doctors' search for an antibiotic to which the infection would respond. He promised he would call me back today and fill us in on how both were doing.

Confusing, isn't it? But it does say something about our extended family. Although we are scattered all over the country, we make sure that the important news gets out ASAP. My brother has surgery in Houston and I hear from other family members in Michigan, Florida and Arizona. That's the way families are.

Last night I thought a lot about Andy and Sandy. They were high school sweethearts who were married when very young; I think they were both under 20 then. Most of the family felt they were too young and the union would never last. As it turns out, they had the best 1^st marriage in our generation and have been married for 55 years!! Below is a copy of their wedding picture, followed by one taken at their 50^th anniversary party:

Today, they continue their recoveries in separate hospitals. Andy and Sandy have always been there for each other in "sickness and in health." While they are not able to care for each other at the moment, I know that they both will recover well and thrive. Their long love for each other will provide them strength.

I will emerge from my daze gradually as I await further reports of recovery from their sons. Andy and Sandy are very much in my thoughts and prayers today.

I Am Not Suffering. . .

I have a few pet peeves. One of them is the assumption many people make that if you have a chronic medical condition, you must be suffering. This has come to the surface a number of times recently.

A few days ago, I received a call from a representative of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) asking if I would take part in their "Friends and Family" campaign. They want to send me a package of materials and they ask that I send out a minimum of 10 letters with the materials in them to friends and family members asking them to make contributions to the Association and its efforts. I agreed to do so.

Then the woman asked me if anyone in my family had diabetes. I told her that I had Type 2 diabetes, to which she responded, "Oh, I am so sorry!" I assured her that there was no reason for her to be sorry, that I had been living an active life since being diagnosed about 18 years ago and that, for the most part, I maintained fairly tight glucose control through a combination of medication, diet and exercise. It seemed strange to me that someone calling me on behalf of the ADA, of which I am a member, would respond to me as if I must be suffering from a debilitating affliction.

Another example: I often participate in surveys over the internet. Invariably, when I check "diabetes" on the list of medical conditions I might have been diagnosed to have, the next question is: "How long have you suffered from diabetes?" Why do the researchers who write these survey instruments assume that people with diabetes suffer? Are they assuming that we don't consult doctors and, therefore, we do nothing to control our glucose levels? If that were the case, I guess I would suffer the consequences of being in denial and refusing to address the medical condition.

I wish I could say to the survey writers, "I don't suffer from diabetes, I live with it." Yes, I do without some foods that I would love to eat. Yes, I am always trying to lose a few more pounds. Yes, I regularly see an endocrinologist to determine whether my diet, exercise, medication regimen ought to be adjusted. But there really is absolutely nothing that I want to do in life that I cannot do because of diabetes. Really, I am not suffering!

Well, that's my rant for today. I have been thinking about this for some time. I don't understand how some people react. It seems to me that if you decide to continue to enjoy your life, you make the necessary adjustments and get on with it. And most of my friends who have chronic medical conditions are doing just that.

Everyone Has An Interesting Story. . .

This morning was my 476^th exercise session at the Delpit Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center. I started there about 3 months after my open heart surgery in August, 2004. After Phase II (the 33 visits paid for by Medicare), I moved into Phase III (paying for it myself) and I like to refer to the Center as my “health club staffed by cardiac nurses.” Over the past 3½ years I have made some good friends while exercising. In fact, some of the conversations with others while walking on the treadmill help make the time go by more quickly.

Occasionally, after my workout, I will join some of my cardio-friends downstairs in the cafeteria for a cup of coffee and more talk. This morning, as a couple of us were comparing notes, one of the guys said, “You know, everyone who exercises at the Center has an interesting story to tell.” And he’s right. We all have faced some form of heart disease or malfunction; that is our common bond. But we all got there by different routes and that is the source of the many stories. In sharing our stories with each other, we form a strong support group of people who have flirted with death but have survived to regain our health and live active lives. There is at least one in our group who is in his 90’s and still exercising regularly.

The results of my exercise regimen that started with the recovery from triple-bypass surgery are amazing. I am about 40 pounds lighter than I was back then and have better muscle tone than at almost any period of my life. I lost 4 inches from my waistline and my jacket size dropped from a 54 to a 48. And, I am not an exception among those who have survived cardiac “incidents” and decided that there was a lot of life still to live.

I truly value my cardio-friends and the time we spend together. For me, they are as much a part of my ongoing treatment as my cardiologist. They are a truly inspiring group of men and women.

Added Note: I can't figure out why the spacing of this post turned out as it appears above.

Memories of jogging and marathons. . .

It's strange how the mind works. There I was just driving along and suddenly the word "marathon" popped into my mind. And then it brought back memories of the years I lived in Springfield, Illinois and old friends in the Springfield Roadrunners' Club and the 3 marathons which I entered and finished. As I recall. The Springfield Roadrunners organized somewhere in the mid-1970's. I am not clear on the exact year but it might have been about 1974 (+/- 1 year). As I started writing this, I was surprised to find, as signified by the link above, that the club still exists, and has a website which appears to have been created in 2000. None of the names I came across on that site were familiar to me and that seems logical since I left Springfield early in 1982. But that's not where I thought I was going with this.

I'm trying to remember why I started jogging. It may have been recommended by my primary care physician; in those days I think we called him a family practice doctor, Stuart Yaffe. He wanted me to lose weight (and I weighed less then than I do today) and mentioned that he jogged most days in Washington Park, about a block from the old house I had recently bought. And so I started. And as it built up I started running in local 5K and 10 K races. Not very fast but respectable finishing times and I did earn an occasional age-group ribbon. I started getting Runner's World magazine which was not nearly as flashy as it is today. But from reading it, I decided I wanted a pair of New Balance shoes. But they were relatively new on the market and not to be found within striking distance of Springfield. As it happened, I was scheduled to go to Boston and, while there, I bought a pair of NB 320s (I think that was the model number) and to my knowledge was the first person in Springfield to own a pair of New Balance.

Somewhere along the way I decided I wanted to train and run a marathon. And eventually I did run in 3: The Marathon Marathon at Indiana State University in Terre Haute; the Drake Relays Marathon in Des Moines, Iowa, and one whose sponsorship I can't remember that was on the grounds of Allerton Park and Retreat Center which was a continuing education center of the University of Illinois near Monticello, IL. And I trained hard. . .well as hard as a somewhat overweight guy in his mid-30s could train. And occasionally I overdid it. At one point I was the local expert on plantar fasciitis, sometimes called a "heel spur," which in my case was incredible pain along the tissue of the bottom of my foot that connect the heel bone to the toes. Actually, as I recall, rest was the best way to treat this pain but that was not a viable choice when training for a marathon. But I survived the inflammation and did complete all 3 races.

I did find a good description of the Marathon Marathon (sponsored logically enough by Marathon Oil) on the blog A Portrait Of The Runner As A Thirtyish Man.) While I did finish in well over 4 hours, it was a painful experience. The temperature on the day I ran was in the low 90s. I was made ill by the smell of creosote soaked ties in a railroad yard along the route. I did hit the proverbial wall and hurt so badly I should have quit. But I was too stubborn to do so and, with a fair amount of walking instead of running, finally made it to the finish line where I was immediately carried into a first aid tent and treated for heat exhaustion. Perhaps the highlight of the day was on the drive back to Springfield when we stopped at an A&W Root Beer stand where I had the best root beer float I ever had. I can still taste it today, more than 30 years later.


My 2^nd Marathon was the one held in conjunction with the Drake Relays. A history of its first 25 years can be found here. It started near the State Capitol in downtown Des Moines and the course wound up to the stadium at Drake University. The race ended inside the stadium just prior to the final events of the Relays. And I was lucky. With a time just under 3:45, I was one of the last runners allowed to finish inside the stadium. It was the highlight of my "athletic career;" entering a stadium filled with nearly 20,000 track fans and doing a finishing lap around the track being cheered by the real athletes warming up on the infield for their own races. As I recall, I was so high, I grinned all the way back to Springfield after the race.

I can't find any references to the marathon held in Allerton Park. I know that there were many of us from the Springfield Roadrunners who participated. I was having a rough time during the final 1/3 of the course when a fellow Springfield Roadrunner, who had finished well ahead of me, showed up at my side somewhere between 22 and 23 mile markers and ran along cheering me on to the finish line. He was a pleasant fellow named John Block, who not only was a good runner but he served as Secretary of Agriculture in Illinois and in Washington, D.C. under President Ronald Reagan. I will always remember John because without him I never would have finished that marathon.

Of all the races I ran, mostly at the 5 and 10K distances, I remember more detail about the marathons. I remember friends like Stu Yaffe, John Block and Carmen Chapman. I remember the trips with club members to the races and especially meals in St. Louis, probably the best carbohydrate loading city in the country for fans of pasta and great Italian food.

When I moved to southern California in 1982, I tried to keep up my running but it gradually faded away, a victim of my knees and the very hilly roads of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. I did run one 10K race after moving here and by the undulating end I knew that it was probably my last competition. And it was. But I still have many good memories.

An afterthought – when I started running in the 1970s, there were occasional articles that no one who had ever run and finished a marathon ever had a heart attack. Well, that was a myth that was put to rest. And I am also proof that it was a myth, having had a mild heart attack 11 years ago, an angioplasty and insertion of a stent a year after that and, 3 years ago (August 30, 2004) an emergency triple coronary bypass operation. Yet, I am healthier today than I have been in decades and I do give the years of my distance running part of the credit for my simply being alive today; that and some phenomenal doctors and a great hospital.

Heart 2 Heart

When I was in the hospital 2 1/2 years ago following open heart surgery, I was visited on 2 occasions by volunteers who were in the Heart to Heart Program; a group of "been there, done that" heart patients who, following recovery, visited new patients who had just experienced their cardiac events. My visitors, like me, had gone through coronary bypass surgery. I was feeling lousy, as one might expect, in the days following an emergency triple bypass. But they were there to listen to me and answer any questions I might have. Just by being there, they quietly let me know that there is a lot of life after open heart surgery.


Seven months after my surgery, I completed the volunteer training at Torrance Memorial Medical Center and was accepted as a new Heart-2-Heart volunteer, receiving the badge pictured above to wear on my uniform. I thought of that today as I worked my first shift of the month and visited with 4 patients. I hope they found my visit helpful, just as I found the visits of Nancy and Joe to me in September 2004. I know I am healthier today than I was 20 years ago. And I know I feel just a little bit better each time someone I visits thanks me for taking the time. Medical science has given many of us with cardiac problems a new lease on life. Taking part in Heart-2-Heart is a way to give a little bit back.