"Hey you... yeah you, Lard Ass!"

[johnboi71]

Damn it Man

See what happens when you work too hard! Get your strength back up and you'll be kicking a** again before you know it. Besides that which doesn't kill you yada-yada-yada...
I'm glad you made it through OK, I read about your incident right after I got the news a member of my can collecting chapter died from a heart attack at the YMCA Tuesday. The fire station was next door, so th response was rapid. Unfortunately they were not able to revive him. His name was Bill Mugrage and he was a founding member of my chapter and also a published author. He was in his early 70's and was overweight, but he was an active man. I am glad you are still around to spit venom and eschew wisdom.
I hope to ride with you again this year, and maybe I'll even get mine going right again.

[hamjam]

Prom
Just start walking
Jim
more to come

[DJinNH]

I guess my story really belongs here on this website.

'04, run over by a Black Hawk helicopter...DUH!!!! After three months in the hospital, 2 months were in ICU having my leg rebuilt, I had to retire from the job I loved. Just to toss crap on the pile, my wife left me for some guy when all this happened. She was in the process of it before the accident though. (Not the mom of my kids, this was wife #3)

I went into a pretty deep depression for years. I became a shut in and really did pretty much nothing except for when I got out with my sons. Didn't even go on one date.

Anyway, it was my longtime friend, Gary who owns that XS1100SH pictured with my bike for January on the XS11 calender...he kept sending me ebay listings of XS1100's. Finally I bought two from a guy down in Conn.

I spent last Spring and early Summer working on mostly the SG and some of the SH. It gave me a good reason to get out of my "cave" and start living life again. Instead of spending last summer and fall in my apartment, I was out as much as my legs could stand it, riding along the beaches and up to the mountains of NH and Maine.

Prom, I definitely can remember how hard it was to get going again after being in bed for so long. It seemed like someone turned up the gravity a few notches so take it slow but as Nike says, "Just do it!"

Best of luck to you.

Don


Oh, by the way, check out the letter the nurse handed me on the day I was to try walking again for the first time in over 2 months. It definitely helped motivate me.

[Special Ed]

I'm coming in on this thread a little late, but here goes...
Sorry to hear about your misadventure Prom. My "wake up call" occurred several years ago when one of my competitors in the wood floor business was found slumped over dead on a clients back porch. The people were away from home and "Bob" was there working by himself. He apparently didn't feel right and had gone out to set on the back porch to rest. He was younger than I, only 47 I believe, and in good health. Bam! Out of the blue he dies from an artery bursting in his brain. No warning, no precondition, no nothing.
I've lost 3" (in height, not length SWMBO is happy to report!) in the past several years due to osteoporosis. I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder from smoking for too long and breathing wood dust and poly fumes for 30 years. In spite of having enjoyed a diet that would clog the arteries of nearly anyone else my cholesterol level is medically acceptable.. I can't seem to put on weight. I'm 5' 6" and weigh in at a whopping 122 lbs. I drink like a fish, eat mostly the wrong things, and I'm still (according to my better half) "in remarkably good shape for the shape you're in." I attribute part of my relatively good health to the use of dietary supplements, which, if anyone is interested I will be happy to share in a separate thread..
Thanks Prom for the "heads up." Somewhere I have an item that someone forwarded to me about how to recognize if someone is having a stroke. If I can find it I will post it. Death is like taking a spill: it isn't a matter of whether it will happen, but when. Or as they say, "Nobody gets out alive!" but, at 63 I would like to ride for at least another 20 years!
Live long and prosper Prom!
Special Ed
P.S. I quit smokeing over ten years ago: one of the hardest and smartist things I've ever done!

[Dragon Tamer]

Prom,
From one cranky old fart to another, good to see that you can still run the keyboard. We must be very similar because a few friends of mine that visit this site thought that you were me writing under another name! I am somewhat older than you as I will be 60 shortly. I still wear the same size pants I wore in high school and weigh about the same despite having been a type II diabetic for many years now. I control this with diet and exercise alone, with the addition of my favorite health food, single malt scotch whiskey! I still have the occasional cigar or cigarrete but not as much as I used to. I can still hike the local Ice Age trails with a 60lb pack and go on several hunting trips a year but have had to quit piloting a plane due to occasional bouts of vertigo (never happens on a bike thankfully) and still am working three jobs as an electo/mechanical technition. This despite a family history of heart problems and diabetes.
Just remember, if your bike had given you that much warning, you would have done something about it!
Get well soon and keep us entertained.

[skippy344]

Drama Queen

Geez,

First you come down to Texas, wreck a bike. Got a little attention for that "stunt."

I guess you got bored, missing the drama from that and decided to have an HA?

Man, suck it up.

But seriously, get better. I changed my life after I lost my father-in-law to an HA. He was 61, was my mentor, was a really good guy. Nothing like you!

Started watching what I eat, ride my bicycle 9 miles a day, and hit my Total Gym every other day. Lost 20 Lbs., BP is 127/82 and my cholestrol is 172 now. Getting healthy sucks! But I get to hang with SWMBO longer, so its all good.

Hope to see you soon and get to ride with you.

greg

[Jerry]

Geeze, can't imagine this list without Prom. Hope you recover completely.

[egsols]

Thanks for the heads up Prom.

You've got a couple of years on me, well maybe 3. I'm on meds for cholesterol and hypertension, I'm slightly overweight, maybe 40-50 pounds, don't get much exercise, smoke at least a pack a day but hey... I quit drinking 7 years ago.

A day doesn't go by when I don't think about the risk I face of having one, but as with many others, although we are well aware of the consequences of our lethargic lifestyles, we blissfully continue our misaligned habits.

Hopefully your misadventure will provide some with the motivation to improve their health and add a few more years to their existence. I've got a 10 year old son and I want to be around long enough to at least see him bang up one of my vehicles.

[kjohnson]

I don't care for doctors too much myself. Medicine seems to be too much of a "best guess science", too much "take some of these and tell me if it helps".

My own dr. tell me I'm morbidly obese. His "help" to guide me in the prospect of loosing weight is eat less, do more. Keep in mind I do eat healthy and according to my calulations, I eat on average 35% less than the daily caloric amount required to maintain my current weight. Yes, I was not very active, but now am a fair bit more active. Still the same weight as when I started.

Now here is the kicker : I know I'm overweight, that wasn't what I went to him for. For the past 6 years, I have been getting progressively more tired. A "good" nights sleep hasn't been recovering my energy, alertness or mental abilities to their full potential. He would just keep sending me for tests to confirm that I'm fat. He did and still doesn't see the correlation between my restedness (if you understand what i mean it is a word) weight. I finally convinced him that I was no longer going to go for blood work to keep showing that I'm fat until my sleep issues were worked on. I finally got to participate in a sleep study.

The results : I stop breathing on average 20 time an hour in my sleep. So now I have something to work with. If I can get my energy back, maybe I can start to loose weight.

[DGXSER]

For what it is or is not worth,

First and foremost, Fact of life, there is a reaosn they call it "practicing" medicine. A friend of mine that is a doctor will tell you that if people knew how much of it is guesswork they would scream.

Also a fact of life, is that weight is dependant on caloric intake and the amount of muscle that is used to process those calories. Yes, some peoples bodies do not process the calories the same and have developed more fatty cells that are just looking for things to store in them. However, weight loss no matter how you go about it (shore to liposuction, or some other surgical option) will always be a matter of burning more calories than you take in. The higher the differential, the more weight you will lose. However, you need to be careful not to burn the muscle instead of the fat.

Weight is not everything, but it could also contribute to your breathing issues that are causing you to lose sleep. So the two may not be independant issues.

[kjohnson]

I know they are related and it is really a chicken vs egg question as to which is the symptom and which is the problem. It is also a chicken vs egg situation as to how to solve the issue. I don't have the energy to do anything more than get up, got to work, come home, veg, and "sleep". Maybe if I were well rested, I could do more exercise, and I am doing more than what I was. Since actually starting to try to loose weight, I did loose 10lb, but I gained them first, so I am still in square one.

My weight is something all my friends and family say I should do something about, but get no help or motivation from anyone. And most of the time I'm just too tired to care.

[DGXSER]

I can certainly understand. A recomendation I would make is to find some group type of exercise class to join. Maybe a local water aerobics class, they are very low impact. The benefit of a group setting is someone is waiting there for you to come and participate, motivation to go and do it rather than go to bed and sleep.

I started my weight loss program by joining a Taekwondo class at my YMCA, that was eight years ago, now I teach the class, so no way I can beg out of it. And yes, I do feel that even a good martial arts class can be for the obese if the instructor takes the right tact and approach. I have had several students that could qualify.

As to diet, my number one recomendation to anyone looking to lose weight is to give up on soda all together and drink only water instead. You would be amazed what that alone can do. And yes that includes the "ZERO" sodas.

[kjohnson]

I started my weight loss program by joining a Taekwondo class at my YMCA, that was eight years ago, now I teach the class, so no way I can beg out of it. And yes, I do feel that even a good martial arts class can be for the obese if the instructor takes the right tact and approach. I have had several students that could qualify.

As to diet, my number one recomendation to anyone looking to lose weight is to give up on soda all together and drink only water instead. You would be amazed what that alone can do. And yes that includes the "ZERO" sodas.

I agree, this past September I joined the local Taoist Taichi club. It has done wonders for my flexibility, and now that I am in the "continuing" or "advanced" class, it can actually be a good workout. Especially when the instructor decides that it would be fun to do it at half speed. Most would think that would make it easier, but just try to walk at half speed with every motion being at half speed and you will see how hard it can be .

I also agree on the soda (or pop as we call it up her most of the time). I drink very little of it. mostly drink herbal tea or water, though probably not enough. I end up spending too much time pissin.

[fredintoon]

Cpap

- - - I finally got to participate in a sleep study.
The results : I stop breathing on average 20 time an hour in my sleep. So now I have something to work with. If I can get my energy back, maybe I can start to loose weight.

Hi Kevin,
sounds like you have sleep apnea and what you most likely need is a CPAP machine.
OK so you look like Darth Vader when you wear it to bed but WTF, the machine keeps you breathing steady as you sleep.
A friend said getting a CPAP turned him from a zombie back into almost the man he used to be at 20.
According to him the CPAP makes a low decibel white noise which is easier for your partner to sleep through than the rasping snores interrupted by strangled gasping that you used to make.

[kjohnson]

Hi Kevin,
sounds like you have sleep apnea and what you most likely need is a CPAP machine.
OK so you look like Darth Vader when you wear it to bed but WTF, the machine keeps you breathing steady as you sleep.
A friend said getting a CPAP turned him from a zombie back into almost the man he used to be at 20.
According to him the CPAP makes a low decibel white noise which is easier for your partner to sleep through than the rasping snores interrupted by strangled gasping that you used to make.

Yup, that is what the specialist said. I have another sleep study on the 13th (2 months in a row with friday 13's) to try one out. The trouble then becomes, if it works, my benefits better cover it otherwise I can't get it. The cost is extraordinary.