Pol is Healthy at 80
I am feeling pretty good right now. In 2020 in Rio Vista I was putting together Nicki's desk we ordered on line. When I was lifting one of the heavy piece I felt tightness in my chest. I have a history of heart problem. In 1986 I undergo angioplasty in Houston, Tx. I had three block arteries in my heart. That was 35 years ago. I suppose the blockage came back with all of those years. Nicki and I immediately drove to the ER of Kaiser in Vallejo. I did not have any tightness while driving or while waiting in the ER. But they immediately took me in, check me in and schedule tests. Yes there is blockage but I was not told any detail. They schedule a stint procedure. But on the day of the operation they decided I will be better off if I have a heart bypass instead of a stint. I was taken to Kaiser in San Francisco where they do this kind of surgery. The operation went well. I was released from the hospital after a week.
About a week while at home I ate breakfast and walk to go to bed. I suddenly passed out but did not fall down. I slowly hit the floor. Nicki called an ambulance. They took me to Kaiser ER in Antioch. They don't know why I passed out but my blood pressure is way down low. I complain I could not breath so they wheeled in this large contraption that generate oxygen. They put it tight to my mouth and I was fine until the next morning. Lots of procedures and tests. I was getting a pint of blood transfusion every day because of the low blood pressure and low level of oxygen. They figure that I have bleeding in my stomach. My bowel is very dark and sometimes purplish. I received five blood transfusion in five days. They were going to do an endoscopy to look into my stomach. This procedure requires that drink a gallon of this yellowish liquid thru the night to purge your stomach of any contents and debris. On the morning of the test the color of my bowel went from purple to clear liquid which means that the bleeding stopped without any intervention. They said perhaps drinking the yellowish liquid clear up my stomach and stopped the bleeding. On top of this I contracted this nasty cough. I attributed to getting the cough from the medical personnel that go in and out of my room. Some of them comes in and will cough in front of me. They do not use mask. After a week I was discharged. I couldn't sleep for a couple of weeks because the coughing block my breathing and I couldn't lie down. I was sleeping seating up on the living room chair with a pot to spit phlegm. After a week my coughing clear up. I later read that I was suspected of having RSV.
This happened at the end of February 2020. The Covid-19 epidemic is just beginning to start. Around the start of March 2020 the onset of the Covid-19 epedemic and its spread around the USA and also abroad became full blown. I was at the start of Covid-19. I wonder if I contracted the virus while I was in the hospital at Kaiser. There was no name for it nor is there any test for it at that time. I could be patient zero? The recovery at home was hard. But I am glad I got over it.
Health Today
I am in good health today I have to say. The triple heart bypass gave me a new lease in life. They say it will last for another 15 years. I am 80 this year and if that takes me to 95 years old I will be happy. I have no other disease like diabetes, stroke, cancer, etc. All my blood work, vital signs are fine. I stopped playing tennis because I think the running is too strenous to my joints and back. Perhaps pickle ball is next. I was into bowling before the Covid-19 pandemic but our league stopped and the bowling alley were closed for two years. My complains are minor. I think I have dry eyes so watching tv and working with computers is limited. I do not like to read books anymore. Currently I have wheezing while sleeping and even in the evening when watching tv. I believe it is allergy. My chest x-rays are normal.
Hynopompic
I do have one idiosyncracy which I diagnose as hynopompic. This is not even a disease but one out of 12 people, they say, have it. This is when I wake up at night and look at our dimly lighted bathroom I see images that move. Sometimes it is the shape of a person, sometimes birds, animals. Usually it is black but sometimes I them in color. The birds will flap their wings and fly around the room. The mice will crawl down to the floor and walk toward me. I would stomp on them with my feet but nothing is there. Butterflies, rats, scorpions, all kinds of insect. There would be a person standing in front of the mirror standing on his leg or his head will be spinning around or his head is swayinig left to right. I get used to it and I don't get scare. They do not make a sound and nobody has touch me. It only happen when I just woke up at night. It goes away when I am laying in there for a while. I get used to it. Sometimes I would watch them run or fly around but when they start coming at me I would close my eyes and when I open them again they are back to where they started.
Longevity
In many ways I am grateful that I lived to be 79 soon to be 80 in eight months. My mother was 89 when she passed but my father died at 45 from complications from surgery. None of my fathers brothers reached 80. Two reached their late seventies. I am not sure about Tiyang Agree who lived in Orion, Bataan. On my mother side her mother Lola Menay died at age 86. Most of them lived a long ripe age such as Lola Nena and Lola Abe. It is not easy to live at 95. I saw that with Nicki's parents Inay and Itay. They struggle to live at that age. Daily functions are difficult. I would rather get to permanent rest than suffer such fate. We bought final rites ceremony from Neptune. Nicki and I wanted cremation.
We still have to buy a columbarium nearby. That is where Nicki and I be placed eventually. Perhaps nearby where Omar and Ray live so they do not have to travel too far to visit us. In Vallejo? In Quezon City, Philippines we bought a columbarium for the relatives. This is the ashes of Pacifico, Fred, Bess (Fred's daugher), and Lola Menay are. It is at Our Lady of Assumption Chapel, Mt. Carmel Parish Compound, Project 6, QC Road 8. Our mother is laid to rest in Minneapolis. Perhaps in the future she can be cremated and her ashes interred in this columbarium.
