2015 MFP Grand Tour Challenge - SIgnup and Discussion Thread...
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Wow! Glad you're still with us and getting well... Have they given you any indication of when you can start 'turning a crank' again, or walking etc.?0
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sufferlandrian wrote: »Good to have you back Mark!
No offense, but after hearing all that, I'm glad it wasn't me. I can certainly see why you have no self respect left. Glad they got the blockage cleared. Rest and relax and keep us posted.
While it sort of sounds a little medieval in parts, to be honest, most of the problems are caused by the fact that i've lost over 55kg (122lb) and, well, frankly, I'm over 50 and my skin isn't as elastic as it would have been in my 20's - so, there's a lot of loose skin, particulary in the areas that they needed to be "ripped and tight" to see the arteries etc. So - it was a VERY tough job for the consultants working down there, and while I didn't ENJOY what they did, I think that they did a fantastic job in very trying circumstances. Same with the Nurses - in both cases they did what was needed, with as little pain and problems inflicted as was necessary - and, nobody who'd seen the exhaustion on the faces of those wonderful girls at the end if the first episode would have ever queried just how determined they were and just how much they had grafted. And, at the end of the day, all the pain and hassle that I had was related to the "tying up the loose ends" of the procedure, not to the "main feature"... Even the 4 days complete bed-rest was 100% understandable. I'd got a great big blood clot, lodged in a major Artery in my heart, and they were giving me blood-thinning, clot busting meds. So, it made sense to simply NOT exert myself in any way, to minimise the chances of the blood clot moving from its location, and escaping around somewhere else in the body - i.e. next stop Brain and a Stroke... Nobody likes using bedpans and pee-bottles, but, I prefer that to learning to walk/talk/move my hands again - or simply just ending up a cabbage reliant on machines for everything.Wow! Glad you're still with us and getting well... Have they given you any indication of when you can start 'turning a crank' again, or walking etc.?
Well - as I've said, it's sort of inconclusive about it being a "heart attack" and causing actual long-term physical damage to the muscle of the heart, and, as they're aware of my riding/fitness profile (when chatting to the consultant I borrowed the guy in the next bed's iPad (his family brought in a wifi-dongle that somehow connected to the outside world!) and showed them my Strava for the past couple or three years!) they think I'm likely to make a pretty good recovery - they sent a Physio Nurse from the Cardio Rehab section to see me, and her advice was to take it very steady for as long as it took to break down the bruises and deep haematoma, then to gradually increase my daily walking around score a bit. Meanwhile in a week or two, I'm booked in on some Cardio Rehab Exercise classes (that's going to be fun - a bunch of fat sweaty people and geriatrics doing chair-aerobics I'm guessing) until they feel happy to get me into a proper "Stress ECG Measurment" session - i.e. a very gentle turbo ramp session with a ECG machine on, letting them assess my REAL physical fitness level, and, the part that interested me, actually giving me a properly planned and co-ordinated training scheme to get me back to hopefully full fitness again.
Walking's likely to be on the cards - theoretically, I need to not drive for at least a week after the episode, but for safety i've been recommended to leave it a month - that's under 3 weeks from now, and, well - frankly - I'll use Asda Home Shopping for the main groceries, and be on the safe side.
Right at the moment, I really don't care about the downsides and the things I'm told I can't do.
I didn't Die, and I didn't end up a Vegetable.
I'm back home, actually feeling fitter than I have done since November last year, and i've learned just how many people DO actually give a damn about me... not just on here BTW - my neighbour (the local councillor) has been around a couple of times - ostensibly to drop in some veg from her Husbands allotment, but obviously to just check up on me and have a natter... there's three bungalows loosely opposite my house, and all three of the occupants have been over - asking if I need any shopping fetching, if I was ok to take my own bins out for the next couple of weeks, half a hour ago I heard someone cutting grass nearby and looked out the window to see the chap from across the road (who only moved in a month ago) cutting my lawn for me... Maybe my whole "try and put something back into your community" approach that I've lived by is paying dividends
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Glad to hear things have an optimistic outlook. That's really nice about your neighbors. I just had to do an exam on a dog that was trapped in the house with his dead owner for 3 weeks. He was OK by the way, just a bit short on groceries, but I think he had been quite obese prior to the owner passing. The neighbors finally called when they could smell something. I'm glad your group of neighbors seem to get along so well.0
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That's superb; it sounds like you live in a lovely 'community spirited' spot mate. Chapeau & rest up so you can come back stronger!0
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Glad to see you back and to hear that things are looking up Mark. Rest up and recovery, you'll be back to hammering soon enough!0
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Wow, now you're speaking my language (ex-cardiac care nurse here). I've been one of those folks with a hand buried the bleeding groin and few (if any) of them were are normal as you (sounded). Glad things worked out for you...no stroke, not dead, didn't have to "ride the lightning" (get shocked into a normal rhythm). The bruising will fade and with your baseline fitness levels recovery will not be arduous for you as for others expeiencing the same thing.
Had many of us worried around here, glad to have you back. No more shennanigans! You've used up a couple in the last year!0 -
Spatialized wrote: »Wow, now you're speaking my language (ex-cardiac care nurse here). I've been one of those folks with a hand buried the bleeding groin and few (if any) of them were are normal as you (sounded). Glad things worked out for you...no stroke, not dead, didn't have to "ride the lightning" (get shocked into a normal rhythm). The bruising will fade and with your baseline fitness levels recovery will not be arduous for you as for others expeiencing the same thing.
Had many of us worried around here, glad to have you back. No more shennanigans! You've used up a couple in the last year!
Had to smile at the "ride the lightning" comment... especially when the nurse had to attack me with a razor in the Cath Lab and shave me down before sticking the defib-plates in place...
Frankly, I wish they'd have simply run the razor over my entire upper body when I went in there, as I've had so many sets of ECG stickers on and off me that I look like I've got mange with all the circles of no hair...
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Holy cow, glad he's ok! Get well and get out of that hospital Mark!Cloggsy just heard from him. In the hospital, alive and kicking. No internet access.
... and this is what happens when I post before reading the whole thread!
All kidding aside, reading of your ordeal brought some very painful memories back - my husband went through a lot of what you had to do after being admitted with Deep Vein Thrombosis and two Pulmonary Emboli. Unfortunately he developed an "allergy" or bad response to heparin which exacerbated his cardiomyopathy and caused 3 heart valves and the aortic valve to be replaced, but even that wasn't enough and I lost him. I'm SO VERY GLAD you made it through! This weekend's final rides will be for you and him.
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So glad your are OK Mark. We here were so worried about you we were going to call out, well whotever we could to find out about you and if you were OK. I am dedicating my final rides this weekend for you Mark, in the spirit that you will progress health wise and be able to turn a crank sometime soon!0
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banshee1013 wrote: »
Holy cow, glad he's ok! Get well and get out of that hospital Mark!Cloggsy just heard from him. In the hospital, alive and kicking. No internet access.
... and this is what happens when I post before reading the whole thread!
All kidding aside, reading of your ordeal brought some very painful memories back - my husband went through a lot of what you had to do after being admitted with Deep Vein Thrombosis and two Pulmonary Emboli. Unfortunately he developed an "allergy" or bad response to heparin which exacerbated his cardiomyopathy and caused 3 heart valves and the aortic valve to be replaced, but even that wasn't enough and I lost him. I'm SO VERY GLAD you made it through! This weekend's final rides will be for you and him.
Sorry if I brought back painful memories - never my intention to upset anyone, just wanted people to know that I've been well tended to, and made what's looking to be a successful recovery.
My deepest sympathies for your loss, and again, apologies for scraping a raw memory.
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Welcome back to the land of the living my friend. I hope things continue to improve for you. I hope you can be out riding soon...0
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Made me whince reading a lot of that, gotta say I think I've had the better deal with the broken shoulder! How many of those 9 lives do you have left, take it easy...0
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Think this was probably 3 of 9 down, in 52 years, so if I keep on at this rate, I doubt I'll make it to 160 years of age
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Sorry team, an 86 hour shift over labor day and a 62 hour shift over last weekend and I just could not get on a bike and ride safely so I bagged on Saturday and Sunday and could only get 5 km on Friday. I'm cooked. Put a fork in it.0
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We're Really, Really close now to a full declaration - just @canbbot , @stewartlayzell @JediCounsil , @Dave2041 and @banshee1013 to confirm final rides...
If we could get a final post from them in the next 3.5 hours or so that's fine, if not, I'm afraid we're going to have to go with what I've got at the moment, including a couple of pickups I've found on strava that they've not declared.
Close off time for submissions is 12:00 noon UK Time0 -
sufferlandrian wrote: »Sorry team, an 86 hour shift over labor day and a 62 hour shift over last weekend and I just could not get on a bike and ride safely so I bagged on Saturday and Sunday and could only get 5 km on Friday. I'm cooked. Put a fork in it.
No worries - safety trumps everything else - we've had enough damaged riders this Challenge...
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Mark, How are you feeling these days?0
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fitter and healthier than I've felt since last november when I got the initial chest infection that precipitated everything since...
apart from "some"* residual bruising i'm feeling bloody brilliant If i'm honest.
*"some" in this case being both "sockets" between the hipbone and my groin looking like i've stopped a cannonball in them, and the bruise from a small "bleed" on the initial angiogram on the RH side being currently bruised from just below my calf right up to the point of my hip. Lots of lovely purple, green, blue and yellow hues going on at the moment...0 -
okay folks - that's all the "strava harvested" items I've spotted at the point I declared a cut-off dropped into the ride logging thread.
I've updated the spreadsheet, showing a DNF for anyone who had not declared rides - a DNF shows on the spreadsheet summary with the riders distance struck through as so... 200.0 and a slightly different shade of highlight to denote the blank days riding. - this affects
@canbbot
@stewartlayzell
@JediCounsil
@Dave2041
@banshee1013
- other riders who have already declared themselves "out" earlier in the ride due to illness/injury are also shown with the distance struck through, and yet another differing highlight shade for the "blank days" - these riders are
@TheBigYin
@Jakess1971
@rides4sanity
why is this important... Well... For the green jersey competition, to echo the real thing, in order to win the shirt, you have to finish the race. So, basically, all the DNF riders are not eligeable for the green jersey competition, and gain an =36th position for points in the Points White Jersey competition.
NOTE: the Distance and Altitude attained by the DNF riders, of either nature still counts to their teams totals, and to the KoM competition - it's really just the Sprinters Jersey that is affected.
I have now closed the entries thread - and once all the jersey winning rides have been checked on Strava (which may take a while - normally I've pre-checked a bunch of them, but having been "away" for a chunk of this challenge, I've no head start this time) I'll post up a results thread.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this, and the other two Grand Tour Challenges this year, it's been a pleasure to (virtually) ride along with you all...
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