Tag Archives: Recovery

On The Rebound

I’ve finally recovered from my almost year-long downward spiral of both physical and emotional uncertainty and difficulty. My pacemaker is working as it should, the incision has healed completely, and I’ve pretty much recovered from the shock of being disqualified from what would have been somewhat of a dream job. The amount of prospective income lost from the incident would have made a huge difference in my and my family’s life. C’est la vie!

I’ve been keeping my FB friends up-to-date on my weekly activities regarding my physical/emotional recovery with short check-ins from either my return to golf or my return to the gym. Below are those posts for all but the last week of July.

The First Hole at Simi Hill G.C.

July 2 – Steve and I both hit some balls today, then putted for a while. For someone who’s barely touched a club since last August, I’m heartened by what I was able to do today. I don’t think I’ll be able to play a full round though, until later this year; maybe not until next year.

July 9 – I hit the ball a little better today. Not as far as I’d like, but mostly straight – which is very important. I once played the second hole (a par 5) with only a pitching wedge. I almost bogeyed it. I didn’t hit anything below my eight iron today.

Looking Out Toward The 10th Hole & The Practice Green

July 16 – Continuing to improve, but must remain patient. The last 10 months have really taken a toll on me – physically, mentally, and emotionally. I shared a large bucket of balls with Steve and his son, Jake. I’m beginning to recall swing thoughts and each week I’m hitting the ball better and more consistently. I’m sure I would benefit greatly from a few lessons, but I can’t afford them now. I’m beginning to look for work again.

July 17 – I went to the gym and actually worked out for the first time in nearly seven months, since my heart started acting up. It’s been four and a half months since pacemaker implant surgery, and my energy level continues to improve. I also sent my resume and a list of my writing/editing/proofreading experience to a headhunter who specializes in lawyers who want to change careers, accompanied with an introductory email. It’s a longshot but, as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’m ready for my next incarnation.

Inside Planet Fitness

How to Die Well, According to a Palliative Care Doctor

Came across this wonderful, reasonably short article about death and dying, a subject I have long been interested in; especially as I’m winding down my 75th year here.

Preparing for death by making peace with it.

Excerpt:

Read more (much more) by clicking on the link below:

Source: How to Die Well, According to a Palliative Care Doctor


Quick Covid-19 Update

Looking back on the news, it appears Governor Newsom ordered a statewide shelter-in-place on the 19th of this month (03/19/20.) However, when I look at my calendar, I see we started doing it the previous day. So, despite what I said in an earlier post, today seems to be the 10th day of our hermitage.

I’ve been spending a fair amount of time tracking the course of this pandemic, especially here in the U.S. and my home state of California. In doing so, I created a meme showing how things are changing . . . actually, accelerating with time, just as we were told would happen. Here’s that meme, which I just updated as of a few minutes ago.

I’ve also been keeping track of the growing death rate and graphing it for myself. All the data I’m using is coming from a site called worldometer and there are numerous tables and charts available there for a breakdown of all the states, as well as a list of every country’s numbers for this virus. The link I’ve provided is to the page with U.S. info on the Corona virus. If you go to their home page, you’ll find links to all kinds of statistics. Check it out.

It’s worthy to note that the percentage of deaths to total cases is 0.0154, which is considerably higher than the rate for the flu. It’s really far too early to tell if that’s what the actual death rate is, as there are just too many unresolved cases. Based on the data available now, the percentage of deaths to total resolved cases is 0.385, which is astoundingly high. What we should glean from this, IMO, is that it’s just far too early in the trajectory of this disease to gather much useful information on lethality or recovery.

I don’t know if or when I’ll update this again. It’s fascinating, but also quite depressing. Perhaps I should just watch television. 😦