Yeah, that's a striking lede. But sometimes the drama is warranted. The real short version is that I had a heart attack, I have two completely blocked arteries to my heart, and I'm scheduled for bypass surgery on Friday.

A couple weekends ago, Stacia and I went up to the Upper Peninsula and camped on the shore of Lake Superior and then went to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and hiked a 12 mile loop there, through woods and along cliffs that are as remarkable as our favorite part of the Canadian Bruce Peninsula. Weather was just gorgeous - a perfect day for hiking. I also bought along my old Hasselblad camera, tripod, and a couple of film backs. I didn't do as much photography as I had thought I might, but getting the camera out with some fresh film was a good first step for doing more film photography.

Yeah, a couple parts where we climbed some steps and uphills were a little bit tiring, but I'm not in peak shape and I'm not 25, so it seemed okay. We also went to Marquette (stayed in a positively David Lynch motel) before we headed back. Great weekend trip.

So, that seems like you're in decent enough shape, Phil. What's up?

This past weekend, late Saturday/early Sunday, middle of the night, I woke up and realized I was feeling a pressure at the center of my chest. A little discomfort, but not even what I would call pain. After about 15 minutes, it was subsiding, and I went back to sleep. Then, Sunday evening, we were taking the dogs out for a typical evening walk. I was only a block or so into it when I started to feel that pressure again. When we got to our turning point, Stacia noticed I was holding a hand to my chest and thought I didn't look okay. I said I'd take a little time off and call my doctor in the morning. I had another instance that night like the previous one, waking, feeling a slightly uncomfortable pressure for a bit, but then going back to sleep.

So, in the morning, I called the doctor. The triage nurse I talked to said I should go to the ER to get checked. Urgent Care wouldn't have all the testing they might want, and enough signs pointed to getting it looked at now. And, because they're also part of the U of M Health System, she was able to see there was no waiting at the ER. She also recommended that someone drive me, so Stacia came and got me and we drove to the ER. I walked in and got back to a room in relatively short order. Monday morning was a good time for this, at least for values of Having to Go to the ER.

The first EKG they ran, the nurse just glanced at the printout, and took it and dashed out of the room.

Nobody, throughout the day Monday, used the words heart attack. But the day in the ER transitioned to, we're admitting you to the cardiac unit and we're going to do some tests. Tuesday morning, the cardiaology team came by on rounds, and that was the first time someone used the words. I had a cardiac catheterization on Tuesday afternoon, and that determined that it wasn't just a stent that was needed, I had serious enough blockages that it's full bypass surgery for me, and that will be Friday afternoon.

The weirdness is that, with some medication I've been started on, I feel fine. The chest pressure has been gone since Tuesday morning. I'm on a cardiac care floor, but, unlike most of the other folks here, I feel pretty good overall, so I'm out walking laps (not constantly, but a few times a day; one lap is 1/7th of a mile). I'm also the weirdo who asked my nurse "What's a good lap time for the loop?" Since they have signs up hanging from the ceiling marking out 20 ft, 40 ft, 60 ft,... I figured they'd know. But most people here are working on goals of feet traveled, not laps. But a PT I met yesterday was walking by when I asked, and was also intrigued at the question. I came back from a lap and did some calculations to figure a lap time for a few different speeds (from 1mph to 3mph) My lap was about 4 min, so around a 2.5 mph pace.

I'm not sure if there's an underlying mania to do things because I know the other side isn't going to allow that; and I hope that I'm not going to look back with despair at what I could do before. I hope it will be memories of what to work for, to get back to, or to surpass.

Post-operative recovery is going to take a couple months, at least. I'm hoping I will be able to start doing some work from home, at least part time, to ramp back up, and get back to a new-normal for going to the office. I will probably try to keep a hybrid schedule, since I anticipate many medical visits through the rest of this year.

I should at least briefly address the rest of the family. Stacia is still doing All the Things: teaching ESL and tutoring (nearly) everything in the learning lab at Henry Ford College; plus teaching morning workouts at Forged a couple days a week; plus teaching special CNA classes for refugee/non-native English speakers; plus running powerlifting meets (and continuing her own training, too). Neil is an assistant Pro at Arcadia Bluffs golf course, across the state, on the shores of Lake Michigan. His boss is already putting him in line to be one of the key people running things there next year. He also qualified for his PGA associate membership. Theo has just moved out to Marshall MI where his girlfriend lives. At the moment, he's going to be doing rural delivery for the Post Office, but is also looking for some other things, possibly in the skilled trades.

End of September is the 7 year anniversary of when we moved into our house. We didn't get to do as much entertaining as we had hoped. We had only been there a few months when the pandemic lockdown started. Then, when things were lifting, and social gatherings were starting to be something that could be considered, we had the lightning strike and the fire. Now that we are back in the house, we still have some things to finish from the reconstruction, and a 99 year old house always has its share of issues, but I had been hoping to do some work in September and be able to host a gathering for that anniversary. Now, that looks off the table. But, next year will be the centenary of the house being built (at least according to the plaque), so maybe we can organize something for then.

I'm expecting to be off-line for at least a couple weeks, so don't expect anything from me before mid-September at the earliest; Stacia may have updates in the meantime.