Here I is!

[space]

Oops!  Sorry to disappear...I was offered a last minute opportunity to spend the last several weeks of my convalescence in a rough cabin in the Adirondacks, and took it.  Day after day of quiet, beauty, and hiking.  Good for the body and soul both.  But I won't miss the outhouse and jerry cans of water...cold "showers" :shock:

I'll suss out the contest results next, but anyone who placed should go ahead and send me an addy for their prize.  Any ties (I haven't looked yet) will be honored with prizes.

Good to be back!

[laughingwillow]

I was just thinking about you space.

Glad to hear all is swell.

lw

[judih]

pastoral respite
reprieve from the civilized cubicle of being
mmmm

hope you're back to your spacey self

judih

[space]

hope you're back to your spacey self
judih

judih, I am now the spaciest spacey I have been in many moons  :mrgreen:

a great lassitude lends me grace

[senorsalvia]

Welcome back, sir space.....    Good to hear the healing process is goin well.............    sal

[space]

I was just thinking about you space.

Glad to hear all is swell.

lw

lw, we are tuned to the same chord--you prolly felt the homeward vibe.

[space]

Welcome back, sir space.....    Good to hear the healing process is goin well.............    sal

Not just well, sal, but apparently pretty much complete here at the six week mark.

My surgeon is suitably impressed, but the next time I hear "incredible for a man your age" I'm going to start tweaking noses...maybe I should start using a cane so I can thwack 'em.

[laughingwillow]

Dude, there making some rad designer cains, now.......

From old-folk central:

lw

[JRL]

Do they make one that turns into a bong?

Glad you are good, my friend. Us old heads sometimes have a vitality that is amazing. Look at Albert Hoffman at 100.

[space]

I think you're right, JR.

In the hospital they gave me a little device to inhale through--it's intended to encourage full reexpansion of the lungs after surgery and features a series of four clear plastic chambers, each with a small ball at the base.  Elevating each ball to the top of its chamber indicates another step up in that particular breath's air intake volume/velocity:  one ball up is poor, two fair, three good, four excellent.

On my first try I rattled all four balls smartly up to the tops of their columns.  The phys. therapist exclaimed, "Wow!  Where'd you get lung volume like that?"

I just smiled.

[senorsalvia]

---  Ha, I know what'cha mean about that lil lung gizmo thingy...  Back in da day, I used to do asbestos removal...  We had to take a series of lung tests before and after each job...  As one of our jobs was completed; thew company sent me to a different addy to take my test.  Seems as if they had switched doctors...  Now, 'ole senor had been having quite a time of it lately, seeing as how his 'ole lady had split for greener pastures...  Senor was staunchly weathering the storm by closing down the local watering holes nightly, and using copius quantities of medicinal herbacious material. as well as upping my cigarrette intake to three packs a day....   I walk into the doctors office and I note from some displays throughout the room, that he is a sports medicine doctor...  I cringed inwardly; knowing that the doc was used to seeing fine-healthy-specimens....  He took my blood pressure and it was fine...  he had me blow the lung thingamabob----   Yep, senor blew it to the top and held it there!!   The doc nodded his approval and said  "A man in his early forties, with the lung capacity of a college sports participant, and blood pressure to match! " "I can tell you eat well. and have never smoked"   :shock: ----  I smirked at the doc. and told him of my current regimen of recreational delights....  He shook his head and handed me my paperwork....  "While I can;t medically reccomend that you continue what you have been doing, it's my duty as your doctor to inform you that you are in fine health"   I thanked him and headed to the door for a smoke :wink:  :lol: ================  sal

[Avery L. Breath]

Ha!

I think Space and Senor are going to outlive us all.  I guess their is some truth to that only the good die young theory.

[JRL]

Sal you gotta keep having your lungs checked. Asbestos is the nastiest of stuff.

My stepfather worked in an asbestos plant one summer 50 years ago. On a lung scan he had because of some other possible problems he was diagonosed as having mesothelioma, a really aggresive cancer caused 80% of the time by asbestos exposure.

He was lucky because usually by the time you have symptoms you got 8 to 12 months to live. He is finishing up his first round of chemo, and it seems to be working.

He is also a candidate for removal of one lung. The only reason he that option is that as a life long trumpet player he has way more pulmanary capacity than an average 75 year old.

[dendro]

all blessings, space, glad to hear you are well!  

[space]

The doc nodded his approval and said  "A man in his early forties, with the lung capacity of a college sports participant, and blood pressure to match! " "I can tell you eat well. and have never smoked"   :shock:

Ha!  I've enjoyed similar moments, sal.  I had an employment exam in my early 40s.  BP 100/55, resting pulse 58, outstanding lung function...the nurse practitioner looked up from the chart and said, "Marathoner?  Gym?"

"No, ma'am," I replied, "sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll!"

She tried to pick me up!  :shock:

Never underestimate the benefits of the electric kool-aid regimen.  

I had to take a stress test to qualify for my recent spine surgery.  I reached my age-predicted maximum heart rate of 166 (piece o' cake), and they stopped the test.  

Nothing compared to where a orange barrel or a microdot will take you, cardiovascularly speaking

BTW, sal, JR's right:  keep an eye on those lungs.