Christine kept asking if camping was going to be a good
idea. She wasn’t going to make the initial trip up with me as our daughter had
her last JV softball game on Saturday morning. That meant setting up camp on my
own. There was no way I was missing a weekend of sitting around a campfire near
the beach and relaxing. I assured her we would find a way!
Now camping for us isn’t what it used to be. We own an older
RV, a driving unit, which typically involves backing it into a campsite,
placing my leveling boards under the wheels, and then driving it up on the
boards until the unit is level. At that point, I plug in the electric and
water, drop the canopy, and BAM, we’re camping. So in short, setting up was a
breeze…
The weekend was just what the doctor ordered. I was very relaxed
the whole time, though I had to be really careful not to use my right arm for
much. Heck, scratching my backside hurt! This meant no motorcycle for the
weekend and no riding up and down the New Hampshire coast. If you’ve followed
my website, www.coolbikerides.com,
you’ve probably seen a video of this very ride, it’s one of my favorites.
One of the things I discovered over this first several days
was that sleeping was going to be a challenge. You see, I like to sleep on my
right side with my right arm under my pillow and head. I would try to fall
asleep on my back but once asleep, I’d roll to my right side and awake due to
the pain. The medication they gave me helped some, but not enough to let me get
a full night’s sleep. As I would soon discover, this would take its toll on me
both physically and mentally.
We returned from our trip on Monday and I headed right back
out on Tuesday on my business trip. The biggest challenge was lugging things
into the airport using only my left arm. Man, you just don’t realize how much
of a pain having one arm is to work with until you’re faced with the problem.
The first leg of my flight was pretty good. I had run of the
plane when I boarded so I was able to have a little bit of room. The next leg,
and the two on the way back, were filled. This meant no room for me to spread
out. I have two issues when I fly, first, I’m a little overweight so I take up
a bit of space to begin with. In addition, I’ve always had a set of shoulders a
guy 6’ 2” would die for. In other words, I’m broad. Now this typically works in
my favor as I’m pretty strong for a smaller guy of 5’ 8”. On a plane, when
stuck shoulder to shoulder with someone, it means collapsing my shoulders so we
can fit in the seat space. This proved to be rather uncomfortable. By the end
of each of the three full legs of my trip, I was pretty sore.
While in Ohio, I was able to function pretty well, as I’m
paid to think, not move heavy objects. I design ERP software for small
manufacturing companies, and often do site visits to help folks implement the
solution. This was one of those visits.
In spite of my lack of physical activity, I found that my
chest was tightening, not getting better, as the week went on. By the time I returned home Friday evening,
it was becoming more and more difficult to breath. I hadn’t had a chance to do
a follow up with my doctor yet and decided it was high time I did.
The only way I can describe the pain I was experiencing that
weekend is to say it felt like the symptoms they describe when you’re having a
heart attack. My chest hurt, and I’m mean it really hurt. It was extremely
tight and I was getting more and more short of breath. This, in addition to the
shoulder pain, which wasn’t getting any better, had me thinking perhaps the
hospital overlooked something. After all, it was nearly two weeks since the
accident so I was expecting a little relief…
On Monday, I called my doctor’s office and made an
appointment. I was getting a little nervous as the pain was getting worse not
better. Fortunately, they were able to see me that day. When I arrived, my
blood pressure was unusually high. In spite of my extra weight, my vitals are
normally, well, normal, so they were starting to ask some questions like “do
you have issues with high blood pressure?”