throet

As black history month winds down, thought I'd share this recently discovered artist who somehow evaded my musical interests over my lifetime. I'm not really a fan of jazz, but Little Jimmy Scott stands tall in the archives of American Jazz over the decades. His story is bitter-sweet, never gaining the acclaim that he deserved, but still seemingly happy until the very end.

Well after 3 weeks out of the hospital and back on Eliquis, more bad news. My cardiologist informed me this week that there was an incidental finding on the echocardiogram that was taken during my hospitalization. Turns out I have an early-stage aortic aneurysm that will require some "watchful waiting". I'm now wishing I would have listened to @Ridenfool's wisdom a couple of years ago, about not pushing ourselves too hard in our later stages of life. Instead, I adopted the approach of invisibility. I ignored the danger signs of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, OSA, etc, simply because none of it was affecting my physical performance. My resting heart rate was incredibly low and my max heart rate was incredibly high - healthy heart, right? Even with a healthy heart though, the supporting systems have to keep up, and when they don't, the results can be fatal. I suppose I could consider myself lucky to know about the aneurysm early on, as many people's first symptom is their last symptom. Still, I'm downright depressed knowing that I will no longer be able to push the upper limits of my physical ability. Perhaps a shiny new e-Bike will cheer me up though. 😁

Any advice on getting accurate, consistent BP readings at home? Honestly, I don't even get accurate, consistent BP readings at the doctor's office. During my recent hospitalization though, my BP readings were nearly perfect throughout my stay. So why such wild swings almost all of the rest of the time? This is just from today, using my cheap Walmart Equate monitor. I'd be happy to invest in a more reliable device if there was some evidence that you truly get what you pay for with these devices. Garmin sells one for $150 that I could try.

Why not just step on a scale with it, and then subtract your own weight? That's how I've always weighed my bikes at home. Of course not everybody even keeps a human weight scale these days.

I'm planning to have that same surgery, after being unsuccessful with CPAP during 90-day trial. I don't expect the nasal surgery to fix my Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), but I figure it will at least give me a fighting chance with the machine since currently I can only breathe effectively through my mouth. I'm also looking into potential use of a dental appliance to try in lieu of the CPAP. Anybody tried one of those for OSA? My case is only moderate. Gonna try losing the 20lbs that I've added over the past year as well, since shrinking the tongue by mere millimeters could help.

Stopped by Total Wine to pick up some whiskey and beer. Wanted to try the Still Austin Rye but they didn't have it available. Ended up tasting the Still Austin Blue Corn BIB instead, and wow! That stuff is incredible. I couldn't bring myself to spend $90 for it, but at some point, I probably will. It was that good!

Another hard lesson learned about listening to your body, and another lucky outcome. Earlier this month I started experiencing a dull pain in my chest that got slightly worse when I exercised. I sort of wrote it off to aging and angina, since I wasn't feeling any other symptoms, such as shortness of breath, lightheadedness, weakness, etc. The one real oddity was a ride on Jan 7, where I was having to stop after every climb to catch my breath and where my max HR far exceeded the norm for me (and for any 65yr old dude for that matter) at 190. I wrote that off too, to lack of sleep and alcohol consumption the day prior, aka "low body battery". Still, I did make an appointment with my Cardiologist but the earliest available was in mid-Feb. Fast forward to Jan 28 (this past Sun) - woke up excited to pick up my buddy and head out to RPR for some much needed riding before settling in for an afternoon / evening of NFL action. I started feeling some sharper pains in my chest though, that would come and go as I was just going through my morning routine. Finally my better judgement kicked in and I let my friend know what was going on and that I didn't want to chance it, especially knowing the medical response at RPR would be less than ideal for anything life threatening. I woke up my wife and let her know that I was going to just run over to the BS&W Emergency Hospital in Cedar Park so that I could get checked out and back home for the NFL games. The EKG was perfectly normal, but given my past history of pulmonary embolism, they did a CT Scan, even though my D-Dimer (blood indicator of clotting) was only slightly elevated. Good thing they did as multiple clots were discovered across both lungs. Needless to say, instead of enjoying some ice-cold beer that afternoon, I was treated to a steady drip of Heparin while watching football on a hospital-grade (small) flatscreen TV. They found no DVT this time, and surmised that the clots may be the residual effect of stuff that's been going on for the past few weeks. In any case, I'll be on Eliquis indefinitely now given this second episode of pulmonary emboli. Moral of story, listen to your body and don't fear the dreaded "false alarm at the ER", as I've had a few of those myself as well. In retrospect, I should have gone much earlier and just got lucky this time, again. SIMILAR MTB RIDES DEC 30-JAN 13

Let us know when you're planning to be back in CenTex - we're trying to schedule our annual Lake Georgetown punishment lap. 🤣

Diving Board rock is once again missing on Truth or Dare! I scouted around a bit after noticing it gone yesterday and didn't even see where it was placed. Suppose it's possible that it broke and somebody just cleared the remnants.

I know who you're talking about, and I get that you are well intentioned. Creating an entire thread to discover details that this person and their family may prefer to keep private seems odd to me though. I don't know the person personally, but if it were somebody close to me, I wouldn't want to see a thread like this on social media, even one that is obscure like Austin MTB. Again, I know you mean well - so please don't take this as an attack on you. Just offering a different viewpoint.

Can't believe that I'm just now seeing this! Incredibly well done Peter - thank you.

Nice selections. I've had most of those (not the Penelope though). I really love that Four Roses Small Batch Select. Checks all the boxes for me.

Wow! Really nice shot there. Is that part of Suburban Ninja?

Any locals heading up to Bentonville for Outer Bike this year? I was thinking about maybe checking out the Outer Bike venue for a day or two and then heading east to ride Hobbs and Eureka Springs. Thinking there might be some nice fall foliage towards the end of the month.