So how did all this surgery business come about? Well grab a cup of tea and a biscuit and I shall begin.

Ok I don’t know… I have to believe that it was just a combination of bad eating for a number of years and genetics, although my dad lived to 80 and my mom is 75, but I have to admit in my early days a couple of mars bars and a couple of can of coke where the norm. Then there was the cheese , always loved cheese.

So maybe when I chat with my surgeon he will be able to give me some insights, but I will be telling him that I can 10k in a race last May and was running in the summer and right up until my Dad passed away in August. I then fell off the wagon and was just starting to get up and running again when I got the flu.

Everyone in the office was complaining about a sore chest as part of this, so when I was on the treadmill and was getting chest pain I thought nothing more of it, I just went slower and started to build up again. Prior to Christmas I was picking up speed and distance and the chest pain seemed to have pretty much gone, but once in a while I felt it was there.

The first week of January saw Jenn and I take off to Victoria for a week, we had booked a great AirBnB downtown and aside from getting there, a whole blog post in itself, we had a great time.

The only issue was as we walked around downtown I once again would get chest pain and so Jenn told me that I WAS going to the Dr. when I got back, I actually booked the appointment while we where still away.

I have an amazing Dr. Dr. Brad Martin, a true family Doctor.

At the appointment he asked a few questions and felt a stress test was in order, so he had be scheduled and within a week and a bit I was at the local hospital on a treadmill with all kinds of leads attached to me. Started off easy and then the incline is increased, the nurse and Dr. are always asking how I am going and what my pain level was, yes there was pain but not crazy a pain.

After what seemed around 10 minutes I was asked to sit down and rest, recovery, during which the Dr continued to look at the read outs of my various sensors attached to me, all done, off came the leads and a chat.

The Dr. not by family Dr. by the way, said he noticed something but was not sure what it was, he said there maybe a little blockage going on and was going to refer me to Edmonton for an angiogram.

I was told the angiogram would be in about 2-4 weeks, but less than a week later I was called and booked in for January 30th, less than a week away… ahhh.

As we had to be at the hospital at 6:30am we had to go down the night before and as I had to stay at least an hour away from the hospital the night after we opted or an AirBnb, actually ended up at one that was owed by someone we had rented from before, great views.

We where up at 5:15am and out the door just after 6am for the 6:30 appointment, check in was quick and before I knew it I was on a bed and getting blood drawn and questions asked and then found out I was first in, phew.

I was wheeled down to the cath lab, where Dr. O’Reilley was the man to do the procedure, interestingly he was from Grande Prairie, I was asked to scoot over to the exam bed where I was given something to make me relax.

The procedure was pretty painless, a little warming across my chest and a slight feeling that I had peed myself, they warned me about that one, not sure how long all the took, felt like not long at all.

The Dr. said he need to go and confer with a colleague and when he came back he broke the news that I was going to need bypass surgery, looked like triple when he was going through the results.

So shocked would not describe how I felt, I wanted to cry my eyes out, but the nurse staff where amazing and reassured me all would be good, but still by pass at 55 years old, that is a shock, what will I tell jenn!

I was wheeled back to my the ward area where the brought Jenn in and I got to blubber out that I needed by pass surgery, she did not hear me at first, but we hugged and reassured each other as best we could after such a shock.

So there we have it, by pass at 55, stay tuned for the next thrilling episode.

PS The picture attached to this blog is not my heart and is for illustration purposes only.