I've been away from the Café (and the Internet in general) for a little over a week now because I've been in the hospital.

I went in for a checkup with my doctor and he didn't like what he heard through his stethoscope, so he hooked me up for an EKG. That looked weird, too, so he whisked me off to the hospital for 'some tests'. That's a phrase that always makes me say 'Uh-oh'.

They found out I have multiple pulmonary embolisms (clots in my lungs) and an enlarged right ventricle. They kept me for a week and pumped me full of blood thinners. I'm now at home recuperating, and will be for 2-3 more weeks before I can return to work.

I'm counting my blessings. This not only explains my recent shortness of breath and racing heart, but they say they caught it just before it would have killed me.

Anyway, I'm back, and am very glad to be here!

Nice To See You Back!!

Same Thing Happened To Me About Three Years Ago.

Three PE's In My Lung.

I'm Glad They Were Able To Help You.

God Bless And Stay Well.

Best,

Vincent

Hey Airship, I was beginning to wonder what happened to you. Thanks for the update. Glad to hear that you are on the mend.

Great to see you back!Hope you feel better soon!

Pete

I am glad that you were able to get some help while in the hospital - the Café hasn't been the same without you - great to have you back again!

I'm glad they caught it in time. Welcome back.

Tony

Great to have you back! That was a really close one. I've never had such a close brush with death; did it change you at all, or is it still too soon to know?

You were there one day, then I didn't see you around. . . glad your back. I wondered what happened. Good thing it got caught.

Raven

It's so strange - I was days away from death, according to the doctors, but I never had any pain, and never really felt bad. I just couldn't move very far without getting very short of breath, and having my heart start to pound.

Now I'm taking one tiny pill a day, and they say everything's good again. So I never felt 'near death'. It's actually rather surreal. But I'm glad they caught it.

You're in my prayers as well....count your blessings, not your days left......

God Bless Airship, I'm glad you are going to be OK...

About 18 years ago (When I was 17) I was told, quite abruptly, that I had a Brain tumor and that I had 6 months to live...

Believe me when I tell you, I completely UNDERSTAND that 'moment in time' when everything that you THOUGHT was important becomes irrevelant and your really reevalute your life...

Take this 'break' as a HUGE opportunity and do EVERYTHING that you ever wanted to do; go see EVERYTHING that you ever wanted to see...Do everything that you longed to do, but were unsure about...Etc...

In short...

LIVE the life that you have....

Not the life that you wished you had lived.

God Bless Airship....

Seize the Day!

Prof. Piper
(Terry)

I'm back to work at my day job, and everything is good. Thanks, all, for your kind words and well-wishes.

Like the pilots say, 'any landing you can walk away from is a good landing'. I walked away from this one.

Actually, I've become inspired to focus more on my magic, because it's one of the things I really enjoy in life.