[Rhodes22-list] Apostle Islands High Adventure Trip Cancelled

[bobfcohen at gmail.com]

Hi Roger -

I am familiar with some of those cardiac procedures and their perils.  Some
years ago I had a heart attack followed by a catheterization which disclosed
multiple blocked arteries and led to open heart surgery.   Then some months
after that I had additional chest discomfort (never the "classic" chest
pains) and went back to the hospital for another cardiac catheterization .
In doing the probe, the cardiologist inadvertently dislodged a piece of
plaque which migrated through my vascular system and resulted in a brain
stem stroke.  My vision was messed up for about a year, but finally came
back.  The body is amazing and modern medicine can do wonders, but sometimes
bad things happen.  

You are wise to postpone your trip.  I am a relatively new Rhodes 22 owner,
and stand in awe of you and others on the List.  My boat "Silver Bay" is
docked in Onekama, Michigan on Portage Lake, which is about 125 miles from
Midland.    If you would like to go sailing with us this summer, you would
be very welcome.  We are fully vaccinated.  My wife and I  actually live in
Morgantown, West Virginia, and will be going to our "Up North" house the
third week of June, with a tentative launch date of June 21.  We had
problems with the IMF last summer (as Jesse Shumaker knows from when he
visited in the fall and helped us) but hopefully they will be resolved.   If
you are interested in visiting and sailing on Silver Bay, you can email me
at bobfcohen at gmail.com to work out details.

I hope things are going well in your three-day stay which starts today and
that the cardiac cath procedure on June 10 will be successful and bring your
A-fib back under control.

Bob Cohen


-----Original Message-----
From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> On Behalf Of ROGER
PIHLAJA
Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2021 1:47 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Apostle Islands High Adventure Trip Cancelled

Hi All,

As many of you know; my two sons, brother-in-law, and I were going to take a
grand circle tour of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in July, 2021.
This was going to be a sailing/beach camping/sea kayaking trip.  We were
going to use our Rhodes 22 as the mother ship and tow the 4 sea kayaks in
order to cover the miles between islands.  The sea kayaks would be used to
explore the sea caves, sea stacks, and sea arches on the many uninhabited
islands in the Apostle Islands archipelago.  We were going to back country
beach camp on 3 different uninhabited islands.  These High Adventure Trips
are a family tradition dating back almost 22 years.  We do something
different every year.  There is an article in the Rhodes 22 archives about
another High Adventure Sailing Trip to Garden Island in the middle of Lake
Michigan many years ago.

I had my second cardiac ablation in February, 2021 and was working hard on
my cardiac rehab.  Unfortunately, my cardiac issues are not getting better.
I recently spent most of a day in A-Fib and tachycardia (rapid heat beat).
Apparently, my cardiac arrhythmia medication, Metoprolol, isn't working for
me anymore.  So, on June 1st, I'm scheduled for a 3 day stay in the Cardiac
Unit at Midland Hospital.  They are going to hook me up to cardiac monitors
and try a new drug called Tikosyn.  They will try to establish an
appropriate dose for me that stops the A-Fib without stopping my heart.

Then, on June 10th, I'm scheduled to go back to the Invasive Procedures Unit
at the Midland Hospital for a cardiac catheterization procedure.  This is
another procedure wherein you are put under and they make an incision in the
right groin.  They insert a catheter-like probe into the large vein in the
groin and snake it back up the circulatory system into the heart.  They also
insert an X-Ray emitting probe down the windpipe to where the bronchial
tubes split off to each lung.  On the operating table, you are lying on top
of a solid state X-Ray imaging plate.  This gives the surgical team a real
time image of the heart so they can tell where their probe is inside the
heart.  Inside the heart, the surgical team will search for any congenital
defects like a hole between the chambers, heart valve problems, plaque
build-up in the arteries, infection of the heart muscle, and even malignant
tumors.  The probe also has a sensitive pressure sensor which they will use
to map the performance of each chamber of the heart as it beats.  Some of
these high tech medical procedures sound like overhauling your car engine
while it's in the car and running!  Some issues they can fix immediately and
other issues will require open heart surgery, which would have to be
scheduled in the future.  This is supposed to be a 1 day in & out procedure.
But, during the February cardiac ablation, which is a similar laparoscopic
procedure, the X-Ray probe tore my windpipe causing them to keep me
overnight.  I was coughing up blood for a week!  So, in a nutshell, this is
going to be experimental surgery to try to figure out what's wrong with me.
It will be a different doctor, which I requested in order to get a second
opinion.  It wasn't easy to get our medical insurance to approve this; but,
I insisted.

in my present condition, I just don't feel comfortable going to a remote
area like the Apostle Islands.  I would need to be able to paddle my sea
kayak 3-4 miles on Lake Superior without passing out and I'm not confident
in my ability to do that.  Emergency medical care, if it could be summoned
at all, would be hours away.   We all still have those days in July off.  If
I'm feeling better by then, we may try to do something less strenuous and
closer to home.  Everyone is really disappointed; but, they completely
support my decision.  There's always next year, right?

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day holiday weekend.  I had a
COVID-19 test on Friday and Deb & I are quarantined until I go into the
hospital next Tuesday.  Stay tuned.  Please keep me in your prayers.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium





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