USAWA

I was wondering the same thing. Havent seen him post in a while
ET

Hello Joe and ET,

Thanks for inquiring.

Yes, I have had some major health problems. Big Time!! Specifically, I had a lower left leg amputation on Nov. 21 — apparently necessitated by Charcot’s Syndrome in my foot. I also have some evidence of that problem in my right foot but my podiatrist, who is world famous, is sure he can save it with an orthotic shoe insert and other treatment he has been giving me.

As if a leg amputation wasn’t bad enough, I had to call 911 in the early morning hours of Jan. 4 when fluids had accumulated in my lungs and elsewhere and I could hardly breathe. It is bad enough to be out of breath for a minute or two, but I had trouble breathing the entire day of Jan. 4 when I was in the hospital. Gruesome, believe me! That was undoubtedly the worst day of my life!

I was in that hospital, which was not where I had the amputation, for almost 2.5 weeks and then spent 8 days in an extended stay facility.

I was diagnosed as having congestive heart failure. Medical experts say there is no cure for that but I have researched it and it can indeed be cured. When people say that I can’t do something, that gives me even more motivation to do it and show them that they are wrong.

Guided by my research results, I had the Acworth Wellness Center order some bottles of two cardio products (Cardio-Plus and cardiotrophin), which are bovine tissue extracts. The former, in particular, has helped various people return to good health from a condition of congestive heart failure. (This info is on the Internet.)

I have used myotrophin (beef muscle extract) from the same company (Standard Process) off and on since about 1973, when a nutritionally oriented doctor in the Atlanta area thought it might help me as a weightlifter, so he prescribed it for me. I presently have a bottle of it, as I returned to using it about 2 years ago.

These products are supposed to be ordered only by health professionals but they can also be obtained from various Internet sources. They are just parts of a cow, so they shouldn’t have any side effects.

I have lost a ton of weight (about 30 pounds excluding my lower left leg) but that does make it easier for my arms and right leg to move me around my house (from the wheelchair to my bed, etc.), using a sliding board for the transfers.

I did invent a new lift for you guys to consider. 🙂

It is called the “lying-in-bed one-arm press”. I did 10 reps with 30 pounds with my right arm the other night and 6 reps with my left arm, which was injured multiple times competing in USAWA meets during the 1980s. Considering what I have been through, I am satisfied with those numbers — for the time being.

Work on my prosthesis has been underway for awhile and I will receive the finished product next week. Then of course I will need some outpatient rehab work to learn how to walk with it.

Ejection fraction is a measure of the heart’s pumping ability. Mine was only 25% when I had the amputation and that signifies “severe left ventricle dysfunction”. Then it dropped to 20% when I was in the 2nd hospital and I was starting to think that the end might be near!! But it jumped up to 35% right before I left that hospital. (A normal reading is around 55%.)

Of course they tested me for everything and it is nice to know that I don’t have diabetes and a heart catheterization showed no coronary artery blockages. My blood pressure stays around 110/70 and my heart rate is around 70-80, although slightly irregular. My oxygen level is in the 97-99 range.

So in some ways I am in great shape. LOL

I considered myself to be retired from USAWA competition before my health problems, so I will stay retired and not try to follow in Dale’s footsteps. But I do intend to return to lifting reasonable poundages, as I told the young man who worked on the fitting of my prosthesis. He said the apparatus is designed to support 330 pounds, which should certainly be adequate. (I will probably get the urge occasionally to show myself that I can still lift over 300 pounds, and indeed I did 3 reps with 320 in a simulated hand-and-thigh lift about 7 months ago. That certainly wasn’t my limit, but I did feel the weight.)

Tom

Glad to hear from you Tom. Sorry to hear about your health troubles. Take care of yourself.
ET

Tom, Thank you for posting this and letting us know how you are doing. I’m glad to see that you are still lifting – keep after it as it will help with the positive attitude!!! Al

Very good to hear from you, Tom. Hang in there. Brothers of the Iron need to stick together.