The lastest from John.
Hello friends of Rolling Thunder!
The following message is from the Dynoguy, who came through his surgery last
week without any major problems and is recovering at home.
.....
The Life, Death, and Life of John Golden
I don’t even know where to start this.. the last seven days of my life have
been.. in the words of my wife Sandy… the worst roller coaster ride of my life.
For those of you who don’t know the details, here is a short synopsis. On
Sunday morning, the 21st. we went to eat breakfast, then for a short ride in
the snow. I felt a wave of pain start in my left shoulder, go across to my
right shoulder and then go UNDER my right arm. It built to an uncomfortable
level…. And then went away.. ten minutes later it came back…. And went away.
This cycle continued for about an hour and then I said… lets go find out why
this is happening.
The emergency room scan showed nothing was going on. We talked of waiting
overnight for a stress test… but I told them I didn’t need to wait in the
hospital for a test I was confident I would probably fail… I have known for I
while I would get winded easily.. I just thought my belly was too big …..
thanks Sandy… The doctor came back and said he had a team in the hospital
currently working on another patient. this was an angiogram team… I had heard
the angiogram was not fun… but I wanted to find out for sure what was wrong for
sure… so I said ok. The doctor said he would be back in two hours with the
results and would probably have corrected any problem he found. Wrong….
Thirty minutes later he came out and told Sandy that ALL FIVE arteries feeding
my heart had about 85% blockage and that I needed BY PASS surgery NOW. Sandy
told him I would never go for that and he said that was fine… but I would not
live to see my next birthday…… end of story….so now you !
now the WHY of my trip to the hospital. This was my life as I knew it…. Too
much food that tasted too good for me.
My death was quite scientific. Shave my chest… Cut a vein out of my arm.. cut
a vein out of my leg.. split my chest… stop my heart. Just 2 hours…not bad..
move my blood supply.. ignore the offending clogged arteries… graft in the
pieces of vein previously removed and reconnect blood supply… restart the
heart.. sew me up…get me out. This was my death.
My life is different now….it is quite painful. The seven days in the hospital
were the most painful days of my life I have ever gone through. The ordeal of
removing my breathing tube.. the agony of coughing , the pain of walking the
FIRST day of recovery. Not being able to get in or out of bed without help .
THE HOSPITAL FOOD that I was too weak to eat. It would seem that I would be
too old for stuffed animals, but I have a new teddy bear friend. No.. it was
not a gift like a flower…. It is called Sir Koff a Lot. It is the HARDEST bear
you will ever feel. It is not soft and cuddly… it is hard and cuddly. It is
actually a splint for when I cough and feel like my heart is coming through my
stitches. That gift came from the cardio section of the hospital. Another
gift came from a friend who figured correctly that I would not need a lot of
flowers… although many thanks to those who sent them….he brought me a ½ wrench.
It was wonderful…. It is a great tool t!
o scratch those itches with.
For now.. I will rest a lot. Take a few strong drugs… walk some to gain back
some strength, eat a lot wiser… and be thankful for the family and friends and
wonderful customers and complete strangers who prayed for my recovery. It has
been a strange event. My inlaws from my first marriage 35 years ago came by to
wish me a fast recovery. Many people that I had not heard from for 25 or more
years came by.. I have soooooo many thank you cards to return…Sorry to those of
you who we did not get the message out to… sorry to those customers who I was
working with and never sent the power commanders or maps to…. I will get those
out SOON. I have several doctors visits the next few days to go to and a myriad
of other things to attend to… I am not to drive for a month… I can’t lift over 8
lbs, I will not attend some seminars and trade shows I have on my schedule…
and we will have to make some arrangements for someone to drive the RV to
Daytona, take all the bikes up and down t!
he ramp, and work with Sandy on the dyno…. I will talk to more people.. sell
some parts and we will get by……..
LIFE IS GOOD……..
- John