My Friend Norm M.

[Gary Lange]

You guys on here don't know my friend and fishing companion Norm M. but if you did you would love him and cherish his friendship. He looks like the late Jerry Garcia and can catch Smallies and just about anything else that swims year round. All his fishing is done wading the rivers of Illinois and I thought he should be in great shape after all that work wading the river until I saw this post by him on my ISA site.

Well the angiogram showed 1 artery with 100% blockage , another with 90% blockage and another with less that will be treated with meds . I got 3 stents put in the one that was completely blocked but it did not open it completely . I go back in a month or so to get the 90% blockage worked on .

Part of mt heart was in what they call cardiac hibernation and has scar tissue . Hopefully within 6 weeks I should see some pretty good recovery .

I got 3 more scrips today to go along with my diabetes and cholesterol meds , plus I take an asprin a day . I will be doing this for a good long while on some , others the rest of my life .

I was told I was lucky I wasn't dead , that will give you a pretty good wakeup call .

All I can say is that it is entirely my own fault . I did not take care of myself and I did not get regular checkups which could have caught it much earlier . I owe it all my to my wife who finally convinced me to get checked out .

Do yourself a favor and get your health checked and take better care of yourself with your diet , smoking and drinking . The earlier you change your lifestyle and the earlier you catch the potentially life threatening problems the better off you will be.

If you saw my friend on the river you would think him a homeless man looking for something to eat. You would be wrong he is married and has a fine loving family and is a Trainmaster for a local Railroad.

I would like everyone to say a little prayer for my friend Norm that he may recover from this problem and get back to chasing Smallmouths again on the Kankakee and other rivers in Illinois.

We should all heed his words and get a good check-up so this doesn't sneak up on us.

Norm My friend God Bless you and get well fast!

[cpuck]

It's tough when a good friend is going through so much.

Thanks for the heads up and I know that God is able to take care of his situation.

Father, I pray that you will touch Norm and help him as he goes through this. Help the doctors as he works with them. Our prayer is for many more years with his family and friends and days of enjoying your creation.

I will continue to pray for Norm.

Chuck