June 15, 2026

 Monday, June 15, 2026

D-Day!

1955 The Eisenhower administration staged the first annual "Operation Alert" (OPAL) exercise, an attempt to assess the USA's preparations for a nuclear attack

1967 Governor Reagan signed a liberalized California abortion bill

2025 According to American officials, I Donald Trump vetoed a plan by Israel to assassinate the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In bed at 9:30, awake at 3:30 with inescapable thoughts, up at 4:15; 0430 121/75/57 113 203.2;  52/72/50, sunny morning, cloudy afternoon ahead.

Morning meds at a.m.  No home medications today.  Plenty later.

Text exchange with CBG last night.

Caren Goldberg:

I know you have your procedure tomorrow. I’m thinking of you and sending all good wishes for everything to go smoothly.

Charles Clausen:

That is very kind of you and I appreciate it.  Do I remember correctly that Sam was with you this past week?  My Sarah was here from Germany this weekend and I had breakfast with her at Maxfield’s this morning.  I was going to text you earlier but I didn’t want to become a pest.  I wanted to tell you that I’ve been binging on Elizabeth Strout novels, specifically the Lucy Barton series of 4 novels.  I’ve loved how she shows the complexity of human lives, and of our minds and emotions, and of how little we really know of one another, even in the best of situations.  I read them in their order of publication and just finished the last.one, Lucy By The Sea.  I’m dreading tomorrow’s procedure but I’m being shored up by Sarah’s visit, by Geri’s wonderful support, and now by your thoughtful good wishes.  Thank you.❤️

Caren Goldberg:

So nice that you had a chance to be with Sarah. I’m sure that was wonderful. I read Olive Kitterage and loved it but I haven’t read the Lucy Barton series. I love her writing too. It will be good to have the procedure behind you for sure. 

Charles Clausen:

I’ll give you a report when I’m on my feet.  Now it’s off to sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream . . ..

I wouldn't trade the experience for a million dollars, and wouldn't do it again for two million.  That's what used to be said, and probably still is, about Marine Corps basic training.   It's how I feel about my catheter ablation for PVCs, or premature ventricular contractions.  Geri and I left the house at 7:30 this morning and got home around 4:30 this afternoon after spending a long day at the VA Medical Center.  I was pretty full of dread going in, not in the wimpering kind but of the 'sense of resignation' kind.  I'm starting to write this note at about 5:15 p.m., and I doubt that I'll complete it today because I'm pretty tired and still just a little bit loopy from the modest anesthesia of propofol and fentanyl administered by the anesthetist, Emily.   I was awake during most of the procedure and able to engage in conversations with Dr. Singh and with Emily about the process.  Dr. Singh made incisions on both sides of my groin to insert his catheters and accessed the heart through veins rather than arteries.  The process of inserting the catheters was not pleasant, but not awful either, and once they were in place, I felt no pain or discomfort, and could ask questions as I looked at images of the inside of my beating heart on a screen and listened to the colloquy between Dr. Singh and the other members of the team.  So the procedure itself was much less grueling than I anticipated.  On the other hand, however, the recovery was even more grueling than I anticipated.  The required three hours on my back with almost no movement wasn't so intolerable, but I had terrific bladder pain that kind of bounced around my whole pelvic region.  Relief came at the expiration of the three-hour near-catatonia, except for moaning and groaning, indeed sometimes a bit like whimpering!😱. I had been fitted with something called a "condom catheter" attached to a collection bag with the hope that I could freely pee through it and into the bag, but, as I feared, my old body is willing to pass urine while standing up or while sitting down, but not while lying flat on my back for hours.  

The best part of the day, other than finally being able to stagger to the washroom to sit on the toilet seat and pee, was at the conclusion of the procedure in the electrophysiology lab when Dr. Singh asked me whether I would prefer to go home tonight or to stay overnight.  I was surprised but immediately answered that I'd like to go home.   

One of the less pleasant parts of the day was when my Recovery Room nurse, Katie removed the condom catheter that Post-Anesthesia Recovery Room Gretta had applied.  It was then that I learned that the device had been kind of glued to my penis so that it wouldn't fall or slip off.  The adhesive made its removal more memorable than I would have wished. 😬

Another memorable part of the day's experience was in the admission area, where NP Leah ran me through the basics of what was about to happen and got my informed consent.  She asked me what I expected about the DNR instruction I have on file at the hospital, and I said I did not want to be resuscitated if my heart stopped beating.  Then she explained to me, as best she could, that they like to have only a 'temporary' waiver of the DNR during the procedure because sometimes the procedure itself results in the heart 'temporarily' stopping and, with their catheters in place in the heart, they just give it a zap to get it going again.   Obviously, I'm not doing justice to her much more accurate and professional explanation, but it sounded like what we're about to do may kill you if we trigger a cardiac arrest and you won't consent to letting us kick-start it again.'  In any event, I agreed to let them resuscitate me if their procedure is what was about to do me in.   I wanted to suggest to NP Leah that what we were discussing seemed like kind of a complicated matter meriting more discussion and information-sharing than we were engaging in and might better be handled well before the morning of the operation, as I sat on a gurney in my hospital gown and hospital-provided non-slip socks.  But it was D-Day and the troops were locked and loaded, waiting for me in the EP Lab, so I consented.  More tomorrow, depending on my memory & condition.