This was 19 years ago. After the stents were sitting where they were supposed to, they asked me if my wife did most of the cooking. When I said yes, they called her for a conference at my bedside, and told her all the things I would not be allowed to eat any more. It was a very traumatic thing to hear. The cardiologist‘s admonition is: „if it tastes good, spit it out!“ Some of the stuff on the Verboten list has since been modified from „never“ to „only in moderation.“ Butter is still out, as is red meat. I never drank alcohol anyway, so when they said no red wine, I said no problem. Certain medications have to be taken daily „or else.“ Can do. It beats the alternative, and I am, after all, still here 19 years later. Now, the docs have even said eggs, shellfish in moderation, and even the occasional ice cream is allowed. Butter is still out, but I have a pipeline to an olive farm in northeastern Spain, and I get cold-pressed 5 liter containers of virgin olive oil every three or four months or so. One gets used to it.
I could still drop dead tomorrow, of course, but even if I do, I‘ve had 19 years that I wouldn‘t have if I had ignored all warning signs and medical advice. Not only that, I got to spend them with an insanely gorgeous woman who is both very even-tempered AND a master chef. That alone was worth sticking around for.
Within a month after the stents were put in, I resumed my insane work-travel schedule of one or two or three countries a day, and have been back at it for the last 19 years. I figure I‘ll keep it up as long as it doesn‘t wear me out, and ditch it if I feel I can‘t handle it any more. What are they gonna do? Threaten to kill me? Kinda redundant, and they know it. One of the guys, my immediate superior, is my age and has been there longer than I have (dropped out of Harvard because it was too boring!). He is a health fanatic. He is now 71, like me, but looks 20 years younger. But he‘s in Dallas 24/7 and rich as all hell, so he can afford all the fancy training and diet schedules. He‘s going to leave a million bucks each to his kids, five million to his wife (or whatever the tax-free limit is), and has set up a charitable foundation to help with education for local Dallas kids for the rest of his fortune. Fair enough. He‘s a Democrat like we are. He just got lucky, and he knows it.
Like you, I make sure I have guitars available when the urge comes. Besides Germany, I keep at least one in Langley and a couple (six string and twelve string) in Dallas. Cape Cod, now, too. Certain addictions just can’t be kicked, and demand more attention than others!
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