Post-Op

It’s amazing how much better my heart feels since I had my chest opened up like—as my anesthesiologist put it (Yes, he was wearing a cowboy hat)—a clam-shell last week and got my lousy aortic valve replaced and my annoying aortic aneurism repaired. Life's really much better now. No more dizzy spells at the top of the pruning ladder. No more noisy wheezing and clutching my chest in church during the Elevation . And, especially, no more debilitating palp-storms while squeezing tomatoes in the produce aisle over at the Stop 'N Shop. All that’s gone. Poof! I’m pretty weak and all, but the ticker’s ticking properly, and you know what? I’m a somewhat more enjoyable person because of it. I’m not always griping and complaining. The storm clouds are gone from above my head and they’ve been replaced by these delicate hovering circlets of orchids. I like being a relatively nice guy again, so I wrote a limerick about it.

"Post-Op"

On the whole I'd say I’m kinda sorta

The sorta guy who thinks there’s more ta

This life day to day

Than just roiling away

Complaining about my aorta.