Well, that breathing problem shook out to become a heart attack about a week after I made this preceding post. It's not really the cause for alarm it might seem. Mainly, I was forgetting the lifestyle requirements a condition like mine (CHF/COPD) entails. The VA is my only caregiver, and in my experience, they are also a very good one.
My treatment was vigorous and brief, and I was out in four days with what has turned out to be minimal or no heart muscle damage. The event was labelled a Fluid Overload, and revised meds and lifestyle directives are making a huge difference. I am three weeks into my Cardio-Pulmonary rehab, which entails 36 sessions, two a week. It's a gym, with constant wireless cardiac monitoring, and a highly trained rehabilitative staff who very literally wear me down to the nub every time. Since it takes place smack dab in the middle of U of A's UMC Banner Med Center, we can afford to push the donkey right to the huffin'-puffin' edge.
When I said above that I was planning to do the Berger again next year, I was very worried about my condition. I am far less worried now. I am far healthier now than I was when I shot this year, and now know that I can find my actual limits and actually stretch them. And stretch them I do, and stretch them I will continue to do. My heart is damaged, but it's 13 year old damage, and the underlying organ is ready to get healthier; it just needs the work. My attack was probably really a consequence of not knowing my real limits and of over caution. Can't do that anymore.
The seasons here in Arizona are very different from back there in NY. We have Winter, but its not the godawful months long NY deep freeze. It s followed by a spring rains, then temps that top out in the One Hundred-Teens. We have a much smaller house with Central A/C, so it just rolls off. As the heat rolls on, we hit the dry season, or actually, the Wildfire Season. Things burn, for weeks, right where we can all see and smell it. Evacuations are real and they happen a lot, so far not to us, but it can happen. The Wildfires end with the Summer Monsoons. Last year was not much, and has a lot to do with why the wild fires were so extensive this year. This year we got over 12" of rain in two months, somewhere between 2x and 3x of last year.
So right now my VFW buddies and I are planning to get active with our shooting again. There is a 300m former Army range down in Douglas, 50 miles South, right in the Mex/USA border. We'll be shooting there within the week, and will probably be joining the club that's based there. Fifty miles my seem like a bunch to NY'ers, but around here, it's not such a lot. Heck, we drive 80 miles and back to Tucson each week just for my cardio. Groceries are an hour away.
I'm here n AZ to stay, and recommend the move to NY shooters. It may seem like a big one, but once you get here, it's well worth it.
Greg
