YEA, STILL MENDING...

For those of you interested, I'm still on the mend from the blood infection, aortic heart valve replacement, double heart bypass surgery, a strong heart attack, resuscitation from a heart stoppage, installation of a pacemaker, and a secondary blood infection in my right arm. To assist my heart, the pace maker was installed to regulate its pace and keep it from over-working. I lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks and am trying to graduate from using a walker. 3 times a week I attend one hour of physical rehabilitation at Finley Hospital here in Dubuque. Of course, everything is high monitored.

One of my big challenges is my blood pressure. Mine is set to run low and it certainly does that (usually somewhere between 70/48. A healthy blood pressure is considered less than 120/80 mm Hg. The top number (systolic) measures pressure when your heart beats, and the bottom number (diastolic) measures pressure when it rests. Due to the low nature of my levels, I have problems with dizziness and shortness of breath. That's problematic as is it makes it difficult to regain strength, especially by hindering my appetite and the taste of food. I'm hoping we can alter my medication soon to increase the blood pressure and ease the issues caused by that. All I can do now is force myself to eat and gain back strength.

Thursday I make a trip back to the University of Iowa to see the neurology department and have a couple of MRIs taken. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a test that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body. When you have an MRI, you lie on a table and your body is moved into the machine. An image is then taken of the body part being studied. I have plenty to look at. That's followed by a visit with the infectious disease department to address how I am progressing from the bacterial infection that caused this whole mess in the first place.

I am making progress but its been slow and involves a lot of patience, something I could us more of. Fortunately my care takers, doctors, and wife have been stellar! Thanks to them and the support and prayers of many of you, I keep up my spirit, determination, and fight to get back to being my old self. I hope you all know how much your well wishes are appreciated!

WHAT'S WITH THE COOL WET WEATHER?

Needless to say I've had more than my share of time to observe the weather when I'm not busy recuperating. The past month has been dominated by rain and cool temperatures. Soaking rains have been common with some areas exceeding 11 inches in the past 3 weeks near Muscatine. It's been just the opposite in NW Iowa where amounts over the NW third are generally under 2 inches, some less than 1/2 inch! Feast or famine.

Here's a larger view showing the rain bullseye centered over the SE half of Iowa and NW Illinois.

The weather pattern due to clouds and regular precipitation has featured unusually cool temperatures the past 13 days. In Dubuque, not a single high over that period has climbed above 80. The high on the 21st was extremely brisk at just 66 degrees. Nights have been crisp too with lows in the upper 40s to mid 50s. It will be interesting to see what that means for temperatures going forward now that summer is officially here and you guessed it, the days are now slowly getting shorter.

I will say, after another day of scattered showers and storms Wednesday, highs should remain largely in the 70s and below normal the remainder of the week. After that, I'm seeing signs of a more summerlike pattern arriving for the start of July. I'm expecting highs approaching 90 with significantly more humidity. These are the 10 day departures expected over the period June 28th through July 7th.

With more heat and humidity ahead, I also could see more in the way of storms, especially at night when the low level jet kicks in. All I can say is it's about time! More on that later. Roll weather...TS