Wow - what a difference a few months make!

Life has really changed since my last post! Things were looking great back in March. I had no idea how much my life was going to change in just a couple of weeks after that post!

On April 12, 2011, my husband nearly died from a massive heart attack. He had been out running and collapsed on the trail. There happened to be a nurse with him when he fell and she realized immediately what was happening. She started CPR and an ambulance was called. They shocked him 7 times between the park and the hospital. During my first conference with the ER doctor, I was told to call the family because he wasn't going to make it through the night!

In the wee hours of April 13, Dr. Nicholas came in and told me he was willing to try a "high risk" procedure. I told him to go for it - it was better that what I was hearing from everyone else so far! About a hour or so later, Dr. Nicholas came back in the waiting area and told me what he'd done. He tried angioplasty, but he didn't like the results, so he followed that with three stents which immediately gave him the results he was hoping for! That got my husband stabilized for the time being.

Really long story short(er), he had a triple bypass on Friday, April 15th, and finally got to go home on April 22. He is doing FANTASTIC now! He has run in four 5K races - including one just five weeks after his bypass surgery in which he did just WALK the race!

On the downside, even though we have pretty good health insurance, we still have had to come up with several thousand dollars for deductibles and co-pays. So...I have quit producing an actual paper copy of the magazine (saving me about $3500.) My web site will also expire soon (Sept 15) saving me another $150.

That brings us to today...

Since Bob's heart attack (then the Joplin tornado and the stupidly hot summer temperatures!), I have not been riding. Matter of fact, I came VERY close to selling both bikes! (And that STILL might happen...)

So, here's my plan for Two Wheels, Four States BLOG...

I am going to write an occasional article or ramblings on my blog and post on my Two Wheels, Four States Facebook page that there is a new blog post. So, if you want to follow what craziness that I get into in the Four State area, "Like" my Two Wheels, Four States Magazine Facebook page and I'll keep you in the loop for a new blog post!

Thank you to all of my magazine subscribers!

Spring is Sprung

It has been over a year since I posted anything on this blog - so I guess it's about time! I have decided that I need to be better at using this tool...

I AM still producing Two Wheels, Four States magazine. It is still a quarterly publication - I can't keep up with more than that! I have decided that I need to use this blog space to ramble about some of my thoughts, rides, etc, that may not necessarily be used in my magazine.

So...today...the first day of Spring! I left the house a little before 9 am this morning and didn't come home until almost 8 pm tonight - BEAUTIFUL day for a ride! I put about 260 miles on the bike...

I started the day with my husband and fourteen Joplin HOG Chapter members for a breakfast ride to Hungry House. Since we were pre-planning an April Fool's joke for the HOG Chapter director, we rode to Silver Dollar City following breakfast. We took a group picture in front of the SDC sign and we're telling the director that we used the HOG funds to buy the SDC season tickets for those of us in the picture. Of course, that's NOT true! I doubt that we'll be able to pull it off, but it was a good excuse for a ride anyway!

Leaving SDC, we continued our ride to Eureka Springs and dinner at the Rockin' Pig. After a great meal, we rode back home.

Spring is definitely coming our way! There were many beautiful valleys, turning green with the winter rain and snow and the spring sunshine! May there be many more beautiful Spring days for riding for all of us!