With apologies to James Brown

"I feel good."

(Did you know that I would?)

I'm asked about 217 times a day how I'm doing, and not in the usual small-talk sense. (It's OK, I appreciate that people are concerned and interested.) So I usually try to give a truthful answer.

Yesterday, in a meeting with my boss, I answered "I feel good." It was the quick, reflexive, unplanned, and therefore honest answer. And I took myself by surprise, because I cannot actually remember the last time I felt "good." I've answered "OK," "fair-to-middlin,", and "hanging in there," but not "good." Not in a couple of years, probably.

And then -- of course -- I hit the wall shortly afterward. Poetic justice. I felt good again this morning but tired this afternoon. My stamina is still rebuilding, but the upside is better than it has been, which is great.

We head to Boston a week from today for a follow-up appointment with Dr. Ho, and resting and stress echocardiograms. These will give a better picture (literally) of the surgical results, the extent of any residual obstruction. I expect some additional adjustments to medication as well. The beta-blocker dose has already been halved, and though I likely won't ever be off it completely, lower is better from a tolerability perspective.

TGIF - I need to catch up on rest, the workweek has definitely caught up with me.

Take care,

Michael