Mr. Twister

They roped Andy like a calf this week with a metal noose connected to a laptop in order to calibrate his pacemaker. Everything is good to go and doing fine, according to the technician--just stay away from power poles and magnets.

Andy has made some improvement; he is walking more than he ever has. Andy said, "There are days when I could climb Timp and other days where my medication just kicks my butt." The Lasix medication he has feels like poison sometimes, according to Andy. From how he describes the stuff, it is Mr. Twister in a bottle--it sucks all of the fluid from his system and spits it out in large doses.

On a positive note, his blood sugar has been consistently low, which is an adjustment from where it was prior to his heart attack--high on the hog ;o) Now you couldn't force him to eat hog, pizza, leg of lamb, or especially "those greasy chicken wings I used to eat," he said.

Although Andy is sleeping somewhat better, his cough is still nagging him, especially during the night. In fact, he only sleeps between three and four hours each night. The doctor will check him out on Wednesday to see if they can get rid of his bark.

For those interested, Andy and Ray are still at the house across from LDS Hospital, and yes, Raymond is still two feet from the TV ;o) Andy continues to wander around the house and on the treadmill three times a week for physical therapy. His speech therapists quit, however. They said they could only do so much now that his thick Californian accent has returned.

Don't be surprised if Andy doesn't show up at a drumline practice near you. He visited both Bingham and Lone Peak last week. "They looked really intense, really focused ... no joking around, maybe because I haven't been there to tease them," he said. In his opinion both groups might be ahead of where they were last year, so keep hitting it hard--his expectations are still high.

P.S. Andy's current driving record in the electrical cart at WalMart is still clean after three visits.