A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}
Went camping this weekend at a campground on the lake, had not been there for a few years. Once there I began to walk around looking at the different sites when I noticed a very old dog. He just lay t...
Forum Discussion
The way Terry's doctors have described it to us is that they legally cannot take your license away but with certain heart issues (Terry has an ICD) they prefer you not to drive for six months after an episode. His "episodes" would result in passing out. . . actually his heart stops. Then it would restart. As it got weaker, they added the ICD which will "jumpstart" the heart. The last time this happened was 10 years ago. The device also regulates his heart rhythm which hopefully keeps the heart from stopping. He has had a few incidences of passing out, but no heart stoppage. Those times happen when he isn't feeling well and during those times, Terry does't do much till he feels better. When his instances occurred ten years ago, he voluntarily gave up driving the motorhome. Okay by me. It's just not a situation where a passenger could intervened before the 45,000 lb. rig would careen off the road or into another lane. When he is not feeling up to par, he chooses not to drive anything. It's been about 4-5 years since he became very ill and he was on a roller coaster, but never feeling up to par. So he has not driven much. Lately, this past year seems to have been a healing one for him and things are better for him. He is starting to drive the car a bit and that is a big help to me. He was always an excellent driver. . . that had nothing to do with it though. . . it was his health and being alert, etc.
We just drove a rental car to Indiana, with Terry helping, and we drove the little motorhome back to Florida pulling the trailer. In ten days we are flying back up and driving the Miata back. He's going to help on that driving, although he will not drive the "Tail of the Dragon." He's never liked mountain driving and will prolly have his eyes closed! This works for us. I have always loved to drive and I don't mind because it's still something we can do together.
We met another couple in a Class A years ago. She did all the driving and everything else because her husband was going blind. He had a work related condition that caused his blindness, but they wanted to RV so they bought one and they go anyway!
Once they get your heart more stable, I assume they will relax their stance. I don't consider Terry any more a danger than someone who has seizures. They can still get a license depending upon how long it's been since their last one. Other people with conditions that cause blackouts, etc., may still get licenses to drive. I believe it would be easier to intervene with an impaired driver in a car, but big rigs are a different matter.
Don't be discouraged, Richard. Now that they know this, they should be able to help. And feeling tired is very NORMAL after any kind of heart problems. It takes a while. A couple years ago when they were trying to get Terry to go on the heart transplant list, physical therapy gave him some exercises that they said they give all their heart patients which work to build up their core. He has faithfully fully done the exercises every day and they have surely helped. We normally walk 1.3 miles daily, although we've been so busy working on the house, we've fallen off doing that in the heat. But we are hauling furniture around, etc., so he is still getting exercise.
Good luck and we will be praying for you and Sue!
Dale
We just drove a rental car to Indiana, with Terry helping, and we drove the little motorhome back to Florida pulling the trailer. In ten days we are flying back up and driving the Miata back. He's going to help on that driving, although he will not drive the "Tail of the Dragon." He's never liked mountain driving and will prolly have his eyes closed! This works for us. I have always loved to drive and I don't mind because it's still something we can do together.
We met another couple in a Class A years ago. She did all the driving and everything else because her husband was going blind. He had a work related condition that caused his blindness, but they wanted to RV so they bought one and they go anyway!
Once they get your heart more stable, I assume they will relax their stance. I don't consider Terry any more a danger than someone who has seizures. They can still get a license depending upon how long it's been since their last one. Other people with conditions that cause blackouts, etc., may still get licenses to drive. I believe it would be easier to intervene with an impaired driver in a car, but big rigs are a different matter.
Don't be discouraged, Richard. Now that they know this, they should be able to help. And feeling tired is very NORMAL after any kind of heart problems. It takes a while. A couple years ago when they were trying to get Terry to go on the heart transplant list, physical therapy gave him some exercises that they said they give all their heart patients which work to build up their core. He has faithfully fully done the exercises every day and they have surely helped. We normally walk 1.3 miles daily, although we've been so busy working on the house, we've fallen off doing that in the heat. But we are hauling furniture around, etc., so he is still getting exercise.
Good luck and we will be praying for you and Sue!
Dale
