Thanks to My big sister Margie notifying Tweeters about my recent health plight , I (via Margie) recieved a record number of responses to her post. Thanks to all for your concern ,well wishes, and validation- I really appreciate the messages. I may have teared up a few times.
Not too long ago, I did a quick survey of my past posts and, based on number of replies, found that "Alzheimer's Birding Day", "My Favorite App" (beer), and "Low Impact Wildlife Photography" (photographing dead creatures) were the most popular. I'm not sure what that say's about Tweeters, but have found that going into a hospital and having major surgery is one way to get a lot of attention - way more than those other posts ,yet I think that maybe I should just stick to writing more tweeters posts instead - it's healthier and don't hurt so much.
In short, my sob story is that pains in my leg led to a vascular ultrasound that found blood clots in my leg,that made it hard to walk more than 50ft or so. Those clots were blocking blood flow to my foot - bad news. So anyway, the helpful health care folks at Jefferson Healthcare in Port Townsend installed me in an ambulance and hauled me down to Tacoma General, where they have surgeons that do what I needed done. There I had some lifer experiences, like anesthesia , surgery, and taking major pain pills.
I had to have a bypass, wherein they splice a little wet noodle they found in me somewhere, to another wet noodle (the artery upsteam and downstream from the block) so now I have a good pulse in my foot again. I will also have a souvenir of the event- a big Frankenstein- sized scar down the length of my left leg. How anybody could sew two wet noodles together like that and have them carry blood flow again is truly amazing. Very good care at Tacoma General, and Jefferson Healthcare.
So anyhoo, a few days after surgery they started me out on a walker, which soon got easier, and now in Everett for a few days, I'm able to gimp around without the walker around the house - it will take awhile, but not too long hopefully, to get out walking as I used to, and writing about what I come across. In the meantime, I got a backlog (as usual) of things to write about during recovery.
Thanks again to Margie for her post, and to all of you for your kind words, and generosity!

Jeff "Gimpy" Gibson