The Bridge Clinic

Husband/partner and I have discussed hanging out a shingle in the corner of one of the clubs.  The men ask to see partner/husband after the game to talk about a variety of male related problems (think prostate) and the women often ask to speak to me to explain, in everyday terms, what the doctor has told them which they didn't understand.

One day, an elderly woman stopped play in the middle of the hand complaining of chest pressure.  Partner/husband attended to her and recommended that we call EMS.   She said, "It feels just like my last heart attack" and continued to finish the game, refusing any thought of EMS.  He recommended that she go to the nearest emergency room after the game.  She said, "I'm going home."  He said, "You may die on the way home."  Her answer?  "So what?"  She finally did go to an E.R. near her home where they plopped another stent into her chest and she is back playing, of course.

Another player asked me to explain why her doctor said that a cardiac ablation is more dangerous than severing the electrical connections in the heart and inserting a pacemaker.  That was an easy one, since I had that choice myself last year.

My former teacher,  Wayne, had serious heart problems and a very long recovery.  He is now back playing and winning, of course. 

Here is my point; sadly,  the bridge population is aging and with that, there seem to be more and more age related illnesses among us.  My Tuesday partner is in rehab for the foreseeable future and I miss her greatly.  I'm leaving my Tuesday's open pending her return.  I told her that everyone at the club misses her and wishes her well.  Her last words to me, as I left her hospital room, were, "Tell them I'll be back!"

I really admire the men and women who, through unbelievable adversity, come back to the game. If that is what keeps them going, then bridge is more valuable than I imagined.  I know that bridge is supposed to be good for the aging process; keeping the brain active and all of that hoo ha.  However, most of my exercise these days is playing east/west and walking table to table.   I really need to get back to working out to keep the bad stuff away as long as possible.  Oh well.  Off to Houston for the regional later today.  I hear they have a workout room at the hotel.  I wonder if I will use it?