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A new beginning…

scottmastrocinque

GT Godfather!
GT di Razza Pura
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
5,688
Location
Lima, Ohio
Hello everyone.

I had my massive vascular surgery (Carotid to subclavian bypass) on Monday. The surgery was over 8 hours long. Suffice it to say that it was a insanely complex procedure and the surgeons had to improvise as they made the repairs due to the massive damage to my arm from the motorcycle accident 25 years ago. I got to come home late yesterday and it is true, there is no place like home!

Other than looking like a man who lost a knife fight, I am so happy and excited to be home. I have some gnarly scars now!

I have a rather lengthy recovery but there is blood flow back in my left arm, and the capillary beds are beautiful with fresh blood all the time now. There was a very real prospect of losing my left arm if this had not worked so I am so grateful to my outstanding vascular surgeon. She was amazing and has been holding my hand and doing literally everything she possibly could for the last 7 months, as far as diagnostics and planning of the repair. She was incredible!

God Bless Dr. Kate Marie Gates, DO - Vascular Surgeon at Promedica Hospital in Toledo, Ohio!

Other than the fact that this situation forced my retirement a little early, I don’t mind a bit. I am looking forward to healing and actually riding my motorcycles everyday that I can, instead of fixing everybody else’s motorcycles. 😝

To all my friends here who have reached out with thoughts and prayers for my safe and positive outcome, I am very grateful and thank you all. I hope to be around for several decades still, God willing and the tires don’t go flat… 😆

The truly funny part of this is that how they used superglue (yes, medical stuff) to close my throat and top of my shoulder, but there are sutures under my arm where they connected my new plumbing! Apparantely there are disolvable sutures on the inside of those glued areas, but I laugh thinking about being Super Glued back together! 😁

Who cares right? I have restored blood flow and my limb works again. Thank God! Thank Dr. Gates!

Go out and enjoy life today, I know I will be.

Cheers!

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I was going to ask if they would have done this type of surgery 25 years ago but they didn’t I assume.

Looks like it wasn’t fun but glad you’re able to continue on.
 
Glad to hear you are doing well Scott, maybe one day we can raise a shot to
enjoying life outside the box! Now get your arse out in the shop and get your
rides fixed, life is definitely too short.
 
Bacongrease - I asked but they said they couldn’t fix ugly as bad as mine!

Oh well. 😝.

Captincvnm - This one is going into the medical journals for sure they tell me. The entire vascular practice of 25 surgeons, some with 40+ years experience, has never seen a surgery quite like this one. They had to develop the procedure and techniques necessary to effect the repair. The surgery lasted more than 8.5 hours!

It was a long ass procedure for sure.

My surgeon, she‘s The Bomb! I love her.
 
Oh yes. Our condo in Mandello del Lario is still in the purchase works. Unfortunately we are in hold mode at the moment. We are waiting for the seller to locate his newer larger home for his family and himself. Things move slowly in Italy. It’s part of the charm.

Definitely becoming an expat as soon as I can do so. 👌😆👍🙏🤞
 
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I just returned from Italy a couple of days ago and took a couple of pictures with you in mind ( don't let your head swell) .
As soon as I get over this jet lag I'll try and post a couple . A couple of observations , Asian scooters out number Vespa's at
least 10 to 1. And if it's a larger bike , well it will be a BMW boxer adventure bike ! The roads we saw from the trains were
almost stunning . And speaking of train travel , holy crap , public transit and we were traveling at 254 Kph ! Peter
 
Looking forward to the pictures! Lucky you. Asian stuff is all over there but I kinda noticed it was all the 50cc low end stuff for the most part. The larger size scooters, the maxi scooters, were either Vespa, Piaggio, BMW, that kind of stuff. At least what I noticed in my limited way in the Milan / Como / Mandello area when I was last there a few years ago.

Still, being a scooter aficionado myself, the scooter crowd is pretty large there and I am looking forward to experiencing it. I adore my MP3 here in Ohio so a new MP3 500 for the condo, will be an absolute first purchase the moment I arrive back in Italy. Second will be a Fiat 500. I love those things! :p

Italy invests very heavily in its rail service. I think it is one of the best in the world hands down. The different bullet trains from Milan to Venice fly down the rail at about that speed or faster even in stretches. It's a trippy experience for sure!
 
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These were in the dealership in Lucca . Strangely , I was sure I saw more of them in Greece . And I thought they
were an answer to a question no one asked :) . Peter
 

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And another pic of the only car we saw in Italy with a for sale sign in the window . Now sit down when you hear
what the sale price was , $16,000.00 Canadian !
 

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Oh, we’ll just buy a new Fiat when we get there. Brand new they are about $20k Euro.

That is a beauty of a classic 500 though! Lovely.
 
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