I first noticed the problem when I was chopping some blocks of wood to stack in my woodpile.
Something I had done every fall, getting a nice stack in for the cool Winter months.
I had been at it for around 15 minutes when I felt a stab of dull pain across my chest, then both arms began to hurt.
Thinking it was the remains left over from a heavy chest cold the week before, I thought nothing of it and it passed after a few minutes of rest.
I went back out and started chopping again, the same result began in just a few seconds. I was no longer in denial, I knew what that was. My 45 year old body was warning me, so I got in my car and drove to the emergency room.
I got poked, probed, blood tests, nothing. But the condition persisted so they did a stress test.
Yep. Abnormal EKG.
By the next day I was at a different local hospital, the angiogram showed a complete center artery blockage.
A surgeon that looked to be about 14 years old explained that they were going to emplant a stent if possible, and wanted to keep me for a few days to a week to be sure of recovery.
Normally the procedure is an in and out in one day with some home rest, but in my case they were using a new type of implant, so in exchange for followup and testing I got the procedure done for free.
This sounded good to me since I had foolishly allowed my insurance policy to lapse. Hell, I was only 45, in good health, business financial pressures and all of that entered into that silly decision.
All went normal, and I was flat on my back in a little cubby hole with nurses in and out seemingly minutes apart.
The first two days were perfectly normal, the 2nd evening a nurse came in and told me she wanted a urine sample. The rest had handed me the little bottle and left, collecting it later.
She was different. She told me her name was Rayne. She was perhaps in her mid to late 30's, short cropped blonde hair, a bit on the chubby side.
She lifted the gown, pushed the opening of the plastic jug up to me, grasped my penis and held it. She pressed my foreskin back in the same motion.
"Go ahead." she said simply, as I lay there somewhat embarrassed.
It isn't an easy thing to uninate while laying flat on your back, and it is a bit tougher when a strange female has ahold of the thing, too.
Trying with all my might, I simply could not start the flow.
"Here, this will help." she said, reaching under my testicles and stroking lightly, putting pressure on my Prostate gland.
That did work, finally I was empty. She then grasped me firmly, milking the last few drops of fluid out of me as my penis began to erect slightly.
With a big grin, she was gone.
Later she came in to check my incision, they had installed an Angioseal, which is a device designed to reduce the time bleeding from the incision made in the groin.
It worked, too.
But unlike the other nurses, Rayne uncovered me completely. She poked and prodded for a bit, felt around my testicles, then lifted my penis.
Rolling back my foreskin, she looked me over carefully. Then she stroked the shaft a few times which resulted in me beginning an erection again.
"Are you having any discomfort in this area?" she asked as she held my penis in one hand and felt around each testicle with the other.
"No, it seems normal."
