Shoe Column: ‘I have surgery once every 69 years…’

By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan

People have surgery every day. Not me. I have surgery once every 69 years.

I’ve been lucky. Broke my leg once. Was in traction for four months. No surgery. Leg healed fine.

Had some heart issues in 2011. No surgery there, either. Heart’s fine now.

It all started a few years ago. Had a real sore back. That was new. Finally bit the bullet and saw a Stevens Point chiropractor. My first “Chiro”. He’s Brian Jensen, now retired. Brian did a wonderful job. He also took some Xrays. Then he said: “You got an aortic aneurysm.”

Oh, wonderful. Turns out an aortic aneurysm is not fun. It’s a bulge in a section of the aorta. Because the section with the aneurysm is overstretched and weak, it can burst. In layman’s terms, if that baby bursts, you, sir, are a goner. Turn out the lights. The party’s over.

I thanked Brian for noticing it. Then came tests and trips to Aspirus. I was sent to see Mary Jo Zurawski. She basically said: “We will continue to moniter it and check the numbers. You’re not in the danger zone yet, but it’s pretty close. We may be looking at surgery down the line.”

Being a total rookie to “surgery”, I kinda figured surgery is when they cut you open and get in there to fix up something. I figured correctly.

My friend Kris Arendt drove me to Aspirus in Wausau for another test. When the results were in, the decision was made. Dr. Costa would be performing my surgery, my very first surgery, It would be in Wausau on Thursday, April 26.

I knew about it two weeks in advance.

I’ll tell you what happens when you have your first surgery ever coming up in a couple of weeks. As the big day gets closer and closer, you can’t sleep. And I didn’t.

Food doesn’t taste right. You get lazy. It’s always on your mind, and you just want to get the damn thing over with.

By the way, if you get an aneurysm, it’s not because of something you did. More likely than not, it’s in your family background. But you still have to deal with it.

Next came another trip to Wausau. Dr. Costa showed me what a “stent” looked like. The stent, or several, would be placed inside me to strengthen the aorta. Dr. Costa said I’d have the surgery on Thursday, stay overnight, and be back home the next day.

I shared this news on Facebook. Here’s why it’s great to have friends. I thought maybe ten people would comment. Turns out over 150 did.

Some friends, like Rick Koehler, said not to worry. “It’ll be a piece of cake.” My nephew Bobby Sullivan, an EMT, said the same thing.

Comments and well wishes came pouring in. I started to write the names down of people who commented. Holly Meshak was the first. Most of the comments were wishes hoping for the best. Tom Waisbrot. Marge Ceplina. Elaine Granger. The “Old Man” Donny. Jennifer Hertel. Jeffery Holmes. Chris Lee Chiapuzio. Debbie Osiedacz. Paula Smith. Kimberly Mozuch. Renee Simono. Kevin Johnson. Bonnie Pachoca. Tanya Heuser. Dustin Scheid. Allison Rutta Parmer. Tim Kurth. Lynn Bertrand. Tim Cooper. Rob King. John Eckendorf. Carrie Rutta. Karen Ulrich.

Then there was Monica Dampier, Chelsea Stenzel, Kathy Sanders, Michael Rottier, Mike Lopas, Suzie Trzinski, Melissa Lechnir, Jon Rossmiller, Alica Dodge, Cinders Sunshine, Mike Kaminsky, Geri Meronek, Nancy Domaczek, Dennis Goodwin, Mike Glodosky, Rick “Harv” Giese, Bonnie Nitka, John Van Wagenen, Ken Piotrowski, Pam Fenlon, Tom LaBoda, Michelle Engebretson, Jeff Wenndorf, Dave DeGeorge, Felicia Bella, Eric Zimmerman, Cindy Kieliszewski, Joe Anderson, Tom Razner, Dustin Clark, Sean Cisewski, Stephen Sievwright, Karen Cisewski, Nikki Mason, , , Richard Christopherson, Marie “Bee” Adams, John Lawlis, Mark Colrud, Joe Diedrich, Samantha Koziczkowski, Jared Redfield, Doug Berry, Chad Newby, Katie Ellenz, Jake Mortimer, Amber Hintz, and Angie from Swetz’s.

Paulo Pavelski’s and Sean Houlihan’s were funny.

I know there were more but I can’t find the lists. Several phone calls too.

My brother Casey took me to the surgery. He was awesome. Nephew Bobby and his buddy Dalton Wriedt visited. Allison Rutta and her hubby Jeremy dropped by with their kids. They drove me back the next day.

All in all, the surgery went great. The nurses were terrific. They put on some channel on the tv that had movies. “Tombstone” and later “Braveheart” came on which helped the night go faster. Those are two of my favorite movies by the way.

When I got back home, neighbors Ian and Lisa Grasshoff were very supportive. I got great neighbors.

The professionals at Aspirus got me through my first surgery. As did my friends. If you don’t have friends, you don’t have anything. My friends carried the day.

Hey. How could I let them down, right?