On May 4, 1997, I woke up pretty early with a queasy, unsettling feeling. When the feeling didn't go away, I decided it was probably worth a trip to the hospital.  I was scheduled to fly to San Juan that afternoon, and didn't want to run the risk of having problems in Puerto Rico.

The doctors examined me quickly, gave me medication, put me on an IV, and made me wait.  A cardiologist finally told me that I would need to stay for a day or two for tests.  To make a long story short, it was discovered that I had 95% blockage in 4 coronary arteries. I was scheduled for quadrupal bypass surgery on May 8.

After the surgery, actually 2 days after which is when I finally came out of the anesthesia, the doctors and nurses began referring to the incision as my Zipper. So I decided that ZipperBear would be an appropriate pseudo-name.

Fortunately, no damage had been done to the heart itself, and though I've still got the weight that the doctor says I must lose, overall I'm in pretty good shape.  And oddly enough, the symptoms that actually took me to the hospital in the first place turned out to be a gall bladder attack.  I had that removed a few months later.

Of course, the double entendre referenced by the name makes it just a little more interesting.