Duce Sighting

Many people have heard about the legendary Duce. Some say it has three chins and a tendency to make dumb faces after drinking hard alcohol. Recent evidence has shown this all to be true with the addition of fairy wings.

The Mattos Wedding

58 days ago my best friend Zack married the girl of his dreams. A good quote that Zack said at his wedding was, “I remember when we first started dating… I put her name in my phone as wifey because I knew she was the one”! It just so turned out he was right. As an observer to his prediction, one of there first dates was a double with me. While Zack is out of his seat animating his story for the table, he swings his arms back and accidently punches a waitress walking behind him. A million things must have been going through his head at that moment but I can tell you the number one thought he had was how he blew it with Katy. After watching Katy’s reaction, it was clear that she was in love with this “accident prone monkey” and that a lifelong bond would soon begin.

The time had come to tie the knot and I have to say Katy did not disappoint. The wedding was held at a beautiful resort in Coronado CA where most of us stayed. All the old friends and families were there making it the best place to be. I shared a room with the best man racking up a bill more then my mom gave me for the weekend.

When the ceremony began, things became surreal. Here I am standing just feet away from my best friend getting married and it seems like yesterday we were skating Los Altos waiting for our parents to pick us up. Hearing them say there vowels and looking into each others eyes gave me the upmost confidence that these “I do’s” would last forever. Katy composed herself very well for the emotions she must have been going through. To my surprise, after knowing Zack for over 14 years, he broke down with a waterfall of tears. This truly was the happiest day of his life.

After shooting wedding photos on the beach, everyone went inside and partied like 1948 (good year to party). I think the whole town heard that wedding and the good times didn’t stop until the sun came up. A few goodbye the next morning in zombie mode and then I was on my way to an extended extended vacation that got extended again. Basically I missed a bunch of flights and didn’t leave SD for 2 or 3 weeks.

Zack: You are more then a friend, you’re a brother from a different mother. I can’t tell you how happy I am for you and your new life with Katy. I really must stress that you should never dive in a pool again. Good luck buddy.

Katy: You are an unbelievable woman. Confident, strong, independent. You’d have to be for what I can only image you’ve gone through to handle a guy like Zack. I’m so proud to call you a friend because your heart is pure. We’ve always had a good laugh over Molly’s fly by bombings in my room and would like to say I’m no longer mad. Congratulations on your marriage. I wish you two a happy life together with all my heart.

-colt

It's Britney!

I know most/all of you won't care about this app, but I just had to download it. It's Britney got my attention this morning (2:30am). If your not a Britney fan then I guess this isn't for you, but I'm sure you can tell I had my fair share of fun with it so far. This is the kind of behavior you can expect from someone that spends too much time indoors. For me, it's just natural. Have a fun weekend!

FREEDOM!!!

Had a doctors appointment yesterday and he has now cleared me for driving "YYEEAAA!" Waking up to wet roads kept me in the passenger seat today, but it's nice to know I'm one step closer to freedom:-) "Get to the chopper!!!"

Road to Recovery

I'm happy to say I'm starting to feel better these days. My chest doesn't feel like it's about to break open anymore and I expect to get at least 3 hours of sleep tonight! It's been almost 3 weeks from the surgery but I still have another 4-5 weeks until I'm fully healed. The docs can never make any guarantees so cross your fingers for a full fast recovery. Thanks:-)

The Absolute Pain List:

Sneezing

Coughing

Deep breathes

Brushing my tongue

Laying on my side

Dog jumping on my chest

Remote control dropped on my chest

Clearing my throat

Hands above shoulders

and Lifting anything over 5 pounds

Party in the USA Music Video Remix

Random post after my heart surgery I know. But what I need is fun and laughter right now and this video put me in tears. Gotta thank Ryan for showing me this video of him and his friends. Hope you find it as funny as I did.

Explanation

On Dec 12, 1981 I was born with a heart condition called “Aortic Stenosis.” What this means is that my Aortic Valve was narrower then normal and will continue to get narrower over time.

That impedes Rich Oxygen Blood to flow from my Left Ventricle to the Aorta then throughout my entire body. The result in a serious condition is death by heart attack. After doing a few tests these past 7 weeks, they discovered my condition was very serious and were surprised I haven’t felt any of the side effects (light headed, chest pains, shortness of breather). Not taking any chances, I booked the first available date and it just so happened to be one day before Halloween… bummer.

For the procedure (I’m not going into too much detail), they make a small cut in the middle of my chest to get through both the skin and my chest plate to operate on the heart. Then they hook my heart and lungs up to a machine called “Cardiopulmonary Bypass Machine” which acts as both my heart and lungs regulating the oxygen throughout my body while my heart is stopped.

Once that’s under control, they replace my aortic valve with another from a pig. Yes that’s right! A PIG:-)

Knowing about this operation the past few weeks didn’t really excite me to do a lot of things. I was so scared the day before, I wrote that last post on my blog almost as a goodbye post. Thank god it is not. So here are some photos through my days of recovery in the hospital. The surgery was last Friday and I got home from the hospital by Tuesday. The main focus of my recovery now is the chest plate. I’m not allowed to lift more then 5 pounds for the next 6-8 weeks because more then that could break my chest plate open and then surgery starts all over again. Thank you to you all that wrote me personal messages and thanks to my friends and family for all the support. All of your messages kept me positive or focused on a speedy recovery.

-colt

PS Love Life

Me in the prep room just before rolling into surgery. The nurse was just going over how they have to shave ALL the hair from my neck down to my ankles... all of it. Just a little awkward before go time;-)

Just after surgery hooked up to a Oxygen machine that pretty much breathes for me until my lungs inflate enough to take over.

My brother Cody looking over me. It was a very emotional day for everyone in my family. I don’t think there wasn’t one Cannon that came in that I didn’t tear up looking at.

Another angle with me still sedated. Only this one you can see the tubes around my stomach draining the blood from my lungs.

A good shot of where the docs had to go into my chest to fix my heart. That cut is now the pain I'll be feeling for the next 4-6 weeks.
I couldn't really talk when I was in the hospital so I thought a thumbs up was appropriate to tell people I was good to go home:-)