A TITLE GAINED . . . .

. . . .AND A TITLE LOST

I can be a little on the humorous side right about now after learning the seriousness of the past week is subsiding - although still needing our full attentions and prayers.

The "title" leading off this blog refers to an event last Saturday but first I must bring you up to date on the week's happenings - for those who don't already know the circumstances.

It was a serious matter and it has made me hesitate to write a blog about it but tonight I have the feeling it's OK to blog about it.

"Geezerguy" had a bad heart attack on Monday, June 15. Sage Words dropped in on him and Yarntangler at their campsite in Tucson , found him looking and feeling ill, and quickly decided his Dad needed to be hospitalized without much delay.

The usual entry test, blood work . X-rays and EKG ticketed Geezerguy to a hospital room in St. Joseph's Hospital. Tuesday morning's angiogram disclosed an 80 per cent main artery to heart blockage, another at 80 per cent and a third at 100 percent.

Medication provided a temporary stablization and open heart surgery for a three way bypass was scheduled for Monday, June 22.

On Saturday Geezerguy was transfeed to Tucson Heart Hospital where the bypass would take place. Then came an emergency and a surprise run to the operating room.

I did not get the full story of that emergency until today when
Yarntangler found the time and strength to put out an update on her husband after five sleepless days and nights.

This is the part that's not good and that happened Saturday. The systolic
level on the bllod pressure reading, the top figure, usually 120 at its normal best, dropped three times to ZERO - and Geezerguy went into a series of seizures. While Yarntangler's report doesn't say so, to me that means the bearded one doggone near bought it.

As said, he was rushed into the operating room. Surgeons went to work and did a balloon treatment, then inserted a Pacemaker which at this time is "temporary" but could become permanent. Then the bypass surgery was advanced a day to Sunday.

What a heck of a present for Father's Day! (See the end for a similar circumstance.)

All that brings me to the "Title" in my headline tonight. Shortly after awakeing Saturday after getting that Pacemaker, Geezerguy had this message for me , relayed by Yarntangler and Sage Words on the phone:

"Tell Old Newsie he's not the only one in the family with a Pacemaker" as he drifted back into dreamland.

Yep, this youngster stole my title after I'd had it only 14 days. By the way, my Pacemaker is working pretty good I think.

And here's the thing I wanted to say at the end of this blog. Some few years back my son CT remarked "what a heck of a birthday gift" when on that day, his birthday anniversary, I had a brain operation.

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"

Quips And Stuff . . .

. . .Just Thinking Back

Well, everybody, it's a couple weeks since they put my re-charger under my left collarbone and I have had a few thoughts about the thing called a Pacemaker and the procedure.

They told me "this won't hurt much." That was probably right but they
put me out when they (the doctor and his crew) got started so I didn't feel it anyway.

They didn't tell me much about the aftermath except "you'll have some discomfort." They were right.

It wasn't that bad in the Lubbock Heart Hospital because they fed me pain pills every once in awhile. When I came home I took an over the counter pain relief for a few days and most of the discomfort has passed.

(And that word passed brings up another story, below, which will bring my "headline" QUIPS into being.)

But just a bit more about discomfort. They, at least three of them, instructed me not to raise my left arm over my shoulder for a month [I am obeying] and not to sleep with my arms in back of my head on the pillow [I am obeying].

The same three alternately told me not to drive "for about seven days, "for two weeks," and "for a month." I obeyed the first instruction and almost made the second. Forget about the month - I've already blown that one.

So I am driving but not without a bit of discomfort. It seems "they" in Lubbock put that Pacemaker in the same place on the left shoulder where the makers of Dodge and Ford vans have their seat belts passing over the left shoulder and chest.

Need I say anymore?

ABOUT THE WORD PASSED

Now let's get to that word "passed" mentioned above. It brings back a story from Lubbock and from what they call the cath lab, where doctors and crews perform such procedures as angiograms, open heart surgeries and Pacemaker installations.

On the particular day of the Pacemaker procedure, they laid me out flat on a cold steel table but fortunately covered with a heated blanket, and covered me up with another heated blanket.

Next somebody inserted something into the IV tube in my arm that pretty quickly started to put me to sleep. You won't guess what happened next - but maybe you will. I'll tell you anyway.

I don't like to use the word F===== in a blog that sensitive people may be reading so I opt to say "passed gas." This is what happened:

While almost asleep I could feel that such an event was about to happen and I strained to restrain but restraining did not restain.

With a loud and resonating sound that gas went " pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and finally whooosh and one more pop' that sounded like a grenade exploding.

Through quickly dimming eyes I glimpsed five or six wide open mouths, and then heard raucaus laughing as I delivered my final words before going to sleep - "Anybody get hurt?"

GOLF AND HOOVER DAM

I have a sister back in Massachusetts who sometimes comes up with a forwarded joke on the Internet which she sends along with a little editing to make it family-oriented.

Here's an example and I hope my priestly cousin won't be offended at the use of his name.

It's entitled "A Very CLEAN Round Of Golf." and goes like this, as short as I can make it.

Monsignor Hoye was playing a round of golf down on Cape Cod with a parishioner. On the first hole he sliced into the rough and muttered half aloud - Hoover.

On the second hole Hoover came out again a bit louder as the orb splashed into a water hazard.

On the third hole it was a miracle when the ball bounced onto the green within six inches of the hole. "Praise Be To God" Monsignor Hoye exclaimed.

But when after carefully lining up his putt with the hole, the ball curved around the hole and went awry. "HOOVER"

The monsignor's parishioner-opponent by this time was more than curious and he asked "why do you say Hoover?

The reply: "It's the biggest dam I know!"

NOW BACK TO THE PACEMAKER

Today after a funeral service for a congregation member, I happened to encounter the funeral director with whom I am familiar through association as an American Legion chaplain a few years ago when I officiated at two graveside services for a veteran.

Patting me on the back he asked the usual question "how are you doing these days?"

I told him "I'm doing pretty good now, just been re-charged with a Pacemaker and getting back into the swing of things again."

LONG pause - and then from the funeral director "Well, I guess we won't be seeing you for a while yet!"

I walked away laughing.

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An Update

Short and Sweet

As any of you who have been reading this blog know, I now have had my battery re-charged with a Paceaker installed June 1.

I seem to have more energy now but I am still hurting a bit at the incision the surgeon made to pocket the Paceaker.

This weekend Lady B and I are observing our birthdays and our wedding anniversary, a three-day event. We both send our thanks to those who have sent us cards, gifts and have telephoned or e-mailed us on the triple occasion.

Being quite busy both recovering from that Pacemaker procedure, the observances and few other things, I'll call it quits on this evening's blog and get back to you all a little later.

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Short Trip Planning . . .

. . . With Common Sense Tips

As I get older I try to get smarter in several ways and today I want toexpound on at least a couple of my plans and my tips, which I hope some of you young'uns on the brink of getting old will consider, maybe even put into practice.

I will touch on, probably not in order, saving gasoline, avoiding accidents, bargain shopping, making one trip do for three or four, shopping hints and trip mapping.

I'm not going to suggest I know it all in traveling but this is just what at 86 (in a few days) I have learned are smart things to do to keep me on the road to 87.

Let's start from the beginning - a list.

On a given day you run out of milk for your morning coffee.but that's all you need from the store. Look in the cupboard for packets of powdered creamer you probably took from the last restaurant you visited when the waitress handed you more than you neeeded.

Nex morning you had no sugar for your coffee. Mabe there's some Splenda or other stuff like that in the closet. Find and use it. It won't hurt even if you don't like the color.

Time to start the list. Write: Milk, sugar, maybe even coffee if you check the can of grounds. Keep up this program for a week, then go shopping.

By this time you might have to go to the bank, fill the car with gasoline, order medicine fromthe drug story, buy stamps at the post office or even mail a package.

Don't leavee the house yet. Go to the phone and order the medicine. Get your checkbook and write out the check for the drug store, minus the amount unless you know the cost in advance. Write another check to the postmaster for the stamps you intend to buy.. Making out these checks ahead of time will save you a few minutes at the counters writing checks.

Dig out your credit card ready for your gasoline purchase. Then think a bit to determine if you have any bils to pay right now and mail If so, sit down and write more checks, get the checks ready to mail, pout the envelopes in your pocketbook and take to the post office when you go to buy stamps.

Looking to the future you could, if you can afford to, buy twice the amount of stamps so you won't have to make another trip to that place and just mail your letters from your home post box

Look in the cupboard for some

I Watched Our Planes . . .

. . . Roar From Crookham Common

This morning at 1:20 a.m. , 65 years ago, I woke to the sound of airplanes roaring on the airfield above our Hut Camp in Thatcham, England.

Rising along with the other guys in Hut 12, I went outside and watched
as plane after plane towing gliders filled with soldiers - including my Taunton friends Joe Cananzey, Bob Sullivan, Bill Garvin and Bobby Dumont , all paratroopers and all "temporary" neighbors - streaking away to the east, the general direction of France.

D-Day. We'd been expecting it. Weather had delayed it a couple times. We looked toward our kitchen hut. The cooks were busy. Breakfast so soon?

First Sergeant Brill strode over to us saying: "Dress in fatigues, eat quickly, check your weapons, you're heading for Southampton. Board the trucks at 0300."

By dawn we were at the port, loading supplies, including our Bailey Bridges, on a second round of supply ships following the already-gone shiploads of combat troops - probably including Lady B's Jack - all heading for the Normandy, Omaha and Utah beaches on France's Coast, a couple hours across the English Channel.

We took a brief break from loading as an officer shouted "Tenshun," and then "line up." Minutes later a tall figure with stars on his shoulders walked the line in the fog of the morning, saying to each soldier, "thanks for helping, God bless us all" - General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Later we all heard on the radio a solemn announcement by Sir Winston Churchill that the war to liberate Europe and save the world had commenced.

Then followed General Eisenhower's "Order of the Day":

"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

"You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.

"The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world."

The order went on, ending with:

"Good luck. And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

You can reflect on the subsequent years of conflict today, tomorrow and remember those who died trying to resolve it all - and then pray again that world conflict still existing will someday cease forever.

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What's Happening . . .

. . .To Religion These Days?
. . . And Other Stuff

I read just this morning a couple disturbing items that suggest to me that this government of ours has gone too far again - something like what happened back in the early 1930s that led up to such furor in Europe.

Young'uns won't remember what I'm talking about and probably won't have absorbed what they may or should have read in history of events of the last century which eliminated religion (and lives) for a lot of folks in Europe.

I have only these two items to cite at this time but there are numerous other incidents in the past where government, big and little, is getting too much involved in religion.

But here's what's happening:

In San Diego, a pastor and his wife were holding the traditional Wednesday evening Bible study with a few friends in their own home when a city official visited and announced they were holding an illegal religious ceremony against the law.

A citation was issued that required the pastor to cease and desist in the prayer meetings or apply for a permit for a "major religious event", a permit which would cost thousands of dollars.

In Phoenix, a church official was served with a notice that the church bells which rang every hour for 12 hours a day were in violation of that city's noise ordinance, would have to be toned down and rung only on Sundays and spiritual holidays.

No fair! This is a contradiction of our constitional right of freedom to practice religion, no matter which kind, in my mind.

Government regulation of religion led to many abuses in Europe and elsewhere and yes, even to the Holocaust which some governments are now denying ever happened.

When government begins to talk such regulation in my city, your city or town, or your state, it wil be time THEN to protest and halt any movement to control religion.

There - that's off my chest for now - I need the chest room for my new Pacemaker.

Other stuff:

THE HOSPITAL DOOR

Ya'll know I spent a few days in the hospital last week and early this week so here's a bit of humor from Room 316:

Nurses, the doctors, blood drawers, the food servers, the EKG people and the X-ray technicians with their big machines, all had trouble keeping the wide door from swinging shut on them as they tried to drag their equipment into my room.

There was no stop device to keep the door open or any electrical device to handle the situation. We, CT and I and others, asked everybody we saw what was the secret to keeping the door ajar. Nobody knew.

Came Delia one afternoon to empty wastebaskets and mop the floor. As she was entering we quickly asked the secret and simultaneously learned the secret as she held the door, reached for a small vanity-like table, and saying "this," rolled the table a few inches against the door.

Secret revealed. She should have been the hospital engineer.

A SECOND FLOOR? NO !

The Heart Hospital in Lubbock spreads all over the place, a one story facility. But Ricardo, my discharge nurse, says there's plans to expand the hospital, building a second floor. He and I and Delia are of the same opinion - don't build a second floor~build more rooms on all this land but just one floor. (Attention doctor-owned hospital officials).

Why? Cost for one thing. Have to have elevators. Elevators are expernsive, don't always work right, cost a lot to service . "Engineer" Delia would say visitors would get lost, nurses and attendants would have to waste time giving directions, food servers would have to take elevators which don't always work or are full of visitors and some visitors get sick riding elevators and can't climb stairs either.

Two floors doctors? No way!

HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY BASH

This is a joke in a way. For many years I have been inviting my friends far and near to my 100th birthday bash, place to be announced. It's only a few years down the line now ya know.

Of course, there's always the chance I might not be there for the bash and as a joke sometime ago I wrote a newspaper ad for use if something did happen before the bash date. (That would be on a Flag Day).

Last week things did get a bit scary and it sounded like the ad could be used any day but after that treatment in The Heart Hospital, I forgot about the ad - until the day after I got home and discovered it laying on my desk in full view. It reads (and remember this was to be a joke):

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

I regret to inform all those whom I have invited to my 100th birthday bash that I have reluctantly cancelled the event due to an unforeseen circumstance - my passing on ___(date)_____. Signed, Charlie Hoye

AND NOW TO OTHER CHORES

I plan now to write brief postcard notes to several folks at the aforementioned hospital to thank them for their services, tender loving care, etc.

There's Cindy, the admitting nurse, Henry, who made me comfortable the first night and then in succession, Carla, Vanessa, Susan, LaTeisha, Christiana, Laura, Jane, Thomas, Nadine and those who came in the dark but whose names I did not get. And of course, Delia, Dr. Walter ("Chuck")Brogan, his sidekick, Jim Jenkins, and the guys in the cath lab who tended to me while I was unaware.

Betcha didn't think I could remember all those names, eh?

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Well, That's Over . . .

> > > Wonder What's Next?

Hey everybody, this is June 4 and I've missed getting a start on the June challenge but I need the rest anyway. Maybe I'll try again in July.

This could be my blog for today but hefore I close it off, let's just briefly review the week since I began to feel not right.

CVT and CC got me to the local hosppital. Local doc there put me on helicopter to The Heart Hospial in Lubbock Texas. Heart rate,normal is 60 was down at 30.

Lots o tests at THH Saturday and Sunday. A Pacemaker inserted Monday. It failed Tuesday morning. Was redone that afternoon. Was discharged Wedesday.

Now home hurting like Yarntanglers most recent toothache but Aleve seems to be cutting pain, Nor-Lea Hospital nurse dropped in thiis am to redo dressing, left more dressings for Laby B to take over.

Mayb I'll get back on here ina day on two.

So now that's today blog and since my eyes aren't working too good today, you do the corrections if any are necessary.

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