A Busy Time

. . . Ain't That The Truth !

There are a lot of topics to be written about since the last blog posted here - but where to start?

I can say this as a warning - a slow start it will be - but the middle and the ending will be a blockbuster

Perhaps television commercials could be the opener. In the last blog I got off my chest, just after getting that Pacemaker on it, my detest of the loud and long "call now" blurbs on TV that make me lose track of programs I watch.

I find that except for ONE of my blog readers who dared to comment, everyone else must like to listen to the "call now" blurbs since I saw no support . So I'll forget that subject henceforth.

There's one story hard to put into words, since there are so many versions of what happens when one gets an abscess on a tooth and it festers for weeks and weeks.

I am awaiting a final outcome of that story because it is still in progress, although the ultimate goal of everything involved has come about - moving my sister from her ancestral home in Massachusetts to new digs between a couple of loving daughters in Oklahoma.

That move was heart-rending because it meant leaving the only place my baby sister had lived for almost a century - well, knock about 21 years off that comment.

A busy time? Oh yeah! This family managed in a few weeks to get involved in three heart related problems, the third of which is still ongoing. These add to earlier-year heart problems with CT and his Lady
BL more of the family.

First I fouled up Lady B's longed-for trip to Tennessee to visit one of her latest great-grandchildren by somehow churning up my blood pressure and nearly deep-sixing my heart rate, requiring a helicopter trip to the heart hospital and subsequent insertion of a Pacemaker.

Then merely days later Geezerguy in Tucson decides by way of a serious heart attack that my title of first in the family with a Pacemaker should be challenged and promptly acquires one himself.

Then he decides to go it a bit further and do an open heart surgery, a three way bypass. Yes, he did it and he's recovering quite nicely.

While at it, his doctors, however, restored my Pacemaker title - they took HIS out, saying that it was just a temporary fix while awaiting the big three.

And then comes that sister of mine - I'm going to dub her Lady RN in honor of her lifetime profession - who had a bad toothache that gradually got worse, then abscessed, because it's hard to get a dentist appointment fast enough.

Now Lady RN will probably get mad at me for telling you little secrets on her - the rest of the story (almost) - but I don't care, she can take it.

You've heard of plumbers who never fix leaks in their homes, carpenters who let their houses go to the dogs instead of doing some fixing, and so on?

Lady RN is a retired registered nurse. Nurses know how to take care of people - OTHER people.

Like the plumber and the carpenter, nurses, this one anyway, often neglect what they KNOW they should be doing - taking care of themselves.

Lady RN fell into a bad habit - forgetting to take medications.

So when this bad tooth thing took place, and she decided to something about it, she found out that forgetting to take a high blood pressure med caused her pressure to skyrocket. That in turn caused several postponements of the abscessed tooth removal.

In turn the worry about the high blood pressure and the increasing spread of infection from the tooth brought on some chest pains and other ailments.

Worried, a loving daughter, one of her four, flew in from Ohio to visit Lady RN, quickly and correctly assessed the problems and booted her mom's as - noo - her derriere into her car and hightailed her to Doctor Sarah's office.

Doctor Sarah made a quick exam, opted for an ambulance, not a car, and in less than two days little sister landed in three hospitals . A fourth was on the horizon, and now or eventually there'll be a fifth.

She was scheduled for the bypass. But first , in that fourth hospital, out with the tooth. That required 10 days before a bypass could be performed so she was sent to a rehab in her hometown.

Meantime another daughter and her husband flew in from Kansas to Boston - reinforcements in the campaign to move dear sister from her home where she lived alone, to Oklahoma to a spot between two OTHER daughters.

Medical consultations after the tooth problems determined the bypass, although definitly needed, could be put off a short while longer- the consultation NOT being unanimous.

Another daughter flew in from Oklahoma to Boston and to bolster the others on the scene. Within a day, Lady RN was whisked away in a black limousine to the airport and flown out of Massachusetts first class, dressed in a new gown, not hospital style, sporting a new hairdo, wearing her pearls, earrings, bright red lipstick and carrying a bouquet of red roses.

Now Oklahoma is home. Next week there'll be new exams and plans for that bypass to complete the transition from New England to the Midwest and from poor health to gitupngo.

WELCOME TO OWOSSO, OKLAHOMA, little sister !

- 30 -

Call Now! - You Must Call Now!

Call Immediately - The Number's On The Bottom Of Your Screen - Call This Number This Minute -

You Must Call Right Now -Have Your Credit Card Ready - If You Call Within Five Minutes We Will Include Another For Half Price! - But Wait! - That's Not All! -

If You Are Among The First Hundred Callers In The Next Five Minutes, We'll Also Send You - Absolutely FREE (Except For Handling And Shipping Charges) Two More - Yes, Absolutely Free! CALL THIS NUMBER NOW!

Oh, By The Way, You Only Have A Small Window Of Time So You Must Call RIGHT NOW! Call This Number NOW!

Dear Readers - The other night I was watching a pretty good movie on TV, a murder trial, and just as the climax of the trial came, as the jury began to render its verdict, "we the jury find the defendant . . ."

Just as that climax was being uttered, as the word "defendant" was mentioned, a loud and blatant commercial broke in with a pitch for some product I can't even remember (because I was so mad). I was livid, vowing I'd never buy THAT product if my life depended on it.

Was the defendant guilty? Maybe I'll find out someday if TV ever re-runs that movie and if I can remember the movie's title.

Has this ever happened to you?

Well, that gripe is off my chest. It will probably happen again. It has happened so often I just had to make a blog out of it. So there you are.

Now calm down Old Newsie and think of something pleasant to write about. OK, let's think a bit . . .

It's the Independence Day weekend. The folks all around the city have been shooting off fireworks for three days and nights, having picnics, playing games and so on.

I hope during this weekend they have been reflecting on how good it is they are FREE to do all this, thanks to the thousands and thousands of men and women who have died providing them this freedom.

I hope that they have taken a little time to pray for those men and women who are STILL fighting somewhere in the world to keep that freedom alive.

And on another front I silently thank God for providing the skills to a team of doctors and nurses in Tucson who successfully performed open heart surgery and a three-way heart bypass on son-in-law Geezerguy two weeks ago today.

And while I am at it, I thank God for his guidance to doctors who a month ago put that Pacemaker in my chest, and for those who put Pacemakers in the chests of Dan and Margaret, Bennie Jean. Stuart and others in past years who have been similarly helped. We're getting to be members of a vast club, aren't we?

It's been two weeks since I've blogged, most of the time because I've been too lazy, tired also, to run this keyboard. I promise to do better - but don't depend on it.

= 30 -