Back In the Game
Getting back in the saddle after a serious health challenge. My saddle is a bit dusty from sitting in the barn, but it feels good to be riding (writing) again.
Just so you know, on Sunday evening Nov. 5, two days prior to the election, I was in my Lazy Boy recliner watching the 10:30 news and recap of the NFL football games when a disaster struck. My abdomen exploded and I was in nauseating pain. To make a very long story short, I struggled to the bedroom and flopped on the bed, telling my wife I was in trouble. Gerri immediately called 911. My next memory was having a fireman lift me off the bedroom floor where I had slip from the bed. My next memory was arriving at the Parker hospital emergency room. Next memory, the lights from a Xray to find that I had a ruptured aorta and two ruptured aneurisms. I was simply bleeding to death at a rapid rate. ( I was later to learn that this is called a triple AAA with a five-percent chance of survival.) Next memory was an ambulance ride to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood flat on my back on a stretcher with a male attendant giving me a blood transfusion on the 40 mile stretch to the emergency room. Two surgeons were waiting to operate on me, saving my life. My next memory was awakening in the ICU section of the hospital and that I had survived the surgery.
Sadly, I missed most of the election excitement, the week, a blur of being poked with needles, changing my dressings, and having vital signs checked every two hours, day and night. I met one of the surgeons who came to see me, and I thanked him for his skills. The team went up through my groin and put stents into my ruptured arteries. What skill and modern surgery techniques these young doctors possess. I was so fortunate to be near medical emergency services. Had I been on a plane, or up in the mountains, it might have been too late to save me. I also could have died in my recliner.
Following days in the hospital, I was then moved to Holly Creek Rehab for another 13 days. I sat in my room watching TV, resting, and worrying about my next adventure in the bathroom. It was very boring, and I would attempt transcendental meditation to pass the time of day. The staff at Holly Creek were attentive and took very good care of me, bringing a menu and letting me select what to eat. Then, and even now, I have lost my appetite and some weight.
One of the highlights of my stay was being able to have Thanksgiving dinner with Gerri in the wing lunchroom where we were treated with a traditional meal. Later that day Freda Miklin, and husband Dr. Jerry Miklin, brought me mach appreciated, delicious real home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner.
Having a large family, I had visitors, and my daughters and sons-in-laws visited often and made sure that I was receiving stellar care. I turned my phone off for about a month, so I missed many calls. I think the spammers had nervous breakdowns not being able to peddle Medicare Part A & B with constant calls.
I’m back behind the computer and also doing some limited driving. Very thankful that I have suffered no cognitive damage and am slowly regaining my strength. I could go into infinite detail on this journey, which was my very first, and almost my last, visit to an emergency room.
During those lonely recovery days in rehab, I reviewed many memories of my interesting life. So many experiences in the newspaper profession.
I will end this column relating one of those experiences that I recalled that has significance this week with the death of President Jimmy Carter. In 1979, while publishing the Craig Daily Press, I was invited back to the White House with a dozen other western newspaper folks to meet with President Carter in the cabinet room to discuss western state issues. One issue was the “Sage Brush Rebellion” an effort by ranchers to sell much of the public lands in the western states.
Most of the two-hour session was spent with Hank Greenspun, Jewish publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, castigating the president over selling some jet fighter planes to Egypt. Carter was very influential in bringing some peace to the region and Greenspun added some excitement to the meeting.
As we were leaving, President Carter stood at the door and thanked each one of us for coming. As I shook his hand, and he spotted my Lion’s Club pin me told about being a member of the Plains Lion’s Club. He was small in physical stature but big in his life with huge support for non-profit groups and especially “Habitat for Humanity” housing projects. He received a Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian services lasting over a span of 40 years. He is being honored this week, laying in state at the Capitol with funeral services at the National Cathedral. He would like to know… along with others, that Hellen Keller is buried in the basement of the Cathedral. Helen Keller was blind and deaf and became a famous speaker and author. In 1925 she spoke to The International Lions Convention and called the Lions, her “Knights of The Blind.” Jimmy was a great Lion in life.