LETS GET OUT OF 2008!

Lessons Learned!

Greetings from the dark side. I have not posted in quite a while due to a horrible two months healthwise. I won't bore you with all the detail, but as I turn 71 it makes me think about how we view our health and in particular my own. When we were young, it was a no-brainer. When you turn the last corner, it gets your attention.

I believe that in dealing with our health there is a spectrum of approachs ranging from denial to hypochondria. Being a stupid macho man, I am on the denial side, but have learned from experience to try to limit my denial. In 1982 I was definitely on the denial side. I was only forty-four, a little overweight, but a jogger. I did not have pain, but certainly felt that something was wrong that life changing afternoon. I remember sitting at my desk and thinking that I had never felt like this before. Must be the flu. I actually got on the company plane and went on a two day trip to introduce mozzarella sticks. I even took my running shoes. DENIAL! This doesn't happen to me. I am only forty-four and in good general health.

On the trip I kept thinking that if I could just eat something I would feel better, but I couldn't eat. In Atlanta the next morning I looked at my running shoes on the bed and thought maybe a run would make me feel better. Moving off my denial a little, I said to myself that that would be stupid. Thank God I took my own advice.

I did make a doctor's appointment from Philly. In my mind I knew something was not right. Must be the flu.

When I saw the doctor, he said it was probably the flu but wanted to do an EKG. He then said,"Sam, you have had a heart attack". Eight weeks of recovery led me to a angiogram and the discovery I had 95% blockage. They recommended coronary bypass and proceeded to a quintuple job.

It is interesting to note that my greatest career success came after all of this. I wasn't dead yet. In 1995 I got a sextuple bypass. That's a total of eleven grafts. I often refer to my heart as my McGyver heart. Juryrigged to make it work.

Of course in 2006 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. That wasn't supposed to happen. I am a heart disease man. However, getting my regular PSA identified it early and radiation killed it along with Richard (Dick) Johnson.

I had radiation because it was discovered that I could not take the anesthesia because of a heart anomaly. This led to the diagnosis that my heart was in a state of cardiomypathy (heart failure). Now that's more like it. No stinking cancer for me. The diagnosis was of no surprise.

After too many tests, my cardioligist determined that my extraction factor (EF) was 35%, when normal is 65%. 35% is the low point in considering a defribrillator implant. I decided against it. That brings me to November 2008.

The new Echocardiogram showed that in seven months the EF factor went from an estimated 35% to 30%. The doc and I had the defrib discussion once again. Since I still felt well, I chose to delay again. After thinking about it and reading my clinical report I decided to "Get ur done"!

Here is a portion of that report.

Mr. Arnold suffers from ischemic cardiomyopathy. He is about 26 years out from an anterior MI. We

actually have not done an EKG on him for many years so we got

one. Compared to 1995, his EKG shows sinus rhythm with the old

anterior septal MI. He has not developed a left bundle branch

block. His most recent echocardiogram shows perhaps further

deterioration in LV function. The end systolic dimension is up a

little bit as is the end diastolic. The estimated ejection

fraction is 30%. We once again discussed the possibility of a

defibrillator. He would not require resynchronization therapy

with functional class II symptoms, but I certainly think it

should be considered. He has really been reluctant to take this

step. Would like to continue to monitor this situation. We did

discuss it at length.

Well-nourished, well-developed older gentleman in no acutedistress.

The "older gentleman" part pissed me off. DENIAL!

I needed to stop denying. I am old in body, but damnit I am young of mind

On December 9, I had the surgery. It was easy, local and a one night stay.

Now after the implant, I wondered why get one. Of course the reason is if I have cardiac arrest the defribrillator with get her going again. But what happens then. Wait for the next incidence and finally die anyway. Something to ponder.

One week later I started with a cough. I felt worse and worse each day and was running a fever. My cough was so hard I thought my heart would come out.

After trying unsuccessfully to get an appointment with my doctor (that's a whole different story) I went to Urgent Care.

I told the doctor that I thought it was my age old bronchial infection once again. She gave me an antibiotic and sent me on my way. It got worse. I finally spoke to my Doctor's nurse and described what was going on. My sputum was a rust color. That meant blood, primarily because my blood thickness, went out of whack. She advised me to go to the emergency room. I told her I would go the next day. She insisted that I go immediately. After finally seeing a doctor, they diagnosed pneumonia. I guess I already knew in my mind what was coming. I had had pneumonia before. DENIAL/REALITY!

I spent the next three days in the hospital and got out on Christmas Eve. Nice Christmas!

I am on the mend. With all my issues, I have still felt good up until two weeks ago. I have found that having pneumonia makes you feel lousy. The implant is not even on my radar.

I guess my lesson in life is control your denial. It can happen to you. Listen to your body, but try not to think every little thing is a medical problem. That will drive you crazy. People who are in total denial are those men who don't go to the doctor for a prostate check because of (well you know) and women who don't do regular mammograms.

What I do know that I am a very lucky man. God's plan has given me twenty-six years of relatively good health and more success than I ever could have hoped.

2009 will be a better year.

Sam

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE THEY GET IT RIGHT! I THINK?????

Observation of the Day!

This was my Capricorn horoscope for today, December 14.

If you let others know you can change for them, they'll ask you to do so. Consider whether deep down you really want to do things differently. Maybe what you really want is someone to accept you as you are.

Have a nice day!

Sam

I HATE "OLD" JOKES

Observation of the Day!

I'm glad I'm not old yet.

'OLD' IS WHEN...
Your sweetie says, 'Let's go upstairs
and make love,' and you answer,
'Pick one; I can't do both!'

I wish I were so lucky!

'OLD' IS WHEN...
Your friends compliment you
on your new alligator shoes
and you're barefoot.

Saves a lot of money on Alligator shoes !


'OLD' IS WHEN...
A sexy babe catches your fancy
and your pacemaker opens the garage door,

Getting a pacemaker tomorrow. Maybe I should disconnect the garage door!

'OLD' I S WHEN...
Going braless
pulls all the wrinkles out of your face.

Cheap face lift!

'OLD' IS WHEN...
You don't care where your spouse goes,
just as long as you don't have to go along.

Amen Brother!

'OLD' IS WHEN...
You are cautioned to slow down by the doctor

instead of by the police

Don't worry about the cops, you are already driving below the speed limit in the fast lane

'OLD' IS WHEN...
'Getting a little action'
means you don't need to take any fiber today.

That will be the day!

'OLD' IS WHEN...
'Getting lucky' means you find your car
in the parking lot.

Happened to me today!

'OLD' IS WHEN...
An 'all-nighter' means not getting up
to use the bathroom.

The DEPENDS work really well and save time.

AND

'OLD' IS WHEN...
You are not sure these are jokes?

JOKES? These were jokes????

Have a nice day!

Sammycarl

SECRET SANTA!

Observation of the Season

Christmas is not about getting. It is about giving. The satisfaction of giving far exceeds what we might get.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa has roamed the streets every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills. As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots. So far, he's anonymously given out about $1.3 million. It's been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa?

But now, weak from chemotherapy and armed with a desire to pass on his belief in random kindness, Secret Santa has decided it's time to reveal his identity.

He is Larry Stewart, a 58-year-old businessman from the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, Mo., who made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.

His holiday giving started in December 1979 when he was nursing his wounds at a drive-in restaurant after getting fired. It was the second year in a row he had been fired the week before Christmas.

"It was cold and this car hop didn't have on a very big jacket, and I thought to myself, `I think I got it bad. She's out there in this cold making nickels and dimes,'" he said.

He gave her $20 and told her to keep the change.

"And suddenly I saw her lips begin to tremble and tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She said, 'Sir, you have no idea what this means to me.'"

Stewart went to the bank that day and took out $200, then drove around looking for people who could use a lift. That was his "Christmas present to himself." He's hit the streets each December since.

While Stewart has also given money to other community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss., he offers the simple gifts of cash because it's something people don't have to "beg for, get in line for, or apply for."

That was a feeling he came to know in the early '70s when he was living out of his yellow Datsun 510. Hungry and tired, Stewart mustered the nerve to approach a woman at a church and ask for help.

The woman told him the person who could help was gone for the day, and Stewart would have to come back the next day.

"As I turned around, I knew I would never do that again," Stewart said.

Doctors told Stewart in April that he had cancer of the esophagus and it had spread to his liver. He has been lucky, he says, to get into a clinical trial at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But the aggressive chemotherapy has stripped away his appetite and energy. He's lost about 100 pounds, but has held onto his white hair.

The treatment costs more than $16,000 a month, not including the cost of traveling to Houston every two weeks and staying there for five or six days. He now has two months off, but returns to treatment in February.

His insurance company won't cover the cost of the treatment, which has left him concerned about his finances and his family.

Now, his mission is bigger than handing out $100 bills. Stewart wants to speak to community groups about his devotion to kindness and to inspire others to donate their time and money.

"That's what we're here for," Stewart says, "to help other people out."

Think about it.

Sam

THIS JUST IN!

News you need to know, or not!

E.P.A. may charge fees for 'air-polluting' livestock
(MEATPOULTRY.com, December 05, 2008)
by Bryan Salvage

MONTGOMERY, ALA. – Belching and gaseous cattle and hogs may start costing livestock ranchers money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law, according to The Associated Press. Livestock ranchers are understandably against the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.

"This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government
has tried to do," said Ron Sparks, Alabama Agriculture Commissioner,
who is an outspoken opponent of the proposal.

The measure would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy
cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for
each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.

Ken Hamilton, executive vice-president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau
Federation, estimates the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized
cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year. He said he has talked to many livestock owners about the proposals, and "all have said if the fee were carried out, it would bankrupt them."

Mr. Sparks is worried the fee could be extended to chickens and
other farm animals and cause more meat to be imported to the U.S.
"We'll let other countries put food on our tables like they are putting
gas in our cars," Mr. Sparks said. "Other countries don't have the
health standards we have."

A tax on cow farts?????

*****

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 20-year-old woman told police the wig she was wearing got snatched by an ex-boyfriend, who pedaled away on a bicycle, according to a report released Monday.
The victim said she left a party and was walking east on Southeast Voltair Terrace about 3 a.m. Friday when her ex-boyfriend came up on a bicycle. Nice transportation.

She said he started arguing and yanked off a black wig that was sewn to her natural blond hair. The ex-boyfriend reportedly slapped her after she began chasing him.

Investigators found the victim's hair in "disorder." She said she and the alleged wig-snatcher lived together for eight months. She knew his first name, but apparently recalled only the first letter of his last name.

The ex-boyfriend called the victim's cell phone while an officer was there. Speaking to an officer via the cell phone, he admitted pulling the wig off and leaving when the victim started crying and said she was calling authorities.

The ex-boyfriend hung up after police asked for his last name. Investigators continue to try to identify the alleged wig-puller.

They walk among us!

*****

The Capitol Visitors Center, which opened this morning, may have tripled its original budget and fallen years behind schedule, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found a silver lining for members of Congress: tourists won't offend them with their B.O. anymore.

"My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway," said Reid in his remarks. "In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true."

But it's no longer going to be true, noted Reid, thanks to the air conditioned, indoor space.

And that's not all. "We have many bathrooms here, as you can see," Reid continued. "Souvenirs are available."

$621 million well spent. The budget was overrun by a factor of three and years late and Harry thinks its funny!

The odor is not from the American citizens, but from the members themselves. What an arrogant ASS! And he is the Senate Democratic leader.

*****

BRAINERD, Minn. - A 20-year-old Brainerd man had been out of jail for just minutes when authorities say he walked across the street and stole a sheriff's department vehicle used for undercover operations.

The man was taken back to jail less than an hour after he was released Wednesday.

I think he was not ready to leave home. Probably didn't want to miss pizza day.

*****

The Iowa woman who was caught having random sex in a Metrodome bathroom before a cheering crowd of onlookers Saturday during the Iowa-Minnesota football game said she was so drunk on wine that she doesn't remember anything about the incident, the Des Moines Register reported this afternoon.

"It's ruined my life," Ya Think? Lois Feldman, 38, of Carroll, told the Register.
Feldman, a married mother of three, told the newspaper that she was fired today from an assisted living center, where she had been an administrator.

"I don't know what happened," Feldman told the Register. "But I don't deny that it did happen, because obviously there are police reports."

Feldman said she'd never met Walsh.

"I don't know who this man is," she told the Register. "I just found out his name in the paper."
A security guard discovered the two having sex in a handicapped stall, police said. Police were summoned, and they interrupted the two.

Walsh was released to his girlfriend and Feldman to her husband, police said. It was a long ride home to Iowa

Police say that Walsh had also been drinking. Ya Think?

At least the part of the crowd had something to cheer about. Iowa won 55-00

*****

FORT LUPTON — Barry Manilow's "I Write the Songs" may begin with the line, "I've been alive forever,'" but for noise ordinance violators, listening to Manilow may feel like forever.
Fort Lupton Municipal Judge Paul Sacco says his novel punishment of forcing noise violators to listen to music they don't like for one hour has cut down on the number of repeat offenders in this northwestern Colorado prairie town.

Talk about cruel and unusual punishment!

*****

BEIJING (AP) - A college student in southern China was bitten by a panda after he broke into the bear's enclosure hoping to get a hug, state media and a park employee said Saturday.
The park in Guilin, a popular tourist town in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, houses a small zoo and a panda exhibit. It was virtually deserted when the student scaled the fence surrounding the panda, named Yang Yang, the employee said.

He said the student was bitten in the arms and legs. Two foreign visitors who saw the attack ran to get help from workers at a nearby refreshment stand, who notified park officials, the employee said.

The student was pale as he was taken away by medics but appeared clear-headed ????, he said.
"Yang Yang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him. I didn't expect he would attack," You f*****g idiot.

*****

Florida Boy Arrested For Gas Attack
12-year-old charged after deliberately "breaking wind" in class

NOVEMBER 21--A 12-year-old Florida student was arrested earlier this month after he "deliberately passed gas to disrupt the class," according to police. The child, who was also accused of shutting off the computers of classmates at Stuart's Spectrum Jr./Sr. High School, was busted November 4 for disruption of a school function. A Martin County Sheriff's Office report, a copy of which you'll find below, notes that the 4' 11" offender admitted that he "continually disrupted his classroom environment by breaking wind and shutting off several computers." The boy, whose name was redacted from the police report released today, was turned over to his mother following the arrest. The young perp turned 13 on November 15. (2 pages)

A story he will tell his grandchildren and his grandchildren will be proud!

*****

Tijuana funeral business booming, With all the drugers killing each other there is a lot of dead work to be done.

There is always a bright side.

And that's the news from here!

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl