Thirty years ago today I had my total correction surgery on my heart. It was only supposed to be about a seven hour surgery but due to major bleeding issues it took about seventeen and a half hours. Reversing some work that was done on a previous surgery led to some major bleeding. Afterwards I had to be taken back to surgery twice and eventually the bleeding stopped and then I began my recovery. In the middle of all the trouble my respirator I was on stopped working. My surgeon hand bagged me while they got it working again.
The surgery was a Thursday morning. At the time I was a very dedicated fan of the Dukes of Hazzard. I watched it every Friday night it was on. After the trouble I was heavily sedated and watched carfully. That Friday was a new episode and so despite the heavy sedation I woke up in time for the show to start. My mother noticed and asked the nurse to put on the TV for me. The nurse kept telling my mother that I was sedated and would not be awake to watch TV. After several tries my mother told the nurse to tell me that. The nurse saw me with my eyes wide open staring at the TV and turned the TV on. After the show was over I nodded to my mother turned away and went right back to sleep. Just recently I was able to relay that story to one of the actors on the show, Rick Hurst. He said it was the best fan story he had heard.
What was supposed to only be about a two week stay turned into 28 days and about 2 or so months out of school. My recovery was slow. While in the hospital I was able to do some building out of LEGO bricks I had at the time. I also was playing with a Rubik's Cube. One of my nurses allowed me and a girl I met there to do treatment on her. We really bandaged her arm up. I spent Halloween in the hospital and they had a party for the patients down in the cafateria. They gave us costumes to wear. I was a huge fan of Star Wars
at the time and I choose to be C-3PO.
A lot of the activities that I participated in at the hospital, walking, the party, etc. were done reluctantly by me. I was hurting and due to an emergency return to surgery the fast reconnection to bypass nicked a nerve in my leg and my foot and leg was very tingly and painful and I did not want to put any weight on it. Eventually I began to heal and they liked my numbers and I went home. I felt like I was there forever. Going home almost felt like I was going to another world. I was getting so used to my hospital room.
The surgery was a success and years later I had to have two revisions of that surgery to replace parts that we knew would need replacing. Of all the surgeries I remember this one has the odd distiction of feeling like it was so long ago and yet feels like it was very recent. A lot of the details are gone but I remember more about that hospital stay then most of my other ones.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Celebrity Meets
Over the years I have had the opportunity to meet some celebrities. Some just happened and some due to my medical issues. I can remember most, if not all, the celebrities I've met. Here are three and what happened when I met them:
James Doohan.
James Doohan played Scotty on Star Trek and he was the first celebrity I met. I was in my junior year in high school. It wasa Saturday in March I was talking with my mother and she asked if there was any of the actors from Star Trek I wanted to meet. I was, and still am, a fan of Star Trek. I said that I would enjoy meeting Jimmy Doohan. From things I read he was very nice and really responsive to fans. Besides he played Scotty, my favorite character. The next day at church a friend handed me a
newspaper article and said that we were going. The article was about a guest speaker at Lehigh University, James Doohan.
When we arrived we saw people going in the hall where he was to speak. As we got closer I saw a man with a large set of keys on his belt and thought it the person responsible for the opening the hall. Then he turned around and it was Jimmy. We ware able to walk up to him and got a picture taken with him. He was just walking around meeting people. Afterwards he signed autographs. I brought along my Mr Scott's Guide to the Enterprise book and was able to have him sign it. I did get to see him at a few other Star Trek conventions I went to.
Tony Todd.
To Star Trek fans Tony Todd is know for Kurn, Worf's brother from Star Trek The Next Generation and also Jake Sisko as an adult from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. The convention he was at was run by a local Star Trek fan club that I was a member of. The fan club raised money for a local charity called Dream Come True. Dream Come True is an organization that fulfills the dreams of chronically,
seriously or terminally ill children. Due to my heart defect I qualified and they sent me to Walt Disney World and Kennedy Space Center. At the convention there was an auction and the proceeds was for Dream Come True. Tony was very interested in what this Dream Come True was all about. The organizers explained it all to him and he was fascinated and indicated that it would love to meet one of the kids.
I was there at the convention but only as a fan not an organizer. One of the them found me and said that they need me backstage. I was confused. They told me that Tony wanted to meet me. Me? Why? So I went back and my friend from church was there too and he went with me. Tony was very nice. He asked about me and what it was like for me and he wished me well. I got a picture with him and my friend videotaped it. Tony also signed my Klingon Dictonary. Marc Okrand, the writer of the Klingon Dictonary was back there too and he talked with us a bit and also signed the dictionary. That was a log of fun.
Brent Spiner.
I didn't actually meet him but I did interact with him a small bit, to my embarrassment. At the convention he was at, you had to pay to get his autograph and I didn't have the money. I was close by when he asked anyone who could hear if there was someone who knew anything about BlackBerries. At the time I worked for T-Mobile as BlackBerry tech support. I said I did. Then he asked a non-BlackBerry question and it threw me. He wanted to know how to save a voicemail without listening to it. Arrggh. I did know but I blanked. I was all ready for a BlackBerry question and....well someone else helped him. Normally I would be able to answer such a question for a customer and if I blanked I would have the info right there within seconds. Oh, well. I did get to talk to him.........
James Doohan.
James Doohan played Scotty on Star Trek and he was the first celebrity I met. I was in my junior year in high school. It wasa Saturday in March I was talking with my mother and she asked if there was any of the actors from Star Trek I wanted to meet. I was, and still am, a fan of Star Trek. I said that I would enjoy meeting Jimmy Doohan. From things I read he was very nice and really responsive to fans. Besides he played Scotty, my favorite character. The next day at church a friend handed me a
newspaper article and said that we were going. The article was about a guest speaker at Lehigh University, James Doohan.
When we arrived we saw people going in the hall where he was to speak. As we got closer I saw a man with a large set of keys on his belt and thought it the person responsible for the opening the hall. Then he turned around and it was Jimmy. We ware able to walk up to him and got a picture taken with him. He was just walking around meeting people. Afterwards he signed autographs. I brought along my Mr Scott's Guide to the Enterprise book and was able to have him sign it. I did get to see him at a few other Star Trek conventions I went to.
Tony Todd.
To Star Trek fans Tony Todd is know for Kurn, Worf's brother from Star Trek The Next Generation and also Jake Sisko as an adult from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. The convention he was at was run by a local Star Trek fan club that I was a member of. The fan club raised money for a local charity called Dream Come True. Dream Come True is an organization that fulfills the dreams of chronically,
seriously or terminally ill children. Due to my heart defect I qualified and they sent me to Walt Disney World and Kennedy Space Center. At the convention there was an auction and the proceeds was for Dream Come True. Tony was very interested in what this Dream Come True was all about. The organizers explained it all to him and he was fascinated and indicated that it would love to meet one of the kids.
I was there at the convention but only as a fan not an organizer. One of the them found me and said that they need me backstage. I was confused. They told me that Tony wanted to meet me. Me? Why? So I went back and my friend from church was there too and he went with me. Tony was very nice. He asked about me and what it was like for me and he wished me well. I got a picture with him and my friend videotaped it. Tony also signed my Klingon Dictonary. Marc Okrand, the writer of the Klingon Dictonary was back there too and he talked with us a bit and also signed the dictionary. That was a log of fun.
Brent Spiner.
I didn't actually meet him but I did interact with him a small bit, to my embarrassment. At the convention he was at, you had to pay to get his autograph and I didn't have the money. I was close by when he asked anyone who could hear if there was someone who knew anything about BlackBerries. At the time I worked for T-Mobile as BlackBerry tech support. I said I did. Then he asked a non-BlackBerry question and it threw me. He wanted to know how to save a voicemail without listening to it. Arrggh. I did know but I blanked. I was all ready for a BlackBerry question and....well someone else helped him. Normally I would be able to answer such a question for a customer and if I blanked I would have the info right there within seconds. Oh, well. I did get to talk to him.........
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