Today I Went to Heaven - Not OT

[Tom Banes]

Tuesday this week SWMBO called my from the ER (BAD!). Seems she'd been over the Farmersville (yes, really the name) TX to see the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall and pay her respects to a HS Classmate who fell. Heat and stress caused her heart to go wild (160+) and it wouldn't seem to calm down despite her breathing exercises (it's happened before, so she knew what to try). Anyway, she was transported to the ER in McKinney TX - hence the call.

I broke a few laws getting over there from the office (a Honda S2000 is quite quick if you want it to be, say 140+). Turns out she was sitting up in an ER bed complaining she wanted out! All was fine and after 2 hours she was out. Whew!

Point of the story

When I went out to get my car I noticed a truck parked next to me with a decal on the camper shell window - "Curly Woods, McKinney Texas". Hmmm. Went over there this AM - woodie heaven! More beautiful wood than I have ever seen in one spot - multiple grades of curly maple, spalted maple, birds eye maple, big leaf maple, ambrosia maple, fancy walnuts (American, South American...) curly cherry and about every kind of exotic I'd ever heard of. They had it in burl chunks two men couldn't lift, they had it 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4, they had it in pen blanks, turning blanks, bowl blanks. They had it stacked everywhere! It was unreal.

Talked with Frank, only guy in the warehouse. Said I wanted to make a few knife display cases, but didn't want to spend a fortune yet (still learning). He wandered me around and found a hunk of curly cherry that was too thin (about 5/8 thick). Said " Try this, I'll let you have it for $4 a BF". That deal took about 2 ms (little m) to process and I walked out with 6.9 BF for

[Dave Hinz]

That can be scary, yes.

That's always a good sign. As we're taught in EMT school, "sick patients don't bitch". If they're well enough to complain, they'll be just fine. An oversimplification, but basically true.

Sounds like heaven...

Thanks for the info!

[George]

Not uncommon, especially with older folks like me, to get a bit off in heat regulation and maybe lose too many electrolytes. That can do some dismal stuff. Make sure she wears her hat and drinks her Gatorade.

Sad to say, there are still MDs out there who will prescribe diuretics without even mentioning a Potassium supplement.

[BobS]

Let's see....take one rather big brother (ex-cop, paramedic, member of Sheriff's rescue squad) and one tiny, itzy-bitzy kidney stone and mix with about 6 beers at 1am. At 3am you're at the ER.........and he's loudly proclaiming how sick he was gonna be - then proved it. Talk about a looong night.....;-)

Bob S.

[LRod]

I passed out twice 80' up on a tower one time due to heat. Felt fatigue first, put my head on my arms and went to sleep. My climbing buddy told me I was out about 15 seconds on the first one and about 5 or 6 on the second. That ended my work for that day.

It happened to be a very high heat index day that day (near Chicago in the summer), but what I think exacerbated the situation was that I was wearing a hard hat (which I always do when climbing and preach very loudly to others to do so). What I should have done was in between work sessions (or position changes) take it off for a few moments and let that big radiator on the top of my head do its work.

I put away some Gatorade in the shade when I got back on the ground and all was well.

[mac davis]

I'd suggest that you cowboy up and go.. it hurts like hell, but you'll be glad that you went...

I can't really say that it's closure or anything, but it's a very emotional feeling. and emotion, like fear, can only last for so long... let it out at the wall, that's what it's for, bro..

I've never seen the real wall, but recently took my 3rd trip to the moving version... took my grand kids this time and tried to explain th them that each name on those wall sections was a living person... most of them teenagers.. it's a very powerful experience..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Lee K]

Good thing the U. of Florida invented Gatorade and that Florida State didn't, else we'd be drinking Seminole Fluid.

[Tom Banes]

Mac:

Thanks for the words - someday soon, but not with my grandson, not the first time anyway. I don't think I'd be able to adequately explain just why Granpa was crying.

Gary Owens bro!

Tom Banes was Capt Inf US Army

1967 - 1973 Honor Graduate OC 519, Bennings School for Boys, 3/12/68

[Tom Banes]

Bob: I did the kidney stone bit one time - hope never to do another! I've been shot at and hit and the pain was minimal compared to that little beggar. It passed in about 3 hours, thank god, 'cause I was wailing like a baby and disturbing TLOML. Hopefully your big bro passed it quick too.

Regards.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

When the traveling wall was in our town, it was staffed 24 hours a day. Some guys preferred to go in the wee hours of the morning. Do go (either the original or the traveling) if you have the chance. It is a very moving experience as you find the names of friends, classmates, or relatives. .

[LRod]

How long have you been waiting to work that into a conversation?

[WillR]

Someone once remarked about Churchill that he had spent the better part of his life working on his impromptu remarks.

[Bill Leonhardt]

Tom,

I don't think you need courage to visit the wall, just a realization that the tools you've used to survive since Viet Nam won't disappear once you go. Don't go 'til you're ready, just realize that if you do go, you won't lose your way.

Many years ago, when I first heard about the wall, I thought the government built it. My reaction was to want to go piss all over it. I then learned that it was built by vets like you and me and I lightened up. The first time I went, I encountered a scruffy looking veteran in old fatigues in a booth near by. He went out of his way to say "Welcome home". I realized he was the first person to ever say that to me and it only took about 20 years. Choked me up.

I went to the wall and touched the names I knew with my fingers. I felt like Doubting Thomas with his fingers in the nail holes in Christ's hands and, hell, I ain't even christian anymore.

In some places, it's billed as "the wall that heals". I think, perhaps, there is truth there. For me, I came to realize that I could survive without so many of the hard feelings that helped me hold it together for the last thirty some odd years. Good thing, since it's gettin' harder to keep "all the balls in the air", hard feelings included. I still keep the memories to honor those on the wall.

I'm not sure why I'm writing, except maybe to assure you you're not alone.

Glad things worked out for SWMBO....and the wood sounds good, too.

Bill Leonhardt

[WillR]

Stay away from strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus....

DAMHIKT

[Robert Bonomi]

A friend tells the story of coming home one day with the BIGGEST sh*t-eating grin on his face. He'd *finally* gotten an opportunity to use a smart remark he'd thunk up more than _20_years_ earlier. And it _was_ a beauty of a line. But it was only applicable to a very specific set of circumstances.

[Mark & Juanita]

Somebody I work with was convinced that it was eating cashews (the nuts) that caused his kidney stones.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[George]

They recommend avoiding peanuts and beans. Sadly though the list to avoid includes spinach, it also includes chocolate and coffee, depending on your doctor. Drink your milk.

Back to woodworking. Did you know that the calcium oxalate which forms a kidney stone is also the substance that produces mineral stain in maple?