Click Here
Use the wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out.
The clarity is unbelievable!
Check out the statue on the dome.
Click on the link at the bottom to open picture. The control for the picture
is in the upper left. Press the + sign to zoom in, or the arrows to move right,
left, up or down. If the picture looks fuzzy give it a second to clarify.
This is a remarkable panorama of the inauguration. It might not work well with a dial-up modem,
but you can actually focus in on faces near the back of the crowd- nearly 1/2 mile!
For fun, focus on Obama (center stage) and then look behind him. There's Clarence Thomas seemingly asleep,
Dick Cheney in his wheelchair, Clinton, Gore, Bush 41 and even Dan Quayle! Scalia is sitting there looking like
the Grand Inquisitor. The clarity is amazing!
The technology is truly amazing- and it's unclassified! Imagine what our spy
agencies can see with classified technology...
This picture was taken with a robotic camera and weighs in at 1,474 megapixel.
(295 times the standard 5 megapixel camera)
It was a Canon that pulled together over 200 individual shots.
Each zoom in takes a second to focus ...and then you can see some amazing reactions.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
REMEMBERING WWII FROM A RESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
Pine Lake PLAINTALK
By Paul Jasionowski
Mr. Paul Gumz has been a resident of Pine Lake since 1963. We know
him as the man who decorates his front yard with lighted displays for just
about every holiday. Within the last few years, I have gotten to know him
as a gentleman and a World War II veteran.
Where are you from? Chicago, Illinois. I was born in 1922.
Were you drafted, or did you volunteer? I was drafted into the army. I finished high school in 1940; worked in a foundry/steel mill- Linkbelt was the name. They made ship propellers for the U.S. and British Navy. My draft was deferred until January, 1943. Basic training was at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
What did you do in the army? I manned a heavy, 30- caliber machine gun. In September, 1943, I joined the 15 Regiment, H Company, 3 th rd Division of the 5th Army in Italy. We fought in the Monte Casino Campaign. In December I developed frozen feet, otherwise known as trench foot. Went into the hospital December 24th. Christmas Day I was sent to a hospital in Naples. Christmas evening, the German Luftwaffe bombed the hell out of Naples. They were trying to destroy the docks in the harbor. The U.S. Air Corps didn’t have air supremacy at that time. We were evacuated by hospital ship to Oran, North Africa. I spent two months in the hospital, then another month to rehabilitate. I was sent back to Palermo, Sicily, on limited duty and trained as a front line medic with the 56th Medical Battalion. After I was sent back on duty, we traveled from Berzite, North Africa, to Palermo on an LST, (land ship trucks/tanks), large ship where the bow opens up to enable the trucks and tanks to drive out right onto the beach. While traveling from North Africa to Palermo, a German u-boat shadowed us for the entire trip. The ship’s crew fired at the surfaced u-boat to keep it at bay. The u-boat needed to get close to the LST. The LST had a shallow, flat hull which a torpedo could not hit. As we arrived in Palermo, a liberty ship, (transport ship), left Palermo and was sunk by the same u-boat. Ships were sent out to rescue the survivors. We crossed the Strait of Messina by ferry into Italy. Mount Vesuvius, near Pompeii erupted, spewing ash and smoke while we were traveling up the Italian coast. That was quite an experience. I was sent back to Monte Casino.
What campaigns were you in besides Monte Casino? I was in the Anzio Campaign, then Rome. We went 100 miles past Rome, then pulled back. We trained for an amphibious assault. We were in the first wave of the invasion of Southern France near Cannes. The Germans were completely surprised. We came in on an LCI (landing craft infantry ship). Our ship was hit many times by German shells; otherwise, resistance was sporadic. We joined up with the 7th Army. We traveled close to the Swiss border, mountainous terrain. Continued through Lyon, Grenoble, Moulhouse, then over the Rhine River and into Germany, treating casualties along the way. In April, 1945, we were traveling toward Munich and ran out of gas. All the gas went to the tanks. After receiving gas, we traveled all night. We received an intelligence report that there was a train load of prisoners arriving at a concentration camp near the town of Dachau. The train arrived a day or two before we arrived. The guards machined- gunned and killed everyone on the
train. The prisoners were from the Balkan States. We went in with the tanks and infantry as they smashed through the gate. It was a horrible sight. Dead bodies stacked like cordwood. The inmates were in bad shape. They were walking skeletons. We could not feed them; it would have killed them. We had a soldier who could interpret for us. He asked where the guards were. The inmates pointed to the cellars of the guard houses. We found six or eight of them. One guard was pointed out as a specially mean one. He was very arrogant to us. We handed him over to the prisoners and they severely beat him. One G. I.. handed a pistol to an inmate to finish him off. We stayed for two days until the hospital unit arrived to relieve us. We traveled on to Munich. The Germans threw the Volkssturm (Homeguard) at us. They consisted of children and old men. General Patch, commander of the 7th Army didn’t want to expend any more American lives. He was a good general. He sent in the artillery, and they blasted the outskirts of Munich. It wasn’t much of a fight. The battle lasted three to four hours. We went through Munich three
or four days later. The buildings were bombed out. We traveled through Bavaria to
Bad Reichanal, Austria. It was a resort town. We were the occupation force, so we stayed in the hotel and slept on featherbeds. It was terrific, almost like going to heaven. During that time the war ended. I went into the army occupation force stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. It was a beautiful city. It didn’t get bombed during the war. I did this until October, 1946, when I was discharged.
What was the worst experience for you during the war? There were a hell of a lot of them. The Southern France Invasion. Our ship was hit many times. When I returned to Casino as a medic, the German Luftwaffe dropped an antipersonnel bomb. An antipersonnel bomb is one bomb which opens into little bombs. The Germans dropped the bomb from an airplane. It landed amongst our tents. Everyone hit the deck. Miraculously, no one was wounded. Most of the tents had lots of holes in them or were completely shredded. Getting straffed by German airplanes was pretty awful.
Getting trench foot: In Monte Casino we had to stay in our foxhole during the day because the Germans had the high ground and they could see right down on us. Water was always in the foxhole, no matter how much we bailed it out. That’s how I developed trench foot. The food: It was usually hash/beans or stew. The stew caused diarrhea. The hash/beans caused gas. The German jet: One day I watched one fly by. I didn’t know what it was. If the Germans had gasoline for their airplanes and jets, they would have had a time with us. As we traveled through Germany, the autobahn was lined with miles of airplanes and jets.
What was the best experience for you during the war? Touring Rome. Touring the Vatican. Seeing the beautiful paintings in the Sistine Chapel and the cross that Christ died on. Seeing the sights of Rome. That was the best experience.
Where were you at the time of the German surrender? Bad Reichanal, Austria.
What did you do after the war? I went back to Chicago. I worked on the El as a motorman. Later, I joined the post office as a letter carrier. My feet couldn’t take the Chicago winters. I moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, at the end of 1949, where I met my wife Dorothy. We were married in 1952. I worked for W.T. Grant department store. I transferred to Atlanta in 1963 and went back to work for the post office. That’s when I moved to Pine Lake. We both retired in 1992.
Any reflections on the war 60 years later? It took a long time to get over the war, especially Dachau. I didn’t quite get over it until I sat down after I retired and documented my memories. Then it eased it somewhat. Prior to that, I would never watch any war movies or documentaries. Now I do. I was thankful to be in the European theater instead of the Pacific theater. The Japanese were crazy as hell. When you’re 21, you think that you’re invincible. The Germans had far better firepower than we did. We just had more of it, that’s all. It was a war we had to win. We were unprepared for it, but we all had patriotism.
Copyright © 2005 Paul J. Jasionowski
Paul Jasionowski is a music specialist for the DeKalb County School System, musicdirector/conductor for the Atlanta Musicians' Orchestra, and Principal Percussionist/Assistant Timpanist for the Gainesville, Ga. Symphony Orchestra. He enjoys interviewing people in his areas of special interest, and has had the opportunity to talk with Jaime Escalente, the famed math teacher on whom the movie “Stand and Deliver” is based; and Saul Goodman, timpanist for the New York Philharmonic for 46 years. World War II has been particularly meaningful to him as he lost two relatives in the death camps in Poland, and most of his male relatives are veterans of that war.
By Paul Jasionowski
Mr. Paul Gumz has been a resident of Pine Lake since 1963. We know
him as the man who decorates his front yard with lighted displays for just
about every holiday. Within the last few years, I have gotten to know him
as a gentleman and a World War II veteran.
Where are you from? Chicago, Illinois. I was born in 1922.
Were you drafted, or did you volunteer? I was drafted into the army. I finished high school in 1940; worked in a foundry/steel mill- Linkbelt was the name. They made ship propellers for the U.S. and British Navy. My draft was deferred until January, 1943. Basic training was at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
What did you do in the army? I manned a heavy, 30- caliber machine gun. In September, 1943, I joined the 15 Regiment, H Company, 3 th rd Division of the 5th Army in Italy. We fought in the Monte Casino Campaign. In December I developed frozen feet, otherwise known as trench foot. Went into the hospital December 24th. Christmas Day I was sent to a hospital in Naples. Christmas evening, the German Luftwaffe bombed the hell out of Naples. They were trying to destroy the docks in the harbor. The U.S. Air Corps didn’t have air supremacy at that time. We were evacuated by hospital ship to Oran, North Africa. I spent two months in the hospital, then another month to rehabilitate. I was sent back to Palermo, Sicily, on limited duty and trained as a front line medic with the 56th Medical Battalion. After I was sent back on duty, we traveled from Berzite, North Africa, to Palermo on an LST, (land ship trucks/tanks), large ship where the bow opens up to enable the trucks and tanks to drive out right onto the beach. While traveling from North Africa to Palermo, a German u-boat shadowed us for the entire trip. The ship’s crew fired at the surfaced u-boat to keep it at bay. The u-boat needed to get close to the LST. The LST had a shallow, flat hull which a torpedo could not hit. As we arrived in Palermo, a liberty ship, (transport ship), left Palermo and was sunk by the same u-boat. Ships were sent out to rescue the survivors. We crossed the Strait of Messina by ferry into Italy. Mount Vesuvius, near Pompeii erupted, spewing ash and smoke while we were traveling up the Italian coast. That was quite an experience. I was sent back to Monte Casino.
What campaigns were you in besides Monte Casino? I was in the Anzio Campaign, then Rome. We went 100 miles past Rome, then pulled back. We trained for an amphibious assault. We were in the first wave of the invasion of Southern France near Cannes. The Germans were completely surprised. We came in on an LCI (landing craft infantry ship). Our ship was hit many times by German shells; otherwise, resistance was sporadic. We joined up with the 7th Army. We traveled close to the Swiss border, mountainous terrain. Continued through Lyon, Grenoble, Moulhouse, then over the Rhine River and into Germany, treating casualties along the way. In April, 1945, we were traveling toward Munich and ran out of gas. All the gas went to the tanks. After receiving gas, we traveled all night. We received an intelligence report that there was a train load of prisoners arriving at a concentration camp near the town of Dachau. The train arrived a day or two before we arrived. The guards machined- gunned and killed everyone on the
train. The prisoners were from the Balkan States. We went in with the tanks and infantry as they smashed through the gate. It was a horrible sight. Dead bodies stacked like cordwood. The inmates were in bad shape. They were walking skeletons. We could not feed them; it would have killed them. We had a soldier who could interpret for us. He asked where the guards were. The inmates pointed to the cellars of the guard houses. We found six or eight of them. One guard was pointed out as a specially mean one. He was very arrogant to us. We handed him over to the prisoners and they severely beat him. One G. I.. handed a pistol to an inmate to finish him off. We stayed for two days until the hospital unit arrived to relieve us. We traveled on to Munich. The Germans threw the Volkssturm (Homeguard) at us. They consisted of children and old men. General Patch, commander of the 7th Army didn’t want to expend any more American lives. He was a good general. He sent in the artillery, and they blasted the outskirts of Munich. It wasn’t much of a fight. The battle lasted three to four hours. We went through Munich three
or four days later. The buildings were bombed out. We traveled through Bavaria to
Bad Reichanal, Austria. It was a resort town. We were the occupation force, so we stayed in the hotel and slept on featherbeds. It was terrific, almost like going to heaven. During that time the war ended. I went into the army occupation force stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. It was a beautiful city. It didn’t get bombed during the war. I did this until October, 1946, when I was discharged.
What was the worst experience for you during the war? There were a hell of a lot of them. The Southern France Invasion. Our ship was hit many times. When I returned to Casino as a medic, the German Luftwaffe dropped an antipersonnel bomb. An antipersonnel bomb is one bomb which opens into little bombs. The Germans dropped the bomb from an airplane. It landed amongst our tents. Everyone hit the deck. Miraculously, no one was wounded. Most of the tents had lots of holes in them or were completely shredded. Getting straffed by German airplanes was pretty awful.
Getting trench foot: In Monte Casino we had to stay in our foxhole during the day because the Germans had the high ground and they could see right down on us. Water was always in the foxhole, no matter how much we bailed it out. That’s how I developed trench foot. The food: It was usually hash/beans or stew. The stew caused diarrhea. The hash/beans caused gas. The German jet: One day I watched one fly by. I didn’t know what it was. If the Germans had gasoline for their airplanes and jets, they would have had a time with us. As we traveled through Germany, the autobahn was lined with miles of airplanes and jets.
What was the best experience for you during the war? Touring Rome. Touring the Vatican. Seeing the beautiful paintings in the Sistine Chapel and the cross that Christ died on. Seeing the sights of Rome. That was the best experience.
Where were you at the time of the German surrender? Bad Reichanal, Austria.
What did you do after the war? I went back to Chicago. I worked on the El as a motorman. Later, I joined the post office as a letter carrier. My feet couldn’t take the Chicago winters. I moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, at the end of 1949, where I met my wife Dorothy. We were married in 1952. I worked for W.T. Grant department store. I transferred to Atlanta in 1963 and went back to work for the post office. That’s when I moved to Pine Lake. We both retired in 1992.
Any reflections on the war 60 years later? It took a long time to get over the war, especially Dachau. I didn’t quite get over it until I sat down after I retired and documented my memories. Then it eased it somewhat. Prior to that, I would never watch any war movies or documentaries. Now I do. I was thankful to be in the European theater instead of the Pacific theater. The Japanese were crazy as hell. When you’re 21, you think that you’re invincible. The Germans had far better firepower than we did. We just had more of it, that’s all. It was a war we had to win. We were unprepared for it, but we all had patriotism.
Copyright © 2005 Paul J. Jasionowski
Paul Jasionowski is a music specialist for the DeKalb County School System, musicdirector/conductor for the Atlanta Musicians' Orchestra, and Principal Percussionist/Assistant Timpanist for the Gainesville, Ga. Symphony Orchestra. He enjoys interviewing people in his areas of special interest, and has had the opportunity to talk with Jaime Escalente, the famed math teacher on whom the movie “Stand and Deliver” is based; and Saul Goodman, timpanist for the New York Philharmonic for 46 years. World War II has been particularly meaningful to him as he lost two relatives in the death camps in Poland, and most of his male relatives are veterans of that war.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tinnitus
From the Georgia Peach Cochlear Implant Association Newsletter
By Al Laframboise
PRELUDE
Well, I don’t know how to start this. I want to help people who have Tinnitus. Certainly
we all know that Tinnitus is the existence of sound that a patient hears, but which does not
appear to have an outside source. I want to quote the ‘Mayo Clinic on Better Hearing and
Balance’ maybe more than once so I will just refer to that book as the Mayo clinic.
The Mayo Clinic says tha t ‘Tinnitus may develop from multiple causes. Some
researchers believe that tinnitus results from damage to the hair cells inside your cochlea.
Turbulent flow through your blood vessels may produce a sound sensation’. I have read another
book from the Boston area which strongly suggests that stress is what is causing this turbulent
flow. I do not have that book handy to provide you with a title.
So, although I admit to the possibility of the existence of other causes to tinnitus, I am
planning on providing you with some personal background on my tinnitus and its cure. I also am
writing this article in hopes that the readers would accept a challenge to prove me either right or
wrong.
The Mayo Clinic points to the possibility that hearing loss is the initial source and when
added to the high stress in the patient will produce tinnitus, but you knew that. There is some
suggestion about the use of hearing aids, masks, and drug therapy in order to manage the
problem.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
I lost some of my hearing back in 1954 as either exposure to loud artillery noises from
155mm cannons or the ingestion of the drug Streptomycin. After that my hearing progressively
decreased until I no longer heard sound. In 1996, I was given a cochlear implant which has
proven to be more than a miracle. The implant is not the subject here so I will proceed to the
subject of tinnitus.
While attending Fordham University between 1956 and 1960, I lived with various
roommates in different apartments in New York City. Living in a New York apartment in low
cost rent areas leaves one subject to robbery on a regular basis. We were robbed at least once a
year during that period. But we lived where we could afford to live. On a daily basis, when I
went to bed at night and my roommates also were in bed, the room should have been quiet, but I
could hear what sounded like someone scratching the keyhole in the door. I did not realize that it
was the sounds of tinnitus raising their ugly appearance.
In 1961, I was married and we moved to New Jersey. When we went to bed at night, I
could hear what sounded like footsteps. I arose more than once until we purchased a dog. My
logic was that if there really was a person making the scene, my dog would provide enough noise
to alert me to that occurrence. It did not make the noise go away, but I felt that I could sleep with
the noise that showed its ugly head when my head hit the pillow.
It was in the late 1960s that I was finally fitted for my first hearing aid. I did not mention
the bed time noises to the Beltone distributor as I did not know it was associated with my loss.
Multiple hearing aids followed, but none were successful in application. In 1978, I moved to
Marietta, Georgia. About a year later I joined ‘Self Help for Hard of Hearing’ (since named –
Hearing Loss Association of America). This was the start of my advocacy to help others with
hearing problems. It was not till then that I found out there was such a thing as Tinnitus. It was
strange to find out about condition that I had conquered the year before.
HOW DID I WIN THE BATTLE?
Let’s back up a little: We were still living in Massachusetts. I was not looking for a cure
for tinnitus. I did not know what tinnitus was. I accepted that I was just one of those weird
people who had noise in their head. But I was subject to high stress. I knew that. The stress was
high as an accountant. It was high as a computer programmer. It was high as a person with
hearing loss. It was also high as a husband and father. I knew that if that stress continued, I
would be another one person considering suicide.
Then, I heard about a thing called Transcendental Meditation (™). A free class was
available and I brought my wife with me to that class. Eventually, I paid for the entire family to
have exposure to TM. The rest of the family did not continue the meditation practice, but I
continue today. Today, I live a stress free life devoted toward helping others where I can.
The important thing about this story is that in the process of lowering the amount of stress
within myself, I discovered that the tinnitus I had been experiencing since 1956 was gone. Well,
maybe not 100%. On occasion I experience it but it lasts less than 5 minutes. Of course, I believe
that if the meditation would remove the tinnitus for me, it could be of use for others.
I know that I cannot expect anyone who is in the practice of treating tinnitus to just take
my word that meditation might produce these same results for their patients. There are many
reasons for that. Probably the most popular reason is that there exists a certain lack of belief in
the usefulness of meditation. There are enough jokes about meditation for anyone to conclude
that it is something for people who are also the type who use type drugs that produce
hallucinations. There are jokes about the requirement to assume a lotus position. I know that I
never would have committed to meditation if I had to assume a lotus position. Out of curiosity,
once, I assumed that position for about 10 seconds when I bowled over backward.
Perhaps it would help if I briefly described the way I meditate. I sit upright in a chair with
no support for my neck and for 20 minutes close my eyes and repeat my mantra. A mantra is a
fancy sounding word for a sound that has no meaning to the meditator. If I find that I am
thinking and not repeating my mantra, I return to repetition of the mantra.
I recently suggested to an audiologist about meditation for the management of tinnitus. I
told him how I had been meditating since 1978 and I have not had any serious amount of tinnitus
since. His response was less than favorable.
Now after Reading the above, I expect that you may have one opinion about my
suggestion that may differ from mine. But allow me for just one minute to offer this. Suppose,
just suppose, that I am correct. Suppose that meditation could offer you something that you have
not considered before. How could you determine whether this is true or not?
Of Course, you can ask a bunch of people. The kinds of answers you can expect are
really related to what the individual thinks about meditation. That makes sense. What I am
suggesting is that you consider pursuing the practice of meditation solely for the purpose of
reducing your stress. Nothing more, just to reduce stress will be your objective. Once you start,
allow yourself 3 months of practicing meditation. Then question yourself, ‘How is my tinnitus?’
When you have the answer to that, email me and let me know what you think. Negative
comments are encouraged as well as positive ones.
If I am wrong, we have proven that meditation is not a management tool for tinnitus. If I
am right, we have changed your world. Either result makes for something worthwhile. What do
you think?
In almost every city, there are meditation centers that are anxious to reduce your stress.
While I can recommend Transcendental Meditation, I am led to believe that other forms of
meditation can work also. It is just that I am not familiar with them to recommend them to you.
My email address is a.laframboise@comcast.net. Hey, tell me how you did!
By Al Laframboise
PRELUDE
Well, I don’t know how to start this. I want to help people who have Tinnitus. Certainly
we all know that Tinnitus is the existence of sound that a patient hears, but which does not
appear to have an outside source. I want to quote the ‘Mayo Clinic on Better Hearing and
Balance’ maybe more than once so I will just refer to that book as the Mayo clinic.
The Mayo Clinic says tha t ‘Tinnitus may develop from multiple causes. Some
researchers believe that tinnitus results from damage to the hair cells inside your cochlea.
Turbulent flow through your blood vessels may produce a sound sensation’. I have read another
book from the Boston area which strongly suggests that stress is what is causing this turbulent
flow. I do not have that book handy to provide you with a title.
So, although I admit to the possibility of the existence of other causes to tinnitus, I am
planning on providing you with some personal background on my tinnitus and its cure. I also am
writing this article in hopes that the readers would accept a challenge to prove me either right or
wrong.
The Mayo Clinic points to the possibility that hearing loss is the initial source and when
added to the high stress in the patient will produce tinnitus, but you knew that. There is some
suggestion about the use of hearing aids, masks, and drug therapy in order to manage the
problem.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
I lost some of my hearing back in 1954 as either exposure to loud artillery noises from
155mm cannons or the ingestion of the drug Streptomycin. After that my hearing progressively
decreased until I no longer heard sound. In 1996, I was given a cochlear implant which has
proven to be more than a miracle. The implant is not the subject here so I will proceed to the
subject of tinnitus.
While attending Fordham University between 1956 and 1960, I lived with various
roommates in different apartments in New York City. Living in a New York apartment in low
cost rent areas leaves one subject to robbery on a regular basis. We were robbed at least once a
year during that period. But we lived where we could afford to live. On a daily basis, when I
went to bed at night and my roommates also were in bed, the room should have been quiet, but I
could hear what sounded like someone scratching the keyhole in the door. I did not realize that it
was the sounds of tinnitus raising their ugly appearance.
In 1961, I was married and we moved to New Jersey. When we went to bed at night, I
could hear what sounded like footsteps. I arose more than once until we purchased a dog. My
logic was that if there really was a person making the scene, my dog would provide enough noise
to alert me to that occurrence. It did not make the noise go away, but I felt that I could sleep with
the noise that showed its ugly head when my head hit the pillow.
It was in the late 1960s that I was finally fitted for my first hearing aid. I did not mention
the bed time noises to the Beltone distributor as I did not know it was associated with my loss.
Multiple hearing aids followed, but none were successful in application. In 1978, I moved to
Marietta, Georgia. About a year later I joined ‘Self Help for Hard of Hearing’ (since named –
Hearing Loss Association of America). This was the start of my advocacy to help others with
hearing problems. It was not till then that I found out there was such a thing as Tinnitus. It was
strange to find out about condition that I had conquered the year before.
HOW DID I WIN THE BATTLE?
Let’s back up a little: We were still living in Massachusetts. I was not looking for a cure
for tinnitus. I did not know what tinnitus was. I accepted that I was just one of those weird
people who had noise in their head. But I was subject to high stress. I knew that. The stress was
high as an accountant. It was high as a computer programmer. It was high as a person with
hearing loss. It was also high as a husband and father. I knew that if that stress continued, I
would be another one person considering suicide.
Then, I heard about a thing called Transcendental Meditation (™). A free class was
available and I brought my wife with me to that class. Eventually, I paid for the entire family to
have exposure to TM. The rest of the family did not continue the meditation practice, but I
continue today. Today, I live a stress free life devoted toward helping others where I can.
The important thing about this story is that in the process of lowering the amount of stress
within myself, I discovered that the tinnitus I had been experiencing since 1956 was gone. Well,
maybe not 100%. On occasion I experience it but it lasts less than 5 minutes. Of course, I believe
that if the meditation would remove the tinnitus for me, it could be of use for others.
I know that I cannot expect anyone who is in the practice of treating tinnitus to just take
my word that meditation might produce these same results for their patients. There are many
reasons for that. Probably the most popular reason is that there exists a certain lack of belief in
the usefulness of meditation. There are enough jokes about meditation for anyone to conclude
that it is something for people who are also the type who use type drugs that produce
hallucinations. There are jokes about the requirement to assume a lotus position. I know that I
never would have committed to meditation if I had to assume a lotus position. Out of curiosity,
once, I assumed that position for about 10 seconds when I bowled over backward.
Perhaps it would help if I briefly described the way I meditate. I sit upright in a chair with
no support for my neck and for 20 minutes close my eyes and repeat my mantra. A mantra is a
fancy sounding word for a sound that has no meaning to the meditator. If I find that I am
thinking and not repeating my mantra, I return to repetition of the mantra.
I recently suggested to an audiologist about meditation for the management of tinnitus. I
told him how I had been meditating since 1978 and I have not had any serious amount of tinnitus
since. His response was less than favorable.
Now after Reading the above, I expect that you may have one opinion about my
suggestion that may differ from mine. But allow me for just one minute to offer this. Suppose,
just suppose, that I am correct. Suppose that meditation could offer you something that you have
not considered before. How could you determine whether this is true or not?
Of Course, you can ask a bunch of people. The kinds of answers you can expect are
really related to what the individual thinks about meditation. That makes sense. What I am
suggesting is that you consider pursuing the practice of meditation solely for the purpose of
reducing your stress. Nothing more, just to reduce stress will be your objective. Once you start,
allow yourself 3 months of practicing meditation. Then question yourself, ‘How is my tinnitus?’
When you have the answer to that, email me and let me know what you think. Negative
comments are encouraged as well as positive ones.
If I am wrong, we have proven that meditation is not a management tool for tinnitus. If I
am right, we have changed your world. Either result makes for something worthwhile. What do
you think?
In almost every city, there are meditation centers that are anxious to reduce your stress.
While I can recommend Transcendental Meditation, I am led to believe that other forms of
meditation can work also. It is just that I am not familiar with them to recommend them to you.
My email address is a.laframboise@comcast.net. Hey, tell me how you did!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Paradign Shift
By Dennis Crews
Friends - having watched a screening of the documentary Uncounted the night before the election, my mood was less than optimistic on Tuesday morning. "Grimly determined" to fulfill my civic duty was more like it.
After having received countless anonymously written emails (and a few personally written ones) slandering Barack Obama for months on end, from acquaintances who forwarded them relentlessly to every name on their computers, as if attempting to jam America's collective capability of critical thought, I was dubious about the outcome of this election. It was easy to methodically debunk the claims made in this smear campaign, but doing so day after day would have required so much time and effort it seemed as if its intent was simply to bring everything to a grinding halt. Throw so much sand in the gears that to clean it all out would leave time for nothing else.
There were two remarkable things about this email campaign. The first was that otherwise fully functional, seemingly smart people could buy into such demonstrably false ideas (i.e. Obama is the anti-Christ, a Muslim, a baby-killer, a socialist, not an American citizen, etc); the second was that so many people I know carried such intense vitriol and resentment for a man who has never done them any harm. Unlike the current occupant of the White House, Barack Obama's actions, demeanor and policies have not cost an iota of loss or damage to the well-being, reputation or livelihood of any person I know. He has run a campaign remarkably free of mud-slinging and character attacks. From whence comes all this resentment, this need to diminish the character and accomplishments of a decent man and pour scorn all over his campaign for the presidency?
I'm not willing to call it racism, but it certainly is bigotry of some kind. Maybe it's reverse snobbery. The otherwise good, smart and funny woman who cuts my hair sneers at Obama's education and calls it of no practical use. After eight years of George W. Bush it seems a sizable segment of America wants another Joe Sixpack to be their leader - or lately, Joe the Plumber. The idea of a Constitutional scholar sticks in their craw. Anybody who's traveled abroad, who has studied foreign policy and, heaven forfend, been a Harvard Law graduate is unthinkably elitist. And if they bear a non-European foreign name and have a multi-cultural personal history - quick, somebody call Joe the Plumber and flush the guy.
Maybe I'm immune to this because my earliest memories are of growing up in India, as a child of missionary parents. We lived in Pakistan as well. My uncle was both a devout Christian and an Islamic and Arabic scholar. As an adult I've traveled on four continents and found real value in the experience. Foreign exposure is beneficial, a multi-cultural outlook replaces irrational fear of the "other" with appreciation for the complexity of life and the interconnectedness of all humanity. It is one thing when the primitive fundamentalists of Islam choose xenophobia and hatred as their default attitude; it is quite another when educated Americans do the same. To me this is unacceptable; we are capable of better and we need a leader who will help America be better than this. We need someone quite a bit smarter than Joe Sixpack, Joe the Plumber or Sarah the Moose Hunter.
As I have said before, God holds the ultimate destiny of nations in his hands - but we bear collective responsibility for our civic destiny. We suffer consequences when we make mistakes. After the manifold ill consequences of the past two botched elections, I feared even worse this time. But thankfully we got something better this time. As Martin Luther King once said, citing an old preacher and former slave: "Lord, we ain't what we want to be; we ain't what we ought to be; we ain't what we gonna be, but, thank God we ain't what we was."
Here's part of a much nicer email I got this morning (subject line - "My instant paradigm shift"):
[Obama's] speech was … well, everything a speech should be but often isn't. I honestly believe he will tap into the volunteer and patriotic spirit of America and inspire all of us to contribute to our collective well being. This is the person I want leading our children in their politically formative years. The lessons they will learn from his inclusiveness: equality, pride, and volunteerism… instead of feeling hopeless and apologetic for our leader and his policies of aggression and ecological rape.
Basking in this glory today, I have realized how negative I had grown about this pathetic time under Bush’s reign. I felt no pride in his American agenda but felt mountains of fear about his followers… It was really very peaceful waking up this morning with hope. It occurred to me that the majority of Americans DO feel like I do… I am NOT part of some disgruntled, disenfranchised minority! That in itself makes me feel hopeful.
That said, this poor man is now in charge of a HUGE bag of crap, which is also apparently on fire. But ‘experienced’ or not, he will absolutely do a better job than his opposition could have even dreamed of. I have no doubts he’ll be great.
The talking heads are absolutely right tonight: we are watching, we are a part of, history with a capital “H”.
Congratulations to all of us!
Well said! All the best d
Friends - having watched a screening of the documentary Uncounted the night before the election, my mood was less than optimistic on Tuesday morning. "Grimly determined" to fulfill my civic duty was more like it.
After having received countless anonymously written emails (and a few personally written ones) slandering Barack Obama for months on end, from acquaintances who forwarded them relentlessly to every name on their computers, as if attempting to jam America's collective capability of critical thought, I was dubious about the outcome of this election. It was easy to methodically debunk the claims made in this smear campaign, but doing so day after day would have required so much time and effort it seemed as if its intent was simply to bring everything to a grinding halt. Throw so much sand in the gears that to clean it all out would leave time for nothing else.
There were two remarkable things about this email campaign. The first was that otherwise fully functional, seemingly smart people could buy into such demonstrably false ideas (i.e. Obama is the anti-Christ, a Muslim, a baby-killer, a socialist, not an American citizen, etc); the second was that so many people I know carried such intense vitriol and resentment for a man who has never done them any harm. Unlike the current occupant of the White House, Barack Obama's actions, demeanor and policies have not cost an iota of loss or damage to the well-being, reputation or livelihood of any person I know. He has run a campaign remarkably free of mud-slinging and character attacks. From whence comes all this resentment, this need to diminish the character and accomplishments of a decent man and pour scorn all over his campaign for the presidency?
I'm not willing to call it racism, but it certainly is bigotry of some kind. Maybe it's reverse snobbery. The otherwise good, smart and funny woman who cuts my hair sneers at Obama's education and calls it of no practical use. After eight years of George W. Bush it seems a sizable segment of America wants another Joe Sixpack to be their leader - or lately, Joe the Plumber. The idea of a Constitutional scholar sticks in their craw. Anybody who's traveled abroad, who has studied foreign policy and, heaven forfend, been a Harvard Law graduate is unthinkably elitist. And if they bear a non-European foreign name and have a multi-cultural personal history - quick, somebody call Joe the Plumber and flush the guy.
Maybe I'm immune to this because my earliest memories are of growing up in India, as a child of missionary parents. We lived in Pakistan as well. My uncle was both a devout Christian and an Islamic and Arabic scholar. As an adult I've traveled on four continents and found real value in the experience. Foreign exposure is beneficial, a multi-cultural outlook replaces irrational fear of the "other" with appreciation for the complexity of life and the interconnectedness of all humanity. It is one thing when the primitive fundamentalists of Islam choose xenophobia and hatred as their default attitude; it is quite another when educated Americans do the same. To me this is unacceptable; we are capable of better and we need a leader who will help America be better than this. We need someone quite a bit smarter than Joe Sixpack, Joe the Plumber or Sarah the Moose Hunter.
As I have said before, God holds the ultimate destiny of nations in his hands - but we bear collective responsibility for our civic destiny. We suffer consequences when we make mistakes. After the manifold ill consequences of the past two botched elections, I feared even worse this time. But thankfully we got something better this time. As Martin Luther King once said, citing an old preacher and former slave: "Lord, we ain't what we want to be; we ain't what we ought to be; we ain't what we gonna be, but, thank God we ain't what we was."
Here's part of a much nicer email I got this morning (subject line - "My instant paradigm shift"):
[Obama's] speech was … well, everything a speech should be but often isn't. I honestly believe he will tap into the volunteer and patriotic spirit of America and inspire all of us to contribute to our collective well being. This is the person I want leading our children in their politically formative years. The lessons they will learn from his inclusiveness: equality, pride, and volunteerism… instead of feeling hopeless and apologetic for our leader and his policies of aggression and ecological rape.
Basking in this glory today, I have realized how negative I had grown about this pathetic time under Bush’s reign. I felt no pride in his American agenda but felt mountains of fear about his followers… It was really very peaceful waking up this morning with hope. It occurred to me that the majority of Americans DO feel like I do… I am NOT part of some disgruntled, disenfranchised minority! That in itself makes me feel hopeful.
That said, this poor man is now in charge of a HUGE bag of crap, which is also apparently on fire. But ‘experienced’ or not, he will absolutely do a better job than his opposition could have even dreamed of. I have no doubts he’ll be great.
The talking heads are absolutely right tonight: we are watching, we are a part of, history with a capital “H”.
Congratulations to all of us!
Well said! All the best d
Friday, October 10, 2008
Poet On Call
by Andrei Codrescu
After The Bailout
I was sharpening my chain saw when they called me from Washington, D.C., to ask me how to fix the economy.
This request focused my thoughts, or the lack of 'em, to such a fine point, I gave my 14-inch Echo an edge it never had. Good enough for cutting half a cord at least, to keep the wood stove going through October. I love not paying the oil company a nickel. Except for the half-gallon of gas and the chain oil, but I'm fixin' to make the thing run on plum brandy. I've got a plum tree.
Ah, where were we? The economy, yes: $700 billion is more than enough money to buy every able-bodied American a chain saw, a solar-powered generator and a stake in a communal well and windmill. Also, red dirt and plum trees. That would probably only cost about $100 billion, and you can use the other $600 billion to buy everybody their house outright.
Now everybody can own their house and be green and self-sufficient, and can go back to whatever they were doing before the world ended: watching TV. Except for me. I was sharpening my chain saw.
So I go back to it, and I see a line of refugees coming up the road to move in with me. Oh my God, it's the '70s again. All my deadbeat friends — dead and alive — are being chased out of their homes and heaven for not owing any money. They are debt-free in a world that can't exist without interest rates. The dead are especially egregious in this regard; you can't squeeze even an extra penny out of them.
Oh, no, now that they are getting closer, I don't even think it's people from the '70s: It's people ... from the future!
It's worse than I thought: These are people independent from foreign oil, carrying solar-powered chain saws, full of American ingenuity. After the bailout, they owned their own homes, they didn't pay into a corporate energy grid, and they didn't worry about food because they grew it on the roof. They didn't drive, because they didn't have any jobs to drive to, and every garage in America was the site of an invention that was so darn beneficial nobody needed anything from the store.
Without worries about money, without a job, and with extra space in the garage to grow food and invent, these people forgot about the stock market, stopped borrowing money, even forgot how to shop — in short they stopped being American. These un-Americans got their exercise raking the compost instead of circling the mall; they home-schooled their children and were never again embarrassed that their kids knew more than they did. Heck, they were in heaven, the place where the pursuit of happiness leads to when you stop pursuing it.
Such self-sufficiency made the economy grind to a halt, so the government had to do something again: They called in the Army to chase everyone out of their self-contained greenhouses.
And now they are coming up the road to my place because I'm a poet, and I live in a compound defended by polygamist haikus.
"What did you do wrong?" I asked the first of the refugees to get over the palisades.
"Nothing," he said. "We just got out of debt and stopped watching TV! So the urge to buy things on credit disappeared. So they sent in the troops. First thing they did was to put a 40-inch plasma TV in every room and fixed it just so we couldn't turn it off. Just like in Orwell, only with much sharper images. They are calling this the Second Bailout, or the Bail Back In."
"At least the Second Amendment is safe," I said. "Nobody took away your guns, and the Founding Fathers didn't say anything about TV."
And with that, my chief haiku welcomed them thus:
make yourselves at home
you won't be bailed in or out again
you're safe in Second Life
After The Bailout
I was sharpening my chain saw when they called me from Washington, D.C., to ask me how to fix the economy.
This request focused my thoughts, or the lack of 'em, to such a fine point, I gave my 14-inch Echo an edge it never had. Good enough for cutting half a cord at least, to keep the wood stove going through October. I love not paying the oil company a nickel. Except for the half-gallon of gas and the chain oil, but I'm fixin' to make the thing run on plum brandy. I've got a plum tree.
Ah, where were we? The economy, yes: $700 billion is more than enough money to buy every able-bodied American a chain saw, a solar-powered generator and a stake in a communal well and windmill. Also, red dirt and plum trees. That would probably only cost about $100 billion, and you can use the other $600 billion to buy everybody their house outright.
Now everybody can own their house and be green and self-sufficient, and can go back to whatever they were doing before the world ended: watching TV. Except for me. I was sharpening my chain saw.
So I go back to it, and I see a line of refugees coming up the road to move in with me. Oh my God, it's the '70s again. All my deadbeat friends — dead and alive — are being chased out of their homes and heaven for not owing any money. They are debt-free in a world that can't exist without interest rates. The dead are especially egregious in this regard; you can't squeeze even an extra penny out of them.
Oh, no, now that they are getting closer, I don't even think it's people from the '70s: It's people ... from the future!
It's worse than I thought: These are people independent from foreign oil, carrying solar-powered chain saws, full of American ingenuity. After the bailout, they owned their own homes, they didn't pay into a corporate energy grid, and they didn't worry about food because they grew it on the roof. They didn't drive, because they didn't have any jobs to drive to, and every garage in America was the site of an invention that was so darn beneficial nobody needed anything from the store.
Without worries about money, without a job, and with extra space in the garage to grow food and invent, these people forgot about the stock market, stopped borrowing money, even forgot how to shop — in short they stopped being American. These un-Americans got their exercise raking the compost instead of circling the mall; they home-schooled their children and were never again embarrassed that their kids knew more than they did. Heck, they were in heaven, the place where the pursuit of happiness leads to when you stop pursuing it.
Such self-sufficiency made the economy grind to a halt, so the government had to do something again: They called in the Army to chase everyone out of their self-contained greenhouses.
And now they are coming up the road to my place because I'm a poet, and I live in a compound defended by polygamist haikus.
"What did you do wrong?" I asked the first of the refugees to get over the palisades.
"Nothing," he said. "We just got out of debt and stopped watching TV! So the urge to buy things on credit disappeared. So they sent in the troops. First thing they did was to put a 40-inch plasma TV in every room and fixed it just so we couldn't turn it off. Just like in Orwell, only with much sharper images. They are calling this the Second Bailout, or the Bail Back In."
"At least the Second Amendment is safe," I said. "Nobody took away your guns, and the Founding Fathers didn't say anything about TV."
And with that, my chief haiku welcomed them thus:
make yourselves at home
you won't be bailed in or out again
you're safe in Second Life
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE
I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of this event that I
have ever heard. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!
Diane K. in A
FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the
best description I've ever read.
Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack ... you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies.
Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.
'I had a heart attack at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO
prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on.
I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat
in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and
actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my
soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.
A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've
been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with
a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've
swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is
most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast
and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of
water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial
sensation---the only trouble was
that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little
squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE
(hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasms), gaining speed as they
continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one
presses rhythmically when administering CPR).
This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out
into both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening
-- we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of
the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat,
Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!
I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a
step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a
heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone
is or anywhere else ... but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will
know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to
get up in a moment.
I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the
next room and dialed the Paramedics ... I told her I thought I was
having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum
and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just
stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.
I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and
lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their
examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their
ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but
I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was
already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my
stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions
(probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I
couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer,
and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner
had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery
into the aorta and into my
heart where they installed 2 side by side stints to hold open my right
coronary artery.
'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have
taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but
actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire
station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my
Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on
restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and
the procedure) and installing the stints.
'Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I
want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned
first hand.'
1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not
the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my
sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women
than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they
were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some
Mallox or other a
nti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping
they'll feel better in the morning when they
wake up ... which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms
might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics
if ANYTHING is
unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before.
It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life
guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can take an
aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on
the road.
Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking
anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.
Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's
at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his
assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics.
He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved!
The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will
be notified later.
3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal
cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a
cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's
unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are
usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the
body, which dumps all
sorts of deadly hormones into your system to
sludge things up in there.
Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.
Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we
could survive.
have ever heard. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!
Diane K. in A
FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the
best description I've ever read.
Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack ... you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies.
Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.
'I had a heart attack at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO
prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on.
I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat
in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and
actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my
soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.
A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've
been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with
a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've
swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is
most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast
and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of
water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial
sensation---the only trouble was
that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little
squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE
(hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasms), gaining speed as they
continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one
presses rhythmically when administering CPR).
This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out
into both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening
-- we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of
the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat,
Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!
I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a
step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a
heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone
is or anywhere else ... but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will
know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to
get up in a moment.
I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the
next room and dialed the Paramedics ... I told her I thought I was
having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum
and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just
stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.
I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and
lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their
examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their
ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but
I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was
already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my
stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions
(probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I
couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer,
and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner
had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery
into the aorta and into my
heart where they installed 2 side by side stints to hold open my right
coronary artery.
'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have
taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but
actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire
station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my
Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on
restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and
the procedure) and installing the stints.
'Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I
want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned
first hand.'
1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not
the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my
sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women
than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they
were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some
Mallox or other a
nti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping
they'll feel better in the morning when they
wake up ... which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms
might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics
if ANYTHING is
unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before.
It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life
guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can take an
aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on
the road.
Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking
anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.
Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's
at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his
assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics.
He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved!
The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will
be notified later.
3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal
cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a
cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's
unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are
usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the
body, which dumps all
sorts of deadly hormones into your system to
sludge things up in there.
Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.
Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we
could survive.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
International School Alumni
from www.facebook.com
You know you went to an International school when...
1) You can't answer the question: "Where are you from?"
2) You speak two (or more) languages but can't spell in any of them.
3) You flew before you could walk.
4) You have a passport, but no driver's license.
5) You run into someone you know at every airport
6) You have a time zone map next to your telephone.
7) Your life story uses the phrase "Then we went to..." five times (or six, or seven times...).
8) You speak with authority on the quality of airline travel.
9) National Geographic (or the Travel Channel) makes you homesick.
10) You read the international section before the comics.
11) You live at school, work in the tropics, and go home for vacation.
12) You don't know where home is.
13) You sort your friends by continent.
14) Your second major is in a foreign language you already speak.
15) You realize it really is a small world, after all.
16) You feel that multiple passports would be appropriate.
17) You watch a movie set in a 'foreign country', and you know what the nationals are really saying into the camera.
18) Rain on a tile patio - or a corrugated metal roof - is one of the most wonderful sounds in the world.
19) You haggle with the checkout clerk for a lower price.
20) Your wardrobe can only handle two seasons: wet and dry.
21) Your high school memories include those days that school was cancelled due to tear gas, riots, demonstrations, or bomb threats.
22) You get back to the states and seriously cannot remember the currency exchange
23) You think VISA is a document stamped in your passport, and not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
24) You automatically take off your shoes as soon as you get home.
25) Your dorm room/apartment/living room looks a little like a museum with all the "exotic" things you have around.
26) Half of your phone calls are unintelligible to those around you.
27) You go to Pizza Hut or Wendy's and you wonder why there's no chilli sauce.
28) You know the geography of the rest of the world, but you don't know the geography of your own country.
29) You have best friends in 5 different countries.
30) It takes 24 hours to reach home in a plane
31) You can only call your parents at 8am and 8pm
32) You never really use a seatbelt
33) School trips meant going to a different country
34) Your high school football team had to play against itself.. if it had one
35) When you were in middle school you could walk into a bar and order a drink without being questioned
36) You got sick a lot and often had food poisoning
37) It wasn't unusual to find a lizard or cockroach in your house
38) You got to go home twice a year ...that’s if you're lucky
39) Home almost felt like a museum
40) You are a pro packer, or at least have done it many times
41) Living out of a suitcase, you find, has it pros
42) You bump into your old teachers all the time
43) Family photos you sent every year took months to arrive and often were in front of some exotic statue or endangered animal no one has heard of
44) Your check from your parents takes a month to reach you
45) Talking to your school office and getting signatures from your parents is a week-long event
46) When you return to the States you are overwhelmed with the number of choices in a grocery store ( I stood by the chocolate syrup for about 20 min. because there was a whole row)
47) You literally have real friends (not facebook friends) from different schools all over the nation on your friends list
48) Everyone had a 'staff'; maid, house cleaner, driver and babysitter
49) Most of the 1st graders have cell phones
50) You get excited when a relative sends a video tape of regular TV with commercials.. its in ENGLISH!
51) There was only one grocery store…usually at the embassy that resembled the ones at home.
52) Once you get home you miss your adopted home and visa versa
53) You are never content in one place, be it city, state or country for long. You're a mover.
54) You never had a job until you reached college.
55) Blackouts are quite common, yet after a while no one seemed to notice and sometimes you would find yourself doing homework to the light of your phone or flashlight
56) Class reunions are not at your old school.. not even close
57) Police, imported from a different country, guard your school...carrying machine guns.
58) you know everyone else in this group, because he/she went to school with one of your friends
59) Your passport has more stamps than a post office
60) When the power cuts out and you sit there wondering when the generator is going to kick on... only then you realize there is no generator
61) When you carry converters because you actually realize there are different types of outlets
62) When people give you funny looks because you are a gold or platinum elite member of your airlines
63) When you constantly feel like you have to catch up with TV programs, actors and other people or songs you are not familiar with
64) You don't think its strange that you haven't talked to your best friend in a couple years, but you know you will always have a unique bond
65) You wake up in one country thinking you are in another
66) You don't feel at home at home anymore
67) When a friend talks about their dreams of travelling to across the world to a secluded country and you can give them all the best restaurants and places to visit. You're like the traveller guidebook.
68) You don't even bother to change your watch when travelling
69) You hate subtitles because you know there is someone that can make an accurate translation.. you!
70) When you have little or no contact with he locals but are best friends with people across the globe
71) When you think everyone else is a foreigner in a county foreign to you
72) When something unusual happens and it just doesn't seem to phase you as being something unordinary
73) When you speak many broken languages at once when you are drunk
74) When your friends take you to an 'ethnic' restaurant as a joke and you can read the menu, order food for them and actually stomach the meal
75) When you start introducing yourself followed by your country of origin....
76) Your yearbooks are all different; made of fabrics known to that area and have stuff like elephants on them. It’s your favourite keepsake.
77) Famous people like Uma Thurman went to your school and you had no idea until you researched (AES)
78) You have to change your passport because it's full... not because it's expired... and this several times during your school years
79) Paying a cop is not considered a bribe
80) You've dated people from other countries
81) You start to keep your experiences overseas to yourself because people look at you as though you are spoiled for having the opportunity to indulge in a new culture…sad
82) You are afraid to go back to visit your school because you know no one will be there that you used to know, they all moved
83) You have the opportunity to intern at your Embassy/Commission over summer without qualifications
84) When you have free accommodation in any city you travel to around the world because some friend from the old days lives there!
85) You're scared of going 'home' because you haven't been there in so long, and changed so much, that you think people might not like you anymore
87) You have more than one driver's license, none of which are valid at home, that, or in college, you still can't drive!
88) You always have to think which side of the road to drive on
89) When you greet someone you start bowing or kissing them on both cheeks.
90) When you and your siblings know different languages or at least studied different ones
You know you went to an International school when...
1) You can't answer the question: "Where are you from?"
2) You speak two (or more) languages but can't spell in any of them.
3) You flew before you could walk.
4) You have a passport, but no driver's license.
5) You run into someone you know at every airport
6) You have a time zone map next to your telephone.
7) Your life story uses the phrase "Then we went to..." five times (or six, or seven times...).
8) You speak with authority on the quality of airline travel.
9) National Geographic (or the Travel Channel) makes you homesick.
10) You read the international section before the comics.
11) You live at school, work in the tropics, and go home for vacation.
12) You don't know where home is.
13) You sort your friends by continent.
14) Your second major is in a foreign language you already speak.
15) You realize it really is a small world, after all.
16) You feel that multiple passports would be appropriate.
17) You watch a movie set in a 'foreign country', and you know what the nationals are really saying into the camera.
18) Rain on a tile patio - or a corrugated metal roof - is one of the most wonderful sounds in the world.
19) You haggle with the checkout clerk for a lower price.
20) Your wardrobe can only handle two seasons: wet and dry.
21) Your high school memories include those days that school was cancelled due to tear gas, riots, demonstrations, or bomb threats.
22) You get back to the states and seriously cannot remember the currency exchange
23) You think VISA is a document stamped in your passport, and not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
24) You automatically take off your shoes as soon as you get home.
25) Your dorm room/apartment/living room looks a little like a museum with all the "exotic" things you have around.
26) Half of your phone calls are unintelligible to those around you.
27) You go to Pizza Hut or Wendy's and you wonder why there's no chilli sauce.
28) You know the geography of the rest of the world, but you don't know the geography of your own country.
29) You have best friends in 5 different countries.
30) It takes 24 hours to reach home in a plane
31) You can only call your parents at 8am and 8pm
32) You never really use a seatbelt
33) School trips meant going to a different country
34) Your high school football team had to play against itself.. if it had one
35) When you were in middle school you could walk into a bar and order a drink without being questioned
36) You got sick a lot and often had food poisoning
37) It wasn't unusual to find a lizard or cockroach in your house
38) You got to go home twice a year ...that’s if you're lucky
39) Home almost felt like a museum
40) You are a pro packer, or at least have done it many times
41) Living out of a suitcase, you find, has it pros
42) You bump into your old teachers all the time
43) Family photos you sent every year took months to arrive and often were in front of some exotic statue or endangered animal no one has heard of
44) Your check from your parents takes a month to reach you
45) Talking to your school office and getting signatures from your parents is a week-long event
46) When you return to the States you are overwhelmed with the number of choices in a grocery store ( I stood by the chocolate syrup for about 20 min. because there was a whole row)
47) You literally have real friends (not facebook friends) from different schools all over the nation on your friends list
48) Everyone had a 'staff'; maid, house cleaner, driver and babysitter
49) Most of the 1st graders have cell phones
50) You get excited when a relative sends a video tape of regular TV with commercials.. its in ENGLISH!
51) There was only one grocery store…usually at the embassy that resembled the ones at home.
52) Once you get home you miss your adopted home and visa versa
53) You are never content in one place, be it city, state or country for long. You're a mover.
54) You never had a job until you reached college.
55) Blackouts are quite common, yet after a while no one seemed to notice and sometimes you would find yourself doing homework to the light of your phone or flashlight
56) Class reunions are not at your old school.. not even close
57) Police, imported from a different country, guard your school...carrying machine guns.
58) you know everyone else in this group, because he/she went to school with one of your friends
59) Your passport has more stamps than a post office
60) When the power cuts out and you sit there wondering when the generator is going to kick on... only then you realize there is no generator
61) When you carry converters because you actually realize there are different types of outlets
62) When people give you funny looks because you are a gold or platinum elite member of your airlines
63) When you constantly feel like you have to catch up with TV programs, actors and other people or songs you are not familiar with
64) You don't think its strange that you haven't talked to your best friend in a couple years, but you know you will always have a unique bond
65) You wake up in one country thinking you are in another
66) You don't feel at home at home anymore
67) When a friend talks about their dreams of travelling to across the world to a secluded country and you can give them all the best restaurants and places to visit. You're like the traveller guidebook.
68) You don't even bother to change your watch when travelling
69) You hate subtitles because you know there is someone that can make an accurate translation.. you!
70) When you have little or no contact with he locals but are best friends with people across the globe
71) When you think everyone else is a foreigner in a county foreign to you
72) When something unusual happens and it just doesn't seem to phase you as being something unordinary
73) When you speak many broken languages at once when you are drunk
74) When your friends take you to an 'ethnic' restaurant as a joke and you can read the menu, order food for them and actually stomach the meal
75) When you start introducing yourself followed by your country of origin....
76) Your yearbooks are all different; made of fabrics known to that area and have stuff like elephants on them. It’s your favourite keepsake.
77) Famous people like Uma Thurman went to your school and you had no idea until you researched (AES)
78) You have to change your passport because it's full... not because it's expired... and this several times during your school years
79) Paying a cop is not considered a bribe
80) You've dated people from other countries
81) You start to keep your experiences overseas to yourself because people look at you as though you are spoiled for having the opportunity to indulge in a new culture…sad
82) You are afraid to go back to visit your school because you know no one will be there that you used to know, they all moved
83) You have the opportunity to intern at your Embassy/Commission over summer without qualifications
84) When you have free accommodation in any city you travel to around the world because some friend from the old days lives there!
85) You're scared of going 'home' because you haven't been there in so long, and changed so much, that you think people might not like you anymore
87) You have more than one driver's license, none of which are valid at home, that, or in college, you still can't drive!
88) You always have to think which side of the road to drive on
89) When you greet someone you start bowing or kissing them on both cheeks.
90) When you and your siblings know different languages or at least studied different ones
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