Manchurian Candidate

Nothing like a dark movie theater to rest in after a hard morning/afternoon of work. Renee and I went to see the Manchurian Candidate, as I never miss a Denzel Washington movie. I was warned to take notes during the movie since it has so many different things going on, but I seemed to follow it just fine (maybe it was due to the slow mental response I was experiencing). As usual, D.Washington picked a great script and was very in-tune to his character. While I won't provide any spoilers here, I will state that this will be one to rent on DVD, for all the extra parts, including the director's commentary!

Question: Why do the theaters have to play so many commercials prior to the movies? I'm not talking about movie previews ... as I understand the need for them. I am talking about the multiple cell-phone, "I want your bod" body spray, credit card and Calvin Klein commercials. Television stations use commercials to raise revenues, but I am paying to go to the movies. As such, I should only have to sit through the 10 minutes of previews and not the additional 15 minutes of commercials. Manchurian Candidate was scheduled to start at 4pm, but the first credit for it didn't show until 4:25!

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Why did I take my shirt off? (or ... Daddy, your back is really red!)

Last month, while I was in Mexico on a missions trip, Stillwater experienced a little bad weather in way of really high winds. As a result of the winds, a few sections of our privacy fence decided to 'take a dive'. The fence is old, and in need of replacement, so that is in the works.

Upon hearing about the fallen fence, my pastor GT has been offering to provide labor during the replacement project. He called one morning this week to ask if this was going to be the weekend, but I told him no, due to the excessive rains we have been having. I thought the ground was going to be too muddy to work with. It turns out that today was a beautiful day and I decided to start the project without GT. The part I was going to do really didn't need his help, so out I went.

Point to remember: I haven't really done any excessive outside work since my accident in June 2001. I haven't even spent a great deal of time in the sun since then as well.

I got my work shorts on, and my cover for my socket (don't want to scratch the new socket's finish), grab some tools and headed to the back yard. Before a new fence can go up, the old one has to come down. Off to the west side of the house to drop the 9 feet worth (3 of which is a gate) first. After several swings of a hammer and some firm tugs on a crow bar, that section is down. Initial thoughts: this isn't going to be so bad (oh ye of little faith).

Off to the 80' worth of south fencing. With a beautiful day like it was, I thought I needed to get some sun, so off came the shirt, 'cause I thought I was only going to be about an hour and a half. Slowly but surely, down come 8' sections of fence. Some needed more coaxing than the section on the side of the house. Being that several sections were entertained with rose bushes, honeysuckles and other assorted vegetation, additional tools were brought out, including one very sharp hand saw. Two hours later (and several blisters as well), the 80' of fencing is stacked into a 8'w X 6'd X 2.5'h pile. Not only the fence was dropped, as Renee brought out a 32oz glass of ice water, that I refilled twice from the back hydrant.

I had originally told Sarah I didn't need any help, because I knew there were going to be nails all over the place. She came out after the south portion was done and told me it was time for lunch. I asked her to bring it out, instead of my going inside with the air conditioning. I said I would do one section of the east side (~54') and that I would stop when she got back. I didn't stop. During the south section, as I loosened a section, I would drag it to the pile. Not this time .... this time I would loosen all sections and then let Sarah (she was still asking to help) help me pile them. Since I had a method for dropping 8' sections, this side went quicker (sometimes sawing a 2x4 is quicker than breaking it free). As the last section was falling, Sarah calls out, "lunch is served".

While eating, Sarah remarks how I am getting some sun on my back, and that I am getting a little red. Since I think we will be going only a few more minutes since she will be helping me stack, I don't put my shirt on. Wrong answer! About an hour later, we are heaving the last section onto the new pile (no reason to lug these things all the way over to the original pile, that is too far away!). Somebody's back looks like it needs the letters STOP painted in white on it, however I am so tired I don't feel a thing, other than my stump throbbing in it's socket.

As a result of all the sweat, wood chips, mud and collection of vegetation all over my body, I am way to dirty to go into the house. I ask Sarah to bring me the hose so I can rinse off the top layers prior to going inside. After basking in the warm "been in hose" water, here comes the refreshing cold water. Ok, that was just a bit too cold, especially on a now sun-burned back, but it felt great!
Fence is down and I am so tired I can't think (or walk) straight. However, now I can rest before going out to remove the dozens of nails in the posts, and figure out how many posts need replacing. More about the fence as things happen.

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Thanks Joe!

Other than a subtle "Powered by BlogRolling" link on the sidebar, you really can't tell I have made any template changes to my blog. However, I have updated the comments option to use HaloScan and the Favorite Sites to use BlogRolling. A big thanks to Joe for pointing both of these very useful (and very free) options out to me.
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Where has the summer gone?

From the title, you might think this post to be about the wasted days of summer or the ramblings of someone who is about to go back to school in the fall. Well, its not! I want to know where our 90+ (even 100+) degrees and sunny weather is hiding.

We are now in, what seems to be, our second week of rainy, cool weather. Unless my calendar is wrong, we are almost into August, but if feels like the middle of October right now. From my understanding, the upper northeast is having a very serious heatwave (temps around 100 degrees). How did we manage to get our weather switched?
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Tis Gar Plen - Ron King's Homepage

I have been trying to figure our what to write about today, but thought I would simply advise the arrival of a new website on the internet: Tis Gar Plen - Ron King's Homepage

Swing on by when you have a few minutes!
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Where have I been?

I doubt anyone is currently reading this, being that is has been over 7 months since my last post (not counting the one from a few days back).

As time allows, I will provide some updates as to what I have been able to do since the surgery. Some of the highlights include:
--Ride a bike
--Spend some time rock wall climbing
--Play some softball (both offense and defense, including running the bases)
--Be an adult leader on a short term youth missions trip to Mexico

More to follow........

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Back out of retirement

After a long break, I will start posting again. Stay tuned!
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Back at home

Sorry I never updated this page during my hospital stay. The computer was never brought up from the car, as I never really had the desire to get on it.

Surgery went well. I will make a few entries in the near future to get everyone caught up in regards to the procedure and follow-up.
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I've promised to make this entry for a while, so here it is....

I have earlier made comments about an accident a couple of years back, which was the catalyst for the upcoming amputation surgery. I have shared this story several times verbally, but this is the first time to do it in print, so here goes:

One of my best friends was building a 60'x40' shop for one of his favorite hobbies: Car Restoration. Anthony is a GM muscle car man, and has a nice variety of examples. The shop was designed to have a paint-bay, a vehicle lift, small office and work bench. The exterior of the building was done, and it was time to pour the concrete floor. The previous weekend was spent laying plumbing lines for the paint bay and small restroom, and final preparations for the concrete. On Monday June 25, 2001, the guys Anthony contracted with to help with the concrete arrived and we started work. The rebar work was first, and these guys showed us the ropes. We had originally planned to spend the Monday getting all the rebar in and then have the concrete trucks come on Tuesday. By 11am, we had decided we were moving ahead with enough speed, that we could have a couple of concrete loads poured that afternoon, so the call was made.

Around noon, the first truck arrived. While no one was assigned a particular duty, since I was near the main entrance door (approx 10' wide by 14' tall), I decided to climb up the wall to check the height of the truck. Just as we were afraid, the truck would barely fit under the door, and once the concrete was removed, it would be too tall to exit. Anthony got his tractor out and we started to 'trench out' the entrance of his shop. We finally got enough dirt removed that we felt confident the truck would be able to leave when empty. The first truck was brought in, and we proceeded to pour the concrete in the back third of the shop. When that driver pulled out, the concrete company was contacted for another truck to be dispatched.

Second truck arrives near the 2 o'clock hour. It appeared the second truck was taller than the first one. As it started backing toward the entrance, I again climbed up the wall to check its height. Since I had been up and down the wall several times during the building of the shop, I got careless in my actions. When I got to the top of the door, while reaching around the door frame to grab onto the ledge, I started leaning to the side to get an "eyeball on the truck". The next few moments happened in slow-motion, at least to me (skip this next paragraph if you are squeamish):

While leaning, I never got the hand-hold I was needed and started to fall. I started waving my arms around in a circle to keep my balance, and started looking at the ground, trying to figure out what was below. The only thing below me was the area we had earlier dug out for the first truck to get in, and that was surface was now at a sideways angle. When my right foot touched the ground, I saw my foot and ankle roll to the right, then disappear from sight. I then distinctly remember seeing two whitish 'sticks' just above where my ankle had just been but then those two sticks jabbed into the ground. While falling, I was trying to remember not to fall backwards, as the door frame had a sharp metal corner that would tend hurt if hit and as such I tumbled forward. When I looked down at my leg, my right foot was not at the end of my leg, but my leg was curved at a 90 degree angle a few inches above my ankle. The two sticks I saw were the tibia and fibula, and I was still looking at them (now covered in dirt).

At this point, while not feeling any pain yet, I proceed to start yelling, "It's broke! It's broke!". When the guys came to where I was, the looks in their eyes was not what I wanted to see. (Quick Note: I had been a police office for 8+ years prior to this, leaving that profession a few years prior to this accident. As such, I had learned to keep a cool head on my shoulders in times of emergencies. This training started paying off very quickly). Not being the shy type, I started instructing each of the guys their "duty assignments". "Anthony, your cell phone is on the dash of your truck, call 911", "You, go to the intersection, wait for the ambulance and direct them here", "You, go tell that truck driver to move that truck so the ambulance can get in here", "You, take a few steps to the right, so you will block the sun from my eyes". I was a regular bossy guy, but I wasn't to concerned at the moment.

I have no idea what it is like to be looking down at a close friend and see, what appears to be, a leg severed from a body. Please realize that I love Anthony to death, always have and always will. But the next part is somewhat humorous, now that time has past. Anthony was stumbling across his words when talking to the 911 dispatcher. I told Anthony what to tell them, even down to the point of "compound fracture, right tib/fib". Once the dispatcher was through talking and told Anthony to hang-up, I asked him to call my wife. Again, I have no idea how it feels to call the wife of a close friend, so I just asked for the phone and told her what was going on. Then, for some unknown reason, I called my office to let them know I wouldn't be in the next day. All this time I wasn't feeling any pain, but it never registered in my brain that I should be hurting.

After what seemed like hours (was more likely just a few minutes), we finally heard the ambulance siren. When it finally pulled in, and the EMTs rushed to me, I saw that same look in their eyes, as I had just experienced with the other guys. The EMTs immediately went into the 'calm talking mode' to reassure the patient, something I had observed and done several times during my law enforcement days. Once they realized I wasn't freaking out on them, nor was I writhing in pain, they started the exercise of securing my leg as best possible with the equipment from their ambulance and got me loaded. As long as I live, I will never forget Anthony coming around the back of the ambulance to check on me prior to us driving away (Anthony, I won't share our conversation here, we have already had our own private laughs about it).

I don't remember being scared, until the ambulance driver turned on the siren when we headed to the hospital. I always believed that a code three run to the hospital meant bad news for the patient. When I questioned the EMT working on me about it, he advised it was policy for a "hot run" whenever a compound fracture is involved. To this day, I don't know if it really is policy, or just his 'calm talking' routine again. When we finally got to the hospital, and rolled back into the emergency room, it wasn't long until I felt true comfort. This happened when I heard the familiar squeaking of the wheels from my daughter's stroller. That signaled to me that my wife was there.

While this day still has a lot of writing to do, I think I will save it for a future entry.

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Been sitting around, tying up the phone line.

Yep, I am still on a dial-up connection at the house. You might ask, "Why would a technically savvy guy like me still obtain his internet connection via an outdated method such as a phone cord and 56.6 modem?".

Two reasons:
     1. It's a lot cheaper!
     2. If I need speed, I am only a few minutes from the office, which has a T-1 line

Today has been a fun day of tickle-wars with the girls, reading a few books to Hope and getting caught up on numerous emails from my boss. I don't think my boss ever sleeps. I thought I spent a long time on the computer when at home, but I don't even hold a candle to the amount of time he spends behind a keyboard.

On to more important things .... I sent out an update email message to many of my friends this last week about my upcoming surgery. Since then, I have had a trickle of replies on a daily basis, all of which are very supportive in nature, and reminding me I am being remembered in many of their prayers. Some have even mentioned the fact they have marked that date on their calendar for additional prayers that day. It goes without saying, but the Lord has blessed me with tremendous friends!

I have spent several hours (either prior to going to sleep or just after waking up) wondering what it will be like the first few days after the surgery. I'm not talking about the pain. I have dealt with enough pain (so far) that the additional pain isn't worrying me. It will initially be dealt with by a nerve block procedure, then I will move to a narcotic additive to my IV (most likely morphine), then I will move to an oral medication, prior to being released. After what I have been through, this isn't surprising or new. What I have been thinking about is the idea of not having anything other than a residual limb (the new politically correct term for a stump) below my right knee. Renee has asked me about my thoughts, and I really couldn't answer her very well.

At times, the thought is very over-whelming, but I realize that change is needed for me to proceed through this period in my life. Change is what brought me to this point and change is what is going to see me through it.

The last two weeks at Life Church (Stillwater campus) have been on the idea of Joy. Week One was Joy: Joyful No Matter "What". The main thought of the day was that when bad things come our way, instead of asking "Why?", we need to be asking "What?". The first question would be "Now What?". Examples:
     Now what is God doing?
     Now what is God's purpose?
     Now what does God want to show me?
     Now what does God what to do through this?
     Point: God can change obstacles into opportunities
     Point: God can change our setbacks into setups

The other questions is "So What?". Is this a situation that is really going to be important in 100 years? What does it matter? In the original language, the phrase Tis gar plen is used, and it roughly translates to "so what?". Generally, the things that tend to freak us out the most are the things that don't matter in the long run. We need to address the things that are very important, and they need to be addressed with intensity,integrity and passion.

Week two contained additional useful information, but the above stuff has really helped me (mentally).
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A few changes have occurred.

For those who have been following my blog for a while may have noticed a few formatting changes when first observing this post.

The sidebar on the right has been modified to include the sections "My Info" and "Blogs I follow:". As you can see, there really isn't that much info in the "My Info" area. I might put additional stuff there later, who knows.

So far, the blogs I link to are maintained by two of my co-workers. I have earlier mentioned the site titled "The Internet Ate My Homework" as the one that opened my eyes to the idea of blogging. (I again advise all my readers that my site will never be as interesting to read as Joe's, 'cause he is just that interesting of a guy). The other site, "Behind the Times...", is maintained by Kevin, but you would already know that if you had followed the link. It was after seeing Kevin's for the first time that I decided to add the two additional sections to the sidebar. One of my favorite sayings is: "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery", and as such, I am striving to imitate some of the features Joe and Kevin utilize.

Well, the third quarter of the OSU v. Kansas game is getting ready to start, so I guess I will sign off for now. Go Pokes!
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A new web page was just published, highlighting the "Ertl Procedure"

I am a member of an amputee mailing list, and one of the other members just posted the following:

There is a new website I wanted you all to know about. www.ertlreconstruction.com
In time it will become a resource and clearinghouse for information about the Ertl Procedure. If you are an Ertl amputee and would like your story added to the website please contact webmaster@ertlreconstruction.com

For all those who are wondering about the differences between the Ertl Procedure and the 'regular method', I hope this web site will have a simple explanation, in plain English, soon.
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The date has been set...

After getting caught up with all the paper-work that piled up during my morning absence, I now have a chance to highlight my morning.

Without getting into all the "horror stories" about the possibility of child care for my girls, it was decided upon taking them with us to the doctor's office. While it wasn't much fun for them, the reports from the office staff indicate they were perfect little princesses!

I signed in for my 8:45 appointment at 8:44 and only had about a 5 minute wait to get called back to the 'little room'. Dr. Ertl arrived very shortly later (this is really a class operation, I have never had to wait long for anything at this office) and proceeded to get caught up on how I have been for the past couple of months. After going through the expected "are you sure you want to do this?" type of conversations, we got down to business. Again, Dr. Ertl is, in my opinion, the easiest doctor to talk with I have every come across, either as a result of my accident or any other doctor/patient visit I have had. Dr. Ertl took a few minutes to examine my leg a little closer, then asked Jonathan Day (Chief of Prosthetics - the guy who is going to build my leg) to come in for a quick consultation about the upcoming surgery. Dr. Ertl then located a calendar and we decided Dec 4, 2003 was the day to have the surgery (22 days from now).

Remember when I said Dr. Ertl was easy to talk with? Put Jonathan up in that same league as well! Long after Dr. Ertl left, Jonathan stayed behind to discuss all of what to expect, in the area of prosthetic needs. I won't go into everything now (I need to save something to write about later).

Gotta get back to work, so I will wrap this up for now. Thanks for following so far!

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Well, I don't know what to say....

Well, I just got through reading an email message from a close friend of mine, one of the few who actually read this blog. He pointed out to me that I start a lot of my entries with "Well, ..."

Well, after reading through the last few, you know what? He was right. I was thinking about going back and editing some, but decided against it. I have had a very hectic morning, and will report in on the doctor's appointment when I have a few minutes.

Well, that's about it for now. (Thanks for pointing that out to me Joe)
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Well, it's been a while since the last posting....

Well, I am back to the blog again. I have been gone a while during a 'side-trip' in an attempt to bypass the amputation. that appears to have not been as productive as hoped, so I have an appointment with Dr. Ertl in two days (Wednesday, 12 Nov). Looks like we are going to schedule the surgery for sometime right after Thanksgiving.

Will keep you updated ...
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... and it's only Tuesday

Well, I was short on time in the first post of the day, and you are about to understand why.......

Yesterday, prior to my going to Oklahoma City for a doctor's appointment and the tests, when I was getting ready, my pager was constantly doing the 'vibrate alarm dance' on my desk. Every time I would check it, it was to notify me that one of our campus servers had decided to takes it's own "fall break" or that one of the technicians had brought it returned it to service. When checking the message on the last pager message of the morning, I was floored with the message of "(co-worker's name) passed away on Sunday. Contact the office for further information" WHAT?!? I just saw him last week! It was a known fact that he had a heart condition, but he had just completed an angioplasty (the balloons and stints in the arteries) on Thursday of last week. But he was supposed to have been fine. MB: you will be missed :-(

Forward to Tuesday morning. I realize the voice mail message I (thought I) left for my boss and co-workers, advising them I was going to be out Monday morning due to a very bad headache, didn't make it through the system. CRUD! Then when going through the email from the previous weekend and Monday, I find that I have been invited to a Re-organization meeting. Oh Great, what now?

Re-Org meeting: Turns out, my team, which I have taken a few years to build, into a very cohesive, productive, highly respected team has been split due to the re-org. Three of my team are going to an co-manager I have been working with, however, my right-hand man gets to stay with me. Without getting into our support structure here at the university, I am now in charge of second level technical support for the university. In that respect, I ended up OK as a result of the re-org.

... and it's only Tuesday
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Not official, but.... (short post)

Completed the tests yesterday afternoon (had a 4:00 PM appointment). While I haven't received the official report from the doctor or the specialist tasked with reading the results, the technician running the tests advised everything looked fine. Blood flow and oxygen saturation were all within normal limits. As a result, we should have no problems proceeding with a below knee.

(I won't officially know this until the Oct 8th appointment though :-)
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Office Managers are so cool!

Well, called the office manager and calmly advised her of the situation. She told me she would call me back within 30 minutes.

29 minutes later, my phone rings. Guess who? Yep, the nice office manager. She got on the phone with the manager of the testing area to find out what all appointments were available, then contacted her staff to determine what had happened in my case. Turns out, the testing area had a 4pm appointment available on the Monday I requested. However, since my tests would have gone into 'over-time' for the technician(s) involved, Person1 decided to take the next available (much like at a restaurant). Well, the nice office manager called the testing area manager back and explained the 'confusion' over the past week. The manager approved over-time for the technician(s) involved with my testing.

Needless to say, the office manager asked me to be there as quickly as possible after my previously scheduled appointment, so the tests can start as early as possible. I may have that amputation this year after all!

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Finally!

Well, I just got off the phone with Person1 (had to call her!). After waiting on hold for approximately 10 minutes, Person1 comes on the phone and tells me she just got off the phone with the testing group (hum, wonder why she just called them?). First available appointment is the following Monday, Oct 06. As a result, I may have to move my Oct 08 appointment with Dr. Ertl back another week, so he can get the test results. Earlier in the week I was advised it takes 3-5 days to get the tests results to the doctor, now they are telling me that they can be obtained in 24 hours. If Dr. Ertl didn't have the reputation he does, I would have serious doubts about this organization.

Time to call an office manager!

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I hope it isn't always this hard!

I spoke with Dr. Ertl on Friday (19 Sept) at 1:30pm, and he advised me to schedule a tcpO2, venous doppler and arterial doppler tests, in preparation for my upcoming amputation. He then transferred me to Person1 (name withheld to protect the guilty). She advised that she would get with the group responsible for the tests and call me back. I told her I would be in OKC on Monday, 29 Sept, and would like to get the testing done on that day. Also stating, it might be Monday before I hear back from them.

Monday comes and goes, with no word from Person1.
Tuesday rolls around, and I finally decide to call and check on the appointments. Well, Person1 isn't available, as she has been in training sessions Monday-Wednesday of that week. However, they will pass the information on to Person2 and she should get back with me.
Wednesday: At 11am I call and am told that Person2 has received the message, but needs to confirm the request for test from Dr. Ertl. I call back later that afternoon, and Person2 tells me that Person1 will be back in the office on Thursday, and that Person1 can resolve the issue then. (are you seeing any ongoing theme here?)
Thursday: called and spoke with Person1. She hasn't heard back from the area responsible for the testing. however, she advises she will get back with me this afternoon, if she hears from them. At 4:45, I call to talk with Person1 again, but get the lovely recording advising the office closed at 4:30. ARGH!
Friday:8:55am - called and spoke with Person1 again. Still no word from testing area, but she promises to get on the phone with them as soon as she get through with the item she is dealing with at the current time.

At this rate, I expect to have my amputation in early 2005!

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