Thanks for the "WELCOME" BradB and everyone. Thanks for the phone calls Norse, Chief, Tony P., Peggy and Skip(Fatfenders) (I certainly appreciated them.). Shucks I even got flowers, for the first time in my life (sheesh!!!).
In case there are those that didn't hear about the accident that Luke and I had- On march 15 of this year we were hauling my 1941 1 1/2 ton Chevy service truck that I had just bought when the trailer started fish tailing and ended up jack knifing on the freeway totaling both trucks and the trailer. I figured I was just lucky to come out of it alive and apparently no broken bones. But, within the month the pain in my back and shoulder were getting unbearable. Insurance company said they would cover my going to a doctor so I went. He found that I had two disks in my neck, one disk in my middle back and two in my low back that were slipped(?). For those he sent me to an Orthopedic who wanted me to get an MRI done. I went for the MRI (Never had one before) and forgot to tell him I was also having problems with my right ear, so when they tried to take the MRI it sounded and felt like it was taking the top of my head off. Told them forget it!!. (I have had a ringing sound in my right ear since the accident and also feeling nauseous most of the time.) Next the Doctor sent me to another Orthopedic because my right shoulder was still hurting due to when I had hit the pickup door so hard on impact that I had forced it open. Turned out that I had only a minor tear and bruised the rotator cup. A couple of months of therapy and my shoulder feels better but still sore. Been to a Chiropractic Physician all along and because of my right ear ringing all of the time and being nauseous he sent me to a Forensic Neurologist. Turns out that I did damage to my inner ear canals and also to my brain stem in the accident. Now I need to get the MRI done for my back and I still need to see an inner ear specialist and a Brain Stem Neurologist.
With all of this going on, along came Sept. 11, 2004. I do apologize to John and Peggy, The Stovebolt Staff and all on Stovebolt for allowing things to get a little out of hand on that day. I had hoped it would just blow over as usual. The next morning , while I was out in the barn doing chores, Cindy came out on her way to work and told me what had transpired. I knew John would never do something like that unless he figured things had just gone ballistic. It's not in John to curb "free speech" after all he is also a writer. After finishing the chores in the barn I felt such angst and frustration, that I had let everyone down, that I decided to go for a run in the woods. Most guys chop wood or drink when they feel this way, me, I go running thru the woods. Gets the endorphins working and clears the mind.
I had run about 3/4 mile and stopped to take a breather when I felt congestion in my lungs so I coughed real hard to clear them. Out came a spray of crimson blood. At first I thought I may have had a bloody nose, but the blood was coming from my lungs somehow. I then thought of men I had seen in Vietnam that had been lung shot and they didn't even realise they were shot until they started coughing up blood. My shirt came off in a flash (I figured I may have caught a stray bullet round), but I had no chest wounds. With every breathe I was coughing up copious amounts of blood so I quickly figured I had better try to make it back home. With my wife and daughter both at work, no one knew where I was and that would have left them and others wondering for sure. About half way back to the house I ventured a look down my back trail at the blood trail I was leaving and thought- If I was tracking a blood trail like this that some critter was leaving, it wasn't going very far. Nearly every step was a cough of blood. Breathing real deep, the coughing of blood had slowed considerably by the time I got to the house. Weakened but still very concerned I called Cindy at the Deli and she came home. She decided I needed to go the the VA hospital and took me into the Roseburg VA Hospital. I was still coughing up small amounts of blood and the Doctor had an xray taken and said he could see nothing wrong and sent me home.
Through the night I coughed up about four more cups of blood and when I got up in the morning it started getting really worse. Cindy once again said I needed to go into the VA hospital because by then I was barely able to keep coughing the blood out of my lungs. As we got to the VA hospital a nurse immediatly put me on IV and an oxygen mask. A different doctor from the night before saw me and apologized for my being sent home and said he was sending me by ambulance to the nearest Lung Unit in Eugene. He sent me to the Oregon Lung Specialists Critical Care Unit in Eugene where they stabilized me. They said that for a while I was coughing out 100 to every 20 they could put in me.
After a couple of days and the major blood coughing had settled down they did a Bronchoscopy (You never, ever, want them to do that) and the Doctor said he could find no damage or cancers or tumors.
Got released from the hospital (Had never been a patient in a hospital in my life before this) on Thursday, but, by then I was only coughing up blood clots.
By Saturday I still wasn't feeling to good but they had that auction in Canyonville that I wanted to go to. Knew they had a few old Bolts there. Luckily for me it was only a couple of hours before they came to the one I was interested in, a 49 1/2 ton Chevy Panel. Needs a lot of work, but when don't they all? Bought it and headed for home.
Since then I have been seeing tons of Doctors. The Lung Specialist can find no reason why what happened, did happen. Myself, I am quiting smoking and making sure my affairs are in order, so that if something does happen to me then my family and friends aren't left in the lurch.
Once again, I would like to apologize to everyone for letting things get out of control.
PS. Tony P.- Better call me again- I'm still alive-LOL (private joke)
