D & L part 3

Saturday Jan 31, 2015

 

  My birthday and my present was to get out of the hospital which, of course is not a fast operation.  The various parts of the health care puzzle have to sign off on the deal before they unplug your wires and let you get dressed.  And then it was “Ok , see yah.”  My wife and I walked out of my room, down the hall, into the elevator, and out the front door.  I always thought the wheel chair trip was mandatory, but I guess not.

   Overall, Banner Estrella Hospital gets high marks. I received the best of care.  But I don't care to ever go back, if you know what I mean.

Death and life Day 2

Friday January 30,15

I was awakened at 7am. (As if you get any sleep in the hospital)  "Your surgery had been moved up from Noon to 8am"  I was picked up at 7:20 and wheeled through what seemed like miles of corridors and an elevator ride to end up in an operating room.  I layed there listening to and watching the prep activities around me the nurses and doctor chit-chatted with me.  The five hairs on my chest were shaved, my left clavicle was located and the area was painted with something orange. My head was turned to the right and a large blue tarp with a plastic window was placed over me. I felt it being stuck to my chest. 
  The next thing I remember is waking up in my hospital room at 9am.  I had a chest x-ray in bed a few minutes later.  Within an hour I had a ultra sound as that sounds my arteries were good and verified that the wire leads were in the proper spots in my heart.  A good day, indeed.

Life and Death

It is interesting how one day can change your life. 

Thursday Jan. 29, 2015  
                  It began as a normal day.  Breakfast, walk to the VC. 8:15 group meeting, drive the government van to replace a piece of equiptment, then back to the library at the VC.  The next thing I remember is lying on a bed in a helicopter looking out at the desert flowing below my window.  Most of the day is pretty much gone, so here is what happened.  Bradycardia.  Very slow heartbeat leading to very low blood pressure, leading to loss of conciousness - I passed out in the library.  A fellow volunteer summoned help, in the form of the head Law Enforcement (LE) Officer who was just down the hall.  He and several other LEs came into the room as I was sitting up and then I went out again,  this tme my heart STOPPED.  All of the LEs are trained EMTs so I was given CPR, 58 compresses.  They paused to see if the AED would help.  It said "Do not use this device".  And while it was saying this I awoke and sat up !!  They were amazed.  My wife was in the room at the time, so I can't imagine what was going through her mind.
   I was put in an ambulance from Ajo, driven to the Ajo airport, put on a helicopter ( I remember a yellow helicopter) and flown to Banner Estrella Hospital in Avondale (sw suburb of Phoenix).  My memory begins again in the emergency room of the hospital.  I awoke hooked up to lots of wires and found nothing in my pockets ( they had been emptied) but my cell phone was still in the leg packet of my cargo pants.  I started sending emails and messages to my sons and calling my wife, but she was on the road to the hospital so I just left messages.  She arrived, I got taken to a room, had many tests and told that tomorrow, (Fri) I would be getting a pacemaker. 

Rain

Monday was a rainy day.  A rainy day in the desert is a rare and wonderous thing.  .71 inches in over 12 hours.  It was wonderful waking up to the sound of raindrops on the roof of the trailer.  Love that sound!

   R and I spent several hours in the volunteer building checking email and down loading photos for our up coming evening programs  She is preparing a program on the Desert Bighorn.  My subject will be the Sonoran Pronghorn. Both are cool creatures of the desert.  These will go nicely with the other creatures we talk about; the Desert Tortoise, the Lesser Long-nosed Bat, the Javelina, and Gila Monster.  Interesting animals that have adapted to the harsh desert life.

Ajo

.  Ajo is a small town.  One grocery store, 5 restaurants, two dollar stores, three gas stations, one barbershop ( a good one though).  Actually, the town isn't that bad.  In our trips to and from Oregon, we have passed through many towns that have a lot less to offer than Ajo.
 
   During it heyday, 1940s-50s when the mine was in full production, he population of Ajo was about 15000 .  It would have been funn to see it then.  Many of the early areas of the city are gone, because the mine actually took the land.  Where the huge open pit is today was once a residential area.  The mine is not shut down, but no mining happens there.  A few employees remain because if it were closed, the area would have to be made environmentally clean again and that would be tremendously expensive.  Actually, a bi-product of the slag called "Black Beauty" ,a black rock product used for sand blasting is packaged and shipped out of the facility so there is some activity there.  The pit can be viewed from a look-out spot along the rim and visiting the small information building nearby.

Wednesday 22, 2015

 
   Things are progressing here at ORPI.  Both R and I have all of our outlines done for our patio talks and evening programs and are finishing those for the Location Talks and Guided Hikes that start in February.  (More fun things for our visitors to do.)

   The weather has blesses us with lots of sun and warm temps.  Our hike to Victoria Mine on Monday was actually a bit warm. 

    Tonight is the first time I will give my Desert Tortoise program since last spring.  There are a few parts that need work, but I can not update it until we volunteers get access to the computers at the VC.  The Powerpoint program on this laptop is 2003 so it is way behind the times.  I have three videos in my evening program and yesterday when I tried to run it to help refresh my memory, none of the videos ran.  So I will just muddle through and explain, " If you could see this video, you would see a Desert Tortoise hatcing from eggs."  Imaginations are wonderful tools.

   Because we have the eveing program our work day does not start until Noon, but we don't finish up until after 8pm so it makes up for the late start.  Standing up in front of folks does not bother me now.  It is something that I never would have done when I was young.
  
   Tomorrow, I conduct the van tour in the morning and R will drive the van to shuttle hikers out to the Senita Basin.
 
  Saturday night we are giving our Vulture program "Meet Me at the Road Kill Cafe"  which is always lots of fun.
 
  

  

  

       

Frday Jan 16, 2015

Friday Morning.
  Lots of sunshine.  Low 70s today

R is working this morning.  Usually it's me because I am the morning person and she is NOT.  R is driving for the van tour which is fun and easy.  Nothing to remember, ( you are not the one giving the narration.) You are just driving for someone else, so you are following their directions.  easy-peasy.

More pics later.  I need to check some websites and see if we can find another park to work at next year.  Stay tuned.