Having a silent heart attack

It was April Fools’ Day, so when following a stress test my cardiologist, Dr. Matthew O’Steen, said I had a “silent heart attack” sometime in the past couple of years I sat staring at him in awkward silence waiting for the punch line. This is not exactly what a newly married (15-days earlier on St. Patrick’s Day) man wants to hear. When there was no punch line he went on to tell me the stress test revealed this event but he could not put a date or time on it. My mind went back to several incidents over the past couple of years, any one of which could have been a silent heart attack and not just TIAs (transient ischemic attacks) as diagnosed at the time.  Our discussion went on from there and we agreed that in eighteen days he would do a heart catherization and probably put in a stent.  He did this by inserting a catheter through an artery on the underside of my right arm just above the wrist. In the aftermath I began to feel much better than I had in a long time. He subsequently told me my left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was about 80 percent blocked and this is what he opened and where he inserted the stent.  About six months ago I had cut back my daily walk from approximately three miles to two miles. I found myself needing a lot of post exercise rest, including lying down on some days. Even the reduced distance was tiring on many days and I looked for excuses to take a break. At the time I attributed this new feeling to just getting older. Now I know different. My daily two mile walks have resumed and I tolerate them with ease. We may have some other work to do down the line (a second artery has a 70 percent blockage) but for now everything is looking much better. It is a good feeling.

After the Boston Marathon Bombing

A few personal thoughts as the Boston Marathon bombing enters the wrap-up phase.
One of the ministers at the inter-faith service said she did not have an answer for why a loving God allowed such tragedy. I don't either and I doubt that anyone does. We will, however, go on from here as we always do. Those dead will be grieved for, those injured will be cared for and soon our attention will be focused on something else. It is the way of life. Life is for the living ad we ought to treasure every moment. We can expect that loving God to be with us along the way. And so we pray.

Riding a cab in New York City

The New York Times ran a story, April 10, 2013, "Sometimes, Riders Find a Cabby Worth Praising," and invited comments related to the theme. Among those published was one I submitted:

"I was in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, about ten years ago. My wife and I stopped at a restaurant for an early supper. We were the only customers until six men came in and sat at an adjoining table. One of them had recently been in New York City and was recounting the bad attitude of a cab driver. He went on and on and I thought he would have a heart attack. On the way out I stopped at his table and told him I was sorry he had had such a bad experience; that I was the Deputy Commissioner for hack licenses in NYC and when I got home we were going to work even harder on drivers with bad attitudes. I hope he would visit NYC again soon. As we got into our car my wife asked if I had too much beer for dinner. I shrugged and laughingly told her it would give him something pleasant to talk about and take his mind off the bad attitude driver."
(Complete blog here.)

Trees

Over the weekend I was out with some friends on their boat and while looking at the shore and the far away horizon I got to wondering about the stand of trees in the distance. Tall, strong, almost regal. It was not anything unusual, similar sights are visible everywhere. Riding along an Interstate through the low country or in the mountains one sees the same. Off in the distance trees appear uniform in height like an army on parade. So even, so neat-looking. Why is it like this, I wondered? Do trees talk to each other and say “conform, stay in line?” Walk down a busy city street and look ahead as far as you can see and the eye will treat you to a smorgasbord of heights and shapes. Even if you look down a long, wide boulevard, such as in Paris, you will notice differences. There is always someone taller who breaks the continuity of the line. Not so with trees in the distance. Tree tops appear even, more disciplined and I wonder how this comes about. Trees compete for the sunlight to help them grow. It seems they willingly share and not one is hoggish. Is this why on the horizon the line of trees appears so even? Assuredly, I know when you get up close you will notice differences, but looking at the horizon all is orderly and unbroken.

These are just some recent random thoughts I have about trees. I have not given much thought to trees in years, living as I did in a metropolitan area with more asphalt and concrete than greenery. My new home (Moss Creek plantation, Hilton Head, SC) is surrounded by trees, grass and two golf courses. I had almost forgotten how pleasurable it is to look around and see giant oak trees with massive trunks and limbs testifying to decades, if not centuries, of growth. It is, all in all, a most pleasant experience.

Where the danger is

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, in his first major public address since being confirmed, spoke at the National Defense University on April 3 about the threats the United States faces today and tomorrow. Addressing the senior military and civilian personnel pursuing a year of study at the prestigious NDU, including some foreign military officers, he said (in part):


 "The security landscape of 2013 is of a far different character than the world of 1960, or even the world of a few years ago.  *****  The United States is emerging from more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the threat of violent extremism persists and continues to emanate from weak states and ungoverned spaces in the Middle East and North Africa.  
"There also stands an array of other security challenges of varying vintage and degrees of risk to the United States:  the proliferation of dangerous weapons and materials, the increased availability of advanced military technologies in the hands of state and non-state actors, the risk of regional conflicts that could draw in the United States, the debilitating and dangerous curse of human despair and poverty, as well as the uncertain implications of environmental degradation.
"Cyber attacks – which barely registered as a threat a decade ago – have grown into a defining security challenge, with potential adversaries seeking the ability to strike at America’s security, energy, economic and critical infrastructure with the benefit of anonymity and distance.
"The world today is combustible and complex, and America’s responsibilities are as enormous as they are humbling.  These challenges to our security and prosperity demand America’s continued global leadership and engagement, and they require a principled realism that is true to our values."
The Secretary reminded us that "the most destructive and horrific attack ever on the United States came not from fleets of ships, bombers, and armored divisions, but from 19 fanatical men wielding box cutters and one-way plane tickets."
(Emphasis added.)

The entire speech is well worth reviewing.  
(To respond e-mail: arch@archibald99.com.) 

Easter Greetings

This is my first Easter with my new wife Joyce at Moss Creek Plantation, Hilton Head, SC. We wish everyone a joyous and blessed Easter. It was a good time when Joyce and I met and even better when we decided to marry. Each of us had been widowed for almost three years. No matter how long you have lived there is no substitute for having someone in your life with whom you can be happy and look to the future
We have blended two households into one, and, in my case, meeting and getting to know new people. This is my initial experience of living in the Hilton Head area but I am slowly learning my way around. I see some bridges, overpasses and other state property named for men and women I served with in the state legislature years ago.

This picture was taken over Christmas while visiting my sisters in The Villages, Florida.

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Marriage announced

Francis X. Archibald and Joyce L. Wahlrab were united in marriage in a double ring ceremony on St. Patrick's Day, 2013, by Pastor Sherry Owensby-Sikes at Rodenberg Chapel, Franke at Seaside, Mt. Pleasant, SC. The happy couple will reside at 23 Wax Myrtle Lane, Hilton Head, SC, 29926.
E-mail may be sent to arch@archibald99.com.

Other pictures here.

You are what you believe

Believing...

Percentage of Canadians who believe in global warming: 98

Of Americans: 70

Of Republicans: 48

Percentage of Republicans who believe in demonic possession: 68 

(Source: "Harper's Index", January 2013.)

(To reply e-mail: arch@archibald99.com)
(Click for the complete blog.)

The road "less traveled by"

Robert Frost created a tale (The Road Not Taken) of the diverging roads encountered on the travel through life. One is well-worn and exudes feelings of safety and security. The other is equally inviting, although “less traveled by” and to take it is to step into the unknown.

Five years ago, after almost 50 years in Hanahan, SC, I took a road “less traveled by” and came to Franke at Seaside, Mt. Pleasant, SC. It has turned out well.

Now, I am at another fork in the road of life and once again will take the road “less traveled by.” I am moving to Moss Creek Plantation, Hilton Head, SC, to marry and live with the woman, Joyce Wahlrab, I love and who loves me.   

Throughout my life I have come to many forks in the road and had to choose which road to take. Somehow the choice always worked out and life has been very good to me. I could remain at Franke; it is the easy, the safe, the well-worn path, but I would always wonder what if I had taken the other road?

I am called to recite as did the narrator in The Road Not Taken:

“And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

( To reply e-mail to: arch@archibald99com )

( Complete blog at archibaldinsc.blogspot.com )

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Bitter Pill - According to TIME

TIME has devoted a special issue to the destruction of health care in America. More than 35 pages are full of examples of how patients with and without insurance are being ripped. To say nothing of taxpayers. Some examples of egregious charges and profits in this fascinating story: 
Charges to individuals are thousands of dollars yet with Medicare the same services would have cost a few hundred dollars.
A box of sterile gauze pads cost a patient $77.
A patient was charged $18 each for Accu-Chek diabetes test strips. Amazon sells boxes of 50 for about $27 dollars or 55 cents each.
Twenty-five percent of Americans surveyed said they skipped a recommended medical test or procedure because of the cost.
The ten largest non-profit hospitals each made from $118 million to $769 million in operating profits.
Three CT scans cost a patient $6,538 and Medicare would have paid about $825 for the same thing.
A patient was charged $24 for a 500 mg tablet of Niacin; in drug stores the pills go for about a nickel apiece.
An acetaminophen tablet was billed at $1.50 each; you can buy a hundred on Amazon fro $1.49.
A patient covered by Medicare had bills of $268,227 which Medicare disposed of by paying only $43.320, A private paying patient would be stuck for the entire original bill.
 A standard saline solution was billed at $84. Online a liter bag costs $5.16.
Hospitals in Central Florida are overflowing with Medicare patients and all those hospitals are expanding and advertising for Medicare patients. "Hospitals don't lose money when they serve Medicare patients."
In 2011, the hospital and research institution of Sloan-Kettering had an operating profit of $406 million even after everything it spent on research and the education of a small army of young cancer doctors.
(The complete blog is here.)

"I have a dream....."

Yesterday as President Obama was inaugurated and the country observed the national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, I received an e-mail message from a man I have known, respected and loved for more than 50 years. These are excerpts from that moving e-mail.

English: Dr. Martin Luther King giving his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“As I do every year on MLK day I listen to his "I have a dream speech."  The words were spoken in 1963, but they still resonate today.  In 2010 I had flown back from Afghanistan on a government aircraft arriving at dawn to a cold day at Dulles airport.  As we were being loaded into the bus to go from the tarmac to the terminal, dawn was breaking and as luck would have it the radio was playing Dr. King's speech.  Having just returned from one of the most unequal and miserable places on the earth, Afghanistan, I was deeply moved at hearing his words.  They remain to me a guiding vision.

“When (redacted) and I got married she asked me what I wanted as a wedding gift.  I told her a set of the recordings of MLK's speeches.  She ordered them from a record store in Arlington and got a few odd looks.  She mentioned that she was getting them as a wedding present for her husband to be.  That got a few more strange looks.  After we were married, we went in to pick them up.  I don't know what the record store folks thought her husband would look like, but it was clearly not the short haired, white guy wearing a USMC tee shirt and a Clemson ball cap.”

Ted Stern has passed

My good friend and mentor, Ted Stern, has passed away. He was 100 last month on Christmas Day. We will miss his friendly demeanor and consummate skills. Our condolences to his family. (See an earlier blog below dated: November 13, 2012.)

Zero Dark Thirty

The film Zero Dark Thirty is opening country-wide this week,amid some controversy about alleged CIA torture and one woman's obsession about finding Osama bin Laden. Although considered a good film and possible favorite at the Oscar's, the film misses the point that finding OBL was a ten-year search by thousands of CIA case officers, analysts, and other key personnel. The torture scenes are Hollywood make believe. Enhanced interrogation ended in 2003 and no one was ever treated by CIA as depicted in the film. The character Maya is a composite of thousands through whom the story is told. She is a good choice because many women in the Counterterrorism Center "deserve a disproportionately large share of the credit for tracking" OBL. It is worth seeing, I am told, and intend to see it for myself. In the meantime it is worthwhile to pay attention to the views of some of the men who were there, e.g. Jose Rodriguez, a 31-year CIA veteran, who headed the Counterterrorism Center and National Clandestine Service. He wrote a comprehensive review of the movie published in The Washington Post on January 3. See the movie with an open mind. 
(Other blog entries here.)
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Charter Memberships available

New Club to be Formed

It has been decided to form a new Club. This decision was made by me and some others (I forget who they are). Membership will someday be open to people from all walks of life throughout the Western Hemisphere, regardless of race, creed, color, sex or national origin.  For now, only charter memberships are currently available and candidates will be carefully considered. Any signs of susceptibility to playing golf or tennis, or swimming, or to taking long walks on the beach, or to organize field trips, lunches, dinners, or, heaven help us, line up a speaker will be grounds for rejection. In this Club there will be no officers, no committees, no dues, no regular meetings, no minutes, no causes supported, no books to read, no painting classes to attend, no knitting , in short, no nothing. The name of the Club will be The Do-Nothing Club. There is no need to formalize any purpose of the Club since the name itself is thought to accurately describe the Club. Anyone who wishes to be considered for charter membership should speak to me or to the others whom I will identify when I can remember their names. I may be contacted in person while doing nothing or by e-mail, snail mail or notes slipped under the door or through the transom (when and if a transom is added to my entrance doorway.) In the meantime, practice and live your life to be an outstanding and valuable member of The Do-Nothing Club.

(For complete blog, click here.)

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