TOO MUCH OF THE BAD STUFF
I have had tons of inquiries by phone, e-mail, mail, text messages, and folks just asking, about my absence from the radio during the week of April, 21. The guys who filled in, (by the way, thanks guys) were kind of vague as to the reason for my absence and it left a lot of people to wonder. Due to the sheer number of these inquiries I feel that I owe you an explanation, so here goes.
Maybe a little history would be in order next; I started dabbling in radio when I was in high school. From that time until 1973 I dabbled both full and part time, until I heard the siren song of big money in the coal industry and answered it's call. This was just prior the the "Coal Boom" of '74. I worked as a heavy equipment operator, both in mining and construction, until November of 1996. My tenure as an operator was about 2 months short of 23 years. Most of the years I spent out there were before pressurized and filtered air cabs, and in a lot of cases, right out there in the open air to breathe whatever the next breeze blew in your face. I was also a cigarette smoker.
For several years my doctor has monitored a couple of the lymh nodes on my lungs. After a rather severe bout with shortness of breath last August, I had a CT scan and the doctor said we would have to monitor the nodes very carefully. He told me to quit smoking and lose weight and all would probably be well, but I needed to have another CT in December to watch the nodes; I did neither nor did I have the CT. A follow up visit in March brought much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and he ordered me to have the CT at the next available opening in the schedule at the Diagnostic Center; I did this time.
Lo and behold, one of the lymph nodes had grown to the point that he wanted me to see Dr. Dennis Havens at Pikeville Medical Center. Dr. Havens is an experienced and knowledgable cardiothoracic surgeon, who is also one helluva nice guy; down to earth and plain. He wanted to biopsy the nodes just to make sure that is was as he suspected, rock dust...BUT (could we have some ominous music here please) there was a spot on my right lung that had not appeared in the CTs last year. He noticed it quite by accident.
Even though an ominous spot on your lung is not a good thing, he explained that when they were found by accident it usually meant they were very small and very new, and that usually meant all would turn out well even if the pathology did not. Still, you never know.
On the morning of April 21, I went in for the surgery. Dr. Havens, with the assistance of his trusty Physicians Assistant, Nicole Burchfield, removed the nodes and the spot. Everything appeared to be negative as far as cancer. I spent the first night in the Intensive Care Unit as a precaution, and then on Tuesday moved to a private room. Let me stop right here to say that Terra Gilbert, the nurse aide in ICU, and Melissa Goodman, the night shift nurse on sixth floor, are angels without wings. They are "angels of mercy". Anyway, I was released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and went home to be pampered by my family. My wife, Paulette, also an R.N and angel of mercy, and my sons Corey and Austin babied me to death; I am forever grateful (and somewhat apologetic) for what I subjected them to.
That's pretty much the story as to my absence except to say this; I never realized that so many people cared for me and my well being. I was placed on the prayer list of several area churches, and many of them have said they offered prayers of praise for the good news I received. I stop daily and ask myself, "Can this be?" "Is this all for me?" "This many people care for me?" I'm deeply moved, yet I hear from people daily who offer congratulations and say good things about their feelings for me.
I don't know what to say except, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Stay tuned, I'm a new man.
Randy
Maybe a little history would be in order next; I started dabbling in radio when I was in high school. From that time until 1973 I dabbled both full and part time, until I heard the siren song of big money in the coal industry and answered it's call. This was just prior the the "Coal Boom" of '74. I worked as a heavy equipment operator, both in mining and construction, until November of 1996. My tenure as an operator was about 2 months short of 23 years. Most of the years I spent out there were before pressurized and filtered air cabs, and in a lot of cases, right out there in the open air to breathe whatever the next breeze blew in your face. I was also a cigarette smoker.
For several years my doctor has monitored a couple of the lymh nodes on my lungs. After a rather severe bout with shortness of breath last August, I had a CT scan and the doctor said we would have to monitor the nodes very carefully. He told me to quit smoking and lose weight and all would probably be well, but I needed to have another CT in December to watch the nodes; I did neither nor did I have the CT. A follow up visit in March brought much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and he ordered me to have the CT at the next available opening in the schedule at the Diagnostic Center; I did this time.
Lo and behold, one of the lymph nodes had grown to the point that he wanted me to see Dr. Dennis Havens at Pikeville Medical Center. Dr. Havens is an experienced and knowledgable cardiothoracic surgeon, who is also one helluva nice guy; down to earth and plain. He wanted to biopsy the nodes just to make sure that is was as he suspected, rock dust...BUT (could we have some ominous music here please) there was a spot on my right lung that had not appeared in the CTs last year. He noticed it quite by accident.
Even though an ominous spot on your lung is not a good thing, he explained that when they were found by accident it usually meant they were very small and very new, and that usually meant all would turn out well even if the pathology did not. Still, you never know.
On the morning of April 21, I went in for the surgery. Dr. Havens, with the assistance of his trusty Physicians Assistant, Nicole Burchfield, removed the nodes and the spot. Everything appeared to be negative as far as cancer. I spent the first night in the Intensive Care Unit as a precaution, and then on Tuesday moved to a private room. Let me stop right here to say that Terra Gilbert, the nurse aide in ICU, and Melissa Goodman, the night shift nurse on sixth floor, are angels without wings. They are "angels of mercy". Anyway, I was released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and went home to be pampered by my family. My wife, Paulette, also an R.N and angel of mercy, and my sons Corey and Austin babied me to death; I am forever grateful (and somewhat apologetic) for what I subjected them to.
That's pretty much the story as to my absence except to say this; I never realized that so many people cared for me and my well being. I was placed on the prayer list of several area churches, and many of them have said they offered prayers of praise for the good news I received. I stop daily and ask myself, "Can this be?" "Is this all for me?" "This many people care for me?" I'm deeply moved, yet I hear from people daily who offer congratulations and say good things about their feelings for me.
I don't know what to say except, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Stay tuned, I'm a new man.
Randy
posted by Randy at
10:07 AM
