Paul McLeod  Hey Eric....so far so good on the water front...they blew up the mouth of the Red River so that helped to release a lot of doenstream water while we still wait for the crest form MN and ND. HWY 75 is now in it's annual state of closure, meaning a 4 - 5 hour detour for freight which shows up at the grocery store.

We are expecting daughter and grandson in Winnipeg for the next 1o days! Can yu think of a better distraction? jack is 10 months and crawling so we have three days to kid proof the hosue. apparently he has a penchant for electrical cords (future electician?).

As for my personal journey, I continue to deepen in peace, not that I'm enamoured with the CHCS but it's all we've got and it's as simple a matter as life or death so on that part I am thankful.

On the other hand, it is a cumbersome neolithic institution that lumbers along with bent and out of round wheels, full of head scracthing eigmatic issues. I have been lecturing the nurses at the help desk, talking tot hem in riddles and asking them how they like it. "How are you doing Mr. McLeod?" "I am as I am", is my standard response with the proviso, "and no guarantees".

The most glaring deficit is their total disregard for holistic medicine. they works on people bodies, as for the mind, spirit, and soul, that went out with Darwin.

When I ramble on I think of the people on meds, drunk, depressed. Who would announce a wedding with no date? No date means no event, right?

Who would announce an election with no date? No date no event, right? Well, apparently is just fine fo announce a surgery with no date. No date means no event, right? At least that's how the human mind works in my experience.

Anyhow, God i good al the time, and these are cloaked opportunities for spiritual growth, for which I am thankful. Cause, ya see, when you're thankful ya can be sad.

Thanks for the note Eric, I'll be prayin' for ya.

Paul M

Paul McLeod  Pete, I think I can match you and raise you…..awhile back I was scheduled for
an appointment with my then cardiologist, whom I later fired…

….you know how it is….you go to reception…take a number sort of thing….
then you sit down and answer numerous redundant and boring questions…

…they want to make sure there are NOT 20 people in the same room with your
name….you finally get through all the hops and are told to report to the other desk
where they ask you another whack of questions….finally telling you to “have a seat
over there”…..

….so off I go and seat myself down….it’s early in the morning and I am thinking to myself….maybe a little ct nap might be nice….

….in the background I can hear the girl at the desk on the phone…..she is calling
patient’s to inform them that DR so and so won’t be in today…..I think nothing of it until
I hear them saying to my recording machine….Mr __________, this is Dr ________’s
office just calling to notify that Dr __________ is away ill today so there will be no need
to come in for your appointment…..

….something jerks me out of my daze to full awareness, I’m sure I had heard my name….maybe I was just dozing off….after pondering what all this might mean I decide to check it out….so slouching up to the desk I ask the assistant (as the other girl was still
smokin’ the phone…ah….excuse me….was that my name that I just heard…..

….she waits until the phone smoker gets off the line and then they have a parly…after some discussion they conclude as follows….Mr __________. Mr _____ is away ill today so there is no need to come in for your appointment….

…..I said, well I’m already here, so I guess I’ll just go home….they looked little stunned, especially the blond one…..OH….was that you I was just calling….I said I think so….

…..well Dr _______....I said I know, I was sitting over there listening to the call….tell you what…I’ll just go home….they concluded that might be a good idea….sheeesh

Paul McLeod  "Yeah, that's all a guy can do. If at first you don't succeed keep trying?.

Where you been hiding anyway?"

Paul McLeod  90 days at 1 mg per day is enough to cause withdrawal....compunded by the por decisions i made the week leading up to the event...i hope to hear back from the pharmacist but i will be taking this up with my family doc in 3 weeks for sure....you're on in 18 days...i'm praying for you....it can't hurt....thanks Ruth

Paul McLeod  Thanks there Jimbob....went for breakfast with George this morning....he's always curious how you're doing....you out west yet?

Yeah, them rocks are pretty much thawed out by now. I'm gonna call the Home Depot manager and see if I can take em back for a refund.

Thanks for thinkin' of me and say Hi to Calvin,

Paul M

Paul McLeod  hey Pete there buddy....ya tippin' a few are ya....well what works for me seems to be exhaustion....daily the cycle plays out....crankin' it and crankin' it and then when I've got myself all tuckered out from frettin'....why I just lays meself down and crashes fer awhile...then I get up and feel like a new man....no hangover though....now i got to work on not crankin' it during the day....lived my 59 yrs like that....used exhaustion as a sedative....this is all new to me....tip one for me there buddy

Paul M

Paul McLeod  Hey Eric....thanks for the support and encouragement....one thing i have learned over the years is not to go it on my own....that's a quick trip down the well....it's only been the last couple of days....Monday was the wake up call....yesterday I rebounded....and today it's a struggle again but not with the turbo stuff like a had before....the lack of scheduling, structure, and overall sense of meaning are starting to eat away at me since I decided to not be as stupid and do stuff that I shouldn't which was giving my left ventricle fits....today I noticed a tire going flat on the car....i pulled into the nearest tire shop and got it fixed....in a previously life I'd pull into a parking lot, take the wheel off, get my plug kit going and be on the road in 15 minutes....so I did smarten up on that one....my wife is a rock and supports me big time and there's nothing I can't share with here even though she doesn't have all the answers a body listening is very therapeutic....thanks again Eric, you rock.

Paul M

Paul McLeod  my dear Ruth,

I hope you didn't exhaust yourself composing this comprehensive missive. It is very touching and meaningful to me.

I've got the music going, mp3 player pumping away, i do meditation and prayer as well as Bible reading....there are some awesome resources out there that you referred to thank you very much, as well as I'm on with iTunes....

i have a sister to whom I'm joined at the hip but she's a half world away in the Philippines but she's a rock and always checks up on me....like i was saying previously....

I’ve finally had to make adjustments to a much more sedentary lifestyle and Monday's turbo experience I don't expect to happen again....it was triggered by over exhaustion from the previous week and yesterday I really bounced as I hung out the afternoon with my longtime bud of many years from work....but today was recovery day and that's where it gets sticky....

this afternoon we had an appointment to see the director of the Personal Care home that we are working at getting my Dad into.....that was the better part of the afternoon after which the wifey and I went to a cafe for tea and goodies....

I can still drive....do stuff....but what starts to eat away at me is the limbo feeling along with a sense of emptiness and lack of purpose or meaning....just existing would describe it better....i know these are all JUST feelings and have no basis in fact or reality.....

the problem with guys is our ego is rooted in what we can do….take that away and we get the notion there’s nothing left….all rubbish but that’s how society has conditioned us….

...i've got the grandson coming this summer along with daughter and hubby frpm Indiana as well as everything to look forward to post surg......

every summer the Mcleod clan has a Highland Gathering up in the hills of Washington close to Lyle on the big river....when I came back from the gathering in 2005 I was having chest pains then...my Dr put me in a 4 yr study which proved nothing and then the valve started to slip big time....

from mild in '08 to acute in April 2010....from then on it was pain city as i raged at the inevitable reality that I wasn't going to get better any time soon....I did get all the outdoor fall work done and was actually not totally stupid as I got help from family and work bee etc....

so it's blunder on…. but you are a dear and I hope somewhere along the way I can encourage you somewhat....hammering this out has been great and maybe you'll get a chuckle out of reading it....all the way over in Maine eh?....i mean Huh?

Paul M

Paul McLeod  Hé Pete, je ne voulais pas votre tension artérielle trop élevée, j'espère que vous pouvez le contrôler. Je suis désolé si je l'a déclenchée.

Paul McLeod  Est-il possible de consulter votre médecin à un autre moment?
J'ai dit à la dame du bureau d'aide à la St B que lorsque le médecin parle, c'est comme si Dieu lui-même a parlé, alors quel était le point de les tenir informés sur la façon dont je fais? Ils écouteront peut-être à 911. Maintenant, regardez votre pression artérielle!

Je vais prier pour cela, et votre voyage à la chirurgie en temps opportun.

A la prochaine,

Paul

Paul McLeod  Yeah, it's a total bummer. For a stubborn scot like myself it's even worse. I have to scare myself really bad before i get it.

I have hurt my left ventricle so many times it's a wonder i'm still alive. But what amazes me is in a week or so it's heals itself and then i'm smarter till the next time. God and people praying are keeping me alive, but i am learning, slowly.

Sitting around waiting or doing nothing does me in holisitically. I get depressed easily, but getting out of the house usually helps big time.

Mostly i miss being able to visit with my friends, actually that is the biggest part of keeping healthy, the holistic part overshadows the physical part to some degree.

I do have close friend from work who understands, his wife had a heart transplant 12 years ago and passed away just before christmas.

Yes, but in Canada you get a "window", not a specific date. If you're waiting until April 21st you're as good as there. For me, the window is somewhere around the middle of June to sometime in July. They call me a week before,

Thanks for thinking of me; I wish you all the best and send you my thots and prayers.

Paul m

Paul McLeod  Bonjour Pete,

QUAND, OÙ ET COMMENT DE NOUVELLES JOLIES FILLES APPARAISSENT-ELLES?

IL EST BON QUE VOTRE ETAT EST STABLE, MAIS QU'EN EST-IL DE VOS SYMPTOMES, COMBIEN DE TEMPS AVANT D'ETRE ADRESSE?

POURQUOI SONT-ILS TOUJOURS JOUER AVEC VOTRE ESPRIT QUAND IL S'AGIT DE GENS QUI NE VONT PAS MOURIR TOUT DE SUITE? DITES-LEUR VOS CHEVILLES SONT UN GONFLEMENT OU QUELQUE CHOSE COMME ÇA!

JE VOUS DONNE MON SOUTIEN ET MES PRIERES, MON BON AMI.

JUSQU'A LA PROCHAINE FOIS.

THUMPER A PINCE

PAUL

Paul McLeod  love ya Ruth....I just got back from visiting my Dad....was gone for 4 hrs and I'm home gassed....my wife thinks I don't want to talk to her....but she know's I'm just needing an hour to crash and I'll be better....visiting just doesn me in....always short of btreath and trying to talk....

Paul McLeod  Thaaat is VERY sweet of you....Eleanore misses you horribly (well terribly)...I'm hoping for surgery in early June but nothing is for sure....say Hi to everybody (if there's any left) but there’s your mom and dad and I hear good news about Kelly....we are praying for Cole and Deb as they plan their big day or has it come and gone already? We talk to Grant often and keep them in our prayers daily.

This was just AWESOME hearing from you. Eleanore will be so excited. Do you still have the same cell number? We went to Grand Forks for one of my nephew’s hockey games and being "back home" was such a tonic that I felt completely better for one day. Really. We hitch up with Jackie from time to time on facebook.

We are grandparents now as you probably know as well. He is the light of our lives next to the THE Light and the Life.

When we get mobile again we’re gonna hunt you down, along with as many other’s as we can find. We left a huge part of our hearts in St Cloud, and just can’t wait to get going again.

Right now I’m pretty much what we call an out patient in my own home. But it’s a journey of the heart, you know what I mean.

I’ll bet you career is awesomely successful and that you’ll be VP pretty soon. Your work ethic is SCARY!. I could run on here for a loooooog time, but give our love to your mom and dad.

You know I come from a cross breed family, border town syndrome they call it. Three of my siblings are dual citizens and I got a 51 stars and 13 stripe grandson. Beth (our daughter) calls him their “anchor child” LOL, plus 2 uncles, a sister, and an awwwwwnt living in the US. After that I lose count, oh…3 nephews that are cross breeds too I think and 7 cousins. When we have famiy reunions it's always the USA vs Canada!

We haven’t given up our dream, but it has to be in His time and His way. Thanks for making our day!! Coffee at Starbucks?

WILL meet again, somewhere, sometime. God Bless.

Paul

Paul McLeod  Hey Pete.....i grew up on the farm....milkin' cows the old fashioned way....i had fingers and arms like cobalt steel....at school those days we had to make our own entertainment....uncluding Roman knuckle fighting....there was no one could take me down....and it was a draw between me at 5 ft 3 150 lbs and the 6 ft 3 200 lb heavtweight...a dead draw....

....as for the pills...i'm confused... thought they had certified the blue ones and condemned the grey ones....something to do with front effects...or was it back effects...

thumper to gripper, clear

over and out

Paul McLeod  Hey Pete...go for it man....I'm backin' ya all the way. I like the iron mind part.

Paul the thumper to Pete the gripper

Clear

Over and Out

that cracks me up!!

Paul McLeod  Hey Ruth, well spoken, and I thank you for your concern and advice. May I make a few points on what you have offered?

Firstly, I am a student of the game. Since 1988 I have been my own health enthusiast. I have been on a regimen of supplements for the last however many years, and in some ways I concur with your advice as given by your own advisors, but in multiple ways I differ. If it means anything, I am a Mathematics and Physics Graduate from U of Manitoba
.
May I explain further?

Firstly, there are some key glitches in the information that is the official “line” if you want for every medical institution. The key motivator (sorry to say this) is what makes life easiest for them, and sorry to say this also, patient safety if their “media line”. I will expound on this further (and by the way I have dropped all my meds except two).


So to err on the side of “safety” in many cases the baby has been thrown out with the bath water in the administrative protocol. It’s all about risk management. Just to diverge her for a moment, there are very valid statistics out there (very secret mind you) of people who have expired while having basic surgical procedures for reasons that had nothing to do with why they were in the hospital to begin with.

This is due to the fact that the hospital is a veritable melting pot for every virus, bacteria, and bug literally on the planet, and in much higher than average concentrations. Some stats out there indicate horrifying numbers; one such investigation came up with the conclusion that as many as one in a hundred people never leave the hospital for reasons having nothing to do with why they were there.

And just on that point, when I went for my pre op every second staffer was hacking and coughing and sneezing or whatever. The first thing I asked for was a surgical mask, and I was given one. The EKG guy told me that was a smart move.

On to my next point. The stats on “negative interactions” with surgical drugs and residue from Vitamin intake are very likely much lower than dangers posed by the hospital environment itself. No wonder every doctor has a multi million dollar insurance policy against malpractice lawsuits.

So again, where the “system” has control, they tend to compensate by going overboard, as in the “ban” on all this or that supplements/prescription drugs, etc.

If you’re a student of the game you know this stuff. Let me refer to a couple of blogs to make my point, the first one consists of “in house” arguing, if you will, health care professional against health care professional. You can peruse it at

http://ctheblog.cforyourself.com/2005/05/need-for-vitamin-c-pre-op.html

Let me continue just a little longer if I may. Check out

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400331/Vitamin-C-for-Surgery.html

by Dr Andrew Well on the benefits of taking Vitamin C before, during, and after surgery.

Another site dealing with the need for Multiple Vitamin therapy before and after surgery

http://www.healthy-vitamin-choice.com/supplements-for-surgery.html .

Now if you go to the Mayo clinic site, they say that Vitamin therapy is “inconclusive” as to assisting in surgical readiness as well as post op recovery.

I’ve run on long enough here. It’s not a case of being stubborn, it’s about being informed. And the medical community, unfortunately, is a fragmented system, each in their own little world and abiding by their own administrative protocol.

Let's just remember, the system is under Hippocratic oath to due their ultimate as to what’s best for you.

But systems are far from perfect, and that is an huge understatement. So you won’t find me going off Vitamin C any time soon, and I will be lobbying by my family Dr with the system to have some respect for other medical opinions.

And just a little math, if I may. All these supplements have what is called “half lives”, which is the time taken for your body to eliminate half of your original dosage. Fat soluble supplements take much longer that water soluble for your system to eliminate.

Vitamin C for example, the mega immuno booster, has an average half life of 20 – 45 minutes. If you take an average of 30 minutes for the half life, that means if you take 1000mg at 9:00 AM, by 9:30 your system has eliminated half of that amount or 500mg, leaving the other half (500mg) still in your sytem.

By 10:00 AM, the next half hour, half of the 500mg, or 250mg has been eliminated. So in one hour you have a quarter of the original 1000mg still in your system.

If you run that through a 24 hr day, you have essentially 3.55271368/1 000 000 000 000 000 or about 4 quadrillionths of your original dosage of Vitamin C, when is effectively zero, meaning in 24 hours your body has eliminated ALL the Vitamin C from your system.

That’s why some medical experts say it’s impossible to OD on Vitamin C, no matter how much your original dosage; it’s all gone in 24 hrs.

Zinc, on the other hand, being fat soluble, takes 300 plus days to be half eliminated from your system, so if you’ve been taking Zinc for any period of time, you won’t live long enough to rid your system of Zinc prior to op.

I hope you get my point, and I defer to others out there to confirm or deny my data. If Math/Science isn’t your forte, you’ll just have to go by what you get from the blogs out there, see your family doctor, and then together lobby for what, based on the solid information and medical support, advice and evidence, is best for you.

I think we tend to underestimate our lobbying power as patients. It’s our life!

Sorry I’ve gotten on my stump here, and hope it might be informative and helpful. If it hasn’t, well, you’ll have to write me off as a quack.
Love ya
Paul

Paul McLeod  Thanks "double bro", hey "they looked unto Him and were Radiant". The Man has a Plan, we goota decrease so He can increase. Ever heard of David L Roper. He has a downloadable free book called A Man to Match the Mountain. He talks about the guys that got hammered on the anvil, fried in the fire, stoned to the bone, smashed till they were just ash, but they got up in the Newness of the One who created and redeemed them, and wouldn't ya know Jer. 29:11 was (and is being) brought to fulfilment in there lives and ours. Always a pleasure, bro. And a great big hello to brother Pete if you're out there.

Just curious Darren, what's your instrument. I used to be pretty mean on 12 string folk, got all the top 100 hits from the late 60's and 70's but I'm a Gaither guy at heart. Been to their concerts and I've never left the same. Wouldn't you know last summer they were in Winnipeg on May 10th but I couldn't make it so I caught them in Minneapolis in the 17th. Sometimes things work out, oops, correction, Romans 8:28 on that one.

Paul McLeod  that makes 2 nice people from Winnipeg....not bad...good to hear you're still on the channel pete...

paul

Paul McLeod  Wow, my guestbook is cookin' with "all the best" comments. Thanks and I am blessed. Got half the planet prayin' for us. I've literally hung my life and outcome on Him and the promises. I have little or no faith in man or any health system, when I go in for surg I'm putting my life in His hands. Thanks again for your thoughtfulness.

Paul McLeod  Thanks Darren....very refreshing to "connect" in this resonating way. We've been hanging onto Mark11:22, 23.
Check out Montgomery NT.
Nice to know Someone's bigger than our mountains.

Paul McLeod  Hey Pete, I dare say if we took a vote it would be unanimous that you would be sorely missed, backward writing and all (even though it;s SW), so please don't go off the channel completely.

Paul McLeod  You are the sweet, caring, and gracious person that I said you were. Thanks for your kindness and consideration.

Paul the theist

Paul McLeod  How nice of you to respond Ruth, all the way from Maine. Apparently there is a town down east once shared by Maine and New Brunswick called Fort Fairfield.

Historically speaking, boundary issues have always been very sensitive in the formative stages of nation building, this as well was the case back in the late 1830's to early '40's.

During this era the border dispute between them escalated to the degree where settlement looked likely to be achieved by the Arastook War, which turned out to be a cold war with no shots fired or military casualties

This in no small measure thanks to President Martin Van Buren sending Brigadier General Winfield Scott, who’s yeoman diplomacy culminated in the working out of a compromise. The compromise created a neutral area, and the controversy gradually diminished.

To this day the Arastook Town and Country Club straddles the border. Sorry, I’m off topic here, but I am a bit of a history buff. Thanks for your encouragement and insights regarding the journey of the heart.

Paul McLeod  Jeanne, your comments bring the words of the old song back to me.

Sing them over again to me,
Wonderful words of Life!

It will be great to see you if you come here in the summer, hoping I'm fixed up, and out and about by then!

You are forever friends, and all our love to Rudy

Paul McLeod  Thanks a lot. It wasn't the same without you guys there, that is a certainty. We are praying for Jim and believe that he wil be raised off what sounded pretty close to his deathbed LOL.

Paul McLeod  they're gonna get after us for turning this channel into an evangeklistic outreach....well praise God anyway

Paul McLeod  Hi Terry....as far as I know I meet the whole team for several hours of which the aneasthetist or whatever is just one, but apparently the first one or something to that effect.
Neat to have this response option, eh?
....I mean huh?