WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Lost Time [Updated]
byVanderleunonJune 14, 2021
Off to the local hospital for a cardiac procedure — nothing out of the ordinary just need to have it done now. Back later but posting will be curtailed.
[UPDATE: First. I am overwhelmed with the outpouring of prayers and good wishes here. Very grateful. Second: After a suspicious result during a recent cardiac stress test, it was decided to take a closer look at the areas inside my heart. The result of a long time in what Enloe calls the “Cath Lab” but is really a specialized operating theater is that I’m currently good to go. There was evidently some plaque built up around the stent I had put in after my cardiac arrest more than ten years ago. This was not however such that my cardiologist was concerned and the placement of other stents, or more draconian surgery, was avoided. The “sedation” (your garden variety “relaxer” with just a pinch of fentanyl) kept me in a kind of twilight state even after I got home. I’m still a bit off my game this morning but am glad to be off my game here at home rather than waking up in a room at Enloe Hospital.
At the same time it was a fascinating experience since I found, yet again, that if you take your eyes off something like medicine for even five years you are in a whole new universe. More on this later. For now, I am taking it easy in my home and feeling better with every passing hour.
And it was very startling and wonderful to come here this morning and see the wishes from all you wonderful people. So much so that I am swapping out the Stones “Heart of Stone” video with one more suited to the blessings given me here.]
“All right, sending this one out to all the cool cats and kitties at American Digest. Let’s put some quake in your quaker, some shake in your shaker, and a rock in your sock! Hit it, J.T.!”
We will be glad to have you back after your tuneup. Good luck. Header picture above your post was the guy holding the jumper cables with the big arc between them. Hope you won’t be needing a jump start.
Mike AustinJune 14, 2021, 2:06 PM
Damn it Gerard, stop scaring me. You are in my prayers of course; and I am having a glass of Moscato to your health. Probably follow up with Rum, just in case.
Casey KlahnJune 14, 2021, 2:39 PM
Waiting right here.
LPJune 14, 2021, 2:50 PM
Your readers care about you. Sending prayers.
jdJune 14, 2021, 3:12 PM
Ditto, Gerard. Will be praying.
gwbnycJune 14, 2021, 3:20 PM
triple bypass 1997, one stent I insisted on that I didn’t need- losing weight would have covered it- same cardiologist for 24 years (he morphed into an NYU department head).
heart/weight important.
good luck.
Peter NewcombJune 14, 2021, 3:42 PM
You are in my thoughts and prayers. Good luck God speed and take your time we’ll wait gem that you are.
Kevin in PAJune 14, 2021, 3:46 PM
Prayers your way.
Speedy recovery.
MIKE GUENTERJune 14, 2021, 3:54 PM
Good luck!
PA CatJune 14, 2021, 4:32 PM
Prayers up for you from this household, too– including the cats (hey, somebody has to look out for Olive’s well-being). May God hold you close to His heart in the hours and days ahead.
NoriJune 14, 2021, 5:37 PM
Godspeed,Mr V. Prayers & much love.
You know how we worry.
Gerard, You and your site are special to a lot of people. Hope all is well and that it is “nothing out of the ordinary”. Joe Krill
AshleySCJune 14, 2021, 7:32 PM
Long time lurker, as one says. I’ll be praying for you. Who you are, through what you choose to post here, makes you someone I feel like I know but definitely cherish. Wishing you well and take care of yourself. God bless.
Steve in GreensboroJune 14, 2021, 7:34 PM
Will keep you in my prayers. Get well soon. Thanks for everything you do.
KerryJune 14, 2021, 7:34 PM
I will remain totally confident that you will come through the procedure with a perfect outcome and your recovery time will be short. Looking forward to your next post very soon.
TerryJune 14, 2021, 8:14 PM
I had an electrical shock treatment three years ago for treating atrial fibrillation. The shock treatment was unsuccessful, but I walked out of the place under my own power and am fine. My father had the same deal, was a successful procedure and he is still alive and well at 96 years.
I don’t think luck has anything to do with much in life. So instead of “‘good-luck”, I say to you Gerard, see you when you get back.
Prayers from here in the Southland as well.
Silence deeper than words.
God bless.
JWM
rabbit tobaccoJune 14, 2021, 9:09 PM
I pray the Lord fill your heart,
your mind, your soul and your
body with His presence.
Lance de BoyleJune 14, 2021, 9:53 PM
If they give you any sass, just say the word. 10,000 armed Leun’s Legions will be there.
KarenJune 14, 2021, 10:11 PM
Prayers for you and your medical team. See you back here soon.
ZaphodJune 14, 2021, 10:28 PM
Good luck and don’t grope or ogle the nurses while you’re hooked up to any kind of machine or tube!
Annette A. PonderJune 15, 2021, 2:21 AM
We will be glad to have you back after your tuneup. Good luck. Header picture above your post was the guy holding the jumper cables with the big arc between them. Hope you won’t be needing a jump start.
JoeDaddyJune 15, 2021, 3:02 AM
Best of Luck. No vaXXines.
HossJune 15, 2021, 4:06 AM
Prayers for you Gerard , see you soon.
Snakepit KansasJune 15, 2021, 4:43 AM
Dude is getting more prayers than someone praying for a negative on a pregnancy test! Prayers from Kansas sir!
Gerard, my prayer is that the procedure you are to undergo is accomplished as simply as you imply, and that unlike David Warren’s announcement regarding the simple heart procedure he was to undergo, no complications arise. God Bless.
John The RiverJune 15, 2021, 5:32 AM
Here’s hoping the nurses are pretty and have warm hands.
See you back here soon.
Paddy O’furnitureJune 15, 2021, 6:36 AM
Hope all goes well Gerard. See you soon.
EX-Californian PeteJune 15, 2021, 6:38 AM
Sent a few “knee mails” to the Big Guy Upstairs for you to have a smooth, uncomplicated procedure and a rapid & full recovery.
And please ignore all comments above concerning NOT squeezing and ogling hot nurses- because ogling and squeezing hot nurses can be good cardio therapy!
Prayers for a successful procedure and quick recovery!!
JackJune 15, 2021, 6:59 AM
Good luck with your procedure don’t give it a second thought. There will be plenty of new raw material to cuss and discuss when you’re back in the saddle. ttyl.
You sound happy and good to go. Better to check it in time.
ghostsniperJune 15, 2021, 9:05 AM
I didn’t comment cause I was holding my breath.
Then I turned blue.
Then I passed out.
Then I stopped holding my breath.
Then I turned unblue.
Then I woke up.
Welcome back.
Glad, quite glad, extremely glad, things went well for you Gerard!
If they hadn’t, none the less, you’da had a dang good run and I’d be delighted you’d been around as long as you were.
Me, pushing 83, have no plans to set foot inside a hospital no matter what. Since hospitals became campuses, since the Bad China Cold isolated visitor access, since medical practitioners are masked day and night like shamans of old, I’ll take my chances off the medical campuses.
As of now, that’s my heading, will go miles out of my way to avoid a hospital.Yep, I might die, I have it on good authority that most people do, but I’d rather go out un-isolated, not intubated, electrode plastered and monitored, surrounded by masked strangers heroically pounding my chest.
I dropped and bucked a few spruce trees yesterday. I don’t plan to, nor do I expect to, spend my last moment neath a tree that kicked back, but I’d rather pass ‘neath a tree than an oxygen tent.
I enjoy the bush, bear country. A wee chance I’ll end up a grizzly’s lunch or 3 squares for a black bear, contributing nourishment to a sleek pair of cubs born the next spring, if so, t’ain’t a bad thing. Also a chance I might have bear in the freezer and that’s OK too. Society frowns if we view our medical practitioners in that light.
I’m not faulting anyone else’s choice, whatever works for you, go for it!
Dan PattersonJune 15, 2021, 11:42 AM
Very good news about your exam and procedure.
About that: do you find yourself resting (recovering?) between bouts of creativity or is your practice more seamless?
Best to you and yours.
gwbnycJune 15, 2021, 11:50 AM
I’m in the office on a loose schedule of three times a year or so.
some side action was spotting an aortic aneurysm that had maybe 90 days left to it.
I was home two weeks later repaired, and since have had the seven others found in various locations fixed, the last two in a Hail Mary since the virus.
Hey amigo: thoughts and prayers and whatever else helps -from Santa Monica to Toronto and points in between.
brinsterJune 15, 2021, 1:09 PM
I don’t think we could have endured very well without the great Gerard Vanderluen. I thank the Lord you’re doing well, and may the great physician help those here on earth and guide them with your care.
Be well. Stay well.
CallmelennieJune 15, 2021, 1:27 PM
I suppose this is where we share any heart procedure stories we might have. I went to a cardiologist in mid September, 2015 because I woke up one night with a burning sensation in my chest. Dr Cardio schedules a stress test which I fail. The nuclear tracers suggest two stents are needed
So, they start the angioplasty. Next thing you know the procedure is stalled and I can see doctors huddling and speaking in whispered tones. And in my slightly altered state I’m thinking, “They’re huddling instead of stenting; this cant be a good thing.”
Once I’m lucid, my cardio guy tells me there’s far more plaque (95% on the LAD) than expected and that three bypasses would be needed. So, they get it done and when I wake up they tell that they had done FIVE! And my first reaction was “So, is that some kind of record?”
(Answer: No, Six was the surgeons personal record)
NoriJune 15, 2021, 2:27 PM
Good news indeed,Mr V! Prayers of Thanks all around,with a side of relief. We need every warrior,and you are one of the best.
As you can see,we kept ourselves entertained.Mr O Neil’s musings on where to stuff certain medical practitioners were most agreeable.
Happy Homecoming to you and Miss Olive;crack open a can of cold tuna juice.
PA CatJune 15, 2021, 2:37 PM
Gerard says in his update, “I am overwhelmed with the outpouring of prayers and good wishes here. Very grateful.” Well, G, you shouldn’t be surprised; you are one of the best illustrations I know of John Henry Newman’s personal motto, cor ad cor loquitur, heart speaks to heart. You have a gift for touching the hearts of your readers that can come only from a wise and long-experienced heart. So of course we’re all delighted that your cardiologist sent you home (to Olive, who doubtless missed you) with good news. May God continue to bless you in the days ahead.
Frisco Scooter TrashJune 15, 2021, 2:38 PM
Glad to hear you’re OK, Gerard. God speed my to my daily read author.
Happy to hear you are doing well and nothing serious found — wishing you continued good health!
Auntie AnalogueJune 15, 2021, 7:51 PM
Ten – count ’em – ten stents here (seems I’m trying to be the first kid on my block to collect each kind). So I’m pleased to read, Mr. Van der Leun, that your cardiologist’s exploratory expedition went well for you.
AnneJune 15, 2021, 9:17 PM
You are home to the safe harbor you have created for so many–what a relief for me!
HossJune 16, 2021, 4:24 AM
Truly good news Gerard! Go easy and enjoy the days ahead.
Casey KlahnJune 16, 2021, 4:57 AM
Sending my well wishes and gratitude prayers are going up. Please take care of your self.
American medicine is the 8th wonder of the world, and a couple of those doctors and other medicos are freaking fabulous. Glad you benefit from it, and also I note that hand on your shoulder – invisible , powerful and comforting.
jdJune 16, 2021, 5:43 AM
Very good news, Gerard, and thank you for sharing it
so quickly and easing our minds.
Annie RoseJune 16, 2021, 6:05 AM
Glad all went well for you. Modern medicine is truly miraculous and we are all fortunate to live in such a time.
CCJune 16, 2021, 6:42 AM
My pick would have been the Ramones, “I wanna be sedated”, but that’s just me.
Glad to hear you’re OK.
JackJune 16, 2021, 6:43 AM
There is nothing so relaxing as getting good news and all of us are very grateful and thankful that you’re going to be fine. Get rested and come up swingin!!
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
We will be glad to have you back after your tuneup. Good luck. Header picture above your post was the guy holding the jumper cables with the big arc between them. Hope you won’t be needing a jump start.
Damn it Gerard, stop scaring me. You are in my prayers of course; and I am having a glass of Moscato to your health. Probably follow up with Rum, just in case.
Waiting right here.
Your readers care about you. Sending prayers.
Ditto, Gerard. Will be praying.
triple bypass 1997, one stent I insisted on that I didn’t need- losing weight would have covered it- same cardiologist for 24 years (he morphed into an NYU department head).
heart/weight important.
good luck.
You are in my thoughts and prayers. Good luck God speed and take your time we’ll wait gem that you are.
Prayers your way.
Speedy recovery.
Good luck!
Prayers up for you from this household, too– including the cats (hey, somebody has to look out for Olive’s well-being). May God hold you close to His heart in the hours and days ahead.
Godspeed,Mr V. Prayers & much love.
You know how we worry.
Gerard, You and your site are special to a lot of people. Hope all is well and that it is “nothing out of the ordinary”. Joe Krill
Long time lurker, as one says. I’ll be praying for you. Who you are, through what you choose to post here, makes you someone I feel like I know but definitely cherish. Wishing you well and take care of yourself. God bless.
Will keep you in my prayers. Get well soon. Thanks for everything you do.
I will remain totally confident that you will come through the procedure with a perfect outcome and your recovery time will be short. Looking forward to your next post very soon.
I had an electrical shock treatment three years ago for treating atrial fibrillation. The shock treatment was unsuccessful, but I walked out of the place under my own power and am fine. My father had the same deal, was a successful procedure and he is still alive and well at 96 years.
I don’t think luck has anything to do with much in life. So instead of “‘good-luck”, I say to you Gerard, see you when you get back.
My life would implode without my daily AD visits.
Be well. You have many prayers on your side.
Thinking good thoughts for you, Gerard.
Prayers from here in the Southland as well.
Silence deeper than words.
God bless.
JWM
I pray the Lord fill your heart,
your mind, your soul and your
body with His presence.
If they give you any sass, just say the word. 10,000 armed Leun’s Legions will be there.
Prayers for you and your medical team. See you back here soon.
Good luck and don’t grope or ogle the nurses while you’re hooked up to any kind of machine or tube!
We will be glad to have you back after your tuneup. Good luck. Header picture above your post was the guy holding the jumper cables with the big arc between them. Hope you won’t be needing a jump start.
Best of Luck. No vaXXines.
Prayers for you Gerard , see you soon.
Dude is getting more prayers than someone praying for a negative on a pregnancy test! Prayers from Kansas sir!
Gerard, my prayer is that the procedure you are to undergo is accomplished as simply as you imply, and that unlike David Warren’s announcement regarding the simple heart procedure he was to undergo, no complications arise. God Bless.
Here’s hoping the nurses are pretty and have warm hands.
See you back here soon.
Hope all goes well Gerard. See you soon.
Sent a few “knee mails” to the Big Guy Upstairs for you to have a smooth, uncomplicated procedure and a rapid & full recovery.
And please ignore all comments above concerning NOT squeezing and ogling hot nurses- because ogling and squeezing hot nurses can be good cardio therapy!
They’re still scary.
Be well, hurry back!
Prayers, my friend.
Prayers for a successful procedure and quick recovery!!
Good luck with your procedure don’t give it a second thought. There will be plenty of new raw material to cuss and discuss when you’re back in the saddle. ttyl.
Prayers…
Lots of prayers and anticipating your return.
You sound happy and good to go. Better to check it in time.
I didn’t comment cause I was holding my breath.
Then I turned blue.
Then I passed out.
Then I stopped holding my breath.
Then I turned unblue.
Then I woke up.
Welcome back.
Pleased to hear all is well. Now chill, for a bit, we’re not going anywhere.
Glad, quite glad, extremely glad, things went well for you Gerard!
If they hadn’t, none the less, you’da had a dang good run and I’d be delighted you’d been around as long as you were.
Me, pushing 83, have no plans to set foot inside a hospital no matter what. Since hospitals became campuses, since the Bad China Cold isolated visitor access, since medical practitioners are masked day and night like shamans of old, I’ll take my chances off the medical campuses.
As of now, that’s my heading, will go miles out of my way to avoid a hospital.Yep, I might die, I have it on good authority that most people do, but I’d rather go out un-isolated, not intubated, electrode plastered and monitored, surrounded by masked strangers heroically pounding my chest.
I dropped and bucked a few spruce trees yesterday. I don’t plan to, nor do I expect to, spend my last moment neath a tree that kicked back, but I’d rather pass ‘neath a tree than an oxygen tent.
I enjoy the bush, bear country. A wee chance I’ll end up a grizzly’s lunch or 3 squares for a black bear, contributing nourishment to a sleek pair of cubs born the next spring, if so, t’ain’t a bad thing. Also a chance I might have bear in the freezer and that’s OK too. Society frowns if we view our medical practitioners in that light.
I’m not faulting anyone else’s choice, whatever works for you, go for it!
Very good news about your exam and procedure.
About that: do you find yourself resting (recovering?) between bouts of creativity or is your practice more seamless?
Best to you and yours.
I’m in the office on a loose schedule of three times a year or so.
some side action was spotting an aortic aneurysm that had maybe 90 days left to it.
I was home two weeks later repaired, and since have had the seven others found in various locations fixed, the last two in a Hail Mary since the virus.
GVd’L, see you cardiologist regularly…
aw hell- “r”…
Glad to hear all is well, Gerald.
Hey amigo: thoughts and prayers and whatever else helps -from Santa Monica to Toronto and points in between.
I don’t think we could have endured very well without the great Gerard Vanderluen. I thank the Lord you’re doing well, and may the great physician help those here on earth and guide them with your care.
Be well. Stay well.
I suppose this is where we share any heart procedure stories we might have. I went to a cardiologist in mid September, 2015 because I woke up one night with a burning sensation in my chest. Dr Cardio schedules a stress test which I fail. The nuclear tracers suggest two stents are needed
So, they start the angioplasty. Next thing you know the procedure is stalled and I can see doctors huddling and speaking in whispered tones. And in my slightly altered state I’m thinking, “They’re huddling instead of stenting; this cant be a good thing.”
Once I’m lucid, my cardio guy tells me there’s far more plaque (95% on the LAD) than expected and that three bypasses would be needed. So, they get it done and when I wake up they tell that they had done FIVE! And my first reaction was “So, is that some kind of record?”
(Answer: No, Six was the surgeons personal record)
Good news indeed,Mr V! Prayers of Thanks all around,with a side of relief. We need every warrior,and you are one of the best.
As you can see,we kept ourselves entertained.Mr O Neil’s musings on where to stuff certain medical practitioners were most agreeable.
Happy Homecoming to you and Miss Olive;crack open a can of cold tuna juice.
Gerard says in his update, “I am overwhelmed with the outpouring of prayers and good wishes here. Very grateful.” Well, G, you shouldn’t be surprised; you are one of the best illustrations I know of John Henry Newman’s personal motto, cor ad cor loquitur, heart speaks to heart. You have a gift for touching the hearts of your readers that can come only from a wise and long-experienced heart. So of course we’re all delighted that your cardiologist sent you home (to Olive, who doubtless missed you) with good news. May God continue to bless you in the days ahead.
Glad to hear you’re OK, Gerard. God speed my to my daily read author.
Glad to hear you’re alright.
I had no doubts.
Very glad to hear all went well, Gerard.
I’m late to the party, but I second Julie’s motion — all went well, and you’re back.
Hale Adams
and to Hell with the rest of the signature block.
Back to a full squad. Super happy you are fine Gerard.
Cheers
Welcome back, Old Man. Now get back to work!
Happy to hear you are doing well and nothing serious found — wishing you continued good health!
Ten – count ’em – ten stents here (seems I’m trying to be the first kid on my block to collect each kind). So I’m pleased to read, Mr. Van der Leun, that your cardiologist’s exploratory expedition went well for you.
You are home to the safe harbor you have created for so many–what a relief for me!
Truly good news Gerard! Go easy and enjoy the days ahead.
Sending my well wishes and gratitude prayers are going up. Please take care of your self.
American medicine is the 8th wonder of the world, and a couple of those doctors and other medicos are freaking fabulous. Glad you benefit from it, and also I note that hand on your shoulder – invisible , powerful and comforting.
Very good news, Gerard, and thank you for sharing it
so quickly and easing our minds.
Glad all went well for you. Modern medicine is truly miraculous and we are all fortunate to live in such a time.
My pick would have been the Ramones, “I wanna be sedated”, but that’s just me.
Glad to hear you’re OK.
There is nothing so relaxing as getting good news and all of us are very grateful and thankful that you’re going to be fine. Get rested and come up swingin!!