I read this thread when I can. I don't want to leave everyone wondering. In a nutshell, my body reacted poorly to the stent they placed in my carotid artery and is closing. The bigger problem is in my vertebral arteries. They feed the brain. One is 100% closed and unrepairable and the other one is closing and it has happened fast. When and if it does it's lights out. I found this out in November when I had my Angiogram and most likely suffered another small stroke. At the time my doctor said to go be with my family which is why I made the Tahoe trip.
I have my good days and bad days both physically and emotionally. I'm a shell of who I was 6 months ago and I hate it. I've had to have some tough conversations with my wife, family and friends.
I'm hoping Stanford will think of something that the other 4 doctors I've talked to didn't.
Thanks again for the well wishes and the bad ones too...I get it.
I gotta a funny TRUE story for ya, GRADS.
Back in '93, I was working swingshift as a mechanic for the airline. My leadman tells me to take Jim and go to the gate, pick up tail (NXXPH), and go do the pre A-check runs then bring it to the hangar. A third fella came along for the ride as it wasn't uncommon for one or more mechanics to ride along in the back just for shits and giggles and lack of anything else to do.
We wait for the pax and crew to exit the aircraft, high five the stews in passing, close the door, run the checklist, start the plane, get the clearence to taxi and off we go, headed to the run up area on a beautifully clear, warm spring afternoon. I rode right seat as trainer so that Jim could build run time for his future qualification. I'm monitoring the radio(s) with both ground and mtx control but the area was light with traffic therefore the chatter was minimal so the radios were set to low volume. We're parked and notice that the aircraft is heay with fuel at just over 3K lbs total which means that the fuel transfer pre-run ops-check would comsume a lot of time and with that, the third fella onborad was gaterhing snacks and bringing us coffee drinks from the galley as per usual. The "Galley Wench" dude was quite a character. He was Persian and spoke broken english yet was an absolute hoot to be around and funny AF. He would always go through the cabin(s) and pick up all the newspapers and most of the time, he'd be in the front row reading the Bozeman Gazett or, whatever paper was available. It was always best this way because this dude was a disaster as a mechanic. Everybody at work knew that Karrem was most productive just doing nothing at all.
With Jim and me up front, engines at idle & disc, transferring fuel, the setting sun gleaming through the windshields, watching golfers on the tee box 100 yards in front of us, we are interupted by Karrem dropping a black bag in between our seats and exclaiming, "vee have crew bag left onboard".....It appeared as if it were indeed Flight Crew luggage so we assumed that it was merely forgotten by the off going crew. We all felt as it wasn't much of a problem as we will just give it to flight operations when we get back to the hangar. Jim asked Karrem to look for an ID tag with a name so the we could get it to the right crew member.
Less then one minute, Jim and I hear...."UH OH, DUDES"......"I DON'T TINK DIS CREW BAG"...and Jim and I look down to investigate and we are all shocked. The bag was full of dildos and other sex toys, but, mostly, Polysulfide DICK's.....all sizes. Our asses are laughing uncontrollably as we keep pulling more and more dildos outta this bag. So feckin' funny but yet, some strange noise is going on in the cockpit.....hahahaha.....get it? I made a funny there....but seriously, the noise is a faint radio call to our aircraft. The volume was so low that I am surprised I actually heard anything over all the laughter and the loud engines. It was maintenance control Don calling us and he was PISSED. I reply with..."go ahead"...He says... "I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU GUYS FOR THE LAST 10 MINUTES. YOU NEED TO MONITOR THIS FREQ WITH THE VOLUME UP AND I AM NOT HAPPY RIGHT NOW".....in my somewhat restrained laughing, sarcastic voice..."What can we do for ya, Don?".....he says....."I NEED YOU TO GET TO THE HANGAR, NOW. THERE IS AN ANGRY PASSENGER HOLDING UP A FLIGHT BECAUSE THERE MAY BE LUGGAGE ONBOARD YOUR AIRCRAFT"..... I respond with..."copy that, we'll look around for the luggage (much laughter in the background) and we can take it over to the gate"...he says "NEGATIVE, WE DON'T USE THE AIRPLANE AS A DILEVERY SERVICE (oh man he was livid).....YOU WILL GET TO THE HANGAR RIGHT NOW"....."Copy that Don, switching over to ground and heading back to hangar".....
OMG, so F'n funny. and true...Good times
So you're sayin it was Grads at the gate?
So did @GRADS miss his other flight?
She told you "He" was a famous politician, from Chicago, maybe?We taxied back to the hangar and were met by another mechanic with a pissed off look about him, handed the bag to him and he sped off to the waiting aircraft. We all got together later in the evening and talked about the event and asked our friend whom drove the bag over if he was able to see the chick that was waiting for her luggage. He said he only handed the luggage to the very angry ramp agent and a very angry flight crew with an extremely angry operations, scheduling, dispatch, maintenance control, managers, supervisors, leads and fellow mechanics but not the 3 of us in that aircraft. Good times.
The ramp agent and my buddy in the left seat, Jim, were dating. We asked her what the girl looked like awaiting that bag. She told us.............
I gotta a funny TRUE story for ya, GRADS.
Back in '93, I was working swingshift as a mechanic for the airline. My leadman tells me to take Jim and go to the gate, pick up tail (NXXPH), and go do the pre A-check runs then bring it to the hangar. A third fella came along for the ride as it wasn't uncommon for one or more mechanics to ride along in the back just for shits and giggles and lack of anything else to do.
We wait for the pax and crew to exit the aircraft, high five the stews in passing, close the door, run the checklist, start the plane, get the clearence to taxi and off we go, headed to the run up area on a beautifully clear, warm spring afternoon. I rode right seat as trainer so that Jim could build run time for his future qualification. I'm monitoring the radio(s) with both ground and mtx control but the area was light with traffic therefore the chatter was minimal so the radios were set to low volume. We're parked and notice that the aircraft is heay with fuel at just over 3K lbs total which means that the fuel transfer pre-run ops-check would comsume a lot of time and with that, the third fella onborad was gaterhing snacks and bringing us coffee drinks from the galley as per usual. The "Galley Wench" dude was quite a character. He was Persian and spoke broken english yet was an absolute hoot to be around and funny AF. He would always go through the cabin(s) and pick up all the newspapers and most of the time, he'd be in the front row reading the Bozeman Gazett or, whatever paper was available. It was always best this way because this dude was a disaster as a mechanic. Everybody at work knew that Karrem was most productive just doing nothing at all.
With Jim and me up front, engines at idle & disc, transferring fuel, the setting sun gleaming through the windshields, watching golfers on the tee box 100 yards in front of us, we are interupted by Karrem dropping a black bag in between our seats and exclaiming, "vee have crew bag left onboard".....It appeared as if it were indeed Flight Crew luggage so we assumed that it was merely forgotten by the off going crew. We all felt as it wasn't much of a problem as we will just give it to flight operations when we get back to the hangar. Jim asked Karrem to look for an ID tag with a name so the we could get it to the right crew member.
Less then one minute, Jim and I hear...."UH OH, DUDES"......"I DON'T TINK DIS CREW BAG"...and Jim and I look down to investigate and we are all shocked. The bag was full of dildos and other sex toys, but, mostly, Polysulfide DICK's.....all sizes. Our asses are laughing uncontrollably as we keep pulling more and more dildos outta this bag. So feckin' funny but yet, some strange noise is going on in the cockpit.....hahahaha.....get it? I made a funny there....but seriously, the noise is a faint radio call to our aircraft. The volume was so low that I am surprised I actually heard anything over all the laughter and the loud engines. It was maintenance control Don calling us and he was PISSED. I reply with..."go ahead"...He says... "I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU GUYS FOR THE LAST 10 MINUTES. YOU NEED TO MONITOR THIS FREQ WITH THE VOLUME UP AND I AM NOT HAPPY RIGHT NOW".....in my somewhat restrained laughing, sarcastic voice..."What can we do for ya, Don?".....he says....."I NEED YOU TO GET TO THE HANGAR, NOW. THERE IS AN ANGRY PASSENGER HOLDING UP A FLIGHT BECAUSE THERE MAY BE LUGGAGE ONBOARD YOUR AIRCRAFT"..... I respond with..."copy that, we'll look around for the luggage (much laughter in the background) and we can take it over to the gate"...he says "NEGATIVE, WE DON'T USE THE AIRPLANE AS A DILEVERY SERVICE (oh man he was livid).....YOU WILL GET TO THE HANGAR RIGHT NOW"....."Copy that Don, switching over to ground and heading back to hangar".....
OMG, so F'n funny. and true...Good times
Greg, I read your posts and often wonder is he for real, messing with us, or somewhere in between? Regardless, I will keep you in my Prayers for a remedy and healing.I read this thread when I can. I don't want to leave everyone wondering. In a nutshell, my body reacted poorly to the stent they placed in my carotid artery and is closing. The bigger problem is in my vertebral arteries. They feed the brain. One is 100% closed and unrepairable and the other one is closing and it has happened fast. When and if it does it's lights out. I found this out in November when I had my Angiogram and most likely suffered another small stroke. At the time my doctor said to go be with my family which is why I made the Tahoe trip.
I have my good days and bad days both physically and emotionally. I'm a shell of who I was 6 months ago and I hate it. I've had to have some tough conversations with my wife, family and friends.
I'm hoping Stanford will think of something that the other 4 doctors I've talked to didn't.
Thanks again for the well wishes and the bad ones too...I get it.
We taxied back to the hangar and were met by another mechanic with a pissed off look about him, handed the bag to him and he sped off to the waiting aircraft. We all got together later in the evening and talked about the event and asked our friend whom drove the bag over if he was able to see the chick that was waiting for her luggage. He said he only handed the luggage to the very angry ramp agent and a very angry flight crew with an extremely angry operations, scheduling, dispatch, maintenance control, managers, supervisors, leads and fellow mechanics but not the 3 of us in that aircraft. Good times.
The ramp agent and my buddy in the left seat, Jim, were dating. We asked her what the girl looked like awaiting that bag. She told us.............
Merry Christmas everyone! Kate surprised me and got me some Keep Tahoe Blue gear. It’s a non profit org dedicated to the conservation of Tahoe. Hope everyone had a great Christmas.
View attachment 955407
As long as the water is blue or clear we can get behind that.Merry Christmas.
Im not sure I would want to keep it blue. Red seams much better
...Grads..I hadn’t read any of this thread until now...
...Sending you all the positive energy and prayers I possibly can...
...I know what feeling like shit is like ...Having lived it for the past five or six years...
...Hang in there man...
I have a similar story. in 7th grade I passed a note to friends making fun of a special needs girl. one of my friends handed it to her. ( never my intention). I have told many people that is one of my many mistakes that I wish I could have changed. She has probably forgotten about it long ago, but it still haunts me. I now have two special needs boys, and the thought of someone hurting them, like I hurt her kills me. Funny how something stupid you did 45 plus years ago can still effect you.Willie B. Just Off Topic a bit here. I think you made a statement a while back that has had me thinking about it ever since. I believe you had mistreated another student that had Polio when a young Man and how you regretted it ever since.
I understand know the Feeling.
I have a similar story. in 7th grade I passed a note to friends making fun of a special needs girl. one of my friends handed it to her. ( never my intention). I have told many people that is one of my many mistakes that I wish I could have changed. She has probably forgotten about it long ago, but it still haunts me. I now have two special needs boys, and the thought of someone hurting them, like I hurt her kills me. Funny how something stupid you did 45 plus years ago can still effect you.
The good thing, if there is, is the past is set and locked away. We can't change it, but we never forget it... That can be both good and bad. If we never acknowledged our past actions, we'd never grow. Things I've said or done in the past I cannot change. I now have kids of my own... I hope the real test isn't what I've done or been in the past, but who I am now. How my kids are raised to treat people, and not how I treated people at their age.I have a similar story. in 7th grade I passed a note to friends making fun of a special needs girl. one of my friends handed it to her. ( never my intention). I have told many people that is one of my many mistakes that I wish I could have changed. She has probably forgotten about it long ago, but it still haunts me. I now have two special needs boys, and the thought of someone hurting them, like I hurt her kills me. Funny how something stupid you did 45 plus years ago can still effect you.
The good thing, if there is, is the past is set and locked away. We can't change it, but we never forget it... That can be both good and bad. If we never acknowledged our past actions, we'd never grow. Things I've said or done in the past I cannot change. I now have kids of my own... I hope the real test isn't what I've done or been in the past, but who I am now. How my kids are raised to treat people, and not how I treated people at their age.
I have a similar story. in 7th grade I passed a note to friends making fun of a special needs girl. one of my friends handed it to her. ( never my intention). I have told many people that is one of my many mistakes that I wish I could have changed. She has probably forgotten about it long ago, but it still haunts me. I now have two special needs boys, and the thought of someone hurting them, like I hurt her kills me. Funny how something stupid you did 45 plus years ago can still effect you.
About a year after I quit drinking I started thinking about a lot of stuff I had said or did while drunk. Through fb I reached out to a lot of people and apologized and told them I was trying to be better. A lot of ex girlfriends. Some accepted it and thanked me for taking the time to apologize. Some told me to fuck off, and I deserved it, so i let it be.Don't count on it. If you remember writing it, she remembers reading it. It would have been a lot more traumatic to her than it was for you and those things stick with you.
Maybe with the internet, you could track her down and apologize. It may not fix it but can go a long way towards healing for both of you.
Lay on the ground work for some side action just in case the wife cuts her hair again?About a year after I quit drinking I started thinking about a lot of stuff I had said or did while drunk. Through fb I reached out to a lot of people and apologized and told them I was trying to be better. A lot of ex girlfriends. Some accepted it and thanked me for taking the time to apologize. Some told me to fuck off, and I deserved it, so i let it be.
Yes, I agree. When I didn't have either, my actions had no effect...on me.Conscience and Morals, can be the most brutal of all punishments.
OuchLay on the ground work for some side action just in case the wife cuts her hair again?
I got some pretty promising news today at Stanford. I’m very tired and overwhelmed right now. I will try and post some details tomorrow. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.