05-SEP-A-2
LABOR DAY WEEKEND NEAR DERWOOD AND ENVIRONS:
WHAT MIGHT HAVE STARTED OFF AS A SLEEPY HOLIDAY
WEEKEND IN GORGEOUS DERWOOD WEATHER,
HAS TURNED INTO A TECHNOLOGIC MELTDOWN OF EVERY DEVICE, AND REAL HUMAN PROBLEMS IN URGENT ARRAY—
AND, NOW, A RAPID DEPLOYMENT AFTER FRUSTRATING
“HURRY UP AND WAIT” IS NOW REPLACED WITH RAPID
DEPLOYMENT BY MILITARY AIRCRAFT TO WIND UP ON LABOR DAY NOT IN A PICNIC, BUT IN THE HEART OF THE WHIRLWIND AND THE VESTIGES OF THE STORM
September 1—5, 2005
And now, after too much “Hurry/Wait” and total meltdowns of every functioning system around me, the Mexican firedrill may be coming to a head, when I am no longer waiting to fit into some organized system to deliver some help, but am enroute to organizing the system, inventing this wheel before riding it. I am on my way south. The earlier details were allegedly sent as early as Wednesday evening when the call came through before August 31 at noon for the Maryland Department of health Emergency Preparedness Volunteers, who then put several “holds” on what was supposed to be a rapid life-saving response team. The circus included their instituting an emergency response line for twenty four hour service, and when called, the line was reported to have been disconnected. The team then decided to contract with a commercial firm that sent me a set of forms to fill out again as to my license number and address and then to ask vitally important questions to be filled in and faxed back to them such as “Have you been convicted of a felony resulting in imprisonment within the last year?” I filled in all the forms, then had to take them to Kinko’s to fax them and wrote over the top “Is this s serious relief misalign or a PR stunt? If I were doing hard time in the last year, would I have submitted a license number to you for any profession that had not been revoked? IF you want to save lives, start talking with doctors more than lawyers.”
A LITANY OF GLITCHES
In the leftovers of Katrina’s diminished winds, a tree fell over my lower area next to the garden. No problem, I told the Lubers I would be down with the new chain saw that Arnie had sued to cut the two fallen trees earlier this summer. For two and a half days, I was eaten by mosquitoes near the garden puling on a starter cord on a chain saw that refused to start. So, I shelved that project.
The Audi is beautiful—all detailed after its Ultimate Car Wash and filed with $3.59 gasoline—and when I need it to spring into action for my most recent trip to the Fed Ex, Kinko’s and Giant grocery store, it emits a rapid series of ratcheting clicks and does not start. So, after a jumper cable start, it has been driven to the Audi Dealer where it is left with a note to be fixed—and it will be—when I am gone.
I purchased brand new Frigidaire upright freezer and upright refrigerator/freezers for downstairs from Lowe’s on Friday night, and they assured me that they will be delivered on Tuesday morning—good, since I have a triple order of Omaha Steaks arriving in dry ice on Wednesday for re-stocking---when I will not be here. On Wednesday also, the Environmental Solutions Inc Industrial Hygienist arrives to inspect behind the Viking refrigerator pulled out into the middle of the kitchen’s Mexican tile to detect mold and whatever form what they persist in calling “spilled blood.” That it is not blood but tissue juice, and not from HIV infected or hepatitis prone people but from Salmon and venison does not matter they have to go through the whole drill before they can let the C & C Cleaning People back into a biologic hazard area. So, the big Air Scrubber from C & C is sigil blowing potpourri scented air and cedar and cinnamon through the house while reeking congealed goo is on the Mexican tiles on the kitchen floor which I cannot cleanup until they have seen it. All of this will happen in my absence since I have put a lock box on the house and told each of the combination to get in –during my absence.
My phone does not ring when important messages come through and I have to randomly cal my voice mail to see if there are nay messages, some left days before. One message was discovered after I came out of church today. It was from Saturday, saying “Urgent: we will be deploying on Sunday morning at 11:00 AM” –I got this message at 2:00 PM. When calling back—of course, that is the disconnected number.
When Jennifer did call back, “Sorry, because of the holiday I keep thinking that Monday is Sunday, so it will be tomorrow, but the time is changed to 9:00 AM.” She said it would be on a Golf Course where helicopters could land but she did not know where or when, nor where we would be going, but she did know we would be gone for at least two weeks—and that means through the ELDP weekend this coming week. But, I must do what it is I should do and I am on my way—out of some place called Martins State Air field where the military cargo plane will lift us out, with ear plugs and a warm jacket required since it is a military plane not designed for creature comforts. Where we are going will be determined along the way, and who will decide is going to be left to the command group—but” there is one guy coming who is certified in surgery, public health and tropical medicine.” That is surely encouraging.
AND, NOW FOR THE REAL NEWS:
DONALD CALLED ON SATURDAY MORNING TO TALK WITH HIS DAD ABOUT A LIFE-CHANGING EVENT
Donald had gone out into the carport to talk with me form home, saying he needed to talk with his Dad, and he had some news which was life-changing. I waited while he had choked up and did not prompt him as he went along. In 1991 he had gone to a cardiologist who had told him after an echo that he had a bicuspid aortic valve—a finding not a disease. He had been turned down as a blood donor since at one time his BP measured 98 over 18. He wanted to volunteer for the deployment that some of the police and detectives went to do in New Orleans, but could not. He had been working a LOT of overtime, and had also been doing a lot of running, getting ready with a colleague for the Lifestyle Marathon in Gainesville February 19. I told him his Dad would come to run it with him, after I do the 100th here. He said it did not look like he would be doing the marathon run now, nor would he have any more overtime, and his bosses knew about his problem and suggested he could work, but not in contact with suspects like chasing them down to make arrests.
The cardiologist advises that he now has high grade aortic valvular stenosis that is calcified, and that he will probably need an open heart operation and an aortic valve replacement. The options are a pig valve, which is good since it does not require anticoagulants, but it only lasts about ten years, and at age 39 he would need to have it replaced at least a time or two. The other option is a mechanical valve, and that means anticoagulation to prevent thromboembolism, and that would have significant implications on his job and running and anything else that anticoagulants are not good for. So, he is looking at major life changes given this news. I did not think he should stop running, since he has had no fainting spells (i.e. Stokes Adams attacks) or head bobbing or cardiac enlargement that he has been told about, but he has been told that he has an enlarged aorta (from the post-stenotic dilatation,) which he has had for some time and it appears not to have changed.
The functional significance of this is not apparent until he has a cardiac cath which he will have done on Friday and then we can discuss the results—but, of course, that is when I will be gone. So, we talked about options now. He also had Kacie Elizabeth run out into the garage and she told me that “Yes” she did receive the birthday present from her Grandpa whom she remembers from her visit, and that of the two Great Danes they have the female is pregnant and about to deliver an AKC registered litter, which they hope to sell at some profit. I told him to talk with Tom Griffioen who had told me he could take the dogs directly to the tax office and pay off the taxes with dogs. So, I had a brief talk with Kacie and a long and good talk with Donald. I suggested I could come down there to see him if and when he wanted me to. He had said that the only other time he was really scared was when little Matthew David had incarcerated a hernia at age four months, and they wheeled him into surgery as Donald had said “I wish that was me going in there right now instead of him.” As I have said with Virginia before “Be careful what you wish for, you may get it all and more than you had bargained for.”
SITTING ON A BAG PACKED WITH RUBBER BOOTS, MOSQUITO REPELLENT, SLEEPING BAG LINER,
FOUR POUNDS OF PLANTERS PEANUTS AND TWO LITERS OF WATER—AN IDEAL MEDICAL KIT FOR MY USUAL HAUNTS—
HEADING TO MARTIN’S STATE AIR BASE IN THE MORNING
My next stop may be Chase Air Base in the non-creature comfort military aircraft where they advise ear plugs and a warm jacket, until I am dropped on Chase Air Base next to MSY Louis Armstrong Airport—where Concourse A is administrative, B and C are hospital wards, and D is the morgue. There are eight deaths a day in the hospital at MSY and they are still receiving patients who are “black-tagged”—that is, getting “expectant therapy.” I presume I am to take over one of these commands, but a lot of this is made up as we will be going along, and I will try to communicate with you what it is that I learn as it happens.
I may be leaving a land of primary natural beauty, where every contrived artificial system seems to have failed, to get into the synthetic environment of a military technology sustained at an outpost, where the entire natural environment has been savagely unforgiving. I have enjoyed Derwood and its ambience, despite the systems failing around it. Now, I have waited long enough and it is time to get to do what I need to be doing. So, I am on my way to embrace Katrina’s aftermath.