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My World: The "Widow Maker" defeated!

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I have just escaped the premature end of my life because of failure at a major teaching hospital to classify my cardiac condition as urgent. By the time I fought my way on the the operating schedule using all the argument possible to deaf ears, my wife reached out to the CEO of the hospital and he requested a top cardiologist to intervene and immediately take care of me.

It turned out that my main coronary artery had a 99.99% complete block. I was awake and the Cardiologist showed me the XRay screen and pointed out the blockade with a fine hair's width of remaining patency. He fired a series of requests for a sequence of numbered dilators, probes and balloons and in 2 minutes a stent had been placed to push the plaque to one side and now I had the vessels of an 18 year old once more!

He told me I wouldn't have survived well waiting any longer and probably might not have made it to the "add-on position the resident and fellow had assigned me for the end of the day!

This episode has forced me to rethink some of my guides. I had until then, three mottos all my life:

1. "Dress British, think Yiddish"

Or be proud of your ethnicity and background!


2. "Good Enough", isn't" meaning try to deliver excellence and be reliable and steadfast


3. "Be nice to the others in the tour bus!"


Meaning, despite how much talent, wealth, education and humor we have, be considerate and generous to everone else. IOW, "Love your neighbor as yourself!"


That set of aphorisms has been useful to me. However now I must add a 4th most critical rule for myself:


4. Be one's own unrelenting advocate and don't conpromise or give up on fighting for yourself. I was conflicted about pushing myself forward. But I was not self- protective and it nearly cost me my life!

The last is a good lesson, having been good to everyone else, one has a duty to save oneself too!

Thank goodness It turned out well!

In my situation, any other person without my medical knowledge and powerful connections would have been dead!

So don't rely on the "system" and accept what's served if it is merely "good enough". If you think it puts yourself or your loved ones at risk, ignore the facade of grace and good manners and circumvent the blocks to getting to those who can help you!

"Good manners", graciousness and a smile can be the patina covering disinterest and dismissal!

This is a lesson to learn!

Asher
 
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Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Wow - that is terrible. So glad that you survived and have some 18 year old youth again. Good advice at the end I would say. All the best.

---
 
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Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Glad to hear it ended well and you are safe. Some years ago, my father died in the same situation.

May I suggest you get tested for thrombophilia, if not already done? May I also suggest you avoid prolonged sitting (eg: long flights, long car travels, watching TV without regular breaks)?
 

Andy brown

Well-known member
I have mottos too Asher:

Dress comfortably.

Rough enough is good enough

Be nice to others on th...ooh look, beer
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Andy, Jerome, Robert and everyone else here!

Thanks for your heartfelt words.

I will take it easy over the weekend and then hire one of my models as as a production assistant and driver and then Tuesday or Wednesday get back to finishing the massive 13,000 lb sculpture I am making of a sailboat with a "Puff of Wind" :no matter which way the wind blows, if one masters the sails, one can overcome its direction and Journey to one's destination!

I have delivered the massive base. Now I have to complete the process and see it installed!

There are not enough hours in a day! However, now I will expand my team and no longer pretend I am a steel worker!

OPF, that is the folk here are a major treasure for us all to enjoy together. I value this bond even more today. Thanks for every sharing of a captured pose, smile, reflection and shadow, private moment and grand scene.

We are not going away, just after that frightening "tap on the window" by a fellow with a sickle and withered finger! I double my commitment here and we will continue traveling together in this tour bus!

Asher
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Asher,
my good friend!
Be good to us, again :
Take it easy, take care, there’s no (more) reason to rush. Take your time!
And enjoy every single minute : )
 

Andy brown

Well-known member
Asher, I'm so glad you brought up the Grim reaper, I'd thought of him definitely but thought it might be too macabre to mention.
You, in true Yiddish fashion, saw the dark humour in it all.

You ducked the sickle, great job!

He stalks us all and I'm sure I'm not the only one here who's had a close call or two.

Moving along, take it slowly, you've got a couple of good decades for sure so there's no rush!

Yes, love us here as we love you but don't feel any pressure. Take your time.

Do take care and realise this was just a speed hump, plenty of excitement and thrills still to be had. I imagine with your artery back in slick health you'll have more energy than ever.

Smell the roses, take the walks, complete the sculpture, enjoy all the moments (as I know you always have).

Andy
 

James Lemon

Well-known member
Hello Asher

Glad you received the medical expertise that was required. I hope that you are on the mend and remember that there is no point in rushing through life. Just do what is in front of you and don't worry about the rest. But please delegate the work to others so that you can concentrate your efforts on the things you need to. Multi tasking is something you do on a computer.


Best, regards

James
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher,
my good friend!
Be good to us, again :
Take it easy, take care, there’s no (more) reason to rush. Take your time!
And enjoy every single minute : )

Thanks Nicolas for the work in designing the forum and helping make a beautiful refuge for the photographer on a journey!

I will now have an assistant and continue my endeavors but less recklessly! My one thought at the end of the procedure was that I would be able to tell new stories about "Grandpa Frog" on "Frog Island"!

Two of the grandkids came here and filmed each other giving an address on "What makes a good President of the USA". It was hilarious!

Yes, I will enjoy every moment like this and all the pictures posted here!

Asher
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Asher,

I am so grateful that the possible mortal outcome of this event was averted.

Many aspects of your story ring very true to me and Carla (although fortunately none of our contexts have been nearly so urgent or critical). Your point about having to advocate for your own needs is very important. "If I am not for me, who will be?"

Which is not at all to denigrate the critical role Wendy played in this adventure! (She is, after all, a component of "you".)

You also illuminate one of our own aphorisms of modern times: be sure you know how to contact the CEO of the hospital. And, perhaps most frightening of all, " 'Good manners', graciousness and a smile can be the patina covering disinterest and dismissal!"


Again, Carla and I are so grateful that you have, to use that old saw, "cheated death again".

************

On a related front:

Carla is out of town at the annual Red Hat Convention, and last night, our good neighbors were kind enough to invite me to their home for dinner. There was a sudden rain storm (this is monsoon season here in Alamogordo - after all, we have to get our expected 5.5 inches of annual rain somehow) so I didn't go home quite as soon as I otherwise might have. So we had an enjoyable evening of conversation on many topics.

She is a retired Registered Nurse, and he, a rocket technologist during much of his career, had, during part of his life ("when the rocket business was slow"), also had become a Registered Nurse. He is, like myself, a diabetic.

One topic that came up is that, although he for many years had been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, a recent battery of tests, brought about by anomalies in how he was responding to his insulin regimen, concluded that in fact his affliction is Type 1 Diabetes!

And of course there were so many stories about how we all had to really intervene, with physicians, and auto mechanics, and plumbers, and such to avert disturbing, and potentially fatal, "misdirection" of efforts. She brought up the disturbing fact of the large number of deaths caused by "medical error".

************

Keep on keepin' on, my friend.

Best regards,

Doug
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Yes, I will enjoy every moment like this and all the pictures posted here!

Asher
Then, my friend, let me post here for you this one, it has in the context some relations…
After the night, comes the day and the light.
But during the night, one can see some lights…
Here one can see boats lights, on top of masts, to show their presence in the dark when they are anchored off marinas or harbors.
Like giant candles!
Also, you might want to add this light on top of the mast of your sculpture, so it will be at night a recognizable point for those who are lost in the darkness…

_IMG2070_opf.jpg

Shot in Summer 2014 in Porquerolles (an island South of France)​
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Then, my friend, let me post here for you this one, it has in the context some relations…
After the night, comes the day and the light.
But during the night, one can see some lights…
Here one can see boats lights, on top of masts, to show their presence in the dark when they are anchored off marinas or harbors.
Like giant candles!
Also, you might want to add this light on top of the mast of your sculpture, so it will be at night a recognizable point for those who are lost in the darkness…

_IMG2070_opf.jpg

Shot in Summer 2014 in Porquerolles (an island South of France)​

Wonderful scene, Nicolas! The motif of cables that unites the shape of each boat, is well represented in my sculpture. The top of the single vertical mast has a tapering cone with two threaded holes for flying a narrow pendant banner. However, there is no light on the top as I didn't realize that! I could machine a hole at the top and insert a light. I also have a diagonal gaff mast. Are there ever lights at the end of that too?

If you have a catalog reference then I will try to find an LED equivalent that fits in with the esthetics. Thank you, already for your yacht pictures that all inspired me to make my major sculpture. I also owe to you the protective feature in high winds of a beating assembly to rotate and better align the sail in a dangerous wind. That feature, I will tell you took 6 months of engineering and Finite Element Analysis and so many subtle design decisions as a result. Right now, the sculpture should align with the wind, but even if the bearings are jammed, the boat is stable up to 160 mph and will not topple until approx 196.5 mph, at which time the neighboring roofs will have been long gone!

Thanks everyone for sharing your own art and inspiring me in your creative journeys!

Asher
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
will try to find an LED equivalent that fits in with the esthetics.
Google "mooring light" and check the "image" tab…

They have a Fresnel lens so they can be seen from far for less energy (like in light house)
They are fitted on top of mast, some times on a short pole (1 or 2 feet high)
Never on boom or gaff.

Thank you, already for your yacht pictures that all inspired me to make my major sculpture. I also owe to you the protective feature in high winds of a beating assembly to rotate and better align the sail in a dangerous wind. That feature, I will tell you took 6 months of engineering and Finite Element Analysis and so many subtle design decisions as a result. Right now, the sculpture should align with the wind, but even if the bearings are jammed, the boat is stable up to 160 mph and will not topple until approx 196.5 mph, at which time the neighboring roofs will have been long gone!

Thanks everyone for sharing your own art and inspiring me in your creative journeys!

Asher
196.5 mph is a lot! but also not only the wind might be dangerous, but vibrations too (due to wind and gusts)…

Below another anchorage view (in Greece) with long exposure…
_IMG1292_opf.jpg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Google "mooring light" and check the "image" tab…

They have a Fresnel lens so they can be seen from far for less energy (like in light house)
They are fitted on top of mast, some times on a short pole (1 or 2 feet high)
Never on boom or gaff.


I will find the lights and see which kind can fit the design of the top of the pole! For daytime, the top of the mast is emphasized by the charcoal color of the cone with a rounded top. I just have to bring power up to that point!


196.5 mph is a lot! but also not only the wind might be dangerous, but vibrations too (due to wind and gusts)…

Well, we are very sure of 100 mph, confident of 160 mph and at 196.5 MPH, the weighted base can no longer prevent the moment caused by the wind on the massive sail from pushing the sculpture over, as it is not bolted to the concrete of the ground in the sculpture garden! That would cancel the contractors warranty for the parking structure hidden underneath the sculpture garden!

I will check the mathematics to see if we went beyond strain to look at harmonics and vibrations in the FEA. Thanks for that useful comment!

Below another anchorage view (in Greece) with long exposure…


_IMG1292_opf.jpg


Interesting that the horizontal trails of the mast top lights provide an account of the movement of the boats as they rock and drift in their moorings!

I have learned a lot here!

Thanks, Nicolas!

Asher
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Asher,

Good to read that it turned out good for you. Cherish every moment!

I agree 100% on "Be nice to the others in the tour bus!" - the journey might be hard for some, but this way it becomes a bit nicer.

To carry on with the boat theme:





Best regards,
Michael
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Interesting that the horizontal trails of the mast top lights provide an account of the movement of the boats as they rock and drift in their moorings!

Asher
There are two different motions here:
- the drift of each boat
- the drift of the boat on which I was shooting from

IOW I was moving as I was shooting moving 'objects'.
This brings unpredictable trails although my own motion was more effective in terms of amount of trail
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher,

Good to read that it turned out good for you. Cherish every moment!

I agree 100% on "Be nice to the others in the tour bus!" - the journey might be hard for some, but this way it becomes a bit nicer.

Michael,

I always follow that rule! I was "nice to the other people in the tour bus". I must admit, that, after waiting two hours outside the emergency room, I was finally admitted to a "Dante's Inferno" scene, packed with suffering people, men, women and even children, some demented or crying in pain. It was so overcrowded with the more seriously ill patients on guerneys in the hallways as all the exam rooms were full! I said to my wife, "I feel guilty being here as all these people seem to be far worse than I am. When I finally saw a cardiac Fellow he said, No, Asher, you are the most critical patient here. Still he did not put me on the schedule for cathetization - as it was already full and refused to open the catheter lab for the evening - as one needed the "ST segment" of the EKG to be raised! "Catch 22"!!

To carry on with the boat theme:








Here, Michael, this tranquility you share, is a gift from the Angels. It is therapeutic! I am such an avid observer of boats now. They are in themselves beautiful creatures but in addition represents each person's personal and family "Odyssey"!

Boats are so well designed. There are simply brilliant devices like ratchets and turnbuckles and sails that drop into the boom and roll up automatically!

Asher
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
You woke me.

Firstly, let me congratulate you on your premonition.
Predicting one's demise is reasonable ability at the best of times but knowing that it might have come early is downright miraculous.
It will be Saint Asher from here on in.

I do wonder, though, if saving one's life is the same as preventing one's death. It seems that the death is simply postponed and the life continues for a bit longer, duration indeterminate.

Nevertheless, we are delighted to have you tag along for a while. Well, I am, at least. There are some who may not agree. The problem with longevity is that there is ample time to accumulate enemies.
It's a good thing wishing is as ineffective as praying, erstwhile those pleading for your end might have been more effective than those praying for your recovery.

Be aware also that such events also create widowers. Statistically, unless your wife is the same age as your muses, she should take her own advice and head for the angiogram as well.

As they say "it costs nothing to know but it's expensive not to know"

Welcome to the club, Asher.
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
I have just escaped the premature end of my life because of failure at a major teaching hospital to classify my cardiac condition as urgent. By the time I fought my way on the the operating schedule using all the argument possible to deaf ears, my wife reached out to the CEO of the hospital and he requested a top cardiologist to intervene and immediately take care of me.

It turned out that my main coronary artery had a 99.99% complete block. I was awake and the Cardiologist showed me the XRay screen and pointed out the blockade with a fine hair's width of remaining patency. He fired a series of requests for a sequence of numbered dilators, probes and balloons and in 2 minutes a stent had been placed to push the plaque to one side and now I had the vessels of an 18 year old once more!

He told me I wouldn't have survived well waiting any longer and probably might not have made it to the "add-on position the resident and fellow had assigned me for the end of the day!

This episode has forced me to rethink some of my guides. I had until then, three mottos all my life:

1. "Dress British, think Yiddish"

Or be proud of your ethnicity and background!


2. "Good Enough", isn't" meaning try to deliver excellence and be reliable and steadfast

J
3. "Be nice to the others in the tour bus!"b


Meaning, despite how much talent, wealth, education and humor we have, be considerate and generous to everone else. IOW, "Love your neighbor as yourself!"


That set of aphorisms has been useful to me. However now I must add a 4th most critical rule for myself:


4. Be one's own unrelenting advocate and don't conpromise or give up on fighting for yourself. I was conflicted about pushing myself forward. But I was not self- protective and it nearly cost me my life!

The last is a good lesson, having been good to everyone else, one has a duty to save oneself too!

Thank goodness It turned out well!

In my situation, any other person without my medical knowledge and powerful connections would have been dead!

So don't rely on the "system" and accept what's served if it is merely "good enough". If you think it puts yourself or your loved ones at risk, ignore the facade of grace and good manners and circumvent the blocks to getting to those who can help you!

"Good manners", graciousness and a smile can be the patina covering disinterest and dismissal!

This is a lesson to learn!

Asher

Surgeons are such drama queens.
Everything is life and death and they have the hand of their deity.

At your age, Ash, it's just patchwork.

As for the rules of life, I have my own thanks.
When death comes, greet it with a smile.
 
Man, Asher, that was a close one! Glad you were able to dodge this bullet. We lucky ones reach a stage where we whistle past the graveyard a bit louder with every passing year. Staying aware is important, as is staying fully involved with the world.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Man, Asher, that was a close one! Glad you were able to dodge this bullet. We lucky ones reach a stage where we whistle past the graveyard a bit louder with every passing year. Staying aware is important, as is staying fully involved with the world.

........and Tom, holding one's camera as a lantern to reveal the world over which we have dominion!

Photographs allow us to fly great distances!

Thanks for your special views!

Asher
 
Dearest Asher,

When I came here this evening, the last thing I was expecting was to read this thread. My heart just about crumbled. So close, so close.. and lots of what ifs. I'm so glad that they fixed you and you have not died. Thank goodness for having a wife to fight with you to not allow them to shorten your time.

and mostly, I realized how much you mean to me. Somewhere through the years,you have become my friend. Of course, I'm sure we all feel the same it is just that what happened made it so crystal clear to me. The tears that welled up and that I have shed that could have been for loss, are instead that you are good and well and ready for many more years to come.

Rest and take care of yourself. Get the people you need to help as I want to see that sculpture of yours.. we've all been waiting. I know it will be fantastic, because you are. You mean a lot to me and of course, to everyone here. You are what I call a Mensch, full of integrity and honor.

with love,
Maggie
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Dearest Asher,
..........and mostly, I realized how much you mean to me. Somewhere through the years,you have become my friend. Of course, I'm sure we all feel the same it is just that what happened made it so crystal clear to me. The tears that welled up and that I have shed that could have been for loss, are instead that you are good and well and ready for many more years to come.

Maggie,

Your heartfelt sentiments are treasured by me and my family. Consider the respect, mutual guidance, sharing, appreciation, and dignity that you and others here have invested in this special forum. It is this mutuality and community feeling and total lack of arrogance that sustains our group. We do need many more members and I will work on this!

Rest and take care of yourself. Get the people you need to help as I want to see that sculpture of yours.. we've all been waiting.

I have now a production assistant and plan to complete all the components in the next 2 weeks and move to planning the rigging and actual installation. It's no mean feat delivering a 13,000 lb structure that has to withstand winds of over 100 mph and yet is not fixed to the underlying concrete!

Imagine raising a 2 ton boat and sails 12 ft above a supporting column when the boat has an angle of15 degrees to port side and the stern is down by 5 degrees too!

I will start sharing pictures shortly!

Thanks for following my enterprise, even though it is not photography. But I admit that the photographic and passionate work of Nicolas with his grand yachts inspired me!

Asher
 
So glad you were were own advocate, Asher, scary though it must have been. Add to your list of your guidelines one overlooked because it's so much part of your nature. That guideline is to encourage and support other passengers on the tourbus to do and be their best, too - just as you do, all the time. That's so much more important than simply being nice to them other and a quality acknowledged and appreciated by everyone here at OPFI. You are an inspiration to us all. Mike.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
So glad you were were own advocate, Asher, scary though it must have been. Add to your list of your guidelines one overlooked because it's so much part of your nature. That guideline is to encourage and support other passengers on the tourbus to do and be their best, too - just as you do, all the time. That's so much more important than simply being nice to them other and a quality acknowledged and appreciated by everyone here at OPFI. You are an inspiration to us all. Mike.

Thanks Mike!

I am reminded of the Joni Mitchell song, "All I really want": All I really want of love to do is to bring out the best in me and you too"

Asher
 
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