Our Waldo Gray

[Wilma]

Does anyone have an update on Waldo?

[frawin]

Wima, if I see my favorite Rosie tomorrow I will ask her about Waldo, and post what I find out.
Frank

[Mom70x7]

Last I heard (Thursday afternoon) he was still in the hospital but recovering nicely.

[Teresa]

Wow.. scary stuff... I hope after he gets out he feels all brand new.

[Mom70x7]

Talked to Rosie this afternoon. Waldo is still in the hospital. He's up and walking, but not eating solid foods yet. He continues to improve, just not as fast as she wants him to.

[Jo McDonald]

He was still on the prayer list at church, this morning.

[W. Gray]

I might say that "Something Funny happened on the way to the Forum."

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments and concerns expressed on the forum. Additionally, thanks for the cards and letters that came to the house.

I have been home for about 48 hours, now, and this is the first time I have been inspired to get on the internet.

I left Howard feeling fine on a Sunday morning after experiencing some very severe stomach pains for the previous few days. Nevertheless, by the time I got to Russell on I-70, the pain started up again, and I endured until I could get to the ER in Goodland. They gave me a CT Scan and the doctor on duty suggested I had a life threatening condition and, unfortunately, they did not have a surgeon. An air ambulance outfit flew up from Dodge City and took me to Centennial airport. From there, a ground unit took me to a Denver hospital arriving about 10:30 pm. My van was left in Goodland, but family members picked it up the next day.

The top surgeon at the Denver hospital said I needed attention but suggested he needed more time for consultation with the other surgeons and the charts brought from Goodland. At about 5:00am, he came back recommending surgery as soon as possible. About 30 minutes later, they began what turned out to be a 5.5 hour operation. They cleared a blockage and also took out some cancerous portion of the small intestine.

The surgeon was an American female. Her assistant was a Chinese doctor and his assistant was Vietnamese.

It has been 35 years since I had last been in a major surgery unit and things sure have changed. I have never seen such an industrious multinational faceted medical type operation. My wife took a liking to Olga, an immigrant from the Ukraine who came here eight years ago without knowing how to speak English. Nevertheless, she completed high school, graduated from college and is well on her way to becoming an RN. And, others were Lebanese, Somalian, Hispanic, etc., medical technicians—almost all equipped with a rolling laptop.

Another shock was that once they took me off a liquid diet, I was free to order anything from the hospital menu. And the menu included hamburgers, chips, and coke. Everything cooked.

The only family member I have yet to see is Herman, the wonder pup. Because of his slap happy penchant to run to me, jump, and land in delicate places, he is off site for awhile.

[Marcia Moore]

So glad you are back and doing better, Waldo.  We missed you. 

[patyrn]

Great to have you back, Waldo!  Sounds like you were in somewhat of a scary situation.  Aren't we thankful for the world of modern medicine and educated and efficient medical professionals who practice those procedures.

[W. Gray]

You are correct about that.