Well it is Saturday morning, still foggy in the mind and still in pain – but we are moving along.

We went up to the hospital for the surgery, Thursday, about a half hour earlier than required because we needed to get some blood work at the lab.

They didn’t have the order from Day Surgery so we had to wait until it was faxed down.

What looked to be a 6^th grader then came and got me to bring me back to the area for blood drawing.  Her mentor/coach was already back there.

On a good day, even the most experienced techs have difficult find one of my veins to draw blood.  This young lady was just getting started and she would get some experience.

It took her a while to get setup, checking with her coach each step of the way.  Evidently is more than one style of needle that they can use and she asked her coach which would be best – after discussion she chose the straight one.  

She put the restrictive band on my arm and eventually located a vein – coach double checked and then said go ahead.  However, the stick didn’t get into the vein – no blood.  So she felt around some more and tried again – no blood.  The coached checked and she couldn’t get it in either.  They apologized for not being able to get it.

They decided to go with the other arm.  The young lady asked if it was okay if she tried there, I said yes.  They have to learn, while I would prefer on someone else, I understand that they have to actually do these or the won’t – as Teresa said, it is better to learn on someone that isn’t going to freak out.

After working it, checking, seeing if they could find a better one, they finally found the one they could use and after a couple of tries she got it in and got her test tubes filled.  I was to be on the fourth floor at 1130 – when I arrived a couple minutes before that, good thing we went in earlier than when we were told.

We went up to the fourth floor where I was to be prepped for the surgery.  We had more time than I realized, I found out we had over two more hours before I would go into surgery.  It was a good thing we had time.

They had to put an IV in me so they could start some antibiotics in my system – and are administered only by IV.

Three nurses and 9 sticks later they were successful.  The needle used for IV’s are much larger than those used for blood work and they are much more painful to receive.

These were experience nurses and I told them they might have some trouble – they did.  About fourth stick the second one noticed I wasn’t dressed for surgery – still had my street clothes on.  She said when we get this in you are going to have to be very careful.  She and the first nurse were still trying and not succeeding.  The frustration was obvious.

I suggested we take a break and I would change clothes and give them a rest.  The agreed.  Later, still more unsuccessful sticks.

They are apologetic, and I understand their distress, since my veins run deep under the skin AND they are elusive when they locate one it often moves – or it is so crooked they can’t get the needle fully in.

These sticks are painful, and unfortunately I flinch when the needle goes in which makes it worse on the poor nurse.

They called a nurse up from ER.  They have a number of IV’s per week they put in and with that much practice they have a better feel for it.  This nurse ended up taking two tries before being successful – and then she taped it down, but good.  When my assigned nurse was removing the needle so I could go home she mentioned that it was taped down quite well as she unwrapped several pieces of tape – didn’t want it to come loose and half to find another one!!

It will be several weeks before we know if this is going to work.  About the time they would normally do the tests I will be having ablation surgery.  They have to put a folly catheter in me so we will wait until after that is done to see if the device works.

The device in my prostrate is supposed to allow me to stop my incontinence – however, it has to be open before if I have a catheter put in, so no point in doing it before the ablation surgery.  I have a card to put in my wallet advising that I have the device and it needs to be discharged before they place a catheter in – if not it can do serious harm.

My body doesn’t like the catheter.  My bladder continually tries to push it out and with those spasms I have a great deal of pain.  I am on some medications – they work, for a while, but not completely.  I have a much better appreciation for the mother that is giving birth – although I suspect they feel a LOT more pain.

Anyway, I am back to writing my daily e-mails, trust you have the time to read them.  :-)

While I have been thinking about chases, thought I would share this one that took place a few months before that week of three:

For every police officer, particularly when in uniform patrolling the streets, the shift can change from quiet and peaceful, to dangerous, in a split second and this was one of those times for me.

Up until now it had been a typical Tuesday night on Swing shift; Quiet.  It was almost 10:30 pm and I had about an hour and a half to go and virtually nothing was moving on the street.  I decided to go to the west end and check on some businesses.  I was driving out 6^th street into a small business section.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man running from a Laundromat to a car.  I went about half a block, killed my lights and turned around in a closed service station lot facing the way I had come.

I was driving a Ford Torino.  We had recently gone to smaller cars to help offset the costs of gas.  It was during the gas crisis and everyone was trying to find ways to conserve gas.  While it was tough on the prisoner in the back seat, they didn’t have too far to go to jail.  It was only tough on us if we had to fight the prisoner into or out of the car.  It was pretty close quarters in the back seat with the cage just behind the front seat.

I had no more than stopped the patrol car when out of the Laundromat parking lot came a 1959 Ford Station wagon boiling out onto the street.  Wheels screamed and smoke poured off them.  He had no headlights on.  The driver headed toward me and then took a turn to his left in front of me to go down a side to my right.  I immediately turned on my lights and siren and headed out after him.  I announced I had one running on me and that we were south bound on Cherry Heights, as that was the direction he was going.  The dispatcher responded, “10-4, KOB329.”  At that time the last person that transmitted had to use our station numbers to sign off.

That’s just great, I thought.  Here I am in a high-speed chase and they decided to turn the new dispatcher, Margaret, loose on her own and she just answered me like I was going out of the car to the office.  She doesn’t have a clue as to what is happening.

I had never been in a high speed car chase before. I knew the basics of the chase, going on the radio and notifying of speed, traffic, directions, etc but had no training in high-speed operation of a vehicle nor how to safely pursue an eluding vehicle.  Back then there was no such training, you learned by doing and flying by the seat of your pants.  To be sure I had traveled at higher speeds through the city streets, but it is not the same as chasing after a suspect.  So in addition to not having an experience dispatcher I had the additional stress of no experience helping me as chase after this guy. 

Anytime a person, whether in a car or on foot, runs from a police officer the officer wants to catch them.  There has to be a reason and every officer wants to know why.  As soon as a car, in particular, starts running adrenalin is pumping into the officer’s system. 

When the lights and sirens go on the adrenalin gets pumped in faster.  Then everything during the chase just adds to it; other people on the road are at risk and can be hurt; people have lost their lives when the suspect or the officer loses control. 

A lot is going on.  It is imperative the officer can trust the dispatcher to keep track of them.  The other officers and departments must be advised as to direction, speed and anything else pertinent to the chase.  If you can’t trust your dispatcher during these times it adds a tremendous weight to your shoulders and the stress just builds that much faster.

I radioed that he was now East bound on 9^th St. The Dispatcher said, “10-4, KOB329.”  I caught up to the car and read off the license plate number.  The dispatcher responded, “10-4, KOB329.” I could feel my blood pressure going up, Margaret didn’t have a clue.  The only other car out was the shift sergeant.  I had yet to hear from him and had no idea where he was located.  I was on my own!

To be continued:

Mathew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

I remember the story of a Christian carrying a Bible being accosted by a bully.  Pushing him around and knocking the Bible out of his hand they mocked him and told him what a fool he was and because he would not fight back he was a coward.

He picked up the Bible and offered it to the bully asking him to walk through the bar down the street carrying it.  The bully refused, he wasn’t going to carry a Bible in there - but left the Christian alone.

I don’t know how many times I have heard the statement that we “are Christians because we are too weak to stand alone.  We need our religion as a crutch, something to hold us up.”

I used to resent that statement.  I am as strong minded as most men.  Through my years in life I have fought and arrested dangerous people.  I have stood up for Christ and while I have on occasion not stood up for Him (admittedly not my finer moments) I have strived to be a good witness for Him.

But the actual truth is, we do use Christ to hold us up.  AND that is exactly what He wants us to do.  He isn’t our crutch, He is our backbone.

I have found that most people are afraid of something; even the person that seems to have a very strong will and physical strength has those things that frighten him.  He won’t admit it, but it doesn’t change things.

A bully may pump iron and build up strength.  He learns to use his size and boldness to intimidate others.  If nothing else he is afraid to appear to be weak.  Another will study, hard, in certain areas and become an expert – and then use his knowledge to bully and belittle others.

Still other will gain power and/or wealth so they can use it to bully those that don’t meet their standards. 

There are other forms of bullying, but it comes down to the person thinks they are independent and standing on their own; they have strength of their own and don’t need any help from a ‘god.’   

They look at others as being weak and just someone to run rough shod over.  Most of the time when a bully meets his match, he crumbles and feels vulnerable; he may strike back, but he now knows he isn’t as invincible as he thought he was, he is weak and has fears.  He will fall.

When a bully falls he often turns to other things to bolster his self-esteem, alcohol and other drugs, becoming more violent, anything to overcome that feeling of defeat.

But it isn’t just bullies that think they don’t need God, far too many people accept the lies of satan and think they can make their own way in this world.  They may be obedient to the laws of man (or not) but they forsake God in their life.

Psalm 52:6-7 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:

⁷ Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.

Even as Christians the problem many of us face is that we think we are strong enough to go through anything on our own; we don’t have to be a bully to think we cannot fall. 

It is only after we come to the full realization that God is God, that through Him, and Him only, can we be successful in our service to Him, that we become strong.

We don’t use our religion as a crutch to hold us up; we learn to depend on God to help us get His work completed.  We cannot do His work without relying on Him.

Man has strived since Adam, to make it on his own, make his own laws, his own way of succeeding in this life.  Man has tried to stand on his own and show the world his strength.

But it stems from the lies of satan, lies that tell us we are great; when in effect without God, we are nothing.

Christ is not our crutch, He is our backbone, our muscles that allow us to do His work.

Psalm 27:13-14  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Lord, may I truly learn that you will give me strength where I have none, that your strength is sufficient for me and what I do I do because YOU are with me.  I am not alone as I walk this path, you are alongside me, giving me what I need to carry on for you.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again