[PaQSO] Bill Goodman / K3ANS

[TwelveVDC at aol.com]

Here's the latest on Bill's condition.
- Pete / NL7XM

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "hornamca" <hornamca at ptd.net>
> Date: January 19, 2010 6:07:52 AM
> Subject:  K3ANS
>

> I saw Bill Monday afternoon.  He has had a very rough time of it but  
> he
> appears to be on the mend.  This is a synopsis of what has happened.
>
> On New Years day my wife and I had expected him for dinner.  It got  
> to be
> well past the appointed time and Bill still had not arrived.  Then  
> we got a
> phone call.  He had had a heart attack and was in the hospital.  He  
> had a
> stent installed and was waiting for more information on the prognosis.
>
> I talked to him by phone a couple times and went to see him the  
> following
> Tuesday.  We had a great visit.  He was scheduled for bypass surgery  
> on
> Wednesday January 6th.
>
> I waited a couple days to call but he was still was in the Cardiac  
> Recovery
> Unit - no non-family visitors and no phone calls.  I started to get
> concerned.  So George, N3SQD and I drove up to his house hoping to  
> find his
> daughter.  We were fortunate to meet her and she has kept me well  
> informed
> of his progress and setbacks.
>
> Early last week he was transferred to a regular room and appeared to  
> be well
> along the road to recovery.  Then last Thursday he started not  
> feeling well
> and ended up in the medical ICU with incision infections.  Less that  
> one in
> a thousand has this problem.  He had another surgical procedure to  
> fix that
> problem - ventilators and wires and tubes everywhere.  He was still  
> in ICU
> but off the ventilator and some of the tubes had been removed when I  
> saw him
> Monday.  He was expecting to move to a regular room soon.  He will  
> spend
> some time in the hospital getting his strength back and then move to  
> Manor
> Care Health Services for rehab.
>
> I have always known that Bill is tough.  This saga is proof of  
> that.  Just
> getting to the hospital was an ordeal many of us could not have  
> completed.
>
> On New Years day he had gone out to a tree stand he has in his woods  
> to do
> some hunting.  He recalls that on the way out he realized he had  
> forgotten
> his cell phone - and no HT.  He thought "no problem - I will only be  
> there a
> couple hours and can pick up messages when I return".  As he was  
> climbing
> the tree stand he started having shortness of breath and was having  
> great
> difficulty once up on the platform.  He laid down on the floor well  
> above
> the ground and quickly realized he was having a heart attack.  He  
> secured
> his gun and made it to the ground, but couldn't walk.  Using his  
> back pack
> to insulate him from the snow he slowly crawled back to the house.   
> The 150
> yards took 2 hours.  Then the 911 call.
>
> I know he is getting better because he has brought some levity back  
> into his
> life.  He told me a story about being in Easton Hospital.  On the  
> day of his
> heart attack he called the ambulance and told them to take him to St  
> Lukes.
> After he was in the hospital for a week or so he noticed the staff had
> Easton Hospital names on their uniforms.  He asked one of them why.
> "Because that is where I work".  It was only then that he realized  
> he was
> not at St Lukes. We had a good laugh about that.
>
> We are lucky to still have Bill with us.  I hope you get a chance to  
> visit
> him or to send him a get well card - QSL or otherwise.
>
> I make no apology of not having made a reflector posting with interim
> condition reports.  Bill is a very private person and I totally  
> respect
> that.  After we talked he agreed to have me post this story on the
> reflector.
>
> 73, Chris NU3L
>
> ____________________________________________________________