[TheForge] Denial won't work -- call 911 if you have symptoms...

[Ron Childers]

A friend called my office early one morning. I said, "John, how do you spell 'Law firm'"? "what?" "Law firm; it's part of my password". "Ron, you're having a stroke, get to the hospital NOW"! He was right. Plavix didn't work and after the second stroke my wife told the hospital staff, "He's staying here until you figure out why he is having strokes". They looked with a periscope and found a hole that was causing blood clots. It's called a Patent foreman ovale, with which everyone is born and closes in a few days but mine never did.

 No cardiologist around here wanted to repair it. They essentially said, "Your heart is healthy, eat your Coumadin (rat poison)  like a good boy". They were afraid of the operation. Enter Dr. William Dixon; he said he thought I needed the operation; that was a Thursday. The following Monday he used an amplatzer cribriform occluder which pulls out into a helix to patch the hole when activated like a double umbrella. I watched the operation on the monitor. No pain and no more strokes after 5 years. I was at the office by 7:00 Tuesday and demoed at the museum that Saturday with my great granddaughter. Dr. Dixon happened to show up with his kids and said, "I guess you're doing alright". I told him if he got tired of doctoring I could teach him how to blacksmith. rc