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Hot sun Harley ride - heart arrhythmia - Feewe'n whucky today - date with fate post 72
This entry was posted on 11/3/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
I was pretty pleased with myself. I had just graduated from UW-Whitewater. For my own graduation present, I bought myself a used Harley Davidson - a 1998 teal and cream Softail. I had sacrificed, subscribing to theory of delayed gratification, and waited until my degree was in hand before doing anything flippant. It was the summer of 2003.
Straight away, we partook in some motorcycle events. One such event was in Monroe, Wisconsin. The plan was to gather at the Harley dealer and then there would be a group ride for some particular charity. It was a very hot and humid Wisconsin summer day. The ride was to leave at noon. With all the heat, I was beginning to feel tired.
Plenty of people and motorcycles herded up in the dealer parking lot. There was not much shade in said location. It did not take too long for me to realize what was happening. I kneeled in the shade of the brick building and checked my pulse - my heart beat felt like a poor running lawn mower sounded. This was a bad one. And, it had only been a couple of years since the last bad heart episode. They were getting exponentially more frequent.
"Shall I take you to the hospital?" Heide asked.
"No," I said. "Let's get the Harley back to the house and I will take myself up to the ER. You hold down the fort at home," I continued.
By the time I got to the emergency room in Madison, I was very tired and began to feel light headed. This time the triage nurse du jour could tell I was really sick. She launched into a lecture about driving in while so sick.
An ER doctor I had not seen before took my case. He was Asian and had an accent of some sort, but I was not sure from which corner of the world - I did not care at that point anyway. I was becoming groggy.
"We need shock you Mr. Keet," the doc said with a pleasant smile. He had a reassuring demeanor about him.
"I know the drill," I said. "You kill me with a lightning bolt, and then hope my heart starts again with a good rhythm," I continued with not much spirit in my voice.
The doc paused for a moment and then said with an incredulous look, "We no like to say it quite like that Mr. Keet."
There was a flurry of activity in my cubicle as a nurse and a technician wheeled in a brand new defibrillator. The protective clear factory plastic still covered some of the machine. The commotion continued as they all tried to figure out where all the cords and plugs got plugged in to.
As the nurse started to attach the electrodes to my chest, the Asian doc held up a cord with an odd looking plug on it and said, "Where in hell this one go?"
"Hang on," I said, trying to buy some time. And then I asked, "What are odds my heart will not start again after you stop it, Doc?"
The Doc held the cord in one hand and rubbed his chin with the other and then he said, "I'd say there is about 10 percent chance you heart never start again in case like this, but no worry for you Mr. Keet."
"Well, what if I am in the 10 percent?" I asked.
He paused again, scratched his chin one last time as he jammed the cord in an outlet on the wall. Then he said with that pleasant smile,
..., "How whucky you feewe'n tuday, Mr. Keet?"
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Marine Lance Corporal Branden Paul Ramey, 22, Belvidere, Illinois (attached to Marine Corps Reserve, Madison, Wisconsin), died on Monday, November 8, 2004, in Lutifiya, Babil Province (south of Fallujah and Baghdad), Iraq. He was one of two Marines killed while fighting enemy forces. Lance Corporal Ramey was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Madison, Wisconsin.
The Web site legacy.com mentioned Belvidere, Illinois, was Branden Ramey's home town. He was born on October 6, 1982 in Rockford, Illinois. He graduated from Belvidere High School in 2001.
The Web site iraq.pigstye.net using information from the Rockford Register Star notes that while in high school, Branden Ramey had been homecoming king, and participated in football, baseball, and wrestling. After high school he joined the semiprofessional Belvidere Rush football team. Ramey also was close to earning his associate's degree from Rock Valley College in Rockford when his unit was deployed. He had been in Iraq only six weeks when he was killed.
The Web site wisn.com notes Lance Corporal Ramey was one of two members of Company Golf, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, killed in the battle. Lance Corporal Shane O'Donnell of DeForest, Wisconsin was also killed. Their unit consisted of 175 Marines.
At the time of his death Lance Corporal Branden Ramey was survived by his parents Randy and Sandy Ramey, and Pamela and Eddie Trevino; his fiance Stacey Lee; brothers Nicholas Ramey, Bryce Trevino, and Brent Trevino; sister, Melissa Ramey; grandparents Gordon and Betty Ramey, Paul and Joyce Lightner, Richard and Janice Gritzmacher, Concepcion Trevino, Arnold and Diane Vance, and Kathleen and Cecil Herzing; and, great-grandparents Lela Unglesbee, and Dorothy Fordsmand. Lance Corporal Ramey was laid to rest at Belvidere Cemetery, Belvidere, Illinois.
Marine Lance Corporal Branden Ramey is the 97th military service person that has been identified by Cool Dadio Media as having Wisconsin connections and that has died in Iraq since the Spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
103,253 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,485 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1824 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
955 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,219 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
14,611 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
36 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
150 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
22 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org .
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