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When I arrived at the hospital, I couldn't stand up, therefore, I couldn't walk, either.  I couldn't swallow either, so a feeding tube was shoved up my nose, and down to the stomach, to feed and medicade me.  I threw up the first time in the ambulance...and 18 more times on the first day I was in the hospital  So much so, that my esophagas was bleeding.

After 8 days, the feeding tube was removed, as I was now on a liquit diet...and I was transferred to the ReHab Center across from the Heart Institute.  Here, I would have a lot of physical therapy, to learn how to walk again...just like a one year old.  I was confined to a wheelchair, and I was not allowed to get out of it, unless I was back in my room, and usually somebody would help me get back into bed. 

Almost all the therapy was centered around the physical therapy side of it all.  I don't remember any congnitive or mental therapy during the time I was in the hospital.  I remember doing a couple of wooden puzzles, but that was about it.  I spent about six hours a day in the gym,  everyday, doing the various physical exercises. 

Getting up from a fall; climbing steps and stairs; getting in and out of a car; balancing on a teeter-totter; climbing a curb and then back down; playing hoops and so forth.  Every time, I went to therpy, I was tied to the threapist, with a white strap, and we would walk down the walkways like two penguins side by side.  This strap kept me from wondering off, and falling in the ditch.  For more on this awful ordeal, the reader can see the following article;

STROKE; My Cell Phone Saved My Life

As far as the mental or cognitive side of things, I don't think I saw a psychologist.  I was probably going to have to do all that on my own, after my discharge.  So for now, I had to concentrate on the physical side of things.  At that time, I didn't know if I would ever write again; solve-problems; create anything again; or just exist, etc. 

When I came home after my discharge from the hospital, was the first time I walked alone...I never walked by myself at the hospital.  I was worried about the cognitive and mental side of things, because creating was so near and dear to me.  My greatest fear was not being able to write again, which requires lots of creativity and coming up with new and usable ideas.  So, how would I know if the cognitive/mental was damaged or was useless. 

There was only one way, that I knew if anything was damage as a result of the stroke...START CREATING...and I would find out very quickly if my brain was fried during and after the stroke. 

I've always wanted a small business online, and now I could start the start-up pages that would be required.  This would give me a good test, to show if I still had the right stuff in the mental/congnitive arena.  So, in January, 2013, I got started.  I was quite nervous, because I din't want to fail...as I didn't know if my confidence was affected.  The following four pages, is how I got started in my creative and problem-solving adventure. 

The Idea Factory; (idea development/creativity

Boot Camp; Welcome To Fort Knocks;

The School of Hard Knocks;

Don't Play Golf My Way;

GhostTown; (In development); a family of ghosts;
MaMa Ghost; PaPa Ghost; Brat; BabyGhost; GrandPa Ghost; and Grandma Ghost; and Lush...the bartender;

So far...so good.  I was in a wheelchair during the time I was in the hostital; I then was pushing a walker around for about four months; and then I used a cane to help me get around.  Happy to say, that I made all my appointments and conducted business as usual...the only difference, is that I am much slower at everything I do. 

Four books in the making; I started writing seriously in August, 2006, and as of July, 2013, I have 381 articles...enough material for three or four books.  To write and organize these books, is going to take incredible creative skills, and lots of patience.  I will find out, if I can do it or not.  The reader can see the beginning of this miss-adventure at the following link;

Four Books + 4 Query Letters Equals
8 Headaches

Book Review;  This is the first book review I've done, and probably the last.  I wanted to see if I could do one...and the reader will decide if it's good, bad or indifferent.  Book title; The Street Smart Writer;

BUYER BEWARE;
It used to be, that the medical profession had cornerned the market on squeaky-clean...but, no more.  There are as many criminals in medical and people of bad behavior...as there are in any other profession...including publishing. 

The book entitled, The Street-Smart Writer was written by a professional writer, and in my opinion, is that she is biased and favors the writer in the book.  I hold an opposite view on the book...and point the finger at the writer in this finger-pointing festival.  Why? 

Because, in America, we live in a land of CHOICES.  Nobody has a gun pointed at the head of the writer and makes him or her do anything.  The writer already knows the reputation of the vanity/subsidy publishers and how they work. 

Writers are free to enter a writing contest if they wish or deal with a subsidy/vanity publisher...it's their CHOICE.  But, I think some of the writers exercise little or no common sense; poor judgement and poor dicision-making and with the 'pie in the sky' attitude, which is sure to get them scammed.  Oh...and...by the way...writers have a right to get screwed or not...it's their CHOICE!

Article title; I Have Not Been Taken to the
Cleaners, YET

The most important letter of my life;
A defribulattor/pacemaker was implanted in my body in 2006, and with the battery life for six years due in 2012, I was due for a new battery.  But, I told my cardiologist to take the pacemaker out.  That was in January, 2011. 

Amazingly, all this process took two years, and finally in January 8, 2013, the pacemaker was removed. I was told at that January meeting, that the Heart Institute would take care of getting all the paperwork and documentation for the surgery.  But, in late January, 2012, I got a call from the Heart Institute and I was told that I would have to get the documentation necessary for the surgery. 

During that four month period, from January, 2012 to the time of the stroke (May, 2012) I was STUPID because I procrastinated the time away, and did nothing to enhance my chances of getting the pacemaker removed.  I could have written notes on the letter I was going to have to write to get the process started. 

I think it was in late July, 2012, that I got a call from my cardiougist, Dr. Downey, and he told me that things were goind forward with the surgery, and he explained some of the risks involved.  He told me that there would be a build-up of human tissue on the leads, wires and the device itself.  I told him, that it looked like a perfect breeding ground for a blood-clot.  He didn't say anything.  

From that poing forward, I pointed the finger at the pacemaker for having somehting to do with the stroke.  And, now I was more anxious to get rid of the device.  When this conversation happened, I was only out of the hospital about a month, and the surgery was scheduled for January 8, 2013, so I had a long wait ahead of me.  I tried to move the date of surgery up, but I couldn't.  

To write a professional letter, having just gotten out of the hospital, was going to be one of the hardest things I would do in my lifetime.  The letter would go to five cardiologists; Dr. Icenogle at the VA Medical Center; Dr. Sen at Presbyterian Health; Dr. Downey at the Heart Institute (my cardiologist) and colleagues Dr. Castleman and Dr. Donna Pham at the Heart Institute.   

Because I procrastinated away four months, I had nothing on starting this letter, and if I didn't get this pacemaker out, I could have another stroke...and this time it could be FATAL.  I started by taking notes all day, and highlighting key words...and I had a mess on my hands.  I could just kick myself for losing four mounts, but none of have a crystal ball...we can't see things coming.  I was hoping I could get everything on two pages...but if I went over, that would be okay...

I toiled with the letter all week, and by the end of the week, I had something that looked like a professional letter.  (scary, eh?)  I wrote the entire thing FIVE times, and I finally had, what I thought was a keeper.  Below, is the actual that I wrote at the end of July, 2012. 

"To; Dr. Icenogle, Chief Cardiologist,
Heart Station, VA Medical Center.
1520 San Pedro, S.E., Albuquerque, New Mexico

Dear Dr. Icenogle;

At the time of the implantation, you were the Director of the Heart Station at the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but I don't know who performed the surgery. 

I recently had a stroke on May 23, 2012, and I spent a month at the Heart Institute and Lovelace ReHab Center.  I was released from the Rehab Center on June 19, 2012.  During my stay at the hospital, I got only educated guesses from the medical staff, as to what happened to me.  In an outpatient with Dr. Dominoe, he suggested that the stroke began somewhere in the back of the skull and worked its way down.  But, there is still too much uncertainity in all this.  Therefore I would be a FOOL, if I didn't contact my cardiologist at the Heart Institute, to try to find out what happened. 

In January, 2012, I had a visit with my current cardiologist, Dr. Ross Downey, and we talked about removing the device, and he told me that the device could be taken out, but first he had to have all the documantation with respect to the implantation, the middle and the end, and what has happened since that time. 

That;s what this letter is about...to get the documentation/medical information surrounding the implantation of the device.  In other words...all the ducks have to be in a row...before there can be any thought of removing the device.  My cardiologist at the Heart Institute is Dr. Ross Downey, and his assistant is Donna Pham, PA. 

BRIEF SUMMARY; During the first week of June, 2006 I was experiencing breathing problems and because I lived a short distance to the VA Medical Center. I drove to the VA Medical Center ER.  I was treated and released.  The following day, I was experiencing more  breathing problems again, but this time it was more severe, and so I called 911, and I was taken to the VA Medical Center by ambulance.  I was examined and told that I had fluid in the lungs and heart area.  I was admitted at that time, and I spent the week at the VA Hospital.  This is the time, when the surgery for the pacemaker was implanted.  Dr. Icenogle was my cardiologist at the time.  I was prescribed the following medications; Metoprolol; Fursoemide (water pill) Potassium; aspirin. 

In 2007, I left the VA Medical Center, and signed up with Presbyterian Healthcare.  During this time, I have had four primary doctors, and none said nothing b=about the meddications I was taking, except the latest one, Dr. Fautter.  I met with him for the first time on July 31, 2012 and he asked me if I had been taking aspirin for the last 6 years after the implantation.  He wanted to know if I had taken anything stronger like Cumiden.  I told him NO...I had only taken aspirin. (blood thinner) I've always taken aspirin after the implantation.  I think Dr. Sautter may have been looking at the possibility of having a blood clot...J just don't know. 

After just tow months of being discharged from the VA Medical Center, and the surgery was performed...the divice went off, and I had to return to the VA Medical Center to get things corrected.  As I said, I left the VA Medical Center in 2007 and I enrolled in Presbyterian Healthcare.  In 2009, the device went off again.  I was told this time, that the lead going into the heart, was defective, and surgery would have to be done to correct the problem.  Surgery was done in August, 2009. 

The old device had a square feel to it, and the new device has a round feeling to it, but I was told that the old device would not be taken out, etc.  I was told that the life of the battery is six years, so 2012 is the anniversary of the device. 

In our meeting of Januray, 2012, Dr. Downey told me that the battery would not be replaced, and I told him that since the battery had to be replaced, why not take the device out at the time.  And then the stroke happened on May 23, 2012.  I was taken, by ambulance, to the Heart Institute, where I spent 8 days.  I was told by the ambulance attendants, that the device was not working, and they tried to get it started manually, and they almost killed me in doing so. 

For all the years since the implantation of the device, I have always been concerned about blood cantamination by the metal and the plastic, and Dr. Sen of Presbyterian assured me that the contamination level was about 1%.  But, that 1% might be ME. 

If the device is not working...or the device was turned off, for whatever reason...and I survived a stroke without the aid of the device, I would think that the device can come out if all the duck are in a row. 

CAUSE OF STROKE; Unknown

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE; I've had trouble with blood pressure for over 40 years, and that;s why I have my own blood pressure kit at home, and I use it about twice a week.  Before the stroke, I didn;t notice anything unusual in the readings...NO red flags.  Everything seemed to be normal before the stroke.

 CHLORESTROL; I got my last blood test in June, 2012, and the results are enclosed, and the cholesterol is good and bad. 

DIABETES; I was disgnosed with dibetes in 2008, and I have done all the finger-pricking to gather data for me and my doctor.  For the month I was in the hospital, samples were taken everyday, and I did not see any red flags, etc.  Samples were taken daily.  My three blood tests in 2011 were 5.9; 5.9 and 6.1

LIFESTYLE; I quit smoking in 1970, and since then, I have never had any tobacco products.  I do not drink alcohol; and I have never taken illegal drugs.  I have eaten no salt for over 30 years (blood pressure); exercise regularly (jogged 15 miles a week since 1986; and I weigh about 170 pounds.

The reason for this letter, is that I'm asking the people at the VA Medical Center, to provide the documentation surrounding the implantation (pacemaker) in 2006 and the aftermath.   Appreciate your time very much,

Jerry Aragon

END OF LETTER;

January 8, 2013; Surgery was performed on this date and the pacemaker was removed including the leads and all parts;

January 29, 2013; I had a scheduled visit with my primary, Dr. JoAnn Hooper, and I asked her to have an x-ray taken to verify that everything was taken out, and the x-ray confirmed that everything was removed

WORK IN PROGRESS...

JULY, 2013

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