All posts by Twayn

Bats: Right Throws: Right

Do You Believe in Miracles?

I have some free time on my hands this week so I've been going over the events of the last nine day that led me to where I am today - still alive and getting well again. This recounting includes reviewing lab data, imaging, and notes in MyChart, recalling doctors post-operative conversations and doing some digging on WebMD and Mayo and Cleveland Clinic websites. It's been something of a revelation for me.

Last Tuesday began like any other workday lately. I got up, had breakfast, showered and dressed, then headed down to my office to work. Because my wife is on mandatory overtime through the end of the year her in-office requirements are waived so she was also working from home that day, which would not have been typical as she tended to work Monday through Wednesday in the office and Thursday and Friday at home. Sometime around mid-morning I started to feel some abdominal cramping. Nothing major right away and I brushed it off as gas pains, but they didn't relent, and in fact just got worse. Eventually I found myself in the bathroom trying to get something, anything to pass through my colon but no dice. My wife offered to take me to the ER but I declined, still thinking whatever it was would pass. But no, it just got steadily worse and worse, I vomited a few times, and within an hour of so I was thrashing around in bed, moaning and sobbing through the pain. Luckily, my wife is smarter and less obstinate than I am about these things and she called an ambulance.

I don't remember much about the ambulance ride, didn't notice if they used a siren or not. I remember being cold, very very cold, and the road being nothing but washboards. Last Tuesday was a very busy day in the ER, so busy there were no beds available when I arrived. They put me in a reclining chair in a hallway with no triage or evaluation that I can recall, but to be fair I was only lucid some of the time and out of it the rest. I'm not normally one to cause a scene, but I absolutely caused a big one in that hallway, my speech and behavior were so extreme that the ER nurses were asking my wife what drugs I was on. She was having none of that, though, and told them point blank they were barking up the wrong tree and had better get me some medial attention because it wasn't going to get better without it.

It turns out the condition I experienced, mesenteric ischemia with intestinal infarction, is relatively rare and can be quite deadly. Only about 200,000 people in the US go through it every year. If not treated within 6-12 hours of onset the mortality rate is about 70-90%. Folks like me with a coronary artery disease comorbidity have an elevated level of risk.

When I eventually got into an ER bed and had an initial evaluation, they told me flat out my vitals were horrible and my labs were worse. At some point a nurse did validate what I was going through, telling my wife the doctor said it's one of the most painful things a person can experience. Eventually the doctor came in and said I needed immediate surgery and without it I would die. I deferred to his authority and concurred with his diagnosis. My blood pressure was up to 255/140 with a pulse of 40. My body temperature was around 92 degrees, but I was sweating so hard the thermometer stickers they put on my forehead kept falling off so they had a hard time getting a good reading on that, even with an oral thermometer. I was septic and going downhill like a runaway bobsled.

Once the medical team decided on a course of action things moved pretty fast. They needed imaging so at that point they finally decided to start treating the pain. It took every last measure of will power and strength I had in me at the time to hold still enough for the nurse to get some Dilaudid into my IV. That took the edge off enough for me to get some level of control over myself again and off we went for a CT scan.

Generally speaking, vascular issues like clots and vessel blockages are primary causes of this condition. My CT scan showed some stenosis in the main vessels feeding the bowel, but the consulting vascular surgeon decided that did not appear to be the cause of the ischemia, which is actually a very good thing in terms of long-term prognosis. Instead, the whole thing started 14 years ago when I ignored, then endured similar abdominal distress until my appendix ruptured. It took a long time, but eventually scar tissue from that surgery completely encircled the bowel, cutting off the blood flow. Then just for good measure, the small intestine collapsed at that spot and two parallel sections twisted around each other creating a complete intestinal blockage. Picture a ring bologna hanging in a deli window and that was my gut.

Pre-op was kind of blur, and all I wanted was the pending anesthesia that had become the only light I could see at the end of my tunnel. As they rolled me off to surgery, I wondered if I would make it out of the woods, but somehow the fear of continued pain pretty much wiped out the fear of death. I was ready for it to end one way or another. I'm neither proud nor ashamed to admit that now, it just was what it was at the time.

I am not a religious man, though as a natural born seeker I've studied religions my whole adult life. Religions are manmade institutions and while I respect any faith that passes the muster of being based on altruism and empathy and compassion, rigid dogma and doctrine are not for me. I have a personal relationship with my personal conception of what I consider a universal deity, and that's enough for me.

We call this time of year the season of miracles. You simply can't deny that otherwise unexplainable things happen from time to time, and when the outcomes are especially good we call them miracles. I've always been reluctant to attribute them to divine intervention. Today I find that reluctance at an all-time low. I do believe in miracles, and I believe that forces beyond my comprehension can intercede on my behalf. I believe it because this is not the first time I have been in dire situations that against the odds turned out as well as I could have hoped. I believe in miraculous intervention now because I choose to believe it, and because it's a much more interesting and exciting possibility than random chance or coincidence have to offer.

Happy holidays, my friends. I wish you all the depth of gratitude for life that I feel today, and an abiding faith in love and humanity and our capacity for kindness and generosity. Cling to the ones you love like your life depends on it, because indeed it often does. Peace be with you.

2023 Game 147: Twins at Bitch Sox

If only there were some way for me to know when it's Thursday...

This is not a game log. It is a reasonable facsimile of a game log thrown together at the last minute when I realized it was not an off day. But it is here.

Twins haven't been winning enough lately, but neither has anyone else in the AL Central so the magic number keeps dropping. Maeda vs. Urena (how do you make an enyay in WordPress?) on the mound.

Play ball!

2023 Game 128: Rangers at Twins

So, Gleeman has probably been the most vocal among the chattering class when it comes to the Twins failing to beef up the bullpen at the trade deadline. That decision to stand pat on the bullpen is looking worse in the rearview mirror all the time. The only pitcher we got was Floro, and we've seen how much help he's been.  And can we talk about Carlos Correa? I've reached a point where I dread seeing him come to bat with runners on base because I just can't bear to watch him get paid another $58,000 to ground into another rally-killing double play. Honestly, I've secretly started hoping he'll just strike out in those situations instead.

Pablo Lopez is back on the mound for the Twins today. As frustrating as the bullpen has been lately, the rotation is turning in one solid performance after another (with the occasional outlier).  Pablo's got a 9-6 record, a 3.51 ERA, and 187 strikeouts on the season. The Rangers counter with southpaw Andrew Heaney, and we all know about our struggles with lefthanders. He's also 9-6 with a 4.27 ERA and 122 strikeouts. Hopefully the boys are all rehydrated and ready to go after yesterday's matinee in the sauna.

Play ball!

2023 Game 110 – Twins at Cardinals

Not a lot of time today so just a few quick takes:

  • The Twins are a .500 team in a sub-.500 division. It may be enough to make a postseason cameo appearance but that's about it.
  • Standing pat at the trade deadline is not a bad thing if you're not getting past the first round of the playoffs anyway.
  • Luis Arraez will probably become the first player to win back to back batting championships in different leagues.
  • My wife calls leaving RISP "decorating the bases." The Twins do a lot of base decorating.

Sonny Gray and Matthew Liberatore on the mound tonight.

Play ball!

 

2023 Game 98 – Twins at Mariners

After laying a big egg in Baltimore to end the first half, the local nine have been playing much better ball since their return from the All-Star break with a sweep of the Athletics and two wins in three games with Seattle. The Twins will try to seal a series win from the Mariners in a businessman's special this afternoon.

The Twins will send Pablo Lopez (5-5, 4.24 ERA, 145 K) to the mound today, Seattle will counter with sophomore right-hander George Kirby (8-8, 3.43 ERA, 93 K). Let's hope the Twins bats make a lot of noise again today, it sure is entertaining to watch when this team is hitting well.

Play ball!

Donny Osmond – Close Every Door

It was 1995 and Donny Osmond was in town kicking off an engagement of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It had been a huge hit in Toronto and Chicago, they were taking it on tour and Minneapolis was the first stop. It was a pretty big deal, the governor (Arne Carlson) signed a declaration making it Donny Osmond Day. Donny, who we had lined up to do one segment on our mid-morning show,  actually volunteered in the green room to co-host the whole hour if we wanted. And of course we did. After the show Donny and I took a limo ride to the Mall of America where he did a little PR appearance at Planet Hollywood, gave them a pair of purple socks for a display case and did a quick song. When that wrapped up Donny headed to the theater to get ready for opening night of the run and the photographer and I went back to the studio and packaged up  a story for the 6:00 p.m. news. My impressions of Donny were simple - he may be a Mormon, but he's a total mensch.

2 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 102 votes, average: 6.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 6.00 out of 10)
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Willie Nelson – Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die

I met Willie Nelson at the Black Hawk County Fair in Waterloo, Iowa in the early 90s. I got sent up to interview him before his grandstand show. They had us set up the camera outside his dressing room, and when he came out to meet us he was followed by a sizeable cloud of smoke. He squinted a lot and he smiled a lot and seemed like a genuinely nice person. He was still heavily involved in Farm Aid and that's what most of the interview was about. When we wrapped it up and the camera was off I couldn't resist. "Say, Willie." I said, "One last question for you. Is it true that you got high in the White House?" He just gave me that big old smile and said, "Well, that's the story they all tell."

3 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 103 votes, average: 7.67 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 7.67 out of 10)
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Jonny Lang – Lie to Me

When I met Jonny Lang he was a skinny little Norwegian kid from Fargo commuting to the Twin Cities on the weekends to play gigs. His dad had to drive him because he didn't have a license yet and they played bars where he wouldn't be of age to get served for  another six years. The TV station had done a feature story on him that got a lot of attention and he was in studio to do a live set for a prime-time show taping. Not long after that appearance he got scouted at Bunker's and signed with A&M Records. About a  year later he was doing this appearance on Conan to promote his new album. Keep in mind, the kid is still only 16 years old in this video, and had only been playing guitar for four years.

2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
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Alan Parsons Project – Silence and I

Alan Parsons was another post-concert autograph line meet and greet at an off-strip casino in Las Vegas. Small but pretty new venue, probably around a thousand seats, and ours were on the front row. I carbon date the show to late September of 2015 since it was the 30th anniversary of the Eye In The Sky release and we were celebrating our wedding anniversary. Anyway, Alan stayed until every last person had their turn (I know because we were almost the end of the line), he signed my CD and my ticket stub for me and we exchanged a few polite words. We've seen them a few times since then and always enjoyed it, but that show set a really high bar.

 

2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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