Been an interesting start to the new year.
I had developed a health issue that I had never experienced before that got worse and ended up at Memorial Hospital on the 29th. Great staff there, at least on how well they took care of me, BUT they also discovered I had Covid!
I didn’t doubt it as the symptoms had begun to exhibit themselves that day but I thought it was just the start of a bad cold I got from my buddies duck hunting…turns out two of them had it too.
Fortunately it was but a complication and I have been recovering nonetheless since then with multiple antibiotics, etc.
I believe I’m on the mend but thought I ought to post something now that I am better.
I had been really pushing myself for weeks prior to all this and I really wasn’t doing well. But you know guys, we just keep going sometimes till we drop…
Again, thanks to Memorial for getting me back on the street.
PS. YOU all have to understand that in my 71 years, I had only been in the hospital four times since birth.
The first shouldn’t count but my Father wanted to make sure all went well wwitha multiple impacted and infected wisdom teeth extraction. And since this was 1972 and he was Administrator at the hospital, the oral surgeon agreed and it all went smoothly that Thursday morning. In fact, that Saturday night I was at Red Lion drinking a Tom Collins when the manager got into a knock down fight outside the entrance. Can’t recall his name but he had long, shoulder-length light brown hair and could dish it out. And here I was, underage, with alcohol in my hand postoperative 48 hours, backing him up and keeping the other guy’s buddies from getting involved. I decided to leave when the police arrived…
The second time was just a quick ER visit at a free clinic in Berkeley, CA – I didn’t have insurance. I had gotten pretty inebriated down at Aptos Beach with Randall Holdren that weekend and thought I had broken my leg. While it was just bruised I found my visit, shall we say…interesting, as the patient on the other side of the curtain either had a knife sticking out of him or something similar. This was 1973.
The third time was In 1974 and I was in the USAF where I had to have a tonsillectomy. That one had me, shall we say…nervous. I was all alone and at Wilford Hall Hospital down in San Antonio. I went in on a Wednesday for a Thursday morning surgery.
This was a major hospital and they placed me in the throat cancer ward where most of the patients had or were being treated for throat cancer. It wasn’t a pretty sight watching these men with faces disfigured by surgeries and treatments, with some still taking a puff or two through a tube…
Mine was an assembly line surgical procedure and I was standing by my bed waiting on the anesthesiologist to arrive and start on me, nervous as all get out, when a voice came out of nowhere and said to me, “Mr. Zettler, it’s time.”
Now I don’t know about your religious beliefs but this one had my complete attention. I responded, “What”, and the voice once again rang out in my head, “It’s time.” Now I was scared shitless. Then the voice said, “This is the nurses station. Look behind the curtain, we are on a speaker.”
I bet they knew what they were doing and got a great laugh at my expence!! Well I will get them back. I know they ask you your name in recovery and I’m going to reply, “George Washington.” That will show them!
Well, they got me started and rolled up or over to the surgical area where I was but one f many laying in wait for our turn in surgery. They get me in and before I could reinforce it was my tonsils they were after and not my testicles, I found myself already coming out of it in recovery with an O2 mask on. Now this was not a private recovery area. And while I couldn’t sit up and count how many compatriots there were in there, the horrible moaning and the like eliminated my initial thought and I responded, “Bob Zettler. Now please get me out of here!”
Now I had an great Mother. Why do I add this here? Well shortly after I was brought back to my bed, she had somehow got through and had them bring me a phone so we could talk. That was 1974 and I still miss her.
One more aside for this hospital stay. The surgery was on Thursday, and I kept the ice going and residue bleeding was over in short order but Jello and pudding just wasn’t filling. So when the hospital screwed up the next morning and served me bacon, eggs and toast, I ate every last smidgen. The only issue I had from that surgery was they must have really pried my mouth open for it hurt like Hell to open it normally. So I took very small bites and nibbled it all down.
I know, I know. Most of you are thinking with as much as I talk that they shouldn’t have had any issue but it caused me issues for a long, long time.
Oh, and another nice thing was I got two weeks of convalescent leave after my hospital discharge that Sunday morning. So I added 10 days of vacation and went home for almost a month. Grew a beard, let the hair get longer and had a great time.
When I arrived back in San Antonio, I decided to see about going to a barber off-base (no stylists back then) to trim up my hair so I could continue to slick it back with Dippity Do. This would allow me when I was not on duty, to simply wash it off and my hair would not look like I was in the service – the Air Force has strong guidelines and rules about facial hair and ones head. You have to understand it was 1974 and I worked Rock concerts at the Hemisfair Arena and Municipal Auditorium, and did not want to look like a Narc…
Anyway, I went to the first barber shop I found a decent distance from Brooks AFB where I was stationed and told the barber what I wanted. Now I should have been more cautious or observant for I came to believe he and the oothers there were ALL retired military. Hell, probably Marines! Why? Cause the _______ gave me what we called either whitewalls or a buzz cut. And when he was done they all got a good laugh as I saw myself in the mirror. That was the last haircut I ever paid for while I was in the Air Force, as I cut my own after that! Yes, I was vain.
The next time was 1994. I was on a strong medication that the Walgreens pharmacist made a mistake and placed me in an overdose situation. So to be safe, I was admitted to the old Doctors Hospital. This was also at a low point in my life. My wife of just nine months decided to leave and subsequently sue for divorce where she wanted half of what I had. There is more to this story but not here. Suffice to say, I recovered from the meds, but it took a long time for the other…
Okay, that brings me up to date and I can add this to my list of stories for my family. My daughter gave me a gift called Storyworth. It’s a program that suggests story ideas and allows you to place any memories into it, where it can also be made into a bound book for family members.
That is a major regret of mine in life. That I don’t member many of the stories my parents told me about their live.
And they both had very interesting lives as my Father met my Mother during WWII in England, got married there, had a daughter, survived the war and then my Mother suffered the arduous journey to America as a War Bride and the discriminations by so many upon her arrival. I wish I had taken a tape recorder over the years to capture those memories…