Alumni Sandstorm - AGAIN ~ 10/30/21
	YIPPIE! SKIPPIE!! It's Saturday!!!
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6 Bombers sent stuff: 
Rex HUNT ('53)
Mike CLOWES ('54)
Grover SHEGRUD ('56)
Linda REINING ('64)
Tedd CADD ('66)
Betti AVANT ('69)
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BOMBER CALENDAR: Richland Bombers Calendar
	Click the event you want to know more about.
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One Bomber asked me to post my address in the Sandstorm:

Maren Smyth
161 Briant Street
Gretna, LA 70056

She said "We can help pay for your chair and maybe some 
snacks while your editing. Thank you. The time you devote 
to publishing is and has been priceless"
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>>From: Rex HUNT ('53)

Re: A whole lot of noise, signifying nothing!

MY HOSPITAL TIME!

I recently spoke of my heart procedure and that I was safely
home. -----WRONG----!!!

After 24 hours at home from my last event, I began to notice
a very obvious truth. I felt measurably worse. So weak I could
not stand with out help. My caretaker had taken me to a Lab,
for blood work and on the way home, even that took a turn for
the worse. I had Rose (my caretaker) drop me off at the
emergency room at the local Medical facility/Barn door repair
and replacement co, Where after some hours I was taken back to
a room and stripped of all my raiment.

My vitals were taken ie: blood pressure (almost non
existent) Temp, oxygen saturation etc. Stuck in a former mop
closet, given a sheet the size of a diaper placed on a gurney
lumpier than Aunt Maud's country possum gravy. And told they
would be right with me. About 8:30 PM a cute little nurse came
in and she wanted to check the pulses in my legs. She didn't
look 16. But seemed non plused at me being dressed Ala
Commando neath that large napkin I had for a cover. At 10:30
an older nurse came in and said I was being transported. Well
the obvious questions came to mind. None of which she could
answer! Including why, when, where and on what doctor's
determination. Seeing as I had yet to be seen by a doctor. At
11:30 I was given two Tylenol and a melatonin followed by a
"narco" at 12 midnight. I quickly dosed off and enter slumber
land. Only to wake up in extreme agony at 1:30 AM with a back
spasm to end back spazims. I have no call button that I can
reach. I am stuck in the back end of an overcrowded over busy
small town hospital. So I did what I had to do. I struggled to
the end of that bed (which had rails big enough to make it a
cage) and managed to get my feet to the floor at the end of
the bed. Than's when I noticed that a hep-lock in my right
elbow was attached to an IV and non-rolling tree stand. There
I was half on and half off the bed, in a worse position that
had I just suffered the back spasm. Also no modest sheet to
cover me. There I was when not one but 3 nursers including the
16 year old came. She in particular thought I was rehearsing a
scene for a porno film.

After being beaten violently about the head and shoulders
verbally I was given a plastic air mattress (a treasure to be
sure) Back to sleep. 3:30AM the light suddenly comes on and
there stands what to me looked like a demented Danny Devito
with the shiniest bald head and white, wiry, twisted hair
standing straight up. Saying to me in a scratchy voive, "DO
YOU HAVE A DNR". I in my foggy and semi drug induced state
could not follow the conversation to well. So my natural reply
was HUH? IN which he misunderstanding my retort, asked in the
most sincere way, "Are you ready to die". MY sharpness of
mind suddenly came into play and I volleyed with "That was not
my plan that morning when I left home!" Well think about it he
replied. Meanwhile we are sending you to Memorial in --- WAIT
FOR IT --- WAIT FOR IT --- Bakersfield. My sharpness
overwhelmed him then, when I calmly asked if they had a
veterans' cemetery there. His answer "I don't know". Being
thus stumped he left the room. At which time I came to the
conclusion I was just dreaming and snuggled under my dinner
napkin and went back to sleep.

At 10:30 am sharp, I was awakened from my stupor and placed 
on a lumpier gurney at which I balked. One of the attendants
quickly solved the problem. He lifted the air mattress, and
stole away.

It was a new Mercedes ambulance and I was impressed, till we
actually rode in the thing. Rattled like my first car. A 39
Dodge. Riding so elevated in the back it rocked and rolled
like a mal functioning washing machine. I was sea sick after
the 90 minute ride to my new home. Why we by passed such
places as Mercy a mega structure of a hospital well known for
its capabilities or the equally well know HEART HOSPITAL near
by, I may never know. But Hello Bakersfield.

I was whipped out in a flash rushed to the 5th floor and
quickly hid in an out-of-the-way room. Where I languished in
comfort for for about 2 minutes then I was inundated with 3
student nursers in RED jumpers where they practiced checking
blood pressure and temperature skills for several minutes.
Then came the first string varsity. Where I was probed in
places not meant to be probed. Enough blood was drawn to
supply the blood bank for a week. I am still naked from my
Hanford adventure. At which time one of the students noticed
and suggested I be supplied with a vestment. I was modestly
covered from the front. My posterior was left in the breeze &
was to remain so for the duration. I was left alone to fend
for myself

My phone was low on charge and I had not taken my charger
with me to the lab the day before so I was sans power to
rejuvenate it. So knowing thus, I dialed my Daughter in L.A.
and left a very brief message telling her I was in Memorial in
Bakersfield. Quickly hanging up to save power. I also turned
my phone off. Apparently I was wrong. As my Daughter was put
off by this knowledge and wondered why I was in Bakersfield.
So she immediately called Memorial Hospital only to find out
they had never heard of me. Now to the family I was lost. As
it turned out for whatever reason it had been decided to send
me to ADVENTIST HOSPITAL in Bakersfield. The ambulance in
route had been notified by radio to make that change while
still on Highway 99 with out notifying me in the back of the
bus.

For the next 3 days I am left to my own devices, seeing an
occasional doctor doing his residency requirements of seeing
patients. Asking me questions checking my blood pressure and
leaving with no information toward me. Bout midnight on the
3rd day I was awakened by a very tall, very black Nigerian man
who proclaimed he was a doctor and was there to help me. He
then smiled and his teeth was so white they intensified the
light into a spot light. He then proceeded to tell me why the
Dodgers collapsed like a cheap accordion and lost to Atlanta.
Unfortunately, he seemed much more knowledgeable about the
English game "Cricket" and Badmiton and added them to the mix
of his baseball lore. He then leaves me as gently as he came,
never to be seen again?????. 

Next day early morning the blood drawing ceremony begins
again. I am informed to stop taking my medications till
further notice. Well seeing as all my medicines are back home
I can comply with that request.

Meanwhile I am trapped in my cage of a bed and going to the
bathroom is a lesson in logistics. So I am abandoned to a hand
held plastic urinal Now for several days I have lain with my
knees and head slightly elevated and my butt in a slight
depression. In the middle of the night I forget such mundane
things. I have since learned the two most important tenets of
a master plumber. Pee flows downhill and payday is on Friday.

The nurse said I was "not to receive any food by mouth" Which
immediately brought to mind the question of Who was going to
feed me WERE?

It had been almost 4 days since I had food. I was of course
hooked up to IVs supplying me what I thought was Ringers
Lactate. As you old timers may recall was the elixir of life
On the very redundant TV show "Emergency"! But now I was being
served with what they referred to as a cup of BROTH! Now I
have had Broth before. That was not Broth. Perhaps it was an
abbreviation for the word Brothel.

By the way, who ever it is that hones the rim of plastic
urinals has a way of sharpening the the jagged edge to a fine
degree. Once I sneezed during a urination. Darn near
circumcised myself

I Was told that I had internal bleeding/Apparently my
Cardiologist, Dr. Edward Scissorhands had snipped me a bit
close. So I was getting an Endoscopy in the mornings to find
the damage.

So it was done. No damage found. I was then informed that the
following day I was getting the OTHER endo-scopy. I was so
glad they had performed the first one in that order in case
they used the same device.

That afternoon I was brought a "Gallon" jug of a substance
called "GO-lytely" other than being nasty looking it gagged me
at each swallow. I was able to down about a quart before my
stomach refused to consume any more. So they gave me two tiny
orange pills instead. About 5 in the morning I awoke needed
immediate assistance to get out of of my cage bed and I needed
it NOW!

Picture if you will Mt. Vesuvius, exploding and burying
several near by coastal cities. Leaving me to ponder "Can
they surgically reattach my butt and will they find enough
remnants with which to do so!

That was when Mauna Loa erupted. It's lava flow intensely
sufficent to aid in enlarging the Big Island. All this left me
so drained I was just barely dangling from the "Cinch Bars"!

With considerable help and my newly obtained butt sling, I
made it back to bed. Where I was greeted by the night nurse
with a cold bottle of something called "Citrona"! Artificially
citrus flavored over sweetened clear liquid. Was almost
pleasant after the mis-named "GO-Lightly" I was informed I
needed to consume all 10 ouncess in the next hour. As I had
been assigned an appointment for a surgery Suite at 8 AM. At
the appointed time Julio showed up with a lumpy gurney and
loaded me up, and wheeled me to the elevators and zip there I
was parked in a what I call the star chamber due to its make
up. It is an enlarged juncture of 4 hall ways with several
surgical suites angling off. I am parked right across from the
nurses' station where several nurses are doing their paper
work. I am just laying there in semi comfort when the
Yellowstone basin earthquake alarm sounded. Lacking mobility,
I hastily summoned the nurse. She responds quickly with a bed
pan. There is vast rumblings from the neither world and OLE
Faithful erupts. Followed by its tendency to gurgle and burble
for several minutes. UT OH! NURSE, NURSE! What Now? Was her
expression. Till she was able to eye the brim full bed pan.
She, like the seasoned pro she was, quickly swapped bed pans.
Telling Jorge the orderly to take this out back some where and
bury it. She then told me I had all of 6 minutes till my TEE
time!

Before she could step away and close the vanity curtain,
several of the sulfurous ponds of Yellowstone over ran their
boundary. Nurse then stepped to her desk and over the in-house
phone, gave away my surgery time to the next candidate and
his doctor.

Brought back to the previous parking space, Nurse proceeded
to hose me down and pretty me up for my new appointed time
some 40 minutes hence. But in keeping with her girl scout
training of always be prepared she slaps bed pan 4 in place,
slams the vanity curtain and said she will will be back. 

Left to my own devices and nothing else to do I soil bed pan
4. Nurse Nurse! With a pathetic cry of OMG what now, she pops
back behind curtain number 3. Have you ever noticed how
difficult it is to hide a snarl of discuss behind a plastered
smile, Nurse had that to a science. I was quickly shined and
polished just in time for the Proctologist, Dr. Strangelove to
appear. A very unhappy camper as due to the delay I had
created, he missed his TEE time. Now in hopes of catching up
with the guys at the 19th hole and Daiquiri and beer nuts, he
was expediting my procedure. An ex lumberjacks turned surgical
orderlies quickly twisted me in a pretzel shape and my back
may never be the same. I was gassed and left to the
peculiarities of Dr. Strangelove.

7 minutes tops, and he was done. Quickly leaving the room
with out even kissing me, nor a casual wave of next time we
will go to lunch afterward.

I swear, as I was wheeled out and down the hall a small
oriental nurse was heard to say "oh look-- 4 pan man!

Back in my room, Nurse Ratchet informed me, they had found
nothing not normally there. Perhaps after several days they
could do it again to double check.

Now its been almost 70 years since I was in the Navy, but my
power of recall came into play and with it I was later
informed, a stream of expletives not heard among humans since
we migrated from trees.

I was later told I damaged the ears of a student nurse down
the hall so badly she could no longer wear earrings. 

I also found out, all though it was none of my doings that I
was in Bakersfield, it was my responsibility to return to
Hanford. It was during the largest rainstorm in several years
for California and surpassed the 25 year flood plain in
Bakersfield. The nurse's union did not care they just wanted
me gone. 

It took till 6 pm to make arrangements for a medical
transport company to accept my Insurance, I was shoved into
the back of a transport van sitting in a wheel chair. Lifting
well above the center of gravity on a well used and shot
shocks of a ancient Ford van driven by Raymondo Ramaries who
had spent his youth driving a Tijuana Taxi. Singing mariachi
at the top of his voice along with his Spanish language Radio
we pin balled our way up Highway 99 thru a raging Rainstorm.
arriving just in time for the rain to cease.

I survived the Hospital once more. 

PS it was decided that I was taking too many meds. Which I had
expressed some 9 days before.

-Rex HUNT ('53wb) ~ from lovely Hanford, CA where you can
	stand in water a foot deep and still feel the dust 
	blow in your face.
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>>From: Bob Carlson, aka Mike CLOWES ('54)

Maren, hope your armed chair is comfy. Had one once upon a
time; the arms kept getting in the way.

And, on another subject: here's a "Happy Birthday!" wish for
Karen COLE ('55).

I certainly hope the Rex Davis party in Pullman went well. If,
for no other reason, the celebrant is one of the truly good
guys. And if he wore a costume to make you think he was
Francis The Talking Coach Rish, all the better.

A great big "Happy Birthday!!!" to Rex DAVIS ('49)

To the rest of yez, have a great Hallowe'en and save some of
the M & M's for later.

-Bob Carlson, aka Mike CLOWES ('54) ~ Mount Angel, OR
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>>From: Grover SHEGRUD ('56)

Re: Grover'swhereabouts!

Well I retired this March on the urging of my youngest
daughter; who requested we join her family back east. So I
threw in the towel (reluctantly) we sold our home and got rid
of 30 years of accumulated STUFF and took a 34 day trip to our
new home in Virginia. We zigzagged across 19 states visiting
with our other 7 children and grand kids and great grand kids.
We also stopped in Montana to see Ken HEMINGER (WB '56) and in
Denver to visit Joe Polson ('53). We passed through the north
west corner old Louisiana to complete my 49th state visited.
To add to the story my daughter sold her home in Bedford, VA
so we are all homeless!! 

I'm gonna buy some pumpkin seeds as recommended by my young
cousin Linda REINING ('64) because I'm all tired out from my
great adventure!!

-Grover SHEGRUD ('56)
Sent from my iPhone
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>>From: Linda REINING ('64)

To: Rex HUNT ('53wb)

So sorry to hear about your health problems. Memories of the
Bakersfield Bomber Luncheons---good times and lots of laughs.
Take care, my friend.

-Linda REINING ('64)
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>>From: Tedd CADD ('66)

Re: Getting Older (When did that happen?)!

There's a joke about how, as we get older, we need to maintain
a positive attitude. It goes like this:

"When I fell down the stairs last week, instead of getting mad
at myself, I thought, 'Wow! That's the fastest I've traveled
in years!' "

Over the last few years, I've found that my right knee has
been moving closer to requesting a replacement. Not to be
outdone, my left hip started, gradually, to announce it's
intent to retire as well.

The argument got a bit heated, and in Mid-May 2021, there was
a showdown. Going up the stairs in our "S" house, the right
knee gave way and the left hip said "Not my job." I came down
the stairs on my back-head first, colliding with the wall at
the bottom. The scalp wound was quite happy to provide plenty
of blood and the ER at Kadlec patched me up.

Neither of the joints claimed full responsibility. But the
bickering was giving me a headache-a really bad headache.

I returned to the ER for some help. "Sure, we've got just the
thing," they said. I was out cold for most of the helicopter
ride to Harborview MC in Seattle and through the surgery to
relieve the subdural hematoma and even some of the recovery
time at Harborview.

They patched me up with a piece of my skull they cut out for
access (glued in with some "bovine" substance and a metal
plate with screws).

"Bovine"-somebody said they'd always known I was a bit bull-
headed. But I'll need to pay attention now. What if I get a
screw loose?

Things had settled down on that front quite nicely. But the
Joint Wars hadn't.

So, we scheduled the hip replacement for the end of June.

Canceled due to COVID [China virus] issues at Kadlec.

A July date looked good.

Canceled due to COVID [China virus] issues at Kadlec.

An August date was suggested.

Canceled due to COVID [China virus] issues at Kadlec.

September?

Not available due to COVID [China virus] issues at Kadlec.

October?

Done!

Afterward, the surgeon said the joint was really bad. 

"What does that mean?" says I.

Says he, "Well, there was no cartilage in the joint and there
were so many bone spurs, it looked like cauliflower."

Says I, "Oh. That's why it hurt so much."

I'm 11 days into recovery and it is certainly better. There is
residual surgical pain but I can actually put weight on that
joint. They say I can recommence driving in the next week or
so.

Having to use a walker since the brain surgery has been a
lesson in humility. I've been one of those people who open
doors for those coming behind me. (Men, women, children,
cats...) But while I can fairly easily maneuver the walker
through doorways, I'm the one who is now being served, people
even getting out of their car for that purpose alone.

The first couple of days following my trip to Harborview,
anybody's "Can I help" was met with, "Thanks, but I think I've
got it." But I sensed some disappointment in their responses
and realized that I was depriving people of the feeling of
having helped somebody in need. So very selfish on my part,
arrogant even.

So, if by some odd happenstance, any Alumni Sandstorm reader
was one of those who received a refusal, I apologise and I'll
ask God to give you the full reward you would have received
but for my selfishness.

Such is part of the saga of Calendar Year 2021 for the Cadd
household. Another major part is that our granddaughter
Jasmine is now living with us full time. I won't go into any
detail but, if you are the praying type, please pray for my
continued recovery, our wisdom with regard to Jasmine (she's a
great kid), and our income.

All in all, it's been a very good year.

-Tedd CADD ('66)
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>>From: Betti AVANT ('69)

Re: Rex DAVIS ('49)

Happy birthday Rex. He was my grade school PE teacher from
grades 1-6 at Jason Lee. After I graduated on to Chief Joseph
Jr. High he left for Pullman and WSU. Fast forward to 2013
after my move back to Richland I attended my first Club 40
event. He came up to me and immediately knew who I was without
a nametag at that point. Of course I was just starting to get
my hair back after my chemo. but nonetheless he knew me by
name.

The last 2 years we've been unable to have our yearly
gathering but hopefully in the new year we'll be able to meet
again.

-Betti AVANT ('69) ~ from soggy Richland
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