This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

It turned out that last Friday was a good day for me and my wife, Nancy, because our cardiologist solved her recent heart problems.

The solution? 

Well, first a recent stress test showed the need for an angio-gram.  Today, the normal way to access the heart is to go through the wrist.

Incredible!

Then, to top even that, if the doctor finds a blockage in an artery in the heart, he or she then inserts a stent immediately as part of the same procedure. 

That’s what happened in my wife’s case and, as it turned out, she needed the treatment – immediately because she was close to having a heart attack.

I remain incredibly impressed with the skills and abilities of cardiologists, as well as all those staff who help them and their patients.

The entire process for my wife took several hours, so, to pass the time during her recovery, I regaled myself with anecdotes about my past health care issues.

Here is a selection:

WRITING ON A PILLOWCASE:  When I last had my own angio-gram (it also was through the wrist) the doctor, Kevin Thompson, talked to my wife and me in the recovery room at Salem Health.

He didn’t have any paper with him, so he picked up a nearby pillowcase and drew a diagram of my heart, indicating what the angio-gram showed him, which was that my heart was continuing to pump blood, though through an “artery of sorts” that it had created on its own.

I still have that pillowcase! 

Don’t tell Salem Health because I guess it would be fair to say I stole it.

MAKING A MISTAKE ON MEDS OVERSEAS:  On one of our overseas trips a few years ago, we boarded a ship in Amsterdam, then were scheduled to transit the English channel to the England side.

Like a dumb bell, I decided to use two seasick medications and it turned out they were contra-indicated.

So, I got very sick – not seasick, but still sick.

I don’t remember much of what happened over the next few hours, but I was taken to the ship’s infirmary, then went by ambulance to a hospital in Dover, England.

There, I began to become alert, but not before I experienced various hallucinations.  One was that the stark-blue curtains separating our space from others in the emergency room actually were long-legged women guarding me. 

After about 10 hours in the hospital, we were finally discharged and there was no way we could catch our ship.  So, the best tour guide in the world – my wife – re-positioned us and we had a good few days in
Canterbury and London before heading home on a direct flight from Heathrow, which we were lucky to catch as the last two passengers on the plane.

Stupid me!

MY 25-YEAR STINT AS A HEALTH CARE LOBBYIST:  There is nothing funny or amusing about these years, but they do stand out for me, so they are worth mentioning in this blog.

At the State Capitol in Salem, Oregon, I had the privilege of representing Providence Health & Services, including its eight hospitals spread around the state, plus its health insurance company, its ElderPlace facilities for older adults, and Providence Center for Medically Fragile Children.

I always was proud of this affiliation for me and those in my firm, CFM Strategic Communications.

Providence is the best health care system in the state, but does not rest on its laurels.  It continues to provide care for all comers, including — and perhaps especially – for those not able to pay for care on their own.

The system always displays high ideals and a profound sense of ethics.

AND THIS FOOTNOTE:  About 19 years ago, when I needed heart services, I received excellent care from Salem Health and its affiliated physicians.

But, the CEO of Providence, the late John Lee ,called me while I was undergoing care and said, if I wanted to be transferred to Providence St. Vincent, the state’s leading cardiac care facility, he would send a helicopter for me.

I thanked him profusely, but said, “no,” care in Salem was excellent.

So, all these thoughts coursed through my brain as I waited in recovery for my wife.  Her procedure went very well and her life was saved.  That’s the most important thing, far more important than my various memories.