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.

 

I borrowed this blog headline from one that appeared in the Wall Street Journal in a story that caught my attention.

Why?

I am a dog lover.  With my wife, we have had two dogs, and both enriched our lives.  We wouldn’t have had it any other way.

And a number friends have dogs, too, and we have become attached to those pets, as well.

Here is how the Wall Street Journal article started:

“Owning a dog can teach a person as much about herself as about her companion, The Wall Street Journal’s Katherine Bindley reflected in a recent essay.  From the beginning, owning a dog requires both love and resolve.

“But the most enduring lesson a dog can teach might be its last, according to hundreds of Journal readers who read and commented on Bindley’s essay.  The inevitable passing of a pet and the processing of the subsequent grief is a powerful lesson in resilience.”

My wife and I experienced that first-hand in the case of our first dog, Hogan.  We loved that boy and, today, we think of him as looking down at us as he romps in open fields in heaven. 

More from the Wall Street Journal:

• Wisconsin, native Richard Nelson is all too familiar with the anguish that comes with losing a pet. 

“My most devastating experiences in life have been saying farewell to my best friends,” he said, referring to the three English Springer spaniels he and his family have owned.  Their fourth, Captain, is two years old. “When the others passed, the pain was, well, unbearable.”

• Losing a dog is a unique brand of grief, according to Nancy Curotto, a licensed psychologist specializing in pet loss. 

The relationship a person has with their pet is “one of the most intense bonds one can have,” Curotto said.  “This relationship is unconditional.  Your pet witnesses you in ways other relationships don’t.”

• Although most owners adopt with the tacit understanding that they might outlive the object of their affection, these deep bonds mean that coming to terms with the loss when it does occur is especially difficult. 

New Jersey, native Sandra Sori can attest to how integrated pets are into our lives.

“You spend more time with your dog than any human, including your significant other,” she observed.  Sori has shared her home with four dogs over the past three decades, including the two she owns now:  Ray, a 10-year-old Brittany spaniel, and Frankie, a 5-year-old St. Bernard.  “You have daily rituals and routines that you may not even notice, but when they’re gone, it’s such a loss.”

So, is the pain of potential loss enough to make even the most seasoned dog owners question whether the love of a new dog is worth the price?

Could be.

But, for my wife and me, when we lost Hogan, there was a vacancy in our family.  We toyed with leaving that vacancy open, but, in the end, we could not do so.

So, we went to the same breeder who had given us Hogan and adopted Callaway— he was in the same line as Hogan who, in human terms, might have been his uncle —  into our family and he has now been with us for six years.

Curotto, the licensed psychologist mentioned above, often reminds her clients that choosing to adopt another dog doesn’t diminish or replace the relationship they had before:  “Grief isn’t something we get over,” she said. “We grow around our grief.  You can grieve and love at the same time.”

Potential heartbreak is part of the detail with a new pet, but think of it this way:  Never owning a dog is to deny yourself one of the most beautiful relationships  life can bring.   There is no other love like it.

One resident on the East Coast told the Journal:  “I came to believe that, if I didn’t have a canine companion, I was merely denying myself a richness of life while also denying a dog, somewhere, a human they might desperately need.”

Great points.

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.

THIS IS THE SECOND IN TWO-PART BLOG SERIES ON AN IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARY FOR ME

With my wife, we just celebrated our 50^th wedding anniversary on October 20.  Quite a milestone!

But another anniversary for me – and for us – occurs today.

It is December 1, 2004.  The date marks the 19^th anniversary of what I call “my episode.”

Say what?

The “episode” was a completely unexpected heart attack that came close to taking my life.  Out of the blue it came.

As I reflect on the 19 years God has given me since 2004, here are reflections on two counts:  (a) some of the specifics of what happened on the evening of December 1, and (b) credit to those family members, friends, and doctors who made it possible for me to survive.

WHAT HAPPENED

On the early evening of December 1, I had arrived back home in Salem, Oregon after a day-long trip to Seattle to meet with one of my firm’s clients.

When I got home, I felt something wasn’t right physically, so I sat down on the couch and tried to catch my breath.  I told my wife I felt bad and might need to visit the emergency room.  She said I looked wan and was sweating.

I said, well, let’s go to the ER to make sure everything is okay, so I went out to the car in the garage, and she went to get the car keys.  By the time she arrived in the garage, I was down on the floor because, I knew I would fall down, so I got down, still conscious.

She hurried to call the ambulance and it got to house quickly, even though we live outside the center of the center. 

I was still conscious on the ride to the hospital on a cold, winter night over a bumpy South River Road.  About five miles to the hospital.

Long story short, it turned out I was having a heart attack as I arrived at the hospital and, because of the ambulance, was admitted immediately. 

Which I add is an important detail because, if you are in an ambulance, you avoid the normal admitting process to which you’d be subject if you were on your own.  And, this is also a reflection on yesterday’s blog, which reported that the heart attack victim in that Washington Post story was transported by car to the ER, then had to wait in line because, he was told, “everyone there had an emergency.”  The bottom line:  The ambulance is the best approach.

At the hospital for me, in only a few hours, the doctor (see below) had done an angio-gram and inserted a stent which unblocked the major artery to my heart.  It had been at least 90 per cent shut down.

The next day I had two smaller stents inserted in different arteries and, in three days, I was allowed to go home to begin the recovery process.

I went through a cardiac rehab program at Salem Hospital and that helped me get back to some measure of health.

To verify the “out of the blue” character of the “episode,” I had none of the usual symptoms of heart problems, other than higher-than-desired cholesterol on a couple occasions.  Three days before the episode, I played golf two days in a row, walking 18 holes both times with no problems.

So, again, out of the blue.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

When the episode occurred, my wife was home with me, so she took charge.  And so, there is no question but that I owe her my life.

Our son lived across the street from us and, when he and his wife happened to arrive home, they saw the ambulance, so he also took charge, alerting my friends and colleagues to the situation, though none of us knew what it was at the time.  The same can be said about my son – I owe him my life.

Coincidentally, with the ambulance out front, two of our friends drove by and told us later they stopped to pray.  Another good sign.

Our daughter, Lissy, too, began praying from her home in Woodinville, Washington, too far to come to Salem, but prayer works no matter where you happen to be.

At the hospital, Dr. Bill Stiles, from Oregon Cardiology Associates, was on-call and was the one who inserted the emergent stent, as well as the secondary stents. 

In my recovery over the next few years, he presided over all services for me until his retirement.  We had a great relationship.

After Stiles’ retirement, I was transferred to Dr. Kevin Thompson and he and I, too, have found good ways to be both “patient and doctor” and “friends.”

Here’s what on-line sources say about the cardiology services at what has now come to be called Oregon Health Center:

“Oregon Heart Center is the premiere cardiology practice in the Willamette Valley.

“With our specialists, we are committed to providing comprehensive cardiology services for you or a loved one.  Oregon Heart Center believes in a team approach to your care.  We work closely with your primary care and other specialist providers to ensure you get the best care.”

Services at the Heart Center have been fully and completely on target and effective for me.

My best friend who is like a brother to me, Morris Dirks, with whom I had worked for years at Salem Alliance Church, he as lead pastor and me as chair of the Governing Board of Elders, came down to Salem in the days after my episode to make sure I was recovering. 

As we talked, we agreed that God might have something more for me by sparing my life.

CONCLUSION

To state the obvious, I am glad to be, as we say in golf, “on the right side of the turf.”  I have been able to see my two children grow into being responsible adults and have watched three grandchildren grow into young people old enough to be considering college.

Plus, I continue to owe my life to solid medical practitioners, plus effective drugs.

Given my heart attack, my heart muscle was damaged in a way from which I was told it would never fully recover.  But medications, frankly, countered at least part of that prediction and helped me live good years marked by activity and travel – and, course, being present with family and friends.

So, give God the praise – praise which He richly deserves.