Passion

PASSION

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about passion. It is defined as,” any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.” It is so remarkable and refreshing when you actually meet someone who has passion for what they are doing and who they are. It is so easy to see it in musicians who love what they are doing or preachers who have the integrity to speak the truth. Having been in the business world for most of my life, I’ve got to admit I rarely saw it in the various careers people chose. I would have to say I saw it most in successful sales people.

If you ask most people who they are, the answer you get most of time refers to what they do and not whom they are. This led me to the belief that what you do, is not who you are. Then one day young wise Matt and I were discussing this and he stated, “If you are following your passion, then you are what you are doing.” Which brings me to how many people are not following their passions? How many people are just going through the motions or punching the time clock mired in mediocrity? If you love what you are doing and doing what you love I commend you. But can you just imagine for a moment if we all were following are passions, how much better this world might be? How much more joy, love and peacefulness would we encounter on a daily basis?

So as we enter the holiday season and start a new year, maybe it’s time to check our hearts. Are you following your passion or stuck in a job that is making you miserable? When will you decide to be happy? When will you choose joy, peace and happiness over despair, drudgery and perceived security? Are you fooling yourself playing the game, “I’ll be happy when……”. Well times up, decide today. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! God Bless, Art

The Last Samurai

I watched The Last Samurai yesterday for maybe the fifth time in the last six years. And it made me stop and wonder, “What is it about this movie, that is so appealing?” One word repeated itself over and over in my mind and that word was Honor. And then I wondered is the appeal so strong because honor is so lacking in America today? Honor is defined in the dictionary as “honesty, fairness or integrity in one’s belief and actions: a man of honor.” Where do we find honor in America today? The most obvious place today is in the military. Sometimes we find it in churches, businesses and hospitals and rarely in government. I think honor has been on the decline since the end of the greatest generation that ever lived. For those that don’t know which generation that is, think World War II.

We watch a movie like, “The Last Samurai” and go wow where are the men like that today? Where can we find men of honor or for that matter a man of honor? Why is it so rare today? I’ll tell you why. Honor is not taught anymore in home or schools. Sometimes it’s mentioned in church. The only place it is being taught daily is in the military. When was the last time we talked to our kids about honesty, integrity, truth or love? Heck forget teaching them, when was the last time we actually practiced those things daily? Oh but I do these things. Really? We lie on our tax returns. Everything is a business deduction even our French poodle security dogs. We’re not honest with our spouse because we want to control their reactions. We only love our kids when they do something right; however right is defined.

What do we honor in America today? We honor a woman’s choice over the right to life of an unborn child. We honor the rights of a criminal over the suffering of a victim. We honor pleasure today over sacrifice for tomorrow. We honor being political correct over honesty. We honor ego and status over the truth. We honor athletes and entertainers over preachers and teachers. We honor sin over righteousness.

Unfortunately, the greatest generation was succeeded by the worst generation, the baby boomers. We traded honor, truth and integrity for free love, free homes and free lunches. We invented a buy now pay later industry in everything. Our generation has created more debt than the next 3 generations will ever repay. It just makes me wonder if a hundred years from now they will be making a movie about America called, “The Last Man of Honor”?


God Bless, Art

Part Four and we are up to date finally!

I went home after the operation and had four days of no arythymias and then they came back with a vengeance. On the 23rd I enter a VT storm and have 49 episodes over three days. My ICD has recorded 91 events since it was implanted at the end of June. I’m thinking I deserve a statute at the Biotronik HQ or at least a plaque. So round two of ablation surgery is scheduled which turns out to last about 12 hours. In recovery Dr. Mehta says no more ablation surgeries and they wheel in the flat screen with a DVD player. I proceed to watch a movie on all the great aspects of an LVAD. A Left Ventricle Assist Device, a pump to pump for your heart, which incidentally is open-heart surgery as well. Joy Joy. And it is battery powered with two wires coming out of your side. These batteries have to be changed every couple hours and I’m thinking Oh boy the energizer bunny here I come. I guess that is plan b if the ablation does not work out.

After a couple of days recovery I’m discharged and a free man. That was October 1 of this past month. They schedule a six-week follow up visit for November 9. Yes this past week. Boy time flies when your having fun. I go to my check up on Monday thinking the last six weeks have been great, no shocks, no episodes, no runs no errors. Just some irregular heartbeats and palpitations. I go in thinking there is just a slight chance I’ll get my driving privileges back and truly be a free man. But Dr. Gulati for some unknown reason thought it would be a good idea to get my device interrogated and see what the activity looks like.

Well about an hour later, Todd from Biotronik’s comes in and does his thing. I’m all proud cause I know there is nothing going to show up and I ask,” So Todd how is it looking?” He says Art you have had 91 episodes in the last 41 days. I’m like get out of here! You got the wrong device, I’ve been fine. He says 67 of them have been in the range of 100-150 beats per minute, which require no therapy by the device. 14 of them have been VT’s, which were paced out, and 10 were SVT’s that were paced out as well. Then he says, “Well now you are up to 184 episodes since the end of June.” I’m thinking I should have that plaque any day now. Is somebody calling Guinness on this stuff? So as my driving privileges are headed out the door I start wondering how they might feel about me riding my motorcycle???

So the official answer is I can’t drive for 6 months from the last time my ICD shocked me. If all goes well I’m thinking March is a good time to get behind the wheel. Until then I guess it’s Oprah and Dr. Phil. I can’t wait to increase my wealth of useless information and bore you all with it. Take Care and God Bless, Art

Part Three

I was discharged the next day with a list of exams, Doctors, Dentists and eye exams to track down for the transplant committee. It amazed me how thorough they check your body out to be a candidate for a transplant. I had to track down my colonoscopy, psa test, eye exam, blood profile, hep b vaccine, neurologist reports and even my dental reports. It felt like every day for two weeks I was going to a different doctor to get something. I know I was giving my taxi drivers a workout collecting all this information.

My dentist turned out to be the only hiccup, as he wanted to do a deep tissue cleaning before signing off. He felt like some of my molars might be susceptible to abscess once my immune system was suppressed. It would be a two-step process with one half of my mouth worked on each visit. The nurse asked me if next Thursday would be good for the first cleaning. Without thinking, I said sure, not realizing that would be my birthday. Yes, I, Lord of the idiots make a dental appointment on my birthday.

Next Thursday, the 27th rolls around and I get a ride to the dentist’s office. I get out of the car, take two steps and get very light headed. I’m thinking “Jeez I’m going to faint real soon if I don’t sit down.” The closer I get to the door reality is starting to slip away. I open the door and sit down at the first chair, thank God nobody was in the waiting room, and immediately pass out (or one might say die). Two shocks later, which I thankfully didn’t feel, I awoke to the TV showing fox news. Coming back to reality is always such a pleasant experience, knowing you didn’t die again and your heart is beating much smoother. I waited about 15 minutes to make sure everything was ok before I checked in. 15 minutes later they called me back and I slowly walked to the chair.

I explained to the assistant I had an episode out in their waiting room and she might want to keep an extra eye on me today. She took my BP, which was normal, gave me oxygen and leaned me back in the chair. As the dentist was numbing my mouth and the shots looked a whole lot more intimidating than they actually were, I asked her to give me some nitrous to settle my anxiety.

At the half way point the dentist stopped for a break. I looked at the assistant and told her I was feeling a little nauseous. She set me up in the chair and I looked at her and said now I’m feeling really nauseous. She handed me the wastebasket and turned off the nitrous, which looking back was all in the right order. As soon as I saw that wastebasket breakfast came up about eight times. I think everything made it into the wastebasket and very little clean up was needed in aisle 8. After a few minutes of pure oxygen I felt better and she leaned the chair back down. The dentist came back in and finished up without any more excitement.

I came home, sat down to relax and kept thinking, “I’m the only idiot on the face of the planet that makes a dental appointment on THEIR birthday and then dies in the waiting room and pukes in the dentist chair.” Note to self-No more dentist appointments on your birthday.

A couple of weeks go by with the usual stuff. On Wednesday September 9th I’m coming back from a breakfast meeting, look over to Scott my designated driver and say,” Scott I think I’m having an arythymias (because by now I pretty good at spotting these things).” As soon as I said it, my ICD delivers a shock and I feel it. Scott looks at me and I look at him and its like ok what do we do now. I told him to just get me home and I’ll call the doctor’s office as I already had a 3 o’clock appointment for there.

I get to the Doctor’s office and they “interrogate” my ICD, which basically means they download the information from it. The guy from Biotronik starts shaking his head as he is reading the printout. I said Mitch what’s up? He looks at me and says since August 18th the last time we interrogated your device you’ve had 24 episodes. I looked at him and asked is that a lot? He just rolled his eyes and took off for the doctor.
Dr. Mehta shortly came in and just shook his head. He said do you know you’ve had 24 episodes since 8/18 and have been shocked three times? I said yea and asked him is that a lot? He rolled his eyes also. He said the next time you get shocked, call us and we are going to do an ablation on you. He said we need to get these arythymias under control. I thought to myself now there’s the understatement of the year. Always the wiseass, but hey if we can’t have fun going through this crap, why go through it.
The next day, September 10th, I have a neurological exam to make sure they are going to put this heart in a body that has some brain control and can pass a field sobriety check. And on the way there I look at my designated driver, Stephen, and say, “I think I’m having an arythymia.” I wait for the shock, but it never comes as the ICD “paces” me out of this episode. I called the doctor’s office thinking ok it didn’t shock me but at this point it just a matter of time. We might as well schedule the ablation and get this thing over with. After a few phone calls they tell me to come to the hospital, do not pass go and a room is waiting for me.

So basically I spend another week in the hospital being observed, scaring nurses and waiting for Dr. Mehta’s schedule to clear up which happens the next Thursday the 17th. Around 10.30 that morning they come to take me down to the “pre-op” area. I call it the holding pattern as we are all either waiting to get in the O.R. or just came out of the O.R. Its also a little cooler down there and they really don’t like the phrase, “I saw the light” nor “just follow the light”. Of course you know who had to say them both, only to be reprimanded. Jeez these people need a little sense of humor down here, I’m thinking.

Around noon its my turn to go to the O.R. As they wheel me out of the holding pattern a nice black female minister asks me if I would like some prayer. I’m thinking do you really have to ask at this point or do you really see the fear of God written all over my face? I grabbed her hand and said Ma’am give it your best shot!! She prayed, I prayed and then off to the operating room.

The operating room is even colder than the holding pattern room. Upon entrance two attractive female ladies introduce themselves and tell me they are part of the anesthesiology team. I’m thinking, “Man God that sure was a fast answer! I must have died even before the operation began!” One lady leans down and asks me if I have my “dream” picked out yet? Jeez if I didn’t have this gown on. I of course tell her yes and it’s a brown-eyed girl on the beach. I am thinking how hard can it be to deliver this dream? Well about that time she puts some device over my face and out go the lights.

Well about seven hours later, I’m waking up at the Y on the racquetball court between Big Show Billy Evans and his son Jay. Where is the beach and the brown eyed girl is the only thing I’m thinking at this point. I’m so disappointed in that anesthesiology team. By the time they get back to the recovery room I’m shaking off the effects of the anesthesia to the disappointment of no brown-eyed girl, only to realize my groin has been hit by a hand grenade. A little bit later Dr. Mehta (an OSU graduate I might add) comes in and explains the whole seven hour ablation surgery in terms I’m sure he thought a seventh grader could understand. Basically he took a catheter up both sides of my groin and fished it into my heart and started ablating (cauterizing) electrical areas that cause arythymias. Naturally to find those areas they have to put your heart into an arythymia, go figure. He said they only had to do this about 7 times so they only had to shock me out of the arythymias 7 times. I’m thinking that’s why the brown-eyed girl never showed up. Who likes a lightning storm? Ok part four in a while. You all take care, and God Bless, Art

Part two

After a week in the Piedmont Hilton, Dr. Patel urged me to go seek additional help at either the Sanger Clinic, Duke Hospital, Chapel Hill or Baptist. Being the bean counter that I am, this would be a no brainer as the world renowned Sanger Clinic was just down the street in Charlotte. Dr. Patel thought that was an excellence choice as they could do more “electrical” things for my heart. So late Thursday afternoon I was whisked to CMC in charlotte to the Sanger Clinic (actually one in the same).
Upon arrival their electrical team, heart failure team and transplant team visited me all within three hours. Hmmm maybe these guys are good I was thinking. Over the next couple of days they ran a few tests on me, including sticking my jugular vein, which was a new experience.

Monday morning Dr. Gulati and his transplant coordinator Katie came into my room about nine a.m. Dr. Gulati started out by saying, “Art, when we consider a patient for transplant the first thing we look at, is how close to a life and death situation the patient is in. Your arythymias are definitely life and death. As a matter of fact you have already died once and fell and hit the concrete once. We believe the best solution for you is a transplant. We could do an ablation but there are literally so many places electricity flows in your heart, I could not guarantee any kind of success with an ablation.”

I felt like a 50-ton hammer had just hit my head. Transplant???? That sounded so much like defeat. It sounded like so much pain. It sounded so wrong. How could I need a transplant at 52? Three months ago I was in the best shape of my life and now you’re telling me I need a transplant? I thought these guys were the guru’s; the best of the best and this is the best idea they can come up with? Surely they have a few more tricks up their sleeves. Devastated.

Katie they went on to explain the whole transplant process, which pretty much flew right over my head. I listened by I really didn’t hear what she was saying. I was still stuck in the devastation stage. Nothing would be done until Cigna approved something, yada yada yada. At three o’clock that afternoon Katie came in and told me Cigna had approved the pre process testing. Being all chipper, I gave her a high five, all the while not having a clue as to what was going to happen or why I would be happy with that.

Fifteen minutes later, nurses with needles show up and want arterial blood (which is quite different than regular old vein blood) and ten vials of vein blood. Next came a chest x ray and later in the evening an ultrasound from my head to my toes. Finally night came and no more testing for that day. I layed in bed and just tried to comprehend everything that had happened that day and then the tears starting flowing out of me like a tremendous rain storm. I felt like such a loser for not taking care of my heart earlier in life. I felt like I let my kids down for putting them through this and not being healthy for them. I felt way too young to have to have a transplant. I felt terrible I had worked so hard for five years to beat this only to realize I should have started 15 years ago. Why was I so young to be going through all this? I cried until I could cry no more. That’s when God told me, Art, I put somebody directly in front of you when this disease began. You not only chose to ignore him, your scoffed at him, scorned his lifestyle and made fun of him. You owe this man an apology. He was absolutely right because my boss at that time exercised everyday, ate healthy, didn’t smoke and drank very little. I chose to ignore all of that.

If there is a message in this blog tonight to you, it is this, “WHO has God placed directly in front of you for a PURPOSE, that you are choosing to ignore?” Do not make the mistake I made 15 some odd years ago that is now costing me my heart and maybe my life. I love you all and God Bless, Art

What I did this summer (part 1)

I just want to thank you all for taking the time to read my posts. This blog has turned from a commentary on current economic conditions to the personal events of my life this summer. I’m not sure which one is more interesting. Personally, I find it therapeutic and beneficial to discuss what has happened and is happening in my life and hopefully describe a life lesson or two.

July was actually kind of uneventful. I had several lunch appointments during the month and several follow up Doctor appointments. My CT scan at the beginning of the month showed my two blood clots that were in the brain had dissolved naturally or maybe miraculous depending on your view, praise God. The maker of my ICD, Biotronik, enrolled me in two research studies. They are studying the leads coming from the ICD and also the impact of the ICD on strokes. I told them my fee would be a paltry $100,000 per study. They found very little humor in that and I’d get the standard nothing.

August however was a different month in my life. I think I might even call it a life-changing event month. I think that would make two in three months, what a great summer. I’m thinking I should ace my report, “What did I do this summer?” when I turn it in to my teacher.

On August 4th I decided to walk ole killer, aka Reagan around 6.45pm. It was hot and humid that evening. I figured the “noose” leash would be best because he actually was learning the word heel pretty good. We walked about three houses down when I got very lightheaded and felt like I needed to either sit down or pass out. I opted for sitting down and took probably a 5-minute break. When I stood up the feeling returned. After another 5-minute break I decided I better just head home, lie down and walk killer another day. I stood up again, walked about 20 feet and had to sit down again. At this point I’m having doubts about my ability to actually return home. I can see the house and know I could probably crawl from where I’m at. After two more stand ups and sit downs, I made it home. I unleashed killer and laid down for an hour.

Being the astute medical patient I am, the next day I figured I’d better call the doctor’s office and report this. After a day of phone tag I finally get a live voice on the morning of August 6th. The nurse says she will pull up my ICD records and in the meantime why don’t I try walking Reagan earlier in the day before it gets too hot. It sounded like a marvelous idea to me. This time I figure I’ll try the pinch collar so killer won’t drag me too far or too fast.

I walked to the end of my street, focusing on my heartbeat, rate and dizziness. So far, so good is what I’m thinking. I turned to walk home, took two steps and the dizziness returned. I’m thinking I need to sit down now, looked at the curb to sit down and pass out. A split second before I hit the curb I regain consciousness, but not in time to put my hands up, and think, “God this is going to hurt!” I hit the curb and think, “God that did hurt!” Blood starts pouring out of my head and face and good old Reagan is there to lick it up. I’m thinking, “Great dog why didn’t you break my fall?” and tell him to sit while I assess the damage.

My glasses were shattered, but I could still see up close. I took my shirt off to figure out where I was bleeding. My forehead was bleeding pretty good as well as the bridge of my nose and my lip. My teeth felt fine which made me feel good. I looked around to see if any neighbors were outside, but I guess at noon everyone is pretty much at work. Still being of sound mind, I think, I decided walking home is probably not an option and it might be time to pull out my trusty iPhone and call somebody.
My good friends Chuck and Laurie come to my rescue, take Reagan and me home, and clean me up. I look in the mirror at my face and think, “Dang this is going to need stitches. I hate stitches. As a matter of fact, I hate pain.” So off to the hospital I go. We walk into the emergency room and I’m thinking they probably know who I am, which is not a good thing. The ER doctor comes in and says, “Yep that’s going to need stitches, but first we need to do a CT scan.” That probably makes 7 or 8 ct scans in the past two months and I’m beginning to wonder what is the annual limit on these things. So the results come back with a slight skull fracture, a fractured nose and an air pocket behind one of my eye sockets.

By now the Biotronik guru is they’re hooking up my ICD to a monitor to get a reading and the cardiologist shows up, Dr. Patel. He tells me I had an 8 second arrhythmia, which the ICD “paced” me out of, and that two days earlier I had had 4 arrhythmia's, which it “paced” me out of. They decide that my ICD needs some fine-tuning to prevent me from hitting the curb again. I’m wishing they tuned me up correctly the first time, but I guess that is how it goes with technology. At least I’m still alive. Yes, I will count my blessings, not my sorrows. But I do deserve some sympathy for the pain don’t I?

Well as the ER doctor is about to start the sewing process, another doctor shows up at the end of my bed. Without the benefit of glasses, I take a stab at maybe that’s the ER doctor (DR. Ramos) that saved my life in June. So I ask him if he is Dr. Ramos and he says yes. He says, “You’re Art Townsend, I saw your name on the monitor. What are you doing in here?” Having not lost my sense of humor despite all of the blood, I replied, “ I just wanted to make sure you guys hadn’t forgot about me.” He laughed and said,”Forgot about you? Art you are a legend in this hospital. We talk about you everyday and the fact you actually walked out of this hospital!” I was like really? He then asked me if I had been calling his receptionist. I said yes, I just wanted 15 minutes of your time to thank you for saving my life. He said you don’t need to thank me. I said yes I do and I really appreciate what you did for me and thank you. He looked at me and said, “Art, I’ve been doing this job for 20 years and you are the 4th person who has ever thanked me.” He then recalled the other three people. I was stunned and asked him surely you get thanked everyday or at least once a week. He said Art all I ever hear is complaints or people cussing me out! That is so sad, so readers if you are ever in the ER please THANK your doctors and nurses.

I’ll finish this in my next post because I’m sure some of you probably have more to do than just read. God Bless you all, Art

Times Up

It’s been awhile since my last entry and a lot has happened in the past two months. I think I promised what all this meant spiritually in my last blog so here goes. First, I want you to know that I’m one of those people who are always skeptical when I hear somebody say well God told me this or that. I guess I expect God to talk to me through a burning bush or some other outwardly magnificent sign that has no earthly explanation. But that did not happen in the hospital as far as I know. Maybe getting shocked 15 times though does qualify.

One night during the second week after I had time to start putting the pieces of my short term memory loss together, I started asking God why me. Why did you save me? What have I ever done to deserve being a recipient of not one, but many miracles? What do you want me to learn from this? God I’m all ears. I’m listening. You’ve got my attention. The next words in my brain came very clear and they were, “Time’s up!” “Art, your time was up, but I saved you. You’ve been putting things off that were supposed to be taken care of months ago. Times up for a lot of people, people who have been living with one foot in the world and one foot in the church. Times up for parents who haven’t told their kids what’s in their hearts. Spouses who go to bed every night and haven’t told their spouse something they should have weeks ago. Things are going to happen in this world that people without belief in Me will struggle to understand and comprehend. Time’s up!” But more importantly than the words was the distinct impression left on me as to the urgency of this message. I know I should have written about this much sooner.

A couple nights after this I had a dream, not a vision, of being in Jesus’ workshop. Yes it was a wood working shop and Jesus did look exactly like you’d expect him to. He was very busy working on a table saw or something and I was looking around the shop. It was lined with shelves from floor to ceiling and they were filled with “stuff” that I couldn’t remember. I asked Jesus whom all this “stuff” was for and he replied, “These are my gifts to Earth.” He then looked at me and without saying a word impressed upon me that he was very busy and it was time for me to go back. I walked out of his shop and woke up. I wish to this day I could tell you exactly what was on all those shelves and how large his shop appeared, but it is gone.

I found it all very interesting that God urgently wants us to live in the now and take care of business today and not tomorrow, or next week or next month. And that Jesus is busy making gifts for earth. Well, I hope he has a heart on one of those shelves with yours truly on it. I’ll explain more in my next entry. God Bless you all! Art

June 11th, it was just another day

Wow, where do I begin. I just reviewed my last post about Life is Fragile. Everyone needs to reread it. I now have the answer to "Do you know when you are going to die?". It was just another day, June 11th, and I died. My day was just like all the rest (rut) with all the normal things. I had dinner with Lauren and went to the Y to workout. I basically woke up six or seven days later in the intensive care unit and was being called "the miracle man". I was confused because of my memory lapse. Through numerous conversations I was able to piece together a time line of what happened.

I went to the Y and at some point in my workout suffered a sudden cardiac arrest (sca). Miracle number 1, I was at the Y and not at home or by myself. The survival rate of sca is 5% and it is reduced by 10% for every minute the emt's do not get there. Larry Shields (angel) who happens to live one block over from me, performed CPR on me and when he tired out instructed another gentleman to do it. The EMT's showed up shortly, started an IV and shocked me four or five times until they got a heartbeat. I was loaded up and went to the ER of Piedmont Medical Center.

As family and friends arrived at the ER I was worked on by a host of nurses and Dr. Ramos for several more hours. Pastor Larry Soles of The Shield of Faith Church (you have to have a "Larry Team") showed up and immediately began speaking life into me, the medical staff and all of those around us. I believe this to be miracle 2. He returned to the ER numerous times to check on me and my progress. I survived 11 more shocks and 10 intubations. Simply miracle 3. I do not know why Dr. Ramos did not stop after the normal 4 or 5 shocks. What kept him going after 8 or 9 or 10? Obviously it was the grace of God! Somewhere around midnight I was stable enough to be on life support and transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) where I spent the next day,friday, comatose all day.

The family was told if I hadn't awoke by Monday they were going to remove the tubes from me. My sister from Ohio and her husband (Pat and Randy) arrived late Friday and came to the hospital on Saturday. On the elevator ride up to the third floor, two african-american ladies entered the elevator and one of them began saying to the other, "You know God is a Healer. My God heals. Jesus is the healer." When my sister and brother in law got out of the elevator the lady turned around and looked my sister in the eye and said "You need to expect a miracle today". They went to my room and to their surprise I was sitting up with all the tubes gone and talking. Just fyi, this was my third day in the hospital. Miracle 4.

The next few days passed without much memory on my part. I was told one night I was very upset and Lauren put my iPod on me with the Jesus Culture playing. Evidently I calmed right down and in a few minutes I was singing "We Exalt Thee" at the top of my lungs. I'm sure everyone in the ICU loved that.

A few days later I remembered several doctors and nurses coming in and wanting to shake my hand and calling me the miracle man. One Doctor told me that no one is shocked 11 times and is sitting up in bed talking to him and walking the halls. The neurologist, Dr. Ryder Cook, came in and said he had never seen somebody survive with no damage what I survived. I asked him what he was talking about. He said they believed I had a large clot in my chest and with all the shocks, it exploded the clot into a bunch of small clots which most of them went to my brain. He said I had suffered numerous minor strokes and to his amazement NONE of them had caused any damage to me in terms of speech, motor skills, etc. He said most of them ended up residing in the part of the brain that controls short term memory. I told him that was obviously true. He said he had never seen this before, had no medical explanation and called it a miracle. Miracle 5. He said I still had two small clots in my brain and they were monitoring those and expected them to dissolve on their own.

I was having a hard time making sense of all this as I was just going to the Y. It was just another day. The nurse that intubated me (breathing tube in the throat) came by and wanted to meet me and was glad I was alive. He then said with some frustration (?) that he had intubated me 10 times and that he never intubates anybody that many times. I didn't realize until later how risky that procedure is to do even once.

The next few days passed without anything eventful happening from a medical standpoint. I had alot of visitors, which unfortunately I do not remember hardly any of them. My memory seemed to get better towards the end of my stay. About all I remember is after 10 or 11 days all I wanted was to go home and sleep in my own bed. Thats all I could focus on. The cardiologists wanted to put an implantable cardio defibrillator (ICD) in me to prevent anymore arrhythmia's and SCA. I really just wanted to go home, rest in my own bed, and think clearly about whether or not to put this device in my chest.

They wanted to implant this device on Monday and send me home Tuesday. Sunday night I talked to one the nurses, Yurly (sp) (the largest mexican woman I've ever met, she had to be six feet tall and spoke perfect spanish) for over an hour about the pros and cons of the ICD. I'd decided to put this on hold and just go home for a few days. Yurly came in an hour later and said you know Art, if you go home and have an episode there is good chance you would die or at least become a vegetable before the emt's could get there. I told she was exactly right and I had no logical response to that. I called the Doctor and said ignore my previous voice mail to him from an hour earlier.

That night I had the best sleep since I had been in the hospital. But of course in the middle of night they woke me up to take my blood pressure and temperature. This really upset me because I knew I would not get back to that deep level of sleep. But I rolled over and returned to that great sleep level. Sometime later, it could have been two minutes or two hours I was awakened by Yurly who was squeezing my hand and was eyeball to eyeball with me saying Art, stay with me, don't close your eyes, squeeze my hand. I thought I was still dreaming and was thinking Man this dream is almost real. I awoke again to Yurly's frightened face and squeezing hand imploring me to look at her and squeeze her hand. I noticed all the lights were on in the room and my bed was surrounded by what seemed like 30 nurses, all yelling and shooting stuff in my IV which was now a p.i.c whatever that is. I went out again only to be awoken by Yurly again. This time I realized it wasn't a dream and was actually real. I realized my heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest and I couldn't breath real well.

The nurses were trying to figure out which ICU had room for me and realized I would have to go to the CICU on the first floor. As they readied me for transport downstairs I realized I had a sudden urge to urinate. As we rushed down the hallways and were passing bathrooms I asked them to stop so I could relieve myself. Finally one nurse leaned over and said Art just do it now. I'm thinking not in the bed. But evidently that's exactly what happened. As the ceiling tiles rushed by and my breathing became more difficult, I think I realized this was a life and death situation. I prayed to God that surely we just didn't survive that last two weeks for me to die like this. I prayed this prayer over and over. I also was singing in my mind the Kim Walker song "I need you". I arrived downstairs in what had to be a Piedmont world record time. They were putting more drugs into me to break the arrhythmia. They had also put the pads on me to shock my heart again. After a little bit of time passed, I twitched my left leg and the nurse yelled out "He's out of it!" and my heartbeat had dropped from 219 to a normal 70. I had just survived a vtach arrhythmia. At this point, around 5 am, needless to say I was ready for anything they wanted to put in me. I didn't care if it was an ICD, ADD, PMS, CPA or anything else. Just as long as I didn't have another vtach it was good with me.

The ICD was implanted that day around 2 pm and two days later I came home. There were numerous doctors and nurses who did just miraculous work. There were also thousands of people who prayed for me whom I'll never meet and I am so humbled and thankful for their support. My family did the work of angels and for whom I will be forever indebted. My friends were phenomenal and whose caring and support I will always appreciate the rest of my life.

It's so ironic that my last post was about how fragile life can be. I died on June 11th, it was just another day.

The Miracle Man

Art

Life is Fragile

Life is Fragile

Those were the words my cardiologist told me on my first visit to his office following a near fatal heart attack at the age of 37. Life is fragile and there are no guarantees. As I hear of people dying each day like Jack Kemp or Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart I am constantly reminded of those Doctor’s words nearly 15 years ago.

As we go about our life and get caught up in “living the dream” it is very easy to lose focus of just how fragile life really is. It usually takes a tragedy or a traumatic event in our life to “wake us up”. For some of us, like me, it might take several events to get our attention. All we have is right now; there are no guarantees to the longevity of your life. I have a good friend who used to say all the time, “Do you know when you are going to die? Well then you better start living.”

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately depending how you look at it, I have had 3 or 4 situations where I was either dead or should have died. I died during my first heart attack and was brought back with a couple of jolts from the paddles. I have been in a car wreck and caught in two whirlpools while rafting that could have ended my life. I have also faced personal tragedies growing up which is probably another blog one day. And despite these life experiences, I continue at times, to get caught up in the day-to-day struggles, drama and frustrations of “life”. So I know it is very easy to lose focus of what really is important and valuable in this world.

So have your dreams and ambitions, succeed and do your best, develop the habit of going the extra mile and be who you were meant to be. But remember all these worldly “things” can be gone in the blink of an eye. What endures is Love and Relationships. Both are eternal. Remember, Life is Fragile. Cherish it and go live it.

God Bless, Art

Tea Parties

The Tea Parties

I just wanted to comment on the Tea Parties. I attended two of them yesterday. The first one was in York, SC and the other one in Charlotte, NC. I would say the York crowd was around 200 to 250 people, which surprised me given how small York is and they just started about three weeks ago. The speakers were very good, inspirational and got the crowd fired up. I guess next time I’ll make notes about who spoke. I believe they had one politician, the head of the GOP in York County and an author from Prosperity, SC who was excellent.

The Charlotte gathering was probably around 2,000 to 2,500 people. Again this party had several good speakers and a very similar crowd. I would say the crowds are basically fed up with spending, taxation, the quick slide to socialism and loss of freedom and liberty. I loved all the different signs and messages. I did not see any violence, mean spiritedness or terrorists. I did see a lot of young children with their parents and would say it was a family safe environment.

There was also a lot of support from fairtax.org, which is basically a national retail sales tax at the 23% level. I can’t say I’m on board with this concept yet. I haven’t researched their information entirely, but on the surface I’m not sure a consumption tax is all that fair either. My gut feeling is the fairest tax is a flat rate tax. Everybody pays the same rate, which to me is the fairest tax outside of no income tax at all. Either tax plan is better than the extremely unfair progressive tax system we have now. My other recommendation is we change the election laws from one-person one vote, to one vote for every dollar you pay in taxes. Guess what, those 43% of people who don’t pay taxes, they get one vote. I know its hard to believe, but their was a time in this country (prior to 1913) when we didn’t have an income tax. So how did the government collect revenues prior to 1913? I’ll answer that as soon as I research it. But overall I am very pleased to see people protesting the direction of this country headed and I urge everyone to stay involved.

Now for the local Charlotte readers listen up. I have spent a lot of time reviewing the City of Charlotte budget and have given my concerns to Mr. Dulin who has been very receptive. The single biggest item that you need to be concerned about which is not getting much press locally is “A Streetcar Named Disaster” project. In these tough economic times, the city wants to spend $449,000,000 for a streetcar to run from J.C. Smith to Eastland Mall. I haven’t seen the economic benefit studies, which I am sure exists somewhere, but is this really a priority for Charlotte? Is it affordable? Is it needed? What and how large will the costs overruns be? Surely there are more important areas that need attention in Charlotte besides a Streetcar.

I urge you to get involved at some level. Call, write, email your elected officials and let them know your opinions. God Bless, Art

The end of Capitalism

The end of Capitalism

It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything and I guess it’s because I’m in shock at what is happening to our great country and the overwhelming silence of the media and the Republicans. What is history going to say about this time period? How we were so selfish and self centered as individuals that we said nothing, did nothing and looked the other way as we let one man destroy our country?? What is it going to take to get you to do something? When was the last time you called or wrote or spoke to a congressman? Are you more concerned about the “security” of a job than the freedom of your kids and grandkids? In the 1930’s we saw one man’s rise to power ending the lives of 20 million people and now we are seeing another man’s rise to power ending the hopes, dreams and freedoms of 330 million people, not to mention the destruction of the greatest country ever.

In less than 90 days one man has spent more money than 330 million people will earn in the next 20 years. However, surprisingly enough, I had the “privilege” of hearing an “educated” colleague from New York tell me last week that he didn’t think this man was spending “enough” money. Needless to say, I was urged to leave the restaurant because of the volume of my voice during my rebuttal. It is time we step out of our comfort zones and stop being so damn quiet. Our country, our liberty, our freedom and the free enterprise system as a whole is under assault. We are at war and we are LOSING!

One man has taken over the financial and auto industries without a single cry from the media or Republicans. I promise you, if Ford can remain free of the Government’s insidious bailouts and produce the cars that “people” want to buy and not the cheap little electric unsafe green hybrid crap the Government thinks we should buy, they will be 10 times more profitable than Government Motors (GM). Actually this will be great to watch; free enterprise versus government interference. Just wait, we will be bailing out GM for years with the promise that profitability is just around corner. GM will be forced to produce a bunch of crap that nobody wants to buy except those under the delusion that global warming is a truth not a myth. The losses will mount as we subsidize overpaid union wages and benefits to retired workers for the next umpteen years. Ford on the other hand, if they remain free, will produce the cars and trucks that will actually sell at record levels resulting in record profits.

Moving forward. I got a letter in the mail yesterday from Lindsey Graham supposedly our “republican” senator here in S.C. It stated that nationalizing the larger banks, i.e. Citi and BofA might be required to recoup taxpayer dollars. His rationalization is the COST of the bailout has exceeded the current VALUE of these enterprises. Hmmm, why doesn’t he just mark to market the government’s investment, as everybody else is required? Yes I intend to and will respond to him…

And finally, last night on the local news they show a bunch of misinformed adults calling for the impeachment of Governor Mark Stanford because he DOESN’T want the federal stimulus money. And if he HAS to accept the money he wants to pay down the state’s debt, which the White House said NO you can’t do that. We have ONE fiscally responsible official in government and a bunch of entitlement minded adults want him impeached!! It’s a sad state of affairs in this country. I’m looking forward to the elections in 2010 and 2012. Until then, God Bless!

Art

IS THIS REALLY THE WORST ECONOMY IN THE LAST MILLION YEARS?

For the past year all I have heard from all the experts is how this is the worst economy since George Washington. So the research staff here at “The Art of It” did some digging. Back during the President Jimmy Carter's administration of the late seventies, the media came up with the misery index (inflation rate + unemployment rate) to measure just how bad things really were. President Jimmy Carter's numbers from 1977 to 1980 were 13.6%, 13.72%, 17.02% and 20.68% respectively. In contrast, President Ronald Reagan had numbers from 1981 through 1988 of 17.95%, 15.86%, 12.82%, 11.8%10.75%,8.91%, 9.86% and 9.85%respectively. Notice a trend here??

I went all the way back to 1930 to the Great Depression and found the highest misery index occurred in 1934 at 24.8%. So how were the last 8 miserable years of George W. Bush you might ask? Could this really be the so-called worst economy since the great depression? His indexes were as follows: 7.53%, 7.39%, 8.27%, 8.18%, 8.49%, 7.84%, 7.45% and 9.65%, with an average of 8.1% over 8 years. Now for the life of God, can somebody please explain to me how the last 8 years have been the worst economy in the past million years?

In addition we summarized this data by political parties to see which party produced a better economy. The democrats had an average misery index since 1930 of 11.2% and the republicans came in at 9.4%. So the conservatives average almost 20% lower inflation and unemployment under republican leadership. Also as a point of reference, the AVERAGE misery index since 1930 is 10.3%. So George W’s highest misery index of 9.65% in 2008 is BELOW the 80-year average. Again how was this the worst economy in the last million years???? Maybe they are just preparing us for the next four years?

God Bless, Art

Truth

TRUTH

It seems we are living in an age where style and image have become more popular and important than substance and character. Where what is said is more relevant than what we do. That it doesn’t matter what we do, as long as we look good doing it. That it is ok to “talk the talk” but not “walk the walk”. That we should be judged by our intentions and not our deeds. That mediocrity and just getting by are the norm. That achievers and producers of our economy should be punished and those who sit on the sideline of life and complain should be rewarded. Is this the America you want to leave to your kids and grandkids? Will somebody please have the guts to stand up and state the obvious, which is WELFARE, doesn’t work, hasn’t worked and will never work! The Bible says if you don’t work you don’t eat. Can it be any simpler than that?

Will somebody stand up and tell the President that public spending in excess of receipts is not STIMULUS. Obviously this administration has no desire to actually pay for any of this spending and its intent is to grow government and eliminate our freedoms. Creating class envy and redistribution of wealth has now reached epic proportions. I never thought I would to live to see the government of the United States of America try to control the Finance, Health, Energy, Education and Auto industries.

The Good news out of all this you might ask? We have an election in 2010 and I’m predicting right now you will see a conservative tide sweep this nation. And this time I hope we elect some conservatives who don’t give a crap about the drive-by media and the six o’clock news. This time I hope the elected conservatives will stick to their principles. It’s our job to hold them accountable. The revolution has started and so have the tea parties. Wanna join?
God Bless, Art

Integrity

INTEGRITY

According to Webster the definition of integrity is:

1: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: incorruptibility

As the economy continues to spiral downward and the Washington elite flounders at answers, one word resonates in my mind. INTEGRITY. As I mentioned in my earlier post this whole meltdown was caused by DEBT. So what fueled the debt? Some would say greed but I propose it was a lack of integrity. This lack of integrity was abundant at all stages of the process, from the borrower to the broker to the banker to credit rating agencies to Wall Street and ultimately, to Washington, D.C.

What’s interesting to me is we demand integrity from our spouse or significant other, from our pastor, from our accountant and our doctor. But we do not demand integrity from athletes, entertainers, the media and politicians. Why do they get a free pass? Especially the politicians who are foolishly and arrogantly throwing our money away and racking up debts that will shackle the next three generations? When are we going to hold our Senators, Congressmen and our President to the same standards of integrity that we expect and demand from our spouse and Doctor?

America, it’s time to raise the bar for those we elect, for those who are in leadership positions and most of all, ourselves. It’s time WE demand the same level of integrity in our candidates and leaders that we demand from our Pastors. We must elect those whose actions speak louder than words, and who have faith in something bigger than a government, and who have the integrity to put the interests of the United States in front of their own.


God Bless, Art

The Economy

THE ECONOMY

I’m not saying I have a boring life or anything, but I spent 3 hours on Sunday watching the bank hearings from this past week on c-span. No, I did not miss the Daytona 500. To begin, some of the questions posed to the bank leaders were pathetic. Like how much did you make in salary and bonuses for 2008? Only to be followed up by what did you make in 2007? The best question I heard came from a congressman from N.C. He asked all the leaders, “What can the government do to fix or speed up the recovery from this recession?” It was the only question that did not reek of class envy.

I wish I were on the panel because I would have jumped all over the answer. First, you can lower the corporate tax rate to 15%. Second, you can eliminate the capital gains tax rate for three years. Third, you can triple the investment tax credit, sir. Fourth you can instruct the SEC to quit reviewing FAS 157 and suspend it immediately. FAS 157 is the infamous “mark to make believe” accounting rule. Fifth, create a substantial tax credit for hiring new employees for the next two years.

We are in our current economic situation because of one word. DEBT. And just between you and me, creating more debt, whether it’s at the corporate level, the individual level or at the government level is NOT going to fix the situation. Spending more that you earn is a recipe for disaster, again at any level. Loaning money to people who can never pay it back is also ludicrous. I will admit there are situations that call for the PRUDENT use of debt, notice the key word there, but we as a nation passed prudent about 30 years ago.

As a Nation and as individuals we can and we must get back to living within our means. We must quit spending more than we earn. It’s ok to tell our kids no we cannot afford something. We must get out of debt as soon as humanly possible. Cash is King. The single greatest wealth-building secret is to pay your self first. Put 5 or 10% (whatever you can afford) in savings or in an IRA, 401K account and leave it there. Learn to live on 90% of your earnings. For some, all you would have to eliminate is Starbucks from your life. Trust me, the two trillion dollars our government has spent in the last two weeks is only going to make matters worse. Be prepared. God Bless, Art

Leadership

LEADERSHIP
I was going to title this “Where is the leadership in Charlotte today?” But after much thought I figured it was best to just title it Leadership. When I moved to Charlotte in 1979, which makes me a Charlottean just about, this city could count on four or five guys to get things done. I’m thinking of guys like Bill Lee, John Belk, Johnny Harris, Hugh McColl and Ed Crutchfield to name a few. If something “good” needed to be taken care of the in the city these “guys” got it done. Whether it was roads, utilities, developments, recruiting, arts, quality of life or anything else, you could count on these guys putting Charlotte first. These “men” knew if they put what was best for Charlotte first, everything else would fall into place.

I have jokingly said to my friends over the years that Charlotte was “Babylon”. Babylon as you recall was at one time the wealthiest city in the world. One of the best books you can ever read, which I recommend all to read, is “The Richest Man in Babylon”. This book will change your life if you will only follow its simple principles. I will discuss this in another blog soon.

Charlotte over the years has evolved into a banking center, which is not a bad or evil thing, but has created a culture of climbing the corporate ladder and an attitude of what’s best for me or “what’s in it for me” mentality. Where are the leaders of Charlotte today? Or better yet, where are the leaders of America today? Where do you turn today for integrity and truth? Who is willing today to stand up and say this is what needs to be done? Is government the answer to our economic problems or the cause of them? Is Free Enterprise the enemy now? Are the free thinkers and free talkers soon to lose their freedom all for the sake of our presumed economic security? I would love to bring Paul Revere, John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin back and see their reaction to the government today. I’ll bet anybody they would lead another revolution. But more importantly, when are the “men” living today going to get the courage, stand up today and say enough is enough? I say it’s time to quit hiding behind the illusion of security and a salary which could be eliminated tomorrow and probably will and get back to those principles that made America great! Speak up, write, get involved and tell the congress and senate, we don’t need the bailout! We need less government, not more. We need freedom and the pursuit of happiness, not more taxes and regulations! Just turn your TV. off and do something! Do something now!

How Ken Lewis can save B of A and his job

How Ken Lewis can save Bank of America and his job.

What is it going to take to keep Bank of America from becoming The United States Bank of America? It’s really very simple for Ken Lewis to keep his job and the bank from becoming “nationalized” as if it already hasn’t happened.

Step One. Sell Merrill Lynch immediately. I just don’t believe you can merge stockbrokers with bankers. The cultures are so different and trying to cram down the B of A way to a bunch of commission brokers is not going to sit well. Now Art who is going to buy it? The one potential buyer is Goldman Sachs and maybe Morgan Stanley. Who else is left? But forget the culture meltdown, I still say who knows what is on the huge balance sheet of Merrill’s? Which might explain the stock price of B of A. Sell it for whatever you can get, transfer the government guarantees and payback a portion of the bailout money.

Step Two. Raise 50 billion in capital asap. Get on one of the remaining B of A jets and head to Abu Dhabi or China and make friends with the oil rich now. Pay the U.S. government back the $45 billion bailout and get them out of your business today. It is absolutely insane but predictable for the government to be capping executive pay and telling the bank to stop sport sponsorships. I guess O’bama wants the U.S. seal popping up all over the next super bowl.

Plan B. Bring Hugh McColl out of retirement.

Is Merril Lynch the next Golden West?

I wrote this back in October of 2008 and just wanted to post it since I just started this blog.

Is Merrill Lynch the next Golden West?
I had a discussion with a friend and banker at Wachovia this week. After asking if we were hiring and then sharing the roller coaster of his career and net worth tied to Wachovia’s stock price over the past 10 days, he made a comment that has stuck with me. In a tone of shock and disbelief he stated, “I can’t believe one decision by one person could bring down the 4th largest bank in the country”.
It made me wonder if we are not going through the exact same thing again, “one man, one decision and the largest bank in the country” with BofA. Is Merrill Lynch the next Golden West? Now understand I have no ill feelings at all with Ken Lewis and how he has performed as CEO of BofA. It just seems like there are a couple of similarities between the two transactions. First, both are huge deals, 24 Billion and 50 Billion. Second, both are quick over the weekend announcements. Third, it appears to be another decision made with the lack of board involvement, at least publicly.
The print and news media has flooded us in the past two weeks about the potential impact to Charlotte of losing Wachovia. So now the powers to be are scrambling to minimize the effect of losing the second largest employer in the city. So I must ask are we again ignoring the impact of one man, one decision at the largest bank in the country? Should we not at least be asking what due diligence has and will be done on the Merrill acquisition? What risk is BofA assuming with this deal? Has Merrill’s Trillion Dollar balance sheet been adequately investigated and analyzed in light of our recent $700 Billion bailout of financial institutions? Because let’s face it Charlotte, if BofA is wrong about the value of Merrill’s Assets, we will all be asked to anti up again to bail out an institution “too big to be allowed to fail”. Can Charlotte handle the loss of TWO financial institutions? I hope two years from now “The tale of two Kens” has a different ending.

Art Townsend
Rock Hill, SC
B of A Stockholder