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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Opinion

Tuesday, September 18, 2001

Peggy McCracken

Squarely
Pegged

By Peggy McCracken

Doctor visits

I didn't wait for 9-1-1 Day to get my heart pains checked out. I did wait nine months, and that's long enough to have a baby or die twice over of a heart attack. The angina pains were real, and the doctor did find a heart (much to the surprise of a lot of people).

The good news is that the arterial blockage is not quite critical yet, and I have joined the pill-popping set.

I don't like to take pills. In fact, that is probably what got me to the "stress test-angiogram" stage. Michelle Cser and Dr. Orville Cerna both tried to get me to take pills to lower my sky-high cholesterol. They made me sick and I quit taking them after about a week.

"I'll wait until the arteries are blocked, then have surgery to clean them out," I thought. But do you know what? When I was lying prone, being prepped for the angiogram, I decided pill-taking might not be so bad, after all.

Having a husband who long ago endured bypass surgery and a brother who has struggled with clogged arteries since his late 50's should have warned me to watch my diet and my weight. Well, I have to some extent. You know I eat lots of fruit and vegetables, walk twice a day, lift weights and do stretching exercises. Not to mention lots of yard work.

Trouble is, with a husband who cooks delicious meals and encourages me to enjoy them; a television that shows classic movies around the clock and cold/hot/windy/rainy weather that makes the outdoors unpleasant at times, it is easy to fall into that recliner and click the remote.

Last summer I learned to take a nap after work, waiting for the cool of the evening to work outside. Then when winter came, I found the nap habit hard to break, and did very little outside work. In the mornings, it was just too cold to walk at 5 a.m. _ in fact too cold even to get out of bed. So I gained 10 pounds and lost my stamina.

When I started walking/jogging to build back my stamina and take off some weight, I started having angina. That's chest pains, for you who don't read medical books. It's caused by slow-flowing arteries that can't carry enough oxygen to the heart muscle. The pains stopped when I stopped jogging, so I knew a heart attack was not imminent.

January is a busy month in the book-keeping business, so I put off a stress test. February came and I still was busy with something. Despite a sleepless night when I had some pain, nausea and weakness typical of a heart attack in women, I still put off going to the doctor. In late March, I attended a QuickBooks seminar, then went scuba diving and really had chest pains along with other heart attack symptoms. I prayed that I wouldn't die and put my instructor on the spot, because I hadn't told him about my previous problems. I didn't die, and the next day snorkeled across the pool. More heart pains that didn't stop when I stopped swimming.

Well, that turned out to be trapped air, and the pain subsided when I burped like a baby. That weekend I went to the health fair and paid cash for an EKG, which didn't show any sign of a heart attack. So again I put off taking any action and began setting up a QuickBooks billing program that required double work as I posted all the advertising transactions twice.

May was again a double-posting month, so no chance there to visit a cardiologist. In June I started packing to move into Smokey's office, and in July made the move after taking some vacation time. August came, and I leveled my big "Billie Sol Estes" desk (the same big desk I had as managing editor 30 years ago), put a drape over the leaky back door to keep out the cold and dirt; decorated the walls with some of my awards from 30 years of reporting and installed a new laser printer to go with the new billing program.

Since I have yet to get an OK from the corporate office to use the new billing program, it begins to look like September will be uneventful. A week of numb fingers and a left arm that feels like it is not getting much circulation convince me that it may be time to have the heart taken care of.

I pick Dr. Gadasalli out of the lineup of cardiologists that come monthly to Reeves County Hospital, call his office and set up an appointment. Since he wouldn't be back to Pecos until late September, the receptionist urged me to go to Monahans, which I did that same week. Dr. G. didn't like what he saw on those tests and asked me to go to Odessa the next day for a stress test, which I flunked, in his words. He gave me a prescription for pills to widen the arteries.

That was on Friday before Labor Day, so he set me up for an angiogram on Tuesday. I worked all weekend closing out the books and making some changes to our web site so we could sell subscriptions to the daily news pages. The pills gave me a headache, and I felt better working than I would have at home anyway.

Tuesday morning at 5:30, Kim Ewing picked me up and drove me to Odessa, because they warned me I wouldn't be able to drive after the test. I was taken to a room in the Healthy Heart Center, given one of those backless gowns and told to wait. Having gotten up earlier than I wanted to, I crawled into the bed and took a little nap before the prep nurse came in. She told me everything that would happen.

After she gave me a Mohawk and a sedative, the transportation crew took me into the catherization lab and put me on a narrow table underneath a big, round camera and other equipment. It was cold as a Panhandle norther in there, but they covered me up with a warm blanket and kept me entertained until the doctor arrived. Once he deadened my groin and made the incision, I was on a fast track. He had me hold my breath a couple of times so he could take a picture of my heart, then said, "That's it." I hardly remember being moved onto a gurney and taken back to the room. The nurse propped me up a little bit and said to keep that right leg still for two hours. That wasn't hard to do, because I finished the nap I had started earlier.

Evidently the incision closed up properly, because they walked me down the hall, then sat me in a chair for 30 minutes to make sure it didn't start bleeding again. I alerted Kim by cell phone that it wouldn't be long, and she soon showed up, ready to head back to Pecos. Thank God for friends who take time out of their busy lives to lend a hand.

Two days later I was back in harness, working a full day despite the headache, and grateful for a cool, quiet office to do it in. God knew when he prompted Smokey to switch offices that I would need a quiet haven far removed from the news room.

I picked this topic for a column after reading last Tuesday that the American Heart Association had designated it 9-1-1 Day to get people to seek emergency care as soon as they start having symptoms like those I described. If the heart is deprived of oxygen for long, the muscle will die. "Each minute you wait, more heart muscle is dying and never comes back, ever," said Dr. David Faxon, AHA president.

Heavy chest pressure is not the only heart-attack symptom, he said. Other symptoms are shortness of breath, sweating, indigestion and pain in the neck or jaw. I knew that and didn't do anything about it. I could have waited too late.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." Eccl. 9:10, NIV

EDITOR'S NOTE: Peggy McCracken can be e-mailed at: peg2@pecos.net

Your View

United we stand, divided we pay the price

Dear Editor:This morning, as I watched lower Manhattan wipe its tears and the Statue of Liberty exchange her crown for a helmet, I could not help notice how people were saying they simply did not understand how such a disaster could take place.

I would like to offer an answer, fearing that soon the veil of ignorance and apathy will close again.

As we huddled around our radios during the days of Desert Storm, the airways were frequently punctuated with the sounds of a Bette Midler song entitled, "From A Distance."

In part, the song resounds:

". . .From a distance I just cannot comprehend what all this fighting is for."

I believe it is within the complacent and Utopian mindset of people who could write such a song, or those who proclaim they do not understand how such a tragedy could take place, that we find the very reason for it!

Anyone with a particle of knowledge concerning history, geography, religion, world politics or human nature can comprehend EXACTLY what all the fighting is for, has been for, and forever will be for. As veteran news commentator, Paul Harvey, is prone to say, "it is not one world." The unsavory reality is that there are potentates afoot who look upon the Unites States as "The Great Satan," who have no concern for the sanctity of human life and who will never stop attacking the civilized world until they no longer have a capacity to do so. Thus, it should be the objective of everyone bold enough to call themselves "American," to do all within his or her power to hasten the bringing of that capacity to an end _ regardless of the means and sacrifices required to do so or the number of well-meaning but irrational citizens who must be offended in the process.

With the downing of the Berlin Wall, liberal idealists, and those who draw their political strength from them, have stripped our armed forces and intelligence gathering agencies of everything from funding to morale, immovably secure in the belief that world would now forever be safe for democracy. Yet, Americans with a lick of common sense, a slight knowledge of history and a realistic understanding of the world's machinations, recognized that our greatest threats were yet to be revealed. And for the sharing of their insight and wisdom, they were laughed at and labeled "bigots," "war mongers," "Fascists" and worse.

Today, amid blood, horror and thousands of devastated families, we have seen naught but the serpent's nose. America, awake and arise; your greatest threat lies within! For years, we have been told that refusing to embrace any lifestyle or philosophy to come down the pike as being as good as the next is to be "close minded" or "mean spirited," regardless of how socially damaging or perverted that lifestyle or philosophy might be. Yet, rather than consider the source of these indictments, a source that is consistently and knowingly over-amplified by the practitioners of yellow journalism, we have chosen the easy way out _ intimidated out of standing up for our convictions _ in our government, in our schools, in our businesses, in our "tolerance" of all the mind numbing filth the entertainment world can throw at us and, to some extent, in our own hearts. We have discarded our national pride so as not offend the patriotically challenged and morally bankrupt.

Somehow, we keep hoping that through our divesting of everything we hold dear and know to be true, we will be accepted into one big happy _ but watered down _ American family.

Well, as one whose family members have fought and died for this country since before it WAS a country, I declare unto you that it is integrity and the ability to be honorably discriminating that separates the American "melting pot" from a third-world septic tank. For 30 years we have drawn the line of distinction ever farther to the left and without a new sense of resolve to get America's stainless steel backbone out of mothballs, no one in this country will ever be safe again.

So, let us go to war. Let our sons and daughters perish to bring victory.

But do not hold these terrorists fully accountable. They merely took advantage of opportunities we gave them on a silver platter. For the first 200 years of our nation's history, we didn't lose a single war. Then, somewhere down the line, we discovered that we no longer needed men with the convictions and determination of MacArthur and Patton. Instead, we look to politicians who are more interested in their popularity numbers than they are in doing the right thing for America and to whom "conviction" is just a word in someone else's dictionary or, by a different definition, something they hope to avoid. Since that shift in thinking, we have not won a war!

What has changed, our might, or our minds?

We have spilled the blood of our youth, we have rattled our sabers, and we have toed the line of political correctness while forking over billions of dollars a year to nations that despise us - all in the delusional belief that we can purchase friendship and that it is our role to financially drain America to police nations that we know would nuke us if they had half a chance.

Are we up for another 30 years of complacency and misguided "tolerance"? Or, are we as White Americans, Black American, Jewish Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and yes, Arab Americans ready to place more emphasis on being one nation under God than embracing every divisive notion on the way to our own little corner of some multi-cultural Utopia?

Winston Churchill once said that Americans could always be depended upon to do the right thing….just as soon as all other options had been exhausted. My fellow Americans, we love to have our cake and eat it too. However, liberalism and patriotism cannot exist side by side without each weakening the other. Is it now time to decide which one best serves the interests of these United States?

WILLIAM J. COOK
Lake Stevens, Washington

Senior class seeks fairness in all aspects

Dear Editor:
This letter is in reaction to the events that have taken place at Pecos High School during this year. As members of the senior class of 2002, we feel that it is our right to let the public know of the concerns that we have on pep rallies, unfair actions on certain groups or individuals on campus, and not being listened to when we voice any concerns. We feel that because our opinions have been voiced, and nothing has been done about it, we have no other option, but to let the community know what is going on.

Our first issue is the fact that we no longer have any say so, whatsoever, at Pecos High School pep rallies. We feel that they are no longer spontaneous, and they do not allow for students to show their school spirit. There have been too many guidelines that the administration has put on us, that it is no longer fun to cheer. We understand that pep rallies are for the football players, but we believe that all sports or club/organizations that are going on during this time should also be recognized. This is particularly in response to Friday's pep rally. We believe they our volleyball team works just as hard as the cheerleaders and football players, and they should have been allowed to sit on the gym floor during the pep rally. We also feel that since Mr. Rodriguez no longer allows us to have "Class Wars", which have been held decades, the spirit of the entire student body has diminished. Class Wars are a major part of the pep rally, and this alone gets the team fired up on the game day. It seems that our senior class has been the lone target and this is why we abstained from participation.

The second issue is based on certain people in the school being judged differently than others. We would first like to thank the P-B-T School Board for changing the dress code policy, but we still have some students who are picked on for what they are wearing, when others are not. "Is it who you are that really counts?' From what many of us have seen, it seems to be, and we demand that this change.

Lastly, we feel that whenever we have approached the administration about our issues, we are ignored. We come to school to be productive citizens and to learn from some of the best teachers here in Pecos, yet when we have issues that are important to us, we are never dealt with. We feel that we have gone through proper channels, but are tired of being neglected. Yes, we were immature and just "learning the ropes", but we have matured and we want to be heard on issues that are important to us.

Our school traditions have been altered and we feel that a part of PHS that many remember is gone. The intent of this letter is not to humiliate or take anything away from our spirit group or teams. We only seek fairness in all aspects. We have been taught by our teachers to stand up for how we feel and for what is important to us, we thank you all for teaching us. Please, hear us out, and help our senior class make our last year one that we will remember, instead of one that we will look back at with despondency.

Concerned Students,
DELIA SOTO
LUPITA GONZALEZ
BRENDA FUENTES
AND MANY MORE MEMBERS OF THE SENIOR CLASS OF 2002

Let's stand united for America

Dear Editor:
We can only hope our national loyalty will be foremost in our hearts, after this act of war that was inflicted on the American people on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.

We must remember that we are a part of a rich and powerful nation founded under God. We need to pull together, not refering to ourselves as Mexican/American, Arab/American, etc. I am a native of Brazil, but I do not consider or refer myself as a Brazilian/American. I know a number of different native Americans who live in America and act like Americans. We are only here by the grace of God. We need to live in America and love our freedom or return to our homeland. America needs our LOYALTY. We should not separate ourselves as to our national origin.

True we are and should be proud of our heritage but we need to be an American first and get back to God as He is the true creator of us all. Let's stand united for America.

May God bless America,
JURACY RAY

Take action against all terrorist factions

Dear Editor:
The U.S. is us, we the people make the United States the great nation that it is. I feel as if I have been personally attacked. Furthermore, if we are truly a "shining beacon of freedom," it doesn't matter which terrorist group attacked the U.S., we must take action against all terrorist factions.

PAULA HOWARD

Guest Column

By SAM RICHARDSON
Editor of The Lajitas Sun

Now we know

Now we know how America felt Dec. 7, 1941. To my generation which was too young to remember, to younger generations who were not born yet, Pearl Harbor has just been a movie ... until now. Now we know how our parent's generation felt.

And now we know how the Japanese felt after Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the final payback came.

Now we know what the British felt when the Germans were bombing London in WWII. And now we know what the Germans felt when the allies bombed Dresden and Berlin.

Now we know what citizens of the Big Bend felt when Glenn Springs, the Brite Ranch, and the Nevil Ranch were attacked by raiders from Mexico in 1916 and 1917. Americans citizens were killed. Innocent civilians.

And now we know how Mexicans living on both sides of the border felt a short time later when Texas Rangers massacred the villagers of Porvenir on the U.S. side and Federal troops attacked Pilares on the Mexican side. Mexican citizens and Mexican/Americans were killed. Innocent civilians.

Now we know how the Kuwaitis felt when they were violated by Iraq.

And now we know what Iraqis felt when the anvil of allied wrath was dropped on them.

To paraphrase what Will Durant wrote in "The Lessons of History," there has been little change in man's nature since historical times. Technology is simply a new way of achieving old ends, which includes the fighting of wars. We enlarge our instruments without improving our purpose.

Now as Big Benders and Texans and Americans we share the communion of grief that peoples have suffered from the beginning of time. People who've suffered massacres and holocausts and horrors we could only imagine.

We no longer have to use our imaginations.

Now we know.

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