Birthday

Happy Birthday to me!  Well today is my 50th birthday a real milestone in life. A day of reflection to say the least.  I am not having any mid life crisis or anything but I am reflecting on my life so far....  Births, School, Weddings, Divorce, Childrens life events, Injuries and Deaths.  I guess anyone of us can insert the names and dates into these events to make them relevant. 

Going backward, I will make an effort to visit my parents and grandparents today.  It will be a walk through the cemetary, but I am still going there.  Carole volunteers there, so I guess she has a better connection than I do.

The "injury" is just part of my life now.  I don't really have any lasting effects from it.  I do still have some tingling in the tips of my right hand and in the bottom of my right foot.  But, it doesn't bother me and it's been the same for the last several years.  I do have a much greater sense of brain injuries and people that do.  Your brain is important take care of it!  One of my sons friends has had three concussions and he is only 17.  Not good....

Under the children heading, I have had them move out, move back, have girl friends, go to college, graduate high school, attend proms etc.  I guess the politicly correct term is "significant others".  None are married and there are no grandchilren at this point, but they are all well rounded, grounded, hard-working, handsome young men with skills.  As a dad I am very pround of that, feels like my greatest acheivement....

The end of one chapter and the first day of........

Hallelujah,

Today we ended the tree saga. I hadn't spoke about it much before, but we had a lawsuit pending against the county. My wife was advised after the accident that she should consult a lawyer about our situation. Bob, as he will be called, came well recommended, she met with him, time went along, we both met with him after I got out of the hospital and he did some digging.. Ok, a lot of digging.

Depositions, investigations, medical records and a bunch more time passed. If you didn't remember I got hurt on Sept. 25, 2007.

They made a couple of offers, all below what we were asking, but offers none the less. We, our lawyer included hoped that they were beginning to realize that some mistakes were made. Bob told us more than once that we were not whiners and we told him that we would be patient. We weren't going anywhere I guess. Our arrangement said he didn't get any money until we did......

We even still have the tree limb in the barn.

Bob and his associates have racked their brains and told us that they could not come up with a way to force this to trail, even though he wanted to get us in front of a jury. In my mind there were some problems. Today, 2 1/2 years later I don't look like I got injured, and I probably never did. I guess it's hard to look like you have a brain injury unless it affecting everything else you do in life. Thank the good lord it didn't.......

I told my wife after I got out of the hospital I should have had a bandage around the top of my head so at least I looked injured. I don't remember anymore today than I did the week after the accident but my wife and sons have filled me in on most of the details and I have related most of them here for me to look back on later I guess.

So, were is all of this going.... Today, the 31st of March 2010, we received a small settlement from the counties insurance co. Less than we were asking, but more than we didn't have and some compensation for our lawyers time. And yes I'm glad it's DONE.

I don't appear to have any too large of lasting scars or problems I can't deal with. The emotional scars are there for all of us, myself, my wife and my kids. The accident, the situation, the time spent in the hospital give you a new outlook on life, friends, family and god. So take that into consideration the next time you are thinking about falling out of a tree onto your HEAD.

The trees are gone, there is a new fence and I'm alive, all good things. My motto today is "I'm happy to be here."

I would like to include a couple of peoples names that have done right by us through this whole ordeal. Bob, Dr. Loftus, Dr. Gross, Dr. Spinks, Dr. Bradshaw, the rehab. people at CRMC St. Joes and Upstate, Mercy flight, TFD, the Methodist church, and our friends and family.

vacation

This year we went to Ill. in July for a vacation and to see my wife's family, her mother and her father who was in a hospital near Chicago. Over the last six months he has been in one hospital, a nursing home, home for a couple of weeks, back to the hospital and then to a wound care center for treatment of a bed sore that he got at the nursing home... During this whole time he had not been eating very well and has lost a lot of weight unfortunately and he didn't have it to lose. They were giving him some appetite enhancing medicine which was helping imminencely and he was hungry all the time. During our time there, we usually try to do some things around the house that haven't been getting done for a variety of reasons. We fixed some lights, a toilet that wasn't working right, some spindles for the ramp we built the last time and new carpeting for the kitchen to cover up the bad looking old floor. We caught up with her brothers and their families too. On the last day, for excitement, we rode the subway from the airport to a White Sox baseball game. It was awesome for all of us, and we had good seats too.

All in all we had a good time, the planes worked out right and the rental car was more than we could have asked for. It was good to see her family, even though her father is not good and in the hospital.

barn and call

They tore our former dairy barn down this week. I stood on my lawn and took some pictures and quite honestly tried not to dwell on it too much. A lot of things come into play here though. The barn had been added on to several times and had a few things that made it not to useful. Many places made for serious challenges, the layout and the height in some places made it important to use the right kind of equipment inside. I did think about my ancestors a bit here. My grandparents, my parents and others built that place over three different times from the 30's to the 70's. And today it's gone. Well it will be really interesting to see what develops for a new facility over the next several weeks. I am sure that even though it will cost, for the long run it will be much more useful.
On a different topic, two of the different jobs that I perform have different ways of dealing with people. The team leader position at work is a motivating, quarterbacking, training position. I'm not the boss or do I want to be. The assistant fire chief position is different. It's still a leadership position, I have to make decisions, lead the team and deal with the people problems. I'm sure that your wondering were this is going. I couple of night ago, I get to a simple rescue call and on the front porch of the house when I get there, two firemen are nose to nose arguing. The EMT's were taking care of the problem and I tried to diffuse these two guys. One guy, a commissioner, an officer, didn't want the other guy there because he said he didn't live in the district. The other guy, hadn't done anything wrong, said he lived with his father during the week to get a ride to work and his mother on the weekends. To make this thing work what the chief on the scene says has got to go. There is just no other way. I'll talk to the CHIEF and we'll deal with it. It was not a good situation to be a part of.

breathing is a good thing

Yesterday just for fun...I had a septoplasty, they fixed my deviated septum. My snoring was getting unbearable to my wife and it was time.
They told us when I got moved from the fifth floor at Upstate to the rehab floor that I had a broken nose. It would have been nice if they had fixed it while I was laid up and in the hospital a year and a half ago, but I know there were bigger things to worry about. So, I wanted to get it done at some point. The insurance co. decided that it would cover it too, per the pervious injury. A bonus....
I jumped through all the paperwork, the blood tests, the ekg and more paperwork and a couple of different doctors. I this process I saw a PA at the ENT office who looked up peoples noses for a living. UGH.. Well I guess she wouldn't want to breed cows for a living either.
In my conversation with the anesthesologist I told him my biggest concern. It was simple, I just wanted to wake up aferward... I simple request.
The hospital called and wanted me to come in early. I did and they pushed me along an hour early. No waiting. I woke up as planned, a little grogy though. They told my wife I had hives really bad during the surgury and they think I was allergic to Kaflex. In a couple of hours I went for a Wopper and then I spent the rest of the day resting with this weird bandage under my nose to catch the ozzing and their is some packing up there too. Beleive it or not I'm seeing the doctor on Saturday morning to take this packing out. I'm really stuffed up, but the doctor's office says it's just the packing. My nose is a little swelled up too. The doctor wasn't sure how straight he could get it, but he said he could scrap the cartilige from the inside and I could go back to work in 5 days. They get this packing out and I'll feel alot better. I don't have black eyes, but I feel like I have a bad cold. I'll decide next week how I made out, but I am sure that the breathing will be better 24 hours a day.

Tuesday night

Just a simple Tuesday night. I had got my new truck outfitted with all the fire stuff (radio's, red lights and headlight flashers) and then what was bound to happen happened. We had a house fire. I suited up and rolled down the road and was the second to arrive. As it turned out I was in command too and it was ripping. Soon after I got there, our rescue went to a car accident on our road. I didn't give it a lot of thought, I had enough to worry about... About an hour into the whole thing one of the other chiefs came up to me and said it was my wife in the accident and she was going to the hospital. I took a few minutes went and called the hospital. They connected me to her and she assured me she was OK just alittle banged up and sore. I took a minute to thank the lord and went back to the fire. The brotherhood was at full strength and one of the other fireman's wife's was at the hospital with her. I felt better already. The crew that I was leading was doing an awesome job and the fire went out, the house is repairable and nobody got hurt. I huge bonus. Well, as it turns out she was getting home a few minutes after I left. She slowed to pull in our driveway, a left turn and got hit Tboned if you will, by a firemen going to the house fire, who passed on the left. The sheriff on the scene asked if she needed a tow and she said she laughed and said she was in our driveway. He goes oh you live here.... So now she's filling out forms up the _____. I hope in the short run we will get enough money out of the insurance company's to replace it. Just another Tuesday night.

Life events

Sometimes I just write about stuff. Life things I guess.. A few things going on in my life. I'm working on getting my nose bored out, router routered I guess. I sleep fine as far as I'm concerned, but my wife says sometimes it's noisey, really noisey, almost unbearable, in her words. The Dr. says they can certainly open it up, because the one side is almost closed.. We didn't know it at the time of the accident,but several weeks after the fact they mentioned it. I wasn't concerned about, they had bigger things to worry about. Unfortunatly, if had it had been taken care of at the time the insurance co. wouldn't have made us jump through so many hoops. But, I think we'll get there, maybe in May.

I got a new to me used truck this week, which is cool. The last one I had, had 203,000 miles on it and it was time to move on. I drive about 35,000 miles a year for work, so I need something dependable for sure. Me and my son spent 2 hours taking my fire stuff out of the old one, radios, lights etc. Today I arranged for a company to put it all back in the new truck for me. It seemed like the right thing to do, so I know that it will work right when they get done. I'm on my fourth truck in March of 09. Two ford rangers and now the second Dodge dakota, the first three had over 200,000 miles. That truck is my office and I live in it daily while I'm at work. These are life things, not life changing, but like the song " sounds like life to me".

associations in life

We have experiences in our life were we make associations with people and your life. Today was a once in a lifetime association. My wife and I attended a calling hours for a gentlemen whose son and grandson are in the fire department with myself. I assembled the uniform and off we went.
I was aware previously that this gentlemen was a carpenter by trade and built my parents office when I was a kid, a day or two ago. My parents sold that home, but the office is still there, but that's not the interesting connection. As we were coming down the receiving line, we began talking to this gentleman's sister, a neighbor of ours. She had previously given us a picture of our house which she played at as a child in the late 30's. She had mentioned that their parents had lived on a dirty road off of a dirt road. Are you getting the situation? She told us that when she and her brother were to be born, their mother went to their grandparents home (where we live now) and they were both born in our house. Not in the hospital, but in this house, under this roof. He was born in 1923 and this house was built in 1917. In today's society that never happens, but it's still really cool. He had been sick off and on for the last year+. His wife died about 2 weeks ago and he sot sick again. He went into the hospital and just didn't have any desire to continue in life without her. The end.

Inauguration 2009

An interesting week in politics and work....

Politics first. This week, the third week in January 2009 our new president is a young black man. He seems motivated, has a plan and seems to be inspiring the nation that there will be change. It really doesn't seem to be the same old thing. Some news shows said that 2 million people attended the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. Our youngest son, Nick, at 13 years old went with a school group to the celebration. They were gone four days, flew there, saw landmarks and museums and went to the inauguration. The Smithsonian did the Washington part of the organization. The local teachers have been planning this trip for a year and everything went off without a hitch. The biggest challenge was the weather, it was the middle of January and it was cold, about 20 degrees. They stood outside for about 8 hours in the crowd and watched the inauguration ceremonies on a megatron screen. What an experience of a lifetime... My wife and I lived this day through him and I am sure that he will never forget it.

Genomics is the second topic. I don't know if you know what genomics is, but it's DNA. USDA has now been able to use a DNA sample of bulls of any age to predict his daughters production outcome before his semen is even used.... Look it up on the internet if you want to learn more. It has revolutionized our industry. We have had a past situation of taking 4-5 years to get reliable information on our bulls, to today of getting 65% - 70% reliable information instantly after the test. It made a huge boost all at once to our industry. I realize it's hard to understand because this information is not even yet avaliable for humans, but someday it will be.... What a week.

trophy

You aren't truly surprised in your life,but last week I was...

My wife and I attended the officer installation dinner for our fire department last Saturday night. Fire people and spouses, other department officers and county officials were in attendance for a nice catered meal at our firehouse. We have dinner, the oath is given to the new officers and the chiefs have some awards. We recognize firemen for years of service, attendance at the most calls etc. then the deputy fire coordinator gives out the trophy pictured above. The person it is usually given to is a newer member that has excelled in the county training and at his first several years of fire activity. When my friend, a deputy coordinator, was reading the trophy I was trying to think, in our fire department, who might qualify? He goes "yes Mr. Potter that would be you". I couldn't believe it... I stood up and thanked everyone for the award and again for getting me out of this town when I needed too ie. my helicopter ride. I was very shocked to say the least. Some days when you spend time at a volunteer activity you wonder if anyone is watching. Not that it maters, but you wonder. I seems somebody was. And it's a really nice trophy too.

December 2008

Things change and I guess it's all about how you react to them good or bad. At the end of the year, we just found out we are getting a new boss. The company did a geography shift of peoples area and we were are now associated with a different group of employees. It's kinda odd, for December we still have the previous person and the new gentlemen is trying to get acclimated to our situation. It's just a coincidence, but there seems like a lot of THINGS going on right now. There's a new employee search, a couple of new "in the works" business deals plus the day to day work make our days plenty full. I hope as we move into the new year the excitement of these new challenges will continue.

This week, I had a follow-up visit with the neurologist. Not a place that you expect to be as your life winds along, but there I was. She did the usual evaluation, pricking, pounding, and asking questions, all of which I have had done before. The doctor comes in, they confer and she relates to me that she is very pleased with my progress so far. She also took a few minutes to review the MRI of my brain to satisfy my curiosity. What a great tool to look at the inside of your body. I assume that's why she makes the big bucks because she knows what to look for. After all of that she said "congratulations" and I don't need to come back only if something new comes up. When I left the hospital 14 months ago I had follow-up visits with 6 different doctors for different things and this week I now have none.

As I continue this journey people ask how am I and my standard response is " I'm happy to be here." Merry Christmas

Need a job

I haven't written in here in a while and now seemed like a good time. The "quirks" are still hanging around, you know the tingling finger tips on my right hand. There are times I just kind of forget it's there, but it's still there, not as predominate as it was though. Life goes on though...

During the last couple of weeks, I had been kicking the idea around about changing my position in the fire department. I am the assistant chief now and I had thought about moving up. I weighed the pros and cons, mostly the cons and decided my work situation didn't offer me that opportunity right now. I just can not leave my job during the day, because there is not anyone else there to do the job, the cows are still there waiting for me. Many customers have a regular time requirement on when they expect us/me. It sounds like a odd reason, but right now it's the right reason. I enjoy what I do there and I will certainly keep doing it......

On the work front, we are labor challenged again. On the first of Nov., we lost a good guy that left to live with his wife, who had taken a state job on the other side of the state. Certainly the right move for him, but right now it's leaving our team a bit short. I guess that's an understatement. Were making do with a couple of part-time people to get the job done right now. One person works Tues, Weds. and Fri. and the other person works Thurs., Sat. and Sunday. It's working... right now with an emphasis on the right now part. The first person is really a farm wife and second is a college student . Really, we're a little better off this year than we were last year about this time, remember why I started this blog, at least we have the part time help. So I guess this presents a job prospect for anyone that wants a challenge. The training is complete and the pay is good. I'm just putting it out there. The Internet is a big place.

September 25th

A day of reflection, a day in history and the ironic thing about it was that I don't remember anything about it. Mostly, just the sequence of events as they were relayed to me. My personel experience didn't start for about a week, ya a week..... If you are new to this blog, check some of the early ones in 2007 and they will fill in alot of the gaps.
Coincedently, I had the day off again and I offered to help out in the harvesting crew driving truck. I thought being home and not working might give me too much time to time to reflect on the last years events. I know it changed the future of my life probably forever, but that is yet to be determined. I continue to tell myself, no matter what, I am still on the right side of the grass.
I also know that atleast for now, I don't take anything for granted. Making my sons JH soccor games, none of which I made last year, are a priority. I am a little more diliberate, maybe just being sure of where I am putting my body, situations I get into I guess. I don't dwell on it, but just walking through a barn I keep alittle better eye on what I could bang my head on. Stuff I didn't really watch out for before. That's one of my 2008 goals, don't hit my head again....

Smile, life is good.. You really don't know what tomarrow is going to bring good or bad. I am really thankful for what I have, the relatives that care about each other and the friends I keep.

rabbits

It's been a busy week, alot of activities to get my mind around. Early in the week, a team member decided that he was going to a different group closer to his home, and not work with us any longer. So, after the 21st, our labor force is going to be smaller again. I guess the bigger the number of people that you work with the bigger the chance that there will be personel changes. It's not a great situation, but it will give us all a reason to reflect on why this person decided to leave for less money..... I recently read that "people leave people not companies". But, I wouldn't disagree that no one is replaceable and we will find a replacement, but we will have a time period again of transition.

Over the weekend, we were at an Eastern States Flemish Giant rabbit show, that my wife and son are members of. There was 200 rabbits there and for us it was nice because it was only about 10 miles from our house. Most of the people there were pursuing their hobby and I don't think that anyone there was making a living from their pasion. Our son showed 4 rabbits there and received a couple of first places. Those first places went onto place best opposite variety in the open show and best of variety - youth. From those placings he got a couple of nice trophies. Parents and child are real happy and proud... Just alittle explanation, in the rabbit world, there is no reserve champion placing. If a male wins the color/variety they also award the female from the same color as the best opposite or visa versa, you get the picture. He ended up selling one rabbit and buying another for the same money of a different color, a great deal for all involved. I'll put up a couple of pictures soon. Pretty much an un-stressful, a wind down sort of weekend for all involved. Makes you proud of your kids too.

MRI

I'm a big morale guy. I have been since I have been in this position and it's involved my home life too. You have to make the best of what you have everyday all the time because you just don't know what life will be in a few minutes from now. In sales, if something is bothering you or if your morale is low for some reason you are not going to try to do sales anywhere. It could be as simple as getting dirty at the start of the day. It could be as big as working alot of days in a row with no time off. Maybe your pay check was late this week. It effects peoples performance... We're an outside sales company and you have got to want to pull into that next driveway. Nine out of ten times just being there will result in some kind of sale. I realize that many things you don't have any control over, but I feel that you have to live off the good points.

Today, I had a follow-up MRI to see if anything has changed since the accident. I had the day off, it was raining and it just seemed like a fun thing to do, lay on a table and have a big magnet whirl around my head. LOL You never know what they will find, if anything, but I know today I feel good and I my body is on the right side of the grass! So I had nothing to worry about right. The technician asked me on the way in if I had ever had an MRI before? I told him, yes and no. I had one in 2007 but I was in a coma at the time, so does it count? It was simple, fast and painless and I was out of there in 20 minutes or so. On the way home, I made a follow-up stop at a customer I saw yesterday and made a big sale (200 units) for me. I was pumped and I even delivered some of it too. I could have been down about having to go for the MRI, but I took it as just another thing in life. The good and the bad I guess. So keep your spirits up and try to find something good in every day.

Relativly safe

We had decided to vacation at Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake. A resort town with out a doubt, but when the weather didn't cooperate there wasn't many out of the campsite things to do. We spent time at the beach, watched a boat parade, went to the amusement park and ate out a few times, played some bingo and generally relaxed. The last day and night were the exciting ones though. There was rain on and off on Sunday and for something to do, we hung out under our tent shelter and played some cards. We were having fun though. About 7 pm. there was a huge explosion across the river from were our tent was set up. There wasn't any fire, no police response,etc. but it sounded like a propane tank exploding. There was a party going on next door to were we saw the explosion and I suppose it could have been a M80 or something like that I guess.... I don't really know. We went to bed and about 12:30 pm. the sky opened up. Thunder, lightning and lots of rain and more thunder and lightning. We had been more or less dry in the days before and the tents had been keeping out the water pretty well I guess. Tenting in a rain storm is not that fun. The night was flashing all around us and were just laying there watching it. We had nice air mattresses which kept us up off the floor so I guess we were relatively safe. My son thought he might feel better in the car, so he spent the rest of the night reclined in the front seat. The tent just dripped inside a little and it held up just fine. We toughed it out and in the morning it was still raining. We went out to breakfast and when we came back we were able to pack up the tent and we headed home, vacation over. It was one for the books, we made out OK and we saw an area we had never been to before...

vacation

We're taking an unforced vacation... Ya, you know one were I went on my own free will and none of it involved a hospital with an extended stay. It's kinda interesting, we only went about 50 miles from home to a new place for us, a campground on a river and a big lake. It's nice, there are a lot of permanent campers and it's quiet too. There's activities every night in town and I think we are just far enough from civilization so it's relaxing and there is no daily push to get stuff done. I don't know if it is good or bad but this campground has wireless Internet in the whole place. It's kinda cool. So, I'm setting at a picnic table by our tent typing on my laptop just for kicks.

My son just joked that I should do a search on the Internet on how to start a campfire. See what the world wide web had to offer. I'll try to get a picture or two in later this week.

new fence

We took some new pictures of the front of our house and the new fence for the world to see. I don't have them on this computer yet, but before I post this it will be there. This blog has not been very interesting as of late. Things are still moving along OK though. I guess the activity of note this week is the hand doctor visit. I'm going to see him this week and I think my "quirk" is giving him something to ponder. I still have this tingling in the tips of my fingers of the right hand, and on the bottom of my right foot too. They don't bother my movement, but I know it's there. We've wondered about the foot thing, but I really haven't not had something on my foot since before last Sept. It's been shoes, boots, heavy socks or something. And when I was in the hospital I had other things to think about. Somebody will figure it out someday I guess....

I was thinking the 25Th of Sept. is coming up and I was wondering what to do special, if anything. My wife didn't think that taking the day off and going to buy a ladder was even funny. It seemed kinda humorous. She thought that if I had to work there might be less chance of any excitement. For me, it seemed like a good day to find a reason to be at the hospital, maybe visit someone or have lunch. There's still a couple of months to think about it.

4th of July

Summer. It is passing us by, but I have been doing the fun things. Yes, it's been interesting. Adriane, spoke about the family reunion on the Fourth of July. Lots of great people, interesting careers, lifestyles, children and good food for all. It was just part of the day though, we did a family burial of my uncle in the morning and a wedding reception in the late afternoon. I take about the burial first. I know it sounds kinda different, but we have done it before. We have two family pastors, so we are able to this in house so to speak. It personal family time. Time with brothers, cousins, aunts, and my uncle and then we all go to the family reunion soon afterward...

After the food at the reunion and some great fellowship we took off for the wedding reception. I wouldn't disagree with you if you thought it was too much for one day, but we went anyway. It was for my best friends daughter, who had a previous civil ceremony before the birth of their son and was now was having a real wedding a year later. Lots of people having a good time, more food, just what we needed and our friends. Nothing against the reunion, but we have been for 15 straight years and this wedding was once in a lifetime. It was a no brainer. I will tell you though, it was a long mental day with a variety of emotions for sure. I was just drained.... Once again I went back to work to rest up from my day off. Not really, but mentally yes. Stick around and we'll talk about some more July events

Helmets?

Well, it happened again. Two evenings ago the fire department rescue went to a four wheeler accident in the wood with an unconscious male. We get there and the guy is a fire department member and he is laying in a ditch just moaning with blood all over his head. His son and a friend had been involved too. He had been thrown off the four wheeler, his passenger had landed on him, of course neither had helmets on.... We covered the hole in his head and loaded hi into the helicopter for a ride to the hospital. It was really kind of weird, I putting someone else in that bird..
It would still be nice to ride in one someday remember though, alert, upright and sitting in a seat.
Ended up a bunch of staples patching up his head, a few stitches got put in his hand and arms. He's real stiff too, but in a few days I think he will be out of the hospital. He's alive though,which is a great thing. Your always hearing about graduating seniors getting hurt or worse yet killed in car accidents. These two boys are good kids that I think just got a eye opening experience. I know that no one could have told them to be careful in stuff and it would have sunk in. This experience got their attention.
I heard, that when his wife got into the to the hospital room with him and the doctor and she read him the riot act. The helmet issue, the injuring their sons friend, the hospital, all of it. I heard the doctor was just speechless. It's kinda humorous I guess, but she was just dealing with the situation in her way, I guess. Remember my goal for 2008? Don't hit my head again... It seems like a good goal to me.