Kevin:

Well, hang in there, my friend, and please take care!!!!!!!

Enjoy each day to the fullest!!!!!

As for the 20-meter cross-country net, I am not sure I'd be the greatest net 
control, due to my antenna set-up, and location here in Central Lower 
Michigan, but I'll certainly help out with relays and such.  Maybe some of 
us can get the job done by sharing net control, until you feel ready to 
return.

Vy 73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kevin Nathan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 3:14 PM
Subject: Re: My Absence Explained


> Hi Tom,
>
> I'm certain you can relate to how I felt given your experiences.  It just
> feels so good to still be here to enjoy life, getting on my rig this 
> morning
> for a good long rag chew on 75 meters and knowing I'll be around to do it
> all again.  As you say, you really don't take life for granted once you 
> feel
> it slipping away from you.
>
> Take care, very 73 and you darned right I'll be on the 20 meter net 
> although
> maybe let someone else have net control for a week or so.  <GRIN><
>
>
>
> Kevin :)
> Amateur Radio:  K7RX
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Tom Behler
> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 11:25
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: My Absence Explained
>
>    Oh, Kevin, I'm so sorry to hear about your scary eppisode.
>
> Having had several situations where my heart literally stopped, thereby
> requiring me to have a pacemaker implant, and also having suffered a
> pulmanary embolism as a complication from another surgery several years
> later, I know what that feeling is like to suddenly be loosing control of
> your body, and feeling your life literally slipping away.
>
> Please do take care of yourself, and also please know that all of us are
> keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.
>
> Hopefully, we'll hear you on 20 meters again real soon, but if you need 
> some
>
> recovery time before taking the helm on the net, all of us will certainly
> understand.
>
> Experiences like that which you have had convince us all that every day is 
> a
>
> gift, and that we really shouldn't sweat the small stuff!
>
> God's speed, Kevin!
>
> Vy 73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kevin Nathan" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 9:19 AM
> Subject: My Absence Explained
>
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> As many of you have been friends or close acquaintances sharing this 
>> hobby
>> with me for many years now, I wanted to let you know why I wasn't on the
>> 20
>> meter net last Sunday.  Saturday evening I underwent a life changing
>> event,
>> at least to me, which I will explain.  About three years ago, I was
>> diagnosed with congestive heart failure.  As treatment was concerned, I
>> was
>> placed on water pills, told to watch my sodium intake and not a lot else.
>> As many of you know, in the summer I work with a program for employing
>> blind
>> high school youth and walk all over Seattle for about six weeks.  Well,
>> this
>> year this walking was increasingly difficult to do but I put it down to
>> getting somewhat heavier, getting older, etc.
>>
>> Well, Saturday night it all finally caught up with me.  I went into a
>> situation where I could not get enough breath in my lungs to sustain me.
>> I
>> can tell you, that is the scariest feeling I've ever experienced.  I
>> remember telling Kathy I need the ambulance and woke up Tuesday morning 
>> in
>> the hospital with a feeding tube down my throat, oxygen in my nose and
>> weak
>> as a kitten having lost three days of my life.
>>
>> I am home now thanks to the power of prayer and the support of a lot of
>> good
>> friends and family.  I am recovering but still a little weak.  However, I
>> am
>> very glad to be in the land of the living and will certainly pay better
>> attention to my body in the future.
>>
>> I still have a problem with bladder cancer to whip but I'm all over that,
>> it
>> seems it will be curable and I don't plan on going silent key any time
>> soon.
>>
>> Take care all and very 73.
>>
>>
>> Kevin :)
>> Amateur Radio:  K7RX
>>
>>
>>
>