I thank all of you for your good wishes and prayers.

I started feeling a pain in the middle of my chest late on the afternoon of the 6th. There was no radiation of the pain, slight shortness of breath, but profuse sweating. I drove myself to the local hospital where they stabalized me enough to transport to the larger hospital 50mi. north of here. I had been fighting a fire up to that time, so I thought it was just fatigue and heat exhaustion.

Heart cathiterization showed how bad it actually was. One artery was completely blocked and two others were almost completely blocked. "The widdowmaker" they called it. No advance warning, and rapid in damage. A "baloon" was inserted to allow the blood to flow long enough to get me into surgery without damage to the heart muscle.

The day of surgery I felt as if a Mack truck had run me over and backed up to ensure the job had been done correctly. I sat up anyway.

The next day was a bit better, at least the Mack truck had found a different parking place other than my chest. I both sat up and took a few meager steps.

From there, the progress was supprising. The doctor said the magic word ... "home"... all I had to do was prove that I was not in need of constant medical care. I almost began to sprint around the halls at that point. All four doctors convinced, I was released on the 15th.

A week at a friend's house and now back in my own home. Dave was supposed to be here, but I guess all the pinching talk by you guys has scared him off and I havn't heard from him. This especially after he saw how rapidly I was regaining my strength when he visited me at the hospital

Jim