Grampa Mike faces Mortality
Soon I am surrounded by a bunch of ernest young men who attach all sorts of wires to me, start a saline drip, put me on a gurney into tbeir vehicle and soon I am on the way down I-40 to Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque. The EMTs are feeding me nitroglycerin. Did you know that they can't give you nitro if you are using Viagra? Not a problem for me.
I get to the hospital and they run me into the cath lab to see what is going on. Three of the 4 main heart arteries are 100% blocked. They put stents in two of them. They decided to save the 3rd for later.
By now Spence is there and understands the strange language spoken by medical professionals. Oh, BTW, they discover that I am a type II diabetic. Oh joy.
After a week in the hospital they decide to release me, My children, by now my daughters-in-law have brought their not inconsiderable skills to bear, recommend that I go into a rehab facility before going home. I agreed with them. If iti is good enough for Brittany it is good enough for me.
This place has a cast of characters that would have made a good Mel Brooks film. There are OTs, PTs and SPTs, (Occupational Terrorists, Physical Terrorists and Speech Terrorists) all of whom are graduates of Torquemada U. Then there is Drakula whi comes by at strange hours to bleed me from the fingers. Trying to get all my blood one drop at a time. Finally there is Ishmael who comes by 3 time a day to harpoon my poor, shrinking belly. (I am now down to 240#).
To top things off they decide that I have Hemochromatosis which is a fancy word for too much iron in the blood. This is bad because it deposits the iron in the brain which is not a good thing. Fortunately it is treatable.
They finally allowed me to go home if I swore on a stack if insurance forms to behave. I now stick my own fingers 4 times a day, harpoon my belly 3 times a day, swallow a cocktail of 8 pills every morning abd 2 more at night and have bot had, or wanted, a cigarette for 18 weeks. The anti-smoking med is the only NOT covered by the insurance.
To those of you who called me in the hospital or sent snail mail, it was greatly appreciated.
I have been blessed (by whom I don't know) with many good friends and a wonderful family..
Larry a Legend
Larry Van Mersbergen a Legend!!
From Larry the Legend himself.
Last weekend was awesome. My sons found out that their father was a legend at Bethany Lutheran College. Larry the Legend. That has a nice ring to it.
My former coach, who is eighty years old, came to the banquet just to see me inducted into the Hall of Fame. All three of my sons talked to him and one of my former teammates both of whom confirmed all of the stories that I have been telling my boys over the years.
Speaking of airports, the hardware that I have in my hip set off the detectors at both airports and even when I showed them the card from the Dr. I still had to go to a separate room to be searched and wanded. What a hassle.
The flight was only 50 minutes coming and going. We arrived in Minneapolis at 1:30 and rented a car. We started to drive to Mankato and we got caught in a traffic jam. We lost three hours and almost didn't make it to the banquet.
When we walked into the place where the banquet was held this woman comes running up to me and throws her arms around me shouting "Larry, Larry." It just happened to be one of the girls that my friend took out and we used to double date all the time. Shhh, my kids don't know that.
Any way they were waiting for me to take pictures. The other three inductees came up to me to congratulate me and we all had our pictures taken. I didn't know that all these guys knew anything about me because all of them graduated at least ten years after me. They all mentioned me in their speeches. Therefore The Legend.
I was awarded a plaque that weighs about ten pounds. Inscribed on it was the name of the college, the logo, my name and "Athletic Hall Of Fame 2007." Outside, in a special section in the trophy case, they put my picture, an 8x10, my name and the year inducted - 2007.
My son gave a tremendous speech introducing me. I understand they recorded it so I am going to try and get a copy of it.
It was a shame that I had to cut my speech short because my throat really started to hurt. However everybody understood.
Did I have a good time?
.
Yes I did. My boys and I really bonded together and that is the first time we have gone a trip as adults.