The Valley Voice by Tom Eastman [11/07/2008]

Election month hangover

Wow. Talk about an election month hangover!This past Wednesday, Nov. 5, marked a new morning for America, and for yours truly as well.The day after the nation swept Barack Obama into office, representing a fresh new era for the country as well as the world, I was allowed for the first time in 12 days to leave my hospital room at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon/Hanover.I had been admitted to the center Oct. 25 after being transported from Memorial Hospital after I suffered a blip, something called a subarachnoid hemorrhage, basically, blood in the layer outside the brain. After extensive testing, no cause was ever found, and the neurosurgeons say I am among the 10 percent where it is never known what the causal factor was.The great news is I have lost nothing, and I am well on the road to recovery. Amen to all of that!To walk outside Wednesday morning after watching the election results and McCain's gracious and Obama's inspiring speeches Tuesday night was incredible. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the November skies were blue and warm. It was one of those moments when you realize how blessed you are to have such caring health care, such a great family, fantastic friends who care about you, and to live in a community like Mount Washington Valley, where each one of us makes a difference in the lives of one another.As I told Roy the Skiing and Hiking DJ Prescott on WMWV's Morning Show Thursday upon getting back to the valley Wednesday night, I cannot ever express my gratitude to all of you for your care, concern and support. It more than warms the heart to get so many cards, and humbles you, too.I am on a two-week rest, and will then slowly transition my way back at the Sun. So what, you ask right about now, am I doing working by writing this missive? Well, that's the whole catch about me and my vocation in this valley I truly love my writing, and getting the chance to write this column every week never, ever has felt like work. It's my life. And it's fun.So, I will take it easy on other fronts, as ordered by the docs, but I wanted to get this one off my chest to extend my thanks to all of you. I also especially salute my friends at the Sun for carrying the ball for me, as well as the staff at Mount Washington Radio Group and RSN TV 16 for giving me this time off.( had suggested to the Obama and McCain campaigns, by the way, that they might want to consider delaying the election a week or so to allow your intrepid journalist more time to recoup and to cover the big election story, but I never heard back from them, for some strange reason I have yet to figure out ... but then, I'm only joking.It was nice to take some time at that even though the hospital spa treatment leaves a lot to be desired in the REM sleep deprivation department. I mean, two-hour sleep intervals, followed by a flashlight in your pupils to check how your brain is functioning and bloodwork is nothing I would recommend.While at the hospital, I did manage to have fun. I heard so many fascinating stories from nurses and doctors alike. One of my nurses said she wanted to hear my radio voice, and I said that's just the point I don't use a blowhard radio voice tone in my Valley Voice on the radio, I just get to talk to listeners in a conversational tone. I mentioned to her how I try to work appropriate music in with the essays. I told her, for example, that I had used Sir Paul McCartney's Baby I'm Amazed in one of my pieces on the Sherman Farm's Corn Maize, and that prompted her to say that when she was a girl growing up in England, she actually appeared as one of the thousands of screaming school girls in the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. They had me there with all the other girls, screaming at the train station at the beginning of the film. I had to mouth the words, I love you John, which bugged me, because I actually liked the cute Beatle, you know, Paul, said my nurse, Suzanne. She also said a friend once tried to set her up with this awkward singer friend of hers who played soccer. She didn't go on the date, but it turned out to be some bloke named Rod Stewart.So, the stories are everywhere, including at the hospital. Once a journalist, always a journalist, right? So, here's to staying on this side of life, and celebrating my blessings, foremost of which is my friend, Wendy Abcunas, known to many as Nurse Wendy, formerly of John Fuller and now of Kennett High fame, who literally saved my life by knowing that my initial pounding headache of a lifetime and nausea was not a viral infection but warning signs of something that ought to be checked out with a CT scan the latter of which at Memorial proved that I had had a bleed somewhere in the parietoccipital region of my head that was initially about the size of a 50-cent piece and which through treatment and time dissipated, thereby easing the extreme headaches and high blood pressure.I'm a lucky guy I always knew that, and each day's sunrise henceforth will sere as a continual reminder of those blessings.Again, thank you to all, especially the staff at Memorial and Dartmouth-Hitchcock, to JT Tanguay and T of North Conway Ambulance for transporting me from the valley over to Hanover, to Janice Crawford and the chamber staff; to Father Don Gauthier; to my family, especially Wendy and my sister Jeanie Eastman Ryan for their up-close care when I could not take any sunlight, conversation or visitors. Imagine that me unable to take any conversation. Now that's a sure sign that something was amiss, huh?In closing, have fun by supporting the Eastern Slope Ski Club's annual Used Equipment Ski and Snowboard Sale at the North Conway Community Center Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7 and 8; Settlers' Green's big sale this weekend, the new location for Framed Art Super Store in the village next to the movie theater; and the North Conway Rotary's annual Rotary Radio Auction, Monday through Thursday, Nov. 10 through 14 on local radio WMWV 93.5-FM at 6:05 p.m.The latter event is a great way to do some early Christmas shopping, get some real bargains, and help out local charitable causes, all at the same time. How can you go wrong?