I had wrapped up the day at the station. I was ready for a nice nap on a rainy and stormy afternoon. Jake (The Shredder) had the same idea, but he beat me to the bed by about a half-hour. He looked so content with himself and the world that I decided to take his picture. He roused for a bit, snorted, and then closed his eyes for a nice air-conditioned nap.
First, I want to say just how humbling it is to me to hear from the many folks who called, wrote cards, and dropped e-mails to me since I got pneumonia a couple of weeks ago.
I was feeling like dirt during Julie’s wedding, and thought I was just fighting a cold. Cold indeed.
That weekend now seems like a blur…more like something I read about in a book. I realize now how bad it really was.
Changes must be made. For the most part they’re acknowledgements to father time and diabetes.
You know those news stories that warn people with “chronic illnesses such as diabetes” and how they are more succeptible to complications from just simple things? I used to read those stories…even write ‘em. Now I believe ‘em.
My job as morning anchor for Hallerin Hilton Hill comes first. By the way, Hallerin probably will not talk about it on-the-air, but he did come to visit me at the house. He spent time with me here in the office. I showed him some old family photos, and we talked about how much our fathers and grandfathers meant to us. Hallerin is a good man…even if he is eaten up with that ‘pie in the sky’ optimism that he talks about in that “Brand New Day” speil !
I will have to stop doing afternoon traffic with Phil Williams. I will really miss working with Phil, one of the quickest wits on-the-air at any station in America. And he has a heart for people, too. Although I enjoy doing the job, it makes for a long day and no down time during the week, only a succession of days that would always start at three-thirty in the morning and run until six at night, often with no longer than an hour in between “tours”.
I believe the Saturday show: ”House That Dave Built” is going to take on an increasing importance in the coming months. Our economy is such that people will have to learn how to do more with what they have, learn new skills around the house, and find out ways they can get services and improvements that mean the most for their lives.
We are about to see a tremendous surge in home-centered work that we perhaps have forgotten over the past decades- things our parents and grandparents knew about how to make things work, keep things running, and how to save money. My vision for the Saturday show is to make it a place where that community can come for that reliable information.
The effort on that show, plus my regular news duties seems to be about all I can fit in my sombrero right now.
One other thing…..The doctors have made it clear to me that I need to have the gastric surgery, and soon. It would resolve my diabetes and its complications. I had bankrolled some sick days to use during recovery. They are gone. But some vacation remains. ( this advice: buy both short-and long-term disability insurance if you can afford it… as they say … “you never know”)
To the person, the Citadel Knoxville management team has been one-hundred percent supportive of me, and concerned about my health.
I have another class, then a consultation, and then, likely a date for the ‘grand opening’ will be set. Please understand, if I could do this any other way, I would. I don’t want to wake up with a tube out my gut, and another out a very private orifice, and get marched up and down the hallway in a three-sided hospital gown. But wearing a black suit and no shoes in a horizontal position seems like a pretty grim “door number two” pick.
Only one person has been more miserable these past several days: my wife, Dena. After being cranked up on steriods then ordered to rest, I was not a good, nor long-suffering patient. But she was (is) a good and long-suffering wife.
I don’t think I could be more fortunate.
