12-04 Doug's Bad Day and Pepe's Demise

POOR PEPE Brewster County Sheriff's Impound, Alpine, Texas Boy, is that a sad sight, or what? It just makes me sick to look at it. This is what a double rollover will do to a small truck.

OUCH Yeah, check out that driver's side door. At one point, he came smack down on that corner. Luckily, I was crouched down on the seat by that time watching the whole fandango in slow-motion.

NOT GOOD I don't know what more to say. Let's move on . . .

BIG BEND REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER Alpine, Texas Here's where the ambulance brought me, and the attending physician almost sent me back home. (The condition I was in often goes misdiagnosed, I later learned.) My system had other things in mind and down I went. The next thing I knew they were sticking chest tubes into my side and the room started fading away. Good thing! I wasn't having that much fun, anyway.

YEP, THAT'S DOUG After my very first Emergency Room visit back in Dallas (an idiot bike ride down a flight of stairs into a concrete wall), my sister Lyn remarked that the only way she knew it was me was that I flashed her a peace sign. It's been my trademark in times of trouble ever since.

LYN AND DOUG IN I.C.U. What a way to spend a Christmas together, huh? Boy, this angle just doesn't do anything for my double chin.

JOE AND DOUG IN I.C.U. As soon as they got the word (two days after the fact, on Christmas morning), they grabbed their essentials and blasted off for Alpine. Here, Joe and I are perusing a book I contributed photos to and had just received.

DOING MY BREATHING EXERCISES Here's my respiratory therapist, Tammy, torturing me with regular breathing exercises to build up my collapsed lung back into shape. It hurt quite a bit, but better that than a bad case of pneumonia on top of everything else. I still have that torture device.

WALKING THE HALLS Eventually, the doc ordered me to take regular walks around the building to build up my strength. That took some doing right at first, but it sure beat laying around all day and night.

MAXINE GIVING ME DISCHARGE INSTRUCTIONS Here's one of my favorite nurses informing me what to do and not do in the weeks to come prior to my discharge. It was kind of a scary day, for both me and Lyn, as help wouldn't be just right there if needed. We would spend the next week in a motel here in Alpine, so we were at least close by.

MAXINE WALKS ME OUT All righty then -- here we go on the walk to freedom. Even though I was still quite bunged up, it sure felt good to be leaving. Maxine was really sweet. I miss her.

MY DEULING SCAR Pretty, huh? Pretty gruesome, that is. The scar is from where they had to open me up to work on the left lung and get rid of some blood clots that had formed there. the bandage is covering one of the chest tube wounds. You can see the other one just to the right of it, on its way to healing.

IN THE ANTELOPE LODGE This was the first room Lyn and I were in. We were later moved into a suite, which was so much more comfortable. The lodge did that at no extra charge, either. They have my business from now on.

STILL AT IT One of the things on the Do/Don't Do list was Do Your Breathing Exercises. Even though the doc thought I was well enough to be released, I still had the threat of a lung collapse or a bad case of pneumonia hanging over my head. I didn't want either.

AT BREAD & BREAKFAST My favorite café in town is Bread & Breakfast on Holland Avenue. Joe and Lyn missed it (it's really hidden well) while Joe was in town, so I took Lyn to it so she'd know where it was when they come to visit again. That was a ham-and-cheese omelet from Heaven right there, I'll tell you.

OUT ON THE PORCH After all the snow went away, it finally got warm enough to sit out on the porch of the suite.

MY FIRST SOLO WALK After the week in Alpine, the doc cleared me for travel, so we headed to Joe and Lyn's place in the little town of Star, Texas, to continue my recuperation. Lyn walked with me on my three daily walks at first, but once she was sure I wasn't going to collapse there on the road, I went solo from then on. This was the first of those walks.

ME AND MY BUDDY This is sweet, little Rosie, one of three kittens Lyn and Joe have, and they did as much to aid in my recuperation as anything. There really are recuperative powers in the act of petting animals, I truly believe that. I miss those little guys.

WITH BUTCHY BOY AND ROSIE While I hold and pet a somewhat reluctant Butchy Boy, Rosie gives my moccasin laces a good playing with. It doesn't take much to amuse a cat.

DOUG'S NEW RIDE This is the Nissan Xterra that Joe bought Lyn to get us around in in Alpine, and I've just signed the paperwork to make it mine. Even though she loved the little car, it just didn't suit Lyn all that much in the ride department. It suits me just fine!

DOUG THE CHAUFFEUR One of my duties after the local doctor pronounced me fit to drive was to chauffeur Lyn and Joe around in the Xterra. That suited me fine, as well.

READY FOR TAKEOFF Well, I've been released for travel on my own, I now own a new vehicle, and I'm ready to head for home. The motor's warming up as I speak.

AND HE'S OUTTA THERE And there I go, heading for home at last, almost two months to the day since the wreck. Lyn and Joe did a marvelous job helping me back to health again, and I can't thank them enough, but home is home, after all. It was time to go.

THE LONELY CHAIR Lyn says the chair looks so forlorn, now that I'm not in it. Hopefully, they'll move it back to it's original place soon so it doesn't have to watch TV by itself.