We made it to the "Land of Smiles"

Well, it was a little hectic leaving the USA this trip. After putting truck in storage and setting up everything to be gone for ten (10) weeks, saying: "Bye for now." to our Mother, the staff at Flagship Health Care, my Daughter, Tina and our Sister Diane we were tired before the trip.

Our friend, Terry Hamilton, took us to LAX airport at 10:30 at night. Usually we fly out in the afternoon and arrive in Bangkok at one o'clock in the morning. Flying into Bangkok is like flying into the Bronx so at 1:00 AM it was a little scary, at least the first time.

This trip we thought we would change up the plan and arrive in the middle of the afternoon and take a car to the beach holiday town of Pattaya, Thailand. That way we avoid Bangkok completely.

Well, fourteen hours and five minutes to Taipei, Taiwan then three hours to change planes and one hour and twenty minutes to Hong Kong. Now, for a little surprise, we had to get off the plane in Hong Kong, go through security with our carry on bags and get back onto the same plane.

Two hours and twenty minutes later we were in Bangkok airport. We went through immigrations, got our bags and headed to meet our driver in the waiting area.

Here is were I think I screwed up as I got confused with the International Date Line and made arrangements for our pick up on Friday. The trouble was it was Thursday and our driver was not waiting for us.

Daeng made a phone call and thirty minutes later he was at the airport picking us up.

It was an uneventful trip to the Honey Lodge Hotel in Pattaya. Honey Lodge is an old hotel, right in the middle of the adult fun zone, next to the beach and the area know as "Walking Street". Although it is old and a little beat up it has nice folks running the place, fresh water swimming pool, hot water showers in our private bath, clean linen everyday and is really cheap at about $18 USD a night.

We'll after the looonnnnnngggggggg trip and the getting ready for the trip we were beat. We showered and went to sleep.

The next six days are kind of a blur, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, walk, eat, sleep, walk, eat, sleep more and now, at 8:00 AM, maybe we are over jet-lag. We are both up and talking about going to have breakfast at the morning market.

It is great to get my favorite fruit, pineapple, all cut up for only 10 TB a pineapple. That is about thirty-three cents each.

Pattaya is, I think, the second most visited area in Thailand. Everything a person could want can be had here. The beach is nice, although sometimes a little dirty. You can walk out into the warm ocean for hundreds of meters and still be only waist deep in water.

Every kind of food is available here due to the millions of tourists every year. This is the low season so it is not very crowded.

One of the foods I love is the kabob that our friend, "Mr. Kabab" has around the corner from our hotel. He really gets into cutting the meat making his kabobs.

If you would like more information about Pattaya go to Google.com and type "Pattaya".

We are going to spend the next four days here and then are going to fly to Chiang Rai on Sunday. Chiang Rai is the farthest north we can go by plane.

We will have to repack or Asia Airlines will charge us more for our two bags. We are about three kilograms (6.6 pounds) a bag to heavy.

Daeng will arrange for a car to take us the rest of the way to our home in Mae Sai on the Myanmar (Burma) Border.

We plan on spending the next two months working on our new home. We have a few repairs to do as well as get the master bedroom suite done along with a guest room or two.

That way we can have visitors during our spring trip.

For the master bedroom we need to put up one wall with door, have the closet cabinets built and put in the air conditioning system. I'm sure we will want to put in some new light fixtures, bed, furniture and television.

We also have some loose ends with Baan AYO Children's Shelter to work through. We know things will work out okay in the end.

We will write more soon. Until then we'll just let down our hair and have fun!

Thank You to Ron Brower's Office!

Without getting into to much detail I want to thank everyone at Ron Brower's Law Office for their help with a pressing problem as we were getting ready to leave for Thailand.

One of my Grand-Daughters was arrested in Los Angeles County and put in jail. I called Ron's office and his office not only helped to get her out of jail but talked to the District Attorney's Office and all charges were dis-missed.

If you ever have a legal problem it is our recommendation you call Ronald G. Brower, Esquire or Ellie Pullian at Brower & Associates, 1043 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana, California 92803. The Office telephone is 714-997-4400.

Because Ron Brower is a criminal attorney the telephone is answered 24/7.

A simpler way to say it is: "If you get in trouble call Ron Brower!"

We want to thank them again as everything was handled in a rapid manor so we did not have to worry about this family member as we left the United States of America for Thailand.

I would also like to add that although I don't agree with our legal system all the time it is the best system in the world.

Heart of a fifty year old.......

We are packing for the plane to Thailand tonight.

I thought I would let you know of the chemical stress test results from last Thursday.

I called the Doctor yesterday as he instructed me to after the test. He told me to have fun in Thailand as my heart looked really good for a fifty year old male. He also told me to stay off the treadmill. LOL

As I am age 68, I thanked him.

He said he was traveling to India next week. He also said he was thinking about a little trip to Thailand, too. He stated he would call us there if he makes it.

Yes, it is a small World.

Life Goes On!

Well, I went back to the Doctor's office at 5:00 PM. The waiting room was full and everyone was bitching about the Doctor not being there. I found myself telling everyone about him spending almost four hours with me the night before as he was worried about me.

Another patient started telling a similar story about the doctor helping him. I was kind of like a twelve step meeting as folks would talk starting with: "Hi, I'm so-in-so and I had a heart attack and here is what happened to me. I used to eat Mexican food at the local restaurant twice a day and after six years.........".

When he arrived things moved right along. The Doctor did another EKG, gave me some pills and told me to come back in two weeks and do another stress test with chemicals.

He told me to go on with my life and not to worry. I ask him if I should do my work crawling into 130 degree attics, etc.? He said to go ahead and do what I always do.

Live is good! It did scare me!

Stay away from doctors as they will make you sick! 09-01-2010

I feel great but about six weeks ago, one afternoon, I felt a little light headed. As I was brushing my teeth before taking a little nap, I put my hands on the bathroom sink and my head on my hands.

The next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor.

That scared me a little so a few days later I went to see Doctor James Sharkoff.

Before I go on with my story, let me say that I have been very impressed with the “Pueblo Medical Center” that Doctor James and his Dad have been running for many years.

What impresses me is they treat the patient first and then ask if they have any insurance or if they can pay. Most doctors want to know how you are going to pay before they treat you.

They are located at 8045 Cerritos Avenue, Stanton, California 90680. Their telephone number is 714-828-2444. If you need anything to do with medical care go see him. His office is open for “Walk-in” Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM until 6:00 PM and Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Well, during that visit Doctor James told me the EKG he did at that time looked okay he referred me to a Cardiologist, Doctor Devaraj. I called his office and made the first appointment I could for about a month later.

Last week I went to see Doctor Devaraj and we made an appointment for September 1st to do a “Treadmill Stress Test” where they hook you all up with wires and put you on the treadmill.

We arrived about 4:00 PM and did an Echo Cardiogram. Then they hooked me up to the machine and put me on the treadmill. I walked faster and faster until my heart rate came up over 140 beats for minute and then we stopped.

I could tell something was not right as the lady that was with the doctor got very anxious. After a few minutes of checking my heart rate and watching the monitor the Doctor told me that part of my heart was still going very fast. He used the words “Irregular Heart Rhythm”.

He then explained that part of my heart was slowing down but the other part was still going very fast. He also said that unless my heart leveled off he would have to take me next door to the “Emergency Room” at the hospital and treat me with intervenes drugs.

I told him I felt fine, just the way I always feel and he said that was his worry. This may be the reason for my “Passing Out” a few weeks ago.

I sat in the chair and we did all kinds of things like coughing hard and taking a deep breath then pushing like I was trying to go to the toilet. Nothing changed the rapid heart rate of the lower part of my heart.

I felt okay but after sitting in the chair for over an hour and trying the many things as described above I was put into a wheel chair and wheeled down in the elevator and next door to Anaheim General Hospital Emergency Room.

What made me realize that something was really wrong was Doctor Devaraj stayed with me ALL THE TIME including the walk; well I rode, to the hospital.

They hooked me up to a heart monitor again and watched. My blood pressure was very good but part of my heart was still going very fast.

They took a lot of blood samples. Then they started giving me drugs through a needle stuck in my arm as well as orally and a shot in my side.

To cut this story short, after about two hours my heart rate leveled out and the doctor told me he would allow me to go home if I promised to come back and see him at 5:00 PM tomorrow.

They monitored me for over an hour more and then unhooked me and let me go home. It really scarred me and I’ll be very interested in what the Doctor tells me when I return to see him today at 5:00 PM.

I am going to take it a little easier today without climbing into attics, etc.!

Stay away from Doctors as they will make you sick

OR

will they save your life.

More will be revealed!