JamesHoag.com

Thursday, March 12 was a tough day. We needed to go to St George to a funeral on Friday. Barb’s sister-in-law’s father passed away and since Barb knew the gentle man, she wanted to attend his funeral. So, we decided to go down on Thursday and go to the St George Temple with Matt and Step in the afternoon.

So, we spent the morning driving to St George where we hooked up with Matt and Steph and the four of us headed for the Temple. We got into the 12:40 session. Now this may not seem significant except that neither Barb nor I have gone to the temple in a long time. I am in lot worse shape now than I was the last time I went through and I worried about how I would do. It was tough, but we made it.

Then we got back to Matt’s only to hear that Chad was in the hospital and ready to have open-heart surgery on Friday. So, after the spirit of the temple, we now were very worried about Chad. He had surgery on Friday and, I understand, is doing very well. We are so glad that he is pulling through this and hope he’s back on his feet soon.

Get well soon, Chad. We all love you and have you in our prayers.

Dad

Well, I’ve taken a month or so off from this blog. I feel like it might be time to start writing again. I’ve found some stuff from when I went to high school which I don’t think I have mentioned before, so I will be posting that in the coming days. I also found a journal I wrote from about the years 1975 until the mid eighties. It covers leaving North Dakota and some of the time living in Eyota. I think you all might be interested in some of that. So, I guess the history is not done after all.

 Also, I had sort of stopped when I met Barb. I wasn’t sure if you all were interested in what had happened since, but I think I should write some about it. That’s part if my life, too.

So, I guess I’m back. We’ll see how it goes. As a point of news, Barb and I went to the Hale Theater in Orem on Saturday night (Feb 28) to see a play (musical) called “All Shook Up”. It takes place in the fifties and reminded me of the movie “Footloose”. However, it contains nothing but Elvis Presley songs. This guy comes to this small town on a motorcycle. They have a bunch of laws against public kissing and dancing and, in general, having fun. He is like Elvis and swivels his hips and sings all of the rockin’ Elvis songs. They try to arrest him and run him out of town, but the local kids all become converted to him and in the end everybody is dancing.

It’s a fun play and a very enjoyable two hours. We ate dinner at Red Lobster before we went to the play. Then we had a nice dinner at home on Sunday. So, I got two good dinners and a play for our anniversary. By the way, this is nine years. Not bad for the second time around. 

More later….

Dad 

I just discovered a very cool coincidence. It’s actually a result of the way the days of the year are laid out, but it’s still cool. I noticed that 2009 has exactly the same calendar as 1942, the year I was born.

Now, that’s not a real rare event but it only happens every six or eleven years. The last time it happened was 1998. So, it’s been eleven years since it last happened. It’s only happened about 6 times since I was born. Now, I’m not one to believe in signs or astrology or anything like that. But when I noticed this, I decided that this will me my year. I will probably retire this year. (That’s more up to AMEX than me) I will get my business to be profitable.

I am pumped. 2009 is the year!

Dad

I actually wrote this on the 1st. Took me a few days to get it in the blog.

It’s Jan 1, 2009 and a new year has started. We just got back from a night in Wendover, NV. We went to a concert which featured The Comets and then had dinner and rang in the new year. You probably have never heard of the Comets, but you might remember “Rock Around the Clock”. It was a big hit in the 50’s and some say, the first rock and roll song. It was done by Bill Haley and the Comets. Well, Haley died several years ago and the Comets are going on without him, playing the old rock music of the 50’s.

Needless to say, it was great. They had 5 members of the band, but only 3 were originals. One is 74 years old, one is 75 and the drummer is 84 years old. I am 66 and can barely walk. This guy is 84 and can play the drums for 2 hours in a fast paced, high energy concert. They were really great. They said they are opening for an extended run in Branson, MO at Andy Williams’ show room. Barb and I are trying to figure out how to get to Branson so we can see them again.

It brought back the memory of  something that happened to me a few years ago. I think I was working at Magellan, but it might have been before that. A fellow came to work in our area and some of the guys told him that I was pretty knowlegable in music. He was very sceptical. So, he said to me: If you know so much, tell me this. What is the song that’s on the flipside of the original 45 record for “Rock Around the Clock”? You have probably already guesed that I knew the answer. I have the original 45 of the song and the B-side is called “Thirteen Women”. This guy was so impressed. He said he had never found someone who knew the answer to that question. I thought about this during the concert as we listened to the orginal band doing “Rock Around the Clock”.

Dad

I’ve probably said most of this before, but I got a call this morning from Matt and he said he had been thinking about me and my Dad (grandpa to him) and how we were veterans. So, I’ve been thinking about that all day. I was never too close to my Dad, but I’m proud of the fact that he served in the Army during World War II. You might remember that he spent most of his tour of duty in Italy.

Italy was part of the Axis along with Germany and was definitely our enemy. My Dad spent basic training in Kansas where my mother went to visit him when I was a baby. Then he sent to Italy where he fought until he got shot in the leg by an Italian bullet. Wounded, the war was over for him and after a time in the hospital, he came home. He received a Purple Heart for that bullet.

Unfortunately, when he got home he had decide that he didn’t want to be married anymore. The war had done something to him to make him want to be on his own. So he left and my mother raised me by herself. At least for awhile.

I am technically a veteran, even though I never fought in a war. I was enlisted in the Air Force during a time that is officially considered part of the Vietnam War. Today, I’m considered a veteran for things like VA loans (if I wanted one).

A few weeks ago, I went to a concert at the Church Conference Center. They had patriotic portion of the presentation and they asked everyone in the audience who where in the various services to stand while they played the theme song of that service. When they announced everyone who was in the Air Force, I stood with about 50 other guys while they played “Wild Blue Yonder” which is the Air Force’s theme song. I was really proud to have served my country. I never fired a gun (except on a rifle range), but I did contribute something to the country by my efforts and I’m proud of that.

I really enjoyed the four years I spent in the service. I gave a lot of thought to re-enlisting, but knew that a career in the service wasn’t really in my future.

Dad

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. I looked up the word epidural on the web and it seems to just apply to pregnant women. Since that isn’t me, maybe it was another word. At any rate, I spent most of the day today at the hospital getting a needle stuck in my back. I was scheduled to go in at 2:15. They called and told me to come at 11 instead. Then they made me wait in the little room for two hours before they took me into the operating room.

They lay you face down on the operating table, then they inject stuff in your IV for pain. Then they inject something they called “like valium” except without the side effects. This was intended to mellow me out, but that is the last thing I remember as I’m pretty sure I fell asleep or passed out or something. Anyway, the next I knew I was being rolled back into the little room where Barb was waiting for me.

While I was out, they injected cortisone into my spine. I think this is the same drug that athletes take to improve their performance. I had it in my mind to ask the doctor before they injected me if this meant I’d never be able to play professional ball again, but I passed out so fast that I forgot. I think it would have been a good joke, though.

I am home now and for a short while after the procedure, I felt really good. I think that was the drugs talking. I told Barb maybe I need to become a drug addict. I’m totally down now, but I think it’s working a little. My legs are still numb when I walk, but they don’t hurt near so much. We’ll see how long it lasts. I think I’m going to need more than just a shot for long term relief. I’ll keep you all up to date.

Love, Dad

It’s time to bring you all up to date on my medical problems. I am finding it harder and harder to walk these days and finally decided to go back to my doctor and complain. I told him if this was the way it’s going to be the rest of my life, then OK, I will live with it, but if there was any way to fix it, then I wanted to do that.

I have, basically, two problems. My legs go numb and then start to hurt after I’ve been on my feet for more than a minute or so. The back surgery I had last year was supposed to fix that but didn’t. It really had no effect at all. The second problem is that I get out of breath just crossing a room.

So, my doctor started working on the first problem by sending me to an imaging service to get a MRI. I had that done last week and the results came back saying I have two pinched nerves in my back. This is certainly causing me the back pain I feel and may be causing the leg problems also. So, they want to start by giving me a cordisone shot in the spin. They did that last year and it had no effect. But, we are going to try it again. I am going to have that done next Wednesday, October 22. If that doesn’t help, I may need surgery again. We’ll see.

I also had an appointment this week with my sleep doctor who is interested in my sleep apnea and how things are going in that respect. So, while I was there, I asked him about the shortness of breath. He said that shortness of breath can be caused by my conditioning (overweight), but more likely it was caused by some kind of heart problem. The heart is not delivering enough blood to the lungs or something like that. The lungs are not functioning properly and I can’t breathe when I have a little exersion (like walking or getting out of a chair)

So, I have to go back to my cardiologist and get another test on my heart. The doctor said there are medications I can take to fix the breathe problem. So, we’ll see what happens. It sucks to get old. I just don’t want to spend the years I have left felly miserable all the time if it can be helped.

I will try to keep you all up to date on what’s happening. Thank God for insurance. Talk to you again.

Dad 

The only posts I have put on this site in last few months have been my continuing life story. I think I need to write once in a while about what is happening to me right now. That, after all, is also part of my life story, but I’m going to post these in a different category. I’ve called it “Current” and while you all can read them if you want, if you don’t want to (I have people reading this that aren’t family members), then just skip the posts that start with the word: Current.

So, last night, Barb and I attended the O C Tanner Gift of Music: “The American Songbook”. It was at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake and free to attend. You just had to go on the church website and signup for tickets. We had really good seats. We saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony. There were two guest singers who were great. They sang Broadway songs from “Ragtime” and “Man of La Mancha”. The choir was part of almost every song and it was so cool. I thought to myself. Surely, this must be what heaven is like. We don’t need to just listen to hymns to be spiritual. There is much other great music that inspires you and makes you feel good.

The conductor announced the last song and then they started into it. I noticed some people begin to leave (to get an early jump on the traffic, I guess). Barb and I have a rule. We don’t leave until it’s over. We stayed and they did two more encores after finishing what what on the schedule. The choir did “Battle Hymn of the Republic” which is kind of their signature song and the only song by the choir to actually hit the Top 40. In fact, it was Top 10. Then the orchestra did “Stars and Strips Forever” which was a number one song in the early 1900’s by John Philip Sousa.

It was wonderful. Many people had left by the time the concert had actually finished, but we are so glad we stayed. It was worth the extra time it took us to get out of the parking lot and on our way home. This is the lesson I learned: Sometimes, the best things happen to us in the final moments of our life. If I had left when the concert was supposed to be over, I’d have missed two of the best performances of the night. As I get older, I’ve been feeling lately, that life is pretty much over. But the concert is not over. My life is not over. I still have time to do some great things. Sometimes, the truly great things happens late in the concert.
Dad