Austin Hogan - Update

[Jean Swanson]

As most of you know ,Austin went into the hospital abt. a month ago for open heart surgery . As of late , he has had some compications and the results have pulled him down a bit . I think it would be nice for every PGCA member to send him a "get well" card to his New Hampshire address. Allan Swanson

[Dave Suponski]

Great idea Allan! Thank You!

[John Truitt]

Have we heard how Dr. Hogan is doing?

He is in our prayers.

John

[Jean Swanson]

I just heard from Austin's wife , Pam. Austin is still having difficulty health wise. Keep the cards flowing to his home address of 41 Barton Road --Piermont ,NH 03779-0021 . Austin needs to know that he is in our prayer and thought . Allan

[Bill Murphy]

Thanks for the update, Allan, and Happy Birthday. Murphy

[Dean Romig]

I believe in Austin Hogan.

[Dean Romig]

The latest word on Austin, as of yesterday afternoon, is that he's at home and doing very, very well. That is the best news I've had in a long, long time. Austin had us very concerned but our prayers were answered. Welcome back Austin!! :smiley7:

[Richard Flanders]

Austin is most definitely in the "Invicible"-grade category... Hope we'll hear from him soon on these pages.

[Robin Lewis]

Austin sent me an email and asked me to post it on the forum, it follows (it sure was good to hear from him).....
I entered Dartmouth Hospital 14 March 2011 for open heart surgery to correct a leaking aortic valve. I was a pretty young healthy 74 year old at the time, and the physical recovery seemed to be going well. I was able to walk 3/8 mile to the main road by early April. I had difficulty eating and sleeping, and dreams that bordered on hallucinations. I had lost 30 pounds before surgery and I consulted both surgeon and family doctor (Dr Ernst Oidtmann ) I signed up for cardiac physical therapy at the local ( Woodsville Cottage) hospital. Around 15 May I became "dozy" and would fall asleep instantly so I quit driving. Pam took me to PT on Friday 20 May although I didn't really feel up to it. I went through the warm up round of exercises and really felt bad a few minutes into the first round and stopped. The leader helped me to chair and gave me a glass of water. She came back and asked what was wrong and I couldn't respond intelligently. She called Pam and the hospital ER and I was taken to the ER. They examined me and Pam stayed with me. They discharged me on Sunday.

According to DR O my thyroid system had gotten weak and I couldn't digest anything. He got it started and I could eat a little. He examined me again Tuesday and decided I had lost it upstairs. He called Pam and began making arrangements for examinations at the Dartmouth hospital. We checked in early Saturday 29 May. I remember only a few days and exams ( MRI's, etc) but not the encephalograms and other multi hour exams. I was able to eat a little on the last few days as my thyroid came to life. I was discharged Monday 20 June to find a dead transmitter on my satellite link; I was customer 25018. They replaced it yesterday.

Hypothesis; Thyroid failure caused failure of blood chemistry; shallow breathing caused collection of carbon dioxide and acidification of blood. I am wearing a pump to bed to stop this.

So far so good ; I am eating and sleeping well at home. If you are ever sick but don't know why, go to a medical school hospital. If you ever loose it upstairs you will only know if your friends tell you after you recover.
The message above was extracted from a message I sent to to my kids and my cousinslast night.

FIRST! My Parker Pages arrived yesterday. I will read it today , but it certainly looks great! Dean and Dave did a great job ; and I see the best of collector magazines continuing well without me.

It is pretty wet and nasty here, but I have been walking around the yard, and down the driveway and then down the town road twice a day. My surefootedness and posture are coming back; I need to work on my wind and muscular conditioning. We think my mind is back. I am now sleeping 9 hrs a night, compared to zero through the time I entered the hospital, and eating 3/4 of my amount of a year ago.

Thanks for all those prayers, that came from beneath all kinds of steeples, all over the country. Good friends make life worth living, bless you all.

Austin

[Howard Loewensteiner]

Dear Austin: This is great news. Glad to hear your on the mend.You are one of the finnest gentlemen I have had the fortune to meet. God bless, Howard

[Bruce Day]

Welcome back, Austin. We missed you.

[Dean Romig]

Austin, Welcome back to the fold - you were missed by all. Please don't do that again ;)

[Joe Wood]

My goodness, Austin! I can't adequately express how much we missed you. You're a very important part of our lives. Prayers continue for you.

P.S. Just picked up a VH 16 on an 0 frame with 26" tubes I think you'd approve of. Believe it spent most of its life in the grouse woods of upstate New York. Now it's gonna get a chance at Texas bobwhites.....if it'll ever rain.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Austin, great to hear from you. It has been said that it is hard to put a good man down, and my friend, you are truly a good man. Get well you are in my prayers! Gary

[Bill Murphy]

Austin, I believe your replacement needs some assistance in his new job. You may consider putting in a day or two a week to get him in line.

[Francis Morin]

And that includes the almost 70 friends through our Private messsage sector, as well as others- But the place of honor at the head of the table has to go to Austin--truly a gentleman, a educated man, and what impresses me the most about him- he has that rare ability to explain complicated things (engineering disciplines) to anyone, no matter their education or background, and make it clear and simple- I think of Austin when I recall the line from one of my all time favorite poems- "IF" by Rudyard Kipling-- "If you can walk with kings and consorts, and not lose the common touch--" best wishes to both Austin and Pam and their family- from our PGCA family--

[John Davis]

Bill, I sincerely hope that I have misinterpreted the context of your post. Not hard to do on the computer.

First, we are all thrilled to have Austin back and getting up to speed. And we look forward to his continued efforts as Editor of the Parker Pages. Austin's recent illness was unexpected and took us all by surprise. His recovery took longer and was more difficult than anticipated. We are lucky we even had a Summer issue of Parker Pages and if not for Dean Romig we wouldn't have. Dean stepped up when we needed him most and every member of the PGCA owes him a great debt of gratitude. It is my opinion that this was an outstanding issue of the Journal. And if the general membership had any idea of the trials faced in getting it compiled and published they would understand just how special it really is. Thanks again Dean, and Austin we're glad to have you back.

John Davis

[Dean Romig]

Bill is an artist of "tongue-in-cheek" comments and that is how I took his post - no offense taken - no hard feelings - none of that. Bill and I get along pretty well. We rib each other once in a while but, all in all, we get along fine.

I spoke with Austin this evening. He sounds great! I'm glad he's back on top of his game!
Austin told me that he'll be ready to take charge of the Spring Edition of Parker Pages and I'll be ready to lend every assistance that I possibly can when he's back in the pilot's seat.

As an aside, giving credit where credit is due, Austin had a fair portion of Parker Pages edited prior to the turning point where I had to assume the responsibility of getting it finished... it was certainly "crunch time" by then and there was some 'scrambling' to be done. In any case, it got done and that's the point.

Speaking of credit where it is due, there is a certain "genious" layout artist at Village Press by the name of Brandon Hoffman who puts together all the text files and graphics (or photo) files we send him and he formats them and modifies them and assimilates them all into the finished product we know as "Parker Pages". I am amazed by his professionalism and dedication to our fine publication... My hat's off to Brandon. Please take a bow sir.

[Dave Suponski]

I also spoke with Austin and Pam last evening. It was great to hear both of their voices. Austin told me he felt he was feeling better by the day but there is a way's to go yet. As Austin put it"three weeks in a hospital bed makes a man soft"

He also expressed his sincere "Thank You" for all the cards,letters,emails and phone calls that he has recieved. As Austin put it being the humble man that he is " We had no idea we had so many friends" It was a great phone visit....I really missed talking to him over the last few month's.

Keep up the good work Mr. Hogan....:)

[Bill Murphy]

One of the disadvantages of being a "mugwump" is that a comment can be taken more than one way. Obviously, I was teasing Austin about the excellent quality of his and Dean's work on our wonderful rag. As most of you know, when I am on a rant, you will recognize it.