More life changes abounded around us this week. Matt ended one job and prepared to start another. Luke excelled at football camp all week. Abby prepped for Pirateers premier and I was admitted to the hospital and was very lucky to make it out in time for Father’s Day. We saw what would’ve been Mom’s 65th birthday. We have a few new photos from this week but we have a TON of photos from others that are a little older – from Dad B’s phone/camera, from Gigi’s camera and from Abby’s trip to Washington D.C. In fact, we start off with Abby’s collection of DC pictures…
On Monday, I took the day off to recover from Matt’s graduation party. I was still feeling little strange but we got our weekly chores done around the house with help from the kids. Luke had football camp and later cleaned up his bike. I ordered Matt’s graduation pictures. We ran the old mower to the shop, only to find out a few days later that it was going to cost more that a new one, so we will look at buying a new one. Later, we had Bryan & Angie over to help finish off the keg and play cornhole until we couldn’t see any longer. Drew spent the night and the boys stayed up late.
On Tuesday, I had the day off again to finish up all our stuff. It was mow day. Luke & Drew helped me a lot. They both went to football camp in the morning. For some reason, I just didn’t have the energy to get the work done. We mowed at Mom & Sandy’s house and then back at our house through the rain. Abby had a doctor appointment in Columbus. The boys came with me and played catch while we waited for the girls. We came back to Greensburg and picked up Kama so they could practice Pirateers before they had practice at the high school that night. Matt worked at Ponderosa that night. Here are several pictures from Dad’s phone which includes Christmas 2013, Dad & Charlie at Rob’s house; Dad’s cruise with the Lipps; and Matt’s graduation. After those, we have pictures from Gigi’s camera of Matt’s prom, which I don’t think were used previously in the blog.
I went back to work on Wednesday. Luke had football camp again. It continued to rain but stopped in time for Luke to play baseball against the Rangers. Bryan was supposed to be gone, but had chest pains and so cancelled his business trip. However, we were missing two key players – our #4 & 5 hitters, who were also or starting catcher and 3rd baseman. Drew hurt his neck earlier in the week by jumping on a trampoline and was still hurting when he started for us against the Rangers. Unfortunately, Drew was ineffective and neither was our make-shift defense. Luke came in and gave us 3 good innings at pitcher, but we were still lacking on defense. We were in the game, but came out flat and we never could seem to get an out when we needed it. We still lost 6-10 for our 1st loss of the year. Luke played 1st base and batted 3rd. He was walked, got a single, was hit by pitch, stole a couple bases and scored a couple runs. Matt went out with his fellow senior wrestlers with their coaches to dinner and later had the boys over for cards. We have a ton of social media pictures to present this week, including Abby and her friends, Matt, our Week 19 pals, Gracie and her family, Barney and his family, graduation announcements, my long-lost cousin, Angie; the Smith family; lots of Scheumanns; Mike & Nat with Brayton; friends at Indy; dead celebrities; new Led Zep releases; old Lafayette pix; Luke & Bu on the square; Timm family at Disney; and some odds ‘n ends…
Matthew now has two jobs! He worked at Ponderosa after he interviewed at Mesco and got a full-time job! That was very cool of Bryan and his team to give Matt a chance at making some serious money (for a high school kid’s summer job!). Thank you to the fine folks at Mesco for this opportunity. It would’ve been Mom’s 65th birthday. I felt bad for Dad. He was stuck at Sharon’s with out his computer and kept getting all these birthday wishes from folks on Facebook – see he took over Mom’s account when she passed away. One of the things we forgot to change was the birthday associated with the account. I finally posted on his page that it was Mom’s birthday and not his and that we would get that changed for him when he got back home next week. Abby again had Pirateers practice. Luke went to Oakley’s house for a pool party. Matt went out with his friends until late that night. It was competition day at Football Camp for Luke and he did awesome – finishing 1st or 2nd in every category!! Way to go, buddy!!
I felt weird after dinner again last night and I slept with that same discomfort in my chest all night and work up with it on Friday morning. I felt bad all morning, but no worse than I really had for the past week and a half. Our Nursing Director and my good friend Dennis both urged me to seek help. Ann had me call the doctor’s office and they told me just to go to the ER. So I finished lunch, got my paperwork caught up and headed to the ER, which I was sure was a waste of time. However, I walked in the door and told the gal at the desk I was having chest discomfort. Within a minute, I was in a chair, being wisked away to the back, placed on a bed, stripped of my clothes and flat on my back with a team of a dozen folks working in unison around me. I tell ya, they diagnosed me, had a plan and executed it professionally. I really couldn’t have asked for better treatment…it was like they were waiting on me to come in or something. Within 5 minutes, I was on my back in the heart-cath room, having my heart operated on. They were able to finally break open a blockage with 100% occlusion on an inferior artery after about 3 hours. They had an open-heart specialist standing by and also had me on a pace maker, just in case. I never realized how close I came to really being in trouble. I am incredibly lucky to have a third lease on life now. Let’s hope I can finally get my head out of my ass and make life changes that actually stick this time. The nasty block I had could’ve blown out an artery or a vein and I could’ve been in big trouble…to think that I had this heart attack about 10 days ago and still was able to walk around and function isn’t the miracle – the fact that I did all this and am able to write this blog entry – that is the miracle. Much in the same way that Mom was able to dodge death at about age 35 with her aneurysm because she had two children yet to raise properly, I apparently am not done with my work here on Earth either and maybe I’ll have another 30 years to continue my work here. I was moved to the ICU but had to remain flat on my back for 14 hours before I could finally move. The final couple hours were absolute torture as my back was killing me.
At 3 am on Saturday, I was finally released to get up. I wasted no time getting up and walking. Saturday was all about taking it easy. I did have an echo cardiogram that showed the three new stints in my heart were doing a fantastic job and that I was very lucky to sustain very, very little damage to my heart muscle. Again, a true testament to hard work of my cardiology team at CRH – they were great – and my lovely wife who forced me to go find out what was happening to my body. My ailing organ felt better than it had in a very long time. Ann brought Matt & Abby up to see me and Mom & Sandy also stopped in to check up on me. Meanwhile, Luke was back in Greensburg, completely unaware. He played a game on Friday night, against the Reds. It was the first game of any type that I missed of his, I believe. If not, it was one of only a handful. Thank you to Trevor Hellmich for filling in for Bryan and I who were both unavailable. We faced the Reds and did very good, winning 11-0. Luke went 0-2 with a walk and a pair of groundouts. He played 1st and also pitched. Luke says he pitched 3 innings but I think he only threw two. Anyhow, he had a couple strikeouts and ended the game with a play at the plate where he tagged the guy out! They were back at it on Saturday. This time, the boys faced off against the Giants. This team has a record very similar to ours and has a couple of kids that play on the all-star team with Luke & Drew. We had both of our regular games rained out this year, so it was the first time we were actually facing them. Since Luke had spent the night with the Messers, I was sure the boys probably didn’t sleep much. So it was no surprise that the boys came out flat and got down big early. I don’t know exactly why we lost, but the kids made it close in the end but still ended up losing 8-9. Luke played 1st base and pitched two innings. Again, I was told that Luke was very effective and pitched really well. He was 1-1 with a single and a pair of walks. Luke and Drew spent the night at Oakley’s house and so he still didn’t get much sleep.
Sunday was Father’s Day. Thankfully, I got released early and was back home before noon. I was on ordered couch rest, so poor Ann had to endure a NASCAR race, the US Open and the NBA finals (my boys were upset that the Heat lost, but I was glad to see it). I got visits from both Bryan & Angie and Mom & Gigi. Otherwise, it was a nice, quiet day that was uneventful. I called both Dad S & Dad B for Father’s Day. It was good to talk to both of them. I’m sure it’s hard to hear that your child has had a heart attack, but they were both positive and encouraging. It was a calm ending to a hectic week. Who knows what next week will bring in this family…
Next up is our Waybac section. We lead off with Grandmaw Connie with her sister Norma and their mom in September ’78, followed by a pair of good pictures a month later of the Morgan family with Grandmaw, Grandpaw, Aunt Norma, Great Aunt Louise and Great Grandma & Grandpa on Elmwood Ave; then in December at Uncle Keith’s hose with the Morgans and then back on Elmwood Ave with Grandmaw and Schnapps; next we go out to California in July of 1979 where Mom (ever the nut) wrote on the back of the picture this caption, “Here’s the lost little child in the tomato vines. Now I know how I was born – you found me in the tomato patch!??? ??? Next we come back to Indiana and head to Attica where Grandpaw & Grandmaw were visiting Great Grandpa Morgan in October of ’79 and then later that night Grandpaw Bob showing off his mustache with Schnappsy; then Rob at 6 days old out in Cali in November of ’79; Rob’s baptism in Cali a month later with his God parents Ed and Sharlet; my Christmas choir thing in the same month in Temple City; back in Lafayette in January of 1980 for a couple pictures of a party at Aunt Norma’s house (pictured, I see Great Grandpa – I think it was his b-day – my cousins Wendy & Steven, Aunt Karen, Mom, Rob & I; Grandpaw’s new car in April ’80; a few pix of our vacation in Monticello at the Big Chief Lodge on Lake Schaeffer, just next door to Indiana Beach in August of ’82 – we had a great time there with the Crums and Grandmaw & Grandpaw; our little puppy Peanuts in August of ’83; Great Grandma Brown’s house in Rossville in October ’83 (this is house is no longer standing – they had it torn down shortly after this picture was taken); Grandpaw with Rob & Peanuts in Lafayette in October ’83; Rob & I opening presents for our bday on Rockwood St in ’85; Rob with the Thorn Apple Valle Special in November of ’85; Rob with his precious SantaBear and is that a Bears poster in his room?? In December ’86; Abby & Mommy in January 2003; at the Dixon Dance Revue with Grandpa and Luke in the audience while Abby performed for the 1st time on stage in May of ’04; Mom & Dad B at Nathan’s swearing-in ceremony in June of ’04 with Haleigh; and finally Matt & Ann on Christmas Day in 2005.
We have an entry for the Shit that Luke Says. Why is that when you add a black guy and a white girl or a black girl and a white guy, they make an Indian? However this week, it came from my good buddy, Bryan, who summed it up best and gave me a good laugh when I really need it. He said, “You crazy son of a bitch – you’re the only person I know that celebrates a heart attack with a kegger!??? And then Angie followed up with the classic, “I can’t believe I got my ass kicked at cornhole by a guy who was having a heart attack…how embarrassing!??? ???
Next up is our video section, which includes two new family videos and a ton of others from around the internet.
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And that does it for this week’s entry of the Scheu Family Blog. I’m glad I was able to bring you at least one more. Let’s hope there’s a lot more to come. Thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you next time. Until then, have a good one. We miss ya Mom. Guess I’ll see you later rather than sooner…
– Scheu