Took a road trip to Santa Fe so my wife could visit with her brother and family. Her brother and family are German nationals but live in Raleigh, NC. The brother is the CEO of a major German corporation and travels each week between the US and Germany. The family, except for one daughter, lives in the US. The youngest girl got a highly competitive internship at the famous Santa Fe Opera. She is studying costume design in college and this was a real opportunity for her to advance her education in a real world environment.

Anyway , the family gathered in Santa Fe for a week of visitation. I was really looking forward to visiting some Indian ruins in the area. I got to visit two sites but on the night of the forth day, I had a heart attack and had to be hospitalized. Did an angioplasty, my stint from last year was 90% clogged. So four days of my vacation was spent in ICU.

I was in Christus St. Vincent Hospital. Most of the nursing staff are Pueblo Indians. They are without a doubt the most courteous, polite people that I have ever been around. I know that I am generalizing, but this is my second experience of being involved with this culture and I have yet to meet a single member who was not soft spoken and very polite. I received the best of care and following a day of rest, we drove home to Texas.

I one day hope to return to that area to finish my exploration of the many Indian ruins. I'll post some photos soon of some of the sites that I visited. Just laying low right now until I recover.

I also have found that the Pueblos are very friendly, more so than Navajos. However, our last trip to the Four Corners area resulted in a differing opinion. The Navajos were much more friendly==probably just good customer service.

On the other hand, the Anglos in Santa Fe were real "snobs". We were fleeing a snowstorm down from Denver and made it to Santa Fe before nightfall, trying to head west through "Flag town". In the lobby of Motel Six some women (dressed in a real fur jacket, fancy watch, etc) was complaining to the clerk in the lobby that the ice machine was empty. She was very condescending and looked down her nose at me while I waited. I remarked "You're staying at a Motel Six just like the rest of us". The rest of the town seemed to have that attitude.

Dang Master chief, that's tough. Glad you pulled through okay.

I personally think your wife is wrong, and your still a long way from your use-by date.

I'm praying for you.

Master Chief,
Glad to read that you avoided DJ's locker. Sorry to hear that your trip was so disrupted. Do go back. There is much to see. I have done all of NM on 8 different trips there. Always found the Native. American to be helpful with exception of a few. There are always a few off the mark in any culture.

Hope that you reach full speed very quickly and get back to normal feeling good. Best wishes.

Master Guns

I hope your recovery is swift and complete.Please take care of yourself and get well before exploring any more Indian ruins.And I am looking forward to your stories when you do.

Darn Sir, im sending a prayer on your behalf to the Lord for a full recovery. Hang tight and may the winds fill your sails to the fullest with lightning speeds.

Glad you're better. Please get unclogged and on with it!
The young girl, she singing or cutting cloth? Either way, all the best to her and the rest.

She is sewing and fitting costumes and helping principles ( what I learned they call the stars) change clothes during changes in scenes. She is however, an accomplished singer in her own right. Her older sister is attending a German university for the arts as an opera singer.

Mine and my families prayers are with you Master Chief.

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

I believe anyone who spent 4 days in ICU on "vacation" does not have to count ANY of the days as vacation, so you get a complete do-over. I am sure there is a government regulation or case law somewhere that says that.

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Possum—The other white meat!

Master Chief I'm certain sorry to hear of your " event" but more glad to hear you're up and about - even if it is slowly for now.

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"Your other right........."

Recover fast, Master Chief!!

Sorry your vacation was interrupted by the cardiac event. Hope every
thing works out for the good. Glad you were treated well by our native
American sisters and brothers. I worked with a lot of Navajos on railroad
gangs in my younger days, and always found them to be hard working,
well mannered, and great senses of humor.

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In Omnia Paratus

Best of luck and good health to you Master chief. Please come back. New Mexico is truly the Land of Enchantment! Santa Fe is called "the city different" for a good reason.

MSter Chief,

Need a status report. In other words, how the hell are you doing now.

Master Guns

I just caught this thread. I pray that your recovery time is short and trouble free.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I'm back in El Paso. After my release, I started coughing up dark blood, had real difficulty breathing. Had an appointment with my pulmonary doctor on Thursday, by then my oxygen level was up to 98% and the coughing had diminished considerably. He thought the oxy I had been given in the hospital had caused a nose bleed which had drained into my lungs. Anyway, I have follow up appointments with him.

Wednesday I see the cardiologist. The hospital had already made a courtesy call to him to inform him of my circumstance. They also sent him two disc with all the test and surgery findings. Right now I'm feeling some better each day. The wife mother hens me a lot but that's to be expected.

Chief,

Glad to hear you are feeling better each day. Dealing with the medicine induced nose bleeds sounds awful. Good that your different practioners are communicating. That's good medicine.
Keep up the progress and be sure to get a lot of rest. Best wishes for a speedy full recovery.

First, Chief glad to here your health is improving and that you liked New Mexico.

Second, I spent my LE career in NM and spent a lot of time in Santa Fe and among the Pueblo people and the Navajo. My son in law in Navajo & Laguna. Native Americans are just like anyone else they have good and bad. Navajo do tend to be more private and less talkative. Native New Mexicans (anglo & hispanic) are great people and I am proud to be a New Mexican.

Santa Fe, OTOH, is a world in itself, rich in history and full of native New Mexicans and Native Americans it is also the adopted home of the rich and famous and frankly they have given it the snobby touch. A shame!

Note:I retired to Arizona because NM is one of the few states that taxes Social Security, and I already give the feds enough money!

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Support your Police, & NRA

Masterchief, im very glad to hear you are sailing in fair winds with full sails again. I hate not having access to this site at a liberal-controlled work-place--or id be able to keep up on things.

Take care sir.

Amigo, when you come back up, be sure to give me a shout, eh?

Glad to hear you got good care in SF. The hospital has been nicknamed "St. Victim's" for a while and while I worked in SF I told my co-workers that even if my head got cut off, they should pack it on ice and drive me to Albuquerque for treatment.

Not going to get into the issues between the Pueblos and the Dine, but I've got good friends in both camps and some who manage to share both heritages successfully. One such lives in SF, and is a shooter and a fine guy. People are people, eh?

So glad you got good treatment and are still with us so you can enjoy your next visit. Seriously, let me know before you head up next time.

(And BearBio, that story is a pretty good precis of the snooty SF crowd. Nice one!)

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Now go make God proud...