In Case You Have Been Wondering . . . . .

[fl_slotter]

I'd just like to let y'all know that I have NOT walked away from the hobby of slot car racing, scratchbuilding nor Old Weird Herald.

For almost the past year and a half I have been working towards finding out the cause for the loss of feeling in both of my arms and hands. It's kind of scary when you are working with a Dremel tool and change the orientation of your hand and the Dremel drops while still running with a cut off blade in it. That was due to the fact that I could not feel the weight of the Dremel nor how tight I was holding it. Fortunately I saw it happen and made the conscience decision to just drop the tool.

Finally I talked my doctor into doing an MRI. This showed the problems with my arms. I had contacted a neurosurgeon and we had planned on doing some surgery to correct the problem.

During the pre-op at the hospital, the anesthesiologist wanted a clearance from my cardiologist because of my age.

To make a long story short, during the course of getting that clearance, I found out that I had 3 blockages in my heart. Two of them at 80% and one at 90%. So it was time for bypass surgery.

I am healing up from that and am on a very restrictive regiment. I can't do more things than I am allowed to do. So I am waiting for the clearance to come so I can get back to doing what I enjoy doing best.

Getting old is not a FUN thing to do.

[brassy]

So sorry to hear of your health issues, Marty. Hope the docs can get you restored to "showroom" soon.

Yeah, my late mother always said, "Son, don't get old. You won't like it..."

All the best,

Greg

[oldweirdherald]

Getting old is not a FUN thing to do.

Getting old may suck... but it sure does beat the heck out of the alternative! LOL

Wow - I guess the one blessing in this case is that dropping the Dremel caused you to get to the doctor... where you were able to get diagnosed and treated for a much bigger problem then just building "toy car" chassis! If this problem had not been diagnosed in time, you might have had much worse things happen then just dropping a Dremel, and it sounds like you could have even had a serious heart attack.

Take care of yourself, and do whatever regiment your doctor recommends! The slot cars will still be around for whenever you are ready and able, and we'll still be here for you to keep tabs on the slot car world and the many friends and fans you have made here.

Thanks for letting us know - and I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery!

Paul K @ OWH

[Bill from NH]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Marty. My wife's twin brother had bypass surgery last summer, so I sort of know what you're going through. I'm hoping those clearances come soon. There's a partial build article of yours on HRW I want to see completed.

[Tex]

Get well soon, Marty. It's counter-intuitive to look at it this way, but the problems with your arms/hands was a good thing. Only by looking into fixing THEM did you discover the heart problems, undoubtedly the more critical of your issues. Take one thing at a time, Marty; we'll see you soon enough. Thanks for the update!

[mjsh]

Hope you're doing better soon! Maybe we will see you at the Viper Pit.

.........................Michael Shepard

[Professor Fugly]

Marty,
Sorry to hear of your struggles.
I hope you heal up quickly and get back to the Fun Stuff.

Best regards and health.
Gator Bob

[CMF3]

As many of you know, and I am happy to say, Marty has been a good friend of mine since the first time we started swapping scratchbuilding thoughts through e-messages. When we finally got together, and every time subsequent, we were like two kids showing each other our toys (ask his wonderful wife, Barb, who would just look at us, shake her head and smile).

I still keep Marty appraised of the wire weirdness running through my noggin, since he has the most hands-on with the oddball contraptions I keep trying to see if I can put together. I am certainly looking forward to the next time Joey and I can make the run up to “Marty’s-ville” for more slot car silliness and generally good fun times.

And rest assured if the medical professionals give him the thumbs-up, I’ll be on my way to Umatilla to throw him and his toys in the car with my stuff, and off to the raceways we will go! Viper Pit? You can rest assured we have already considered that possibility. So please keep thinking good vibes, sending prayers and fingers crossed. I will.

(Always your friend, Marty,)

Rick

[Mike Patterson]

Please get well soon, Marty. Old telephone men are getting harder and harder to find!

[fl_slotter]

To All:

Thanks for the well wishes.

Trust me when I say my wife is making sure ALL doctor's orders are followed . . . . to the "T".

Recovery is coming along slow, but steady.

Now if I can just get the clearance to get the original problem corrected.

And Hell Yeah, if I can make the race at The Viper Pit in June, I'm in!