This year's Philmont fishing expedition was unusual to say the least !
The fishing was very good, but the size of the trout, (rainbows &
browns) was nothing to brag about or take pics of. The largest caught
was maybe 14". Most were around 10". But, the number caught and
released was outstanding.
I only fished a short while. One hour on Friday morning and two hours
that afternoon. By then my ankle had had it. It was swelled up to the
point that I couldn't get my wading boot on. After resting till late
afternoon, I slipped on my flip flops and eased down to the Rayado and
sat on a rock and soaked my ankle in the cold water. That helped some,
but I'd do no more fishing during the weekend !
At one o'clock Sat. morning, my friend Dick Spinn woke up our mutual
friend Dr. Steve Corwin, MD( the three of us always ride out to Philmont
together), and told him he'd had bad indigestion since supper time.
Steve gave Dick two Zantac and that seemed to help. However, when we
got up at 6 a.m. Dick was still hurting, so we called the Philmont EMT
and he came and took Dick's blood pressure. It was elevated. So. . .
Steve and I took Dick to the hospital in Raton, where he was checked out
and the prognosis was a mild heart attack. His EKG looked funny and his
enxzymes were out of whack, signalling a MI - Myocardial Infarction.
Steve was stayed in ICU with Dick and came out periodically to update
me. The Raton hosp was not set up to handle this kind of thing, so they
said he'd have to be air lifted to Denver, Albuquerque, or Amarillo,
each of these being pretty much equi-distant from Raton and had major
heart hospitals for his insurance wouldn't cover him being flown to
Waco. Dick was stable, but Steve didn't want to chance driving him all
the way to Waco. Dick said he wanted to go to his home hospital, no
if's and's or but's!
So, Steve got on the phone and checked to see what air lifting Dick to
Waco would cost. ARE YOUR PREPARED FOR THIS ???? $10,000 total to have
Dick flown by chopper to the Raton Airport, charter a Lear Jet, with
private pilot and medical personnel to accompany Dick and fly to Waco,
chopper him to Providence hospital, and then the Lear then returning to
Raton. Dick said he didn't care, he just wanted to go home. Money was
no problem, since Dick is a pretty wealthy guy.
Steve then called Providence Hospital in Waco, (where he has MD
privileges and is known to all in the hospital), got hold of the Cardiac
Doc on call and explained the situation to him, i.e that Dick was being
airlifted from Raton and would have all the important papers with him.
The Lear arrived at Waco Regional Airport around 7:30 p.m. Sat. night
and Dick was stable all the way.
I am so glad that Steve was with Dick and I, for I'm afraid I wouldn't
have been to handle the situation. But, with Steve being an MD, he
GREASED THE WHEELS and cut through the red tape and got the job done
very quickly.
Dick was scheduled for an Angiogram late this morning, but I have not
received word from Steve or Dick's wife as to what the Cardiologist
found. I thought that the $10,000 was a little steep until I stopped to
think about what it costs to operate a Lear per hour. Last I knew was
when Drayton McLane told me in 1991 that it cost him $1,800 per hour to
fly his. So, with increased prices, etc, and about 3 1/2 hours flying
time, the $10,000 isn't unreasonable, especially with the medical
personnel that flew with him, the choppers on each end, and the rising
cost of jet fuel.
Anyway, Dick has a good story to tell about his ride in a private jet,
and I'll have fodder for another chapter in my new book.
Now, how was your week?
Cheers !
JIMMY D
