Owner of this WEB page, Bill Weber had a severe heart attack while working in his garden and was rushed by ambulance to the local hospital where later on in the week he was transferred to the Mayo Clinic Cardiac Center for bypass heart surgery. He came home on June 15th and is recovering very well. But lets hear what he has to say in his own words:

It was one of the first real warm days of the season and I was down putting in a row of yellow wax beans. I noticed as I tilled up the soil that turning the roto-tiller at the end of each row seemed to be more work than usual and that as I leaned down to plant the beans that I felt weak and a bit light headed. So as soon as I got the beans planted I put the tiller away and decided to head for the house which was uphill from my garden plot. I had only gone ten or twenty feet up the hill when I could go no further so sat/laid down. After a few minutes I thought I could get up and continue on to the house but that was not to be. I could not get up so decided that I would crawl on my hands and knees to the house. However, after going maybe five feet or so I could go no further. I then hollered as loud as I could and finally got the attention of my wife who came down with the car and picked me up and took me to the house. Upon arrival at the house I felt somewhat better even to the point that I thought be a nice hot shower would be a good idea. After the shower I got into bed and it was shortly thereafter that I started getting severe pains in my chest to the point that I could not seem to breathe. The pain once it started came on very fast and it was not long before the inability to breathe was such that I said to my wife, yes call 911 immediately. While we waited the pain grew worse spreading to my neck and arms, one of the First responders was here in less than five minutes, the ambulance shortly thereafter. My pain had subsided a bit by then and after a quick hookup of oxygen I started to feel much better. By the time I was in the ambulance the pain had pretty well gone.

We arrived at the emergency room at Tomah Memorial Hospital to find Dr. Micahal Saunders and his emergency crew there and prepared for the job ahead. Shortly after arrivial while the Dr. was explaining some of the alternatives the pain started to come back again and before the morphine took effect was getting almost as bad as was the original. But when the morphine hit it was like being in another world where all is well.

The following Dr. Saunders said that the heart attack had not done a lot of damage to my heart but that he would recommend that I go to LaCross for a catherization. I said I would prefer to see if with the right kind of medication we could get by without any surgical operation and it was finally agreed that would be the procedure. Things seemed to be going along well and I thought that I would be released from the hospital by the end of the week but then came the test day on the treadmill and I could not pass the test.

So the next day it was on to LaCrosse for the Catherization. Those test showed a 90% of one of the main heart arteries and 45 - 50% blockage in other heart arteries. Geoplastic surgery was ruled out as being too dangerous.

So it was on to the Mayo Clinc Cardiac center at Rochester, Minnesota. I arrived there late Sunday afternoon June 8th. My grandsons 13th birthday. The next day was spent taking test etc. I was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday June 10th at 2:pm but then about eight oclock that morning the doctor came in and said plans had changed and that the operation had been moved up to a little after 9 that morning. That meant a lot of fast moving by my family who were staying at motels in the surrounding area. At about 8:30 they gave me some Vallium to put me in a "relaxed mode" I remember being moved up to the operating rooms along with several other and my family nearby but then I must have drifted off into another land for it was not until the following morning that I really have any recollection of what had happened. The first thing I remember is seeing a nurse and when she saw me looking at her said, "Everything is all right Bill" She keep repeating this when ever I woke up enough so that our eyes met. This was unlike any other experience I had ever had upon my return from the anesthesia. It was as though I was in a faraway land with this nurse and lots and lots of instruments all about and no other voices but hers saying "Bill, everything will be alright" It was later on that the family was allowed to come in and by then I was awake enough to recognize them. Although my wife tells me that they were in to see me long before I even recognized them.

I guess I spent another day in the recovery room and then was moved down to my regular room which was really nice, with a big picture window that overlooked one of the parks there in Rochester. Even though they had removed some of the tubes and needles from me I still had a good selection intack. The urinary catheter and the drainage tube from the left side of my lungs was the two main ones. Plus about six or eight needles for IV"s etc.

It was a day or so later that they took the catheter out and I will never forget the morning they pulled the drainage tube. The nurse said this is going to hurt a bit so take a deep breath and hold it and then exhale and take another deep breath and hold and as I did she gave a fast quick jerk on the tube and it was out and then I heard her say, you can breathe now, you can breathe now. You have no doubt heard of pain that takes the breath away. This was one of those times.
The next day they had me up and walking and by the fifth day after the operation I was back home somewhat sore and tired but feeling pretty good otherwise. The response of family and friends with cards and well wishes was tremendous and if one wants to experince the love of family & friends they should have a serious operation rather than dying. The response is about the same. The only advantage is that you can also enjoy the love, caregiving and concern.

Any questions that anyone may have or for further information on any aspects of this experience you can contact me at solar10a@centuryinter.net

I AM PUTTING THIS SONG BY ELTON JOHN HERE BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS A LOVELY POEM AND THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD PLACE TO SAVE IT.

# --> 09/04/97- Updated 06:01 PM ET

Elton John rewrites 'Candle in the Wind'

LONDON - Elton John will perform a rewritten version of Candle in the Wind to honor Princess Diana at her funeral, Westminster Abbey announced Thursday.

Earlier in the week, newspapers in Britain had reported some disagreement between Buckingham Palace and Diana's family over whether John would have a role in Saturday's ceremony.

British singer Elton John (AP).

The princess and the singer were friends, and she was photographed wrapping a comforting arm around him as he wept at a memorial service for fashion designer Gianni Versace in Milan on July 22.

Candle in the Wind, released in 1973, originally invoked Marilyn Monroe in its opening line - "Goodbye, Norma Jean," a reference to the star's real name, Norma Jean Baker.

The new lyrics to be sung Saturday:

"Goodbye, England's rose;
may you ever grow in our hearts.
You were the grace that placed itself
where lives were torn apart.
You called out to our country,
and you whispered to those in pain.
Now you belong to heaven,
and the stars spell out your name.
And it seems to me you lived your life
like a candle in the wind:
never fading with the sunset
when the rain set in.
And your footsteps will always fall here,
along England's greenest hills;
your candle's burned out long before
your legend ever will.
Loveliness we've lost;
these empty days without your smile.
This torch we'll always carry
for our nation's golden child.
And even though we try,
the truth brings us to tears;
all our words cannot express
the joy you brought us through the years.
Goodbye England's rose,
from a country lost without your soul,
who'll miss the wings of your compassion
more than you'll ever know."

By The Associated Press