OUR FRIEND JOHN.

[Brock]

Only very new members here will not know our friend John Daniels, who joined this site in June, and has been very active in reaching out to others, and putting smiles on our faces and laughter in our lives with his sense of humor. He also recently agreed to assist with the day to day running of these forums, as a trusted servant.

Last Friday I got a message from John's wife Susan; who he has mentioned in glowing terms to us here before, that John had suffered a heart attack. She said John's concern was that the work of AA, including his midnight shift on the local hotline, and his work here not suffer. Some of his sponsees are manning the hotline in his absence, and he wanted us to know that he had not 'abandoned' e-AA. I don't have to say it because it's plain to see, but when faced with a major crises like this, that he would be thinking of AA duties, speaks great volumes for how much some give back to our wonderful program.

I did not want to say anything before knowing how he was getting along, and out of respect for his privacy. However I received a message last night from Susan, and things are looking up for him, and it was felt I could let his friends here know. He has had a successful bypass of an artery taken from his leg, and grafted into affected areas of his heart, he will still need to remain hospitalized for several more days. It may be a while before he is up and about posting here again, something we all look forward to, I will finish with a story that Susan relayed, which demonstrates his sense of humor even in these trying times.

It seems all of the nurses are pleasant and friendly, except one with a gruff manner who John played a trick on. Knowing she would be asking for his urine sample, he put some apple juice in the cup instead, when she roughly demanded the sample he held it up to the light and said – 'This looks a little cloudy I better run it through again,' and drank it down. She apparently ran from the room screaming 'that man is crazy, he drank his own pee,' the other staff at the hospital enjoyed the joke tremendously.

So we look forward to John's return, and his regular posting here, from all of us we wish a speedy recovery and send our best wishes to his wife Susan, in what are no doubt very trying times for her as well.

[PaigeB]

Ohhh good Lord John Daniels! I am laughing my azz off, but as the daughter of a nurse I feel the need to chide you.... awww screw it! Give 'em hell. AND give them chocolate! Yep - makes sure they visit the room more often.

Get well soon my friend! You are a Light in our world and obviously the worlds of many you "touch". Yep I am gonna be laughing all day now!

Oh ~ and do what the nurses tell ya!

[Chelle]

Thanks Brock,

John!
What a gross thing to do! But so freaking hilarious
Glad to hear you are spreading joy every where you go
Speedy recovery friend

[Patsy©]

John, please hurry back, you are missed!! And that humor of yours, well you taught that nurse a lesson she won't forget!!

I work in the medical field and let me tell you John, where I work, they would have laughed their heads off to see you pull that prank!! ....

I am so happy to hear that you are doing better....Please Hurry Back (((((((John)))))))

[avaneesh912]

Dude is something!

[Cristy99]

JOOOOOOOOHN!!!!!!

Oh my goodness!!! Geez I hate to hear of your heart attack!!!

I am so very relieved you are on the mend! My heart took a major dive when I began to read Brock's private message to me. Scared the living sh@* out of me!!!

I know you are far away, but you managed to steal my heart as a true friend. I love to laugh, and you make me laugh sooo hard!!! Not to mention your kindness and compassion. It is very obvious that you have a huge heart that loves to love!!

Now it's time to take especially good care of that huge heart and and rest my sweet friend.

Now.......about the prank......OH YES SIR!!!! YOU GO JOHN!!! KEEP IT UP!!! AND TELL NURSE RACHED HELLO FOR ME!!!! I can't wait to hear about the next one!!

I love you sweet John!!!
Get well soon please!!!

Cristy

[positrac]

John,
First off I hope your recovering and trying to rest as you have to just chill and know the world isn't going to stop while you are off the clock. I want to thank you for your tireless efforts of giving back and providing that service that is necessary to us all even if we never met. As you know it is people to whom the left and right hand never meet and or know who has helped us in our darkest hours. So if I may I'd like to let you know I am thinking of you and your extended family and I pray that peace has and will continue to be upon you and that you'll be up and running soon.

Humor is my leverage to mask, laugh and make light of whatever and whenever and so keep'm smiling and looking forward to hearing from you in the near future.

LG

[clouds]

Hi John,

I'm sad to know of the heart attack and so happy its going well for you now.
Missing your shares of experience strength and hope, of which, from this latest experience, you will have even more strengths to share from somewhere down the line.

Please take care and get well soon!

Clouds

[JohnDaniels]

Brock this is Susan for John. I copied this topic for John to read and write his replies by hand on a note pad. I will type Johns replies in here. He told me how to reply to quotes.

I am (Susan) home earlier than usual this evening. About 20 of the guys John sponsors came to visit him this evening and they are holding a discussion meeting on Faith in his hospital room taking turns walking in and out of the hall to his room. The nurses station called security when they seen a group of bikers walking down the hall wearing their colors. His guys are mostly ex cons and bikers. They look tough but you'll never find a more trustworthy warm hearted group of men. That hospital has had some real trouble in the past from gangs. Johns guys gladly cooperated with total respect to security and told them what was going on that they were all going to see their sponsor. When John heard about it he got a big smile on his face and the first thing he said was "Was Nurse Thunder Thighs there???" One of the other nice nurses who lead the guys to Johns room said "Oh yeah! Thunder Thighs is the one who called security on them!" We all had a big laugh over the whole thing.

I have some things to catch up on at the house so I will call him later tonight.

Brock wrote,

Only very new members here will not know our friend John Daniels, who joined this site in June, and has been very active in reaching out to others, and putting smiles on our faces and laughter in our lives with his sense of humor. He also recently agreed to assist with the day to day running of these forums, as a trusted servant.

John wrote,

I want you to know that your words of friendship and support mean more than I can put into words. Brock you are a very kind and thoughtful man. I am very fortunate to have your friendship, your support and your trust.

Brock wrote,

It seems all of the nurses are pleasant and friendly, except one with a gruff manner who John played a trick on. Knowing she would be asking for his urine sample, he put some apple juice in the cup instead, when she roughly demanded the sample he held it up to the light and said – 'This looks a little cloudy I better run it through again,' and drank it down. She apparently ran from the room screaming 'that man is crazy, he drank his own pee,' the other staff at the hospital enjoyed the joke tremendously.

John wrote,

Brock it actually got better this morning. I asked Susan to bring me in a container of snack pack chocolate pudding. When Nurse Thunder Thighs barked out her orders "OK Funny Man! It's your piss test time!" I took the urine sample cup with a straight face and held it under the covers.
I told Nurse Thunder Thighs "Hey ya know that stool softener they've been injecting in my iv to keep my new heart bypass arteries from leaking blood when I strain at the stool?"
Thunder Thighs barked "Yeah what a bout it???"
I said "Well uh. Uh ..."
Thunder Thighs barked again "WELL UHHH UHHH WHAT? SPEAK UP!!!"
I said, "It might be working over-time. Here ..." as I handed her the urine sample cup over flowing with chocolate pudding, spilling onto my hand that I licked off especially for Nurse Thunder Thighs.

And there again she ran out of the room like a scalded dog. I looked at Susan setting in the chair beside my bed and told her "Well hey, a nurse like Thunder Thighs has got to know her limitations."

[JohnDaniels]

Ohhh good Lord John Daniels! I am laughing my azz off, but as the daughter of a nurse I feel the need to chide you.... awww screw it! Give 'em hell. AND give them chocolate! Yep - makes sure they visit the room more often.

Get well soon my friend! You are a Light in our world and obviously the worlds of many you "touch". Yep I am gonna be laughing all day now!

Oh ~ and do what the nurses tell ya!

Susan typing in for John wrote,

Thank you so much Paige. I wonder when they wrote "We absolutely insist on enjoying life" if they had any idea some of us would really be so literal about it!

[JohnDaniels]

Thanks Brock,

John!
What a gross thing to do! But so freaking hilarious
Glad to hear you are spreading joy every where you go
Speedy recovery friend

Susan typing for John wrote,

Thank you Chelle. Nurse Thunder Thighs just needed a little spiritual help and I was there to oblige her. Oh we'll kiss and make up before I leave the hospital next week.

[JohnDaniels]

John, please hurry back, you are missed!! And that humor of yours, well you taught that nurse a lesson she won't forget!!

I work in the medical field and let me tell you John, where I work, they would have laughed their heads off to see you pull that prank!! ....

I am so happy to hear that you are doing better....Please Hurry Back (((((((John)))))))

Susan typed for John wrote,

Thank you so much Patsy. You and I kind of have the same sense of humor at times. Hey I bet you'd have done the same thing. Am I right? Now that I think of it, I think we all have the same sense of humor. Yes, the Big Book even tells us "We absolutely insist on enjoying life". Yes it's in the chapter "After The Double Bypass Heart Surgery"

[JohnDaniels]

Dude is something!

Susan types for John wrote,

Thank you Avaneesh. They are keeping tabs on the area where the arteries were grafted to make sure they hold up. They wrap a wide belt around my stomach and hold a pillow on my chest over the stitches and have me cough to clear my lungs 3 times a day. Then do an echo when I cough and strain a little to see how the grafted arteries are holding up, looking for any sign of leaking blood or arteries collapsing. So far so good. Today they took a heart tissue sample to check for anything like infection and again so far so good. Have a great day!

[JohnDaniels]

JOOOOOOOOHN!!!!!!

... I know you are far away, but you managed to steal my heart as a true friend. I love to laugh, and you make me laugh sooo hard!!! Not to mention your kindness and compassion. It is very obvious that you have a huge heart that loves to love!!

Now it's time to take especially good care of that huge heart and and rest my sweet friend.

Now.......about the prank......OH YES SIR!!!! YOU GO JOHN!!! KEEP IT UP!!! AND TELL NURSE RACHED HELLO FOR ME!!!! I can't wait to hear about the next one!!

I love you sweet John!!!
Get well soon please!!!

Cristy

Susan types for John wrote,

Thank you Cristy. I loved our visit last evening and I love you too, as my baby sister, oh no I meant as "someone" said "Granddaughter" Peace to you my Granddaughter . (Oh and there was another prank this morning but it's not suitable for granddaughters ears. But hey don't you just love chocolate snack pack pudding?)

[JohnDaniels]

John,
First off I hope your recovering and trying to rest as you have to just chill and know the world isn't going to stop while you are off the clock. I want to thank you for your tireless efforts of giving back and providing that service that is necessary to us all even if we never met. As you know it is people to whom the left and right hand never meet and or know who has helped us in our darkest hours. So if I may I'd like to let you know I am thinking of you and your extended family and I pray that peace has and will continue to be upon you and that you'll be up and running soon.

Humor is my leverage to mask, laugh and make light of whatever and whenever and so keep'm smiling and looking forward to hearing from you in the near future.

LG

Susan types for John wrote,

Thank you Positrac. You are a very wise and considerate man. I always look for your posts and always come away with food for thought. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. My surgeon wants to keep me in the hospital until sometime next week. Here's something I want to share that the heart surgeon told me after the surgery. It might even be a spiritual experience. He said there is a shadow on my heart in the shape of a triangle. I asked him if it could have been left over from a Pericardial Cyst the size and shape of my index finger they found about 20 years ago. They never removed the cyst because it didn't hurt. I asked him if the cyst could have just went away on its own and left a triangle shadow behind. The surgeon said no. He said pericardial cysts don't go away, they get bigger. I told him he may not view this the same way as I do , but 20 years ago when they discovered that pericardial cyst I prayed about it. And now it's gone on it's own and all that remains is a triangle shaped shadow. That cyst back then wasn't even shaped like a triangle, it was the shape and size of my index finger. I asked him how that could all happen. He said "You prayed." I have met some of the most amazing people and happenings on my road through life who surprise me.