Message Forum

Welcome to the Watterson High School Message Forum.

The message forum is an ongoing dialogue between classmates. There are no items, topics, subtopics, etc.

Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful! Click the "Post Message" button to add your entry to the forum.


 
go to bottom 
  Post Message
  
    Prior Page
 Page  
Next Page      

12/31/21 05:30 PM #10370    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mark, 

We are safe. Current fires are about 70 miles north of us. High winds and drought all along the front range make for excellent wildfire conditions. So sad for those who have lost everything!

Jim


01/01/22 05:11 AM #10371    

 

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Jim, stay safe.  I am so sorry to see what is happening in your beautiful state.

Health and Happiness to all in 2022!


01/01/22 11:11 AM #10372    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Donna, 

Thanks, will do our best. Having been evacuated due to the Waldo Canyon Fire of 2012 we know to "get out of Dodge" when warned. It snowed here last nite and today which should help the drought a bit.

HAPPY 2022 TO ALL!

Jim and Janet


01/01/22 12:23 PM #10373    

 

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

A hopeful reminder to begin 2022!
"What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven't even happened yet." Anne Frank

 

 


01/01/22 11:50 PM #10374    

 

David Mitchell

Ho Hum. Just another boring old Rose Bowl.

YIKES!

 


01/02/22 12:24 PM #10375    

 

Michael McLeod

Yep. Mind blowing. Good to have that kind of a game to get the losses of last season out of our system and showcase all the talent that's coming back for better days. Clearly the d needs an overhaul but we've got a new guy in place who's perfect for the job. Notre Dame in Columbus coinciding with our reunion. More perfect.


01/02/22 01:15 PM #10376    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Remembering when it was hard to get up after New Years Eve?

How many of you remember the Wimhurst Machine in Science classes?

This is leading up to an old memory for me and a few others, some of which are no longer with us.

When I and a few others attended Aquinas a group of us would get together to head out for various events, dances, parties, drinking (scratch that we were all good christian boys.  Anyway one of the group, a very intelligent indivdual had a problem of dozing off while doing last minute studying before we picked him up.  Over the years we had tried various methods to wake him so that we could get under way.  Finally one day, growing frustrated, we decided to teach him a little lesson.  In his bedroom was a present of a Wimhurst Machine.  So we cranked up the Wimhurst Machine and touched the two copper rods to his arm, or something.  Needless to say we never had a problem finding him awake again.


01/02/22 08:12 PM #10377    

 

John Maxwell

Happy New Year all. Keep wearing your masks, practicing social distancing, and pray to God that if you are infected that your anti-bodies are fierce enough to fight off this malady.

I landed in LA last week to visit my grand children only to be quarantined, tested and hear my son and his wife were infected, they are recovering and past the danger stage. Meanwhile my other daughter-in-law was delivering our grandaughter in an under-staffed hospital rife with covid victims. At the same time, airlines are canceling flights left and right leading me to suspect that I may never see my kitty again.

Leave it to me to end up here when the Bucks are playing in the Rose Bowl. The Rose parade was nearly canceled, and the game was crazy. (I took a long walk at halftime and returned for the nail-biting end.) It was amazing how many people were maskless, on my walk. All I could think was I may as well say good-bye to them instead of hello. Oh well. Happy New Year??? Sort of...

01/02/22 09:49 PM #10378    

 

David Mitchell

I know this is a week late but I thought it was appropriate for this new year. 




01/02/22 11:22 PM #10379    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Well I have to admit, we never touched our friend with the two rods of the Wimhurst Machine.  We just hinted to him that that was our next plan.  He knew how much of a jolt one could receive IF they were ever zapped by the rods and  made sure he was awake whenever we planned on going out.


01/03/22 09:14 AM #10380    

 

John Jackson

Joe, I have a master’s degree in electrical engineering and have worked as an EE for 50+ years but had never heard of this diabolical Wimshurst contraption. It just goes to show you’re never too old to learn about something new.

One question:  who was this friend of yours and what were his parents like (hint: just a tad eccentric?)  Are there any other members of the Class of ’66 out there who have growing-up memories of Wimshurst machines in their bedrooms?                                                                                                                                             


01/03/22 09:45 AM #10381    

 

Michael McLeod

fascinating and heart warming (and a good health-tip/ reminder esp for our age bracket)

 

 

 

Hockey Fan Spots Cancerous Mole at Game and Delivers a Lifesaving Note

Nadia Popovici wrote a message on her phone, with “mole,” “cancer” and “doctor” in bright-red type to get the attention of Brian Hamilton, an assistant equipment manager for the Vancouver Canucks.

  •  

Jan. 2, 2022

Nadia Popovici kept shifting her eyes from the hockey game to the back of Brian Hamilton’s neck.

Mr. Hamilton, an assistant equipment manager for the Vancouver Canucks, had a small mole there. It measured about two centimeters and was irregularly shaped and red-brown in color — possible characteristics of a cancerous mole, signs that Ms. Popovici had learned to spot while volunteering at hospitals as a nursing assistant.

Maybe he already knew? But if so, why was the mole still there? She concluded that Mr. Hamilton did not know.

“I need to tell him,” Ms. Popovici, 22, told her parents at the Oct. 23 N.H.L. game between the Canucks and the Seattle Kraken at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

Ms. Popovici typed a message on her phone and waited for the game to end. After waving several times, she finally drew Mr. Hamilton’s attention, and placed her phone against the plexiglass.

“The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor!” the message read, with the words “mole,” “cancer” and “doctor” colored bright red.

Mr. Hamilton said he looked at the message, rubbed the back of his neck and kept walking, thinking, “Well, that’s weird.”

Ms. Popovici said she regretted the message and thought at the time, “Maybe that was inappropriate of me to bring up.”

After the game, Mr. Hamilton went home and asked his partner if she could spot the mole. She could. He asked the team doctor if it was worrisome. It was. Then after he had it removed, he waited for the biopsy results to see if the fan sitting behind the team’s bench had been right.

Indeed, Ms. Popovici was correct, and she had just saved his life.

“She took me out of a slow fire,” Mr. Hamilton said at a news conference on Saturday, his voice quavering at times. “And the words out of the doctor’s mouth were if I ignored that for four to five years, I wouldn’t be here.”

 

Specifically, doctors later told him, it was type-2 malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer that, because it was detected early, could be easily removed and treated.

“With melanoma, just like many other cancers, the success of the treatment or the cure is often dependent on the stage of disease — and the sooner you find something, the better it is,” said Dr. Ashwani Rajput, the director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Mr. Hamilton recalled the doctor telling him, “I’m going to diagnose you with cancer and I’m going to cure you of cancer in the same phone call.”

 

Once he knew he was fine, Mr. Hamilton asked the Canucks franchise to help him find the woman he described as “a hero.”

Mr. Hamilton wrote a letter that was posted on the team’s Twitter account on Saturday that said: “To this woman I am trying to find, you changed my life, and now I want to find you to say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! Problem is, I don’t know who you are or where you are from.”

It took less than three hours to find Ms. Popovici, who had been sleeping at her home in Tacoma, Wash., that afternoon after working overnight as a crisis intervention specialist at a suicide prevention hotline.

 

She woke up to texts and missed calls from her mother, Yukyung Nelson. “I think she was just shocked,” Ms. Nelson said.

Ms. Popovici, who had already planned to attend the game on Saturday between the Canucks and Kraken in Seattle, was invited by both teams to meet Mr. Hamilton.

He had just finished a news conference about what had happened. Referring to Ms. Popovici, he told reporters, “My mom wants her to know that she loves her.”

Later that afternoon, he repeated the message to Ms. Popovici in person.

“It was the sweetest thing when you were talking about your mom,” she told him as they met properly for the first time.

At the game, both teams presented Ms. Popovici a combined $10,000 scholarship to use for medical school expenses.

“Some people are saying this is not even going to be a drop in the bucket, but trust me, it feels like everything,” she said. “I’m really just so grateful.”

 

She watched the game from the same seat where she had spotted the mole. Everything, she thought, had gone right that day: A future medical student had been sitting close enough to a team bench where an assistant equipment manager was, thankfully, not wearing a jacket large enough to cover the cancerous mole on his neck.

“This entire experience has been so rare,” Ms. Popovici said. “And I will just cherish it.”


01/03/22 11:18 AM #10382    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike McL, 

It is not unusual for doctors, particularly dermatologists, to notice suspicious lesions on people as they walk about in stores, malls or just about anywhere. This can be true even with social distancing. The big question is what to do about that. There is certainly no medical or legal obligation to approach that person with such information since a doctor-patient relationship does not exist. Some such encounters might be welcomed but others might be considered offensive, unwelcomed or intrusive.

The other question is if a moral obligation exists. This is a more touchy area. My thought is probably not. It would be similar to a person in the car next to you at a stoplight not wearing a seatbelt,  texting, smoking or doing other risky behavior.

That being said, would I ever approach that person on the street with a possible skin cancer? Maybe, but probably not.

Just be sure to cover your necks at our reunion!

Jim


01/03/22 11:49 AM #10383    

 

Michael McLeod

Thanks for weighing in Jim.

 I hadn't thought of the dilemma a medical professional might face, spotting something in a crowd and not wanting to embarrass anyone. (Or, in a litigious age, to risk a legal issue. But you already knew that. I just wanted to use the word "litigious.") 

And on the other side of the fence I'm always hesitant to ask a doctor for medical advice when they are off duty, even if I know them, because it's at least marginally impolite.

Although obviously, in your case, I've blatantly and shamelessly taken advantage of your caregiving expertise and spirit, going back  to the day you walked me home as a head trauma patient those many years ago. 

I still think that episode shaved a point or two off my meager iq.

Anyway I loved this story of that young lady who did the right thing, and how it all came out. 

 


01/03/22 11:50 AM #10384    

 

Janie Albright (Blank)

Great discussions as always on the forum. laugh i had to write to our website help desk at Class Creator - they host more than 2k high school sites - and here is what she told me:

"Your site is very active. There are many admins that would just love to see the activity you have on your forums." yes

Jack so sorry to hear about your disastrous trip to visit the family. Praying for all especially new mom and baby. Just this morning my good friend said she canceled her trip to SOCAL to see her granddaughters. My friend in Alexandria Va lost her dad Friday and they are doing a live stream service this Saturday. Several members of her extended family have Covid from holiday visits crying

Im not sure if I'm safer here in Puerto Vallarta MX or not. I came because of my nephews wedding last week which was amazing. Good news everything is outside and EVERYONE wears a mask even outdoors. I’m still going to mass. Maybe I shouldn’t be. I sit in side chairs no one near. You go in in one side leave on other. Must have mask and they pump sanitizer on your hands. At communion the priests walk around and hand out communion and you do not file to front. Only people together sit together. Otherwise very spread out. Rear and side doors open so nice breeze. I will play that by ear. I can always get it  on TV like last year. 
 

Colleen Cotter just had her first grandchild a beautiful girl Lena named after her grandmother from Sweden. 
 

Happy 2022!  I pray every day for all of you with health problems that I know about and those I do not. I hope you say a prayer for me and our other old friends as well. Love you all! 
 

heart Janie


01/03/22 12:28 PM #10385    

 

Janie Albright (Blank)

Sorry about that! I decided to put my mask back on and lo and behold i somehow posted twice.  ;:)


01/03/22 01:10 PM #10386    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

In an attempt to protect the privacy of the (possible) victim names will not be discussed John.  And although the statute of limitations passed many decades ago, I wouldn't want to bring up memories.

Anyway John, at Aquinas we learned about the Wimhurst Machine in Physics class.  One, un-named, individual received permission to do an extra credit report on the Wimhurst Machine.  As Aquinas was closing the teacher (Priest) received permission to give the schools old Wimhurst Machine to that student.  That is how he came to own it.

For those who haven't "Binged" or "Googled" Wimhurst Machines it is an ancient machine used to demonstrate Static Electricity.  There are two large disc that rotate and "produce the Static electric charge.   As I understand, large commercial systems have been built in the past based upon the principles.  A small unit like the classmate had would be enough to shock a heart attack victim, probably with enough left over for.......


01/03/22 02:15 PM #10387    

 

Michael McLeod

I was just kidding you Janie.

That's nice to get that feedback about the site.

Thanks to you.


01/03/22 03:04 PM #10388    

 

David Mitchell

Mike, 

I thought it was a great story.

I don't think she needed to feel guilty about her message to the guy with the mole. 


01/04/22 11:35 AM #10389    

 

Michael McLeod

Yeah that was the heart of the story.  And you'll notice  from his message that it's something Jim has wrestled with as a doc - his being a more complicated position given the litigious nature of our world. Yeah that's right I got to use the word "litigious." Score!

But the bottom line in general is: if you can do something for another human being, you shouldn't let embarrassment get in your way.  

I remember hearing a lesson somewhere along the line: Do the right thing. And if it doesn't work, do the right thing the next time.

Don't be attached to results. Be attached to keeping the faith. Rinse, repeat, no matter what.

It is, of course, easier said than done.


01/04/22 06:23 PM #10390    

 

Michael Boulware

Jocko,

Please let us know if you were able to get home and see your kitty.


01/05/22 11:57 AM #10391    

 

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-medical-expert-doubles-down-that-cloth-masks-were-never-appropriate-for-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR3JkEXyKaP_zMle7vF0bwr-Fa6gGFKiP9ILW5g3YqHlMySLFTxflbAGPrU

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/01/two_brilliant_doctors_explain_whats_really_going_on_with_covid.html

https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/episode/0aZte37vtFTkYT7b0b04Qz

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SCsueX2bZdbEzRtKOCEyT?si=hUh4Bae8Rxu8OmqY5-FaGQ


01/05/22 01:55 PM #10392    

 

Michael McLeod

Yep. That better be an n-95 or kn-95, Janie. Besides being effective I find them a lot more comfortable.

Meanwhile, here are the numbers in the county where I live:

 

In a news conference Tuesday, Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings said that the positivity rate in the county is now 30.27% which is double what it was a week ago.

Nearly 1 in 3 people who took a COVID-19 test in the past 14 days tested positive, Demings said.

 


01/05/22 02:18 PM #10393    

 

David Mitchell

To think that anyone would quote an article where some columnist actually admitted to listening to 6 hours of Joe Rogan (an un-educated, stand-up comedian, and a professional wrestler who sold his useless podast rights to Spotify for $100 million) interviewing two highly suspect Medical Doctors (who have both spouted mis-inforamtion about Covid vaccines) is frightening!   

I would think it better use of one's time to spend 6 hours pissing into the wind.

 

I recall my father railing against unprofessional physicians - "kooks"  as he called them. The field of Allergy had more than it's share (and still does I suspect) of these "professionals" who preyed upon people's ingnorance with unfounded extreme ideas.

And some of them basked in the light of the attention it brought them. One of them was nationally famous, and Dad would wince evey time he saw him on TV. Another was one of Dad's own partners (for a short time) who Dad had to order to leave his office partnership.

 

Once again I ask the question of the "anti-vaxers" and  "anti-maskers"  who keep crying "goverment overreach" or "dictatorship" - Which side of the road do you drive on, and why?


01/05/22 02:35 PM #10394    

 

David Mitchell

Hold everything!

I think I just found something that really is worth 6 hours of your time. USA Today has a video of an ostrich running loose on a highway in China. Actually, it doesn't take 6 hours, but then we could watch it over an over for about 900 times. Yeah that's about right!

 

Just plug this link into your search title bar 

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/have-you-seen/2022/01/04/runaway-ostrich-keeps-up-traffic-highway/9093181002/


go to top 
  Post Message
  
    Prior Page
 Page  
Next Page