[3830] SS CW N5DO Single Op LP

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                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: N5DO
Operator(s): N5DO
Station: N5DO

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: WTX
Operating Time (hrs): 16

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:     
   80:   85
   40:  278
   20:  463
   15:    3
   10:     
------------
Total:  829  Sections = 80  Total Score = 132,640

Club: 

Comments:

My goal in this contest (one of my favorites) is to finish in the top 10 -- I've
never achieved that.  I've been in the top 20 5 times, and came in 11th a few
years ago.  It is ironic that I believe that if I could have operated the full
24 hours this year I would have had a good chance at the top 10.  Unfortunately
I had a life changing experience two weeks ago that reduced my operating time. 
I'll put my description of that at the end so you can skip it if you wish.

I felt there would be a shortage of West Texas operators this time around and
that seemed to be the case.  I was spotted a lot, which turned ordinary runs
into great runs.  My own sweep was the easiest I have ever had.  After Saturday
night I was lacking 5 sections and they came pretty easy on Sunday morning.  I
tried to break a 20M pileup on a VO1 with no success and moved up the band to
run myself.  Within 5 minutes another VO1 called me, so I was down to needing
VY1.   I had heard Jay on 40M earlier operating S&P but I had not been able to
entice him to find me.  Shortly after working the VO1 on 20M, VY1JA called me
-- neat,  the sweep came to me!
  
As to my life changing experience, I have had high cholesterol for a number of
years (at least 20).  I was at my doctor's office here in Alpine about 6 weeks
ago for a follow up on my cholesterol and high blood pressure.  The nurse said
that it had been awhile since I had had an ekg, so they did one.  The doctor
thought something looked wrong, like I had previously had a heart attack.  He
sent me to see a cardiologist in Midland for a nuclear stress test.  The first
available time was 5 weeks later.  No one seemed too excited about things, so
my wife I drove up to Midland (3 hours away) intending to do the test and
return home the same day.    

After I finished the stress test, as I was sitting there recovering, the
cardiologist said, "How about now.  Do you feel any chest pain now?"  Of course
this alarmed me, because I felt fine but he obviously saw something. They did
the scan part and he talked to my wife and I and said that he had not seen an
ekg as bad as mine in four or so years.  He put me in the hospital that night
and the next day I went in for an angiogram.  That was very short -- he said it
would require a bypass due to the severity of the blockage and they would do it
in one hour.  Later they came in and someone else was worse off than me (poor
guy!) and they did my surgery the following day.

They opened the chest and used the beating heart procedure as opposed to the
heart / lung machine.  The good news is that my heart is in good shape; the bad
news is that my arteries were terrible.  One artery (to the back of the heart)
was 100% blocked.  It had probably happened several years ago because new
corollary branches had grown on their own, supplying oxygen.  On the front, one
artery was 99.5% blocked and the other one was 90.5%, but right at a Y, so a
stent was not possible.  I have never had any chest pain, so I was very lucky
that this was discovered before the first symptom was my sudden death.

What helped me a lot is that I had been physically active with handball and an
exercise bike so my heart was in good shape and the whole thing went the way it
was supposed to.  I feel pretty good now but my strength is way down.  I had to
cancel a trip to ZF1A for the CQWW CW contest later this month.  However, I
look forward to trying again next year!

As always, thanks for all the fun and QSOs.

73,

Dave, N5DO


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