September 28/99 ZAPPER/Update

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http://www.duff.net/zapper/update.htm

ZapUpdate

September 27th 1999

Greetings Everyone!

A little rain and a breeze barely as strong as a cat's breath is all the tropical storms left in our part of Florida. I feel sorry for many of our readers who were not as fortunate as Floyd and Harvey visited without welcome. I do hope your property is drying out and your nerves are getting back to normal.

Thanks to everyone who wrote with concern after I missed both the Tuesday and Thursday ZAP•CHAT sessions last week. I overslept on Tuesday, thanks to staying up late to watch the progress of the storm. Thursday afternoon, I checked into the ER after a bout of shortness of breath.

When I called my doctor's office, they told me to go the the hospital even though I was pretty sure I just needed a diuretic boost. But, as is usually the case with people like us who have a checkered cardiac history, physicians usually like to demonstrate a high level of caution. After an evening and night of X-Rays and EKG's and blood tests with as many sleep/wake cycles as someone with severe apnea... I was sent home at noon on Friday with a prescription for a new diuretic. I am fine now, but thanks for everyone's kind thoughts.

I apparently lost my battle again this year, to have our (fairly remote and isolated) community association buy at least one portable automatic external defibrillator (AED) for medical emergencies involving people not as fortunate, as most of us "Electric Kangaroos" with an ICD implant. In the news this week, you will read about many more areas adopting the life saving tools... along with reports on several lives saved already.

As I told readers a few weeks ago, standing by as a loved one's fate depends on the arrival of such a device is a scary and frustrating experience. If you live as we do in an area where it takes an ambulance nearly a half hour to arrive, I urge you to raise your voice to your local officials and representatives... Demand the protection provided by an AED!

Speaking of which, the encounter my wife had with fire ants which lead to her falling unconscious and getting precariously close to cardiac arrest is apparently not as uncommon as I thought. A new report by HealthSCOUT indicates how dangerous this threat has become... even inside your home. Read: Fire Ants Attacking People Indoors if looking for more ammunition in the fight for an AED in your neighborhood.

Thanks to several of you who wrote about making a contribution to help our ZAP•LIFE program. When applying for grants to publish a book and produce an associated video (based on the material collected from all the ZAP•LIFE forms submitted by our readers) corporations providing grants require such requests come from organizations officially listed as non-profit or not-for-profit by the I.R.S. Any of you already involved in such programs know the government charges a tidy sum to process those applications. Sadly, it is money I do not have.

Therefore, if this service has helped you... consider helping us help others with this effort. But please send only good thoughts and no money if your budget is already tight. If you can afford to make a donation, it would be appreciated. Please send it to:

Duffey Cybercations

13014 Royal Avenue

Odessa, FL 33556

Checks will not be cashed until we have raised enough to meet the goal, so all money can be easily returned if we fall short. Please note: The outcome of this campaign will not affect the future of The ZAPPER online. I will always pay to keep this service available with a chunk from my monthly Social Security check.

One final thought: Don't forget, we have added a second weekly ZAP•CHAT session... this one in the morning... at 9AM (EST US) on Tuesdays... even if I don't wake up in time for it, Beth, an experienced counselor in Indiana will usually be there to moderate the program. The Thursday evening session is still at 8PM (EST US.) Plus, feel free to peek in the room at other times when you are online... to see if there's someone else there... especially on the weekends.

Please stay well.....

Duffey,

Zapper Publisher