151 Band

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

New Mayor, New Outlook

First, congratulations to former State Senator David Holt for his victory yesterday.  He is a young face who claims to have new ideas but also wants to ensure that the projects for the city that Mayor Mick started are seen through to fruition.  Basically, that means for the first couple years, he's going to be another Chamber lap dog.  But right now, there is a legitimate argument that it may not be a bad thing.  Sure, we are missing out on a lot of concerts to Tulsa because of the supposed "Thunder game conflict," but Holt may be the cat to change that.  He won with a significant percentage of the one (79%) and that is, to me, a mandate.  He has a lot of work ahead of him and while we all wish him the best, we'll still be watching.

While at the hospital yesterday going through the initial screening process for transplant eligibility, I had an interested political conversation with someone who was genuinely concerned for the immediate future of the country with a guy like Donald Trump as our POTUS.  I listened intently as I found myself agreeing with her on many levels.  First, I agree that the pro-Trump movement was just as much an anti-Hillary movement.  People in this country were terrified of what Hillary could have brought to the table and the Benghazi disaster still looms large in the minds of veterans and those who are currently serving in the armed forces.  Second, Hillary came off as shrill and cunning whereas Trump just comes across as arrogant and not intelligent enough to truly be cunning.  Lastly, the fear of Trump's ego is becoming a reality whether we want to believe it to be so or not.  He's a loose cannon and has pushed the envelope where international diplomacy is concerned.  He needs lessons on being a statesman, not a blowhard.

I began the process of transplant eligibility yesterday and while the meetings were long and informative, I felt a bit overwhelmed.  I'm not jumping the proverbial shark here, but I consider it to be a huge blessing to even be considered for transplant.  It's a long and strikingly action-packed process.  Liver transplants are particularly weird because you only have one and if your liver fails, everything shuts down.  The counselors at Baptist were kind, caring, and I am in good hands with them and with my wife as my primary caregiver.  It's going to be a long process, as I have said, and it could take weeks or even months to get on the list and with the amount of testing that is still left to be done, it's very possible I could be disqualified from the list.  One never knows, but I suppose this is where faith comes in handy.

I'll keep you posted.

Ron "Gorilla" Black