by Dave Williams
Three weeks ago I celebrated my 72nd birthday and then blacked out in the parking lot of a burger joint after lunch. I woke up some minutes later in the back of an ambulance, was taken to a nearby hospital, poked and prodded just a bit, and sent home the next day with no diagnosis.
The hospital people were very nice. They wheeled me out and wished me luck.
Since then I’ve seen a neurologist and a cardiologist. Both have run tests, neither has provided me with any insights. I like and trust them. The problem is, I’m not their only patient and they have their personal lives to lead. I don’t begrudge them a moment, I just await their educated assessments.
Except for the second-degree burns I suffered from lying in the parking lot during a Texas summer, I feel fine. Oh, maybe a tad dizzy at times. The neurologist did say I suffered a concussion. It should go away. She’ll let me know.
Meanwhile, my wife of 35 years, the Lovely-and-Feisty CarolAnn Conley-Williams, is having trouble sleeping. She looks at me with a mixture of adoration and anger; her experience in that parking lot was the shocking belief that I was dying. I didn’t but in her mind, I still could. Understandably, that scares her and pisses her off.
The company I work for has just learned that Texas law doesn’t allow me to drive to work after suffering a seizure. They also understand that while I could work from home, their own recently enacted policy forbids it. So, they’re paying me to sleep in and, no doubt, counting the expense. I’m grateful for the time I’ve been welcome there, however and whenever it ends.
For a long time, I’ve understood that my career will come to an end eventually and that the glorious achievement of living to my golden years would bring some medical challenges.
I just didn’t expect it all to happen on my birthday.
Things can almost always be worse. We carry on in gratitude.
Sad to read this. My husband and I surely miss you in the mornings. May you be blessed as you enter the next stage of your life.
Thanks for the Kind comment. At this point I’m still planning to return to KLIF within a month or three. Hard to say for sure what the situation will be by then. I wish you and your husband many years of happiness and health.
Best of luck with your recovery, Dave. I miss the great chemistry of you and Amy on the radio. Just learned today that Amy will leave radio soon.
Regardless of your future plans, I wish you and her only the best. You both do a great job on the morning news.
Best wishes.
San Diego Dave
PS. I first heard you on KABC and KNX.
Thank you for the kind remarks, David. I’ve been in radio a very long time and as you said, Amy and I have great chemistry. It’s rare to find and impossible to create. We’ll both miss our mornings together on KLIF.