[Heeplist] Pre-Ordered Heep limited edition

[Ron Mann]

Hi Tony:

Sorry you had to go through all this last year and I really wanted you to be able to attend my wedding but I understand how tough life can be, especially at our age.    Since my wedding the past 3 months have been very busy for me.  I work 13 hours a day through the week and weekends are spent doing family things and making trips to NC to see my children and grandchildren.   Also my brother who was the minister at our wedding has not done a wedding since.  He was diagnosed with panarctic cancer after being ill for two months and had surgery last week but they couldn't do anything for him since the cancer had already spread to his intestines.   My daughter as well had a breast cancer scare during that period and has to be monitored since the doctor told her she would develop full blown cancer in less than six months.    

But all in all life is what it is.  I read the list but don't have time to respond and also if Heep were to have a show in Atlanta I would be there but as of this time I can't promise to attend any other shows.   So we keep moving forward and dealing with life.   I should be working hard on the lyrics for the next Harms Way Project CD but have not had the time to finish a lot of half written material.   I will get it done but I still believe everything works if you let it.   

Ron

> I pre-ordered the signed limited-edition vinyl and the CD. I wish it 
> were in the cards to see one of the shows, but nothing really close 
> enough for a day trip. I would love to see some of you guys, 
> especially since I missed Ron's wedding. I've try to keep up with the 
> list, even though I have not posted for a while.
> 
> 2017 was a little challenging to say the least, health and career wise.
> Last year started with an elimination of my position March 1st with 
> the company I worked for 18 years and them exercising the non-compete 
> clause, effectively taking me out of market for my career for what I 
> have done for
> 25 years for at least 18 months. Still I figured I was resourceful 
> and at
> 62 started working on a plan. Then in the middle of the process, in 
> May, one of my sons noticed I was having some type of issue and made 
> me check my blood pressure, which showed my pulse rate which was 
> showing 170 to 175. He and my wife made me go to the ER. I had had 
> episodes late at night a few times before over the previous months, 
> took aspirin and went to sleep because I didn't want to alarm my wife 
> in the middle of the night, woke up in the morning and was fine. The 
> right side of my heart was doing 320 bpm on the top and 170 on the 
> bottom, so the BP device only showed the 170, and was having what is called atrial flutter.
> 
> Ended up in the ER 3 times between May and the end of August with 
> them shocking my heart back to rhythm twice since meds couldn't 
> control it. The last time I developed a-fib on the lefts side of the 
> heart, as well as the flutter. There was not a way I could keep going 
> to the ER and find a new career, so decided to have two different 
> procedures on my heart in October I've stayed busy helping my son 
> some with the studio business while recuperating. Now after a few 
> months of recovery, I seem to be out of the woods except for some 
> minor residual issues and am looking forward to a better 2018. 
> Luckily, I kept my health insurance through cobra last year even 
> though it was way too much and had a really high deductible, as the 
> total bills for the heart issues paid by insurance were hundreds of 
> thousands of dollars for last year. Still this puts us out of 
> traveling for concerts for now unless something radically changes. 
>Should have made one of my sons be a cardiac doctor so I could retire.
> 
> I don't write this to garner anything from anyone, only to warn my 
> friends that you should make sure to take care of yourself and not be 
> stubborn, especially since many of us are older and getting more 
> stubborn. If you are not on blood thinners and have weird feelings 
> around your heart, take aspirin if you are allowed, follow-up 
> immediately, better safe than not. I had tests prior to all of this 
> that were normal and it caused me to not do anything when the issues 
> started. Doctor said I was lucky I didn't develop a clot one of the 
> previous multiple times I had the issues, and never wake up, 
> especially with my history of high red blood cell count, and father's 
> multiple issues who died at 46 from a stroke. He said taking multiple 
> aspirins each time may have been a life saver, who knows. Things 
> could have turned out a lot worse, God had to have been watching over me.
>> 
>> I see so many with much greater problems and challenges than I have, 
>> and I count my blessings in friends and family every day. Luckily, I 
>> have 4 great sons, and a fantastic wife who has made sure I followed 
>> the doctor's orders. She is one of God's angels in more ways than one putting up with me.
>> 
>> I hope one of you get to do a Pledge Music to play on stage with 
>> them, would love to see a video of one of you guys with them.
>> 
>> Have a blessed year, Keep on Heep'in
>> Tony