Pantherfanz Week 5 Rant

The Heart of the matter

By: Marc K. Stanton
PantherFanz.net : Charlotte, NC
October 11th, 2005


Just another normal Sunday afternoon experience with the Carolina Panthers. Has somewhat the same 'disaster around the corner' sensation as climbing into the drivers seat of a Bugatti Veyron and turning a few 200+ mph laps around Nürburgring on a typical misty and damp German morning. You may be ready to soil the Tommy Hilfiger's, but you never dare take your eyes off the road. You would think after all these years as a card carrying member of Panther Nation I would be accustomed this type of joy ride. But much like accidentally setting off the house alarm siren at 5:00am whilst trying to get the coffee maker functional in the dark. It does not matter how many times you do it. Your breath is still taken away each and every time.

But there was a major difference for me and the family to this weeks edition of the Cardiac Cats variety show. My father and loyal member of the Pantherfanz Group, Ron, admitted himself to the hospital late last week with some pains in the chest cavity. In a manner quite divergent from the momentary pounding sensations the Panthers fans get on Sundays, his were serious enough to call for an emergency quadruple bypass operation early Saturday morning. I am pleased beyond words to report that the operation was an unequivocal success and within 24 hours he was moved from the cardiac intensive care ward over to a private room. And even while being drugged into submission for the pain associated with having ones chest bone sawed in half and dealing with more wires extruding from his body than a Borg drone, he had the television tuned to watch the Panthers nearly code in the Arizona desert.

During the 6 hour waiting period on Saturday standing by for the surgeon to finish the operation, I sat with my family in eager anticipation of a successful conclusion to this sudden dose of bad news regarding my father. When one is confronted with such a gloomy pause in a life and death situation, you try and occupy the mind with other less painful things. And while powerful periodical publications the likes of Redbook, People and Us magazine may gracefully age with time for some, the whole saga of Lindsey Lohan's battles with teenage fame just do not seem to catch my interest. I chose to browse through the various medical leaflets on cardiac and arterial disease and handouts on open heart surgery procedures. It was my unavailing hope that with the aid of graphically illustrated 4 page foldouts I could fill my mind with enough verbiage to speak on par with a cardiovascular surgeon possessing 15+ years of operating room experience and more than one Duke Medical degree. When the doctor finally came out to report on the good news of my fathers operation, I decided a firm handshake and sincere thank-you would suffice as joy was the overbearing emotion of that moment.

Now while it may be true I did not digest enough technical knowledge of the cardiopulmonary system to even warrant a casting call on next season's run of the TV show E.R.. I can say with a humbled confidence that I sure have a hell of a better understanding of just what makes up a persons heart. In the case of my father, his heart mechanically can do little right. This is his second time in 12 years with a bypass surgery and he is not an old man. He does all the right things. Takes all the latest medications, exercises, eats a good diet. Yet no matter what he does, his body will eventually find a way to fail and require immediate medical attention. However while dad may have a bum ticker, the physical nature of his heart is in no way reflective of the Heart and Soul he has as a man, husband, father and grandfather to my children. He may be a little down and stuck in a hospital bed for a short while. But make no mistake, there is a force within him that will rise above this momentary setback. In a couple of months when he is back at the tailgate lot, you will have a hard time envisioning this man having been on the brink of the afterlife.

For several years now we have casually reffered to the Panthers as the Cardiac Cats because of the nature of their style of game play. They live on the edge of defeat and when it is going their way, they manage to pull it out and get the all important increment in the win column. While it would be wrong to equate a true human struggle with mortality to the outcome of a sporting event, there is no denying that fact that the passionate drive to move forward and continue is drawn from the same pool of our inner selves. The Panthers just might have some metaphorical similarities to my fathers ticker. Things like missed tackles, blown coverages', poor run blocking and the like on the gridiron have a homologous relationship with real life complications like coronary artery disease, tricuspid regurgitation, cardiogenic shock or mitral stenosis. In the case of the human patient, do you sit back and ridicule the victim for having a crappy heart and then shut the door on the them? No, you treat the problem and let the doctors do their best to repair, or at least contain, the damage. The deadly risks to most of these problems can certainly be mitigated one way or another. But in the end it is up to the patient to find the strength and willpower to drive his own recovery. I firmly believe the coaches can repair the damage to the Panthers defensive, and to a lesser degree, offensive concerns. But the true heart of the matter is that it is up to the players to decide they are going to recover and find the will to win enough games to get into the postseason.


PS: Get well dad and I love you very much....

 

:applause: Outstanding article and I hope your dad recovers quickly.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. :229031_ha

 

Hope it all works out for y'all, Pantherfanz.

My dad (almost 70) just got out of surgery at 12:20pm today, having his corodid (sp) arteries opened up and cleaned out. He had a mild stroke a coupla weeks ago due to stuff in his veins that broke loose. He made it out ok then, and today as well, so far...




fingers crossed....

 

Hope both your Dad's are doing well.Twenty-five years ago you probably couldn't stand to be around him, now you cherish each day he's around. Funny thing about life.

 

Preesh.

Tho, 20 years ago he was my best man in my wedding. My dad and I have always been real close. He coached my teams, and did stuff with me. I'm glad I'm following his foosteps (tho I'd never equal him in million years) my sons and I have the same relationship.

Now my mother.....