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Greetings from HellTown

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  • #39965
    RLDubbya
    Participant
    • Topics: 8
    • Replies: 24

    Greetings, everybody.

    I’m new to the Wicked Edge fold, but have hopped in and wanted to give a huge thanks to Kyle & Clay from the MotherShip, and another huge thanks to Josh from REK, who has been a most excellent friend over the past months. Kyle & Clay have both gone above and beyond for me, and I greatly appreciate all their assistance.

    HellTown is the “legend” name of this part of Ohio; it is on the border of the National Park south of Cleveland, and arose from stories of haunted buildings and such over the years after the feds took over most of the land by right of eminent domain and then let family homes sit abandoned for up to 10, 20, 30 years. But that’s a story for another day, another time – Wikipedia has the outlines of it, but they miss much.

    I was Chief Technology Officer for a small IT webhosting, development, and training company for quite sometime, until one day in 2015 I passed out with no warning. I had always been pretty healthy, competing in strongman and lifting heavy, but I had been struggling. Turns out that at age 55 I had a rare terminal cancer for which there isn’t much in the way of treatment, let alone a cure. I kept working for another 9 months after getting out of the ICU; one morning, I started to vomit blood, and long story short, I nearly died from internal damage caused by the cancer. I was placed in a coma for a week and intubated as they worked on me and my wife had last rites performed.

    I made it out, but I’m really unable to work a normal job. I can’t drive – I suffer from severe fatigue and lose consciousness randomly with no warning. The internal damage means no manual labor. My cognitive skills are impaired because my body is unable to properly remove toxins from my blood, so I’m essentially suffering from having my brain poisoned.

    Since I was always the breadwinner, we are going to lose our house soon. I’m hoping that I can make some cash by sharpening to at least provide some food for my wife and my pack of malamutes.

    There’s not much I can do these days; as I’ve said, my work is impacted, and so is my time off.

    I also wanted to let everybody know that there are times when I get really frustrated and angry, and, put bluntly, I can be a horse’s arse in forum conversations. I don’t ever intend to do that, but it happens, so please don’t take it personally.  If I do it to you, I’d be obliged if you could overlook my crappy behavior, and not hold it against me.

    I have a 2017 model WE-130, with a few stones, strops, pastes, lapping films; I’ve had it for a week or so. I’m slowly getting up to speed on it, practicing all that I can to put on the “scary sharp” edges and “super polished” edges, and to learn the basic motions and get processes defined, that sort of thing.

    I also have a Darex WorkSharp Ken Onion Edition, with the Blade Grinding Attachment – I like that for quick sharpening of beat-up kitchen knives. I can take a knife that is super-dull, has major edge chipping, and in 15 minutes get it shaving sharp with a nice, shiny edge – not quite a mirror polish, but from the next county over, if you like. I also have a Spyderco Sharpmaker, and I use that once in a while on my own knives.

    I’ve spent quite a bit of time poking through this forum today. I’m amazed at the depth and breadth of knowledge which is demonstrated by folks here. I hope that I can contribute something, and somehow give some help to others.

    As somebody with advanced terminal cancer, there will be dark days when I complain about things you say for no apparent reason. Please consider this my apology in advance for such times. There will be days that what I say is clearly wrong, making no sense: on these days I will often be argumentative. Please do not "let me slide" at such times, but rather call me out, point out what is factually wrong, and demand I explain my position. Please also consider this my apology in advance for such times.

    1 user thanked author for this post.
    #39966
    MarcH
    Moderator
    • Topics: 74
    • Replies: 2733

    Welcome…..all I can say

    Marc
    (MarcH's Rack-Its)

    1 user thanked author for this post.
    #39971
    Organic
    Participant
    • Topics: 17
    • Replies: 929

    I hope that sharpening as a business turns out well for you and your family. If you’re learning the ropes from Josh, you’re for sure on the path to greatness. That guy is an amazing sharpener. Welcome to the forum!

    1 user thanked author for this post.
    #39973
    sksharp
    Participant
    • Topics: 9
    • Replies: 408

    Welcome and all the best,

    My prayers and hopes will be with you, keep fighting!

    1 user thanked author for this post.
    #39975
    Mark76
    Participant
    • Topics: 179
    • Replies: 2760

    Welcome to the forum! You’re lucky to have Josh as a friend. I also know him and he’s a great guy who’s also helped me with some knife-related things. I wish you all the best with your illness. I hope things will become better in the future.

    Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

    1 user thanked author for this post.
    #39978
    RLDubbya
    Participant
    • Topics: 8
    • Replies: 24

    Welcome to the forum! You’re lucky to have Josh as a friend. I also know him and he’s a great guy who’s also helped me with some knife-related things. I wish you all the best with your illness. I hope things will become better in the future.

    Indeed, I am blessed. After having nearly died twice, and being told I have under a year left to prepare for that next leg of the journey, I have come to a fresh & new understanding of what is important. That’s why despite everything else, I just completed a fundraiser for research into my cancer, and that’s where I met Josh.  He did some work for me that on a technical level was simply brilliant; topping it off, he anchored the leg of the project with which he was involved – I had no hesitation, no second thoughts, in turning the reins over to him.

    As somebody with advanced terminal cancer, there will be dark days when I complain about things you say for no apparent reason. Please consider this my apology in advance for such times. There will be days that what I say is clearly wrong, making no sense: on these days I will often be argumentative. Please do not "let me slide" at such times, but rather call me out, point out what is factually wrong, and demand I explain my position. Please also consider this my apology in advance for such times.

    2 users thanked author for this post.
    #39989
    dulledge
    Participant
    • Topics: 12
    • Replies: 183

    Welcome to the forum! My prayers with you. Your post woke me up. I started to think how to prepare for bad events that could change life forever. What would you do differently if you knew in advance?

    I am also looking to buy KO attachment to speed up re-profiling. Thank you for good tips!

    #40000
    tcmeyer
    Participant
    • Topics: 38
    • Replies: 2095

    As somebody with advanced terminal cancer, there will be dark days when I complain about things you say for no apparent reason. Please consider this my apology in advance for such times. There will be days that what I say is clearly wrong, making no sense: on these days I will often be argumentative. Please do not “let me slide” at such times, but rather call me out, point out what is factually wrong, and demand I explain my position. Please also consider this my apology in advance for such times.

    A while back, we had a forum member here that was having a tough go of it in his battle with cancer.  It was apparent from his posts that he was irritable and some of his outbursts were quite inappropriate and painful to read.  After a string of these, he eventually went too far and was dropped from the forum.  This was unfortunate, because he clearly was talented and knowledgeable and contributed in a positive way to the discourse.

    I went through a similar situation when my father was in the last few weeks of his battle with multiple myeloma.  At one point, my mother asked me to take him on a drive around the countryside in his van – something he hadn’t been able to do for some time.  We stopped for gas at one point and he snarled angrily at me for insisting that I pay for the gas.  Unfortunately, this tearful situation is now one of my most vivid memories of him.

    Anger is probably the least productive of emotions.  Try to leave your family with more positive memories.  Meanwhile, you’ve joined a forum here which will strive to support you in your sharpening endeavors.  We’ll try to keep open minds with regard to your situation and the moods you struggle to deal with.

    Tom M

    4 users thanked author for this post.
    #40112
    RLDubbya
    Participant
    • Topics: 8
    • Replies: 24

    Tom,

    Thanks for the welcome, and the insight.  Believe me: I’m working hard at creating good experiences for my wife, my dogs, and I during this last leg of the journey. We have no other family, which makes it hard; I can see the toll it is already taking on my wife. As I’ve told her, chances are high that I will never know what she is going through, but it can’t be easy.

    Not having a lot of “disposable income” makes it somewhat difficult in our society to have fun; combined with the fact that it is hard for me to get around, I have to be creative. I also have another rare disease called DISH; in brief, it is causing my connective tissue to turn to bone – legend has it that I looked at Medusa one morning…

    Since I got out of the ICU the last time (April 2016), I have worked with approximately  30 people directly in a one-on-one relationship to help them understand how this cancer is manifesting and what choices they have. Folks send me their medical records, I spend time reviewing all tests, notes, etc., and then we have a chat session that might last up to 8 hours. In that session, I go over all drugs they are taking, and why; what their test results are showing; why their doctors are making xyz recommendations, and try to get their general understanding of their own situation improved so at least they don’t feel lost.

    I conceived of, administered, and operated a fundraiser benefitting the only non-profit dedicated to researching this type family of cancers and helping patients. We did fairly well; well enough that I recently received a note from the director of the foundation informing me that he wants me to take over a couple projects for the foundation. Unfortunately, this is all volunteer work.

    My point in relating this is to emphasize that I agree with you completely re: anger, and I am doing all that is in my power to avoid wallowing in that emotion which can be so all-consuming. I try my best to focus on giving back to the community and other individuals as a way to pay my debt to my fellow man, and I do try to count my blessings.

    There are, however, times when I am exhausted (I have fallen asleep standing in my office) and the anger comes out, unintentionally. I try to avoid talking with other people when I am so fatigued, but again I’m by no means perfect, and sometimes that anger does come out. As I mentioned, I would be obliged if you could keep in mind it’s not personal; asking even more, it would be great if people could drop me a candid private message telling me straightforwardly and without spite that I am out of line. I would much rather have forum members tell me this than to create bad feelings and be forced to stop participating here.

    Have a great Friday, and a great weekend, sir.

    BobW

    HellTownKnives

    As somebody with advanced terminal cancer, there will be dark days when I complain about things you say for no apparent reason. Please consider this my apology in advance for such times. There will be days that what I say is clearly wrong, making no sense: on these days I will often be argumentative. Please do not "let me slide" at such times, but rather call me out, point out what is factually wrong, and demand I explain my position. Please also consider this my apology in advance for such times.

    1 user thanked author for this post.
    #40113
    RLDubbya
    Participant
    • Topics: 8
    • Replies: 24

    Welcome to the forum! My prayers with you. Your post woke me up. I started to think how to prepare for bad events that could change life forever. What would you do differently if you knew in advance? I am also looking to buy KO attachment to speed up re-profiling. Thank you for good tips!

    I’m glad you found some value in my words! That just made my day, I’m so happy I could help in some small way.

    There’s not much I could do differently, honestly – I’m in a difficult position. In 2005, I realized that I had let myself get very out of shape, and I promised myself to fix that. As I started getting back into shape, I had problems. Long story short: in 2006, I was diagnosed with another extremely rare disease called DISH; it was already in the advanced stages. In short: all my connective tissue is turning to bone. My spine, hands, ankles, and hips have limited movement.

    From 2006 to 2015, I spent all my money trying to deal with this disease – and I did so, fairly successfully. However, just when I felt I had that under control, and was ready to focus on rebuilding my savings, it was 2015, and I nearly died from the cancer’s effects.

    Double-jeopardy! Alex, I’ll take “Death Lottery” for $50, please.

    One thing I would have changed in my life: I would have had annual CBCs performed. If my doctors wouldn’t approve, I would have gone through a private lab. The CBC lab result would have shown me that something was going wrong in my body, and it wasn’t easily explained. That _might_ have helped me catch it earlier.

    The other thing I’ve learned: you have to advocate for your own health. I’ve had hematologists misdiagnose me, refuse to listen to me, nearly kill me – all because of their ego. You have to dig your heels in, and fight. It is, after all, your body and your life.

    I don’t know if that adequately addresses your question, sir. If not, please let me know, and please feel feel free to ask me other questions. No topic is off-limits with me, I am very open about this cancer and what it does.

    Happy Friday!

    BobW

    As somebody with advanced terminal cancer, there will be dark days when I complain about things you say for no apparent reason. Please consider this my apology in advance for such times. There will be days that what I say is clearly wrong, making no sense: on these days I will often be argumentative. Please do not "let me slide" at such times, but rather call me out, point out what is factually wrong, and demand I explain my position. Please also consider this my apology in advance for such times.

    4 users thanked author for this post.
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