For those of you not on face book...

[Bob Crawford]

I posted this there a few days ago.

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It was ten years ago tomorrow when I had my first of 5 heart attacks, and the beginning of a tedious and life changing journey.  I was in LA with a group of friends...comedians...more like family actually, to perform at The Improv on Melrose at a special event.  November the twelfth was a Sunday that year and the entire group went to Griffith Park to enjoy some food and fun before our last show later that night.  Most of us had been there all week and this was our final chance to see everyone before broke camp and went our separate ways.  "Camp" turned out to be the hotel room I shared with Ian Salmon since it was on the ground floor and faced the swimming pool and patio.  Imagine, if you can, 25-35 comedians from all walks of life and various parts of the globe, all converging in one spot, night after night after night...OK...you can't possibly imagine that.  I was there and it boggled my mind.  The laughter, the jokes, the "one-upmanship"...the vying for the throne in order to hold court...it was at once hilarious, frightening and cathartic.  Above all else, there was camaraderie.

 

At Griffith Park I passed a football and felt a pain spread down my left arm.  That moment was the beginning of this journey.  "I'm too old for this crap" was my thinking and, by the time I returned to my room at the hotel, I couldn't catch my breath.  Ian wanted me to go to the hospt and I declined, far too ignorant of my circumstance.  I'm glad I've lived to regret that decision.

 

As sudden as the onset, around 6pm, the symptoms disappeared.  I slept, awoke around 8 and made my way to The Improv.  At 10:03 pm I was onstage.  The rest of that evening was spent at my room, again enlivened with fellow comedians saying their final good-byes.  I managed a few hours sleep before I left for LAX.  

 

Here is the much shortened version of the rest of my journey:

 

Just before entering the concourse for my flight back to Birmingham, I had a second attack which lasted the entire flight home.

 

When I deplaned at Birmingham, my wife Erica said I looked "like death" and wanted me to go to the hospital, but, again, my ignorance of my situation compelled me to decline and only want to get home to my own bed.  By the time we arrived back at our house, it was over and I, once again, felt fine.

 

Tuesday was fine.

 

Wednesday night I was reaching for a piece of pizza and it started again, only worse.  Shortness of breath, pressure in my chest, unable to stand...and I fought it and my wife and my friend Gerald, still not wanting to go to the hospital.  Around 1am, I gave in and Erica drove me to the Emergency Room.

 

Sometime Thursday I had to be transferred to another Hospital and during the ride, I had a fourth attack and died...for 1 minute and 43 seconds.

 

Saturday they put a stint in my heart.

 

Sunday afternoon, the stint failed and I had a fifth attack.

 

Tuesday, during an operation for a quadruple bypass, I died twice.

 

The following 16 days were something of a blur, with days becoming progressively clearer.  I remember my wife always being there when I woke up.  Every 4 hours for 30 mins.  She never left the hospt the entire time except when I forced her to have Thanksgiving dinner with her best friend.  I remember opening my eyes a few times, unable to talk because of the breathing tube in my throat and seeing various friends and my Mother, who flew in from West Palm Beach.  I decided I could communicate by outlining letters on the palm of my hand.  It's hard to forget the look of fear on my Mother's face.

 

And then there were the faxes (to the CICU desk at the hospital from comedian friends, which gave the nurses on duty a lot of laughs!) and emails (which Erica printed out and brought to the hospital to read to me.  You can't imagine how precious those 30 minutes every 4 hours became.

 

There were the personal emails and phone calls from comedians all over the planet to Erica, offering help, advice, prayers and just ears to hear her fears.  Believe me, she has never forgotten them.

 

There were some trying times after I left the hospital, for both me and my wife.  There were a few years that we had to reconnect and find ourselves.  It was hard, but we made it.

 

During that time a group of Comedians from around the country gathered at The Comedy Catch in Chattanooga, Tn, to hold a benefit for me and Erica.  My heart and soul was in that club that night and I remain forever grateful to Michael Alfano (the owner of The Comedy Catch), his staff and all the comics who came out to help me and Erica.  We had a great Christmas that year, all due to them.

 

I've since retired from work, (much to the joy of Erica), built a new home, and had a pacemaker implanted to keep things ticking properly.  These days I'm enjoying riding my motorcycle, having my morning coffee and paper every day and working on my wood lathe, making things that Erica has a hard time parting with and, I imagine, some of my friends hope I'll keep so that their homes don't start to look like "Bob Crawford's Museum of Woodturning".

 

So, why did I write this?  Actually, I'm not sure.  I suppose ten extra years of life (and counting) has something to do with it.  However, while typing this it has occurred to me that I also want this to serve some purpose, actually several...

 

First and foremost I wanted to let ALL of you know I have never forgotten what each and every one of you did, said, sent, thought and prayed when I was down.  From my family and friends and comedians to my riding partner Gerald and my good friend Sid Browning...the staff at UAB Hospital and my friend Danny Warren who is a Nurse there and was instrumental in overlooking my care...to my wife who gave so much and suffered far more from the experience than I ever will...I remember and am eternally grateful.

 

Second, I wanted to relive this in words so that ALL of you will, I hope, learn from my ignorance.  DO NOT takes chances with symptoms of heart/stroke problems.  LEARN what the are and what to do if you experience ANY of them.  LISTEN to those around you who are trying to help.  Save yourself.

 

Finally, I believe I just wanted to "get it out".  This experience has changed me, I trust, for the better.  I find myself to be more compassionate, patient and yearning for a greater understanding of why I'm still here.  I have my good days and my bad days and, on those bad days, I tend to get somewhat introspective...and that leads to nostalgic.  And so, for once, on a good day, I wanted to remember all of you and your acts of kindness, concern and humanity towards me and my Wife...and. most of all, I wanted you to know...

 

I remember.

 

Thank you so very very much!

[joanie coyote]

Glad you're here to post this. What a great Thanksgiving reminder.
Love ya, Bob.

joanie coyote

[Ben McCowboy]

Speaking as someone who's not on Facebook, thanks for forwarding this
one Joanie!

I remember those days (well, most of them...) It was the start of my
own life-changing journey which has resulted in a wife, two kids, and
a new home in a new hemisphere. Those nights at the Orchid Suites set
the bar high, but my experiences since then have shown them as only
the beginning.

Glad to hear Bob's still ticking along. Let's do it again someday!
(We'll get 'im next time...)

[Prinny]

Wow! 10 yrs? Yet I'm still in my late 20's.

How DO I do it?

Glad you're still ticking Bob and extra glad to hear that Lovely Erica
still stands by your decrepit side.

Love ya!

Prinny xxx

[patkeepsie]

and I opened for alll ya all!!

Bob, I didn't know all this as I had to get back to NY, but I was glad
to be one of the "campers" in you and Ian's room. It still stands as
the nicest time in all my years of comedy.

Glad you are around to write this.. hope to see you sometime.

Pat Alder

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