In My Absence ...
Back in 1966, as a very young "Curator of Astronomy & Space Science, for the Springfield Museum of Science ..." I had occasion to be interviewed on the Tonight Show by Johnny Carson; the reason: the first U.S. soft landing on the Moon of an unmanned NASA robot named "Surveyor I."
So it was of more than passing interest when I learned, a week or so after my own heart attack, that Johnny had been rushed to a hospital in California for similar open heart surgery -- only he had five bypasses to my one. Shortly after he could receive visitors, his old friend and former Tonight Show band leader, Doc Severenson, reportedly came to see him. The first thing Johnny said was,
"Don't do this!"
I heartily concur.
One of the more sobering experiences of being ill - of being really ill - is that it gives you a lot of time to think.
Time to think about life ... to sort out what’s important ... to reflect on whom you’ve touched, or what you’ve managed to accomplish, in the all-too-brief span that we’ve been given ...
And ... how you’re looked upon by others.
Few people get a chance to know the answers to even some of these “big” questions. So, I guess I’m now among a very small but fortunate minority ...
As a direct result of Art Bell’s network broadcast the night of March 8th -- just hours before my entering the operating room - apparently hundreds of thousands of people, all over the world, at Art’s urging - his seventh “Great Experiment” -- stopped what they were doing to concentrate upon and pray for my recovery ...
And then ... a major fraction of those followed up by sending written confirmation of how they looked upon my life.
This astonishing demonstration of simple love and caring from so many I will never meet has been almost overwhelming; it became a major source of comfort and renewal through these, at times, very difficult long weeks ... a true “shining island of hope in an otherwise dark night.”
All I can say is that I’m more grateful to each and every one of you, those who participated in Art’s “Great Experiment,” than you will ever know; as I said on Coast-to-Coast the night I left the hospital, “This effect is the visible demonstration of the intimate relationship between Consciousness and Hyper-dimensional Physics I’ve been alluding to for years ... that, in a higher set of dimensions, we are all truly connected. The proof of this is that not only did I feel far better immediately following this major operation, when everyone [in the Bell audience] was apparently concentrating (far better than I had any right to feel, I was later told) -- it visibly showed ... as you can see by those first pictures on the Internet.
"The visible effect of ‘something else’ going on -- beyond the usual post-operative medications I was taking -- was apparent to everyone who came to visit, even in those first few days ...”
I am equally grateful to all of you who took the time to write.
Those cards and letters - literally thousands of them, ranging from simple expressions of concern to lengthy research notes (many accompanied by very thoughtful presents) -- were in themselves a priceless gift for my recovery; they formed a much needed, highly visible affirmation (in a stack several feet high!), at a critical time in my own life, that a LOT of you have “actually been listening ...”
It is obvious that I cannot write back to everyone; that would have exactly the opposite effect of one common sentiment expressed by almost every writer:
That I should rest!
But I do want to try to answer some of your many questions, if only to let you know how much they truly meant; I figured that an update here -- on the Internet -- would thus be the most efficient. (For those of you who have computers, and know of someone who took the time to write but do not themselves have access, please share these thoughts ...)
Many of your letters expressed interest in the medical details pertaining to my current situation, some offering serious (and at times highly innovative) advice for additional post-operative treatments - a few of which I am actually now undergoing (see below). Others voiced more practical concerns regarding my ability (or inability!) to pay the staggering and unexpected medical costs I have now incurred as a direct result of this life threatening situation; for those who asked about those details, and their future impact on "Enterprise's" limited resources, also see below.
In terms of post-operative treatments: the two most critical so far have proved to be the several hyperbaric oxygen sessions I have undertaken, and the long-term, Chelation Therapy I am now experiencing.
Hyperbaric (isn't it interesting that my life increasingly involves "hyper" kinds of terms ... hyperdimensional physics ... hyperbaric treatments ... hyperbolic attacks against my work) ... the designation simply refers to a chamber in which I've now been inserted several times, since being released from Miami Heart Institute. Located at Dr. Herb Pardell's innovative health Clinic here in North Miami, the chamber (a specially-machined Lucite cylinder ... looking a little like something out of Star Trek) contains a pure oxygen atmosphere raised significantly above "normal." [The pressure can be raised to more than 30 PSI (that's twice total atmospheric pressure), or about ten times more oxygen than you're breathing at this moment if you're at sea level!]
That's the "hyper" part.
So, I lay in this chamber for up to an hour once a week (no more, as pure oxygen at these pressures can quickly become toxic!), while the oxygen itself, forced deep into every cell by the increased pressure, works on the various tissues that need healing.
My primary reason for this initial post-operative treatment was the penetrating, 8-inch gash down the middle of my breastbone -- left by (the surgeon) Dr. Heuer's knife. Although permanently held together by steel wire underneath (until the bone reknit), this deep incision (and the removal of an artery under my left mammary for the actual bypass) were causing "significant discomfort -- even with the painkillers I was taking, and even after several weeks.
The exposure to repeated hyperbaric oxygen treatments, which literally drove healing oxygen deep within these major wounds, visibly accelerated healing. It also allowed me to escape the major pain (and thus potentially habit-forming medications) I would have also otherwise experienced.
My second major reason for these treatments has to do with the line by Thomas Wolf, who wrote the infamous "You Can't go Home Again ..."
Until my "ejection fraction" (the percentage of blood pumped into my arterial system on the heart's "down stroke") is restored somewhat to normal (above ~50%), from its current damaged value of only about 35% -- I literally cannot go home. The high altitude at which I live in New Mexico -- around seven thousand feet -- means the pressure of oxygen is roughly half what I'm now breathing here, at sea level in Miami; until the efficiency of muscle action is more or less restored, I literally would die from lack of oxygen if I were to return home! (And living with an oxygen mask, if you don't have to, is NOT a way to live ...)
So, repeated exposure to pure hyperbaric oxygen, at more than two atmospheres of pressure, will also accelerate the vital healing of the heart muscle itself ... increasing the ejection fraction more towards "normal" ... allowing me to someday (and soon, I hope!) return to my beloved New Mexican Sandias.
Imagine my surprise -- in fact, my shock -- to find that this is NOT "standard post-operative care" for most cardiac patients in the United States.
On doing further research, I learned from published clinical studies in Europe that such hyperbaric oxygen treatments -- when combined with standard "clot buster" drugs, TPA (tissue plasminogen activator) or ReoPro® Abciximab (a platelet clotting inhibitor), now always administered to cardiac victims either by the paramedics or in the ER immediately after the "event" -- actually increased the immediate survival rate of heart attack victims -- by 100 to 200 percent -- compared to the use of just the drugs themselves!
Yet ... almost no Emergency Rooms in the United States maintain such a hyperbaric chamber for such use!
When I was initially whisked away to Deering Hospital by the paramedics, the first thing the doctor did in the ER was to set up an intravenous TPA "drip." This was designed to break up the (presumed) blood clot(s), obstructing the key arteries leading to my heart. Only -- the TPA took a LONG time to do its job ... all the while I'm in excruciating pain (they ultimately had to inject the full 20 milligrams of morphine that's allowed). I'm also, during this interminable period, in literal danger of either going into heart fibrillation, or even cardiac arrest, from oxygen insufficiency to the heart muscle caused by the obstruction.
Stuffing me immediately into a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, while also administrating the drugs (as is routinely done in Europe), would have doubled or even tripled my chances of survival in that first "golden hour" (according to the studies) -- as well as radically reduced the overall heart damage I eventually suffered (from the literal oxygen starvation to the muscle!). That, in turn, would have preserved a far higher "ejection fraction" of pumped blood ... allowing me to return to "normal" life far sooner ...
Needless to say, this will become a major topic of discussion the next time I appear on "Coast-to-Coast."
The other "innovative" treatment I'm currently receiving from Pardell also impacts restoring my ejection fraction -- and involves a process called "chelation."
Chemically invented in Germany in the 1920's, the medical uses of "chelation" were first widely applied in the early 1950's, by doctors at Providence Hospital in Detroit, to heal workers suffering from lead poisoning in the automotive industry; the technique was soon adopted by the old U.S. Atomic Energy Commission -- as a means of rapidly removing Uranium and other "heavy metals" from defense workers exposed to these highly toxic substances, through mining operations or in the weapons labs themselves. "Chelation Therapy" is now available to anyone. ("Chelation," as the term is used here, simply involves the use of an agent -- a natural or synthetic chemical -- to literally soak up (or chelate -- combine with) other substances or elements within the body. )
Sometimes called a "non-invasive rotor rooter for the cardiovascular system ..." the Chelation Therapy in use at Dr. Pardell's Clinic (and many others around the world) is nothing short of a cardiovascular revolution. Chelation Therapy represents a real (if little-known, to most MDs as yet) non-surgical means of preventing (and even reversing!) the dreaded "arteriosclerosis" -- i.e. the creeping blockage of the arterial system by calcium-laden "plaque," now statistically the single greatest cause of death (through precipitating oxygen-starved heart attacks) in the United States.
Essentially, the therapeutic process begins by administering a "cocktail" to the patient -- consisting of a combination of vitamin supplements, essential minerals (such as magnesium), and a very special compound called "EDTA" -- fed into a vein in the arm via a normal intravenous system in a doctor's office setting. EDTA is a synthetic protein, first produced over 60 years ago by German chemists, with a remarkable property: it soaks up ("binds to") "heavy metals" such as Strontium 90, Uranium, Lead ... and one more of particular interest to those in danger from cardio-vascular disease: Calcium.
The metal Calcium forms the literal foundation of the "fat-laden plaque" that builds up on arterial walls and in the heart itself, eventually strangling the blood flow (and thus oxygen transport) by pure physical obstruction. Regular chelation with EDTA has been shown (again, in published studies) to not only directly absorb Calcium from the arterial walls (thus preventing additional plaque build-up) ... it can demonstrably reverse even severe cases of known arterio-sclerosis ... without surgery!
While undergoing my initial chelation sessions at the Clinic, I met an older man who was in his 99th chelation. He was accompanied by his son, a considerably younger man. The son had experienced a major heart attack (like mine), and had also undergone (like me) a single bypass operation. He was now undergoing his own chelation treatments, to remove the accumulated plaque from his entire arterial system, thereby dramatically lessening his chances (according to the studies) of a second heart attack ...
His father, on the other hand, had been diagnosed (when the son was undergoing surgery) as having "a 95 percent blockage on all major arteries leading to the heart ... only a matter of time until a major coronary ..."
A year later, when I met them, the young man's father looked awfully healthy for "a dying man." NOT only had he NOT had a heart attack in those 12 months, he hadn't had the "critical" bypass operation urgently recommended by his son's doctors to prevent it! Yet, only undergoing chelation for that year, his arteries were declared "miraculously clear" in a subsequent cardiovascular examination. (Pardell was giving him his 100th session the following week free -- just to help him celebrate!)
Obviously, taking such a treatment has several beneficial side effects, even if you eat right and even if your arteries are fine; as a preventative, the therapy is much cheaper than open heart surgery (just ask me!). It also (according to a friend of mine and Herb Pardell's, producer David Haylock) seems to seriously improve short-term memory -- by increasing blood flow through the older capillaries in the brain itself. Haylock joked before I started that "soon you'll be remembering old girlfriend's phone numbers ... from decades ago" (this could have a downside ...)!
Chelation also has the added advantage, EDTA in the "cocktail' notwithstanding, of "topping off" a host of key essential minerals and vitamins normally missing in the average American's diet -- if you do it regularly. These, in turn, are considered key components by many health researchers in preventing several other major problems ... including certain forms of cancer.
So, I'm currently undergoing chelation twice a week ... in Miami.
The final "alternative therapies" I've been exploring involve one of the key people responsible for my rapidly improving current health condition, if not my being here at all: my dear friend, Robin Falkov.
Robin is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, and a Homeopathic Physician (though not an MD) based here in Miami. It is not an overstatement to say that without Robin, I probably wouldn't be here writing this.
It was Robin who originally called the paramedics (after I managed to dial her number from the hotel that fateful morning ...), and then literally arranged to follow me for days through the intricate medical system of Miami, to insist that I get the utmost care available.
It was because of Robin's persuasive capabilities that my cardiac specialists at Miami Heart allowed me to take significant doses of key supplements (NOT on the usual prescription lists), in addition to the hospital medications, before the operation -- specifically, high dosages of Vitamin C and a key heart-protective enzyme, "CoQ10." CoQ10 is well known, from clinical studies in Japan as far back as the 1960's, to radically reduce heart arrhythmia's -- which can all-too-easily once again turn into deadly fibrillation. So Robin's ability to convince my "mainstream" doctors to allow the pre-op ingestion of this key enzyme probably significantly increased my chances of getting through the operation without added complications -- given the unusual geometry of the "blockage" discovered just the day before ... [that, and all of you focusing on my well-being -- through Art's Seventh "Great Hyperdimensional Experiment!" ].
Since the operation, Robin has been feeding me a veritable pharmacy of these and other supplements -- more vitamins, more minerals, CoQ10, etc., than I have ever taken in my life (!) ... in addition to several homeopathic remedies specifically "attuned" for heart patients.
And finally, she has introduced me to the wonders of Chinese Acu-puncture -- which also seemed to help significantly in the early pain manage-ment of the incision; now, we are about to explore the longer-term application of this ancient "needle" system for actually lowering my heart rate without drugs (which is being currently handled by a standard "beta blocker"), as well as improving the general long-term flow of "Chi energy" (more hyperdimensional physics ...) throughout my system.
All in all, I'm at the "cutting edge" in terms of health modalities -- as a LOT of you specifically requested. And ... the prognosis is looking very good, in fact, terrific.
But, I can't leave this Report without bringing up a subject that I find almost as unbelievable as it is utterly despicable: the astonishing, deliberate fabrication, currently being fostered by certain unscrupulous persons on the Internet--
That I "faked" all this ... including the heart attack itself!
Given all that I've experienced in these last months, and the overwhelming outpouring of love and support from total strangers that came as a result, you might wonder why I'd even dignify such insanity with a response.
The answer lies in those conspirators -- and, yes, they're nothing less --pushing this deplorable agenda: this and the other, equally preposterous rumors out there now -- ranging from "Hoagland never worked for CBS and Walter Cronkite" (guys, my name repeatedly is under his, on the broadcast credits on the archived CBS News videotapes!), to "there is no such thing as the Angstrom Medal" (tell that to 100 plus years of other Medal recipients in Sweden). These are nothing more than "obvious, increasingly desperate attacks against the very substance of the last 15 years of Enterprise research. "
In other words: we're "on to something" ...
If this ultimate "Big Lie" can somehow "kill" the messenger (when a more direct attack has now obviously failed ...), then maybe (the theory seems to be) no one will listen to the latest information we've discovered (to be posted soon); we're getting close to "something." Obviously, too damn close for "someone" ...
The proof that we are dealing in this case with deliberate and malicious fabrications (as opposed to "mere" stupidity by those posting such ravings on the Web), is their blatant and obvious lack of any "due diligence" before publishing these clearly libelous assertions. There is a fundamental cornerstone of libel law in the United States: in order to collect damages in civil court as a public figure, you have to prove that the "hurtful assertions" made about you are not just some "innocent misapprehension" or a "mistake" -- but that the authors have been deliberately malicious ... with a "reckless disregard for the truth ..."
In the case of "Hoagland faked his heart attack ..." such proof of deliberate malevolence is elemental. Or, as John Adams once noted, "Facts are stubborn things ..."
Immediately after I was stricken and taken to Miami Heart, the leading daily paper -- the Miami-Herald -- for some reason published (Monday, March 8) not only the full story ... but the specific hospital (Miami Heart Institute) to which I had been taken! I was NOT pleased with the results, because--
According to the hospital switchboard, based on this published newspaper account (which also appeared directly on the Internet), literally thousands of total strangers from all across the country apparently immediately tried to reach me in my room -- resulting in a veritable shutdown of the entire hospital phone system!
In a desperate effort to restore communications, hospital administrators actually called my room (remember, I'm just about to enter surgery!) and begged Robin (who was "on duty," attempting to shield me from the onslaught) to institute some kind of "system" for only the "important" calls. We ultimately wound up assigning "code names" to key family members and close friends, so that those who needed to get through (without closing down the hospital!) could finally reach me.
Apparently though, out of these thousands of calls from all across the country, not once did anyone currently claiming that I faked all this--
Attempt to call my room!
Not one of these amazing "geniuses" apparently took the time to simply pick up a phone (or check the Internet), to verify my grave condition with a doctor (or even a hospital administrator) at Miami Heart itself ...
And why not, you might ask?
Because they knew it wasn't necessary; they knew I was in very serious condition: remember, it was public knowledge. Yet, despite this easily-verified sequence of events, these conspirators still carefully, deliberately, proceeded to parade their desperate Lie around the world ... in a feeble, last-minute attempt to undermine our continuing investigation of the Truth ...
That's why I'm calling your attention to this loony tunes assertion ... because it proves (as nothing else has done in recent years) that someone's literally "under orders" to continue these attacks, regardless of the consequences of their actions ...
Because of the laughable and obvious disregard for any fact-checking in this instance, this demonstrably ludicrous assertion has finally given us vital clues as to the "who" behind this whole extraordinary situation: the real "villains" instigating the increasingly vicious attacks aimed at me (and even Art Bell) with increasing intensity as we've come ever closer to the Truth.
"Normal" people -- before they decided to blatantly lie about a public figure (especially, when it's so easily disproved) -- usually pause ... mindful of the laws of libel, and the very real possibility of getting sued for such outrageous and deceitful fabrications. If it can be proven that the authors of the various Websites putting forth this drivel, rather than being "just mistaken," specifically and deliberately "made the whole thing up" ... well, the Courts have dealt with previous prevarication's in this area very harshly; and juries have awarded damages of literally millions of dollars in such suits ...
So, against those precedents, why would anyone in their right mind -- no matter how much hate they have within them -- "make up" such a story ... and then put their name to it all across the world ... when, in this case, it is so easily disproved -- with all the legal and monetary consequences?
Answer: 1) if they are literally certifiable (think about that ...), or--
2) if they are quietly being backed by an "official Agency" (or, a faction of that Agency ...), which promised to protect them from any and all consequences of their blatantly illegal actions ... as long as these Big Lies successfully divert public attention for a while from a larger Truth.
Now -- what Agency could we be thinking of ..?
So, I have a proposition for these "geniuses":
Beginning here are actual GIF images (click on them for readable enlarge-ments) of just a few of the outstanding bills from my recent "pretend" heart attack -- totaling almost sixty thousand dollars (and, no, this by no means is all of them, just a representative sampling ...).
Listed on the stationary of the various hospitals, clinics, and medical associations involved with my "charade" are the doctors who attended me, the treatments they prescribed, and the medications that I used in those first critical expensive hours ... All I've done is remove the critical "patient ID numbers" (so some hacker, hired by these turkeys, can't really screw things up ...).
This is then followed by Dr. Heuer's bill (for the actual surgery itself -- left); followed by the whopping bill from Miami Heart Institute (below) -- where I apparently successfully convinced an entire surgical team -- to say nothing of a floor full of constant-care nurses watching banks of state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, the around-the-clock lab technicians who constantly were dropping in for blood, if not the senior hospital administrators themselves -- to go along with the sham of a totally useless operation ... and then ... support a week-long, post-operative "recovery period" ... just so I could have the privilege of a fifty thousand dollar bill for the use of "the room!" And I used to think that NASA was the master of "conspiracy!"
So, here's the deal:
For all of you who asked sincerely, it turns out I was NOT covered by insurance (that's a long, sad story ...). If these doctors' and hospital bills are "fake," I guess I'll have to "pay" them. And ... Enterprise goes bankrupt.
But, if they are not ... if my heart attack was real ... for all of those putting out this garbage on the Web (for which you're libel) -- here's the other deal--
Put your money where your mouth is!
Send the full amount listed above, immediately to :
ENTERPRISE Mission, South
1801 NE 149th St.
Miami, Florida, 33181If so, we'll call it even. Any takers ..?
I thought not.
So, stay tuned -- you're gonna love what happens next ...
