Greetings from South Knox County...and a place so far in the country that we don't the Grand Old Opry until Sunday night.
I'm a bit less than a year out from a serious bout with Stage IV colon cancer or metastatic to my liver. About this time last year I had to make the decision to retire because of it. By God's Grace, I made it through chemo, surgery, and serious metabolic encephalopathy. Less than a year out, there's no evidence of disease (NDE), but the odds of a recurrence are still pretty good. Now the encouraging thing is with every NDE report, the odds shift slightly in my favor.
There's a reason my mug is on billboards for Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center. I want to help other folks to get an early heads up.
March is colorectal cancer month, and I want to remind each of your readers to make sure they follow up with their doctor with routine checks. I want you to remember the "during" photo below...as a reminder to get your check.
And...
I've been meaning to write you about a name I noticed on your blog~ Ron Ashburn, the famous deep voiced morning anchor at WNOX.
I met Ron...show started at 6am. WBIR had about three quarters of a watt at night time power, and that doubled to a watt and a half at sun up.
Before going up the hill to Hutchison Avenue, I would often leave home a little bit early and get breakfast at the Krystal on Broadway at Oglewood. There were some mornings where I would come in the restaurant and Ron would already be finishing up his last cup of coffee and cigarette before he made the short drive over to Whittle Springs Road and the WNOX studios.
It was always a treat to sit beside Ron and exchange some small talk as we were spooling up our systems for another day. Thanks for jostling out some memories. We worked similar hours at different stations, I ran the control board for WBIR-AM and Doc Johnston's show.