UPDATE July 1, 2017: Setbacks, Recovery, CDs & Games

Dear Friends,
It is with a heavy heart I must forego the planned trip to Grandfather Mountain this year. More setbacks of my health condition and simply not strong enough to make the several day trip.
I wish all my fans and friends a very happy 4th of July and for those going to Grandfather Mountain, Bain sult as (Enjoy!!).
Love,
Alex
Dear Friends,
It was my intention to send out a newsletter in late April and I had it almost finished when I headed to Jefferson Barracks for what was supposed to be a routine colonoscopy; nothing appears to be routine when it comes to me, though.
For all you older folks, you know that in preparation for this procedure, you typically ingest 1 gallon of a laxative/GatorAid mixture, but for some unknown reason, the nursing staff decided I needed 2 gallons. It did me in and I was rushed to the ER where they plied me with magnesium and potassium as well as re-hydrated with IV fluids. I was admitted to a med/surg unit at John Cochrane, which is the other VA hospital here in St. Louis.
Unfortunately, they discontinued my IV fluids when I was admitted and after 5 days in the hospital not getting enough liquid, I developed a mucus plug that dropped my oxygen level down to 50 when 90 is the safe minimum. Linda received a call from the doctor at 1:30 am to let her know that they needed to perform a trachescopy so they could clear an airway. I was placed on a ventilator for 5 days and finally, after 3.5 weeks in the hospital, I came home with a trach placed and on oxygen. Linda and Ashley were able to get me off oxygen after a week and I’m working to get my trach pulled in two weeks. In the meantime, I don’t have much of a voice, but hope to change that with speech therapy that starts this week.
Needless to say, Linda and I have been through another setback caused by negligence at a hospital. Makes us very skittish to want to return to one anytime soon!
On a more pleasant note, I found a company here in St. Louis that will manufacture small orders of CD duplications. Therefore, the following selections are now available in hard copy:
- The Scotsman
- I Have Seen The Highlands
- On The Beaton Path
- Daft Ditties
- Halfway Home
- Songs of Praise/Pipes of Peace
- Road To The Isles
- In The Scottish Tradition
- Christmas Classics
- The Water Is Wide
- Kidding Around
- Over The Border
- Beaton’s Personal Favorites “Double CD”
- Live in Concert “Double CD”
- From the Sea to the Shore
- And, of course, the triple feature Alex Beaton’s Scotland DVD
Go to Beaton Store https://www.alexbeaton.com/store/products/category/cd-albums/ for all of my selections. I know many of you will be pleased with this news. Also, many are available as a single track or a complete album as downloads. You can see the selections at https://www.alexbeaton.com/store/products/category/cd-download/.
I will be attending the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games (www.gmhg.org) in North Carolina which are held from July 6-9, 2017. My good friend, Alasdair Fraser, a master Scottish fiddler, along with Natalie Hass on cello, will be performing. It will be on Saturday, the 8th of July, that I will be on MacRae Meadows by the Alex Beaton Stage. It will be wonderful to be there and very emotional. I hope that I will see you there.
I will also be attending the St. Louis Scottish Games (www.stlouis-scottishgames.com) which are held the last Saturday in September, the 30th.
Hope you have a wonderful summer!
Love,
Alex
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