The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 36, Ed. 1, Friday, January 28, 1994 Page: 3 of 6
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A poet's tale of love and blood clots
$ By Mark Houston
Accent Page Editor
Senior Dale McKinnon battled
death for 13 days in a cardiac
intensive care unit nt Kcndrick
Medical Center. Twice morphine
wasn't enough to stop the pain. Each
titrjc doctors told him to make his
peace with God because it would be
Ills great trip to eternity.
But he survived.
lie survived 12 pulmonary embol-
isms blood clots that passed
through his heart and into his lungs
even the two clots that lodged them-
selves in his heart. He survived the Tits
of convulsions caused by the pain of
the embedded clots in his lung. He
survived the nitroglycerin treatment.
He survived waiting three weeks after
complaining about a calf swollen larg-
er than his knee. He lived through the
knee surgery that caused the swelling
and the auto accident that started the
tailspin six months ago. And he con-
tinues to fight the unexplained attacks
of pain impelling his lungs eight-10
times daily. Me survives.
His story began June 26 when Dale
Was broadsidcd by a speeding truck in
a Randall's grocery store parking lot
in Houston.
"As I was leaving the parking lot I
saw this truck driving about 30 or 40. 1
honked and thought I saw him slow
down so I relaxed. When I looked up
again he was at the door" the com-
munication major from Houston
recalled. "He T-boncd me."
The wreck did not threaten Dale's
lire directly. As it turned out he twist-
ed his neck and back damaged his
shoulder and binded his knees which
were jammed under the dash. The rest
of his body was twisted into the back-
scat. After his neck and back healed
he underwent knee surgery Aug. 17 to
repair the torn cartilage.
'The problems started with the knee
surgery" Dale said. "Following the
khec surgery my calf swelled up big-
ger than my knee. My dad came up
and because of his fear of blood clots
he took me to the doctor who per-
formed the surgery."
The doctor said only one in a
100000 times the surgery would result
in blood clots that caused swelling."
The doctor urged Dale to remain opti-
mistic about the situation.
Three weeks later in his 8 a.m.
class Dale experienced excruciating
pain in the right side of his chest after
coughing several times. In his 9 a.m.
class his chest throbbed unbearably.
One hour later Dale had difficulty
breathing and by noon he was dou-
bled over.
While at a friend's house Dale was
told to take aspirin and be cool. But
Dale went home and called his par-
ents. His mother ordered him to call an
ambulance and check into the hospital
but he never made it. Brad Bullington
senior marketing major from Abilene
found Dale unconscious on his living
room floor and rushed him to the
emergency room at Hendrick Medical
Center.
"loctors spent five hours trying to
diagnose Dale's condition.
I They thought he had a collapsed
lp lung but after calling in a lung
specialist they determined Dale had
12 blood clots lodged in his lung. The
situation quickly became serious.
"A team of doctors came in and
asked Brad to call my dad" Dale
explained. "Then they made everyone
leave and told me to get in touch with
life.
"I was surrounded by billions of
machines. I told myself I was basically
going to die and if I do I'm going to
heaven" he continued.
"I knew I had lived my life pretty
well and I thought that if I died I
would go to heaven" he said quiver-
ing. "I always heard about people on
their death beds who beg to God for
mercy on their lives of sin. I didn't
want to do that"
Dale was placed in cardiac intensive
care in Hendrick and fought bouts of
tremendous pain but like forcshocks
to a larger earthquake the pain he
experienced merely was a shadow of
the pain to come. The big one didn't
hit until Sept. 5.
"That was the most difficult day of
my life" Dale trembled. "I thought to
myself 'I've got to die now I've
already lived three times through Jhc
most intense pain I can recall.'"
With his arms interlocked in the
bed's guardrails and gripping a tele-
phone in one hand Dale flexed his
body as rigid as he could and braced to
endure the pain.
"They gave me every drug in the
book but nothing nothing was help-
ing" Dale said. "I grabbed the doctor
and pulled him to my face and yelled
at him 'Get me some real drugs!'"
But within minutes the painkillers
were taking effect to help end the
longest 45 minutes of his life.
"I thought I was going to die" Dale
smiled wanly "You know being told
you're gonna die really tires you out"
he sighed. "I mean you think you're
gonna die and you live. Woo-hool
Only 12 hours later they tell you
you're gonna die again."
Nevertheless Sept. 15 Dale was
released from the hospital. Since then
he began to slowly piece his life back
together.
Dale attended school the first three
days of the fall semester before being
hospitalized and missed the entire
month of September. Luckily he only
had to drop one class out of 13 hours.
He suffered the loss of his short-
term memory as a side-effect of one
medication.
"I would see a friend I'd known all
my life and say Hcy ' and forget
his name" Dale smiled. "Then he
would tell me his name. I would turn
around to introduce him to somebody
and I would forget his name again.
"It was awful especially with
girls. Once there was this girl I had
dated and I couldn't remember her
name. So I told her about the
medicine and she thought I was jok
ing. I was embarrassed to death!"
The memory loss lasted about a
month but the unexplained sharp
pains in his chest continue to occur as
frequently as 10 times a day.
"The doctors still can't figure out
why it happens" he shrugged. "It's
just like the pain in the hospital."
Despite the trauma Dale considers
himself blessed and covets the experi-
ence as one of the most important trea-
sures of his life.
"I'd do it again I mean I could do
without the intense pain but the
experience of am-I-gonna-livc-or-am-I-gonna-die
was so humbling such a
lesson to be learned. 1 wouldn't trade
it for anything" he said.
Ui
that kept Dale McKinnon
alive? How did he survive 12
blood clots when only one
usually is fatal? Dale believes
his survival was God's will.
"This proves that God has a major
plan for me" he said. "I have a God-
given gift writing poetry and
I'm gonna use it to glorify God."
Dale began writing poetry in 1985
and has composed approximately
1500 poems all referring to God in
at least one stanza.
"Everything I write social edu-
cational or funny poems are nor-
mally for myself and they all tie into
the power of God" he stressed.
Dale's poems cover a variety of
issues from marriage to sexual abuse
to homelessness to humor but they all
have a common theme that helped him
through his fight with death
"The basic idea is how to get God in
your life how to rely on God to pull
you through" he said. "You go
through life thinking you're pretty
close to God. Though you can never
truly know how close you are to God
I know I'm much closer to Him now
than I was a year ago."
Dale's miracle is not that he sur-
vived a fistfight with death but that he
discovered his reason for living his
reason for poetry.
Mufc Houston ; reXlji
)tlt QtohJLWl. McKfrii
Dale has written about 1500 poems since he began in
1985. But ever since his battle with death in the cardiac'
intensive care unit in Hendrick Medical Center his poet-
ry has taken on n new meaning in his life.
Dale hopes to publish his poems in n book one day
entitled Cameron s Collections he always favored his
middle name Cameron but so far only five of his-
pocms have been published: one in a newspaper one in
the 1989 Pickwicker and three in Treasured Poets ofs
America a coffee table book published bi-annually.
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Mut Houston
On an early spring evening
with a cool breeze whistling through my room
1 sit in my chair relaxed. The soft sounds of music surround my ears
and w lilsper pictures of peace into my mind. Scenes of never-ending valleys
covered with beautiful lilies (hat are dancing with the sounds become mysight.
I am free... 1 am happy... I am content.
I am filled with excitement for the day that will come In hours.
For I am shielded by the Heavens and nothing can harm me.
And nothing can break my bond.
My God is relaxing with me and He is pleased with my advancement.
For I have advanced in my faith my actions and in my attitudes.
I am trying harder every day now and soon it will become permanent
I will no longer see negatives and good will become my only visions
I am free I am happy. I am content.
For I have had a wonderful day and I know that tomorrow will take lead of today
and one day I will walk with my Lord in the Heavens.
For that in itself provides me with peace for every day to come.
(fSSU1- '
Dale Cameron McKinnon 1993
I know not of a poet's words t
to enhance upon the thoughts I feel.
I hold in my hand my life '
Clinging on to a tiny tube that blesses my
heart.
Sadness trembling... Sorrow
and fright
I am scared again by the memories of
that night.
For days have gone by since that
memorable nlnht.
I spent so close to You.
Some without notice and yet other..
closer than ever.
Mi Houston The night that brought my
!w
heart to tears
My mind to beg and my soul to pray.
And as the tear trickled down
my cheek
it was made half of joy and the other...
deceit.
Splashing down across the earth
I laid it to rest.
And the sins of the past disappeared...
And I hope forever.
You know my path. Where it leads
and where it will stray.
And yet I pray tonight that my
dream will stay.
I thank You once more as I say Amen
iand I hope tomorrow 111 thank You
T '
i
K
Dale Cameron McKinnon 1993
I've been fish'n nearly every day
down at the river where everybody says...
They soy "Come on down and have a seat
Kick off your shoes and dip your feet
Do ya do much fish'n around these parts?
Has some little girl just broke your heart?"
See down at the river where
everybody goes ... Well if your heart is broke
everybody knows. I said TveTJcen fish'n nearly all
my life. Ain't never caught noth'n that I liked.
So I started talk'riW the man above
nnd He sent me down to the River of Love.
I went right down and had a seat
kicked off my shoes and dipped my feet.
Next thing I knew she was tugg'n on my line.
So I reeled her in and boy she was fine.
I thought I'd caught my trophy girl
'till she started kick'n and threw me for a whirl.
So I'm back to fish'n nearly every day
Down at the river where everybody says...
They say "Come on down and have a seat.
Kick off your shoes and dip your fcet.r
Back to the river where everybody goes
where if your heart Is broke...
Everybody knows.
Dale Crnnemn McKinnon. 19Q.1
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 36, Ed. 1, Friday, January 28, 1994, newspaper, January 28, 1994; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth92220/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.