The Big Heart

A few months back, I mentioned that my mother slipped and broke her hip.  What I don't think I mentioned is that before the surgery, an electrocardiogram (EKG) was performed on her to make sure her heart could handle the anesthesia.

The results revealed that there was a valve that needed to be replaced to prevent her suffering a heart attack in the very near future.

Fast forward to today... and my mother has worked hard to rehabilitate her hip and the family has been very happy with her progress.

She was set to undergo her valve replacement surgery this morning, which on a positive note is suppose to be minimally invasive with a very high success rate.  However after running a few more tests this morning, it looks like she's going to need to see one more specialist before rescheduling the surgery.

Unfortunately, I don't think my principal is gonna allow me to take another week off from work, so hopefully one of my siblings will be able to go down and support them in a few weeks when they set a new date.

Worst case scenario... I'll go down for one or two days.

Anyways... while writing this up, I kept drawing a blank in regards to which direction I was going to take this post.  I thought about writing about caring athletes, because "caring" is probably the best word to describe my mom.

I considered writing a post on athletes born and raised in Hawaii... because that's where she grew up.

Then I remembered Rod Carew and his successful heart surgery that took place back in December 2016.  So I figured I'd go ahead and write about some recent additions to my Rod Carew collection:

1977-79 Sportcaster Italy #10-07

After publishing My Plastic Fetish post, I discovered that many of you aren't big fans of slabbed cards.  I'm okay with that.  We all collect in our own unique way and to be honest... I'm not a die-hard graded card collector either.  The vast majority of my collection is not graded and won't be as long as the cards are in my possession.

However I grabbed this card because it was cheap ($4.34) and part of a bulk shipment from 4 Sharp Corners.

As soon as I received the package, I was blown away by how big this holder is.  Sportscasters are huge (4 3/4" x 6 1/4")!  Not exactly sure how I'll display or store this card.  It's currently sitting on my desk off to the side.

For $8.79... I also grabbed this card from 4 Sharp Corners:

1974 Kellogg's #30

I'm definitely part of the 70's and 80's Kellogg's lenticular baseball card fan club... which seems to have a cult-like following among us bloggers.  Although I realize it's blasphemous to some for keeping Carew locked up in this plastic cell, but for the time being... that's where he's staying.

Last, but not least...

2016 Museum Collection Archival Autographs #AA-RC

I have no idea when or where I purchased this card... nor do I know how much I spent... but I scanned it back in February, so I consider this a new addition.  I've been a fan of Museum Collection Archival Autographs the past few years and this is my favorite design.

For being one of the greatest contact hitters of his generation, Carew's autographs are very affordable.  If I were to guess, I probably paid anywhere from $15 to $25 for this card.

The final card in this post isn't a new addition... it's an oldie, but goodie:

1997 Leaf Thomas The Big Heart Leukemia #1

I've written about this card before.  Leaf produced these back in the day to help raise money for The Frank Thomas Charitable Foundation.  The foundation was established to honor Frank's sister whom he lost to Leukemia.  Carew's daughter (Michelle) passed away from Leukemia as well.

Although Leukemia is cancer of the blood cells, I thought I'd share this card in honor of my mother and her big heart.

That's it for today.  I hope all of you are enjoying your week.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!