This just came in my inbox today.  Thought I'd pass it along.

Hi Folks,
 
I first want to thank you all for your prayers and concern over my emergency hospital stay last weekend.  Your e-mails, phone calls, and letters have been much appreciated.  At times like these when I need support the most it is so gratifying an experience to realize that there is a whole Tracker Community out there that cares about each other.  During my hospital stay I have even heard from students that had taken the Tracker Classes 28 and even 30 years ago.  Our collective Vision of saving the Earth also reaches to each other.  Your outpouring of concern made the sense of "family" that Grandfather so often spoke about a reality, manifested in your caring. 
 
Of course as Trackers you all want to know why I was in the hospital.  After all, it’s in the nature of a Tracker to ask the "sacred question" as to what happened and why.  Basically my journey to the hospital stay began over 30 years ago.  I had been hit in the side of the jaw by a baseball bat and had a molar badly broken off as a result of the blow.  No I wasn't playing baseball but was trying to apprehend a fugitive I had just tracked down who happen to be holding a baseball bat.  Well a long story short, he is doing life and I have had a life long struggle with the broken tooth.  Over the years the remainder of the tooth fragments have worked their way out, like a splinter, each with its own raging infection.  Several years ago I had thought that the tooth was finally gone as none of my dental x-rays showed any evidence of the tooth.  What the oral surgeon and I didn't know was that a fragment of tooth root had penetrated my sinus cavity and was lodged there, causing years of agonizing pain, sinus infections, and a laundry list of other problems. 
 
During my last dentist visit I complained that it felt like a splinter stuck in my gum where the tooth had been and the dentist found that I was running an infection inside of the gum.  He decided to open up the gum and as he cleaned out the infection he found and removed the tooth fragment.  A day after the surgery and during the Philosophy V class the right side of my face swelled to a point where I was unrecognizable.  Well back to the dentist to have the infection suctioned out again.  A day later, with my face fully swollen to a point where my eye felt welded shut, running a raging fever and excruciating pain, I was rushed to the hospital.  Then it was a few days of constant IV, bed rest, and absolute boredom.  I was told as I was being discharged from the hospital that if I would have waited to come in for another 12 hours or less I would have been dead.  Wake up call !!!!!!!!  I had realized that tooth infections can be dangerous but up until now I did not realize how dangerous and life threatening they could be. 
 
So yes, I had a near death experience once again in my life and like the other times I've done a lot of soul searching and yes there will be a lot of changes in my life for damn sure.
 
Thank You all for your love and endless support.
 
In Medicine,
 
Tom