2. analog
  3. 1103743162

About Lugnut -- Patrick Malone

Many of us have come to know Patrick Malone (Lugnut) as a friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and kind individual. He is a frequent and enthusiastic contributor to our analog discussion forum. He has initiated only 17 threads, but responded to 559 threads. I would guess that many, if not most, of us can recall a time when Pat replied with helpful advice to a question we posted or helped us track down a rare recording. I have come to love Pat as a friend, and to respect him as a man, and I suspect many of you share those feelings.

Today I write to share difficult news with you. Pat has been diagnosed with an aggressive stomach cancer. It has yet to be determined whether surgery will even be worth it. If surgery is performed, most or all of the stomach will be removed, and Pat would face a difficult and long post-op period in the hospital. The medical course is still uncertain, but will be determined soon. Whatever is decided, it will not be easy or pleasant.

Something may be planned in the future to assist the family. For now, Pat could use some of the friendship he so often and willingly showed us. You can email Pat at: lugnut50@msn.com. You can also mail cards, letters ... or whatever. You may email me for Pat's mailing address. My email is: pfrumkin1@comcast.net.

I hope to spend a few days with Pat in Idaho or Nebraska (from which he hails) soon. Between this news, my legal work, getting ready for family arriving for the holidays, Audio Intelligent, and trying to make plans to visit Pat, my head is spinning. If you email me and I don't respond, please understand that I am not ignoring you, but rather simply do not have time to reply.

Pat may or may not have time to respond to posts here, to emails, or to cards mailed to him. But he has asked me to convey to each and every one of you that he has cherished your friendship, your comradery, and sharing our common hobby on this great website.

As we prepare for our holiday season celebrations, and look forward to -- as we should -- enjoying this time of year, I ask that you keep Pat and his family in mind ... and softly offer up, in quiet moments in the still of night and early morning, prayers for Pat and his family. God bless.

Warmest regards to all,
Paul Frumkin
paul_frumkin

Showing 4 responses by ccryder

ccryder
45 posts
 
What a beautiful puppy! I bet you feel exhausted!

I hope the sheets are cool, the pillows soft and that sleep renews.
ccryder
45 posts
 
I just stumbled onto this thread recently. Stunning. I am not sure what impresses/moves me more - that Lugnut (great name) is sharing his experience or that people are here hanging with it. I mean, mortality is something we usually try to put in the closet and hope it doesn't get us. Oops. And instead, people on this thread are talking about maybe the most mysterious aspect of life. With a guy who is fully conscious of his mortality and who is writing about it, out loud, publicly, in its mental, physical and spiritual dimensions, in technicolor and surround sound.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is extraordinary. On an audiophile forum, no less.

One little add. I work in the medical field. I was at a conference last weekend focused on breast cancer, dealing in part with the quality of breast cancer survivors' lives, post treatment. The presenter's data was that the quality of life for those whose treatment was surgery and/or radiation was essentially the same as the rest of the population. But those women who had had chemotherapy (meaning a more serious cancer) reported a higher quality of life than the population. This is a paradoxical finding, because chemo is no treat. I suspect it is because women who are given chemo really have the veil lifted to their ordinary denial of their mortality, and as a result, experience a spiritual response to this heightened awareness, as if we all know a depth equal to the event.

Not just for Pat, but for all of us: may we find our way to love, itself.
ccryder
45 posts
 
Pat, I am just going to let this rip. I read your narrative with awe, and want to communicate back. It feels a little awkward to talk of such personal things in a public forum, but you are the trailblazer and I am just walking in the path you cut.

I think the two qualities I read you experiencing are faith and surrender. I think it takes this kind of big experience to contemplate something as wild-assed as our own death. I have periods where I experience faith as the complete solution to the deepest questions I have asked. It's not just faith in a noun, or even in a concept. It's more visceral than that. If I had to put it into words, it would be that "God Is," that there is a source of my own consciousness beyond my ego and will, and it feels like Love, itself. Closely aligned with it is gratitude, and the desire to serve. I do nothing to earn this wonderous perception - I can't manufacture it via my effort- but it exists because what I'll call God exists. The natural emotion is one of worship and celebration. At last, eureka, I am not just an ego efforting my way uphill. And so surrender is part and parcel of it - maybe also said, alignment of my will with that which I worship. Of course, I fail at this more often than not, but that's not the point. Forgiveness and redemption are abundant, and a part of the process. Touching into this is precious.

The reason I am writing about it is simply to celebrate with you this discovery, for you in your terms & for me in mine, that we both, and countless others, of all faiths, in all times, have stumbled upon. It takes the sting away; it leaves one able to love, at last. I hope as you read it, some of what I feel now is shared, a celebration of that which is holy. Chuck
ccryder
45 posts
 
This thread is simply a wonderful thing. For example, I just read Musicdoc's post - now that's the way to start one's day. In celebration of the reality of love, of the "greater self."

That Pat and Barb share such an intimate time has been the catalyst to bring our "greater selves" forward in a public forum. It reassures me to find so many people pointed in this direction. Think of this: right now I feel deep love, compassion and connection because a man and woman I do not personally know shared themselves and people responded in kind. This is magic, a little miracle all unto itself. Me, just an anonymous guy on a forum, inspired toward a place of greater beauty as a result of seeing so many of you unveil your "greater self."

I especially pray that Pat & Barb are riding in this slipstream of connection and find themselves immersed in the fabric of love, itself.
More to discover