happy new years

I want to wish everyone out there a happy new year. Obviously, this past year has been a little different. So I'm counting on this year being a lot better. I want to thank all the people who have supported me over the past year. You don't know how much that has helped.

I had an appointment with my radiation oncologist last week, and found out that my stable condition is a lot better than expected. He told me that with the type of cancer I got and being in stage IV that it is rare to see this type of cancer not getting worse. He mentioned that being stable for a three-month period is very good, but to be stable for over six months is really good. He also mentioned that the tumors are more hollow which means there is less cancer cells and he said there's probably less than a teaspoon size of cancer cells in their. Of course this isn't good enough for me so I am going with this super aggressive approach on my peroxide therapy to see if I can rid the cancer altogether. So according to my directions for my peroxide therapy, instead of three drops of peroxide for every 6 to 8 ounces of water, I'm going with their recommendation for more serious conditions which is 25 drops for every 6 to 8 ounces of water, three times a day for three weeks, followed by the same ratio, two times per day for the next six months. What is really scary is that I am getting used to the taste of that stuff. So it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, plus it's a small price to pay with a lot of upside potential. As far as the diet goes, I'm still having my grog every morning and still staying away from sugars and starches and red meat but have added white meat and every once in a while will cheat and treat myself to something like a slice of pizza or my wife's famous lasagna, but it would only be one slice or one piece at a time. I did have a slice of pizza the other day, and I tell you it smelled a lot better than it tasted. I guess it's amazing, how much better you feel when you eat food that is good for you compared to food that has all that non-good stuff in it. Even though it is one small slice it really felt heavy in my stomach.

Considering all the things that happened to me in 2009, the year went by really fast. I thought with my previous lifestyle of being so active in my new life style of turtle boy that it would only feel like April of 2009 by now.

Since this is New Year's, I must have resolutions with everyone else out there. So here they are;

1. Completely eliminate the cancer.

2. Be able to walk like a normal person.

3. Enjoy the company of friends and family.

I'm just going to start with these three which are huge. I can always add more based on how the above three workout.

As usual me and my wife always appreciate company and anything you can do to help make our life easier, especially my wife Sue, because like I mentioned before she needs to get out more and away from me.

So upcoming things for me, in January I will be having my nerves and muscles tested to see what can be done as far as the paralysis and at the end of February I will be having another MRI. Otherwise, I am pretty much home all the time, which is okay because I really don't want to go out in the crappy weather.

pogo

M & M

I know this is pretty obvious, but I think we all know that M & M is an abbreviation for Merry Christmas and medical update. So I apologize to all of you who knew that already.

Well, let's jump into the medical first. I got my MRI results yesterday, and everything is stable. Since there were only three choices, which would be shrinking, stable, or growing, I'm okay with the stable( as long as there is no horse shit in the stable). The tumors have been stable since early April, which by my calculations is 8 1/2 months. Based on this news and what I know now as far as what cancer cells like and what cancer cells don't like, I'm going to be a little bit more lenient as far as my diet goes. This is a big relief for my wife who really wasn't too thrilled with making all these different specialty dinners, plus trying to feed our son, and herself, which means she was making three different meals. So basically for myself, I'm still going to have the grog every morning, and I am still going to be on the peroxide therapy, I'm going to stay away from all types of potatoes and pastas and anything loaded with sugar which is basically candy, cookies and any type of food that has a lot of hidden sugar in it. I still be eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, but I will be be occasionally treating myself to some white meat, such as chicken breast, turkey breast, and non-coated fish. I may also sneak in the occasional slice of pizza or a sub sandwich and actually order something off of a menu at a restaurant. As much as I like beef, I'll probably stay away from that, but at least this should give me more variety and I won't have those commercials driving me nuts plus the smell of Brad heating up those leftovers. I figured since before I started the special diets things were still saying stable, so this way I will still be hyper oxygenating the cells and the vitamins I'm taking will help strengthen the cells plus increase the alkalinity, which again normal cells like in cancer cells hate. This is kind of what I was hoping would happen, so I guess the power of the mind was hungry.

Continuing on the medical front, my left shoulder was getting sore when I would move it a certain wayso I thought it may have been out of the socket, so I also stopped in to see an orthopedic surgeon and he took some x-rays in the shoulder was fine, just tightness of the tendons and muscles from lack of use. The left arm is still a useless appendage at this time. However, this doctor referred me to another place where they will evaluate muscle activity and nerve activity, so we can see if the brain is sending a signal that is getting blocked or where the problem may be. So we actually are going to do something that is scientific and not just people telling me that everything will be normal again. This I will be finding out sometime in January. They are not too worried about the legs since I use them all the time, but it is just going to take some time but will hopefully be able to walk like a normal person again. My next MRI is scheduled two to three months down the road, so hopefully my new modified diet will keep the tumor stable. I figure with my positive mental attitude and my good looks that we should be keep things stable.

I also want to thank my friends who have been visiting me for conversation and games, it is always nice to be around people.

Now for the Merry Christmas part. It seems a little different this year with all that's going on but am anxiously looking forward to spending some quality time with the family. On Christmas Eve, my mom, my younger sister, Carol, who is in from Kansas City, and of course Jack, Lisa, and our little buddy, Parker, will be coming over, and chicken is the main menu, which sounds like white meat to me. We will not have Jesse and Cory with us on Christmas Eve because that is when Cory's family celebrates Christmas. On Christmas morning we will have Jesse, Cory, Jack, Lisa, and of course Parker. This will be the present opening time. On Christmas afternoon, we will be going to Sue's side of the family, so I should have my fair share of people to visit. My sister, Carol will also be in town till next week Wednesday, so this next week should really be great.

There is one extremely important person that we don't want to forget about which is my wife, Sue who needs to make sure that she can spend some quality time with friends and family and get away from me every once in a while. Because we all know the saying,"too much of a good thing"(me being the thing). So if anyone out there wants to take her out to lunch or just call her to talk, or for some other activities, that you think she may like, don't be a stranger.

pogo

December update

Once again life hasn't changed much since the last blog. Sue Brad and I went to the dental office last week for our six-month checkups, and it was good to see this staff again. We recently lost a staff member due to husband being transferred, but we're expecting that. And are presently in the process of hiring someone new. We probably got close to 100 applications including a lawyer who was a CEO of a company, so I guess the economy and unemployment is as bad as they say it is. Normally when we look for new employees we are lucky to find one or two good ones as far as resumes go, but this time it looks like we have a lot to choose from which is a good thing.

I've also caught up with the office books except for one check for $86.48. Now it's up to my poor accountant who has to make heads or tails of the past year. So it's probably going to take him several times longer to do my taxes this year, so I wish him the best of luck. Now that I caught up on everything, I only need about five hours per week to do the office work. Plus the fact that I don't really have any doctor appointments or therapies, I have gotten a lot of free time. Where in the past my calendar was pretty full, now I have days that are completely open and the only time I really have to be out is for the aqua therapy which is twice a week.

I do have my game group which we meet once a week for board games. Next week, I'm going to learn how to play majong, or however you spell it. So if anybody out there likes to play board games, give me a call, or if you just want to visit, that's fine also.

This Saturday, is our office party at THAT' AMORE. I'll have to bring some of my own stuff to eat because there is very little on the menu that I can eat. But I may cheat a little bit.

For Thanksgiving, we went to Lisa and Jack's, and Jack was his usual good chef. He did the old dip the turkey into the deep fryer in the backyard and didn't blow up the house. It also had to be a really cold day which made it not as much fun. But I cheated and had some skinless white meat along with the veggies that he had made, so it was really weird eating regular food again.

Two days after Thanksgiving which was a Saturday, which was our traditional day for putting up the Christmas lights, but since they were already up from last year, all we. had to do is plug them in, and believe it or not after one year of those lights being up there, we only had to replace five light bulbs. They also got a bunch of miscellaneous things done that day including getting a new Christmas tree that came complete with lights and looks really good in the family room, which is a new place for the Christmas tree since the living room is now my bedroom.

My younger sister will be coming in for the holidays for a week and she is a gamer, so it wil be nice to have her here, plus after being unemployed for a while, she finally got a new job which is great news. My mom is doing good. We call each other each morning, to make sure we're both alive.

A friend of mine is taking me to see the comedy show, "whose line is it anyway",on January 30 at the Pabst Theater which is a show I saw two years ago and pretty much split a gut with laughter, and considering it is all improv, I know I won't see a duplicate, but I'm sure the laughs will be there.

The only other thing I'm doing different right now is that I put myself on a hydrogen peroxide therapy, which again is designed to super oxygenate my cells and help kill off the cancer cells. It requires drinking 3, 6 to 8 ounces glasses of water with peroxide in it. You start with three drops for every 6 to 8 ounces and increase it one drop per day until you get up to 25 drops and then taper back down to three drops. It gets a little nasty at 25 drops and you have to have it on an empty stomach. Thank goodness I'm working my way down, in fact today was 20 drops. On December 16th, I will be getting my next MRI, and on December 23, I have a doctors appointment and will get the results. So we will see how the diet and the peroxide therapy worked out. I am pretty optimistic about how things are going to turn out, because I really don't want to go through any chemo or radiation therapy because they tend to damage too much normal cells.

I guess I have more to talk about than I thought.

That's it for now, when I get the latest MRI results, I will let everyone know.

POGO

latest pogo update

After reading my previous blog, I can see why it's been a month since I've done anything. Life has been pretty much the same as the previous blog. There have been some changes, mostly with diet. I am on special diet called the budwigs diet plan. It is designed to increase the health of all my cells and at the same time attack cancer cells. The main part of the diet is a mixture of organic low-fat cottage cheese thoroughly mixed with flax oil and freshly ground flaxseed. The first few I had was like eating ready mix concrete due to the consistency and it took about 45 minutes to choke it down. I think that's where the saying came from of shitting bricks, plus I needed a gallon water to get it down. After that, you really didn't feel like eating the rest of the day. But now we have it down to a science, after the initial mixture, we had organic sugar-free apple juice, along with berries and large juicy grapes which makes it a lot easier to eat. I also have to avoid sugar in any form, since cancer feeds off of sugar. Also processed foods in any form, animal protein, and dairy products. So what is left to eat, organic fruits and vegetables, rice, black beans, special types of foods that we have to pre-make. Surprisingly, we have quite a few recipes and have yet to have a bad meal yet. This diet plan has been around for over 50 years and has cured a lot of cancers. As an adjunct, I will also be starting a hydrogen peroxide regiment which is designed to get as much oxygen into the cells as possible. The protocol i will be following has also done wonders in curing cancer. I also take quite a few supplements, which also help with increasing oxygen and alkalinity to all of my cells. Since the tumors have not grown the doctors were okay with me just using the diet plan and not going through any chemo or radiation therapy, which I prefer to avoid, since chemo and radiation therapy will damage normal cells plus in the past when they did do radiation and chemo, the tumors actually grew. So as long as I'm feeling good and the next MRI in mid-December shows improvement, I will be sticking with this diet plan.

I am also no longer doing any physical or occupational therapy. The only therapy I do now is aqua therapy, and before I do that, I get on a stationary bike that works the arms and legs to help with my strength. But there is more i want to do on my own to increase my strength, especially my left arm which is about half the size my right arm. It looks like bone wrapped in skin, and still really doesn't do much but hang there. We are in the process of putting some handicapped rails on our stairs so I can get up to the second level of our home where I have a bow flex,so I can use my right arm to help assist my left arm in building up strength. With winter coming it is probably a good thing that I only have to get out two times per week for the aqua therapy, so it's up to me to improve on my own.

As far as the office goes, my son-in-law, Jack, was able to hook up my home computer with my office computer, which was a real lifesaver. So instead of working five hours on weekends I was now able to work about five hours a day. No wonder why i was never catching up. I am pretty much caught up on everything now and again that's one more place I don't have to get to with winter coming. My daughter Lisa, also organized the kitchen for an efficient office, so there is no more clutter on the kitchen table, plus we got it so organized that all I have to do is give my wife Sue a folder to drop off at the office once per week.

As usual, I am always in good spirits, and still never bored and still seem to be busy all the time. Part of the reason why I am busy all the time is that everything takes longer to do, but then again I'm not in a hurry. Most days are basically the same, I will do my office work in the morning and early afternoon, then get a late afternoon nap, followed by catching a movie or watching TV after 7 PM. On the weekends, there is football and fantasy football plus every so often there have been some social events such as weddings, birthday parties, seeing the tennis guys, friends and family coming over, playing games, among other things. Yesterday, which was that 70° day, we had some friends come over who's grandson had to do some community service, so we got all the leaves raked up, the grass cut, which had not been cut for several months, the gutters cleaned out, along with a few other odds and ends. So we are all set for winter and it gave me a chance to walk around outside a little bit.

So that's about it. I'm always open for company, just remember that I can't do lunch.

Based on the excitement of this blog, it may be a while until the next blog unless something exciting happens.

pogo

weekly update

Friday night, we celebrated Jesse's birthday who turned 28 which is hard to believe because her parents are so young. We had 13 people and two toddlers and went to Dicarlos Italian restaurant in Oak Creek. The food was great and plentiful and we had a good time figuring out the bill, because I was only taking care of my family,and Jesse invited some friends along which we had to divide out their portion and since the waitress did not want to separate it at the beginning, it became about a 45 minute procedure to figure out the bill. But I don't think anyone got hurt, mentally or financially.

Tonight we're going to Jesse's in-laws to celebrate her birthday there.

As usual, I will be heading to the office today with my major goal is a continuation of a line by line reconciliation over the last six months of all my business accounts. This is what happens when you're out of commission over a long period of time.

As far as my medical condition, I was evaluated yesterday by the therapists and there really hasn't been any progress so we are completely eliminating the OT and just doing one PT per week. The doctors feel that the swelling in my brain is pressing on the motor nerve paths which is preventing me from progressing. And until the swelling goes down and hopefully that will lead to improvement in nerve function, then we will continue. But for now, the only thing I can do is work on my strength and my balance which I will do on my own. I will be continuing the aqua therapy. So I'm kind of in limbo, but as usual that will not stop me. I am still upbeat, and positive, it is just a matter of learning to adapt to a different lifestyle but my long-term goal is still the same which is to get back to normal.

I had a few friends come over the other day to play some board games, which we would like to make A weekly event, so if there are any gamers out there who would be interested, let me know. With less doctor appointments and therapy sessions, I will be having more free time.

pogo

FUND RAISER

Shortly, after I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor back in February, my sister-in-law, Lynn, said that she would like to do a fundraiser for me. Her daughter, Brenda has done a lot of work with the cancer society so it was something that they had knowledge of, and now it involved a family member which just happen to be me. I had actually forgotten all about it until I heard that they kept having these meetings over late summer for this fundraiser. The basic committee was Lynn, Brenda, my kids, Jesse, Lisa, and Brad, also my son in laws, Jack and Cory. And I'm sure I'm missing some people since I wasn't involved with this at all.

Didn't know what to expect. I was totally amazed and surprised by what they had done and all the hard work that they put into it. The hundreds of people that donated door prizes were very generous and the quality of the function was top notch. I've never seen such a well-run fundraiser, which kept you entertained for the entire five hours. My son-in-law, Jack, made a great MC, by spreading out the raffle overtime, plus his entertaining auctioning off of pies.Root River Lanes with generous to give us the hall for free, plus free bowling. We also had comedy sportz entertain us, and they also donated their time. I want to thank Dylan, Joel, Tim, Dave, and Dick Chudnow, who created comedy sportz for showing up and donating their time. I knew all of these people from workshops that I did there. So it was great to see these guys again since it's been a few years. Some of them actually had the official Pogo outfits. I got to help out in a game called Dr. know it all. It was great to be up on stage again, or in my case in front of stage. My daughter, Lisa, performed with them for all the other skits. She had done it in high school and also after high school. That is also where she ended up meeting her future husband, Jack, who is a perfect fit for our family because he is crazier than our family, and we are pretty nuts.

I was also amazed at the turnout, I'm estimating between 300 and 400 people. I had people show up that I have not seen since high school, plus a wide variety of people from various activities that I have done in the past. It is nice to know, that I have touched that many lives to get this big of a turnout. So I may have done something right over my lifetime. I wish I would have had more time to meet with everybody, however, by seeing so many people, I was able to set up some social activities for the future. In the grand scheme of life, my present medical condition does not compare to the love and caring of family and friends, and I am deeply grateful.

This wasn't the only big event that weekend. Our little baby boy, Brad, turned 20 years old on September 19. Where has the time gone. He is a great kid and we don't know what we would do without him, since he knows how to work the computers, TVs, and the phone systems. Brad is taking TV and video production at MATC and also does a lot of work with his brother-in-law Jack, plus he also works for Channel 10/36, so the couch is now free because he is so busy now. Brad, in keeping up with the family tradition and has really developed a weird sense of humor and is not the same quiet person that most people had known him as.

quick medical note. Had a doctors appointment with the radiation oncologist, who showed us the pictures of the MRI. When comparing from the previous MRI, there seemed to be no change in the growth of tumors, so we decided to go conservative with no treatment as far as chemo or radiation therapy, unless we see a change. The next MRI is scheduled in three months. There is still a lot of swelling which they feel is pressing on the nerve bundles which they say may be causing the paralysis. And it is related to the tumors being present, so they are still hopeful that when the swelling eventually goes down that things will start improving so I'm still going to rely on steroids, plus nutrition and some natural healing techniques to see if we can do it this way for the next three months. Cancer cells, hate oxygen, so I do special breathing plus I'm getting a special drinking water which has extra oxygen molecules attached to it. Cancer cells also hate high alkalinity so I have special drops to put in my water to keep my pH above eight. Cancer cells also hate spicy food so I apologize if I'm talking to you and I smell like garlic and red hot peppers which I pretty much put on everything I eat now. Cancer cells also hates laughter. Something that I was always good at. The real killer for me is that cancer cells love sugar, which is my Achilles heel, but I'm still working on that one. So we will see how things go over the next three months.

In the meantime, don't be a stranger, I am pretty busy most of the time, but I'm always up for company or if someone can give us rides so my wife gets a little break from me. After all, I am still The Pogo and that will never change. just give a call to check my schedule. Phone number 421-7845.

POGO

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

Like I said in my last blog that there wasn't much exciting going on and the fact that my talking thing for dictating blogs had not been working for about a month. So that is why there is a large gap between blogs.

on September 8, my wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. It was slightly toned down from our original plan which was a week in Hawaii. I had made reservations back in November before all this happened. I guess that will teach me to finally try and take a vacation. Instead I had flowers sent, got her an anniversary card with a letter inside I wrote, and then we went out to dinner. Hopefully in the near future, we will get another crack at Hawaii.

As far as my office goes, Dr. K. is doing a fabulous job of taking care of my patients. Which really helps me out, so I can concentrate on getting better without worrying about the practice. I still am doing the accounts payable and payroll. After being five months behind I'm
starting to catch up. I usually go in for about five hours on weekends. For awhile my wife was coming with me, but with the big mess we had there it was more of a test to see how frustrating it can be in our relationship, so now that my head is more clear I can go down by myself which has definitely reduced a lot of stress. I still have five months of reconciliation to do which I have to line by line because their numerous people writing checks and everything in the past was done by computer, so I have to find missing checks,missing deposits, duplications,among other things. but I'm getting there. I just crank up the music and take my time.

As far as my mental state, which is always up for interpretation, I'm still in great spirits and still very positive despite all that's going on. The days still go by fast, which I guess would indicate that I am not bored.

As far as my physical state, I'm doing very well with the PT which is the lower half of my body, but unfortunately the OT is not doing much and they may be discontinuing since there hasn't been much progress. Of course I'm not giving up and we will see how it goes.

I started aqua therapy at the innovative fitness complex in Franklin. It really seems to help a lot. They have a very nice facility there and my trainer is superb. Because I am doing so well there, I get there a half hour before my appointment, and warm-up, so I'm actually getting an hours worth of therapy for a half hour price. They do this twice a week which is nice because I finally get to hit the showers instead of a sponge bath at the kitchen sink. Like anything, the first time you are there you don't have it down to a science yet. So the first time I was in the family bathroom it was like ice skating out of control. The floor was slippery and handrails were not in proper places and the seats are too low in the shower. Thank goodness I still have quick reactions and was able to grab onto something before I skidded out of control The first time in their It probably took over an hour and now we can do it within 15 minutes, unless I want to sit in the shower a little longer.

Another thing that I have been doing is natural healing. To learn more about this and the science behind it, I watched a DVD called the living matrix. It is kind of like the matrix movie but is a documentary that explains the healing process and it does not star Keanu Reeves. We happened to have someone in our support group who has been doing this for 30 years and working with doctors. He had developed liver cancer a couple years ago, and the cancer is completely gone by using these techniques. So he is helping me out and we are hoping that this will help with the paralysis and the tumor. He's also helping me with nutrition and the proper supplements to make sure we do all we can to destroy the cancer cells. Cancer cells hate high alkalinity which would be above a pH of eight, cancer cells also hate oxygen so when I get the chance I take deep breaths from the diaphragm. Cancer cells also hate spicy food which is good for me because I like spicy food. Also laughter is the best medicine in our support group last week, the nurse who is in charge of our support group and I got into one of those laughing modes where you couldn't stop the tears are running out of your eyes, and every time you look at each other and just laughed harder. I must've killed off 1 million cancer cells during that time.

Recently, one of the people in our cancer support group passed away. He had cancer for quite a while and developed a real high fever which did him in. He was a very nice gentleman from Greendale who did the most delicate woodwork I've ever seen. He would make these extremely thin Doves that you could probably snap with two fingers and this guy had the hands the size of a yeti. Why I'm bringing this up, is one, how close a group we are and the second is his death inspired me to get out of the wheelchair more often and pretty much walk whenever I go out now. So when we went to the funeral in a church in West Allis, I figured it would not be handicapped accessible, which I was correct, so I had no choice but to walk. His wife was very appreciative that I made it despite all the obstacles. The closest handicapped parking spot was two blocks away but fortunately my wife got a spot right across the street and to add insult to injury it was raining out, and my wife was ready to just head back home, but I didn't want to disappoint anyone. Of course there is broken down concrete steps to get up,old peeling metal rails, more steps inside and about 200 foot aisle to get to the front of the church by the casket. Then I had to make it back. I figure if I could do this than I could handle anything as far as getting places without the use of the wheelchair. Besides, sitting on my ass has never been my strong suit. It takes a lot longer and I certainly feel better walking over riding.

POGO

Reminder about Fundraiser Event!!!

Greetings from Pogo's daughter Jessie. We are holding a fundraiser for Pogo on Sunday September 20, 2009 at The Root River Center.
7220 W Rawson Ave
Franklin, WI 53132
From 1:00-6:00

Silent Auction
Raffle
Open Bowling & More!
Win a 42" TV or a spa basket. Perhapes some jewelry or a gift basket for you pet valued at $300.00! Come to the event to check out all the awesome prizes :) You won't be sorry!

If you cannot attend this event and wish to make a donation to the family, please copy & paste the link below. It will take you to paypal where you can make a donation in any amount.
Thank you for your continued love & support!



https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=AMJRLXA5MPSUS&lc=US&item_name=Rich%20%22Pogo%22%20Poglitsch%20Fund&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

my overall health and lifestyle

The latest MRI I had was at the end of July, and based on the report the tumor is not getting any bigger and appears to be stable, however, there seems to be an increase in fluid in the surgical area which they think may be contributing to the paralysis on my left side. For now, we're not doing any treatment for the smaller tumor until we get rid of the edema, which is being done by an increase in the steroids again. The doctors here and in Cleveland are going to confer, plus another doctor from Duke University, to see what the next plan of attack is.

As far as physical therapy, and occupational therapy, I am now at St. Luke's, which doesn't have a brand-new facility like in Waukesha, but it saves us over an hour of driving time, and they seem to have their act together as far as the therapy. Unfortunately, at the present time, I'm only getting two therapy appointments per week and it is not always both PT and OT. I'm also missing out on my aqua therapy, which they are going to check into. there has been improvement, but as usual, it is a long process. My goal is to get back to normal by next summer. The good news for us is that the company that did the experimental surgery that caused the paralysis is covering the cost of all of the therapies. This is a big relief, financially for us, because of all the therapies that I do need.

My lifestyle is pretty boring at this time. I pretty much get up in the morning between 5 AM and 6 AM, then it is pretty much sitting at the kitchen table in front of a computer, reading the morning paper, doing a variety of exercises to strengthen and try to get use out of both sides of my body. I usually take a 2 to 3 hour nap in the afternoon, and in the evening, we usually watch a movie. When you are used to being so active and doing something productive and being with people all of time, it is quite a change and am anxiously looking forward to getting back to normal.

Since you can see how exciting my life is now, the blogs will not be coming as frequently, unless there is something to report. Again, I welcome visitors, just call first.

But I'm still in good spirits and it really isn't as bad as it sounds, just different.

pogo

adapting to home life

Since coming home and having the wedding the same weekend, we really didn't have a chance to adapt to our new living style at home. With all of this happening at the same time, it made things very difficult. Plus after being away from the office for over two months, I was way behind on bills and just general paperwork. Between the office and relying on Sue for so many things, it became pretty frustrating and there was a lot of tension, not that it is meant to be but it was just a situation since we really didn't have any time to figure things out.

The office was the biggest frustration, because she now had to come with me to the office and since we were so far behind it took 10 times longer to do things. And plus, I wasn't as sharp as usual and every time we went down there something would go wrong and we would be farther behind then when we got there. As of today, I'm glad to say that we are pretty close to catching up, but as an example we were there for four hours yesterday because we keep coming up with missing bills, missing deposits ,missing reports, among other things. My standard line was this should only take a half hour and we would always be there at least four hours. This does not make for a happy spouse. She has to open all the mail, plus read off all the numbers on the deposits and bills. As of now, we try to limit going to the office one day a week and when my wife says she has had enough, we stop. This has helped somewhat, but is still a pain.

As far as home life, it took a couple of weeks to get acclimated. The first few weeks, I had to depend on Sue too much, which is something I did not want to do. One of the most difficult things that I had to rely on her was to get me out of the house and into the car for therapies. not only was this difficult but it was also very dangerous because she had to get me down the two cement steps, while I just had my wobbly walker for support and balance. So she had to balance me and help me with my legs all at the same time. However, she did the best at that considering how small she is compared to some of my friends who tried to help me get in and out of the house. Because of this situation, we didn't go anywhere except for therapy appointments, and Dr. appointments. This meant that we were pretty much stuck to each other inside the house all the other times which again kind of wore on us. Fortunately, I had some friends design and build some steps in the garage along with some handrails, and now I can get in and out of the house by myself and transfer to the car very easily. This has helped dramaticallyand because of this, I've been able to get out and watch my baseball team, the annual estimates and plus go to the parties afterwards, along with going to the tennis club and hanging out with the guys whom I have not seen all summer, plus we even gone to a few movies .It is amazing how something as simple as putting in some steps and a handrail can make our life so much easier. special thanks to BOB S., GENE B., and RUDY M. for doing this for us. We have also had friends and family members who have given me rides to my therapies so again I don't have to rely on my wife.. I also have visitors come over and play games or just shoot the breeze, which also helps.

There is still a lot that she does for me but I try to be as independent as I can. The kitchen sink has become my bathroom as far as brushing teeth and sponge bath, since I can't get up the stairs take showers. First-floor powder room is my own private bathroom, because of the special seat I have on the toilet, so everybody else has to go upstairs or use the basement bathroom. But at least it gives them a little bit of a workout before they go. For bedtime, she makes sure that my feet are elevated with pillows and then everything is laid out for the next morning so I can get dressed and ready for the day. I thank her for everything she does and when I'm all better, I really want to make this up for her and start having some real fun. I think all in all, we are doing pretty good right now, it is just a matter of me getting better.

We are always open to visitors and volunteers to get me to and from therapy appointments, just give us a call first so we can let you know our schedule. Anything people can do to help us out is appreciated.

As a bonus to my daughter Lisa, who is an interior designer, had to get new furniture for the living room because there is no way I could sit and get up off of our present furnture, so we decided to redo the whole living room with new paint and new carpeting and new furniture.

pogo

Jessie.s Wedding

As mentioned earlier, I got home about 4 PM on that Friday from the rehab hospital, so we had very little time to get to Silver Spring country club for the rehearsal. We did make it in time, and that is when I told my daughter that I would be able to walk her down the aisle. It was nice to see family and friends after being stuck in the hospital for three weeks. As usual, for rehearsal and dinner, it was very casual and lots of laughter. The wedding was on the rooftop and fortunately for me, I only had talked about 50 feet. After the rehearsal, we headed back south to our future in-laws for a Hawaiin Luau. Fortunately, they'll live a half a mile from us, so it was time to go home we would not be far from home.

Early the next morning, the entire female wedding party was at our house for hair, makeup and breakfast. I got some help from family members getting into that tuxedo, which is a real pain because of the paralysis. It was very uncomfortable, plus not conducive for quick bathroom breaks. And not only that it was very hot.

On the way to the wedding there was a major car accident, which backed up traffic for over two hours. Fortunately for me my chauffeur knew a different route, and we were the only ones who arrived on time. Most of the people were an hour or more later with my mom and sister taking last-place, so we had to wait for them.

Fortunately, it was a very short wedding, actually a little shorter than they planned. They had a friend do this ceremony and he was so nervous that he forgot about half of the wedding stuff. So the wedding lasted about 10 minutes. About five of those minutes involved me walking down the aisle. It was probably the most emotional time of my life as I cried all the way down the aisle. I was okay after that, it is just that a father should walk his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day, and I was not going to let anything stop me. I did have my fly open on my tuxedo as I walked down the aisle, strictly for bathroom reasons.

My wife volunteered to do the father of the bride speech for me, because I know I would not have been able to do it with all the emotion and my voice that kept disappearing. For someone who never spoke in front of a crowd before, she did wonderful. It was entertaining and she looked very comfortable doing it. She never ceases to amaze me. Lisa's speech was a combination of slide show and Lisa's sense of humor, which was hilarious.

Considering my condition, I was able to stand for photos and dance in a wheelchair along with getting to meet a lot of people. The music was good, the food was good, there were a lot of people dancing and no one got cheated at the bar. The night seemed like it was going fast, because I was dancing and mingling with the guests, though I thought it was close to midnight, it was only about 10 PM and I was getting pretty tired. I tried to make it to midnight, but I was beat and it was very hard setting in a wheelchair for that long of time, and my butt was getting pretty sore. Plus my pants kept falling off especially when I was trying to transfer into the car, which was pretty funny. We had some friends follow us nome to make sure that they could get me into the house.

The next day, was gift opening at the in-laws place, which concluded a very busy weekend for us. Despite everything it was a great time and we got a lot of complements on how nice a wedding and was and how everyone was having a good time. I made the best of it and wanted to make sure that the focus was on my daughter and not myself.

pogo

life in a rehab hospital

Waukesha Rehab Hospital came highly recommended for my situation. It is a brand-new facility, but being in Waukesha, it was anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to get there, depending on traffic. As mentioned earlier, I got there late at night on Saturday, but they did give me some food and then I hit the hay. On Sunday, one of the therapist checked me out and determined that my muscles and nerves on the left side were functioning and that we should get things back to normal. It is just a matter of time and letting the nerves find a new path to the muscles through a lot of physical therapy and occupational therapy, plus a lot of hard work at home. the whole purpose for the rehab hospital is to get you out as soon as possible and get home so you can function properly at home, which is just the beginning of the journey. Like any hospital, you are a prisoner there,not being able to leave the building and dependent on the nurses and aides. During the week they would schedule two physiotherapy's and two occupational therapies plus one speech therapy session per day. They were all approximately 45 minutes long. So the weeks went by really fast. Unfortunately, on weekends they only had one therapy session for the whole weekend, which made for long weekends. The therapies is what I really look forward to because I was actually doing something. Otherwise, you're just lying in bed and watching TV, which for me is quite boring. Most of the people working there were really nice and of course we have our favorites but the communication and response time when you paged for the nurses was extremely poor. Since I was supposed to be helped for transferring, I always had to ring for the nurse and sometimes it would be over an hour before someone showed up. When dealing with bathroom issues, that is an eternity. I am also an early riser, but they wouldn't come in for several hours later to get me out of bed. An example of poor communication, I told them about the swelling in my left ankle on Monday morning and then the following Friday, they send me to a hospital for an ultrasound to see what was the cause. And that was Friday night about 10 PM. Besides those minor inconveniences, it wasn't that bad. The food was really good and since I had an unrestricted diet, I could eat pretty much what I wanted, they just wanted to make sure that I got lots of protein. Every morning I have my bacon, cheese, and ham omelette,along with my oatmeal, a variety of fruit and every once in a while some pastry. The lunches and dinners were always good, but if you didn't like anything on the menu they could grill you up something. All of the therapist were really nice and like a mentioned above, the therapies is what I really looked forward to. It is amazing how the simple things in life, like walking, become a challenge. The physical and mental part of trying to learn how to walk again can be very tiring. Thank goodness, I was in such good shape to begin with, which did help a lot as far as learning how to walk. You have to think about every little detail, where to position your hips, making sure you lock your knees before taking a step among other things. If you forget to do one of them, then chances are you'll be lying on the floor. There's a lot of exercise involved to strengthen the right side because the right side has to compensate for the left side. The physiotherapist basically works on the waist down while the occupational therapist works from the waist up, plus teach you how to get dressed, shower, and typical daily things. it was great to have family visitors but at the same time it was still very emotional for me. With my daughter's wedding coming up and missing my grandson starting to walk, I felt like I was missing out on quite a few things which again would cause me to cry. When I got to the rehab center, I had three weeks before my daughter's wedding and after one week there my goal was to make sure that I could walk my daughter down the aisle for her wedding, even though the people at the rehab clinic said I would probably have to do it in the wheelchair. Two days before my release, we had two therapists come to our home to determine what I have to do to get our house ready. My release date was the day before the wedding so it made for quite the weekend. The wedding and the timing of my release made for quite a hectic weekend. They didn't deliver my bed which is in the living room until 4PM that Friday, along with the wheelchair. Then I had to be at the rehearsal dinner by 6 PM, which was over a half hour away. So between getting home and getting ready for the wedding there was very little time, which added a little stress to the weekend. But we survived.

pogo

Road trip with the Farkel Family

We wanted to get home as soon as possible. Air transportation was expensive, plus I could not travel, being paralyzed on the left side. So the plan was to take ground transportation. On Friday, my wife checked with the social worker and was able to get information on getting us ground transportation back to Milwaukee. Again, this is where my wife came through. When the social workers contacted the transportation company, they said that we could not get out till Monday. My wife said that there was no way that we were staying here the weekend and was persistence in getting a hold of this company even though no one was answering the phone until she got them to commit to leaving Saturday morning. My wife also made the connections with a rehab center in Waukesha and made sure that there would be a bed available and they knew when to expect me. She also took care of the payment for the transportation among other things.
The next morning this large vehicle comes rolling in. It was huge, the front half was like one of those there RV,s and the back half was like an ambulance. So my wife and I were in the back part in a queen size hospital bed with one foot square windows on each side for our viewing pleasure. The front half was like a regular RV that included a full kitchen, table, bathroom, etc., which I never got to see. Now they were three people that came along, one was a nurse, one was the main driver, and one was the fix-it man, who also did some driving. This part is hard to believe, but they did have a GPS system which would seem hard to believe after I describe what happens next. Oh by the way, we find out these people were from Tennessee, very nice people, but very laid back. So how does one get lost going from Cleveland to Milwaukee with an interstate system and a GPS system in the vehicle. After about two hours, I don't think we went more than 30 miles and from what we could tell looking out our tiny windows knew something was wrong. For some reason, they were on these dead-end country roads and there were numerous times when we were stopped for 5 to 10 minutes and then tried to make a U-turn and this happened several times. Not only that, but it was an extremely bumpy ride in the back which the nurse jokingly explained that it was good for therapy because all the jostling would help wake up the nerve's. I think part of problem of being lost was that they were looking for this special truckstop for their lunch. And when they finally found this place, it was an all you can eat buffet and they loaded up for lunch and dinner. My wife went in and tried to get me something that she recognized that I might like. We ate our food and then sat there for another hour and a half while the Farkel family took their time eating their lunch. It was getting close to mid afternoon and we still were not too far from Cleveland. Eventually we started making good time and after a few more wrong turns when we got to Waukesha to the rehab hospital, our journey had ended late Saturday evening. The Farkel family didn't even want to leave when they got to the rehab hospital. So needless to say, this was a very long day. It was kind of funny at the time, but a lot more funny now. It was an experience that I will never forget and also never want to go through again.

POGO

The Cleveland Experince

I flew to Cleveland on a Tuesday by myself, not expecting any problems, based on my conversations with the people d0ing the study. I stayed in the downtown area which was a very nice place. The architecture and downtown area reminds me a lot of Milwaukee, plus they are also right along the lake. I spent Tuesday cruising the downtown area where they have all their professional sports teams stadiums which includes football, baseball, and basketball. This was during the NBA playoffs and baseball was in full swing, so it was a pretty active area. The next day, I took a bus and visited some museums. Little did I know, that these are the last two days that I would be able to walk around and do the things that everybody takes for granted. On the day before the surgery I went in for testing, and was told that I was in excellent health physically and mentally and that you are a good candidate for this new conservative procedure. Unfortunately, that is where the good part of the story ends. After going under for the surgery the next thing I remember is waking up in ICU with no movement on my left side. The neurosurgeon didn't seem overly concerned, but then again it was my left side and not his. I cannot recall a worse feeling than having someone lift your arm and just have it fall by your side. Also,not being able to move your toes. It is a very helpless feeling and very frustrating especiallywhen you're so used to being very active. And of course,there was only one of 30 people who went though the study that ended up with paralysis and I was the unlucky one. This was also a very emotional time for me, which is something new. I would just break down and start crying several times a day. Some of this was from my present condition, but most of it was when I was talking to family. My wife, who has become become' the rock', flew out within a day to be with me, which really helped. It is amazing how strong she has become and how she doesn't take no for an answer. I could not ask for a better partner and when I'm all better, we are really going to enjoy life together. While there, she was constantly on the phone with social workers, doctors, and nurses, to make sure that everything was being taken care of and like I said before, she refused to take no for an answer. If not for her, I would probably still be in Cleveland.
POGO

he is still alive and kicking

Just a short note to let everyone know that I am back to blogging my microphone had malfunctioned and now I got this really big one which actually works. So I got a lot catching up to do.In my last blog, I mentioned that I qualified for a study which was a new technique to treat the type of brain cancer I had. There were two tumors left and thet opted to go after the largest one.Being in excellent shape,they had little concerns and scheduled surgery for Thursday and expected me to head back on that Saturday and be able to play tennis by Monday. But unfortunately there was a complication. I developed paralysis on my entire left side, which was supposed to be less than 5% risk, and of course I was the only one in the study who developed paralysis.they say that everything should get back to normal, but it will take a lot of rehab. So that's why you haven't heard from me for awhile .They should be coming back a little more regularly now. Talk to you soon.

POGO

Need Your Help!

Greetings from Pogo's daughter Jessie. We are holding a fundraiser for Pogo on Sunday September 20, 2009 at The Root River Center.
7220 W Rawson Ave
Franklin, WI 53132
From 1:00-6:00
Silent Auction
Raffle
Open Bowling & More!

If you cannot attend this event and wish to make a donation to the family, please copy & paste the link below. It will take you to paypal where you can make a donation in any amount.
Thank you for your continued love & support!



https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=AMJRLXA5MPSUS&lc=US&item_name=Rich%20%22Pogo%22%20Poglitsch%20Fund&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

Bad news becomes great news

As you recall from my previous blog, I had mentioned how wonderful the brain tumor was doing, which I would say was pretty bad news. I had also mentioned that I got a surprise e-mail last Monday, in which I was holding out on everybody just in case it fell through. Well, as you might have guessed by the title, something really good has happened. When I first found out about my condition in early February, I had gotten several e-mails from people who saw a new treatment on one of those CBS health channels relating to the type of brain cancer I had. Being the proactive person that I am, I immediately e-mailed and phoned the three contact people that they had listed for this study. I was fortunate that one of the three replied to me. At that time, she explained the guidelines for getting into the trial in which I did not qualify. They were looking for people who had already gone through a minimum of six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, plus after all that, the tumor must still be progressing. So obviously, I had to wait until I had an MRI done on May 5, in which I got the news that the tumor was spreading. So when I called and e-mailed after I got the results, I was informed that the clinical trials were closed as of last week and that I would have to wait until the FDA approved the procedure to get this done. That was something that I really did want to hear. But because I kept in constant contact by phone and e-mail, plus I gave her my blog info, I was one easy person to remember. So on that last Monday when I said there may be a surprise, it was because she contacted me, saying that someone dropped out so that there was one opening left so she gave me first crack at it. Oh by the way, I said yes.

From that Monday when I found out to that Friday before Memorial Day weekend, it was a long week of being on the phone and e-mailing to make sure all my records were transferred over to the other hospital. It was amazing on how difficult this was. I had two wonderful people working for me out of each hospital who really put a lot of time and effort into making sure all the information was forwarded but the world of computers were trying to sabotage me. From Tuesday through Thursday the info was e-mailed numerous times but wasn't getting through due to hospital firewalls, and data size and who else knows what. So we had to go back to using the old fax machine, but that didn't help get the MRI info over there. So we had to FedEx the MRI discs which were overnighted last Thursday so they could review them on Friday to see if I qualified based on the size and growth of the tumor. Of course I got a call about three in the afternoon saying she didn't receive the package yet and needed the routing number. They found the package about 3 PM and she rushed it to the doctor who immediately examined and measured the MRI's, and that is when I finally got the news that based off the info they had so far, that I would be an excellent candidate. Boy, when I finally got the news, I was as giddy as a young boy who accidentally saw his first boobe. It took me several hours to wind down.

I'm flying out to Cleveland on Memorial Day at about 5:30 PM and will have some preliminary testing done on Tuesday and Wednesday. The only thing that can prevent this from happening now is if the new MRI that they take on Tuesday shows that the tumor has grown beyond the scope of the study. But hopefully, since it will only be three weeks from the previous MRI that this will not be the case. If everything goes according to plan, I will have the procedure done on Thursday or Friday of this week, depending on how fast they fly in their team that does this procedure. Recovery time is minimal and hope to be back by the following Monday.

I have to admit, this is the first time that I have had a craving to visit Cleveland, but I think it will become my kind of town.

If anyone wants more information on what the procedure is all about, the website is www.monteris.com and the procedure is called autolitt.

POGO

Brain Tumor and Pogo are both doing well

Okay, is that title a misprint or is it a play of words. Actually, it is an extremely accurate statement. As far as I go, I still feel very good physically and mentally. My left hand really hasn't improved much, but I am able to golf, play softball, and tennis. I also found out that if I take shorter strides, I can run faster and not fall down.

On May 5, I had an MRI done and was told of the results on May 8, by my chemotherapy doctor. The area where I had the surgery looked good, however the deeper areas where there were two smaller tumors had gotten significantly bigger. I guess this is a fine example of how much of our brain that we actually use, because I really haven't noticed the difference. Obviously, the doctor was concerned and I do have to admit that it didn't make my day but that certainly didn't change who I am, or my demeanor. I think everyone was a little surprised, because they said don't expect much change in the MRI as far as improvement, but didn't expect to see so much growth from the tumor, ergo the tumor is doing very well. He immediately called the other two doctors involved in the case and moved up the appointments. So it is extremely safe to say that Plan A, did not work and now we formulate Plan B.

I was able to see the radiation oncologists that same day. He wasn't quite as panicked as the chemo doctor. He mentioned that the tumor growth had a definite margin around it which is a good thing for his next plan of attack. Enter the Cyberknife. What a cool name that is, and it sounds invasive. What it actually is is a robotic real-time radiation device that sends a high dose of radiation to the tumor cells over a two-hour session and is accurate to within 2/10 of a millimeter. You can probably Google this procedure and get more info. We got the info packet and got to see it. I would literally be in and out of there in about two hours with no side effects. They are presently trying to expedient this process with my insurance company, so hopefully it will be done in the next few weeks.

On the following Tuesday, I saw the Neurosurgeon,, who I affectionately call Dr. Doom. I think he is an excellent surgeon, since the MRI looked good in the area he worked on, and I never had any postoperative pain, but he is no Knute Rockne. If you are up by three touchdowns going into halftime and he gave the big speech in the locker room, you would probably lose the game by 50 points. He is extremely pessimistic and literally gives me no hope. I think the only speech he ever memorized was a quality-of-life speech. If I hear that speech one more time, I am going to have to rent a gun and either shoot him or myself. Being a typical surgeon, he may think that if you can't cut it out, then it can't be cured. The good news is that I mostly deal with the other two doctors from now on.

If you noticed the delay between the dates of this news and when I actually did the blog was because I wanted to make sure I informed my kids so they didn't have to find out about it from the blog or from other people. I also didn't want to ruin Mother's Day, or my daughters wedding shower. They seemed to handle the news okay, and a lot it, hopefully had to do with my positive attitude and never changing personality.

POGO

PS I got a surprise e-mail last night, which I'm not going to mention at this time. But if it pans out, I will let everyone know as soon as possible. Just a little something to keep people guessing.

Happy belated 1st Birthday, Parker

On May 1, my one and only grandson, Parker, turned the big one-year-old. And what fun thing would you like to do on your birthday. How about going to the doctor for your first annual checkup and getting two shots. Does this kid know how to party or what. He did pass his physical with flying colors(hmmm-flying colors sounds a lot like me), and he tilted the scale at a whopping 23 pounds and is 29 3/4 inches tall. I don't think he's ready for the NBA just yet.

By the way, the belated first birthday is for the blog and not for his actual birthday. Seems like I'm always busy, but better late than never.

Saturday, May 2, was the official birthday party with about 60 friends and relatives. We went over the night before to help with the setup which was going very well until we put three adults in charge to put together this new Fisher-Price slide, which on the box set simple to assemble in 10 minutes. 45 minutes later after this 180 pound grandpa jumped up and down on the last piece of the slide for five minutes, it was together. No matter how many times we went over the instructions we never did see that 180 pound guy jumping up and down on that slide, but sometimes you have to improvise. Anyway the slide does work and obviously it's pretty sturdy. Well, with all that hard work, that put me in my ritualistic napping on the couch for about an hour and a half that evening. Boy, what a party guy I am.

Also the day before and the morning of the big party, Jack's mom literally relandscaped the whole backyard. It really looked nice and there were quite a few of us who would like her to fix up our yards. My idea of a green thumb is sticking my thumb up my nose.

We were lucky to have fairly nice weather for May 2. It was mostly sunny and in the 50s but a little breezy, so we're able to be outside most of the time. We were warned ahead of time that Parker is not a big fan of loud happy birthday singing, especially with 60 off key individuals. We tried to sing quietly, but you just can't hide bad singing. it starts with the pout and then follows up with the screaming, but who could blame him. Fortunately, the screaming and singing didn't last long. Thank goodness mom was there to open the presents for him, otherwise I think we'd still be there. Anyway, the food was great, there was plenty to drink, and good company. And what better way to end the day than my ritualistic 1 and 1/2 hour nap on the couch. Still the party animal.

PS My daughter put some photos on Facebook of the birthday party and I believe a photo or two from the dress like Pogo party. Hopefully you can find the pictures, just don't ask me how since I have a tough time just turning on the computer.

Looking forward to a lot more birthdays with my little buddy.

POGO

MONDO LUCHA

What the heck is MONDO LUCHA. After being there for 3 1/2 hours at the old Turner Hall in downtown Milwaukee, I can honestly say that I am not sure. I went there with my daughter and son-in-law and the Bayview gang. Even though I was the old man of our group, the range in age at this event was probably from 21 to 80 years old. There were probably about 500 people there, and the best way to describe this is that this was a mixture of wrestling, burlesque, pole dancing, comedy and music. Our seats were three rows from the wrestling ring and not too far from the stage where other parts of entertainment were being held. I think the only way I can describe this is to go through the entire night's event.

It started out with a loud modern band that had the bass cranked up and literally vibrated the chairs, which actually felt pretty good. Then came a three on three wrestling match which was as "realistic"as professional wrestling, but these guys were a lot smaller and most of them wore some type of mask, plus you weren't really sure who is supposed to be the good guys or the bad guys. But being close enough to the action made it easier to yell out the jokes and the obscenities, which made it more entertaining. I believe there are a total of five wrestling matches which were divided up throughout the evening. The second match was a one-on-one, the third match was doubles which included one team with spiked hair that would use that as a weapon. And to make things even more competitive, the next doubles match was two guys against two gals. I believe one guy was over 200 pounds and the other guy was like his promoter agent was about 150 pounds while their opponents was about a 75 pound gal and the other gal probably tipped the scale at 170 pounds .After about 10 minutes, the 200 pound guy flattened out the 75 pound girl for the victory. The final match of the evening was for the belt that was held by the Irish brothers who were pitted against the Sasquatch and the clown. You talk about cheesy looking outfits. Anyway, we got to witness the dethroning of the Irish brothers. Other wrestling mask and disguises were the Billy goat and the salamander and I'm sure there are others but my brain can't pick them up at this time.

In between the wrestling there was various entertainment, with most of it being burlesque with the old striptease and the tassels. They did this about six times with half the time being a group of three, included singing while they were doing it plus they came in all shapes and sizes. And in the category of weird, the gal who went solo a few times involved her being dressed as an Indian and slaying a guy in a rabbit suit and then scalping said rabbit and using the scalp to cover her goodies while she danced around. Other entertainment included "Clownvis Presley", who is supposed to be the only Elvis Presley clown, magician, impersonator. The extent of his magic was pulling streamers out of his mouth each time he came into the ring, and as far as the clown part, he had a red clown nose and as far as his singing, it was the standard Elvis, but I don't think he finished any songs. Probably the most entertaining part for the crowd was when they brought this 10 foot pole on stage and these two rather large woman would do all these moves and gyrations on the pole. It was really quite amazing on how those large gals could defy gravity like that, but I can only imagine that they have to have a severe case of pole burn from some of those moves. There were no breaks or intermissions, so they kept it rolling and the good news was that the drinks were cheap. 16 ounce Pabst for only three dollars.


So the best way to describe this evening was that it was different. It was a good time and I'm glad I went but I think that going to this once was more than enough times.

POGO

Pogo, that social butterfly

Well that's slow moving Caterpillar who went into the cocoon stage for a while has finally broken out and taken wing. He is back about 50% physically, but 100% socially. It all started the previous week when I combined five straight days and evenings of social and physical activities.

I got to watch a little bit of the Wednesday tennis group that I was in. The boys looked pretty good(at tennis, that is-didn't want anyone to think I was getting weird), and I can see it's going to be a while before I get back to that level. However, the part after tennis, which includes fermented beverages needs no help at all. Thank goodness, I have a designated driver, because there is a rumor going on that alcohol and brain tumors don't mix well. But I've got quite a bit more testing to do on that.

So the next day, I tested that theory out again, but threw in a little physical activity and actually played some real games of tennis. The legs and the game appear to be improving tremendously, however, the legs are coming along a little more slowly than the tennis game. Oh by the way, the beer went down fine that night too.

On Friday, I finally got to test out my golf swing, way way way back in my backyard. I'm happy to report that I was able to hang on to the club, so no people or stray animals were hurt, plus I preserved the new windows that we had recently put in. I use the little plastic balls which took off in a variety of directions but after a while they seem to go straighter. Hopefully this weekend, I will be able to get to the driving range and put more people at risk.

On Friday night, I did more research on the beer and brain theory. We had a makeup food tasting for my daughter's wedding. Not only did we finish the test foods, by the way which was mostly me, we followed that up with a fish fry, and it takes a lot of beer to wash down any stray fish bones.

On Saturday afternoon, we had our vintage baseball team meeting and practice. I am happy to report that I can still hit a baseball, not with quite the pop that I had in the past but a lot better than I expected. The fielding was a different story. Since we don't use gloves, catching with a dead left hand was a little difficult. However I did excel at waiting for the ball to stop rolling and then picking it up and throwing it back in. I think it's going to be tough for them to find a spot to hide me in the field, but on the bright side there's a lot of potential for some hilarious situations.

On Saturday night, we had our annual preseason Pogo softball party at my place. The theme for the night was "dress like Pogo". As you can imagine, it was a very colorful night. Most people came prepared, but just in case, I had our entire front window covered with the Pogo Hawiaan Collection. If I can figure out how to get those pictures on Facebook, I'll put in the team picture plus our version of Where's Waldo called Where's Pogo which is a photo of me standing in front of the window with all those shirts in the background. My daughter, who took the picture is still suffering from retina burn. As part of the entertainment that night we had photos over the past 30 years that were loaded onto a disk and played constantly on the big screen all evening. What is really amazing is how much hair everyone used to have and how much less fat was around the midsection. The only logical explanation is camera distortion. This night also happen to be the most comprehensive test to see if the fermented beverage and brain tumor don't mix. But I'm glad to say that I passed with flying colors( like butterfly wing's). How was that for a correlation. Now that I think of it, I have not had a headache from any source since I had the tumor removed. Maybe I just needed a little extra room up there.

Sunday was a little anti-climactic, but I did manage to squeeze in an hour and a half of tennis drills and a couple more fermented beverages. This was a good test for the summer. Looking forward to this weekend where I will be attending something downtown but I'm not sure what it is. I will report in the next blog on what that was all about.

For now, this is Pogo signing off, sober and out.

Latest medical update by the latest guy

Sorry about the lateness of this blog. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get to this. I think I'm busier now than I was before this all happened. I also want to make sure that I am not boring anybody to death, so the blogging may not be as frequent as in the past. Hopefully, two to three times per week.

Well, let's jump into the world of medicine. Last Tuesday, April 14, the day before D-Day , by the IRS standard, I finished my first round of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. I know the gals from radiation oncology are definitely going to miss me, since I would always brighten their day, which is what you expect if you wore the same attire that I do. They needed to be behind the lead wall more from what I was wearing than from the radiation itself. As of right now, there are no plans to continue the radiation. As far as a chemotherapy which I finished at the same time, I now have four weeks off for good behavior. In four weeks, we will have five days of chemo and two days off with a stronger dose for several weeks. The good news is that I had no side effects from either the chemotherapy and radiation therapy which is extremely rare, and not only that, but I kept getting stronger and feeling better as time went on. As usual, I follow the beat of a different drum and don't like to follow trends. Besides developing a third eye in the middle of my forehead and having a 12 inch dorsal fin grow out of my back, you never would have known that I was exposed to any radiation at all.. So both the chemo and radiation doctors are very optimistic that I will continue to improve and not have any side effects.

On May 5, I will have another MRI. I was told not to expect any dramatic changes in the size of the tumors, because it takes some time for this to show up. But I'll see if I can buck the trend again and mentally shrink those tumors. I do have appointments set up with all three doctors that are involved in my case after the MRI. They've all been telling me the same thing which is you are doing phenomenal and just let us know if there any changes.

More good news, is that they once again reduced the dose of the steroids to 4 mg per day which is a big jump from the original 18 mg per day. I did have some side effects from this evil drug, which included water retention, especially in the face and waist, and it also does wonders with the G.I. tract which is where the term "shitten bricks" comes from. Hopefully, I will be off this stuff completely in the next few months. Things have gotten a lot better over the last week and I think I'm done with these side effects.

Well that's it for the medical updates. Next up will be an update on the sports and social calendar.

Pogo's brain, diabolical or brilliant

Darwin had his theory on evolution. Sir Isaac Newton had his theory on a creamy fruit filling inside a cookie, or the less likely theory of gravity and motion. And like all great thinkers, and philosophers, Pogo has his theory on how a perfectly healthy individual, who never gets sick and has never missed a day of work in his life ends up with a grade four, malignant brain tumor. Boy, talk about the cerebral powers of the above three geniuses, or as some might say, two out of three of the above, but you'll have to guess which is the odd one out.

Let us set the stage. Pogo's lifestyle. "Full Speed Ahead Captain". Monday's through Thursdays were pretty much the same, I'd wake up around 6 AM, leave the house by 7 AM to head off to work and pretty much worked 10 hours straight at a fast pace with little or no breaks. From there, I would race off to some evening activity and usually get there just in time. I would then get home between 9 PM and 10 PM, grab something to eat and then go to bed. On weekends, I would catch up on the things that I didn't have time for during the week, but I had to occupy every minute of the day. I did not know the meaning of the word relaxation, it felt like I was wasting time. I think it's safe to say that my motor was constantly idling on high. Now since I never took time off from work, this was my life, week after week, month after month, year after year. The last one week vacation I had was between Christmas and New Year's of 1999. Does the term "rut" seem appropriate here. To me this was normal and as far as I was concerned this was the lifestyle I wanted.

Now my dental practice, or as I commonly call it, my prison, not because I don't like it there, or like what I do, it is just that I cannot afford to leave their since I've had some bad breaks in the past with previous landlords and investments that went bad, so I've never been financially secure. Plus I've always bent over backwards for my patients and a lot of times at my own expense. Translated, nice guys make lousy business decisions.

Based on the above, I saw no end in sight. It looked like I would lead this lifestyle for the rest of my life with no retirement. My ideal plan was to eventually bring in other doctors to work for me and I could semi-retire to work when I want. I was always envious of other doctors who had no cash flow problems and were able to take time off when they want to. For years, I've been consciously trying to figure out how to do this. My concerns were that the doctors that I would hire would not provide the same quality of care that I could, because I always wanted the best for my patients. I was also concerned about another mouth to feed. If I'm just getting by, how can I afford to pay another dentist. Among other things, there could be personality conflicts and numerous other things that my feeble little mind kept coming up with.

Obviously, with all the things going on above, there may have been a little bit of hidden stress. I know that my blood pressure was higher than it was supposed to be, and my back and neck muscles were always in a knot, but would I change what I was doing? Obviously not.

Okay folks, we are now closing in on the Pogo Theory. All of this time while I was consciously trying to figure out the above, my subconscious mind was hard at work developing a foolproof plan to get Pogo out of this dilemma. The subconscious mind started with some suttle little changes to see if it could get my attention. When I go back and think over the past 6 to 9 months I may have noticed some slight loss of strength or tactile sense in my hands but it was so minor that I paid no attention to it. Since I didn't catch on with this, the subconscious headed for the tennis courts. Let's hit him where it really hurts. Since early December, my tennis game was way off, but of course I just thought it was a little bit of a slump. So the subconscious tried again and decided to add some numbness to his left hand, but once again, Bozo, decided to call a hand specialist. It was time for the subconscious to make its bold move. Let's see if walking into walls and furniture finally gets his attention. Yes it did.

So the Pogo Theory is that my subconscious created the glioblastoma, which is a tumor that is supposed to have an unknown etiology. I'm sure there could have been some simpler ways to do this, but we needed something overly convincing to make sure that I could officially retire.The subconscious also took into account to affect the left hand only, so I could pretty much do what I want to do. And it also slowed down my legs a little bit just so I wouldn't overdo things. This will add more challenges to my life in the world of sports, which I look forward to, since everything has always come pretty easy. Between a right hand that works subconsciously and a left-hand that you have to consciously think about, plus to consciously think on how fast you can run before the legs give out, it should prove to be an interesting summer with all the sports that I plan on playing.

The subconscious also decided to go for the most aggressive and malignant type of brain tumor there was, because it knows that Pogo loves a challenge, so why dink around with some minor little sissy, benign tumor. It makes it all that much cooler when you defeat this minor inconvenience.

So did the subconscious plan work? I would have to give it a big yes. My blood pressure has dropped dramatically, and is in the normal range, bloodwork has been normal, and I no longer have tightness in my back or neck. I now have the free time that I've never had. In fact I had more free time in February than I had in the past 30 years. I found a wonderful, personable,and highly skilled dentist to work for me and I get the new experience of having the time to manage the practice which has been busier than ever. I'm never bored and I have time on my side to do new things. As an added bonus, I finally got to use my health insurance and disability insurance which I have paid for over the past 30 years without seeing any benefits. And by the way, I have no plans to use my life insurance for at least for another 50 years.

Boy that subconscious must have a lot of free time to come up with a plan like that.

POGO

ZZ TOP; I've got legs, I got to learn how to use them

Well, after a brief hiatus, I am back. Been a little busy again but got some new stuff. After talking about that brief little tumble from last week, which the doctor said was from the steroids, I found out different from the physical therapist. Similar to my left hand, I am missing some sensory innervation to my legs. Now this isn't anything new since I first got the symptoms before I went into the hospital. Basically what's happening is that the motor nerves and muscles strength is a lot faster than my sensory nerves. So if I try to sprint, my legs turn to rubber and I fall down and go boom. So I can only run as fast as my sensory nerves will allow. When I was taking those long walks, this sensory nerves can keep up.and when I was taking those long bike rides including hill training, there is very little sensery needed since I'm just peddling and not actually touching pavement.

Speaking of sports. I played tennis again last Sunday and there was a noticeable improvement. First of all, since I learned from above, I did not fall down. I also found out, that if I keep jumping up and down between points it seems to help my sensory perception in my legs and may give me that slight amount of extra speed. Energy is not a problem, speed is. I seem to have hit the ball better and may have worked myself up to a 3.5 level. So there is hope.

Speaking of sports again, I participated in a cancer fundraiser and got to bowl two games. And once again I did not fall down and go boom. It was a nine pin tap and I managed to get a 187 and a 197. It was a good time but I forgot to bring my iron lung( cough cough)

Speaking of sports once again, I swung by golf galaxy to check on what they can do with my left hand. The person I talked to said that he had quite a few people that had the same thing and recommended a wide grip and a good glove. Holding the golf club felt natural but I didn't want to swing a club until I made sure that no one was in striking distance or that there were breakable objects within range and I wanted to make sure that my liability insurance was paid up.

And last but not least, our government in action. I designated last Saturday, as the day that I would complete the form for disability benefits for Social Security. It took me about six hours on Saturday, and with little computer problem on Sunday another two hours, plus another two hours on Monday at the Social Security office. I spent about an hour and a half with this young gentleman going over everything in the application and making sure that everything was legitimate and help make sure that I would qualify for disability benefits. When we finally got to the end he asked me if I did anything at the office at all. And my reply was that I just write the checks out so the business can keep working. Guess what that means. If you can sign your name, you are not considered disabled, and therefore you do not qualify for benefits. Fortunately for me, after hearing this he didn't want to redo the whole form and asked if there is someone else who could sign the checks. My wife was listed as a cosigner, so I brought a bunch of checks home for her to sign, and now we should be legitimate and we saved that young lad an hour and a half of time by not redoing the whole form. I think from now on, I will wear a disguise when I go to the office so no one will recognize me. After all.we don't want to take any chances.

POGO

tennis anyone

After being off of the tennis courts for nearly 2 months, I thought it would be time to see if I still have any talent left in the world of tennis. We have a tennis drill group on Sundays at 5:30 PM, so this was a good opportunity to see if I still got game. Well, after the first few minutes, I knew I was down a few notches, like from being a 4.0 player to maybe a 3.0 player. And those weren't the only notches that I was talking about. As I was thinking of the Pogo of the past with all that speed and acceleration, I decided to engage my warp engines to go after a shot and found out that my dilithium crystals were off-line. The legs turned to rubber and I did one of those patented slow motion tumbles. That was the other part of the few notches, as I took three notches out of my left knee, one notch out of my left wrist and one notch on the palm of my left hand. Since I didn't want to repaint the tennis lines with my blood the rest of the evening, I decided to rely on impulse power. Now if you really want an analogy of how fast I wasn't moving, I was playing with DJ, who is a super nice guy, but doesn't exactly cover a lot of court. When we played together, I nicknamed him,"The Flash". Being the fair person that I am on ripping on people, including myself, I proclaimed myself as" DJ Junior".

Now it wasn't all bad. The forehand wasn't too bad, and after a while I was able to use the two-handed backhand despite the limited use of my left hand. I still probably had a better service toss them Tom. And the fact that I was on the winning side of half the drills was encouraging.

More good news. When I checked with the doctor on Monday and told him about the rubbery legs, he said that it was caused by the steroids which we have been gradually decreasing. After my initial surgery in early February, they had me on 18 mg per day and now they got me down to 6 mg per day. So it is not caused by the chemo or the radiation therapy or the tumor. I'm certainly glad that I'm doing all that strength training and my thousand plus stairs a day, otherwise I'd probably feel like"Ironside".

If it works out into my schedule, I hope to keep drilling on Sundays, and with the extra time this summer to drill as often as I can, to see if I can get back to where I was before this all started.

It was a humbling experience, but at least I was able to laugh at myself. After all, once a fool, always a fool.

Pogo down but not out.

no longer a 24/7 guy

Finally, sleepless in Greendale has become sleeping in Greendale. For the past week, I've been hitting the hay between 10 and 11 PM and been sleeping in till 6 to 7 AM. Hey, I am a regular guy now, however I have 6 less hours in the day to do things and that's why the blogging has been a little neglected. I still have plenty to talk about, it is just a matter of finding the time now.

I'm trying to get more into a routine each day, instead of doing what I want when I want. Between office management, workouts, doctor and radiation appointments and phone consults, the days go by fast.

Physically, I'm getting stronger every day. I still do strength training every other day in the morning which usually takes an hour and 15 minutes. I personally feel that my strength is about 75% of what this was before this started, and considering after the first month of not doing anything, I felt like I did not have much strength at all. For my cardiovascular workouts, I was doing a combination of walking and riding a bike, but with the crummy weather I have found something that is a lot more effective. Since I'm at the hospital five days a week, I climb the stairs. By the way in the new tower there at 208 steps and in the Knisely building there are 224 steps plus they have music. I usually go up and down at least five times which takes about 25 minutes and definitely gets the heart pumping. Now that I've got this added strength, I'm hoping to try and make a tennis drill on Sunday night, to see if I still got game. My left hand is still getting stronger, and has a little bit more tactile sense, but is a long way off from being normal. The next nice day we have, I'm going way back in my backyard and try and swing a golf club, staying far enough away from the windows just in case that club goes flying. I also want to get out there and throw the old baseball around and figure out a two-handed system for catching the ball. Yes, I'm back into my do as much as I can in the day routine, and loving it.

Yesterday, my wife and I went to our first cancer support group. Sue was the one who checked into this and wanted to go in because I know this is tougher on her than me, I made sure I was there for her. I was a little concerned going in because I didn't want to be surrounded by depressed people. But that was not the case at all. What some of these people have gone through and their determination, were truly inspiring and it was a great experience for the both of us. I was the rookie and compared to what everybody else went through, I had it easy. We will both be looking forward to these meetings which are held twice a month.

I've got some cerebral type blogging I plan on doing in the near future, so stay tuned.

Everyone have a great day, I know I will.

POGO

Happy belated birthday

Happy birthday to me,
happy birthday to me,
happy birthday dear Pogo,
happy birthday to me. (and many moooooore)

On Thursday, March 19th, I had my 55th birthday. Now since I really don't keep track of the calendar anymore, except for appointments on specific dates, I didn't even realize that I had a birthday that day. I did have a few people wishing me a happy birthday, but if it wasn't for them, I would have gone through the whole day without realizing it. It was a particularly busy day from about 3 AM to 11 PM. Just another typical day, which is why I think I forgot about it.

Now we did celebrate my birthday on Saturday. I kept it simple by just having my mom, the kids, and their significant others, and of course the Parker. It was a nice day, and we got to play a little testicle toss. Chef Jack, my son-in-law, made one of his great meals, combined with my other daughter, Jesse and her fiancé bringing Olive Garden salad and bread rolls. It was goooood. The rest of the evenings entertainment was provided by Parker, who really knows how to captivate an audience with his antics and playfulness.

Now getting back to the double five, the 55th birthday. As usual, this is a chronological number and has nothing to do with how old I feel or how old I think I am. For those of you who know me well, I have been 12 years old since I was 12 years old. Why 12 years old you ask? It is a time in your life in which there are little worries. When you're 12 years old, all you want to do is play and have fun. That is something that I've always done. Now what makes number 12 unique and also very important to have is that if you have a slight case of dyslexia, you become 21 years old and therefore allowed the freedoms of being an adult which can come in handy for fun nights out on the town.

What would a birthday be without having a birthday wish list. (now there may be some of you out there who will be able to help me with this wish list, so if you have some connections or ideas, I'd appreciate it.)

1. 55 more birthdays. After all I'm only 12 years old. I'm also 112% sure that I'm going to get rid of that little inconvenience that is in my brain.

2. Being socially active.( sounds like I'm spreading a disease) One of my greatest joys are hanging out with people and having a lot of laughs. Some of these places involve clubs, which require membership dues. Cash flow is a temporary problem with not being able to generate income from the office at this time, plus added medical bills, among other things. It will get better. I don't want charity or cash contributions. I just don't want to be a prisoner and not enjoy being with all my friends. I've got time, so I can probably help out at the club's, with any type of volunteer work needed.

3. Any connections with free passes to movies, events, plays, etc. for my wife and I. I figure if they are open seats anyway we would not be putting anybody out.

As always, I want to thank everyone out there for all their prayers and positive thoughts. It is truly rewarding to have so many people in your corner.

The Parker Pill-Miracle Cure

Medicines come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. They are designed to take care of a particular problem and usually have some side effects. And like all medicines, you somehow have to get it into your system through IV's, IM's, drops, inhalers, orally or any available orifice(ouch). With these medicines, it only helps the person that is taking it.

However, the Pogo's have a secret weapon, a miracle cure, which I have appropriately named,"The Parker Pill". It is a little larger than the standard size medicines, being approximately 20 inches long and about 20 pounds. You definitely don't want to use any of the above methods to take this type of medicine. This is one of the pluses of this type of medicine is that it only has to be present for it to work(although you could eat it up). Not only does this miracle cure help the patient, but its real strength lies in helping the people that are closest to me, especially my wife.

Now let's face it, this poor gal has been tortured for the past 30 years just because she has been married to me. No matter if it's somebody I just met or somebody that I have known for a long time, the most common and consistent phrase that I hear is that, "your wife must be a saint". Who can argue with a statement like that. After all, POGO, could be considered just a little bit different than most people. And now we add insult to injury by having what I call this little inconvenience of a brain tumor. I know this has been extremely tough for her, especially the first month. I believe it's a lot tougher on my wife than it is for me. After all, she is doing all the worrying, while I'm just being myself.

This is where the power of the Parker Pill comes in. When you get the proper dosage of the Parker pill, which is usually taken one to three times per week, or as needed, it lifts her spirits, and gives her that booster shot which can be a great stress relief. And the Parker Pill has a cumulative effect in that the more exposure you get, the greater you feel. I think it's safe for us to say that the timing and the positive effects of the Parker pill is definitely a miracle.

Let's talk research and development. The inventor of the Parker pill was my daughter Lisa, and her husband Jack. It took nine months to develop and went into production on May 1, 2008. There were some minor glitches in the earlier months( town crier), but that has long past. The pill now comes in the active form, always on the move whether it's crawling at warp speed or walking along the furniture and walls, rearranging the cabinets, playing with TV remotes, cameras, and phones( he's a high-tech kid, he will only plays with the real thing). He's a good natured little guy and has the face of a Gerber baby. I think this is a fine example of superior breeding and I'm sure it starts with the grandparents.

Yesterday was a great day for my wife and I. It was 70°, and we had the parker pill. We took a long walk to the park, he had his first experience on a swing and loved it. We then walked through our old neighborhood and stopped off at our old next door neighbors home. They have a whole herd of grandchildren, and we got to meet the youngest who was four months old. We sat on their rocking chairs on their deck, with me rocking the Parker pill and having a nice conversation. It reminded me a lot of the old Andy Griffith show, where they would be sitting on the front porch and having a laid-back conversation. Who would've thought two months ago that I would be doing something like this and enjoying it after the lifestyle I led. Well, all I can say is, "say hey to Goober".

The gray matter still works, except for computers.

For those of you who thought I may have slipped into a coma since I've been blog free for the past several days, I'm happy to report that I'm still alive and kicking. My intent was there, however my ability to get onto my blog was impaired, not for medical reasons, but for this guy ain't too bright when it comes to computers reasons. My son-in-law, (Cletis, my man) saved me once again. It is tough getting help at 2 AM, so I didn't get this straightened out until yesterday. I also found out that people may have been sending me comments, but I have not received any. He did some of his button pushing things, so hopefully the comments will start coming through and hopefully I'll be able to answer them. I've tried for over an hour each one of those days to try and get onto the blog thinking I was doing the exact same thing I was doing before, but nothing was showing up. And of course it was something extremely simple. Somehow I got signed out and it kept asking me if I wanted to create a new blog which was something totally different than the pogo blog. What I didn't see was a little area to sign in again. Boy, that made a difference. So in the words of Jack Nicholson, "I'm back." For those of you who sent comments, you may want to try your luck again and we will see if it works.
A quick up-to-date on my current physical and mental condition. Positive mental attitude is still well above 10 on a 1 to 10 scale. Sense of humor well above 10, on a scale of 1 to 10. Mentality, always been questionable even before this all happened.
Have gone through two weeks of chemotherapy, and a eight radiation treatments, and have not noticed any of the side effects which basically include fatigue and weakness. I got my strength training routine down which I do every other day. I got it down to a fine science which takes about an hour and 15 minutes a day and really pushes me. I also try to do cardiovascular workouts every day whether it's long walks or just anything to get the heart cranking. I still have a ton of energy and have been sleeping a little better. Earlier in the week, I was trying the two beers and two Tylenol PM technique which would give me 4 to 5 hours of solid sleep. I have weaned myself off the Tylenol PM, but not off the beer. I figured I had a choice so what the heck. This is not a nightly thing, only when there something social going on.. The only thing you may notice is different, is that my cheeks are fatter from the steroids, and I'm not talking about my ass, so I will not take offense to people calling me hamster boy, chipmunk cheeks, Jowls( A Peter Benchley Book), or Puff Daddy.
On the social front, myself and three other people had courtside tickets to the Bucks game on Tuesday. Had a great time even though they lost. It's amazing how big those guys are that close up, and it was a great view of those dancing young gals. And if you want to put something into the Ripley's believe it or not, the person sitting behind me noticed that I was wearing Zubaz, not that that is unusual that somebody would notice me wearing this, but he was part of the company that designed and made them and he also talked about bringing them back again. I told them if you need a spokesperson, I'm your man. However I noticed he wasn't wearing any. They got to have faith in their products. On Friday, I went to a surprise birthday party for a friend of mine who turned 65, which was at TGIF at Miller Park. Had a lot of laughs, great food, and a few beers and the most challenging part of the night was figuring out how to get home based on alcoholic consumption of the people that were left. I was probably in the best shape of everybody but I'm not supposed to drive but everything worked out okay since I'm obviously talking to you now. Yesterday I took a four hour walk with my mom. I would've kept going but her feet were getting tired. She's a pretty good power walker and has the energy but her feet get sore from swelling if she goes to long. It also gives us some quality time together.
Everyone have a great day, I know I will.

POGO