Pogos February Scorecard

A lot has happened from February 2 until the end of the month. This is my physical and mental scorecard on how things have improved over the month.

Attitude-I've always had a strong positive mental attitude, but I can safely say it's still getting stronger. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being extremely positive, I am up to a 13. I think it's about time we give 13 a little bit more credit. I know there have been people who are little scared to come over because they don't know what to expect, or what to say. However, while their intent is to make me feel better, I already feel great and put the people that I meet in a great mood also. It is nearly impossible to get me down. So don't be afraid, I'm not. And if anyone needs a Pogo Booster to make them feel better, just give me a call.

Physical condition.

Vision-I'm happy to say that my vision is back to normal. The days of running into walls are over however I still occasionally trip over all my grandson's toys around the house, but that may be related more to not knowing they are there. It was definitely entertaining when I had the vision problems and it made for some great comedic stories.

Left-hand-My left hand will be a long-term project. There was no severed nerves, so it is just a matter of learning how to use your hand again. I'll try to explain to you how it feels. Just sitting here right now, I couldn't even tell you there is anything wrong with my left hand until I try to use it. It is a sensory, and proprioception problem. There is strength, but nothing tactile. I am doing my own physical therapy and it is just a matter of developing new nerve paths. I've noticed improvement over the month, it is just a slow process, but hey, I've got time. There are things I can do to adapt, but only do that as a last resort because I'd rather put my effort into improving the left-hand over the easier route.

Energy and strength-I still have a lot of energy but obviously have lost some strength due to inactivity. I'm still awake about 20 hours a day and the only time I feel a little nappy is early evening. As far as my strength goes, now that I got the green light from my doctor, I will get back into my strength training and hopefully test out the tennis game in late March or early April. I do have a bowflex at home and customized a work out to take advantage of the weakness in my left hand. Since the left hand does not grab very well and will tend to lose its grip, I can keep lighter weights on that side. We'll see how this works in the long run and hopefully I will not become distorted.

Eating-Being home most of the time makes it easier to eat a lot. But I have been eating healthier and decreasing the amount of food intake at each meal, plus nutritious snacks in between. I have lost some weight and unfortunately it was muscle mass, but I'll be taking care of that.

Brainpower-After having someone dig around in your brain you would expect that you would have some problems. I know most of you out there thought there was a lot of problems up their before I went through all of this and who am I to argue. The brain was very similar to the left-hand. It felt normal until you tried to use it. This was extremely noticeable when I was trying to catch up on my office work after being gone for two weeks. Trying to coordinate all the office work I did at the hospital, which included paying bills, payroll and payroll taxes among a few other things and not having access to my office computer which does all the above made it easy to lose things. So my first attempt to balance the checkbook for January took me about 12 hours where it would normally take me about two minutes. But hey, I've got time. I wanted to make sure January was okay before attempting to enter all the info for February. By the second weekend after being out of the hospital, things were clicking a lot better and if not 100% better, I got to be pretty close. I had also mentioned in the past how I like to do Sodukos. The first week back,I could not do the simplest ones, but am now able to do the most difficult ones.

The world of dentistry-This has obviously been a big part of my life for the past 30 years. Without the use of my left hand, it makes it extremely difficult to be able to provide a quality of care that my patients deserve. As mentioned previously, I presently have two dentists that are helping me out. They are both extremely talented, skilled, personable, and yes they both have a sense he humor. My biggest concern with having other doctors work for me was that they were not able to provide the same quality of care and that great patient interaction that I provided. Between the two of them, they are able to provide as good, if not better cosmetic dentistry and a broader spectrum of dental procedures that can be done in office instead of referring out. So all we really had to do was get rid of me.( just kidding) I plan to stay active in the practice behind-the-scenes. I will be doing the managing, marketing and the usual payroll and accounts payable. The plan is to continue to grow the practice with quality of care to the patients being the number one priority. When you are the only producer of the practice, it puts a lot of stress on you, because you feel that you have to do the dentistry 100% percent of the time, which leaves very little time for managing the practice. Now that I am not a producer, I can focus all my energy on management which is probably 10 hours more week that I've ever done in the past. I am really excited and looking forward to this.

What the heck are you doing with yourself-Good question. After having such a structured life for over 30 years, it is now completely different. I do what I want, when I want. I seem to have plenty to do, I'm never bored, I had a lot less stress in my life before, which my blood pressure confirms. As strange as this sounds, I think I am enjoying life more now, but I would not recommend using this technique of getting a brain tumor.

It looks like I'm going have to give myself an A+ on my February scorecard.