On Sunday, August 1st just after 6pm Pogo passed away peacefully in his room at St. Luke's Hospital. He never made it to Zilber Family Hospice.
When Pogo's wife Sue and daughter Lisa arrived to visit him on Sunday, he was no longer able to speak and his eyes would not focus on their faces. It was then that they knew he was starting his journey away from the body that had become a prison for him over the past year. He was being attended to by a wonderful nurse named Nicole who very honestly and gently confirmed to us that his time was coming to an end.
Pogo's hospital room was a fairly large size as far as hospital rooms go, but it got very cramped very fast as family poured in to support him in his final moments. Wife Sue, daughters Jessie & Lisa and their husbands Cory & Jack, son Brad, mom Betty, brother Dave, brother and sister-in-law Scott & Lynn, sister-in-law Sharon, and brother-in-law Steve were all in and out of the room all afternoon and into early evening. His sister Linda got to speak to him on the phone as did sister Carol who also flew in to be with him and the family (she unfortunately arrived in the room about 10 min after he had passed). The day was spent alternately crying and laughing as everyone shared stories about Pogo and the fun memories he had given them. Even though Pogo could not join in, we know he could hear us and feel the love in the room because a tear would appear in his eye every now and then.
Pogo had expressed to his wife a day or so earlier that he was ready to die. He was never scared to die, but was sad to cause pain to his family who miss him dearly already. He was and will be an inspiration for his bravery and positive attitude.
Pogo's funeral will be held on Saturday August 7th.
Visitation 3pm-6:45pm with a celebration of his life at 7pm.
Church and Chapel
15250 W. National Ave.
New Berlin, WI
Pogo's family would like to thank his doctors and nurses at St. Lukes and Hope4Cancer. They all did such a wonderful job helping Pogo fight over the last year and a half.
They would also like to thank all of the family and friends who have supported him with their help, their visits, their meals and baked goods, and prayers.
Thanks as well to those of you who have happened across this blog accidentally and followed Pogo's story with us too.
Best wishes,
Sue, Jessie, Lisa, Brad, Jack & Cory
Monday, August 2, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Pogo Update
Here is an update on what has been going on with Pogo since his last blog, reported by his daughters Jessie & Lisa:
On July 7th Pogo was admitted to St. Lukes Hospital and has been there on the 12th floor of the Patient Tower ever since. In his last blog he spoke about how he was becoming weaker. His doctor thought it would be a good idea to keep him in the hospital and try to build back up his strength and tend to the many wounds he had been accumulating with his falls.
We were hoping to be able to do cyber or gamma knife surgery to attack his quickly growing cancer, but unfortunately it was deemed too risky. The surgeon believed that because there is more than one tumor and they are spread throughout the brain, the amount of radiation that they would use would more than likely cause radiation poisoning and would do him more harm than good. Therefore the only treatment option left for Pogo was chemotherapy.
Being the fighter that he is, he did accept two treatments of chemo. Unfortunately though his body continues to weaken and he has now lost all appetite and is completely bedridden. He has decided that he will stop the chemotherapy and no one can blame him. Once that decision was made, the next step was to select a hospice.
Admittedly hospice was almost a swear word to us when it was first mentioned, but we did not really understand much about what a hospice is other than a place where people die. We are very fortunate to have a beautiful hospice nearby (Aurora Zilber Family Hospice in Wauwatosa). A nurse from their facility was nice enough to come meet with Pogo and family at St. Lukes. Zilber is an 18 bed facility located on the Honey Creek Parkway. It is in a residential setting and each room is large and has a patio that the patient can be rolled onto without even getting out of bed. There are beautiful sunrooms, a playroom for Pogo's grandson to hang out in, a kitchen for families to cook together, a meditation room, and beautiful grounds to go for walks. Pogo and his family are very much looking forward to getting there. He is on the waiting list but it shouldn't be too long.
All that being said, we would like to encourage any friends or family out there who wish to see Pogo to come soon. We cannot say exactly how long he has left because of the unpredictable nature of his cancer. We do know that he is declining steadily and it is not clear how long he will still be able to talk or to know that people are visiting.
We will try to update with information on his hospice room once he gets there, but for now he is still at St. Lukes in Milwaukee, room S12134 of the Patient Tower.
On July 7th Pogo was admitted to St. Lukes Hospital and has been there on the 12th floor of the Patient Tower ever since. In his last blog he spoke about how he was becoming weaker. His doctor thought it would be a good idea to keep him in the hospital and try to build back up his strength and tend to the many wounds he had been accumulating with his falls.
We were hoping to be able to do cyber or gamma knife surgery to attack his quickly growing cancer, but unfortunately it was deemed too risky. The surgeon believed that because there is more than one tumor and they are spread throughout the brain, the amount of radiation that they would use would more than likely cause radiation poisoning and would do him more harm than good. Therefore the only treatment option left for Pogo was chemotherapy.
Being the fighter that he is, he did accept two treatments of chemo. Unfortunately though his body continues to weaken and he has now lost all appetite and is completely bedridden. He has decided that he will stop the chemotherapy and no one can blame him. Once that decision was made, the next step was to select a hospice.
Admittedly hospice was almost a swear word to us when it was first mentioned, but we did not really understand much about what a hospice is other than a place where people die. We are very fortunate to have a beautiful hospice nearby (Aurora Zilber Family Hospice in Wauwatosa). A nurse from their facility was nice enough to come meet with Pogo and family at St. Lukes. Zilber is an 18 bed facility located on the Honey Creek Parkway. It is in a residential setting and each room is large and has a patio that the patient can be rolled onto without even getting out of bed. There are beautiful sunrooms, a playroom for Pogo's grandson to hang out in, a kitchen for families to cook together, a meditation room, and beautiful grounds to go for walks. Pogo and his family are very much looking forward to getting there. He is on the waiting list but it shouldn't be too long.
All that being said, we would like to encourage any friends or family out there who wish to see Pogo to come soon. We cannot say exactly how long he has left because of the unpredictable nature of his cancer. We do know that he is declining steadily and it is not clear how long he will still be able to talk or to know that people are visiting.
We will try to update with information on his hospice room once he gets there, but for now he is still at St. Lukes in Milwaukee, room S12134 of the Patient Tower.
Friday, July 2, 2010
the ship is sinking fast
And unfortunately they keep throwing me lead life preservers. This had to be the worst week 0f my life since I got all those open sores on my left leg plus I got a sore on my ass the size of Texas from one of the many falls and consider how much I use my ass it is a real pain in the butt. It is a real adventure in pain if they are touched or just laying in bed, which makes bedtime a real sore subject. We took care of the other problem by placing a catheter which takes care of the having to pee every five minutes. However, it is awkward with carrying that bag along. We had a family meeting to determine what our options are. Point of note, don't let this happen to you on a holiday weekend because nobody is around and we left a bunch of messages with doctors and other people to give us options on what we can do,and of course no one got back to us. We know it's too dangerous for Sue and I to be left alone here. Anytime we go anywhere we have to call out for reinforcements otherwise I can't get in and out of the house. Fortunately for me I have a lot of friends who are willing to help out because they literally have to lift me and the wheelchair in and out of the house.
Since it's taken me three weeks to type the first paragraph, I've had to hire a ghost writer, who for the time being we will call "Jack".
I can no longer do back office stuff, so I hired a friend of mine, who's a CPA we will call him "Scott" to take care of reports, accounts payable and payroll. Someone will hold power of attorney for all office decicions. will be handled by an attorney we will call "Sandy".
I can no longer E-mail or answer the phone and will only take phone calls from friends and family and medical professionals . NO BUSINESS.
My last MRI was pretty much what i had anticipated, with the tumor growing and a lot of swelling. Recommended treatment was to increase steroids, IV therapy with Manitol, Cyber/Gamma Knife treatment, and this week I have the appointment set up in which there may be addition treatment options.
I've been going downhill fast but i still manage to keep my sense of humor. I've made a list of what I CAN do to give you an idea of how exciting my life has become.
-I CAN be in pain.
-I CAN pee in a bag.
-I CAN eat and drink.
and if you give me six hours I CAN take a shit.
Which i guess proves the theory that I'm full of shit, it's like trying to push a bowling ball through a keyhole. I can occasionally sleep, I can play games but not at the level i was at before and I can watch things from a distance.
Frank and I used to solve world problems sitting around the camp fire. And I may be joining him to take it to the next level as we sit around the bright lights of heaven, to solve heavenly problems.
That's a pretty good ending.
'till next time.
POGO
Since it's taken me three weeks to type the first paragraph, I've had to hire a ghost writer, who for the time being we will call "Jack".
I can no longer do back office stuff, so I hired a friend of mine, who's a CPA we will call him "Scott" to take care of reports, accounts payable and payroll. Someone will hold power of attorney for all office decicions. will be handled by an attorney we will call "Sandy".
I can no longer E-mail or answer the phone and will only take phone calls from friends and family and medical professionals . NO BUSINESS.
My last MRI was pretty much what i had anticipated, with the tumor growing and a lot of swelling. Recommended treatment was to increase steroids, IV therapy with Manitol, Cyber/Gamma Knife treatment, and this week I have the appointment set up in which there may be addition treatment options.
I've been going downhill fast but i still manage to keep my sense of humor. I've made a list of what I CAN do to give you an idea of how exciting my life has become.
-I CAN be in pain.
-I CAN pee in a bag.
-I CAN eat and drink.
and if you give me six hours I CAN take a shit.
Which i guess proves the theory that I'm full of shit, it's like trying to push a bowling ball through a keyhole. I can occasionally sleep, I can play games but not at the level i was at before and I can watch things from a distance.
Frank and I used to solve world problems sitting around the camp fire. And I may be joining him to take it to the next level as we sit around the bright lights of heaven, to solve heavenly problems.
That's a pretty good ending.
'till next time.
POGO
Saturday, June 26, 2010
LAST BLOG OR NOT
My overall health, from a physical standpoint has been getting noticeably worse. My legs are noticeably weaker, and things I was doing last week seem almost impossible to do now. I am falling down just about every day and I think that ground is getting harder all the time. just getting into the house through the garage in which I have done hundreds of times, which have handrails. It felt like my left leg hit a spinning wheel. Thank goodness my right arm is very strong, so I was able to hang on but because of the way I twisted my right forearm was pressed against the corner of a 4x4, and pretty much shredded my forearm. So I was hanging there for about five minutes whijle Sue was running around the neighborhood at 10 PM trying to find a neighbor that would help. When they finally got me up, I tried to manage the stairs again, but it felt like both my legs where paralyzed, and needed help getting into the house. Just walking around in the house is challenging, because both of my legs are wobbling. so I will be spending more time in the house in the wheelchair. My vision has been getting worse which makes it tough for entering data into the computer which I'm still doing at the office. Speaking of the office,it is still not sold.which has been a lot of stress and could be one of possible causes of my sudden turnaround in my physical health. I always said, that that office would kill me someday, because of all the time and effort I'm putting into it instead of resting and trying to get healthy .My voice is getting weaker so dictation is taking a lot longer because the computer can barely pickup my voice. A lot of this could possibly be caused by the tumor growing, but won't know anything until after the next MRI on July 8. I am not overly optimistic about the results of my next MRI, so I'm trying reverse psychology.
Remember that miracle pill, that I talked about in the last blog, it turned out to be a one-day miracle. Since that day it's been back to normal, so I tripled the dosage after consulting with the doctor and was told that it is a cumulative effect, so hopefully we'll see some results in the near future. When the urge hits and with my weakened legs it is a real adventure trying to get to the bathroom on time. Plus with all those IV liquids, and has really got the old kidneys working overtime.
Call this a premonition, I spent a lot of time thinking while sitting in my wheelchair near the bathroom door in the foyer, staring out the front door. A tree in our front yard, by the shape of the branches which formed almost a perfect picture frame and with the way the sunight was hitting the leaves,it looked like my dads face, who died about 10 years ago from cancer. I think he was looking for a golf buddy and above the picture of my dads face was a profile of my grndsons face. It was like my dad was ready to greet me into heaven but my grandson wants grandpa to stay. I am rooting for my grandson.
The difference existing and living is very bjg unfortunately for me I have been existing. Which means my life is based off of my bladder, which dictates where and when I can do things If I can getI my bladder under control and the sores on my left leg which been around forever and get my legs stronger, I may be able to get back to living.
So if the MRI has a good report then ignore every thing above and may have been to to being tired and stressed. in that case OR NOT.
POGO
Remember that miracle pill, that I talked about in the last blog, it turned out to be a one-day miracle. Since that day it's been back to normal, so I tripled the dosage after consulting with the doctor and was told that it is a cumulative effect, so hopefully we'll see some results in the near future. When the urge hits and with my weakened legs it is a real adventure trying to get to the bathroom on time. Plus with all those IV liquids, and has really got the old kidneys working overtime.
Call this a premonition, I spent a lot of time thinking while sitting in my wheelchair near the bathroom door in the foyer, staring out the front door. A tree in our front yard, by the shape of the branches which formed almost a perfect picture frame and with the way the sunight was hitting the leaves,it looked like my dads face, who died about 10 years ago from cancer. I think he was looking for a golf buddy and above the picture of my dads face was a profile of my grndsons face. It was like my dad was ready to greet me into heaven but my grandson wants grandpa to stay. I am rooting for my grandson.
The difference existing and living is very bjg unfortunately for me I have been existing. Which means my life is based off of my bladder, which dictates where and when I can do things If I can getI my bladder under control and the sores on my left leg which been around forever and get my legs stronger, I may be able to get back to living.
So if the MRI has a good report then ignore every thing above and may have been to to being tired and stressed. in that case OR NOT.
POGO
Sunday, June 20, 2010
OLD LADY POGO
This morning, I had fallen and couldn't get up and of course Brad had one of his all nighters, so Sue and I were the only one home, so we had to call 911. On the bright side, they did not charge us and in the past I would've ripped off couple layers of skin, which didn't happen this time, so I know my skin is getting tougher.
My old computer crashed and burned so I had to get a new computer which has been a real pain.
I've been having a lot of problems as far as getting the data in their and getting to find things on the new computer so as usual, the world of technology is not very nice to me. If it weren't for the computer and the office, life would be good. Surprisingly, with the above two thorns in my side, health wiseI feel pretty good.
We celebrated Father's Day on Saturday by having the family come over for a cookout. We got organic sweetcorn which was delicious, plus I had 2 veggie burgers which tastes very similar to a hamburger, we also had organic fruit, organic sliced potatoes with zucchini. For the entertainment, I got into my motorized wheelchair and watched my grandson chase bubbles and then to the driveway where he was pushing his cars on the driveway and then chasing after them.
I went to their urologist to see what we could do above my usual problem of frequency, everything was normal, I just happen to have an excited bladder, so I was given a magic pill which seemed to help right away. You don't know how good it feels as to make it past the 10 minute mark.
I'm going to stop right here because I'm still having problems with the computer,it has taken over three hours just to get this far.
pogo
My old computer crashed and burned so I had to get a new computer which has been a real pain.
I've been having a lot of problems as far as getting the data in their and getting to find things on the new computer so as usual, the world of technology is not very nice to me. If it weren't for the computer and the office, life would be good. Surprisingly, with the above two thorns in my side, health wiseI feel pretty good.
We celebrated Father's Day on Saturday by having the family come over for a cookout. We got organic sweetcorn which was delicious, plus I had 2 veggie burgers which tastes very similar to a hamburger, we also had organic fruit, organic sliced potatoes with zucchini. For the entertainment, I got into my motorized wheelchair and watched my grandson chase bubbles and then to the driveway where he was pushing his cars on the driveway and then chasing after them.
I went to their urologist to see what we could do above my usual problem of frequency, everything was normal, I just happen to have an excited bladder, so I was given a magic pill which seemed to help right away. You don't know how good it feels as to make it past the 10 minute mark.
I'm going to stop right here because I'm still having problems with the computer,it has taken over three hours just to get this far.
pogo
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
BUENOS DIAZ AMIGOS,PART 2
The Mexican trip started on Monday morning May 17, with a four hour flight to San Diego and I am sure glad that it was not a four hour and one minute trip, because I stretched my bladder to the limit, And with all the turbulence, there was no way to make it to the bathroom without taking a header( note the double meaning)when I called to make the reservations, I asked if there were any wider seats and needed to be close to the bathroom. I was told that all the seats were the same and the bathrooms are at the back of the plane. When I got there, they said he should have requested to sit up front with the seats were wider and closer to the bathroom, obviously not everyone who works for the airlines know their planes but it still worked out okay.
My daughter Lisa was my companion on the trip, who was willing to sacrifice two weeks away from her son and husband to help me out. I could not have asked for a better person to come with me. She took great care of me and thanks to her organization skills and few years of high school Spanish, she was invaluable. Even though most of the people spoke English, she was helping the staff and the other patients learning each other's language. Her organizational skills came in handy for transition to our home care program, to make sure that we followed all the rules and have everything we need when we got back. There is not enough ways to thank her for all that she did for me.
Our driver whose name was Jesus, took us from the airport to the clinic in Tijuana, and was a great guy and a great tour guide. When we first pulled up in front of the clinic, our first reaction was what did we do. The building was nice, but the neighborhood looked a little questionable. All the buildings were right next to each other with no space between adjacent buildings and where there were no buildings was basically a cement border with a wire fence that was filled with garbage and weeds. It was right across the street from the ocean which they are presently fixing up. Because they don't have a disability act there, it made my stay a little more difficult, but with the help of the staff and other patients and their companions, I was able to get from one floor to another which required going up about 45° inclines and they were also slippery, but no one got injured and it was entertaining watching two or three people play slip and slide.
Our concerns about the clinic location were quickly dispelled when we met some of the other patients there, who some of have remarkable results in the short time that they were there.
On the first day it took about four hours to fill out the registration and complete medical history, I have never seen such a comprehensive medical history before, this was followed by an extremely comprehensive examination by three doctors which lasted about two hours each and they went over all the questions on the health history to, they didn't miss a thing and addressed everything and treated before even talking about the cancer. Based on the information that they gathered and the type of cancer I have and the aggressiveness of this type of cancer, they came up with the treatment plan which was pretty much all day long for everyday I was out there
Most of my treatment time was spent with IV therapy, which included a four hour drip of vitamin C and Selenium and a one hour drip of Aloe which were designed to improve my immune system so it was easier to fight the cancer cells, the other IV therapy was called POLY MVA and was given at a stronger dose, which is designed to kill the cancer cells. I have to wait one hour between IVs, so this occupied about eight hours a day. Other treatment I had their for improving my immune system, included supplements, infrared sauna for a half hour per day,lymphatic stimulation to make sure there is no blockage in my lymphatic system, and ozone therapy, which was given through the IV port to hyper oxygenate the blood cells, drinking eight glasses of high alkalinity water. Other treatment to treat the cancer cells specifically included localized hyperemia, and a vaccine that was made from my urine which involves a shot in my butt once a week. We also do direct infrared therapy over the cancer area, two times a day for 15 minutes. We affectionately call this iguana treatment because it reminds us of a lizard in an aquarium with a heat lamp on it. The great thing about all these treatments is that there is no side effects and they don't damage normal cells, unlike chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.
Also,I am on a restricted diet, which really isn't that bad, of course I got spoiled by the chefs there because they made everything very tasty. The diet consists mainly of organic food which includes a lot of freshly made juices, vegetables, fruits, raw organic nuts, rice, beans, whitefish, salmon, the no-no's are any processed foods, sugar, caffeine, red meat. A typical breakfast includes a glass of juice, a cup of special tea, oatmeal, or something similar, organic eggs, fruit. Lunch and dinner are fairly similar, which include a salad, fruit juice, fruit, vegetables, and soup.
A small price to pay, if you want to survive.
The treatment doesn't end there, it continues with their home care program, which is pretty much the same as what I was having done their, so you can see it is pretty much a full-time job I also have weekly consults to make sure that I'm following the program and get any questions answered that I may have.
My daughter was thoroughly trained on how to do everything and has been training as many people here as possible. We are checking on having a nurse come in and help out to take some of the pressure off my daughter and wife, so they can get along with their normal life again. We are also checking out some chefs to prepare meals ahead of time which would also help out my wife quite a bit, because I know this is tough on her.
So before I can move on, I'm waiting for the next two big events in my life, which is the sale of my practice and my MRI results. Everything else is on hold until then.
Adios
el POGO
My daughter Lisa was my companion on the trip, who was willing to sacrifice two weeks away from her son and husband to help me out. I could not have asked for a better person to come with me. She took great care of me and thanks to her organization skills and few years of high school Spanish, she was invaluable. Even though most of the people spoke English, she was helping the staff and the other patients learning each other's language. Her organizational skills came in handy for transition to our home care program, to make sure that we followed all the rules and have everything we need when we got back. There is not enough ways to thank her for all that she did for me.
Our driver whose name was Jesus, took us from the airport to the clinic in Tijuana, and was a great guy and a great tour guide. When we first pulled up in front of the clinic, our first reaction was what did we do. The building was nice, but the neighborhood looked a little questionable. All the buildings were right next to each other with no space between adjacent buildings and where there were no buildings was basically a cement border with a wire fence that was filled with garbage and weeds. It was right across the street from the ocean which they are presently fixing up. Because they don't have a disability act there, it made my stay a little more difficult, but with the help of the staff and other patients and their companions, I was able to get from one floor to another which required going up about 45° inclines and they were also slippery, but no one got injured and it was entertaining watching two or three people play slip and slide.
Our concerns about the clinic location were quickly dispelled when we met some of the other patients there, who some of have remarkable results in the short time that they were there.
On the first day it took about four hours to fill out the registration and complete medical history, I have never seen such a comprehensive medical history before, this was followed by an extremely comprehensive examination by three doctors which lasted about two hours each and they went over all the questions on the health history to, they didn't miss a thing and addressed everything and treated before even talking about the cancer. Based on the information that they gathered and the type of cancer I have and the aggressiveness of this type of cancer, they came up with the treatment plan which was pretty much all day long for everyday I was out there
Most of my treatment time was spent with IV therapy, which included a four hour drip of vitamin C and Selenium and a one hour drip of Aloe which were designed to improve my immune system so it was easier to fight the cancer cells, the other IV therapy was called POLY MVA and was given at a stronger dose, which is designed to kill the cancer cells. I have to wait one hour between IVs, so this occupied about eight hours a day. Other treatment I had their for improving my immune system, included supplements, infrared sauna for a half hour per day,lymphatic stimulation to make sure there is no blockage in my lymphatic system, and ozone therapy, which was given through the IV port to hyper oxygenate the blood cells, drinking eight glasses of high alkalinity water. Other treatment to treat the cancer cells specifically included localized hyperemia, and a vaccine that was made from my urine which involves a shot in my butt once a week. We also do direct infrared therapy over the cancer area, two times a day for 15 minutes. We affectionately call this iguana treatment because it reminds us of a lizard in an aquarium with a heat lamp on it. The great thing about all these treatments is that there is no side effects and they don't damage normal cells, unlike chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.
Also,I am on a restricted diet, which really isn't that bad, of course I got spoiled by the chefs there because they made everything very tasty. The diet consists mainly of organic food which includes a lot of freshly made juices, vegetables, fruits, raw organic nuts, rice, beans, whitefish, salmon, the no-no's are any processed foods, sugar, caffeine, red meat. A typical breakfast includes a glass of juice, a cup of special tea, oatmeal, or something similar, organic eggs, fruit. Lunch and dinner are fairly similar, which include a salad, fruit juice, fruit, vegetables, and soup.
A small price to pay, if you want to survive.
The treatment doesn't end there, it continues with their home care program, which is pretty much the same as what I was having done their, so you can see it is pretty much a full-time job I also have weekly consults to make sure that I'm following the program and get any questions answered that I may have.
My daughter was thoroughly trained on how to do everything and has been training as many people here as possible. We are checking on having a nurse come in and help out to take some of the pressure off my daughter and wife, so they can get along with their normal life again. We are also checking out some chefs to prepare meals ahead of time which would also help out my wife quite a bit, because I know this is tough on her.
So before I can move on, I'm waiting for the next two big events in my life, which is the sale of my practice and my MRI results. Everything else is on hold until then.
Adios
el POGO
Sunday, June 6, 2010
BUENOS DIAZ AMIGOS
I am going to keep this one brief because it's been extremely busy since I got back and will get you up to date over the next few weeks, since I'm busy about 30 hours per day. Got back Memorial Day evening, would have been back earlier, but made the mistake of coming back through Arizona and because I look like a Mexican, they kept checking my green card. Quick summary. I believe it was a good move to go there for treatment. I was very impressed with the quality of care and the thoroughness of the doctors and nurses, which was like night and day from the quality of care that I received here. I literally saw some miracles from some of the other patients that were there. But since I was feeling good to begin with, I won't know until I get my MRI done on July 8 on how the treatment went. What I can tell you though, is that my skin is a lot better and am not bleeding every time I bump into something, the swelling in my legs and circulation are much better in my blood pressure has never been better. I am back on a special diet which really hasn't been that bad and is not quite as strict as ones that I have had in the past. The cooks that they had their made everything pretty tasty, and was hoping I could smuggle them back with me, but I couldn't quite stuff them into my suitcase. I am presently on a home care program, which is very similar to the treatment that I was having done down there, which takes up a good portion of the day. Again more details will follow over the next week or two.
On a sad note, two good friends of mine passed away. One of them was from my old neighborhood had passed away while I was away in Mexico. The other person was from my ball team and passed away on June 1, who had to be one of the most gracious, caring person that you could ever meet and it showed by the number of people who showed up at the funeral home.
It is going to take us a while to get used to the new routine, so things may still be a little hectic for awhile. as usual, we will eventually get it down to a science, where it becomes second nature.
That's about it for now, adios amigos.
el pogo
On a sad note, two good friends of mine passed away. One of them was from my old neighborhood had passed away while I was away in Mexico. The other person was from my ball team and passed away on June 1, who had to be one of the most gracious, caring person that you could ever meet and it showed by the number of people who showed up at the funeral home.
It is going to take us a while to get used to the new routine, so things may still be a little hectic for awhile. as usual, we will eventually get it down to a science, where it becomes second nature.
That's about it for now, adios amigos.
el pogo
Sunday, May 16, 2010
POGO TO BE EXPORTED TOMORROW
Tomorrow morning, my daughter, Lisa and I, "will be leaving on a jet plane and we do know when will be back again (May 31). this'll be a lot nicer trip then the Cleveland adventure. Should come back in the same condition that I left with hopefully a lot less cancer cells. We are bringing some games and some DVDs to pass the time for the few times I will not be in treatment, plus we're going to do a little sightseeing on the weekends.
In the world of sports, we did not lose at softball last week, mostly due to the fact that our game was rained out. And to celebrate our first non-losing week, my daughter, Jesse is having a party at our house, since I'll be out of town and Sue will be up in Door County with her sister and brother-in-law. Any beer in the house should be gone by the time I get back, which is okay, because I' m not supposed to have any alcohol anyway. And for Sue's benefit, we know the house will get cleaned.
Also in the world of sports, my son, Brad will be back in the state tennis league team and may actually get to practice this weekend, if he can work around his filming schedule. Speaking of which we finally get to see his half-hour show, which he put on my laptop computer, since he didn't get a chance to DVR it since he was so busy. I was very impressed, but then again that did that surprise me. The kid has a lot of talent and loves what he's doing. I'm sure he's going to be famous, so I need to stick around as long as possible so I can say"that's my boy".
In the world of entertainment, Sue and the cats kept me entertained one night when they were playing a game of cat and mouse. The cats had found a mouse in the house and as usual we're just playing with it, but Sue wanted them to kill it before bedtime because she was afraid that the cats would bring their prize into her bed that night. The best thing about this was while they cats are chasing the mouse, Sue had a ceramic bowl and was trying to trap it under the bowl, the only problem with this was when the mouse would switch directions and come towards Sue which caused her to run a way from the attacking mouse. This went on for about a half an hour and was pretty funny to watch. They did eventually kill the mouse before she went to bed however they were still playing with it and we don't know what happened to the mouse. So either it became cat poop, or if we smell something funny we will at least know where to look.
There is also a good chance that I may have sold my practice but won't know for sure until Monday, May 17, which happens to be the date that I'm leaving for Mexico. We were in on this as far as the details go till late Friday afternoon of last week. It's all up to the banks right now and hopefully the way it was designed it will not be a problem. I've been working 12 to 14 hour days trying to get this done plus also working behind the scenes at the office. Working that much is not good for the healing process, plus I was only getting 3 to 5 hours sleep each night. So this two weeks off and being out of the country could not have come at a better time.
Should have quite a bit to report when I get back. Looking forward to a long hot summer.
Will report back in the first week of June, until then everyone have a good time.
POGO
In the world of sports, we did not lose at softball last week, mostly due to the fact that our game was rained out. And to celebrate our first non-losing week, my daughter, Jesse is having a party at our house, since I'll be out of town and Sue will be up in Door County with her sister and brother-in-law. Any beer in the house should be gone by the time I get back, which is okay, because I' m not supposed to have any alcohol anyway. And for Sue's benefit, we know the house will get cleaned.
Also in the world of sports, my son, Brad will be back in the state tennis league team and may actually get to practice this weekend, if he can work around his filming schedule. Speaking of which we finally get to see his half-hour show, which he put on my laptop computer, since he didn't get a chance to DVR it since he was so busy. I was very impressed, but then again that did that surprise me. The kid has a lot of talent and loves what he's doing. I'm sure he's going to be famous, so I need to stick around as long as possible so I can say"that's my boy".
In the world of entertainment, Sue and the cats kept me entertained one night when they were playing a game of cat and mouse. The cats had found a mouse in the house and as usual we're just playing with it, but Sue wanted them to kill it before bedtime because she was afraid that the cats would bring their prize into her bed that night. The best thing about this was while they cats are chasing the mouse, Sue had a ceramic bowl and was trying to trap it under the bowl, the only problem with this was when the mouse would switch directions and come towards Sue which caused her to run a way from the attacking mouse. This went on for about a half an hour and was pretty funny to watch. They did eventually kill the mouse before she went to bed however they were still playing with it and we don't know what happened to the mouse. So either it became cat poop, or if we smell something funny we will at least know where to look.
There is also a good chance that I may have sold my practice but won't know for sure until Monday, May 17, which happens to be the date that I'm leaving for Mexico. We were in on this as far as the details go till late Friday afternoon of last week. It's all up to the banks right now and hopefully the way it was designed it will not be a problem. I've been working 12 to 14 hour days trying to get this done plus also working behind the scenes at the office. Working that much is not good for the healing process, plus I was only getting 3 to 5 hours sleep each night. So this two weeks off and being out of the country could not have come at a better time.
Should have quite a bit to report when I get back. Looking forward to a long hot summer.
Will report back in the first week of June, until then everyone have a good time.
POGO
Friday, May 7, 2010
Reader's Digest update
This will be a short one, there is still a lot going on, but I cannot discuss it at this time, but so far it is all good news.
In sporting news, we lost a doubleheader last night even though we scored over 30 runs. Our defense was ugly are baserunning was even uglier, otherwise we looked good. But that may be related to our uniforms which came in real handy last night, when the power went out just before the game was to start, but thanks to our glow-in-the-dark shirts no one really noticed. Plus it takes about a half hour for the lights to come back on so our double-header didn't start till approximately 8:45 PM. there is always plenty of ammunition for ripping on the players when you play like we do. That is one of the perks of being disabled and not playing anymore is that you can spend 100% of your time making fun of the guys without worrying about being one of the victims yourself. It was a cold night, so I had layers of clothes on, plus was wrapped in a blanket, if I had feathers sticking out of the back of my head, I would've looked like a chief of an Indian tribe.
Sue has been doing well, thanks again to the people who have been helping me which is taking the pressure off of her. Plus she'll get another two weeks of from me when I take off for Mexico on May 17, which I'm really looking forward to.
In medical news, I got my latest MRI results back and it showed slight improvement and stability, no new growths this time around. This is probably a results of the AVASTIN, which is one of the few therapies I said I would take, because based on my research, it works very well for the type of cancer I have, has little or no side effects and is not a true chemical like most chemotherapy treatments. I've had no side effects and it seems to be working. Hopefully, with the treatment I will be getting in Mexico, we will get this cancer under control and once again I will be will be victorious, just like I planned.
Family news. Our son Brad is almost done with this semester in TV and video production. The kids been very busy between school full-time, six projects that he is working on, which also includes his TV show which will be aired shortly on Channel 36, plus even working with an LA crew on some show in Racine. The kid leaves the house between 430 and 5 AM and gets back sometime after we are long in bed. The only reason we know he still alive is that when we wake up their are food wrappers and crumbs on the counter, either that or a large rodent has taken up occupancy in our home.
This morning I got new batteries for my electric wheelchair plus good instructions on charging the battery and how far I can go before I run out of juice so I should be able to get around pretty good this summer from my home port.
Well that's all I got for now, as usual feeling great and in great spirits. Looking forward to a fun summer.
POGO
In sporting news, we lost a doubleheader last night even though we scored over 30 runs. Our defense was ugly are baserunning was even uglier, otherwise we looked good. But that may be related to our uniforms which came in real handy last night, when the power went out just before the game was to start, but thanks to our glow-in-the-dark shirts no one really noticed. Plus it takes about a half hour for the lights to come back on so our double-header didn't start till approximately 8:45 PM. there is always plenty of ammunition for ripping on the players when you play like we do. That is one of the perks of being disabled and not playing anymore is that you can spend 100% of your time making fun of the guys without worrying about being one of the victims yourself. It was a cold night, so I had layers of clothes on, plus was wrapped in a blanket, if I had feathers sticking out of the back of my head, I would've looked like a chief of an Indian tribe.
Sue has been doing well, thanks again to the people who have been helping me which is taking the pressure off of her. Plus she'll get another two weeks of from me when I take off for Mexico on May 17, which I'm really looking forward to.
In medical news, I got my latest MRI results back and it showed slight improvement and stability, no new growths this time around. This is probably a results of the AVASTIN, which is one of the few therapies I said I would take, because based on my research, it works very well for the type of cancer I have, has little or no side effects and is not a true chemical like most chemotherapy treatments. I've had no side effects and it seems to be working. Hopefully, with the treatment I will be getting in Mexico, we will get this cancer under control and once again I will be will be victorious, just like I planned.
Family news. Our son Brad is almost done with this semester in TV and video production. The kids been very busy between school full-time, six projects that he is working on, which also includes his TV show which will be aired shortly on Channel 36, plus even working with an LA crew on some show in Racine. The kid leaves the house between 430 and 5 AM and gets back sometime after we are long in bed. The only reason we know he still alive is that when we wake up their are food wrappers and crumbs on the counter, either that or a large rodent has taken up occupancy in our home.
This morning I got new batteries for my electric wheelchair plus good instructions on charging the battery and how far I can go before I run out of juice so I should be able to get around pretty good this summer from my home port.
Well that's all I got for now, as usual feeling great and in great spirits. Looking forward to a fun summer.
POGO
Sunday, May 2, 2010
LATEST UPDATE IN POGO WORLD
A lot of good things are happening now. First of all, the weather's been getting nice, so I am getting a chance to get outside. Which brings us to our opening day softball game. We started with a pre-party at the Nick's place, which can always be a little scary because you never know what Nick will come up with. But he did great this time by coming up with the new team uniforms which is right up with my designer clothes. If you would like to see the team photo, go to www.zubaz.com and check out the gallery for photo. As most of you know, Zubaz have been the clothes of my choice for probably the last 30 years. So it's always nice to be recognized as the fancy dresser that I am. As far as the game goes which is a distant second to having a good time, we lost 6 to 5, which for us is pretty good. You can see that they miss the power of the Pogo, but I was there to keep score in the running banter of verbal abuse to the team members. And by the way, it was probably the nicest day we had in years for an opening day game. They didn't even have to close the roof.
On Saturday, May 1, we went to my daughter's place to celebrate my grandsons second birthday. He was on his best behavior, and again it was another nice day so we
to be out on the back patio. This year he was able to open all his presents by himself and of course once they were opened, he didn't want to get to another present, he wanted to open the box with the toys in it, so he could play with it right away. I can't argue with that, because that is what I would do to. He also survived the dreaded singing of happy birthday, which in the past he would cry, but did okay this time, which could mean one of several things, we are getting better at singing, or he may have a hearing disorder, or at the ripe old age of two, he can now put up with us. He didn't want anything to do with blowing out the candle or eating the cake, but for the whole day he was a terrific two, and not a terrible two.
Sue has been doing much better since we got her on staycation, which is our word for staying home and not worrying about me too much. We've had tremendous help from relatives and someone from our support group. They have been taking me to my doctor appointments, my aqua therapies, my office and other places that I needed to get to. There is not enough thanks to give to these people for how much they have helped out.
This coming Friday, I will be getting a new battery and tuneup on the electric wheelchair, which will give me the freedom to cruise around and hopefully not get stuck somewhere and end up waving to every car that goes by.
As far as I go, I am still the Pogo, and am in great spirits and enjoying life in a new way. The only thing I got going on now is this sore my lower leg, which is hopefully close to being better and my left elbow which looks like something from a zombie movie, except that I feel the pain and I am pretty sure that zombies don't.
Saving the big news for last, my daughter and I will be leaving for Mexico on May 17, for my cancer treatment. The clinic is in Baja Mexico along the ocean and we will have access to a resort, so hopefully my daughter can use this as a little vacation time also. I will be pretty much in treatment Monday through Friday and pretty much the whole day, but they said on weekends that they have a driver that can take us on some sightseeing tours. So I'm really looking forward to this and again will report back after the trip, but there still should be a few blogs before I leave.
pogo
On Saturday, May 1, we went to my daughter's place to celebrate my grandsons second birthday. He was on his best behavior, and again it was another nice day so we
to be out on the back patio. This year he was able to open all his presents by himself and of course once they were opened, he didn't want to get to another present, he wanted to open the box with the toys in it, so he could play with it right away. I can't argue with that, because that is what I would do to. He also survived the dreaded singing of happy birthday, which in the past he would cry, but did okay this time, which could mean one of several things, we are getting better at singing, or he may have a hearing disorder, or at the ripe old age of two, he can now put up with us. He didn't want anything to do with blowing out the candle or eating the cake, but for the whole day he was a terrific two, and not a terrible two.
Sue has been doing much better since we got her on staycation, which is our word for staying home and not worrying about me too much. We've had tremendous help from relatives and someone from our support group. They have been taking me to my doctor appointments, my aqua therapies, my office and other places that I needed to get to. There is not enough thanks to give to these people for how much they have helped out.
This coming Friday, I will be getting a new battery and tuneup on the electric wheelchair, which will give me the freedom to cruise around and hopefully not get stuck somewhere and end up waving to every car that goes by.
As far as I go, I am still the Pogo, and am in great spirits and enjoying life in a new way. The only thing I got going on now is this sore my lower leg, which is hopefully close to being better and my left elbow which looks like something from a zombie movie, except that I feel the pain and I am pretty sure that zombies don't.
Saving the big news for last, my daughter and I will be leaving for Mexico on May 17, for my cancer treatment. The clinic is in Baja Mexico along the ocean and we will have access to a resort, so hopefully my daughter can use this as a little vacation time also. I will be pretty much in treatment Monday through Friday and pretty much the whole day, but they said on weekends that they have a driver that can take us on some sightseeing tours. So I'm really looking forward to this and again will report back after the trip, but there still should be a few blogs before I leave.
pogo
Saturday, April 24, 2010
St. Lukes Hospital attacks again
I think this hospital has it out for me. When showing up for my infusion last Thursday they put out that trip wire again, which are these mats that have sticky spots and therefore when I try to stride forward my foot gets caught and I go straight down. This time I took a layer of skin off my left elbow and bruised a rib on my left side which is preventing me from my exercising and walking and we might as well throw in breathing, sneezing, coughing, bending and laughing which is the real killer. So until I get better, I will be using the wheelchair to get around instead of walking.
I went to see my regular doctor about the sores on the lower half of my left leg from wearing that gadget that helps me walk. They put me on antibiotics, and we are wrappingt the open sores with dry nonstick pads and placing a corticosteroid on the rest of the tissue which is red and irratated. It has greatly improved and can now sleep, without going nuts from the sores touching anything. So there is light at the end of the tunnel. I also finally got a chance to get that brace checked out, and based on the problems I've been having, they are going to adjust and correct a few things and have it ready by Monday, so hopefully those sores will be a thing of the past.
Last night I went out for dinner and a movie with two friends from my softball team. We went to see AVATAR at the IMAX theater, which was pretty cool and then we went to SERB HALL for a fish fry.
Tonight, we're going out to dinner at Applebee's with two couples that I graduated with from dental school. I know they have good salads there, which is why I picked the place. It's possible that we may come back to our place afterwards.
Sue is doing very well now. We have her on a staycation, which is our term for someone who can stay at home and not have to worry about doing any work. Between family and friends, we are giving her a nice break from me, so she has been able to relax and enjoy having some freedom.
With summer coming up, the social calendar should start filling up. Softball is supposed to start this coming Thursday but as of today we still have not received our schedules which makes it difficult to plan parties and make sure we have enough people for the first game.
Otherwise, not much else to report, and as usual and still doing fine and feeling good.
pogo
I went to see my regular doctor about the sores on the lower half of my left leg from wearing that gadget that helps me walk. They put me on antibiotics, and we are wrappingt the open sores with dry nonstick pads and placing a corticosteroid on the rest of the tissue which is red and irratated. It has greatly improved and can now sleep, without going nuts from the sores touching anything. So there is light at the end of the tunnel. I also finally got a chance to get that brace checked out, and based on the problems I've been having, they are going to adjust and correct a few things and have it ready by Monday, so hopefully those sores will be a thing of the past.
Last night I went out for dinner and a movie with two friends from my softball team. We went to see AVATAR at the IMAX theater, which was pretty cool and then we went to SERB HALL for a fish fry.
Tonight, we're going out to dinner at Applebee's with two couples that I graduated with from dental school. I know they have good salads there, which is why I picked the place. It's possible that we may come back to our place afterwards.
Sue is doing very well now. We have her on a staycation, which is our term for someone who can stay at home and not have to worry about doing any work. Between family and friends, we are giving her a nice break from me, so she has been able to relax and enjoy having some freedom.
With summer coming up, the social calendar should start filling up. Softball is supposed to start this coming Thursday but as of today we still have not received our schedules which makes it difficult to plan parties and make sure we have enough people for the first game.
Otherwise, not much else to report, and as usual and still doing fine and feeling good.
pogo
Sunday, April 18, 2010
a day late and $15 short
I'm a day late on getting the blog out this week, because I was waiting till after our opening-day softball party. As far as a $15 short that's how much I was stiffed after everybody signed up. But that is better than most years, so who am I to complain. It was a little more casual and sedate compared to past parties due to my condition. There was no pin the penis on the Parker games,or no catheter bags filled with booze, or no costume parties, or no Hawaiian shirt parties. For the first time in a long time there was no trivia contest, because I missed half the season because I was in a rehab hospital. In fact the athletic director screwed up the schedules, so we couldn't plan our party list. But we still had good conversation and I'm glad I am presently not on a special diet, because I really screwed up last night. I think I ate more garbage and sugary foods last night then I did the previous month.
Bad news, quickly turned into good news. Sue had a bad week which was caused by a change in medication and just everything building up over the last year with me. She ended up going to a hospital where we thought she would be there for several weeks, and ended up making it back in two day's instead. They seem to have found the right medication now and it's like night and day compared to when she went in there. It is great to have her back to normal. The kids have been great taking over for her and making sure that she did not get overwhelmed when she got back. You just can't beat a great family. Also special thanks to Joe, the mini marine, from our support group, who was brave enough to take me to my aqua therapy and also see me in my birthday suit and help with the shower. so the moral of this story, is when in trouble, call for the Marines.
A relative of my son-in-law had a motorized wheelchair that they let me borrow, so after reading the directions, I thought that the battery was fully charged, but that was not the case. My daughter was with me, when I first tested it, and it was working fine. But of course as soon as she left, I start going down the block and made it next-door, which was no different than being miles away when your stranded and can't walk, nor can you push the wheelchair with your good leg because it automatically breaks in the neutral position. Thank goodness it was a day in the 70s, because I was stranded out there for over an hour and a half. The guy across the street was cutting the grass and my voice wasn't strong enough to get help over the sound of the lawnmower, plus when the few cars that went by and I tried to flag them down, all they would do is wave back, which was funny for a while, but after an hour and a half it got a little tiring.Finally somebody got the hint when I threw a rock at their car(just kidding). Thank goodness for daylight savings time, otherwise I still may have been out there.
The other big thing I got going on in my life is an extremely sore lower left leg with raw skin and open sores due to this special gadget I have to wear to aid in my walking. Unfortunately it is extremely painful when touching it, which I literally have to do, every time I get back into the wheelchair, or when the wind blows on it, or when my pants touch it, or when a plane flies overhead, or when the toaster pops up, or if you look at it with your eyes crossed, or if I fart, otherwise it feels fine. I'm getting this weapon checked out next Friday morning and hopefully we'll get this puppy adjusted so I won't spend 90% of the day grimacing in pain.
Finally, I will probably be heading for Mexico within the next two months for some cancer treatments, which I have to time between my MRIs and my AVASTIN infusions which are every three weeks, plus I want to make sure that my wife is still doing okay before I take off for the two weeks. My daughter Lisa will be coming with me and also staying with me for the two weeks. The treatments are similar or the same as they do in Germany. What makes it nicer is that it is more cost effective, due to the value of the peso compared to the euro, plus travel time and travel costs, due to location. Plus insurance will cover about 70%, so there'll be very little out of pocket expense. I will keep you informed, when I leave, because there'll be a gap between blogs, but should have a lot to report when I get back.
Until next week
pogo
Bad news, quickly turned into good news. Sue had a bad week which was caused by a change in medication and just everything building up over the last year with me. She ended up going to a hospital where we thought she would be there for several weeks, and ended up making it back in two day's instead. They seem to have found the right medication now and it's like night and day compared to when she went in there. It is great to have her back to normal. The kids have been great taking over for her and making sure that she did not get overwhelmed when she got back. You just can't beat a great family. Also special thanks to Joe, the mini marine, from our support group, who was brave enough to take me to my aqua therapy and also see me in my birthday suit and help with the shower. so the moral of this story, is when in trouble, call for the Marines.
A relative of my son-in-law had a motorized wheelchair that they let me borrow, so after reading the directions, I thought that the battery was fully charged, but that was not the case. My daughter was with me, when I first tested it, and it was working fine. But of course as soon as she left, I start going down the block and made it next-door, which was no different than being miles away when your stranded and can't walk, nor can you push the wheelchair with your good leg because it automatically breaks in the neutral position. Thank goodness it was a day in the 70s, because I was stranded out there for over an hour and a half. The guy across the street was cutting the grass and my voice wasn't strong enough to get help over the sound of the lawnmower, plus when the few cars that went by and I tried to flag them down, all they would do is wave back, which was funny for a while, but after an hour and a half it got a little tiring.Finally somebody got the hint when I threw a rock at their car(just kidding). Thank goodness for daylight savings time, otherwise I still may have been out there.
The other big thing I got going on in my life is an extremely sore lower left leg with raw skin and open sores due to this special gadget I have to wear to aid in my walking. Unfortunately it is extremely painful when touching it, which I literally have to do, every time I get back into the wheelchair, or when the wind blows on it, or when my pants touch it, or when a plane flies overhead, or when the toaster pops up, or if you look at it with your eyes crossed, or if I fart, otherwise it feels fine. I'm getting this weapon checked out next Friday morning and hopefully we'll get this puppy adjusted so I won't spend 90% of the day grimacing in pain.
Finally, I will probably be heading for Mexico within the next two months for some cancer treatments, which I have to time between my MRIs and my AVASTIN infusions which are every three weeks, plus I want to make sure that my wife is still doing okay before I take off for the two weeks. My daughter Lisa will be coming with me and also staying with me for the two weeks. The treatments are similar or the same as they do in Germany. What makes it nicer is that it is more cost effective, due to the value of the peso compared to the euro, plus travel time and travel costs, due to location. Plus insurance will cover about 70%, so there'll be very little out of pocket expense. I will keep you informed, when I leave, because there'll be a gap between blogs, but should have a lot to report when I get back.
Until next week
pogo
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Communication is the key to success
This blog will be a little different than most of them and also a little vague. I made a big boo-boo by assuming some things which I thought would make things wonderful and enjoyable, but was totally off base because what I assumed ended up causing a lot of stress and anxiety for my wife. So the moral of the story is make sure you are communicating so everyone understands what's going on. I meant well, but when you are not even close to what you thought the problem was and then come up with a solution based on the assumption and not the facts, it definitely leads to problems. So last week, we had a family meeting, and boy do I feel like an idiot. Needless to say our lines of communication have improved so hopefully, bozo here will not make the same mistake. No more assumptions, no more unilateral decisions. I will get into more details probably next time when I make sure that we have properly communicated and we both have all our answers.
In the meantime, I still feel good and still have a positive outlook.
I also finished filling out the forms for the practice valuation and eventual sale of practice which will be a big load off my shoulders, and then can get on with the rest of my life.
pogo
In the meantime, I still feel good and still have a positive outlook.
I also finished filling out the forms for the practice valuation and eventual sale of practice which will be a big load off my shoulders, and then can get on with the rest of my life.
pogo
Friday, April 2, 2010
Making it a Good Friday
After spending yesterday in telephone purgatoryfor about six hours and getting absolutely nothing done, I've decided to take the entire day off. The first thing on my list for today, is enjoy the day and absolutely no office work. So far so good. Nothing too big to report, just a lot of little things.
I finally got to meet the new staff member that I had hired on February 10 and looks like I made a great decision. I also got to meet the doctor who will hopefully being taking over my practice if we can work out the details, but at this time it looks very promising. His name is Dr. Matt Langewisch, who has been working for me since the beginning of March through a temp agency. The staff love him, the patient's love him, he does excellent dentistry, he does cosmetic dentistry, plus he does a few things that I used to refer out such as molar root canals, extractions, among other things. He's very personable, has a good sense of humor and has a similar philosophy that I have. The only difference between us is that he is younger and better looking, but I'm still funnier. Otherwise we are twins, which may be a cheap shot towards him, but a complement to me. Anyway I hope everything works out, I have a lot of work ahead of me to make this happen.
By the way, we had this little meeting at Ricardo's, which is probably the first time that I've been there since my daughter used to work there which was probably eight years ago. The pizza was as great as ever and I know I over ate. I also broke down and had my first beer in over a year. I also found out that I didn't miss it that much, and still prefer water over beer, which is a big change for a person whose nickname used to be Pabst.
A few blogs ago I mentioned about going to Germany for some cancer treatments. I have e-mailed them and they responded within two weeks, in fact they had a group of doctors that got together and they already have a treatment plan and just needed my latest MRI report which I faxed out yesterday. I mentioned about being on the AVASTIN, in fact I just had my second infusion with that yesterday and again no side effects. They said that AVASTIN was one of the few promising things for treating the type of cancer I have, which is good to hear. So right now, I'm on a wait and see what happens before I know what the next step is.
I am also checking into a motorized scooter or wheelchair, so I can get around a lot faster and enjoy the summer. It is not something that I would use all the time, but rather something like walking with my wife and grandson to the park or for trips so I can get around easier without relying on somebody being around that would have to push me. But I still plan doing mostly walking for short trips when there is no time constraint.
Since today it is supposed to be close to 80 degrees, I have my shorts on for the first time in a long time and boy it feels good. I plan on going outside a little bit today, even taking a walk outside but I'm a little leery of the unevenness of the sidewalks and don't want to end up kissing cement. Otherwise, I will sit in the back yard and work on crossword puzzles and sodukos.
I also finished my train jigsaw puzzle, which took probably close to two months to finish, because being colorblind all of the colors look the same to me. But now I've started a puzzle that my daughter gave me for my birthday which was her family wedding picture, which is a lot of fun to put together since you know the faces in the puzzle. When done I'll glue it together and hopefully will find a spot in the house to hang it up. My next puzzle, will be of my grandson in which we would do the same thing. So am looking forward to doing that one too.
I will be getting out a few times this month for dinner with friends, so all in all it's a great start to springtime.
That's about the end of the excitement for this week, if that is what we want to call it.
Until next week
pogo
I finally got to meet the new staff member that I had hired on February 10 and looks like I made a great decision. I also got to meet the doctor who will hopefully being taking over my practice if we can work out the details, but at this time it looks very promising. His name is Dr. Matt Langewisch, who has been working for me since the beginning of March through a temp agency. The staff love him, the patient's love him, he does excellent dentistry, he does cosmetic dentistry, plus he does a few things that I used to refer out such as molar root canals, extractions, among other things. He's very personable, has a good sense of humor and has a similar philosophy that I have. The only difference between us is that he is younger and better looking, but I'm still funnier. Otherwise we are twins, which may be a cheap shot towards him, but a complement to me. Anyway I hope everything works out, I have a lot of work ahead of me to make this happen.
By the way, we had this little meeting at Ricardo's, which is probably the first time that I've been there since my daughter used to work there which was probably eight years ago. The pizza was as great as ever and I know I over ate. I also broke down and had my first beer in over a year. I also found out that I didn't miss it that much, and still prefer water over beer, which is a big change for a person whose nickname used to be Pabst.
A few blogs ago I mentioned about going to Germany for some cancer treatments. I have e-mailed them and they responded within two weeks, in fact they had a group of doctors that got together and they already have a treatment plan and just needed my latest MRI report which I faxed out yesterday. I mentioned about being on the AVASTIN, in fact I just had my second infusion with that yesterday and again no side effects. They said that AVASTIN was one of the few promising things for treating the type of cancer I have, which is good to hear. So right now, I'm on a wait and see what happens before I know what the next step is.
I am also checking into a motorized scooter or wheelchair, so I can get around a lot faster and enjoy the summer. It is not something that I would use all the time, but rather something like walking with my wife and grandson to the park or for trips so I can get around easier without relying on somebody being around that would have to push me. But I still plan doing mostly walking for short trips when there is no time constraint.
Since today it is supposed to be close to 80 degrees, I have my shorts on for the first time in a long time and boy it feels good. I plan on going outside a little bit today, even taking a walk outside but I'm a little leery of the unevenness of the sidewalks and don't want to end up kissing cement. Otherwise, I will sit in the back yard and work on crossword puzzles and sodukos.
I also finished my train jigsaw puzzle, which took probably close to two months to finish, because being colorblind all of the colors look the same to me. But now I've started a puzzle that my daughter gave me for my birthday which was her family wedding picture, which is a lot of fun to put together since you know the faces in the puzzle. When done I'll glue it together and hopefully will find a spot in the house to hang it up. My next puzzle, will be of my grandson in which we would do the same thing. So am looking forward to doing that one too.
I will be getting out a few times this month for dinner with friends, so all in all it's a great start to springtime.
That's about the end of the excitement for this week, if that is what we want to call it.
Until next week
pogo
Friday, March 26, 2010
the stress factor and birthdays( not related)
Stress can be difficult to notice until it goes away, or dramatically improves. Especially over the last six months, I have noticed that I was spending too much time trying to keep my dental practice going By trying to manage day-to-day and assuming all responsibilities for making sure the office runs smoothly. Well now that I feel confident in the people working there, I have given specific instructions on running the practice and to keep me out of it. So based on the above information, it is in my best interest for my health and sanity to sell the practice. After all, the greatest joy I had was working with the people, and since I'm only working out of the home, and no longer with patients, I'm saying to myself,'what kind of idiot are you to put in 20 to 30 hours a week on things you really don't enjoy and not even get paid". Now in all fairness, I had to be an idiot for a year to take advantage of my disability benefits which basically saved my ass(excuse my French). So I am basically in the process of doing a practice valuation and have five parties that are interested in buying the practice, so retirement is in near future and the stress factor should become a thing of the past. By the way, I have felt great the past two weeks since the start of my stress relief plan. Even though I felt strong in the past, I've noticed that I'm a lot stronger now, plus I'm getting 6 to 7 hours of solid sleep at night compared to the 2 to 3 hours of broken up sleep that I was getting before. Who knows, the hidden stress of running a dental practice may have led to my cancer, since stress weakens your immune system and that's when the cancer cells in your body can grow and form tumors. So in the words of Mr. Soul himself, James Brown, "I feel good (musical interlude) I knew that I would (musical interlude) like sugar and spice ( musical interlude) and everything nice ( musical interlude) so good(dont-dont) so good, et al. enough about the stress factor, let's get onto topic two.
As promised my wife took me to the movies on my birthday and we went to our old standby, the budget theater, where we saw 'blindside'. As usual, it became an adventure just getting there and getting seated. It takes less than 15 minutes to get there, but we usually leave a half hour early, because I have that slow-moving vehicle insignia on my butt. Well wouldn't you know it, we got stuck behind a funeral procession, and if that wasn't bad enough there were two school buses parked in front with probably over 100 kids, and they were also in front of the handicap ramp, so we had to wait for the buses to move and by the time we get to the theater the doors were shut and it was pitch black so you couldn't see anything. You'd be surprised how much of an incline there is when you're using a walker, and are even talking about the back row. I'm not sure, but I think I did a lap dance on some 80-year-old lady, which could explain the $20 bill I found in my front pocket later that day, which covered the movie, the popcorn and soda. Anyway, after spending about 15 minutes trying to get into the seats, we did enjoy the movie. Sunday was family birthday day where we went out to Outback Restaurant. My daughter's, who did not plan this each got me a jigsaw puzzle, which is one of my winter pastimes. Lisa got me a 1008 piece puzzle of a picture of my grandson, and my other daughter Jessie got me a jigsaw puzzle of 513 pieces of the family photo at her wedding( must be in their DNA). I couldn't ask for two better gifts, since it'll probably occupy me for months and when finished I will be rewarded with two great pictures that we can frame, since all the puzzles I do, I seal when done, because I hate to spend all that time putting together the puzzle and then taking it apart and putting it back in the box which to me would seem like a waste of time. Also my daughter Jessie, alias,' the town crier', had e-mailed a lot of people to tell them that it was my birthday on March 19. I was wondering how everyone knew about this, this year, but not in previous years. So between 5 and 7 PM on that day, I got probably 50 e-mails about a dozen phone calls and a few visitors, it would have been nice if it was a little more spread out but who am I to argue.
Well I hope that holds you for another week.
POGO
I knew that I would
9
As promised my wife took me to the movies on my birthday and we went to our old standby, the budget theater, where we saw 'blindside'. As usual, it became an adventure just getting there and getting seated. It takes less than 15 minutes to get there, but we usually leave a half hour early, because I have that slow-moving vehicle insignia on my butt. Well wouldn't you know it, we got stuck behind a funeral procession, and if that wasn't bad enough there were two school buses parked in front with probably over 100 kids, and they were also in front of the handicap ramp, so we had to wait for the buses to move and by the time we get to the theater the doors were shut and it was pitch black so you couldn't see anything. You'd be surprised how much of an incline there is when you're using a walker, and are even talking about the back row. I'm not sure, but I think I did a lap dance on some 80-year-old lady, which could explain the $20 bill I found in my front pocket later that day, which covered the movie, the popcorn and soda. Anyway, after spending about 15 minutes trying to get into the seats, we did enjoy the movie. Sunday was family birthday day where we went out to Outback Restaurant. My daughter's, who did not plan this each got me a jigsaw puzzle, which is one of my winter pastimes. Lisa got me a 1008 piece puzzle of a picture of my grandson, and my other daughter Jessie got me a jigsaw puzzle of 513 pieces of the family photo at her wedding( must be in their DNA). I couldn't ask for two better gifts, since it'll probably occupy me for months and when finished I will be rewarded with two great pictures that we can frame, since all the puzzles I do, I seal when done, because I hate to spend all that time putting together the puzzle and then taking it apart and putting it back in the box which to me would seem like a waste of time. Also my daughter Jessie, alias,' the town crier', had e-mailed a lot of people to tell them that it was my birthday on March 19. I was wondering how everyone knew about this, this year, but not in previous years. So between 5 and 7 PM on that day, I got probably 50 e-mails about a dozen phone calls and a few visitors, it would have been nice if it was a little more spread out but who am I to argue.
Well I hope that holds you for another week.
POGO
I knew that I would
9
Friday, March 19, 2010
happy birthday pogo
Well I made it to the ripe old age of 56, chronically speaking, but mentally I'm still 12 years old. My wife plans on taking me to movie today, and Sunday the family is coming over for laughs and celebration.
I actually found what I want for my birthday, which I'm giving to myself. I plan on going to Germany where they have the top cancer clinics in the world, and also use it for vacation and sightseeing. I recently sent in for some reports on the top cancer clinics in the world, and Germany is head and tails far superior as far as there knowledge of cancer and therefore have safer, more effective treatment modalities with no side effects and no poisoning of your system with drugs and radiation and surgery.
I will briefly describe what I had just learned.
First of all, let me tell you about some of the people that decided against traditional American treatment for cancer. In 1983, Pres. Ronald Reagan opted to go to Germany cancer clinic instead of being treated by the standard way in the US, and we all know he survived and died of old age. Others include Cher, Suzanne Somers, George Hamilton, red buttons and Liz Taylor, all of whom were cured without all the side effects. Most of these people were considered terminal by US doctors and yet were completely cured. What really wakes you up is when executives at organizations such as the American Cancer Society, and the FDA, or their relatives come down with cancer, they go to the German clinics even though they strongly recommend that you get traditional American treatment to the public. And do you ever notice, that the doctors here like to let you know how much time you have left and not how to get better. They say it cost $350,000 to die of cancer in America, while at the German clinics you can take off the last two zeros and have a better chance of survival with no side effects. The clinics are more like bed and breakfast and very positive, plus are in some of the most scenic areas.
What I learned that I did not know before is that the tumor is the last manifestation of cancer and that is why most people have relapses because they are treating the tumor and not the cancer which involves the whole body. So when you know all there is to know about cancer as far as how it works, then the treatments can be designed to be conservative and yet effective instead of just blasting everything like they do here. There are still life style changes that have to be made when you get back, but they will help with recommended treatment and who to contact for that when you get back home. Because again the point is to completely get rid of the cancer and not have it come back every so often.
So I cannot think of a better birthday present to give myself than this. After all if I am going to live to be 100, so I have to do something proactive.
Looking forward to a lot more birthdays.
pogo
I actually found what I want for my birthday, which I'm giving to myself. I plan on going to Germany where they have the top cancer clinics in the world, and also use it for vacation and sightseeing. I recently sent in for some reports on the top cancer clinics in the world, and Germany is head and tails far superior as far as there knowledge of cancer and therefore have safer, more effective treatment modalities with no side effects and no poisoning of your system with drugs and radiation and surgery.
I will briefly describe what I had just learned.
First of all, let me tell you about some of the people that decided against traditional American treatment for cancer. In 1983, Pres. Ronald Reagan opted to go to Germany cancer clinic instead of being treated by the standard way in the US, and we all know he survived and died of old age. Others include Cher, Suzanne Somers, George Hamilton, red buttons and Liz Taylor, all of whom were cured without all the side effects. Most of these people were considered terminal by US doctors and yet were completely cured. What really wakes you up is when executives at organizations such as the American Cancer Society, and the FDA, or their relatives come down with cancer, they go to the German clinics even though they strongly recommend that you get traditional American treatment to the public. And do you ever notice, that the doctors here like to let you know how much time you have left and not how to get better. They say it cost $350,000 to die of cancer in America, while at the German clinics you can take off the last two zeros and have a better chance of survival with no side effects. The clinics are more like bed and breakfast and very positive, plus are in some of the most scenic areas.
What I learned that I did not know before is that the tumor is the last manifestation of cancer and that is why most people have relapses because they are treating the tumor and not the cancer which involves the whole body. So when you know all there is to know about cancer as far as how it works, then the treatments can be designed to be conservative and yet effective instead of just blasting everything like they do here. There are still life style changes that have to be made when you get back, but they will help with recommended treatment and who to contact for that when you get back home. Because again the point is to completely get rid of the cancer and not have it come back every so often.
So I cannot think of a better birthday present to give myself than this. After all if I am going to live to be 100, so I have to do something proactive.
Looking forward to a lot more birthdays.
pogo
Friday, March 12, 2010
going from musicals to Shakespeare
On the medical alert, last Thursday I had day surgery to put a port in my right shoulder which it will be used for drawing blood and to give medications. It was pretty simple and was done with local anesthetic and was there about five hours total. This was one of the few times I used the wheelchairs at the hospital and I am glad I don't have to use those all the time. First of all their wide enough to fit an elephant and clumsy enough where you cannot propel yourself, and I think the seat is made out of 'ass'phalt. Anyway, I got a good meal out of it which included soup and salad, a turkey club sandwich, milk, fruit and let's not forget that chocolate brownie. I had no complications from the surgery, I was just told to stay away from lifting anything over 10 pounds and to take it easy for 10 days, and stay out of water for the same amount of time, which pretty much takes care of all my physical activities. But I guess a little rest can't hurt.
On Tuesday, I was at the hospital from 12:30 PM to 8:30 PM, about four hours longer than expected. It started normal with our support group, and for the first time in a long time I had a couple sugar cookies while I was thereand then walked for about another half hour to get to another part of the hospital to visit a friend. When I got there I was offered a brownie and a few other desserts, since they went to get rid of them, and they were very tasty going down a couple hours later I had this funny feeling in my stomach, probably because I'm not used to eating sugar. So this is where i did my Shakespeare routine playing 'KING REAR', all night with my plunger as my scepter and my toilet as my throne. You talk about a long night. And let's add insult to injury, as I was approaching the valet parking area my foot got caught under one of the mats that they have laying all over to keep the moisture down and that wasn't the only thing that went down. I went down in my usual slow motion and I think before I hit the ground, they had security and paramedics all over me. I basically had a cut on my knee, and of course I said, it's fine just put a Band-Aid on it. But they insisted on taking me to the emergency room where I spent the next four hours getting a Band-Aid on my boo-boo knee. So that became quite a long day and night.
On Sunday, my son Brad kicked me and my wife of the house so he could do some video work for the TV show he is putting on, which actually worked out very well since it was a nice sunny day, so we went to the movies, the fancy place, and not the usual budget theatre, and after that we went by my office to gather the mail and plus it was the first time I probably walked into the office in about 6 months.
On Thursday, started my first treatment of the AVASTIN and to my delight, I felt fine and had no side effects. The total time to get this into my system is always was to be a half-hour. After laying in the nice recliner, taking a nap, I was awakened by the usual, my bladder and found out I was two hours into the appointment but they hadn't started yet because the port was clogged, so I ended up being there for four hours instead. So as usual, I can't do anything the easy way, but all in all I still feel great.
POGO
On Tuesday, I was at the hospital from 12:30 PM to 8:30 PM, about four hours longer than expected. It started normal with our support group, and for the first time in a long time I had a couple sugar cookies while I was thereand then walked for about another half hour to get to another part of the hospital to visit a friend. When I got there I was offered a brownie and a few other desserts, since they went to get rid of them, and they were very tasty going down a couple hours later I had this funny feeling in my stomach, probably because I'm not used to eating sugar. So this is where i did my Shakespeare routine playing 'KING REAR', all night with my plunger as my scepter and my toilet as my throne. You talk about a long night. And let's add insult to injury, as I was approaching the valet parking area my foot got caught under one of the mats that they have laying all over to keep the moisture down and that wasn't the only thing that went down. I went down in my usual slow motion and I think before I hit the ground, they had security and paramedics all over me. I basically had a cut on my knee, and of course I said, it's fine just put a Band-Aid on it. But they insisted on taking me to the emergency room where I spent the next four hours getting a Band-Aid on my boo-boo knee. So that became quite a long day and night.
On Sunday, my son Brad kicked me and my wife of the house so he could do some video work for the TV show he is putting on, which actually worked out very well since it was a nice sunny day, so we went to the movies, the fancy place, and not the usual budget theatre, and after that we went by my office to gather the mail and plus it was the first time I probably walked into the office in about 6 months.
On Thursday, started my first treatment of the AVASTIN and to my delight, I felt fine and had no side effects. The total time to get this into my system is always was to be a half-hour. After laying in the nice recliner, taking a nap, I was awakened by the usual, my bladder and found out I was two hours into the appointment but they hadn't started yet because the port was clogged, so I ended up being there for four hours instead. So as usual, I can't do anything the easy way, but all in all I still feel great.
POGO
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Pogo to star in the musical Annie
First of all,"the sun will come out tomorrow", because Pogo is so optimistic, that nothing can get him down. I had my doctor's appointment on Monday and we now have our next plan of attack. I will be starting on AVASTIN, which is the latest and most recommended treatment for the type of cancer I have. It is not a true chemotherapy and is hard to explain exactly what it is but if anybody wants to look it up at least they have the name of this stuff. So this Thursday, I have an appointment at the hospital to get a port put in which will be used for the IV of the AVASTIN, which I only need once every three weeks, however I will be there every Thursday for other miscellaneous things which include blood test and follow-ups, with most appointments being two hours or less. The only real side effect is because it is a blood thinner, it may cause bleeding. But on the bright side my wife thinks that the peroxide solution that I've been using for treatment was causing my blood to thin also, so I've decided to stop the treatment and use my extra oxygen water instead, so there's something I'm really not going to miss( the sun has come out tomorrow).
I also have an appointment today at the hospital to get a custom splint for my left hand, which has deformed into a reverse hook(Kind of like Capt. Hook of Peter Pan fame). I've nicknamed my left hand"Mr. friendly", because when I'm sitting in my wheelchair, it basically lays in my crotch all day and what really makes it look bad is when I get clonus, which is an uncontrollable tremor.
We celebrated my daughter's birthday a month late but had a great time at their place. We played balderdash, which when you have a family like ours, it is truly gutwrenching laughter. The only probably we have is getting me there since they live in BAY VIEW, you have to deal with spiral staircases ice and snow which is not very conducive for getting into and out of their house. But between my son and two Son in-laws, we managed to drag my sorry butt in and out of the house.
"Food, glorious food", it is so great to eat normal food again which I said I would do based on the MRI results, and since it showed growth, I figured why restrict the diet if it's not making a difference. I will still take my supplements, and try to keep the sugar content down and still try and eat fairly decent, but I'm not worried about it killing me. So Saturday I had pizza, Sunday I had lasagna, Monday I had a salad and an Arbys beef and cheddar sandwich, and on Tuesday some friends of ours brought over chicken fajitas which were excellent, I even had some ice cream on Saturday and Tuesday. Once again,"food glorious food".
I am now three wins and no losses on my chess matches that I am playing online, which I guess means that my brain is in turning into mush even though the cancer is spreading. As long as I don't become a blithering idiot, I guess I'll be okay.
My next blog will probably be next Friday, so I can let you know how my first treatment went.
pogo
I also have an appointment today at the hospital to get a custom splint for my left hand, which has deformed into a reverse hook(Kind of like Capt. Hook of Peter Pan fame). I've nicknamed my left hand"Mr. friendly", because when I'm sitting in my wheelchair, it basically lays in my crotch all day and what really makes it look bad is when I get clonus, which is an uncontrollable tremor.
We celebrated my daughter's birthday a month late but had a great time at their place. We played balderdash, which when you have a family like ours, it is truly gutwrenching laughter. The only probably we have is getting me there since they live in BAY VIEW, you have to deal with spiral staircases ice and snow which is not very conducive for getting into and out of their house. But between my son and two Son in-laws, we managed to drag my sorry butt in and out of the house.
"Food, glorious food", it is so great to eat normal food again which I said I would do based on the MRI results, and since it showed growth, I figured why restrict the diet if it's not making a difference. I will still take my supplements, and try to keep the sugar content down and still try and eat fairly decent, but I'm not worried about it killing me. So Saturday I had pizza, Sunday I had lasagna, Monday I had a salad and an Arbys beef and cheddar sandwich, and on Tuesday some friends of ours brought over chicken fajitas which were excellent, I even had some ice cream on Saturday and Tuesday. Once again,"food glorious food".
I am now three wins and no losses on my chess matches that I am playing online, which I guess means that my brain is in turning into mush even though the cancer is spreading. As long as I don't become a blithering idiot, I guess I'll be okay.
My next blog will probably be next Friday, so I can let you know how my first treatment went.
pogo
Friday, February 26, 2010
MRI results
Well I got my MRI results and I was a lot more optimistic than the images. We know this is an extremely aggressive cancer, and my nine months of stability have ended. There were four areas that increased in size which also included crossing over to the other side of the brain. So he said it's possible that when it crosses to the other side, you may get a little wacko. But then again, how would I know, since I'm pretty wacko already. So we are going on to plan C., which we knew would eventually happen. We knew that if my home remedies stopped working they would have to get into chemotherapy. So they scheduled me ASAP which happens to be Monday, March 1 at 1:15 PM. I know they talked about a AVASTIN, which is the drug of choice for the type of cancer along with some other type. It is given through IV and I know the major side effect is increase bleeding due to blood thinning. This could prove to be interesting since my blood is pretty thin right now. I have a lot of bruises and when I bump into things which I don't even know I'm doing half the time because of lack of feeling, I lose a layer of skin down to the area where there are blood vessels. Special note; when you put a corticosteroid on the area be ready to scream bloody murder because it stings like crazy and not just for a second but for a good half hour. Lesson learned the hard way. I'm not sure if I have skin or wet toilet paper wrapped around me. So it looks like I'm going to be logging a lot more hospital time.I will probably get everybody up-to-date next Tuesday.
Now there is always a silver lining, because I said depending on my MRI results which in this case, it got worse, I would change my diet around so I could eat more types of food that I enjoy and start going to restaurants and eating anything I like. I will still have my grog in the morning until I run out of the supplies to make it, and I will continue with my peroxide therapy and my Avamar therapy which I will have been on for two weeks so it really hasn't a chance to kick in. I will still be trying to keep the sugar content down too.
Now let's get to the cheerier side. This past Tuesday, I was at the hospital from 12:30 PM to 6:15 PM. I started on the 12th floor for support group then walked down to the basement for the MRI then to the second floor for blood test then to the Kinsley wing to visit a friend who unfortunately is a head case like me, but the good news for her is that it is not cancerous. Of course anytime you're dealing with the brain, I guess we could never consider that good news. So anyway I got my fair share of walking in that day. when I got back home, 4 former ballplayers that played on my team were waiting for me for dinner and a movie. As usual, I don't mention names,"houghever" one of them brought over his homemade recipe for burritos which were excellent. Someone else was in charge of bringing the movie, which was quite an"undertaking", because he just brought the disc, and as far as we know it is still in the movie theaters. This could explain the black SUV parked across the street with the two guys in a black suits and sunglasses. He said it was an action adventure film, called on "the edge of darkness", and I thought to myself this is good because I need something with a lot of action to keep me awake after a long day. But I think the movie could've been renamed to"the edge of nodding" , Since it put me out and when I did wake up and looked around I wasn't the only one nodding off. but because of the movie and bringing it in that disk it opened the door for a lot of humor. for action-adventure movie, it was only missing two things, and that was action and adventure, otherwise it is pretty much right on.
Until next Tuesday, goodbye to one and all.
pogo
Now there is always a silver lining, because I said depending on my MRI results which in this case, it got worse, I would change my diet around so I could eat more types of food that I enjoy and start going to restaurants and eating anything I like. I will still have my grog in the morning until I run out of the supplies to make it, and I will continue with my peroxide therapy and my Avamar therapy which I will have been on for two weeks so it really hasn't a chance to kick in. I will still be trying to keep the sugar content down too.
Now let's get to the cheerier side. This past Tuesday, I was at the hospital from 12:30 PM to 6:15 PM. I started on the 12th floor for support group then walked down to the basement for the MRI then to the second floor for blood test then to the Kinsley wing to visit a friend who unfortunately is a head case like me, but the good news for her is that it is not cancerous. Of course anytime you're dealing with the brain, I guess we could never consider that good news. So anyway I got my fair share of walking in that day. when I got back home, 4 former ballplayers that played on my team were waiting for me for dinner and a movie. As usual, I don't mention names,"houghever" one of them brought over his homemade recipe for burritos which were excellent. Someone else was in charge of bringing the movie, which was quite an"undertaking", because he just brought the disc, and as far as we know it is still in the movie theaters. This could explain the black SUV parked across the street with the two guys in a black suits and sunglasses. He said it was an action adventure film, called on "the edge of darkness", and I thought to myself this is good because I need something with a lot of action to keep me awake after a long day. But I think the movie could've been renamed to"the edge of nodding" , Since it put me out and when I did wake up and looked around I wasn't the only one nodding off. but because of the movie and bringing it in that disk it opened the door for a lot of humor. for action-adventure movie, it was only missing two things, and that was action and adventure, otherwise it is pretty much right on.
Until next Tuesday, goodbye to one and all.
pogo
Thursday, February 18, 2010
getting a little busier
In my last blog, I described how exciting my weeks are, which I may have to do more often because I think I drew the sympathy card and the next two weeks are going to be pretty busy. Tomorrow which will be Friday, me and Sue are going out to dinner at red lobster with a good friend of ours, which we used to do twice a year with our wives, but it's been several years, since he moved out of state for a while and now is back,so we have a lot of catching up to do. When we went there in the past we would usually spent about four hours there, and conversation was never a problem. I love their food there and their quantity, but I would still have to watch out what I eat, but there should still be enough choices.
The weekends are usually pretty quiet, however my Tuesday morning gamers said that they should let them know that if nothing is going on, to give them a call and if it works out we can do some weekend gaming. That's the life of retirement, having free time most of the time, but the one thing that trumps gaming is the grandkids.
Next week Tuesday, I'll probably have my busiest day ever. Starts with the gamers from 10 AM to 12:30 PM, then off to the hospital for the support group from 1 PM to 2:30 PM, this is going to be followed up by another MRI and a blood test, and then I have a couple of friends coming over at 6 PM that are bringing over dinner, then we are going to watch a movie, which after that day hopefully I'll be able to stay awake through it. I better go with an action-adventure movie so I don't start doing the famous nod.
The next day on Wednesday, I got someone coming over to do Reiki on me, which will hopefully be relaxing and helpful.
On Thursday, at 10 AM, I have a massage specialist who specializes in people that are disabled coming over for a couple hours to work me over. At 3:30 PM, I have a doctors appointment at the hospital to go over the MRI results and the blood test. I will be interested to see how the results end up, because I've been on this aggressive peroxide therapy for quite a while now, plus about a week ago I started a special supplement which is supposed to expose the cancer cells to my normal immune system. So I'm pretty optimistic that things will be stable and would be great if it showed signs of the cancer shrinking. I will keep everybody up-to-date by next Friday when I will blog again.
The next day on Friday, my red lobster friend will be over all day for a couple games of chess.
Then on Saturday, February 27 we will be celebrating my youngest daughter's birthday which was actually January 31, but as we say in our family, better late than never.
So when that social calendar starts opening up again, I'll have to blog again on how boring my life can be.
I can't end without letting everybody know that once again the world of electronics and technology let me down again. Sunday night, AT&T u-verse went out again for the fourth time in a month.I got on the phone with them Sunday night to let them know how happy I was with their service( sarcasm)and the earliest that they could get here was Tuesday morning. Well I got to thinking and then I realized that Monday night was one of the two nights where we have all the shows that we watch and so I called back the next day and actually got a very friendly and helpful person on the other line. She was able to get somebody over here on the Monday noon to four slot. She checked our history and said that they would fix the problem permanently this time, and of course my comment was shouldn't it have been fixed permanently the first time. She was in total agreement and spent extra time and put in extra notes to make sure that it was done correctly. The guy that came out was very thorough, was inside the house outside the house, check every wire and connection and found multiple problems. He seemed confident that everything should be back to normal, but just in case, he gave us his business card and said to call him directly if there is any problem. So far so good.
And of course my computer went down on Tuesday where I lost my connection to my business which I heavily rely on and of course it was payday for the staff and boy if you want to see a group of people panic when you tell them the computer is not working and I can't get the payroll done, but who can blame them. For several hours during the morning I tried to fix things, but with my usual skill with computers, nothing worked. However, I had to leave for a while and when I got back everything was working fine. The only really fancy thing I did was unplug the printer and then plug it back in and that must've fixed the printer and the computer. I'm not going to argue about it, just as long as it works.
So my next blog will be next Friday and hopefully I'll have nothing but great news from the MRI.
pogo
The weekends are usually pretty quiet, however my Tuesday morning gamers said that they should let them know that if nothing is going on, to give them a call and if it works out we can do some weekend gaming. That's the life of retirement, having free time most of the time, but the one thing that trumps gaming is the grandkids.
Next week Tuesday, I'll probably have my busiest day ever. Starts with the gamers from 10 AM to 12:30 PM, then off to the hospital for the support group from 1 PM to 2:30 PM, this is going to be followed up by another MRI and a blood test, and then I have a couple of friends coming over at 6 PM that are bringing over dinner, then we are going to watch a movie, which after that day hopefully I'll be able to stay awake through it. I better go with an action-adventure movie so I don't start doing the famous nod.
The next day on Wednesday, I got someone coming over to do Reiki on me, which will hopefully be relaxing and helpful.
On Thursday, at 10 AM, I have a massage specialist who specializes in people that are disabled coming over for a couple hours to work me over. At 3:30 PM, I have a doctors appointment at the hospital to go over the MRI results and the blood test. I will be interested to see how the results end up, because I've been on this aggressive peroxide therapy for quite a while now, plus about a week ago I started a special supplement which is supposed to expose the cancer cells to my normal immune system. So I'm pretty optimistic that things will be stable and would be great if it showed signs of the cancer shrinking. I will keep everybody up-to-date by next Friday when I will blog again.
The next day on Friday, my red lobster friend will be over all day for a couple games of chess.
Then on Saturday, February 27 we will be celebrating my youngest daughter's birthday which was actually January 31, but as we say in our family, better late than never.
So when that social calendar starts opening up again, I'll have to blog again on how boring my life can be.
I can't end without letting everybody know that once again the world of electronics and technology let me down again. Sunday night, AT&T u-verse went out again for the fourth time in a month.I got on the phone with them Sunday night to let them know how happy I was with their service( sarcasm)and the earliest that they could get here was Tuesday morning. Well I got to thinking and then I realized that Monday night was one of the two nights where we have all the shows that we watch and so I called back the next day and actually got a very friendly and helpful person on the other line. She was able to get somebody over here on the Monday noon to four slot. She checked our history and said that they would fix the problem permanently this time, and of course my comment was shouldn't it have been fixed permanently the first time. She was in total agreement and spent extra time and put in extra notes to make sure that it was done correctly. The guy that came out was very thorough, was inside the house outside the house, check every wire and connection and found multiple problems. He seemed confident that everything should be back to normal, but just in case, he gave us his business card and said to call him directly if there is any problem. So far so good.
And of course my computer went down on Tuesday where I lost my connection to my business which I heavily rely on and of course it was payday for the staff and boy if you want to see a group of people panic when you tell them the computer is not working and I can't get the payroll done, but who can blame them. For several hours during the morning I tried to fix things, but with my usual skill with computers, nothing worked. However, I had to leave for a while and when I got back everything was working fine. The only really fancy thing I did was unplug the printer and then plug it back in and that must've fixed the printer and the computer. I'm not going to argue about it, just as long as it works.
So my next blog will be next Friday and hopefully I'll have nothing but great news from the MRI.
pogo
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
a week in the life of Pogo
Since this is one of those weeks where there wasn't much exciting things going on, I thought I would give you an idea of what a typical week is like for me. Get ready to yawn, because it's not that exciting.
I have a special hospital bed that is set up in our living room and i usually climb out of bed somewhere between 5 AM to 8 AM. The first thing i do is get dressed, which I can easily do within about five minutes now, considering that half their body does not cooperate. From there, I transfer myself to the wheelchair and roll-on into the kitchen where I take my supplements which is roughly around 30 pills and I take that with my peroxide solution. I do this first thing in the morning because I have to do it on empty stomach and then I have to wait for an hour before eating. Next comes breakfast, which is the exciting grog which I have every morning, which is a special mixture of flaxseed oil, freshly ground flaxseed, organic low-fat cottage cheese, and fruits and berries. This is all mixed together with a hand blender, and if to thick, organic 0 g of sugar apple juice is added. This is then choked down with the help of my oxygenated water.
Usually the rest of the morning is dedicated to office work, going through the e-mails, blogging, phone consults, and meetings. That usually gets me to noon or 1 PM.
The rest of the afternoon is usually divided up between working on jigsaw puzzles and doing my own personal physical therapy which involves a minimum of 20 minutes of walking each day, my core exercises which is a combination of sitting and standing stretching as far as I can go to the right and left at different angles which helps with balance and strengthens the oblique muscles, I also use a 15 pound dumbbell to help strengthen my upper body on the right side, which includes shoulder press, rowing, tricep extension, and bicep curls. When I go down for my nap between 4 and 5 PM, I will do my glute and quadricep exercises which are done in bed that involves arching my back so only my shoulders and feet are touching the bed and sqeezing my cheeks together. And then that is followed up by usually an hour to an hour and a half nap which is all dependent on my bladder. After that it's dinner time, and then the evening is dedicated to TV whether it's catching shows that we DVR or movies.
I do have some standing activities on certain days during the week. Every Tuesday morning, I have three people come over for playing board games. On Monday and Wednesday afternoon when I go over to innovative fitness where i do at least a half hour on a sitting step climber with the resistance of 6 out of 10, and that is followed up with about 30 to 40 minutes of aqua therapy. Then I get to hit the showers which is the highlight of the week, since that is my only ccess to shower facilities. The second and fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 PM to 2:30 PM is our cancer support group at St. Luke's Hospital.
Occasionally, I will have friends stop by and play games or just talk. But pretty much during the winter months, i stay inside. Usually once or twice a week, our grandson comes over and I get to watch him cruise around the house. I also play online chess with a friend and so far I am up two games with no losses.
On weekends, Saturday and most of Sunday is usually a combination of play, exercise, and possibly office work. Sunday during the football season, I would have people come over to watch the games.
It is rare for me to have Dr. appointments. Every three months I have an MRI done and blood tests and then see the doctor for the results.
How is that for excitement. Just a little different than my previous lifestyle.
Until next week, if anybody is still awake out there.
POGO
I have a special hospital bed that is set up in our living room and i usually climb out of bed somewhere between 5 AM to 8 AM. The first thing i do is get dressed, which I can easily do within about five minutes now, considering that half their body does not cooperate. From there, I transfer myself to the wheelchair and roll-on into the kitchen where I take my supplements which is roughly around 30 pills and I take that with my peroxide solution. I do this first thing in the morning because I have to do it on empty stomach and then I have to wait for an hour before eating. Next comes breakfast, which is the exciting grog which I have every morning, which is a special mixture of flaxseed oil, freshly ground flaxseed, organic low-fat cottage cheese, and fruits and berries. This is all mixed together with a hand blender, and if to thick, organic 0 g of sugar apple juice is added. This is then choked down with the help of my oxygenated water.
Usually the rest of the morning is dedicated to office work, going through the e-mails, blogging, phone consults, and meetings. That usually gets me to noon or 1 PM.
The rest of the afternoon is usually divided up between working on jigsaw puzzles and doing my own personal physical therapy which involves a minimum of 20 minutes of walking each day, my core exercises which is a combination of sitting and standing stretching as far as I can go to the right and left at different angles which helps with balance and strengthens the oblique muscles, I also use a 15 pound dumbbell to help strengthen my upper body on the right side, which includes shoulder press, rowing, tricep extension, and bicep curls. When I go down for my nap between 4 and 5 PM, I will do my glute and quadricep exercises which are done in bed that involves arching my back so only my shoulders and feet are touching the bed and sqeezing my cheeks together. And then that is followed up by usually an hour to an hour and a half nap which is all dependent on my bladder. After that it's dinner time, and then the evening is dedicated to TV whether it's catching shows that we DVR or movies.
I do have some standing activities on certain days during the week. Every Tuesday morning, I have three people come over for playing board games. On Monday and Wednesday afternoon when I go over to innovative fitness where i do at least a half hour on a sitting step climber with the resistance of 6 out of 10, and that is followed up with about 30 to 40 minutes of aqua therapy. Then I get to hit the showers which is the highlight of the week, since that is my only ccess to shower facilities. The second and fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 PM to 2:30 PM is our cancer support group at St. Luke's Hospital.
Occasionally, I will have friends stop by and play games or just talk. But pretty much during the winter months, i stay inside. Usually once or twice a week, our grandson comes over and I get to watch him cruise around the house. I also play online chess with a friend and so far I am up two games with no losses.
On weekends, Saturday and most of Sunday is usually a combination of play, exercise, and possibly office work. Sunday during the football season, I would have people come over to watch the games.
It is rare for me to have Dr. appointments. Every three months I have an MRI done and blood tests and then see the doctor for the results.
How is that for excitement. Just a little different than my previous lifestyle.
Until next week, if anybody is still awake out there.
POGO
Monday, February 1, 2010
one-year anniversary
Well it's been 365 days since I hit the wall, so to speak. February 2 is the official anniversary date of when this all started. And surprisingly enough, this year went by pretty fast. My goal in life right now is to prove to Dr. doom that he doesn't know what he is talking about when it comes to life expectancy. Since he gave me 12-18 months, so far I've proved him wrong on the short end. And considering I feel great and have no symptoms, just the paralysis, I expect to be around for quite a long time. I am debating whether to send him an anniversary card every six months.
This will be a shorter blog today. When I thank friends I usually do not mention their names only because I don't know if I need their signed permission or they don't want to see their name in lights.
I had one friend that just happen to stop over. I asked him if he knew anything about electricity, because when my daughter tried to rewire the family room things stopped working. He said he would take a look but wasn't overly confident. Well I'm glad to say that he fixed the problem and the house is still standing.
I also want to thank another friend who took me to see,' whose line is it anyway', at the Pabst Theater on Saturday. It was also nice of him to pay for everything. It was a great show and was being taped so we may be on TV or be on a DVD. I know that laughter is the best medicine and i also know that gut belly laughter will kill cancer cells, so i wouldn't be surprised if I am now cancer free. We plan on making this an annual event and maybe get a big group together next January for this.
pogo
This will be a shorter blog today. When I thank friends I usually do not mention their names only because I don't know if I need their signed permission or they don't want to see their name in lights.
I had one friend that just happen to stop over. I asked him if he knew anything about electricity, because when my daughter tried to rewire the family room things stopped working. He said he would take a look but wasn't overly confident. Well I'm glad to say that he fixed the problem and the house is still standing.
I also want to thank another friend who took me to see,' whose line is it anyway', at the Pabst Theater on Saturday. It was also nice of him to pay for everything. It was a great show and was being taped so we may be on TV or be on a DVD. I know that laughter is the best medicine and i also know that gut belly laughter will kill cancer cells, so i wouldn't be surprised if I am now cancer free. We plan on making this an annual event and maybe get a big group together next January for this.
pogo
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
POGO VS THE WORLD OF ELECTRONICS
This was really not much of a contest. In fact, I'm lucky to be able to get this blog done, because when I went to my dictating system, it said recognition aborted, so it took some time to get that fixed.
On Friday, my brother-in-law came over to play some chess, and cribbage. He also brought over a Lewis Black DVD for us to watch after the games. If you ever want to meet two people who knew nothing about how to play the DVD, we were definitely in a class by ourself and the word remedial comes to mind, and we were flunking that. We spent over a half hour trying to get this thing to work between the five clickers and who knows how many buttons. We were able to find out which was the DVD player and actually inserted the DVD. After a while we were able to get the audio but no picture. I think I pushed every button there was on all five clickers with no results. About a half-hour later my son Brad came through the door, and pushed one button and lo and behold there was a picture and sound. I swear I pushed that same button that he did at least 20 times. So by that time our wives got back from their lunch, so we never got to see the DVD.
The next day, I was on the computer and was going to clean outall the e-mails that I had sent over the last few years which was well over 1000. There were some important e-mails that I needed to save and they were hard to find because there was so many. So I had to individually check the boxes of the sent e-mails that I didn't want and delete them individually. However, when I hit the delete button, it deleted everything and not just the items that I had checked. This was important data for my accountant and attorney who both checked to see if we could recover the data through the computer, but unfortunately it was not possible. I also could not use the computer, until we were sure that we could not retrieve the data through this computer. I guess that stuff we watch TV is not always true. I've seen shows where the DVD gets blown up and they still seem to be able to get data out of it.
Hey I'm just getting started, on Sunday we had a total of 13 people here to watch the New Orleans and Minnesota playoff game only to find out that our AT&T U Verse decided to freeze up and or get a pixelated picture which was so bad that you could not make out anything. Considering everything was fine up to game time since I had no problem watching the earlier game before people came over. After being on the phone with them we finally saw a little bit of the fourth quarter and the overtime. Thank goodness we had a fun bunch of people because we certainly didn't see much of the game. I planned on having a Super Bowl party here to but after last weekend it may be tough to get people to show up.
And let's add one more thing, when I woke up this morning, if it's still dark out I always turn on the TV and guess what didn't work this morning. So I guess it's safe to say that the electronics easily won over me.
As far as what else is happening, I'm halfway through my second jigsaw puzzle, I won my first game of chess playing online against a friend. I think he took me a little too lightly for our first match, And I'm sure that this will be a tougher match which we just started on Monday.
Also, my son-in-law Jack will be going down to Miami to do a video on the Super Bowl. This will be the fourth of the high five series of videos that he does for the website Funny or Die, which he will have finished by the Friday before the Super Bowl. So if you wish to see this one, or any of the previous ones go to the website and see them, just don't ask me how to do it based on the above information.
POGO
On Friday, my brother-in-law came over to play some chess, and cribbage. He also brought over a Lewis Black DVD for us to watch after the games. If you ever want to meet two people who knew nothing about how to play the DVD, we were definitely in a class by ourself and the word remedial comes to mind, and we were flunking that. We spent over a half hour trying to get this thing to work between the five clickers and who knows how many buttons. We were able to find out which was the DVD player and actually inserted the DVD. After a while we were able to get the audio but no picture. I think I pushed every button there was on all five clickers with no results. About a half-hour later my son Brad came through the door, and pushed one button and lo and behold there was a picture and sound. I swear I pushed that same button that he did at least 20 times. So by that time our wives got back from their lunch, so we never got to see the DVD.
The next day, I was on the computer and was going to clean outall the e-mails that I had sent over the last few years which was well over 1000. There were some important e-mails that I needed to save and they were hard to find because there was so many. So I had to individually check the boxes of the sent e-mails that I didn't want and delete them individually. However, when I hit the delete button, it deleted everything and not just the items that I had checked. This was important data for my accountant and attorney who both checked to see if we could recover the data through the computer, but unfortunately it was not possible. I also could not use the computer, until we were sure that we could not retrieve the data through this computer. I guess that stuff we watch TV is not always true. I've seen shows where the DVD gets blown up and they still seem to be able to get data out of it.
Hey I'm just getting started, on Sunday we had a total of 13 people here to watch the New Orleans and Minnesota playoff game only to find out that our AT&T U Verse decided to freeze up and or get a pixelated picture which was so bad that you could not make out anything. Considering everything was fine up to game time since I had no problem watching the earlier game before people came over. After being on the phone with them we finally saw a little bit of the fourth quarter and the overtime. Thank goodness we had a fun bunch of people because we certainly didn't see much of the game. I planned on having a Super Bowl party here to but after last weekend it may be tough to get people to show up.
And let's add one more thing, when I woke up this morning, if it's still dark out I always turn on the TV and guess what didn't work this morning. So I guess it's safe to say that the electronics easily won over me.
As far as what else is happening, I'm halfway through my second jigsaw puzzle, I won my first game of chess playing online against a friend. I think he took me a little too lightly for our first match, And I'm sure that this will be a tougher match which we just started on Monday.
Also, my son-in-law Jack will be going down to Miami to do a video on the Super Bowl. This will be the fourth of the high five series of videos that he does for the website Funny or Die, which he will have finished by the Friday before the Super Bowl. So if you wish to see this one, or any of the previous ones go to the website and see them, just don't ask me how to do it based on the above information.
POGO
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
bummer medical news
Sue and I went to the hospital on Monday morning to evaluate my nerves and muscles. Contrary to what I was told by the surgeon who's surgery caused the paralysis, they don't see anything which would make it any better than it presently is now. They basically gave no chance for the left arm, and not much chance for being able to walk without my quad cane. They were impressed with my strength and they still recommend that I just keep doing what I'm doing to stay strong, but no other treatment is recommended. But I am supposed to let them know if anything changes for the better or worse. My legs have been feeling lighter, which they say is a good sign. So my days of being the ultimate athlete are now over, and now I will become the ultimate supporter( I guess I will have to change my nickname to Jock). we both kind of expected this answer since it's been 8 months with not that much progress, but just learning the truth was like a quick kick in the nuts and was very emotional. So now it is just a matter of changing my lifestyle and interests which I'm sure I can handle, it'll just be different.
And always looking on the bright side, they told me a lot of people in my condition have a lot of pain and don't move around as well as I do, plus the cancer's been staying stable, and I'm still here, so I'm still better off than a lot of people out there. I will still be working hard, to strengthen my legs and my right arm, plus I still got my personality and sense of humor and as usual I will not let this get me down. And another good thing, the wheelchair is a very comfy chair.
So Sue and I will be looking for any outlets of different activity that gets us away from the dull routine and out into the public for some fun. If anybody has something fun going on, or ideas for fun things to do, please let us know. When summer rolls around, I'll be looking forward to watching the baseball and tennis teams and you can bet that there'll be some sharp tongued criticism and jabs at the participants. I am hoping that my son Brad will be able to play on the state tennis team this year if his schedule permits, that way I can live vicariously through him.
As far as my big accomplishment for the month, I finished my 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and will shellac it so it can be saved.
So don't be a stranger out there, I am always up for company.
pogo
And always looking on the bright side, they told me a lot of people in my condition have a lot of pain and don't move around as well as I do, plus the cancer's been staying stable, and I'm still here, so I'm still better off than a lot of people out there. I will still be working hard, to strengthen my legs and my right arm, plus I still got my personality and sense of humor and as usual I will not let this get me down. And another good thing, the wheelchair is a very comfy chair.
So Sue and I will be looking for any outlets of different activity that gets us away from the dull routine and out into the public for some fun. If anybody has something fun going on, or ideas for fun things to do, please let us know. When summer rolls around, I'll be looking forward to watching the baseball and tennis teams and you can bet that there'll be some sharp tongued criticism and jabs at the participants. I am hoping that my son Brad will be able to play on the state tennis team this year if his schedule permits, that way I can live vicariously through him.
As far as my big accomplishment for the month, I finished my 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and will shellac it so it can be saved.
So don't be a stranger out there, I am always up for company.
pogo
Monday, January 11, 2010
social life for the past month
Last week I updated you on my medical condition, this week is all about the exciting life of Pogo.
As far as the holidays went, like I mentioned in a previous blog, on Christmas Eve, my younger sister was in from out of town and her and my mom came over along with Lisa's family, and we played games that evening. Christmas morning we had our traditional Christmas which included all our kids and their families. Being the holidays, I got away from the diet for breakfast so I could have pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. It was goooooooooood. After that we opened gifts. I got a few games, a couple decks of cards, and one of those card shufflers. In the afternoon, we went to Sue's brother's house in Richfield who have a beautiful home, and very roomy, so it didn't feel crowded with the 35 people and two dogs. We also did something different this year over there, instead of drawing names and exchanging gifts, we did a white elephant gift exchange. This was definitely a lot more fun and everybody did a pretty good job of picking out gifts. The general rules for this was everybody drew a number, whoever had number one got to pick any wrapped gift and then whoever was next in line got the choice to open up a wrapped gift, or steal any gift that was already opened. You could only steal twice as far as a gift went and not two times in a row. So there is an advantage to having a higher number, but as we found out you never know sometimes. I was number eight and ended up with this 50 pound crockpot which for some reason nobody wanted to steal, however the weight of the crockpot in the trunk helped on the way home because the roads were slippery.
Thank goodness for football season, I love professional football and fantasy football, unfortunately neither was a good year. Most of you out there probably know that I'm a Bear fan and have been one since 1963. I've seen every game this year and probably only miss one or two games a year. You got to support your team whether they are good or bad. I see a lot of potential for next year but that's been said before. I have a group of Bear fans that come over and watch the game with me, and when not televised locally, I go to Romines on 27 Street and the manager actually sets up my own private room which is close to the bathroom and the front door, plus I'm away from all the smoking. It's nice of him to do this for me since I really can't order any food from their or drinks.
As far as fantasy football goes, I ended up 7-7 and missed the playoffs. For the second year in a row I lost to the same guy twice because of the head coaches, which both years took me out to the playoffs. I do all that research and it came down to the head coaches. So much for superior drafting. I suppose drafting a head coach in the first-round would be an act of desperation.
Just because the Bears did not make the playoffs doesn't mean that we didn't get together to watch a playoff game. So Sunday, we got together for an anti-Packer party, so we had a moral victory and it turned out to be a pretty exciting game. I'm sure most of you out there are mourning due to that overtime loss, but remember a little bit of joy in my life may be worth all the suffering you guys are going through right now. Talk about a cheap shot. Since the Packers are out of the playoffs, we had to go to plan B. for a theme to get together, so we are having an anti-Favre party instead.
I tested out the new handicapped rails leading upstairs. No problem getting up-and-down, in fact the getting up stairs, I haven't been that high since my college days. Just a joke, never did the evil weed, besides my nickname in Dental School was 'PABST", which is probably a better clue of my college life.
After getting up stairs, I tried to use the bowflex, but that ended up being too difficult a procedure, so I am going to plan B., which is getting some dumbbells, and I am talking about weights, not people.
I have also been working on a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle for the past month which is really challenging when you're colorblind plus limited on access to the puzzle, but all I have left is the sky. My next decision will be what I would do with it when I'm done. I hate to go through a months worth of work and then take everything apart which would seem like a waste of a month and a half. Perhaps it can be framed or stored somehow. I've also had a lot of help working on the puzzle with the cats. For while there I spent the first half hour refixing the puzzle and searching for pieces under this server, the stove, and the refrigerator. They are a lot better now.
I am also playing chess online with one of the guys on my softball team, so it's been five days in and only five moves, but we have 30 days to finish the game and he seems to only do it when at work. Boy I must've picked the wrong profession, because this guy has the time to play chess and my son-in-law had time to watch movies and read books while at work, while I was lucky if I got a minute during a nine hour day.
This next part is not really social but it is a necessary and enjoyable part of my day, which is nap time. Now for those of you who don't want to hear about potty talk, you may want to close your eyes when your reading this. As some of you may know, especially the people I have golfed with, that I was blessed with a very strong pump, but a small storage tank, because I don't think there's a single golf course out there, or golf hole that I have not watered. So I have to take my nap just after my last pee, which may give me an hour and a half of a nap. This is what I call rush hour, or flush hour. Everyone knows to get out of the way when I get wheeling towards the little boys room. And if you consider that the only liquid I drink is at the beginning of the day when I drink my 18 to 24 ounces of peroxide and water, I must have one of those hidden springs in my body somewhere. So unlike Cinderella who was awakened by a kiss, I am the one who is awakened by a piss.
Another good thing that is happening is that I am making my diet more flexible and my wife has been finding all these food items that have between zero and 2 g of sugar, so it takes the pressure off of her of making these special diets. In fact yesterday she got back from the store and picked up special organic soups, frozen pizza, a type of noodle, Alfredo sauce, peanut butter, among other things. So it's more like eating normal food without the sugar. Every once in a while I will treat myself. A few days ago we ordered out pizza and had 2 slices, along with the six jalapenos, that came with the pizza.
I also want to give you an update on my kids. Presently, Jesse and Brad are both on semester break from MATC. Jesse is going back to school to become a nurse. Last semester she got straight A's and that was taking anatomy and physiology which are tough courses, but she's always been a hard studier. She had also lost her job at the end of the year, because they needed someone full-time. They liked her a lot there and in fact working part time there was an experiment while she was going to school . She just recently got another job working at Carabas on 76 Street, across the street from The Olive Garden as a waitress, which will give her the flexibility with her school schedule. So if you like good Italian food and are a good tipper then go there and ask for Jesse, if you are lousy tipper and like average Italian food, then go across the street.
Lisa and her family recently got back from their annual family trip to the Bahamas however this year Parker was not in the mood for a vacation. He cried bloody murder on the flights both ways, plus he cried at bedtime, he cried when they tried to go to the beach, he cried when they tried to go to the pool and he basically cried if Lisa wasn't with him. Otherwise, he had a good time. And talk about ironic, they had the same people in front of them both ways on the flight. That had to be one long flight. In fact the first thing that Lisa said when she got back from her trip, was that she needed a vacation.
Brad has been doing very well in school, he is into TV production. in fact, he's been working on his student ops project, which involves him doing a short feature film which will be televised in the springtime. He is the producer, the director, the writer, and the editor, plus he'll be screening numerous actors from the Milwaukee and Chicago area that have shown interest in wanting to be in his film. Considering this course doesn't start till next semester, he is already ahead of the game. He wrote the script over the semester break and today is getting together with the people in charge of the music. So there will be a musical background plus an original score for the show. The kid is really good at this and hopefully someday he'll be famous, and then I can say That's my boy.
POGO
As far as the holidays went, like I mentioned in a previous blog, on Christmas Eve, my younger sister was in from out of town and her and my mom came over along with Lisa's family, and we played games that evening. Christmas morning we had our traditional Christmas which included all our kids and their families. Being the holidays, I got away from the diet for breakfast so I could have pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. It was goooooooooood. After that we opened gifts. I got a few games, a couple decks of cards, and one of those card shufflers. In the afternoon, we went to Sue's brother's house in Richfield who have a beautiful home, and very roomy, so it didn't feel crowded with the 35 people and two dogs. We also did something different this year over there, instead of drawing names and exchanging gifts, we did a white elephant gift exchange. This was definitely a lot more fun and everybody did a pretty good job of picking out gifts. The general rules for this was everybody drew a number, whoever had number one got to pick any wrapped gift and then whoever was next in line got the choice to open up a wrapped gift, or steal any gift that was already opened. You could only steal twice as far as a gift went and not two times in a row. So there is an advantage to having a higher number, but as we found out you never know sometimes. I was number eight and ended up with this 50 pound crockpot which for some reason nobody wanted to steal, however the weight of the crockpot in the trunk helped on the way home because the roads were slippery.
Thank goodness for football season, I love professional football and fantasy football, unfortunately neither was a good year. Most of you out there probably know that I'm a Bear fan and have been one since 1963. I've seen every game this year and probably only miss one or two games a year. You got to support your team whether they are good or bad. I see a lot of potential for next year but that's been said before. I have a group of Bear fans that come over and watch the game with me, and when not televised locally, I go to Romines on 27 Street and the manager actually sets up my own private room which is close to the bathroom and the front door, plus I'm away from all the smoking. It's nice of him to do this for me since I really can't order any food from their or drinks.
As far as fantasy football goes, I ended up 7-7 and missed the playoffs. For the second year in a row I lost to the same guy twice because of the head coaches, which both years took me out to the playoffs. I do all that research and it came down to the head coaches. So much for superior drafting. I suppose drafting a head coach in the first-round would be an act of desperation.
Just because the Bears did not make the playoffs doesn't mean that we didn't get together to watch a playoff game. So Sunday, we got together for an anti-Packer party, so we had a moral victory and it turned out to be a pretty exciting game. I'm sure most of you out there are mourning due to that overtime loss, but remember a little bit of joy in my life may be worth all the suffering you guys are going through right now. Talk about a cheap shot. Since the Packers are out of the playoffs, we had to go to plan B. for a theme to get together, so we are having an anti-Favre party instead.
I tested out the new handicapped rails leading upstairs. No problem getting up-and-down, in fact the getting up stairs, I haven't been that high since my college days. Just a joke, never did the evil weed, besides my nickname in Dental School was 'PABST", which is probably a better clue of my college life.
After getting up stairs, I tried to use the bowflex, but that ended up being too difficult a procedure, so I am going to plan B., which is getting some dumbbells, and I am talking about weights, not people.
I have also been working on a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle for the past month which is really challenging when you're colorblind plus limited on access to the puzzle, but all I have left is the sky. My next decision will be what I would do with it when I'm done. I hate to go through a months worth of work and then take everything apart which would seem like a waste of a month and a half. Perhaps it can be framed or stored somehow. I've also had a lot of help working on the puzzle with the cats. For while there I spent the first half hour refixing the puzzle and searching for pieces under this server, the stove, and the refrigerator. They are a lot better now.
I am also playing chess online with one of the guys on my softball team, so it's been five days in and only five moves, but we have 30 days to finish the game and he seems to only do it when at work. Boy I must've picked the wrong profession, because this guy has the time to play chess and my son-in-law had time to watch movies and read books while at work, while I was lucky if I got a minute during a nine hour day.
This next part is not really social but it is a necessary and enjoyable part of my day, which is nap time. Now for those of you who don't want to hear about potty talk, you may want to close your eyes when your reading this. As some of you may know, especially the people I have golfed with, that I was blessed with a very strong pump, but a small storage tank, because I don't think there's a single golf course out there, or golf hole that I have not watered. So I have to take my nap just after my last pee, which may give me an hour and a half of a nap. This is what I call rush hour, or flush hour. Everyone knows to get out of the way when I get wheeling towards the little boys room. And if you consider that the only liquid I drink is at the beginning of the day when I drink my 18 to 24 ounces of peroxide and water, I must have one of those hidden springs in my body somewhere. So unlike Cinderella who was awakened by a kiss, I am the one who is awakened by a piss.
Another good thing that is happening is that I am making my diet more flexible and my wife has been finding all these food items that have between zero and 2 g of sugar, so it takes the pressure off of her of making these special diets. In fact yesterday she got back from the store and picked up special organic soups, frozen pizza, a type of noodle, Alfredo sauce, peanut butter, among other things. So it's more like eating normal food without the sugar. Every once in a while I will treat myself. A few days ago we ordered out pizza and had 2 slices, along with the six jalapenos, that came with the pizza.
I also want to give you an update on my kids. Presently, Jesse and Brad are both on semester break from MATC. Jesse is going back to school to become a nurse. Last semester she got straight A's and that was taking anatomy and physiology which are tough courses, but she's always been a hard studier. She had also lost her job at the end of the year, because they needed someone full-time. They liked her a lot there and in fact working part time there was an experiment while she was going to school . She just recently got another job working at Carabas on 76 Street, across the street from The Olive Garden as a waitress, which will give her the flexibility with her school schedule. So if you like good Italian food and are a good tipper then go there and ask for Jesse, if you are lousy tipper and like average Italian food, then go across the street.
Lisa and her family recently got back from their annual family trip to the Bahamas however this year Parker was not in the mood for a vacation. He cried bloody murder on the flights both ways, plus he cried at bedtime, he cried when they tried to go to the beach, he cried when they tried to go to the pool and he basically cried if Lisa wasn't with him. Otherwise, he had a good time. And talk about ironic, they had the same people in front of them both ways on the flight. That had to be one long flight. In fact the first thing that Lisa said when she got back from her trip, was that she needed a vacation.
Brad has been doing very well in school, he is into TV production. in fact, he's been working on his student ops project, which involves him doing a short feature film which will be televised in the springtime. He is the producer, the director, the writer, and the editor, plus he'll be screening numerous actors from the Milwaukee and Chicago area that have shown interest in wanting to be in his film. Considering this course doesn't start till next semester, he is already ahead of the game. He wrote the script over the semester break and today is getting together with the people in charge of the music. So there will be a musical background plus an original score for the show. The kid is really good at this and hopefully someday he'll be famous, and then I can say That's my boy.
POGO
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
summary of medical condition for new people to the blog
Since there may be a lot of people out there who have not been to the site before or it's been a long time, this first one will be a recap of what happened since that fateful day on February 2, 2009. It all started at my office on Monday morning when I started getting some numbness in my left hand and started dropping instruments, which isn't a good thing when your a dentist. Within an hour of that I started walking into things, like walls and desks. I ended up at the hospital, where they took some scans of my head and found three masses, the largest was a size of a golf ball which was just under the skull, and a medium and a small one deeper within the brain. I had surgery on February 6, to remove the mass just under the skull, which went very well, but unfortunately, conventional surgery could not reach the other two without causing severe brain damage, which probably no one would know the difference based on me being me. Also the diagnosis could not have been worse, it is the most deadliest brain cancer and was at the most advanced stages. The surgeon gave me 12 to 18 months, but my response was bull shit, you can't get rid of made that easy. He obviously didn't know who he was dealing with. The guy was an excellent surgeon, but never gave me any hope, which is why I nicknamed him Dr. Doom and have not seen him since, because he could suck the energy out of your body with his comments.
I was still able to walk after getting out of hospital but my left arm was little weak, but you couldn't tell that anything was wrong. In March and April, I had chemotherapy and radiation therapy which actually did not help at all, in fact the two deeper tumors got larger. In the meantime I was in constant contact with a hospital in Cleveland that had a new study on a surgical procedure that could get to the deeper tumors in my brain, but I had to meet certain qualifications. When I finally met the qualifications, I found out that the study was closed. I thought I got a good break when they called me back and said someone backed out so so I was in. This was supposed to be a very safe procedure with little side effects, but of course I screwed that up by becoming totally paralyzed on my left side even though it was less than a 5% chance of anything like this happening. They are still not sure what happened, but the surgeon thought that everything would come back within two months, obviously he was wrong.
I was going through physical therapy and occupational therapy until the end of October, but they have stopped that because they said there was no progress. So as far as I go, I do what I can to stay strong on my own with my own exercise program and aqua therapy. I try to walk as often as possible with the aid of a cane, since I'm not a big fan of sitting in a wheelchair, even though it is a pretty comfy chair.
As far as the cancer goes, it has been stable since April, which according to the radiation oncologist is extremely rare for the type of cancer I have and the stage it was in. He said if you can get by three months without any growth that that is pretty good, and I've gone nine months and that's without any chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Just relying on willpower, diet and vitamins.
As usual, I'm always in good spirits, and personality wise, and sense of humor have not changed a bit, it is just a temporary lifestyle change.
So this is the first of my weekly blogs for 2010, look for the next one within seven days. If you want more details and stories, please check the archives, and if you have any comments, I'd like to hear them or in this case, read them.
pogo
I was still able to walk after getting out of hospital but my left arm was little weak, but you couldn't tell that anything was wrong. In March and April, I had chemotherapy and radiation therapy which actually did not help at all, in fact the two deeper tumors got larger. In the meantime I was in constant contact with a hospital in Cleveland that had a new study on a surgical procedure that could get to the deeper tumors in my brain, but I had to meet certain qualifications. When I finally met the qualifications, I found out that the study was closed. I thought I got a good break when they called me back and said someone backed out so so I was in. This was supposed to be a very safe procedure with little side effects, but of course I screwed that up by becoming totally paralyzed on my left side even though it was less than a 5% chance of anything like this happening. They are still not sure what happened, but the surgeon thought that everything would come back within two months, obviously he was wrong.
I was going through physical therapy and occupational therapy until the end of October, but they have stopped that because they said there was no progress. So as far as I go, I do what I can to stay strong on my own with my own exercise program and aqua therapy. I try to walk as often as possible with the aid of a cane, since I'm not a big fan of sitting in a wheelchair, even though it is a pretty comfy chair.
As far as the cancer goes, it has been stable since April, which according to the radiation oncologist is extremely rare for the type of cancer I have and the stage it was in. He said if you can get by three months without any growth that that is pretty good, and I've gone nine months and that's without any chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Just relying on willpower, diet and vitamins.
As usual, I'm always in good spirits, and personality wise, and sense of humor have not changed a bit, it is just a temporary lifestyle change.
So this is the first of my weekly blogs for 2010, look for the next one within seven days. If you want more details and stories, please check the archives, and if you have any comments, I'd like to hear them or in this case, read them.
pogo
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