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
Saturday, April 24, 2010
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
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