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
Saturday, April 10, 2010
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
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