Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Dec. 26, 2012

OK, right to the point...... The CT scan says..... ALL CLEAR. I still have unidentified left hip pain that will need to be dealt with.... sorry, with which I will need to deal. At this point, I am now 3 years NED (no evidence of disease).... This, is the very best news possible.

My shoulder is making good progress. I have been very careful, well ok, as careful as I could manage, and so far have had no further injury. I am told to be very careful for the next 3 months, and careful for the following 6 months. It has already been over a year from the date of the injury, and I should be done with this by next September. I do not recommend that anyone follow my example regarding this kind of situation.

I had a good Christmas, lots of good friends, food, and fellowship. Karen and I are planning to spend the new year with some friends at Joshua Tree National Park, Jumbo Boulders campground. The name is either redundant or these are some very huge rocks. This will mean at least 2 days getting the old girl ready to travel..... Meaning the motorhome, not Karen. These short trips are necessary to keep the motorhoome functional and reliable. Allow them to set too long, and nothing works, kind of a use it or lose it scenario. You boat owners know what I am talking about.   

The years are flying by, best wishes to all of my friends and family.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Dec. 3, 2012

Once again I have allowed my blog to fall behind the events in my life. I haven’t had any, and I mean any, energy for the last 6 months. Every day seemed endless, and I was unmotivated and tired from morning until night. Of course, I berate myself for not getting more done, and fall into a depression. Now it seems to make sense..... my normal “anesthesia hangover”. This happens to me every time, and every time, I can’t figure it out until I feel better. Oh well. At least I am consistent.  LOL

During my absence from this blog, an important anniversary has passed..... Oct. 12 my neo bladder had its 3rd birthday. I am happy to report that there is nothing to report. My youngest organ is doing its job without complaint.

The next big cancer thing is..... (and there always seems to be a “next big thing”).... My yearly cancer scan. Dec. 20 I present myself to the health care system for a serious cancer search. I am hoping that they find nothing.   Scan anxiety (scanxiety??) Is setting in.

Shoulder update......  next Wednesday I would have completed my 10 weeks with my arm in a sling. Actually, I gave myself a few days off for good behavior, and stopped wearing the sling last Thursday. Physical therapy just started last week...... only passive arm movement for now. The doc says I will need to be careful for 6 months, and can expect full use in one year. I will see him again on Tuesday, and hope for good news. It is hard to believe that a simple fall could take this large of a bite out of my life. I will once again endeavor to go with the half full philosophy.

In any event, I have spent the last 6 weeks doing about 10 days worth of work on an apartment that came vacant at exactly the wrong time..... I am sure that you have heard of the “one handed paper hanger”, well, I discovered that a one handed painter is not much more efficient.

The good news is...... last Thursday, I woke up with some energy. I was a bit shocked and scared. At first I was unable to identify the feeling, and felt that something was terribly wrong. I tried laying down for a bit, but kept having the urge to get up and do something. It took a while, but eventually I realized that this feeling was somewhat familiar. My brain started churning, and I found myself actually doing things that didn’t have to be done.

Winter is approaching, and I think that I have reduced the possibility of snow to near zero. I found my snow boots, and put snow chains in both the car and truck. Tomorrow I will locate my snow shovel, thus securing a mild winter.