Happy 2nd Blogday To Me

It was 2 years ago today I got drunk and started this blog.  It's gone by quick!  I haven't gotten worldwide acclaim, stopped any wars or made the world much of a better place at all.  But I have given myself a kind of outlet for what goes on in my head and in my life while allowing others to look if they want -or not.  I choose not to do the facebook thing, although I may be more 'popular' if I did, I hear of too many bad things that have come from there.  It sucks out peoples souls!  Seriously, I enjoy doing what I do here and here's to many more years!

I still feel like I should be cleared on Wednesday to return to work on Thursday.  I hope I'm feeling better then, physically and emotionally.  My neck gives me no pain anymore, just some discomfort.  I haven't spent any time this past week on the exercise bike or doing anything for my leg.  The day after my surgery I was convinced that when I go back to work it will be sans cane.  Now, since I've had to sleep on my back so much the past couple weeks, my lower back is giving me trouble again making walking that much harder.  It also has had an effect on my psyche.  It seems as soon as one source of pain shows signs of getting better another steps in to knock me back down.  The only reason I got out of bed this morning is because I really needed a shower.  I stunk myself out of bed or else I would probably still be there.

Well, life is like a roller coaster.  It has it's ups and downs and sometimes the track fails and you go flying out into space before crashing to the ground.  Yes, I'm a bit depressed but this too shall pass...

On All Fours

444th post on 4/4 at 4:44!

(Call me a fool, but I thought it was neat.)

My Comfy New Chair

Last weekend I finally bought (with my wife's permission) a new chair for in front of the computer and I love it!  The old chair was getting pretty creaky and would make my butt sore if I sat in it too long.  The new chair has a nice cushy leather seat, great lumbar support and a taller back to support my taller back.  The old chair will be relegated to downstairs for projects like putting together another shelf kit.  Since I can't really crawl around on my knees anymore the plan is to wheel around it in my chair to put it together.  I hope it works!

I just wanted to mention this before I forgot and it got lost in the shuffle of all my medical stuff.  Plus, I needed one more post posted.  Why?  Well, you'll see me waving my geek flag early tomorrow.

Post-Surgery Notes



Me during surgery

 I survived!  The surgery seems to have been a success.  We had to be at the hospital by 5am to check in for the 8am surgery on Wednesday morning.  All went as expected beforehand, and probably as should be expected afterward.  I see a trend after surgery as me being one grumpy old cuss!  I hear the surgery took almost 3 hours.  The doctor told my wife that the disc herniation was much worse than the previous MRIs had shown, which doesn't surprise me.  In fact, it would explain the sudden recurrence of symptoms last week.  They took 3 x-rays during the surgery and they showed me them yesterday.  Unfortunately you can't see much of anything because my shoulder is in the way so it may be until my next x-rays for this (I think in 12 weeks) before I can actually see the implant.



Mom, putting up with me.

 My first memories after surgery are at about 1:00 in the afternoon but all I did was listen to my ipod and snooze as best I could until about 4:00.  Then when I saw a nurse I asked her to show in my mother.  I knew she was there, but I still don't really understand why.  All I hear is that it's a 'mom' thing.  She drove 2 hours to wait 8 hours, see me at my worst briefly, then was on her way.  When I'm in pain I'm ugly and when my Mom is around I can turn back into that angry, rude teenager that I hate, not a good combination.  I'm not proud of my behavior at those times yet it still happens.



Kate, doing the same.

 My wife stayed with me until about 7pm, then she went home while I ate jello, watched crappy television and wished I could sleep until it was time to leave.  She managed to get a few hours of work in on Wednesday afternoon after the surgery, but on Thursday she had just gotten to work when I called her to pick me up.  That may have been a bit premature since the hospital has their own pace, but we did get out of there eventually then she had to go back to work after dropping me at home.  I was an impatient bear trying to get out of there.  Looking back, I last had pain pills at 4:45 that morning so that may explain some of my anxiousness, even rudeness, while awaiting discharge.  Sorry I can be an ass, everybody, but I do thank you for your well wishes!

I'm just glad it is done.  No more constant pain, it really does mess with your head.  I hope I'm done with all this medical stuff for a while now and can just live, be happy and not have to worry about meds and appointments and all that jazz.  That time may come around by July.  Cross your fingers for me!

Now, to end on an up-note, here's my view from the hospital room window.  (There's no snow but no green yet, either.)  On the left is Lake Wingra and to the right is Henry Vilas Zoo, one of Madison's treasures that we take for granted.  We'll have to try and take some nieces and nephews there for a day this summer!



There's Nothing Like The Smell Of Surgery In The Morning

If you were paying attention, I referred to myself as 'broken' the other day.  Well - surprise! -  tomorrow morning at 8am I will have surgery on my neck.  My main symptom I can only describe as the same pain you get from hitting your 'funny bone',  from my neck to my fingers except it never goes away.  It is better some times and worse at other times, but it is constant.  Though my shoulder and arm feel most of the pain, there is nothing wrong with them physically.  The nerve is being pinched in my neck by a herniated disc between c6 and c7.  That disc will be removed and an implant will fuse those two vertebrae together - and they go in through the front and push my throat and soft tissue aside!

The pic above I found on google images and it looks almost exactly like what I will go through tomorrow, as I understand it.  Click on it for a slightly larger version.  I called the office on Friday, because of my pain and knowing the next step was surgery I want to get that process started as soon as possible, and I was given an appointment for this morning.  So today I spent 2 1/2 hours sitting in the doctor's office hoping they could throw this together for me.  See, turns out my surgeon is going on vacation, so if not tomorrow then April 11 is the next date available to have this done - so this means about 2 weeks of pain that I won't have to endure.  Thankfully, I think they saw the pain I was in and they didn't want me to have to wait.  Maybe my doctor would have felt guilty going on vacation knowing I was in pain, waiting for his return.  Maybe.  I'm just thankful they were able to pull it off.  I think they needed to secure the operating room first, then they had to pull some strings to secure an anesthesiologist.  That's just the gist I got, but no matter what I'm thankful to my neurosurgeon, his physicians assistant, and their hardworking nurse who I have talked to the most these last few months.  She's the one who has the huge job dealing with my insurance company and coordinating the scheduling of everything.

Unfortunately, and this speaks to the whole system, one of my biggest worries is not having any sick or vacation time to use for almost a whole year after I return to work. I had everything wiped out when I was out with my leg last fall, now I'm just about to get all my sick and vacation time back and I'm afraid they'll take it all away over the next few weeks. That reminds me of this pic.  Anyway, I'll see how that unfolds after the surgery.  The faster I get back to work the less I have to worry about that.

Hopefully I will sleep away most of the day tomorrow after the surgery, have an uneventful night, and be discharged by noon, I expect, on Thursday.  Due to the late notice my wife will have to work part of the day at least tomorrow.  All she has to do is drop me off in the morning and pick me up on Thursday morning, but I'm sure she will worry and come back to the hospital as soon as she can.  In those situations I always want her there with me but then I feel guilty because there is nothing she can really do but hold my hand and I know she is needed at work right now.  Everyone else, please don't worry about me, it is a pretty routine surgery I'm told, but I may not be blogging or talking to anyone for a few days.  I know I will feel better eventually but, man, surgery always sucks.

Kate's Paint And Tile - Part II

Today my handy wife did the grouting on the tile under the cabinets.  I'm proud of how she just took it upon herself to research how to do it right and then get in there and get her hands dirty.  I've been broken again lately so my role has been more to shop, advise and reassure her that she's doing a great job.  It wasn't a very large space and the float trowel was pretty big so a kitchen spatula was sacrificed to help in the smaller areas and around the edges.  In a couple hours we can sponge off the tile, then the next step is to get caulk and run a bead along the lower edge of the tile and perhaps the ends of the counter.

Below is what my wife did to our kitchen - I think it looks a hundred times better than when we moved in!

Of course, this is only one view in the kitchen, but I looked through some old pics and found similar views so go ahead and click read more below to see somewhat of the progression.

Pic Dump 27

It's that time again, and I have a whopping 70 pics this time!  I need to be more discriminating again.  Some may be nsfw, click read more below and enjoy!

As always, a big thanks to the fine sites on 'My Other Favorites' list in the right column!

Kate's Paint And Tile

Aside from recent work outside on the garden and yard, the past few weekends and some weeknights have been spent remodelling the kitchen.  My wife has done most everything for this project, sometimes getting frustrated with me and my lackadaisical approach.  Truth is, I found out when we did the bathroom that I really hate painting and I hope we don't have to do it again for a long time.  Unfortunately, though, the bathroom needs some touch up work done, so that will have to be done soon as well.

Anyway, the last of the wallpaper was removed a few weeks ago and the walls have now been painted a new shade, aganthus green, and the ceiling has a new coat of paint as well.  There have been several touch ups needed and that's fine, it is looking better and better.

Sunday afternoon she was looking at putting up the tile backsplash and just jumped right in.  I had to make a quick rainy run to the hardware store because we were short on adhesive, but otherwise it seemed to go up pretty smoothly.  it really changes the look of the kitchen for the better.

The adhesive must dry now for a couple of days before we grout it.  Tonight we can pull out the spacers and sponge it down, though.

More paint and tile pics after the break.

Horns Up!*

I had my 'Horns Up' all day yesterday celebrating my favorite pastime.  Shortly after I got to work I just felt the need to do some serious rocking out via ipod.  At times, I was expecting someone to shoot a rubber band to tell me my headphones were too loud, but no one complained.  (From what I heard in between songs they were probably too busy gossiping and such to care about my sound leaks.) I did listen to some talk podcasts to give my ears a break but still managed to listen to many of my favorite thrash albums while still churning out more work than is expected of me.  Jamming to my favorite music probably even made me work faster.  That feeling followed me in the car on my way home and I played concert DVDs on my computer until my wife went to bed.  I can't literally bang my head anymore with my bulging neck disc so I have to do a more subtle full body sway as I rock out, but I still enjoy the hell out of my music!

In other happenings, my wife tells me the peas need to be planted today so expect an update or two over at the garden blog.  Today is supposed to be sunny and in the low 50's and tomorrow cooler and rain so today is the day to do it!

*Edit: June 16, 2022, over 11 years later.

I received what was basically a cease and desist email for using the 'devil horns' pictures I did, just a left and right cartoon version of that popular metal/ rock hand sign, sometimes typed as:   \m/ 

So I removed them.  Eleven year ago, who cares?

What I found much more interesting was the memories of a drone job that allowed me to listen to loud music and how enjoyable I found it.  Just 11 years ago, but I haven't had that in a long time.  I have to concentrate more on my job now and just can't often listen to music at the same time, and otherwise just don't turn up the volume near as loud as I used to.  That's not all that's changed about me in that or less time.  Older, wiser, and I'm quite more relaxed, I think.  At least for me.

George Carlin - The American Dream

My gosh, it's true.  Every word he says...   Miss You George!         language nsfw