Sunday May 20, 2007

Gas: 3.35.
Vger: dead, timing belt, I think. It's in the shop, maybe in a week or two?
Electric bill is down to $600, of which they want it all in two weeks or else.
The junk pile in front of the garage is bigger than before. Must be gone by June 1.
There is a pile of 30+ dead tires next to the garage. Must be gone by June 1.
There are 30+ bags of trash next to the garage. Must be gone by June 1.
The wedding is 5 weeks away.

aaaiiiiiyyyyyiiiiiiiyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday May 16, 2007

Well, lost a few more days.

Wasn't feeling as good Sunday as I was Friday or Saturday; I just laid back and took it easy. Then Monday morning woke up with a 103 fever. Went into the Clinic and left a blood sample and stool sample, blood sample came back with elevated white cell count so I was immediately put back on Flagyl. Then Tuesday morning the hospital called, they wanted me in ASAP for a CT scan. Turned out to take a while, I had to drink some nasty stuff ("contrast"), wait a couple of hours, then go into the machine. Definitely had some inflammation of the colon. Prescription: Flagyl, bedrest, and lots of liquids. I feel much better today.

In June I am going to have a colonoscopy, but if I keep having inflammation of the colon odds are that I will need more surgery to remove that portion of the colon. Have to wait and see, but in the meantime, I have to watch my diet, eat healthy, and stay laid back.

Gas: went to 3.07, then 3.17, where it still sits.

Sunday May 6, 2007

Puppet Strings
Randy Stonehill 1976

I can't keep from mourning for this topsy-turvy world
With all its strife and pain,
Mourning for the lost and the desperate children
Who can't remember their names

And I can feel it in my soul
Now the end is getting near
I can hear the devil laughing
And it's ringing in my ear

Long ago He chose us to inherit all His kingdom
And we were blessed with light
But wandering away we disobeyed Him in the garden
And stumbled into night

And I can feel it in my soul
Now the end is getting near
I can hear the angels weeping
And it's ringing in my ears

We are all like foolish puppets who desiring to be kings
Now lie pitifully crippled after cutting our own strings

But God said I'll forgive you I will face you Man to man
And win your love again
Oh how could there possibly be a greater gift of love
Than dying for a friend

And I can feel it in my soul
Now the end is getting near
I can hear the devil laughing
And it's ringing in my ear

We are all like foolish puppets who desiring to be kings
Now lie pitifully crippled after cutting our own strings
Cutting our own strings...


I've been forcibly reminded of this lately, I really do feel like a puppet who cut his strings.

The fact is, everyone is a puppet, but who is the puppeteer? Is it God? Is it wealth, fame, success? Self-reliance (pride)?

I know who mine is, and who it should be, and the two don't always align. Unfortunately, in the final analysis, there are only TWO puppet masters: God, and Satan. And a puppet cannot have two opposing masters.

"Oh God, please untangle and retie my strings and let me rejoin the Great Dance in the celebration of your creation."

Thursday May 3, 2007

what a week. Like I've lost an entire week of my life.

On Friday April 27 about 1PM I had a stomach-ache, and as the afternoon progressed it got steadily worse. Tried Epsom salts, tried walking, but I got so that I was practically in tears; I really hurt. Finally had Betty take me into the ER about 6 (gotta remember, time gets all distorted about here and doesn't straighten out for at least 48 hours!).

Got to the ER, they were pretty busy, but they got me in and lying down, which didn't make it hurt less but at least I didn't have to stand up while it hurt. The doc decided that I might have appendicitis. He could call in a radiologist and do a scan (don't remember if MRI or CT), which would mean that we might have an answer in 3 hours, or he could call in a surgical team and have them start cutting. I figured that if they started cutting at least I wouldn't hurt any more, so I opted for surgery. They called in the surgical team and I headed for the OR at about 8.

The idea nowadays for an appendectomy is to make three tiny incisions and use those to manipulate and remove the appendix (laparoscopy). That's where they started, they could see some pus but it didn't look too bad, so they decided to explore further. I now have a nine inch incision running from just above my naval straight down. They found more pus, but the appendix looked normal and they couldn't see anything else really wrong. So, they removed the appendix to send in for pathology, cleaned me up and stapled me shut.

I kinda recall waking up in the anesthesia recovery room, I'm told I arrived in my Med/Surg room at about 1AM, that would be on Saturday morning.

Over the next few days I was kept on a clear liquid diet, they wanted to keep the options open until the path results came back. After that I had to learn to drink, then belch, then urinate, then pass gas.

Was kinda fun having the PBTV to the room. I'm not normally a TV watcher, I didn't have a channel guide, and I had no idea what might be out there, so I did a lot of channel surfing. Got to learn about how the Roman's used water power, got to see about a search for Nessie, got to see parts of some Pro Stock, Funny Car, and Top Fuel races, parts of a motorcycle show (kool bikes!), and quite a few Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, and Sylvester cartoons. Also got to see the last part of "The League of Extraordinary Men", not too sure of the characterizations of some of my favorite fictional characters or about the plot development, but will have to rent the movie and see it and decide. Some good photography and miniature work definitely.

Evvy lent me her copy of "Eragon" after she and Matt had both read it. Only took me a few hours to read through it. I went off the morphine pump on Wednesday morning, and I think I had been using it to help me relax and sleep, I sure couldn't get to sleep Wednesday night. So, I read the book. The plot is rather straightforward with no really surprising twists, but it is well written and thought out and a good story. I finished it about 5am. I will have to get the sequel "Eldest" to see how it continues.

I didn't go onto any solid food at all until Wednesday evening, And I was finally allowed to go home on Thursday morning, after I allowed a student nurse to remove about half the staples.

First time I've ever had a close look at surgical staples. For some reason I had the impression of a staple like you would use for paper, but these are actually a closer relation to the staple used in construction, they go in straight. The staple remover is a small compound lever that grasps the staple in the middle section and bends the two legs up and out. Removal doesn't hurt, in fact, I don't think I would have noticed it if I weren't watching it.

So, now it's Thursday afternoon and I'm back at home. I still don't have my bowels fully under control, if I say I need the bathroom better get out of the way! cause I'm coming in!, can't do a durn thing, can't get in my bed, can't get out of bed, can't work on the shop or the house or the van or the ...., you get the picture. I'm hoping to start catching up on my email and so-on tomorrow morning, but I wanted to get all this written down while it was as clear as it will ever be in my head.

Oh, and the pathology? nothing wrong with the appendix, nothing at all. I might have to see if the lab still has it, maybe I can see it. Doc now suspects diverticulitis, have to go in for a colonoscopy.

Gas? I think last week I was going to note that it was up at some stations to 2.87, on way home from hospital noted that EVERYONE is at 2.99. Mother's Day (Fishing Opener) is just over a week away now.