Tuesday, July 29, 2008

For those keeping score....

* blood disorder that creates blood clots. WTF?
* gallstones..... Heh?
* hypertension... damn.
* High cholesterol... DAMN!
* Possible damage to my right lung... DAMN, DAMN!
* Finally: Hypothyroidism.... FUCK!!!!

I am and will be a walking pharmacy. SHIT!

SO, needless to say, this summer sucks... and I am in a bad mood.

I am out!

Monday, July 28, 2008

BLAH!!!

Blah.

I have gallstones! I learned that today. I opted out of the surgery...at least for now. They aren't bothering me... SO, live and let live. AND, my health crisis continues with a stop at a pulmonary specialist with continued stops at the family doctor. She drew blood today. I expect diabetes and a few other things by the time this is finished... (I don't have a diabetes scare! I was making a sarcastic joke... It just seems the doctors won't stop with tests until they find something... I swear to god! The lung doctor... that's a fucking capper!) Three issues so far! THREE!!!! NICE!!!! Seriously... why can't I just do things the easy way... always have to go over the top!

Anyhoo.... I continue to chill. Have read four books over the last week and continuing... life guarded a four year-old in a backyard pool, made some flesh on a BBQ, saw some movies, ate flesh from a BBQ, watched some people drink, did battle with a pharmacy, got the medication from pharmacy, baby-sat a four year-old by watching lots and lots of Nick and Disney shows, I hate Disney Shows.... I hate Nick Shows.... They are soooo bad... The capper? The Hannah Montana concert in 3-D!!!! WOW! Emily enjoyed it... It was amusing to watch her sing and dance, but as for the program itself? I read a book... Hmmm... I bonded with a small kitten... she follows me like a dog. The kitten and I had to stop playing, sadly... she drew blood with claws. Now I bruise easily, in addition to bleeding a lot. SO, she and I try to do what we can without killing me. She slept right by my face last night. I've been coughing up cat fur all morning. There are other things, but not all that exciting. I can't do much. So, yeah, ummm.... yeah.. Just chilling.... After I get the okay from the doctor, I have can actually start exercising, which is necessary for this other aliment I didn't know I had up until recently.... So, hell, when this is all done, I will be a fucked up freakish force to be reckoned with!!!!

I am not looking forward to returning to work. I feel cheated out of a summer. I guess I will have to make the fall count.

Prost!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

POOL TIME!!!!

In theory, it was a great idea. Get the little niece a small pool. She can't swim, and there are times a sprinkler just doesn't cut the "get wet in the heat" type activity. AND, playing squirt guns with the oldest nephew, results in tears, loud cries, and sounds of panic (I showed Emily a gazillion times on how to use the gun, but... well... she's not ready for any sort of military).

A couple days ago, my sister bought Emily a pool. Yesterday I set up such pool... of course, I did that while acting with accordance with the doctor... no physical activity beyond that of "mild" for at least a month. I don't think filling up a pool with water and attaching some sort of pump thing would qualify in any other category, but mild. These pool things take some time, and Emily, being that she has no patience, was on my case right from the moment I woke up about getting that pool up and going. No matter how many times I told her she must show some patience, that these things take time, and under my current state, even more time. This she failed to understand...after all, I don't look sick. I heard the word "pool" 5656575757 times within two minutes, and that was during my first cup of coffee. To indulge her, I started the pool process during my second cup. AND, that, my friends, is a big deal. During the summer, I do NOTHING...and let me stress...NOTHING until after my second cup of coffee, and had the chance to look at the news, then get disgusted at such news, make a crack on how stupid humanity can be, put down news wondering why I bother with the news. Out in the heat I went... being watched, and questioned, and followed, and questioned some more... and watched with scrutinizing eyes... and questioned... and watched... and questioned.... and followed... and questioned on every step, movement, and sound I made setting up this pool. "Joe, why (insert something I did in the pool setting up process)?" came the sound of my nieces voice... every minute of the pool process... Why...why...why... why.... I believe I said "Emily, find something to do. This will take some time!" as many times as she said my name followed by the word pool.

You'd think that setting up a sack full of water (which essentially is what this pool is), would be quite easy. In today's technological age, it is never "that easy"... It's always something that shouldn't be something, but it has to be something because that is the type of world we live in.... Plug this hole... attach that tube... open this thingy... beware stabbing that ring... don't taunt happy fun ball...etc., etc., etc. Add that to an overly excited devil child, and we have the first of many headaches for that day....

As an aside, my nieces and nephew have never used "Uncle Joe" ever... Everybody else is "Uncle" or "Aunt"... I'm just "Joe." .... sigh.

So, I did battle with a pool and a small girl... who watched endlessly.

By late afternoon, the pool process was finally finished (I had to take a filling break. I went to see an eye doctor... I am getting new glasses!... She laughed at the current state of my existing glasses. I would have laughed, too, but those old glasses and I... there is a history). Emily was finally allowed to jump in said pool. "Emily! Pool time!"

I get to play lifeguard. It's okay. I can't do much of anything anyway, except sit there, keep an eye on a devil child... and read a book. That's what I did for five minutes until Emily came running back over and said, "I'm done!"

Prost!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Update....

I am angry… very angry. If I hear one more person say, "God does these things to us… to make us better people,"… I will…ummm… I will … ummmm… say bad words, inwardly, as not to offend the party that is just trying to be helpful with words of wisdom.

Nothing much to say on my end… I probably shouldn't have ventured to Springfield and back to Chicagoland so soon… However, it was an emergency. The problems is, I get tired quickly. My body is acting as if it is fighting something off… I have a temperature… and a cough that won't go away. I was told that this was natural. I just have to wait it out.

Well, what's the deal. I have blood clots…in my left leg, and in both lungs. In other words, I am a stroke waiting to happen… or a heart attack. I am on a drug that is supposedly a "protection" against these buggers moving to vital areas. I have to inject it into my stomach, with a needle. It's very unnatural to go poking oneself with needles, especially in the gut. The first time I did it, I … well, was nervous and couldn't believe I was harming myself. And, no, the directions are bullshit. It doesn't get easier, and the pain is always the same. AND, my stomach is a wonderful color of blue. Enough bitching. I don't want to bitch.

The treatment is simple… thin the blood to prevent more clotting and to allow the body to deal with the existing clots. I am on the Lovenox shot to prevent clots from forming, and I am taking Waferin to thin the blood so that clots won't form in the future.

This weekend I am on a super does of Waferin. The Wisconsin doctor was rather shocked that my blood wasn't cooperating in the thinning process. This past Wednesday, he decided to go super thinner, SO, I am on a ludicrous amount of Waferin to get my blood therapeutic. What does this mean…I have to avoid nasty activities and keep close to somebody in-case I start bleeding and the blood doesn't stop.

In other words, I am on my butt until Monday when a new doctor takes over the treatment. In and out of the doctor for probably the next month or so. THEN, down to Springfield to meet yet another doctor!

I am hanging in there and functioning… I still don't want to really talk to anybody. I am still trying to figure out what this all means….. I like to think there is a reason… some reason why these things happen. What does it mean? What's the plan? Why was I suddenly put face to face with my own mortality AGAIN?

Anyway, I will hang in there… avoid sharp objects… avoid things that may cause bleeding…

So much for my future plans of juggling knives, running across broken glass, and sword swallowing… DAMN!!!! DAMN!!!!

I want everybody else to stay well… and have a great summer.

I will… well… I will do what I can.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Still Kicking!

I hope everybody is doing well… AND, had a wonderful week last week doing the holiday thing.

I am sorry, but I can’t really find the funny. My mood, contemplative to be positive, but mostly… I am extremely … I don’t know if I like the word angry… maybe confused? I have been having deeper thoughts… thinking about life… next steps… trying to find meaning. I can’t describe it.

I will be blunt. I spent the holiday in the hospital, in Wisconsin (nice people). It wasn’t the first summer holiday spent in the hospital (Labor Day at one time). AND, oddly enough, it was for almost the same thing. I starting feeling a sharp back pain the Sunday before the Fourth… I figured it was a result of me over working (I was yard cleaning around the summer home), or slept on it badly… or both. It escalated as the week went on to encompass most of my chest and back. I was only semi-comfortable sitting. I was lucky, the severe symptoms didn’t begin until my sister’s were present. When I coughed up blood, my oldest sister took me to the ER…. What the doctor thought might be the beginning of asthma turned out to be three… THREE Pulmonary Embolisms (blood clots in the lungs)… and life threatening… Turns out I have a condition… my blood likes to clot. I have to be on blood thinners the rest of my life. Yee ha… I don’t know what this all means yet.. I’ve been trying to just function. And, function I am.

I have been lost in thought, and don’t feel much like conversing with folks. Yes, I know… Yee ha… I am alive! WOO HOO! However, I am not at that point yet.

I wish everybody well…. I promise not to juggle knives or run into any sharp objects as my blood thins.

I am functioning… Returned to Chicago from Wisconsin momentarily ago.

Be good… Be safe…

Prost!