Month: August 2024

11 August 2024

I’ve been thinking of swimming pools lately. I climbed down into mine this morning while there was still some shade on the east end. My iPhone was playing a selection of my favorites and I hoped the bouyancy of the water would help my back. It seemed to relax me a little but it could be just the warm water, the music and the cumulus clouds billowing overhead. Anyway, it got me to thinking about pools.

I almost didn’t buy this house because it had a pool. I knew nothing about pool maintenance and I figured it as another expense to hire someone who did. After buying the house I began to see about pool maintenance and realized it was basically adjusting chemicals and since I taught a lot of chemistry over the years, I figured I could maintain it myself. It only took me approximately 20 years to get a firm grasp on everything that goes on with a pool. I can safely say I am a master until the next mystery goes on with the pool.

I think the very first “pool” I swam in was at Fort Liberty nee Bragg in North Carolina. Dad was probably undergoing training for Korea and as a Captain, we had access to the officers club and pool. It was here I almost drowned. I had one of those floats that go around your waist (probably with a horse head) and I was in the “big boys” section after pleading with my mother. Someone jumped in close to me and flipped me upside down. My legs were entangled with the float. If I hadn’t caught a fire hose used to fill the pool, I wouldn’t be here today. I pulled myself upright and spit out a gallon of water. The lifeguard on duty has yet to see me drowning.

My next pool was at Forest, Mississippi. I think mother enrolled me for swimming lessons one summer. I remember having to run through streams of water from the men’s changing room to the pool deck. What good that did, I have no idea. The pool at Forest eventually closed down when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. The white population couldn’t stand the idea of sharing the pool with Black kids. The filled the pool and built a business over the top.

Most of the rest of my life was spent in ponds and lakes. The two main lakes were at Roosevelt State Park in Mississippi and Camp Kickapoo in Clinton, Mississippi. The preacher’s wife taught me to swim at Roosevelt and cousin Jo taught me to swim on my back to the diving tower.

As a Boy Scout, if you were to earn Eagle rank, you had to pass the lifesaving merit badge. Our Scoutmaster, Mr. Polk, knew I was not in shape for that. He got his son Don to work with me and Buzz Shoemaker. Don was the black sheep of the family but he took his role as instructor very seriously. He would have me and Buzz swim from the end of the far pier, around the diving platform, and back about 20 times and then he would jump on one of us, take us to the bottom of the lake and we would have to break his hold and pull him ashore. It was the best training I’ve had even though Buzz and I hated him for it.

That year at Kickapoo, Buzz and I passed lifesaving merit badge easily because of Don Polk.

The only other pool I remember at this time was at Battlefield Park in Jackson, Mississippi. The pool was huge but so was the attendance. Like the Forest pool, they closed that pool down due to integration.

For quite a few years, swimming went by the wayside until I moved to Hollywood, Florida and joined the YMCA. They had a junior Olympic pool and I got in the habit of swimming a mile every time I went (most every day).

About this time I went to summer school at Florida State for a Library and Information Science masters. I frequented the pool there which was Olympic in size. I got pretty good at swimming a mile. I do remember that in the heat of summer, that was the coldest water I ever felt in a pool.

When I moved to Fort Lauderdale, I joined the Y there and did the same. The Y in Fort Lauderdale was conveniently located two blocks away and I continued to increase my distance and stamina.

When I bought the house where I live now, I figured I would use the pool to cool off. It wasn’t long enough to swim laps. However, I discovered swim cords that tie around your ankles and are fixed to a stationary object so you can swim in place. I can safely say that the pool I didn’t want ended up being the one feature I use the most. I’d be lost without my pool.

Maintenance on my pool is a continuous thing and is expensive but it’s the best money I spend at the house. I really enjoy going out there after dark, turn on the pool light, and skinny dip as I watch the stars and moon. The light from the pool up-lights the palms that line the pool which reminds me of arches in cathedrals. Sometimes I’m lucky and there is some snake plant (Mother-in-law tongues) or night blooming cereus to perfume the semitropical air. Up until all this cancer stuff, I seldom went a day I didn’t spend some quality time in the pool.

Stay tuned! I might go skinny dippin’ tonight!

10 August 2024

I slept late again this morning, for more than 8 hours. As I got to stirring, I noticed three text messages on my phone. When I opened the texts, Holley informed me in no uncertain terms she would be taking me to my surgery to remove my port on Tuesday. I knew better than to argue with her – I would have lost. I didn’t ask anyone to take me but I did call Tom and ask him to pick me up and take me home. I have a very strong suspicion those two have been conversing and plotting behind my back. I was going to take an Uber to the surgery but I appreciate Holley’s insistence. Again, what great friends!

My back is better and I’m learning better how to adjust the back brace. I haven’t felt well all day. I don’t know if it’s the blahs or if something is off with me. I got a very late start with stripping the bed and washing clothes and as of this writing (6:00 pm) I’m still washing and drying. My stamina is down and I don’t think I’ve completely recovered from 3 nights in the hospital.

Preseason professional football is in full swing today. I used to only follow particular pro teams (Miami, of course, Chicago and San Francisco). Since college football has become what I refer to as semi-pro, I tend to follow pro football more.

We are a long cry from the days I worked the concession stand at the Morton High School football games (Go Panthers!) and then following Ole Miss football in the 60’s. I remember my first Ole Miss home game. All the men wore coats and ties and the women wore dresses. Someone, perhaps Sports Illustrated, named Ole Miss as the best dressed football crowd. Back then, the women wore dresses because they could not wear pants anywhere on campus. They also had to sign in and out of the dorm. The 50’s and 60’s were the glory days of Ole Miss, never until last year to be as successful.

I still can’t watch Ole Miss on tv. Too often in the past few decades they’ve disappointed. It’s silly of course. Football shouldn’t be so important to me but I am a child of my upbringing. I remember listening to Ole Miss football games as a kid with my Dad. The U.S. puts so much importance on that sport. You didn’t even have to play football (I didn’t). You could be a band member or you could be a cheerleader. All were status positions in high school and college. By the way, concessionaire was not a status position but I could make a mean load of popcorn. My culinary skills got an early start.

One year, I remember Morton had added new lights to the football field. The Boy Scouts managed the concession stand so our assistant scoutmaster, John Stokes always kept an eye on us and on any trouble makers. When they threw the switch for the new lights, sparks flew everywhere. No one reacted except John Stokes. He was a very big man and very heavy set but he ran toward the control panel at a very fast pace and in one swipe, shut the lights off. He risked electrocution in doing that. I’ve always thought that was one of the most brave things I’ve seen. He didn’t think of himself, only of others that might be hurt.

We called him Sargeant Stokes because at the time, he was still in the Army. His role was to round up AWOL soldiers anywhere in the surrounding states. That had to be a pretty dangerous job. I learned a lot from this man. He often let me make mistakes so I could learn the correct procedure. He had an amazing amount of patience with me and the other scouts. A lot of what I am today, he helped mold. I will forever be grateful.

Stay tuned!

9 August 2024

For once, I don’t have anything scheduled for today. I do know I’ve been sleeping a lot. Today was 10 hours and 20 minutes. The day before was 9 hours and 12 minutes and the day before that was 11 hours and 11 minutes. Even taking into consideration a muscle relaxant and a sleeping pill, these are excessive times for me and it tells me I need the sleep.

It also means I was in worse shape than I thought when they hospitalized me. Maybe that’s the reason they kept me for three nights and had so many specialists consult. Then again, it could because I have good insurance and they wanted to take advantage of that. I have a strong streak of cynicism running through me.

Next Tuesday is the port removal. I’ll take an Uber or Taxi to the hospital (I have to arrive by 7 am) and Tom has agreed to pick me up after the procedure. That’s if they don’t cancel again and not notify me.

Yesterday was extremely warm. We are only hitting low 90’s in the temperature but the “feels like” temperatures are in the 100’s. I know we older folk feel the temperature more so than kids and we are semi-used to hot weather in Florida but this seems extreme. November is too far away.

Success! I had a massive bowel movement this morning. That’s the first real one in 9 days. Prunes work! Thanks to Judith and Joel for their expert medical opinions. Holley suggested citrate of magnesia and I kind of curled up at the thought.

Mother used to check me and my brother for worms once a year. She would get little round containers and bottles of citrate of magnesia. Archie and I would have to down two of those bottles and wait until it worked. Then we would have to defecate into those little rounds. She would put the top on them and the doctor would do a smear on a microscope slide and check for worms or eggs. We never tested positive but that didn’t stop her. It was a rite of spring in our house.

Today is the day I usually rake leaves, clean the pool filter, clean the patio and pool deck and then poison weeds. I’ve finally come to my senses and realize that is not happening today. I’m still wearing my “armor” for my back and truthfully, my back is better this morning. I attribute it to the number of hours I’m sleeping. Therefore, I plan to be a slug today and stay in bed and snack all day. What’s so strange is that I haven’t gained any weight. Maybe my fruit diet is working.

Stay tuned!

8 August 2024

It is time to bring out the big guns for my constipation. Eight days and all I’ve managed is a tiny little fecal pellet aka turd. Joel encouraged me to eat prunes and Judith encouraged me to drink prune juice. I decided to go with both. It may get messy at 2451 SW 16 St.

I’ve always enjoyed dried prunes as a snack. If this doesn’t work things will get drastic and use mother’s treatment – an enema.

I had a 2:15 pm follow up with my primary care physician and he removed my staples and reinforced that he thinks my problem was dehydration from diarrhea. He doesn’t think my echocardiogram had anything to do with it.

In reviewing the notes of my hospital stay, I find the echocardiogram was not 50-55% ejection fraction but 40-45% which is not much of an improvement from the low of 40%.

I had a whole list of names of consults for my hospital stay. Everyone wrote somethings that never occurred. I think they have the system down pat and simply cut and paste their responses. Out of all the doctors I saw, I think the best was the emergency room doctor. He plotted out my stay with a CT scan and X-rays which found the compressed Thoracic 12 vertebra. He took me seriously and listened when I presented to the ER.

I now have prune juice, orange juice, peach juice and Gatorade to keep me hydrated. I’ve stopped the blood pressure medicine and will only go back on it if my systolic pressure is consistently 140 or above. It’s sone less pill to take!

My back is a little better and I admit this piece of armor is helping, albeit uncomfortable. You sweat in it and the center piece rides up and hits your throat. The discharge notes only specify for a couple of weeks.

I’m sleeping like crazy. Perhaps to make up for such little sleep in the hospital. I’m not complaining about the sleeping. I think it’s good for me.

Stay tuned for the big blowout!

7 August 2024

It’s been a busy day. First up was a fasting blood draw at my endocrinologist. The phlebotomists there really are top notch but I wondered if there would be any problem finding a vein because of the dehydration. She found the vein but it collapsed about half way through. She went next door to the lab technician and found out she had enough to test. I had a baby hematoma but pressure put everything right.

I always go I-95 to the endocrinologist and get off on Sterling. For some reason, my Apple Watch listed Sheridan. Of course, I got off on Sheridan and realized I overshot Sterling so I took some back roads to get back to Stirling.

On the way home, I always travel 441. You get to see the guitar hotel at the Hard Rock casino. Traffic is always lighter on 441 unless you get in a herd of gamblers staggering home after an all night binge at the tables.

Just that simple trip took a lot out of me. I put on my armored vest and it did help with the back pain. I don’t wear it out in public because I don’t want people to think I’m a member of a swat team.

I decided to do Pizza Hut for dinner tonight. I even ordered the Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. Whole Foods delivered my order shortly after Pizza Hut so it was a busy few minutes eating pizza, cinnamon rolls, unpacking groceries and trying to find room in the fridge. I keep finding stuff in there I don’t remember putting in there.

Thanks to everyone checking up on me. It warms my heart. I’ve had phone calls from Joel, John, Chip, Michel and Nancy and texts from Holley, Jim and Barbara. I called Chris to cancel movie night (again!) and she promised Tucker wouldn’t pout too much. I’m a lucky guy with all these wellness checks!!

It’s gonna be an early night. I’ll take a muscle relaxer and a sleeping pill. I’ll probably dream of cinnamon rolls all night.

Stay tuned!

6 August 2024

It’s been a good day. My back still hurts but not as badly as before. I suspect it’ll be a long, drawn out affair to get back to my normal self.

Today, I hosted a truffle tasting. The truffles are from Chocolat by Adam Turoni in Savannah. I invited Jim, Holley and Barbara to share the tasting with me.

The selections were Mint Julip, Blood Orange, Roasted Fig and Cognac, Habanero Caramel, Georgia Peach Cream, Cafe Americano, and Lover’s Perfect Caramel.

To be honest, it’s hard to choose a favorite but I really did like the Roasted Fig and Cognac and Cafe Americano. These are, simply, some of the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted.

Barbara brought goat cheese, crackers, olives, almonds, Greek honey, and candied orange slices. She went with a Greek theme since she had just returned from Greece. Oh yeah, she also brought a small bottle of Ouzo!

Jim and Holley brought ribs from Flanigans along with salad, Cole slaw and French fries. Obviously, there wasn’t enough food. And, we killed a bottle of red wine.

It’s such fun when this group gets together. There were a lot of laughs. We did commiserate with Barb. In getting ready to come over here, she fell and twisted her ankle. I told her imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I didn’t need to be flattered. Please don’t imitate me in my falls! She’s gonna ice the ankle down and I told her if it is not better by morning to call me and I can, for once, take her to urgent care.

Around noon, I knew I needed to give my back a rest so I climbed into bed and thought a short nap would revive me. I waked at 3 pm. So much for a short nap. I got hopping to get ready for my tasting at 4:30.

Tomorrow is a fasting blood draw with my endocrinologist. Otherwise, I have only one other appointment on Thursday with the neurologist. It’s strange not to have doctors’ appointments filling my calendar.

Stay tuned!

5 August 2024

I finally checked out of Holy Cross a little after noon yesterday. Joel picked me up and dropped me at home. I crawled into bed and apparently slept the evening, night, and much of the morning away. I even forgot to take a shower even though I haven’t bathed in 4 days. I didn’t even think about lunch or dinner. I kept looking at the clock thinking my iPhone clock went bad. It hadn’t, I slept almost 24 hours.

I was scheduled to have my port removed today. I have stopped my aspirin intake and didn’t have anything to eat or drink after midnight. I did take my pills with a swallow of water.

Barbara picked me up a little before 9:30. She had taken my white polo home with her to get rid of the blood stains all over it. We then set out for Holy Cross, got our ID’s and proceeded to the third floor only to be told I was not on the schedule. No explanation other than I had been canceled.

The thing is Holy Cross will drive you crazy with notifications: emails, texts and their MyChart. Yet no one notified me of the cancellation. I’ve been rescheduled for Tuesday of next week.

Barb and I headed to Mom’s Kitchen for breakfast. I wanted to treat Barb for her willingness to pick me up and return me home after the procedure but she would not hear of it. She had pastrami on rye and I had 2 eggs, 2 sausage links, 2 bacon slices and 2 French toast. That was my first meal since breakfast yesterday.

Back home today, I slept the rest of the morning away. Finally forcing myself up, I texted Stacey I was home and she brought over a FedEx package she picked up from my front porch so it wouldn’t get stolen. Trevor and Stacey did the same for another package, I just haven’t gotten to them yet.

I haven’t had a bowel movement since August 1st. I finally broke down and took 2 Dulcolax that were a 100 years old. I hope they work. Then again, laxatives and I have a love hate relationship. Hopefully, it won’t put me in the emergency room again.

Tomorrow, Jim, Holly and Barb come over for a truffle tasting. I’m providing the truffles and they are providing the wine. It should be loads of fun.

Stay tuned!

3 August 2024

It’s been a moving day – literally. Initially I was in 5 West. Today, I was moved to 5 East. I was sent next to my current location on the 4th floor, Room 407. It’s been a dizzying three days with diarrhea, two falls, hospitalization, procedures, pokes, doctors, students of doctors, changes of nurses (all great by the way) and literally moves from one wing to the next and one floor to the next.

That’s exactly what I was trying to get away from!

I thought I might get to go home today but the chief cardiologist wanted me to get another liter of saline – this makes 4 1/2 total.

Unfortunately, the IV line failed today and I had to get another put in. The first nurse couldn’t get it in the vein. She either saw the vein and couldn’t feel it or she couldn’t see it but could feel it. The result is I’m floating away on a saline sea.

Even more astounding is for the three moves, I’ve had an incredible streak of luck and have private rooms for all three moves. That like playing the slot machine and see three cherries in a row pop up.

The doctors here at Holy Cross really do stop by and see you. This morning was the cardiology group who gave me a clean bill of health. The echocardiogram came back at 50-55% ejection fraction which is considered low/normal.

I challenged the nurses today. It seemed everywhere I turned I screwed up. I spilled water on my hospital bed and they had to change sheets. I set off an alarm on my hospital bed. Who knew beds had alarm systems.

All in all, all the nurses assured me I was an easy patient to take care of. Add to that, seeing a faculty of doctors leads me to think superior healthcare at Holy Cross or they simply like my insurance plan and are milking it. Hopefully, it’s the first.

Anyway, for some reason I have a room with a view.

Barb came to visit today and brought me bananas, biscotti, and coffee. We had a nice chat and she showed me the rag papers she made at a workshop in Miami. She didn’t even stop at home first but came directly to the hospital.

Even though they haven’t found anything wrong with my heart, they keep a monitor on me that I continuously manage to dislodge the leads. I can’t take a shower while it is on me and that makes 3 days in a row without a shower.

To Michel and Nancy, safe voyage and to Holley and Jim, come back in one piece.

Stay tuned for tomorrow is another day. OK, no more movie references.

2 August 2024

More poking, prodding blood tests, echocardiogram, and X-rays today. I might glow in the dark tonight.

I needed another X-ray for my knee which ballooned up. The echocardiogram was to see if my left ventricle ejection fraction improved. It depends on who you talk to. The echocardiogram specialist explained the some tissues in the heart may read 50 and some 40. He suggested it would be midway – 45 which would show an improvement but not much of one.

The hospital plans to keep me another night. Hopefully I’ll sleep better than last night. It wasn’t noisy, I was just in so much pain. The pain is a little better today but still nags. I had a faculty of doctors come in today to check up on me. I also had a physical therapist suit me up with some brace armor. It’s really difficult to put on and I have to wear it for 10-15 weeks. Thankfully, I don’t have to wear it to bed some I may stay in bed for the next 15 weeks so I don’t have to wear it.

My blood tests show me high in some things and low in others, so I guess it balances out. I took 3 liters of saline today as well as magnesium (always low).

Michel came by and visited with me for a while and brought me coffee and bananas, then Joel and Keith came to bring me a change of clothes. I’ve still not showered for 3 days. Ripe doesn’t describe it.

As far a hospital food, Holy Cross is a cut above the others. You order off a menu and the food actually tastes good.

Tomorrow I’ll have a verdict on my passing out. The trend of thought among the cardiologist, internal medicine specialist and the neurologist is that it was due to dehyration. If that’s the case, why didn’t I get diarrhea during the trip?

Stay tuned!

2 August 2024

Well, yesterday was a bust! Wednesday’s wake up was 1:30 AM with diarrhea. I alternated with the bed and the bathroom. As I headed to the bathroom at 3 AM, I fainted in the hallway. My iPhone asked me if I had fallen and if I was OK. Thank goodness for Steve Jobs looking or for me.

I managed to eat a few bananas and kept pouring liquids into me but as fast as I added the liquid, it would come out the other end. I finally realized I needed to go to the emergency room. I called Keith and he came over. While waiting for Keith, I decided to check the mail and as soon as I opened the door, I fainted a second time. I’ve never fainted in my life and yet I did twice in one day.

Keith thought I was just waiting for him outside. I had lost consciousness and didn’t realize I was leaning back against a metal pole that holds the roof up. Keith thought it peculiar that I had not gotten up. He had to help me and off we went to Holy Cross emergency.

When we walked in, there were only two people ahead of me so they fit me in quickly. After preliminary vitals, they wished me to ER7. Zachary was my doctor and I swear he looked like a teenager. Be that as it may, he asked some very probing questions. They did a CT scan and X-rays. I don’t have a concussion, nor do I have any neck entry. My chest X-ray was clear. They also checked my abdomen and my pelvic region. The one finding was my Thoracic 12 vertebra is now compressed. Add that to L1, L2, L3, L4, L5 and C1 being in bad shape, you can see why I have extreme lower back pain. Oh yeah, when I fell, I also opened a deep womb on the back of my head. You know how head injuries bleed. The ER put 3 staples in my head and gave me a tetanus shot.

Sadly, Keith will have to clean some blood from his car.

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They kept doing blood draws and additional tests so they waited for the results to figure where to place me in the hospital. I ended up on the 5th floor, Room 572.

Michel waited with me in the ER and by the time my room was ready, I made Michel go home because Holley and Jim arrived. Once in the room, more tests and blood draws. Holy Cross provided me with a private room.

They’ve tried tramadol and one other pain medicine but neither worked. I think the next thing they will try will be morphine. Just call me a drug addict!

The doctors have an idea as to the falling. They. think it is dehydration. However, to be sure it’s not my heart, they’ve scheduled another echocardiogram. I’ve seen a lot of doctors since yesterday including an ER doctor, and internal medicine specailist and the head of cardiology at Holy Cross. Everyone has been great. All the nurses are very competent and, as you know, they run the place.

Jim and Holley stuck around and brought me two bananas, a cookie and some coffee. They really brought me more but I had no appetite. After they left, Holy Cross brought me a dinner: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. I ate a little of that but didn’t do it justice.

I still get dizzy spells and I’m curious what the doctors say today. I didn’t get any sleep last night. Turning in the bed was extremely painful. I also didn’t realize I hurt my left knee until I tried to sleep in my normal position with one knee atop the other.

I have asked for a strong pain killer. I’m sure I have more blood draws today as well as the echocardiogram.

Everyone has been great and a lot of you asked about me because they didn’t see my blog. That makes me feel very good that people are reading it.

Breakfast will be one pancake, fresh fruit, orange juice and regular coffee.

Stay tuned!