Day 362 - Hospital Fashion, Wings & Control

Thanks everyone for the posts, emails, etc of well wishes for yesterdays surgey. Very much appreciated!

Isn't hospital footwear the coolest stuff on earth? Yeah, that's a bit of an over-statement. Ok its an outright mis-statement. Even the hospital folks know just how lame they are as they allow you take them home when you leave. They don't let you take home the gown, or the robe, or the stylish mesh cap. Oh no, those they want back. The footwear, they go out of their way to make sure you understand you can keep them.

Everything went well yesterday. We arrived just before 9 a.m. and the parade of forms that needed my signature was soon underway. I must have signed my name 10 times between the time I arrived and actually going into the O.R. about 4 hours later.

I mentioned the gown and robe, it would be wrong of me not to model this cutting edge fashion (pun intended)...

Here I am dressed and ready to get going on the days festivities. No where is my bed on wheels!?

And I mentioned the mesh cap, I think it accents my blue eyes...

At this point I was on the basement where nuclear medicine is located. They had just finished injecting my foreheard with a foursome of needles filled with radioactive something-or-other. I hung out here about an hour and a half while they took a mess pictures tracking just were that stuff traveled to.

And here is where it traveled to...

Now that these doctors and radiologists (I think that is what they are called) did their job the surgeon will know where to target. She would make an incision in the center of that line of X's and then use a small a gieger counter of sorts to find the specific nodes which the stuff traveled to.

Now unfortunately I do not have any pictures of her doing her work, or of the plastic surgeon doing his work on my forehead. Would of loved to have pics or video of that. But since they insisted on knocking me out I was unable to take any.

About two hours after surgery I had awakened enough to leave the hospital and head home. My mother in law saw to it that we didn't have to worry about hunger and had Franks wings waiting for dinner!

Here is what I look like this morning...

She ended up taking out three lymph nodes. Those and the forehead tissue he removed are now enjoying the wonders that take place in pathology. Possibly by end of day tomorrow, but more likely Monday, is when we'll receive those results and know what, if anything, is next.

Until then I feel good, sure in pain but I have meds for that. I'll work from home today & tomorrow and take it easy as prescribed. I'll take some walks to keep the blood moving and head clear.

Ironically I just saw a t.v. commercial for a cancer treatment facility which relates treating cancer to a journey. Sure, call it a journey, call it a battle, call it anything you want.

Should you have to ever have the mis-fortune to have to take this journey take the lead role in your treatment. Question everything even if you appear to be a pest, learn more than you ever cared to know about it; only then can you feel confident and in control. You must be the one in control, not the cancer!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 229 - Happy Hanukkah to 13.1



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Happy Hanukkah to all of my friends of the Jewish faith. This year the Festival of Lights runs from sunset December 1 to sunset December 9. I am not Jewish, but as a young boy I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in Chicago. I have many vivid memories of that time, one of which I will share here...

Sheldon Reese was king of the play ground. He would threaten kids with sharpened pencils to force their submission to his crown as the play ground bully. I was the new kid in school and I didn't care much for pencils, they were needed for school work and I didn't like school work. Thus one second-grade morning when Sheldon pointed one in my face in effort to kick me out of 'his' end of the play ground, well my Irish came out and I brought his reign to an end. The next day he returned to recess with his older brothers from the Hebrew high school 1/2 block away. Long story short they thumped me and Sheldon was reinstated king. That was my first experience with my Jewish neighbors and it imprinted my seven year old mind with prejudice. Soon enough the 4th grade rolled around where I met a cute Jewish girl. Sheldon also took a liking to her, Anna P-something-or-other, but his brothers could not help him win this battle; she simply was not impressed with his pencils I guess. Her father probably would have liked Sheldon, to Mr. P~ I was pure evil and he banished her from talking with me. Good for me that she didn't mind her father well. She as much as my time in that neighborhood reformed me, by the time I moved again after 6th grade I had matured enough to leave such prejudices where they belong, in my wake.

I believe I commented on this a month or so ago, shame on me if I did not, but this Sunday is the day that Christine over at Phoenix Revolution is going to walk, jog or crawl her way to 13.1 miles...


click for her original post announcing this opportunity

A few of her faithful followers have committed to doing the same, myself being one of them. I have a busy day planned Sunday, so I may end up getting in a mess of those miles early a.m. and then the rest later in the evening. Christine is good with that, so if needed that is what I will do. One way or another I am getting her those miles!

How about you, interested in joining us?

Off to a great start with December Go The Distance. Ate fantastic and drank enough water to swim. Put down a half dozen servings of veg & fruit combined as well. Wednesday was planned off day for me exercise wise, and I succeeded and executing that plan and not exercising. I do have exercise planned for Thursday - do you?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 156 - NSV's Then Guess

How was everyone's weekend? Good I hope. Mine was fantastic.

A busy weekend, a busy past few days really. I chose to leave my posts Saturday & Sunday focused on the award Lanie honored me with and then my weekly weigh on those days respectively. The weekend now over, the body relaxed & the mind less stressed and I am ready for the new week.

So lets look at some NSV's of the past few days...

Last Thursday I went to lunch with some work mates. We went to a favorite place of mine which I have mentioned before; Franks for the Memories. I went in hungry and left with an NSV. This place is small & what seating they do have is all booths. Ugh, booths, the bane of all obese people. Booths have ruined many a meal for me,how about you? This day however I was able to slide on in and felt rather comfortable. My gut wasn't resting up against the table edge or oozing out onto the table itself. SPACE, there was space between me & the table top... Oh Yeah!

Last Friday I went to the doctor for a couple of reasons, one of them was to see if I had lost enough weight, upped my circulatory health enough to get off of the blood pressure pills once & hopefully for all. I hadn't been taking them regular since my annual physical in July. At that time I brought it up to my doc and he wanted to exercise some caution. But he did say that if when I exercise I found myself getting light-headed that would be a signal that my BP was being lowered by the medicine lower than necessary, thus, also signalling that I was likely ready to get off of them. He asked that I keep up the pills unless the light-headedness was more than slight, and that we can check it again in two months. Well two months have passed and I have passed his cautious care and he gave me the thumbs up to kick them to the curb. That is not just an NSV it is a bucket list entry I get to cross off... Oh Yeah!

Ok, we end this post with a picture riddle; these are fun and seem to be popular. Up there is a picture of what? This one should be a harder than the last one (fire hydrant). But don't let difficulty keep you from playing, step up and take a guess. I'll reveal the answer tomorrow, or perhaps earlier if someone guesses correctly.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 137 - A Happy 101

Eating was excellent on Tuesday and exercise was minimal. Soccer practice in the early morning and a soccer game in the evening stunted my available time, well, I let it stunt it. After work when we got the game the previous game was 25 minutes behind schedule so I went next door and got some cardio in on Stanton Hill. Not my usual event where I do as many laps up & down in 30 minutes, didn't have time for that. But I did have time for about 1/2 of it before our game started. Planning more cardio this evening and more excellent eating today as well. Are you?

Karla was so kind as to honor me with a thank you by giving me a Happy 101 award. Thank you Karla! Nice looking award, look at them cup cakes. I like cup cakes, and they have sprinkles too! Zero calories if you just look, or if you try & lick them off of the monitor screen. Not that I tried, serious, I didn't.

OK, awards are fun, and awards have rules. Rules by definition are not always fun, but remember, these rules came with a picture of cup cakes, so I dig in to them with pleasure; the rules that is..

First, I need to state 10 things I like...

1. Greek Yogurt (recently discovered awesomness)
2. Alternative History author Harry Turtledove 
3. Hunting (just deer hunting now, next year going to turkeys too)
4. NASCAR & Roush Fenway Racing (greatest sport on the planet)
5. Real BBQ'ing (especially ribs & shoulder, if I didn't need money I'd do it at a competitive level)
6. Hockey & the Chicago Blackhawks (2nd greatest sport on the planet)
7. Exercise (Yep, never thought I'd say that, but I have come to like it)
8. Darts (my father played for money, I play with the kids to be a more connected father)
9. Collecting Hot Sauce (collection is almost at 300 bottles now, I'll get some pics of it soon)
10. Franks for the Memories (Best wings on the planet)

Second, I need to pass this award on to 10 other bloggers I wish to share some cup cake happiness with...

1. Dee
2. Amelia
3. Aliana
4. Misunderstood and Admired
5. MandaPanda
6. Deb
7. Jo
8. Tish
9. Clyde
10. Alan (Pounds Off Playoff)

 Thanks again Karla!

Everyone, whatever it is you choose to do today; enjoy!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!