Something Old Something New

• Something New

I just looked at the pictures of my Grand daughter, Sarah Rose Ott on her blog. Yes, can you believe it? She's got her own blog. It's administered by her very capable mother, my daughter Melissa. I had to laugh at a couple of the pictures, they were funny in that cute kid like way. One of them though was a crack up. There she was, in full Easter Sunday regalia, hunting for Easter Eggs. That part wasn't funny but it sure is cute. The funny part was where she was sitting in her beautiful Easter dress complete with the white ruffle-butted stockings and white church shoes on. Squarely plopped down in the dirt. She must be related to me. Tammy and I both got a good laugh out of that. I guess she really enjoyed the hunt although I think she enjoyed the goodies that were in the plastic eggs.

• Something Old and New

Most of you are aware of my affinity to photography. Lately I have been active in a digital photography forum. Digital Photography School or DPS, an on line community of photo buffs from around the globe. I have recently made friends in Myanmar, Malaysia, the UK and all over the USA. It's pretty cool stuff. I post my photos to the share your shots forum and get comments from all over the world. It's pretty amazing what people like and/or don't like. Take a look at my most recent thread and have a gander at some of the comments. DPS also sports all kinds of instructive and how-to articles on all phases and aspects of photography geared to all levels of photogs from the novice to the professional. There's something there for all.

• Something that's just plain old

That would be me and my urinary woes. Thankfully, I have been feeling better and better as the weeks go by. The last 2 weeks I have felt better than I have felt since Christmas. The drainage pipes seem to be slowly getting better at producing the correct amount in the right amount of time. As of the last test, I was infection free. I never in a million years thought something as basic and as simple as being able to pee would bring such joy and pleasure but, it sure does. An Old Guy thing? LOL, you betcha! Beginning 2 weeks ago, in their infinite lack of wisdom my employer saw fit to put me on graveyard shift. So, the 10 or so years i spent on this miserable shift were not enough to acquaint me with how to run things at night. At least in so many words that's what I'm being told. Another Old Guy thing? You betcha! They have younger less experienced people they want to groom for other higher paying positions for the day shift posts. How long? I don't know. It could be anywhere from another 2 weeks to another 4 months. I think it will become longer. With this city it's always longer. One thing that's good about this: none of the idiots that put me here are working at night. Also, when things go awry as they quite often do in a poorly maintained and old facility like this, I get to call them and wake them up! That makes me happy... Jibes from the plant that time forgot.


Until Next Time,

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR me hearties!!!


OLD GUYS RULE!!!

On and on it goes

I wish sometimes that I could just push the right buttons and everything would be better. Imagine it, push the stop pain button and the pain would just go away. Not just physical pain but emotional pain as well. In the physical realm, I could have saved my mother many years of pain and suffering. In the emotional realm I could saved my father the years of anguish and duress of watching my mother suffer and finally to die. Imagine, no more death no more pain caused by the unthinkable horror of what men do to one another.

I'm afraid I don't have the power to do any of that. As all of you are aware if you know me at all, I have been suffering with my own malady of late. The dreaded urinary problem. I'm nowhere closer to a solution to this than when it put me in the hospital for a week near death from septicemia.

What is a person to do? I have asked myself that question over and over the last few months as I endure this. Have I done something to displease God? I don't think God plays tit-for-tat with anyone. That would mean that I a mere man could somehow make myself more acceptable to God by doing something right. Or make myself less acceptable by doing something wrong. That is simply not the case. I cannot do anything to make myself more or less acceptable to the Almighty. That would mean I have replaced God's providence with my efforts. It's a hopeless state. I believe He's more interested in having a relationship with us. Simply put, Jesus paid it all.

Is my body just old and worn out? No, I'm only 52 for crying out loud. The Apostle Paul had an infirmity he spoke of in II Corinthians 12:

⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It's truly a conundrum. When I am weak, I am strong in Christ. Right now I feel helpless and weak. In Jesus though, I'm strong. I may get discouraged and sometimes absorbed in self-pity but, I know who is ultimately in control. I'm glad it isn't me. I could really mess things up. I can see now that through my life, God has orchestrated things to bring me to one inescapable conclusion. He has given all of us a way to have joy and hope. By having faith in the free gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

For now I'll keep on keeping on and hope and pray for a recovery from this problem. My bladder feels full so I guess I'll go try again.


Until next time, ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR me hearties!!!!


OLD GUYS RULE???!!!!!

Relief?

Well, my post last week was kind of gloomy. I saw the urologist Thursday and he left the catheter in. Yesterday, I saw him again. This time he took it out and shoved a scope up where the drain pipe used to be. He said he saw nothing that should cause the type of problem I was having. Sigh of relief? I guess... I have no idea what happened but at least I don't have anything visibly wrong. Now I'm back to drinking lots of liquids, and keeping a journal in my mind of how the "bathroom session" goes. I have to report back via telephone regularly today to keep the urology department at Beaver Medical Group up to speed on my progress or regress as the case may be. So far, it looks good. I just hope it continues that way.

Until next time,

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR me hearties!!!


OLD GUYS RULE

Eight Days In

Eight days, 192 hours, 11,520 minutes and 691,200 seconds. You may be asking yourself " Eight days where?" I'm sorry if I lead you astray but, I'm talking about this confounded catheter. Last time I had this thing in, they said it was caused by my prostate gland. I guess that's an " old guy thing." What does the prostate do besides cause old guys problems you may ask? The prostate (from Greek προστάτης - prostates, literally "one who stands before", "protector", "guardian") is a compound tubuloalveolar exocrine gland of the male mammalian reproductive system. See the wikipedia version here.This time has been more painful than last. I don't know why but, at least I get to see the urologist tomorrow. I really hope he takes it out. I'm getting really tired of emptying this little plastic bag out. I have a bunch of questions to ask that guy. I even wrote them all down. So please pray for me, this is starting to bother me. I'm bored out of my mind and looking to the Lord for guidance.- Thanks

Glad this is short? Me too LOL.

Until next time, ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR me Hearty!!!

OLD GUYS STILL RULE!!!!

Not Again

As many of you know I lost my Mom to lung cancer a couple of years ago. It was a bittersweet experience. On one hand, I was relieved to finally see her body at rest after years of being racked by the ravages Lupus. It's an insidious disease that causes the body's immune system to go totally wacky and start to attack it's own connective tissues. In a word slow, painful and, terminal in her case. On the other hand, she was my Mom. Her life was cut short by an unseen foe whose only indication of existence is manifest in the harm it does to the victim's body. God gave her grace and sufficient time to see all three of her grandchildren born and fairly well grown up. I believe this gave her a measure of happiness in an otherwise painful existence. My Dad, God bless him, faithfully stayed by her side through the whole 25 years long ordeal to the bitter end. As my Dad and I tearfully watched my Mom slip into eternity, I realized just how much we would miss her presence in our lives. She often spoke of "going home to be with the Lord." I find comfort in the knowledge that she is with Him.

I have since lost 2 close friends and another friend from my home church whom I had great respect and admiration for. Two were fisher-nuts like me, the other an Amateur radio "enthusiast" nay, a nut like myself. I could go on about the friends I lost but that's not the point of this post. Suffice it to say I miss these guys like they were my brothers. In a real sense they were my brothers. Fishing trips and fun times. Radio contacts to share and talking about whatever we wanted to. Most of all, a common deep commitment to loving God and His purposes. In other word, brothers.

Yesterday I had to go back to urgent care and have a catheter inserted to allow me to urinate into a plastic bag. As I sit here typing away in pain, I am finding it hard to find something to be thankful about. I could get down on the fact that the problem I thought was over has come back to haunt me yet again. I could mourn the loss of my Mom and my brothers. Then I think of the terrible mess our Nation is in and I could easily get depressed if I were to dwell on it for very long.

Thank God that I don't have to draw any happiness from the circumstances around me. I am thankful for many things, above all my future is secure. I'm thankful for my relationship with the Almighty, my Wife my Kids, my extended family, my church, my job, and the freedom that allows me to say it. I may lose everything to the altar of obama, war or die from some other malady. Rest assured however, there is a purpose to this life that all will eventually see. Please read this excerpt from "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers.
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ACQUAINTANCE WITH GRIEF
"A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Isaiah 53:3 We are not acquainted with grief in the way in which Our Lord was acquainted with it; we endure it, we get through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of life we do not reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin. We take a rational view of life and say that a man by controlling his instincts, and by educating himself, can produce a life which will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we go on, we find the presence of something which we have not taken into consideration, viz., sin, and it upsets all our calculations. Sin has made the basis of things wild and not rational. We have to recognize that sin is a fact, not a defect; sin is red-handed mutiny against God. Either God or sin must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue. If sin rules in me, God's life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is no possible ultimate but that. The climax of sin is that it crucified Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will be true in your history and in mine. In our mental outlook we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin as the only explanation as to why Jesus Christ came, and as the explanation of the grief and sorrow in life.

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I have assurance I will see my Mom and my brothers again. They all knew the promise of God's coming kingdom. Do you?


Until next time,

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Me Hearties!!!


OLD GUYS RULE!!!!

Update 2/19/09

Well, it has been a few weeks since my last post. I know I know I should have done it sooner... On the UTI front, my strength is nearly back to normal. Thanks in part to staying away from work except for my scheduled days. That said, I did something stupid and split a graveyard shift with another Sr. operator today. I was at work at 3 AM or Oh dark thirty. The net result is I am a little richerand as I write this I am barely awake at 18:30 or 6:30 PM for you non- 24 hour clock types. The diet is going good, I've lost 8 pounds since I came home from the hospital. Not bad eh? So far work hasn't been too bad since I got back. I guess I should just be grateful I'm employed when I look around at the state of the economy.

I've watched in great dismay the recent "SPENDULUS PROGRAM" that was shoved down the throats of Americans everywhere. We shouldn't be surprised however, he's (obama) is doing exactly what he said he would do. He's insulated himself with his favorite liberal lackeys that is, appointees and cabinet members. With the full blind support of Queen Pelosi, Nancy herself, has charted a course for America that at best is unprecedented and at worst is the stepping stones to the Socialist States of America. What I find most reprehensible and unconscionable is the fact that not one congressperson or Senator even read the thing. Oh the SHAME! A black day has come to our beautiful shores. America will not recover easily from this whole unholy package. I fear that in our headlong persuit into the oblivion of wealth redistribution just because we thought we had to "DO" something we've flown right off a deadly precipice. Where is this president taking us? Where is the leadership? Why all the secrecy?

Next post maybe I'll talk about the secret mission that obama has sent 17,000 of our precious military personell into harm's way in Afganistan without even a face-to-face to explain why. One should question why the president starts his own "surge" with no plan in place at all while he staunchly opposed the former president's surge that was well planned and a as it turned out a complete success.

There, I'm off my soapbox now.

I've been watching a lot of Flyfishing programs since I discovered that I now get the Sportsman Channel. I think my favorite is one that focuses on fly fishing National Parks. Although, some of the Canadian shows are a lot of fun too. I'll have to try my hand at Muskie fishing some day...

Tammy is doing well, the kids are great too. Peter and Melissa are getting prepared for child number 2. I think she's due near Labor Day. Mike and Alicia are looking at houses in and near Seabrook. Sara's gearing up for her Senior project and upcoming graduation in May. My how time has flown. My Dad has 4 feet of snow at his house. I feel old now. I'm even starting to look that way too. Almost geezerish...


Until next time....

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Me Hearties!!!!!!


OLD GUYS RULE!!!!

UTI? What's That?

As all of you know, we had a tremendous scare this week. Near death experience? Maybe... you be the judge.

I began having trouble last Saturday while I was at work. I began urinating about every 20 minutes. Not a lot but it felt as if I'd voided enough. Well, this continued through the night up every hour or so in between trying to sleep. Sunday I awoke with a fever and back to the 20 minute routine. BTW, as an aside, I'm watching the Red Green Show. Life is good again. By Monday morning the temperature was still about a 100 degrees. By 11:30 I was shaking uncontrollably with a 103 degree temperature. At this point, I pretty much lost it. I don't remember anything from this point until they got my temperature down in urgent care. Tammy loaded me up in the car and headed off to Beaver urgent care in highland. In retrospect this was probably not the best idea. First, I opened up the car door to get out on the freeway. Then I began to disrobe in the waiting room. They wanted us to go to Banning. When Tammy got really nasty with the staff there, they decided they'd prove that she must be lying. The wonderful triage nurse didn't believe her own thermometer so, after the third different thermometer, she decided I was in critical condition with a temperature of 105.8 and blood pressure was about 70/32.

Now I'm not saying the nurses there are incompetent but, they never were able to get an IV in. After trying 3 times to shove a catheter up my winkie, they gave up, packed me up and shipped me off to the ER at Redlands Community Hospital. One thing they did right was to pack me in ice. Thankfully, the trip to the ER was uneventful. The wait outsidee was a relatively short 40 minutes then they wheeled me in and tossed me into a bed where I remained in the ER for 24 hours. The quality of the nursing staff at the ER was exemplary. They treated me professionally, and with good humor. Something I greatly appreciate. The ER nurse I had the first night was able to put the IV and the catheter in right the first time. When they moved me up to my new home for the rest of the week, things got a lot quieter. Have you ever tried to sleep with a tube in your arm and another in your private parts? Well I'm sure some of you have. Not very pleasant is it? I feel like a human pin cushion, pumped full of drugs etc... Remember the fallacy of dignity? It's like that song, blowing in the wind. LOL, I no longer have any. To make a long story short, I know I know, too late for that. Over time my prostate had enlarged enough to cut off the flow of urine causing a "Urinary Tract Infection" or UTI for short. It's common with women but uncommon with men. The DR. said I had developed septicemia which is f corse very dangerous.

Tammy as always has been a tremendous blessing to me in more ways than I can number. She tirelessly stayed by my side through the worst of the ordeal. Thanks to my Dad and my friend Jason, they came by and visited me... what a nice thing to do. Jason even came by and played dominoes with me one night... fun.

Well, thanks to my doctor and the great nursing staff at RCH, especially Judy and Amber I am on the road to recovery. Near death experience? I suppose if Tammy had taken me to Banning as the people in Highland had suggested, I would no longer be in my current semi-normal condition. You know what though? I have had a great life and I am ready to meet my Savior at any time. I'm not saying I'm ready to throw in the towel, I have a lot of life left to go. I want to see all my grandkids born. To see them grow up would be an even greater blessing. My point is, try to live life as if every day could be your last one. You never know when it could be.

Until next time, I am humbly yours...

ARRRRRRRRRRRR me Hearties!!!!


OLD GUYS RULE!!!!!