5/17/2013

Family

My grandson and my daughter drove in from Austin today. My daughter wanted to come for my birthday but my grandson is going to take his family down to the Florida Keys for a week of fun in the sun next week so they moved the trip to Norman up a week early. It was good to see them both but I was especially glad to see my daughter doing better.

My wife fixed a meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and cream gravy, freshly snapped green beans, hot rolls, a meal my daughter had requested, After dinner when the dishes had been cleared away, we sat out on the patio and talked and reminisced. After a while, my son, my youngest and my oldest grand sons broke out their instruments and played music for an hour or so.

My youngest grandson played banjo, my son the guitar, and my oldest grandson played a ukelele. It was fun having the family together. My daughter in law's cousin and brother are here, visiting from Italy. It was an event for us all. I wish we all lived closer and could do this more often, but life has its demands.

5/16/2013

Living With COPD, A Status Report

I have not written about my emphysema or COPD as they are calling it now days, in some time. I really started out blogging by writing about my COPD and how I was coping with it and some off the effects and side effects of a worsening lung condition. Also the reason I wrote about my health problems is that I had read a ladies' blog of her own bout with COPD for some three years until she died. Her husband finished her final chapter and closed out her blog. I had followed her blog wit interest and fascination.

Writing my own blog about the same disease was not interesting. I found I couldn't write about COPD the way she did. What was interesting to me about her disease was not interesting when I wrote about it. Madame Death, as she referred to herself, could write five or six pages about going to a sporting event with her family and make it interesting enough to keep me reading. I could not do that, so I abandoned my COPD blog.

Let me hurriedly bring us up to date on the COPD thing. I retired late in the year,1996. Over the years I gradually worsened until November, 2008 I thought my time had come. I thought I was dying. My doctor also thought I was dying and said so. My daughter, a nurse teaching in one of the local hospitals where we lived, recommended I see a young, new doctor who hadn't been in practice very long, but he had been a respected Respiratory Therapist before he became a MD and all the nurses liked him. He recommended Pulmonary Therapy. The therapy helped tremendously but after a year its effects began to wear off as my lungs worsened. This young doctor did one other thing for me. He got me started on a new medication which also gave me a boost.

In March 2011, I moved from Lubbock, TX to Norman OK. My prognosis at that time, State four COPD/Emphysema with very little breathing capacity in either lung. I reported in to the Oklahoma City VA to register and keep my oxygen on going.  The OKC VA has given me good care. They have attended my health needs very professionally and in a caring manner. A Pulmonary doctor I respected when we were discussing my longevity, stated when asked, he thought I had, realistically, a 221/2% chance of living until my eightieth birthday. He has since left the VA and gone in to private practice in OKC.

My new doctor I saw six months ago at the VA and the same one I saw just a couple of weeks ago when I went in to take the series of standard tests given COPD patients about ever six or eight months, if conditions warrant. He asked how I was feeling? I replied "Wonderful, great. "He stated patients in my condition didn't feel wonderful and didn't normally smile. He asked, "What have you been doing?" I told chime nothing different, playing the harmonica. He wanted to know how much I played and I told him. He said, "That's funny because people in your condition are not expected to show any improvement in their breathing functions, yet the last three test you have taken has each improved over the last one. You've shown significant  improvement in your FEV1 tests over the past eighteen months. He  said he had never seen it before. His advice: 'keep on doing what you're doing. I can't improve on it.'

Okay, that's my status report on Living With COPD. In nine days I'm going to turn 80 and if I make it, I'll set a new goal. I'm not going to make any five year plans but I may set a goal of some sort. Of course I realize I may not have the final say.

5/13/2013

Transportation Needed

I've been thinking about buying a bicycle, to ride, for exercise and for transportation. I've been looking who sells used bikes here in Norman. I think I want a twenty-four inch men's bike, with a first class rear rack; that's a must. I'd like to have a light weight bike with upright handlebars, and a kickstand. The reason I haven't acted on this before now is I don't know if I can ride a bike. I used to ride one. I was never a long distance rider, but I don't want a bike for that sort of thing. I want one to ride around the block or ride to the store.

I remember the last bike I bought and rode. I was up in my sixties and I was in a pulmonary rehab program at one of the local hospitals where I lived. The hospital was one mile and two blocks from my house. Any one can ride that far or can they? I had COPD and I wasn't in good shape. In addition, I was on 24/7 oxygen but I wanted to give it a try. I think I bought a Diamondback. It was a heavier bike than I wanted but I couldn't find what I wanted.

One afternoon I strapped an oxygen bottle across the handle bars and took off for the hospital. At the first opportunity I got off the main route, a busy street and rode through a residential neighborhood which had less traffic. Other than tiring much faster than I thought I would, I make it but four blocks from the hospital I ran a stop sign. I saw the stop sign and I wanted to stop but I forgot how. Don't laugh. I did. I didn't remember what I was supposed to do sot stop a bike. I was trying to stop with the pedals but the breaks were hand grips on the handlebars. Instead I got off the seat and drug my feet and rode out in front of a lady driver. She didn't hit me but it scared both she and myself. I smiled meekly and apologetically and kept on rolling. I'm sure she wanted to tell me off but she didn't.

I know it's not possible but I'd like to race through town like I used to when I was a great deal younger and had the strength of youth. A mile was nothing. They zipped by lick-it y split.

My son and his family each have a bike. I wanted to asked if I could try out his bike but I didn't want to fall on his bike. He  has a Specialized that he gave six hundred dollars for back when he was in college long before he started to graduate school.  He's had it all these years and a couple or three years ago he took it to a shop and had it stripped of all those seventeen gears and other things that added weight and had it converted into a single geared bike. Also I wouldn't want him to know if I did have trouble riding.

I have jotted down all the bike dealers addresses and next week I'll find out If I can ride one. I'll then delve into particulars like that first class rear rack which I'll need to carry my oxygen bottle. I've got a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks and I may buy myself a bicycle. To be continued...

5/10/2013

Today's Quote

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
 
Will Rogers

5/07/2013

Around Town Here

I had a smart thermostat installed in the hallway of my house today. If I just leave it alone and let it work its magic I should save a couple of hundred bucks on the electric bill this summer, beginning June 1 and running to September 1. Well, that's what the propaganda says but I signed up with my electric company so we'll wait ad see what happens and what we save.

It's one of those programs where you are supposed to precool the house and not do any cooking or laundry or use the dishwasher between two and seven. This regimen between one and seven or two and seven is the peak period for the electric company and by cutting down on they're generating needs, you'll save money, so the story goes.

I read a blog last night about a 52 year old guy riding a bicycle around the world. He was in India and had gotten heat exhaustion and had to rest up a day. He described his bike and all the paraphernalia he has to make his road trip less work and more convenient. I used to ride a bike, not like him, but I rode a hundred or a hundred and twenty-five miles a week.I was physically fit back when I did the biking. Back then I often thought about riding across the country and I did ride in a number of rallies and rode rides that were fifteen to twenty-five miles long but nothing like riding from Texas to California and on up to Washington State. I think it would have been fun and a lot of Red River Valley by the campfires en-route.

On his trip around the world, the guy is riding a Trek/520 with sophisticated front and back racks for carrying his essentials and upgrades on his gears and seat and bars. I wouldn't venture a guess on the cost of a bike like he's riding. His is a 1999 model and they sell now for around two thousand bucks and he's probable got anther thousand or twelve hundred in upgrades. I used to think six hundred bucks was a huge amount for a bicycle. I guess you get what you pay for. Anyway I ran across that blog last night and spent a couple of hours readings current and back blogs of his trip. I don't bump into much that generates a lot of interest but the bike trip did.

We went out to eat last night with our neighbors. We drove down to Noble, a little town ten miles south of here, to a steak house which was closed on Monday nights. That's what I get for going with old people. They forget so much they never know when something is open or closed. We came back to Norman and ate at one of the chicken places.

Later this month my neighbor is having  Aneurysm surgery. He has two of them, one in his stomach and the other smaller one in his leg. They are going to try repair or stint or something. It's a dangerous surgery. A friend had this same surgery last week. It was successful but later developed a leak. They went back in to repair the leak. I don't know what happened. He died. Anyway this has made my neighbor anxious. It would make me very anxious. Well, I wouldn't be having it because I don't have enough lung capacity to pull me off the ventilator. Old age is definitely the pits and no way is it for sissies whether or not you're capable of riding around the world.

5/04/2013

All In Good Time

I got my yard done today. I suppose it's a good day for that sort of thing because it's cool and not too much wind. My wife negotiated a deal to get it done for seventy bucks. I thought that a little high myself for, as somebody said, ten minutes work. It did take a little longer than that. In fact, they've been here almost an hour and they are still at it. Well, as somebody said, "You can't hire good help anymore."

I got up early this morning, five am, because I had lots I wanted to get done. The local library is having a book sale and I had hoped we could stop by and look at their wares, maybe find something to read in those moments when we're not busy. After we got up and around this morning the wife said she didn't feel like going. It's something of a hassle to go by myself,taking a walker and an oxygen bottle and fighting the crowd with all my paraphernalia I have to carry along. I decided not to go. I had also wanted to go to the grocery store but I guess we'll put that off for another day.

Next week I've got to buy new tags for my old VW bug. It's a 2000 model and light weight but it still cost almost fifty bucks to tag it. It just turned seventy-thousand miles on it, so I guess I'll drive it a while. It's running great but you never can tell about an old car. The only place I drive is to the Oklahoma City VA and around town here in Norman. We did make four trips to OKC last week and put over two-hundred miles on the rascal. The bug hadn't had a workout like that in several years.

If I was buying a car today I haven't the foggiest what I'd buy. I used to try to keep up with that sort of thing. Those that were mechanically regarded. i used to think Consumer Reports did a fairly good job keeping readers informed. And there are others whose names I have forgotten that offered advice on reliability, etc, but I don't know what information is available today. Nor do I know who makes a good car. If I were buying a car today I'd have to depend on the judgement of someone who has more knowledge than I possess.

I used to think I'd get a Toyota but I once had a Subaru. It was a good little car. I was impressed with it's ability in bad weather. My neighbor across at the street had a Buick. One day it was gone and she and her husband went to work together in his car. A week or two later she showed up one Saturday with a used Subaru, like a little wagon. I don't know how she likes it or anything because we are not on speaking terms. Another neighbor says I'm not likely to ever be on speaking terms as she has lived here forty years and neither the man or the woman has ever spoken. Some would say that's good neighbors. I like the smaller cars and prefer them to most big old look alike vehicles that resemble boxes. So if you are a car aficionado and you know of a good car or model, I'd be interested in your advice.

5/03/2013

Two Stories




Two true stories

YOU NEED TO READ BOTH STORIES
What do they have to do with each other?

STORY NUMBER ONE

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago . Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was Capone's lawyer for a good reason.. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends, as well. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day.. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block..

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.

Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object.

And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.

Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example..

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done.He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. So, he testified.

Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street .. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he would ever pay.. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.

The poem read:

"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still."



STORY NUMBER TWO

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare.

He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.

One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank.

He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship.

His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.

As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood cold; a squadron of Japanese Aircraft was speeding its way toward the American Fleet.

The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet.

Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes.. Wing-mounted 50 caliber's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent.

Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible, rendering them unfit to fly.

Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction.

Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier.

Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft. This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Medal of honor.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.

So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?

Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son...----------