A vacation

Unbelievable - 3 weeks without any doctor's appointments. I only have labs which can be done at my convenience. A vacation of sorts.

Friday, I had my MRI which will determine whether I can have the kyphoplasty operation. I should know this week. As usual, there was pain associated with the MRI, being in 1 position for 45 minutes without moving. Unfortunately, it carried over the rest of the day. BUT, I took Arlene to lunch after the procedure. I suprised her by suggesting it and it was nice.

At Kaiser, the sqweeky wheel gets the grease. I bitched to enough people about the long wait for the operation on my parathyroids. I got a call from the surgery scheduler on Thursday, stating she had an opening for the surgery in mid December. Of course, I accepted it as it was better than the end of January. I had a chance to talk to her about my situation, and she promised me that should there be a cancellation before then, she would contact me. That's great.

I've had some rib fractures due to the osteoporosis, and I had e-mailed my oncologist about them, just to let him know, since you basically don't treat rib fractures. I got a response on Thursday in which he actually cracked a joke and signed it with his first name only - no MD, etc. I thought that was great - here's a doc that actually can act like a human being. I had also seen him on Monday for my monthly appointment. He had promised to intercede on my behalf to try to get the parathyroid operation moved up. He also confirmed that the leukemia is still stable and that at this time he doesn't want to treat it. We'll see how that winds up when all this other stuff gets done.

The prior weekend, Arlene and I went to see our new granddaughter - a 122 mile trip one way.
We decided to check out property in a beach area about a half-hour away from them since I can't physically do the trip back and forth in 1 day. I figured it would double as a vacation home. Too expensive for us, even with "depressed prices" in the area. The visit itself was nice. I got to hold and feed her while I was there and she didn't even cry. Very nice.

We finally sent the hospital bed back. Yea - we got our family room back. I got a sleeping wedge to use on a regular bed. That worked real well for me. I also got a gel-foam pad that came with the hospital bed. Those 2 things help me sleep well in a regular bed.

A reunion buddie of mine keeps telling me to "keep the faith". I Am

The reunion

This past weekend was our annual reunion. I went Friday and came home Saturday night. Sleeping over was not the best for me. Sunday I was sore all over - like I overdid it.

The weekend was everything it was cracked up to be. I didn't get too many short jokes. 5 minutes after we were all there, we all talked about where it would be next year. Everyone was mellow. Saturday we went to the cliffs overlooking the beach. The conversations were never ending. A good time was had by all. The house left a little to be desired, but at least we were all under 1 roof.

This past week they discovered an adenoma - a benign tumor - on my one of my parathyroids (there are 4 glands). This has caused the excess parathyroid hormone in my blood which has leached the calcium from my bones giving me osteoporosis. They are going to schedule surgery for me in January- they're all booked up till then and my levels are not high enough to warrent bumping someone from the schedule. The surgery is done as an outpatient, which is nice. They remove the tumor and while I'm still open, check my parathyroid levels. If they return to normal, they close me up and send me home. If the levels are still high, they remove most of the other 3 glands, close me up and send me home.

At the same time, my oncologist found that they do kyphoplasty at their facility in Oakland, about 60 miles away. My oncologist sent a referrel and they've scheduled me for an MRI to see if I qualify medically. If I qualify medically, they will schedule me after I have my parathyroids done - it's best done when my blood calcium is stable. The kyphoplasty will restore most of my lost height and there is a 95% chance it will rid me of my pain. FINALLY TO BE FREE OF TAKING PAIN MEDS. I should also be able to walk straight up, not hunched.

This has been a good week for me.

My upcoming week

This morning, I got a call from one of my reunion buddies who lives in LA. Wanted to know how I was doing and my plans for the reunion. I told him. We BS'd for a while and then said goodby. I really felt good after the call- it got me thinking about friends and how good it is to have some, even if you only see them once a year. Especially friends you've known since you were a teen ager and with whom you've raised a little hell in your younger years. These are people you can say anything to, insult all the time, and can talk about the most intimate things.

I had a major accomplishment this morning. Arlene's computer is connected wirelessly to the internet and for the last month it's been giving us problems, shutting the connection unexpectedly. I tried a new wireless usb adaptor - same problem. So screw it, I decided to hardwire it to my dsl modem. I did it. Lots of moaning and groaning with back pain as I was working (its in another room). When done, I had to rest for a while. A month ago, there was no way I would ever try doing that. YEA FOR ME. The computer is working fine now.

I no longer use any kind of support around the house. No canes, no walkers. Just me and my two feet. What a good feeling that is. My back hurts after I walk in the house, but I expect that.
My doctor will find out where in Kaiser they do kyphoplasty. This will relieve the pain and restore some of the height I've lost. This will get done after my parathyroid surgery, which I'll find out about this wednesday.

The other day, I tried laying in our king size bed - painful if I lay straight on my back. My mind is working tho, and I think about a wedge pillow, which would approximate the angle of my hospital bed, where I sleep with no discomfort. I find several on the internet. I will order one next week and this should allow me to get rid of that hospital bed we have in our family room.

I'm looking forward to the coming week - more medical answers and my reunion.