Surgery Tomorrow

SURGERY TOMORROW (November 3, 2025)

This morning, I spoke with a representative of my vascular surgeon in regard to the occlusion (blockage) in a main artery in my left thigh that has caused severe pain and major wounds to my left foot, including blackness of some toes. Previously, there was talk about cleaning out the artery. After medical testing, it was determined that this artery is too far blocked for that procedure, so I will require bypass surgery some time tomorrow. This involves the use of either the removal of a vein within my right leg or my right or left arms, or a plastic tube that will be installed within my upper left thigh to my lower left thigh to reroute blood flow to restore full blood flow. The veins in my legs are not viable, so the plastic tube seems likely. I also have a similar situation within my right thigh, but not as bad. I will need to address this condition in the near future. I have been dealing with diabetic ulcers and infections in both of my feet for many years due to peripheral neuropathy (numbness and pain). Fairly recently, I had four surgeries on my left foot, including removal of the joint in the toe next to my big toe.

November 2, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

3-in-1

While I still have three intravenous ports sticking in me, I have set a new personal medical record. For the first time ever in my life, I have three IV ports in one arm, all functional !!! It's epic. The one in the back of my left hand failed (painful and leaky). It was removed and a new one was installed in my right mid-forearm to go along with the others in my right lower-forearm and in the back of my right hand. With all of my medical exploits in recent years, this is the first time I have ever had three IV ports in one arm at the same time. Amazing. I am receiving two IV antibiotics and an IV blood thinner all at the same time. (My not-so-recent record for IV ports is a total of four in my arms, but one was eventually removed for malfunction. This time, my malfunctioning IV port was removed before the new one was installed.)

In the early 1980s, I studied pre-med for two-and-a-half years at Villanova University before switching my major to communications/journalism, so this medical stuff continues to interest me.

November 2, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Eggs & Souls

I like deviled eggs.

November 2, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Dodgers Win World Series

YEAH !!! The Dodgers win The World Series !!!

"Dodgers capture back-to-back World Series titles after epic Game 7 victory over Blue Jays"

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/dodgers-capture-back-to-back-world-series-titles-after-epic-game-7-victory-over-blue-jays

November 2, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Dodgers Win World Series !!!

YEAH !!! Dodgers win the World Series !!!

November 2, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Today (November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital) is National Author's Day. I consider myself to be an author, so I will not only receive that honor, but also express that honor to all authors, especially to those authors with whom I have had the distinct pleasure of encountering, both personally and professionally.

I was a journalist from September 1982 to April 2017, so I have had thousands of articles published in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, on a wire service, and on news websites. I thought it was hundreds, but it really is thousands. When I wrote for the wire service for about a year, I was required to write 13 to 16 articles EVERY DAY on commodities trading, covering five markets in real time, plus I was required to write a feature story every week and a money-supply story every three weeks. That adds up.

Since 1986, I have written more than three hundred poems, many of which have been published in many national anthologies. I am still in the preliminary stages of self-publishing a book of my poetry. Also, I am writing an autobiographical novel, although I haven't touched my computer's keyboard in that regard in many months. I guess it's time for me to get remotivated.

I absolutely LOVE calzones.

November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Ingesting cinnamon reduces blood-sugar levels and abates nausea.

November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Ingesting apple cider vinegar is healthy.

November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

I don't really like fried clams all that much.

November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Medical Update

MEDICAL UPDATE, afternoon, November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital: I arrived from Delray Medical Center yesterday in search of a surgery to remove an occlusion in an artery in my left thigh. They couldn't do my emergency surgery at Delray due to scheduling.

Yesterday (at Boca Regional): left-foot X-rays; ultrasound (left leg); today: CT-Abdomen Scan (belly to toes); ultrasound (both arms, both legs); continuing: two intravenous antibiotics and intravenous blood thinner (anticoagulant) at the same time through three separate intravenous ports.

My surgery is expected either November 2 or 3, 2025.

November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

"Movember" Starts Today

"Movember 2025" starts TODAY (November 1, 2025) !!!

Due to medical issues, I won't be able to participate in "Movember" this year, because I won't be able to be clean shaven on November 1. However, I continue to promote its importance.

"Movember," an annual, month-long event when men around the world grow moustaches throughout the month of November to raise awareness of and to raise funds to combat cancers that afflict men (prostate, testicular, penile); men's suicide prevention; and men's overall physical and mental health. I have participated every November for decades.

Millions of dollars (converted) are raised worldwide every year through fundraisers and donations, with the United States, Canada, Australia, and India typically raising the most money. European countries also do well with raising funds.

Of course, the name "Movember" is a combination of "moustache" and "November." Men start clean shaven on November 1 (every year) and grow their "stashes" throughout the month, so if you notice more guys with moustaches in your travels, that's why.

There is also something called "No-Shave November," when men don't shave at all during that month, so you may see more beards than usual, too. I already have a beard, so I suppose I am already somewhat participating.

In solidarity, many women also don't shave during November in support of us guys. (no joke)

Also, remember that International Men's Day is on November 19 (every year).

For more information and to donate your money and/or your time, here is the link to one of the many "Movember" websites:

https://us.movember.com/

November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

3 IV

I now have three intravenous ports sticking in me: right arm, right hand, and left hand.

November 1, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Flying High

Oh, WOW !!! I'm flying without wings !!! Everything looks so ultimately 3-D. Who would have thought that a particular configuration of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen could produce such euphoria?

Seriously, my nurse just gave me a healthy intravenous dose of Dilaudid, "a brand name for the potent opioid analgesic hydromorphone, which is used to treat moderate to severe pain. The medication is considered 5 to 10 times more potent than morphine. As a powerful opioid, it carries a high risk of abuse, addiction, and dependence, and is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance in the U.S."

October 31, 2025, Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Halloween: 1979, Paul

For Halloween in 1979, my costume was Paul McCartney from the cover of the 1969 Beatles album Abbey Road. (McCartney is second from left.)

I was 18 years old and a huge fan of The Beatles. I still am a huge fan. Yes, that is my real hair combed forward. Notice that I am holding a cigarette in my right hand, just as Paul did on the album cover. (Paul is left-handed.) I also went barefooted (wearing sandals) to a party that night. Paul wore sandals to the photo shoot, but took them off for the cover shots. My suit was actually dark blue; the photo has faded over the years.

One of my friends took this photo in my room (No. 214, affectionately know as "Rorer 714," sometimes "Lemon 714"), Wilson Hall dormitory, Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH), Northfield campus, Northfield, Massachusetts. Hello to my fellow NMHers.

Incidentally, I was given my longstanding nickname "Bungalow Bill," "Bungalow" for short, "Bungy" for even shorter, by my dormitory mates at NMH. I was nicknamed after the main character in The Beatles song "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill."

October 31, 2025, at home

***

For Halloween in 1979, my costume was Paul McCartney from the cover of the 1969 Beatles album Abbey Road. (McCartney is second from left.)

I was 18 years old and a huge fan of The Beatles. I still am a huge fan. Yes, that is my real hair combed forward. Notice that I am holding a cigarette in my right hand, just as Paul did on the album cover. (Paul is left-handed.) I also went barefooted (wearing sandals) to a party that night. Paul wore sandals to the photo shoot, but took them off for the cover shots. My suit was actually dark blue; the photo has faded over the years.

One of my friends took this photo of myself in my room at prep school in northern Massachusetts.

Incidentally, I was given my longstanding nickname "Bungalow Bill," "Bungalow" for short, "Bungy" for even shorter, by my dormitory mates.

October 31, 2025, at home

Saving My Foot

October 31, 2025, early evening: I am NOT home from the hospital. I am at ANOTHER hospital.

Here's the story. My wonderful wife drove me to the Emergency Room at Delray Medical Center at around 2:30 a.m. on October 29, 2025. Following testing, it was determined that I require surgery to remove an occlusion (blockage) in an artery in my left thigh with a possible stent placement. The surgery was tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of October 30, 2025, but it was never meant to be, due to scheduling.

I was on an intravenous drip of a blood thinner (anticoagulant) and also an intravenous fluid drip through a separate port.

The surgery could not be performed today, either, also due to scheduling. I contacted my vascular surgeon's office this afternoon to schedule the surgery (outpatient, this time, in his office). The soonest appointment that I can get is November 12, 2025. This is way too late because I am in an emergency situation.

My podiatrist believes that I need the surgery much sooner, like yesterday, because of the five wounds in my left foot (four of my toes and my heel) due to poor circulation and diabetes. If I don't have this surgery done soon, I will be in an even more serious situation.

Basically, my podiatrist told me that if I don't have the surgery as soon as possible, I could risk amputation of the toes of my left foot; my left foot; even up to my left knee. He said that it might already be too late. He has already performed four surgeries on my left foot.

My vascular surgeon thinks that nothing is serious about my condition. Also, my wound-care specialist and a nursing student think my left-foot wounds aren't too bad.

My wife and I decided to pursue another hospital (Boca Raton Regional Hospital) to see if I can get the surgery done sooner than the 12th, possibly November 1 or 3. So, here we are in the Emergency Room.

Upon initial examination, the medical guy that's admitting me was expecting my foot to be worse than I explained it to him. I am expecting to meet with a vascular surgeon this evening here in the Emergency Room to see if surgery will help, or do we go directly to amputation. I will have the same or similar testing that I had at Delray Medical Center.

Also, I may need to have my right leg done some time in the future due to a similar situation, but my right foot is now woundless.

Halloween: 2 Pennies Back

A personal Halloween story from the early 1970s

When I was 11 or 12 years old, I went trick-or-treating with my friends on several streets near my house in West Islip, Long Island, New York. We came to a house where a woman gave every child one piece of candy and one shiny penny. When it was my turn, she gave me the piece of candy and then gave me three pennies. I smiled and went to the next house thinking that I was two cents better than the other kids. You know, that woman sent some kid after me and made me give back the extra two cents. I am sure that there is a life lesson in there somewhere.

By the way, we never went to the house on the left side at the end of that street, only a few houses from where that lady lived. There was a rumor that the guy who lived there was shooting kids with a BB-gun rifle from a second-floor window. I don't know if it was true, but why take a chance, right?

October 31, 2025, Delray Medical Center

Halloween: The Captain

Let me take you back to Halloweens in the later 1960s into the early 1970s, when I was a kid, and a particular, personal Halloween tradition.

It's Halloween again, and my friends and I are once again deciding if we are going to go trick-or-treating at Captain Kangaroo's house. Bob Keeshan, who plays the captain, lives a few miles from my home on Long Island, New York (Babylon and then West Islip). He lived in Babylon.

And, as we do every Halloween, my friends and I abandon this idea. We would either have to get a parent to drive us there or risk our lives riding our bicycles on a busy two-lane highway with no sidewalks. Besides, there is a rather high fence around his house, so we wouldn't even be able to get to his front door. Still, my friends and I always enjoy having our traditional discussion about the captain every Halloween.

(true story)

October 31, 2025, Delray Medical Center

Halloween: Venetian Blind

What was your worst Halloween costume ever? My worst costume was the result of being asked to a party at the last minute when I was studying at the University of Missouri in Columbia in the late 1980s. I put on dark sunglasses and grabbed an unopened box of dry spaghetti from my kitchen cabinet. I went as a Venetian Blind.

Here I am re-enacting that costume for Halloween at my mom's home in 2020. Note that I am wearing my brown "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" T-shirt, which I didn't have back in the 1980s. The glasses and the pasta are, of course, also different.

October 31, 2025, Delray Medical Center

1 Day Until "Movember"

Remember, "Movember 2025" starts in one day on November 1, 2025.

Due to medical issues, I won't be able to participate in "Movember" this year, because I won't be able to be clean shaven on November 1. However, I continue to promote its importance.

"Movember," an annual, month-long event when men around the world grow moustaches throughout the month of November to raise awareness of and to raise funds to combat cancers that afflict men (prostate, testicular, penile); men's suicide prevention; and men's overall physical and mental health. I have participated every November for decades.

Millions of dollars (converted) are raised worldwide every year through fundraisers and donations, with the United States, Canada, Australia, and India typically raising the most money. European countries also do well with raising funds.

Of course, the name "Movember" is a combination of "moustache" and "November." Men start clean shaven on November 1 (every year) and grow their "stashes" throughout the month, so if you notice more guys with moustaches in your travels, that's why.

There is also something called "No-Shave November," when men don't shave at all during that month, so you may see more beards than usual, too. I already have a beard, so I suppose I am already somewhat participating.

In solidarity, many women also don't shave during November in support of us guys. (no joke)

Also, remember that International Men's Day is on November 19 (every year).

For more information and to donate your money and/or your time, here is the link to one of the many "Movember" websites:

https://us.movember.com/

October 31, 2025, Delray Medical Center

Today Is ...

When I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s, I loved magic and practical jokes. For brevity, I'll just mention two incidents at elementary school rather than explain my extensive experiences with my Chinese linking rings and my color-changing handkerchiefs, plus my talking toilet device, my spoon with the hole in it, my sneezing powder, my plastic ice cubes with the dead flies inside, oh, my joy buzzer and whoopie cushion and fake vomit. I had it all.

When I was in sixth grade in 1972 at the age of 11, I brought a magic trick to school to show my friends. The problem with that was: my classmate and fellow magician John Bass. John could flip 50-cent pieces all around his long, skinny fingers. He was amazing. So, John saw me performing my magic trick for a small group of classmates and quickly approached me. He grabbed the collar of my shirt and angrily yelled at me, "I'm the only magician in this classroom." I said, "OK," and I never brought another magic trick to school. (true story)

I also once scared my sixth-grade teacher Mr. Carlson. I had a trick pen that made a loud bang when opened. One day, while my classmates were reading textbooks at their desks, I asked the teacher if he could open my pen. He said, "If you can't open it, I doubt if I can." He opened it, and BANG! We both laughed, but him not as much as me. He said, "Ah. You got me." After the bang, all of my classmates looked up from their books for a short moment and then went back to reading. Not one laugh was uttered. Not one word was spoken. Dead silence. (true story)

October 31, 2025, Delray Medical Center

On Halloween in Babylon, Long Island, New York, in the 1960s, when I was a kid, my parents gave out 150 candy apples to the kids, plus regular candy if we ran out of the apples. Trivia: Candy apples are more popular on the East Coast and West Coast of the United States, whereas caramel apples are more popular in the U.S. Midwest.

October 31, 2025, Delray Medical Center

My favorite Knock Knock joke is:

Knock. Knock.
Who's there?
Cantaloupe.
Cantaloupe who?
Cantaloupe without a ladder. (can't elope)

October 31, 2025, Delray Medical Center

Blue, Not Pink

October 31, 2025, Delray Medical Center

2 Days Until "Movember"

Remember, "Movember 2025" starts in two days on November 1, 2025.

Due to medical issues, I won't be able to participate in "Movember" this year, because I won't be able to be clean shaven on November 1. However, I continue to promote its importance. 

"Movember," an annual, month-long event when men around the world grow moustaches throughout the month of November to raise awareness of and to raise funds to combat cancers that afflict men (prostate, testicular, penile); men's suicide prevention; and men's overall physical and mental health. I have participated every November for decades.

Millions of dollars (converted) are raised worldwide every year through fundraisers and donations, with the United States, Canada, Australia, and India typically raising the most money. European countries also do well with raising funds.

Of course, the name "Movember" is a combination of "moustache" and "November." Men start clean shaven on November 1 (every year) and grow their "stashes" throughout the month, so if you notice more guys with moustaches in your travels, that's why.

There is also something called "No-Shave November," when men don't shave at all during that month, so you may see more beards than usual, too. I already have a beard, so I suppose I am already somewhat participating.

In solidarity, many women also don't shave during November in support of us guys. (no joke)

Also, remember that International Men's Day is on November 19 (every year).

For more information and to donate your money and/or your time, here is the link to one of the many "Movember" websites:

https://us.movember.com/

October 30, 2025, Delray Medical Center

Day Before Halloween 2009

16 Years Ago Today

Here we are, the copy desk editors of Globe and National Examiner magazines, wearing wigs in our newsroom in Boca Raton, Florida, in celebration of Halloween on Friday, October 30, 2009.

Of course, that's me on the right, wearing my "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" T-shirt. The woman in the boa (in the back) is not wearing a wig.

From 2002 to 2011, I was a copy editor and page designer for American Media Inc., which publishes the weekly supermarket/gossip tabloids. During those nine years, I edited and designed many pages every week for Star, Globe, National Examiner, and National Enquirer magazines.

In the lower photo, behind me on the wall, are small printed pages of the issue of Globe magazine that we were in the midst of completing. We had an 8 p.m. final deadline for Globe magazine every Friday. We had a 6 p.m. final deadline for National Examiner every Wednesday.

We worked on the pages of both of those magazines at the same time, so we had lots of work and lots of fun. The magazines had different formats and somewhat different styles, so one of my many challenges was applying the proper criteria to the proper page.

For examples, the widths of the text columns were different, with Globe being slightly wider than National Examiner, and Globe required spaces before and after ellipses, and National Examiner did not.

October 30, 2025, Delray Medical Center

28 Years Since Fendrich

Today is the 28th anniversary of the best concert I have ever attended. On October 30, 1997, I experienced an amazing performance by my all-time favorite pop singer/guitarist, Rainhard Fendrich, and his band. His genre of music is called "Austropop," which is pop music by Austrian singers and musicians. During the concert, Austropop singer/guitarist Wolfgang Ambros made a surprise appearance and sang a duet on Fendrich's most famous song: "I Am From Austria." I am also a  fan of Ambros.

The Fendrich concert was at the Wiener Stadthalle (arena) in Vienna, Austria. I enjoyed it with one of my many Austrian cousins, her husband, and more than 16,000 other fans. I was living in Jersey City, New Jersey, at the time. (I now live in southeastern Florida.)

Here is a video from that concert tour. Fendrich's song "Über meinen Horizont" was the second song he performed at the concert I attended. This ballad, which is one of my favorite songs, is from Fendrich's 1989 studio album "Von Zeit zu Zeit."

(Note: That is NOT Fendrich in the picture below; it's keyboardist/singer Gary Lux. Also, the Spanish guitarist is Mario Berger, and the saxophonist is Christian Felke. Fendrich's brother Harald Fendrich plays bass guitar.)

https://youtu.be/zNOLTImfadc

I first became a fan of Fendrich in 1983, while visiting many of my Austrian cousins in the westernmost Austrian province of Vorarlberg. This was my second of seven trips to Austria to visit my cousins and also to go skiing in the Austrian Alps. Anyway, I heard one of his songs on the car radio when my cousin was driving me to the airport in nearby Zürich, Switzerland, to return home. I was immediately hooked. I asked another cousin in the car who was singing. She told me, so I purchased Fendrich's second and third albums on vinyl at the music store in the airport. He only had three albums at that time. Several years later, I would discover his first album.

I purchased many more of his vinyl albums and CDs during my later trips to Austria, as well as many more CDs that I bought online. I still listen to many of his albums on my turntable. I have 49(yes, forty-nine) of Fendrich's CDs, which includes duplicates of two of those CDs and one interview CD.
He writes (sometimes co-writes) all of his songs, which are all sung in the German language. His earliest albums from the early to mid-1980s are sung in the Viennese dialect of German. He soon switched to writing songs in "High German" (textbook German) so that more people could understand them.

I also have a videotape and several DVDs of his concerts and music videos; a photo calendar from 1987; a hardcover biography written in German; and two of his autographs, even though I have never met him. Also, at one time, I was the only non-European member of his official fan club. I lost that title when a man from Japan joined the club.

October 30, 2025, Delray Medical Center

Good Day For Surgery

Good Morning! Surgery Today (October 30, 2025, Delray Medical Center, time unknown): removal of occlusion (blockage) of artery in left leg; stent placement

UPDATE: surgery during the afternoon; stent not guaranteed

UPDATE: Surgery was basically postponed, so I am trying a different hospital due to emergency.

Candy Corn & Publicity

I love candy corn, not only for their distinctive fake taste, waxy texture, coating of shellac, and various numbered colors, but also because they contain FOUR types of sugar.

Here are the ingredients for Brach's Classic Candy Corn (my favorite): Sugar, Corn Syrup, Confectioner's Glaze (Shellac), Salt, Dextrose, Gelatin, Sesame Oil, Artificial Flavor, Honey, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 3.

October 30, 2025, Delray Medical Center

Pending Surgery

Evening, October 29, 2025: Hello from Delray Medical Center, my home away from home (as is Boca Raton Regional Hospital).

My wonderful wife drove me to Delray Medical Center's Emergency Room around 2:30 a.m. I had severe, crushing pain in my left foot and left ankle; pain in my right foot; and painful muscle cramps in both of my thighs, mostly the left one. I have been dealing with this for about two weeks. The pain became unbearable, so I needed to do something about it. Actually, I have been dealing with Peripheral Neuropathy in both of my feet in the form of numbness and pain for many years, but this is a different situation.

While here today, after a syringe dose of intravenous anti-nausea medication in preparation for a syringe dose of nausea-causing morphine, and also later, a syringe of a stronger pain medication to help me get through a CTA scan (from my belly to my toes) due to back pain from recent surgeries, the doctors determined that I have an occlusion (blockage) in an artery in my left thigh. I had already know this from a few years ago, when it did NOT require further action at that time. It obviously needs action now.

Here at the hospital, I continue to receive Heparin (anti-blood coagulant) via intravenous infusion through a needle in the back of my right hand. I also have an intravenous port in my left forearm that was used to accommodate infusion of the contrast solution for the CTA scan.

I am scheduled for some time tomorrow to have a surgical procedure performed to have the artery cleared and a stent installed.

As for this evening, I received another morphine syringe through my intravenous port, with the same anti-nausea medication administered, this time after, to help me get through the night.

I received an insulin injection in my left arm, as I usually inject daily into my belly at home. I will soon receive my usual nebulizer respiratory treatment, a stronger version than I self-administer at home.

It seems as if, in recent years, I am living much of my life in hospitals and in a physical rehabilitation facility:

Recent Surgeries:

2022: quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery, including removal of a vein within my left thigh; plus two related chest surgeries

2023: two spinal surgeries

2024: right-ankle surgery

... and now, 2025: left-leg surgery 

So, it goes. Be well.

Peggy Kirk Bell

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Peggy Kirk Bell !!! Thank you for having such a positive influence on my life.

"It doesn’t take a great athlete to be able to play golf. Conversely, great athletes aren’t always good golfers. That’s the beauty of the game."

- Peggy Kirk Bell, from "The Gift of Golf: My Life with A Wonderful Game"

I had the privilege of teaching golf to adults and children, side-by-side with the late great hall-of-famer and LPGA champion Peggy Kirk Bell, during the summer of 1981 (age 20) at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. PGA touring pro Pat McGowan, husband of Bell's daughter Bonnie (R.I.P.), also taught there at that time. That summer, I played a round of golf with him, just the two of us. I shot an 82. He shot a course record 64. He was like a machine.

I also have the distinction of throwing up on Mrs. Bell. Yeah, I threw up on a hall-of-fame golfer. I was a very young teenager, attending a Golfari (golf instruction/camp) in the 1970s. I became ill, so she decided to feed me soup while I lie in bed. Soon, I told her that I couldn't eat any more of the soup. She said, "Just one more spoonful." I ate it, and then lost it. She loved all of the kids who attended the Golfaris. I attended the Golfaris every summer from 1972 (age 11) to 1980 (age 19), and, of course, had the honor and the privilege of teaching there the following year. Thank you so much. I cherish such fond memories from that time and aspect of my life. They were definitely halcyon days.

October 29, 2025, Delray Medical Center