May 31, 2024, at home
I do like macaroons, especially with chocolate on their bottoms.
May 30, 2024, at home
I have been dealing with low hemoglobin levels (anemia) for at least a couple of years. I have had intravenous iron infusions and blood transfusions, and I was even check for possible internal bleeding. Recent blood tests found my levels to be 8.8, and then 8.6. The normal level is 13. I restarted taking iron supplement tablets today. My primary doctor wants me to contact a hematologist. He said, "That's why you look like a ghost." One blessing is that I do NOT have one particular symptom: a craving to eat dirt. Yes, that's a real symptom.
May 30, 2024, at home
SIX SURGERIES IN TWO YEARS
I had an appointment with my new primary doctor yesterday morning. He wanted a list of my surgeries, so I provided him with the following list. Actually, considering my medical issues, I am feeling fairly well.
Recent Surgeries
March 2022 - quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery, including removal of vein in left thigh
May 2022 - opened chest to remove sternal plates due to loose screws and also staph infection
May 2022 - closed chest with seven sutures after about a week of chest remaining open
September 2023 - removal and cleaning out of abscess/infection in spinal disk
October 2023 - titanium metal rod attached to spine due to bone infection
April 2024 - bone biopsy, deburring, draining of fluid of right ankle due to bone infection
Previous Surgeries
Left foot:
1 - removal of part of decayed bone due to infection
2 - removal of joint and bone fragments
3 - removal of bone fragments and scar tissue
4 - removal of benign tumor growing within a diabetic ulcer
Nasal/Sinus: removal of eight polyps; cleaning and expansion of all eight sinuses
Three surgically installed PICC lines in a vein in my neck
Tonsils: removal in 1966
May 30, 2024, at home
I have never had a Mint Julep. I don't think I would like it because I dislike the Mojito. I don't like coupling lime and mint.
May 29, 2024, at home
My father referred to flip flops as "go-aheads" because it is difficult to walk backwards while wearing them.
May 28, 2024, at home
How do you like your burgers?
May 27, 2024, at home
My wonderful wife made and constructed this table full of goodies in celebration of Memorial Day today.
May 27, 2024, at home
This morning, my home nurse arrived to change the dressing on my PICC line. One end of the line enters a vein in my neck and goes down near my heart. The other end exits my chest with two ports.
May 27, 2024, at home
My wife converted me into a guy who drinks hot coffee through a straw. (photo credit: my wife)
May 27, 2024, at home
It's difficult to pick one:
Frank Zappa
Paul McCartney
Hamish Stuart
Pete Townshend
John Entwistle
The Edge
Mike Mills
Peter Buck
Robert Fripp
Denny Laine
Tina Weymouth
Elliot Easton
Ben Orr
Rik Ocasek
Carl Wilson
Al Jardine
Sting
Glenn Tilbrook
Chris Difford
Tim Farriss
Rainhard Fendrich
May 26, 2024, at home
So, in regard to tribute, we went from the flame of a cigarette lighter to the glare of a flashlight on a cell phone. It's quite sad, really: just another move from real to artificial.
May 26, 2024, at home
My terrific (Italian) mother made dinner for my wife and me: Manicotti Parmesan; and salad with Italian dressing; with Italian bread; and a cupcake surrounded by Italian cookies. Thanks mom. By the way, manicotti is pronounced "mah-NEE-gawt."
May 26, 2024, at home
While I am not all that fond of cheesecake, I do like blueberries.
May 26, 2024, at home
Last week, a representative from my oxygen company brought me a portable oxygen concentrator and thankfully took away the many portable metal oxygen tanks that I have been using. My wonderful wife took this photo of myself using my new device as I watch the Monaco Grand Prix this morning on television. I have a large oxygen concentrator in the bedroom that I use during the night and most of the day.
May 26, 2024, at home
I am watching live coverage of the eighth race of the 2024 Formula 1 racing season. The Monaco Grand Prix is being broadcast on Sky Sports F1 (on a feed on ESPN on WABC). The race started at 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m., Eastern Time in the United States).
May 25, 2024, at home
One of my Italian cousins recently posted this old photo on Facebook, so I decided to post it in a Facebook group about the town of Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, where the photo was taken and where many of my Italian family members lived and still live. Here it is. This is what I wrote to go with this photo of a notable bocce ball court:
May 25, 2024, at home
Second Anniversary of My Third Surgery !!!
COMPOSITE PHOTO:
1. my chest: after my first surgery
2. my chest: after my third surgery
3. my chest: healed externally
To see the composite photo that I made (below), just click/tap on "Learn more," then on "See photo," and you will be able to see it.
Today is the second anniversary of my third of three surgeries in 2022.
1st (March 9, 2022): I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery. As usual, a section of a vein in my left thigh was removed to be used in my open-heart surgery. I had two drains installed in my belly. When I arrived home from the hospital, I engaged in physical therapy and occupational therapy (at home), followed by cardiac rehabilitation at a nearby facility.
2nd (May 19, 2022): A second surgeon removed the sternal plates from the first surgery that were holding my broken breastbone pieces together from within my chest. The screws became loose. He also cleaned out much of a staph infection also from within my chest. A wound vacuum was then attached to my chest, sucking out the remaining infection and discharge, running 24 hours per day. My chest remained open for about a week with the wound vacuum constantly sucking.
3rd (May 25, 2022): A third surgeon closed my chest by attaching seven sutures, leaving me with eight holes in my body from my lower neck to my upper belly. The wound vacuum was reattached and continued to suck on my chest for many more weeks.
I entered the emergency room of the hospital on May 13, 2022, with severe chest pain, and I would not return home until July 21, 2022, the day before my wife's birthday. I spent a total of seventy (70) days in the hospital and at a physical rehabilitation facility, the latter of which I entered on June 3, 2022.
May 25, 2024, at home
I am remembering and honoring my paternal grandfather ("Pops") today on his birthday. He passed away in 1983, close to his 82nd birthday.
On his birthday in 2020, I decided to search online, using his name and where he lived, to see if there was anything about him that I could find. I am still shocked by what I found, which I purchased back in 2020.
Someone on eBay was selling a matchbook (without matches) from the 1940s from the Texaco service station that my grandfather owned and operated from the 1940s until the late 1970s on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York. My father had a bicycle repair business there when he was in his early teens.
My grandfather came to the United States from Porto, Portugal, when he was a teenager. He initially was a construction worker who helped build many of the highways on Long Island. In the 1950s, he established a real estate and house appraisal business. I remember going on appraisals with him as his "helper" when my age was in single digits.
My grandfather was also in the Merchant Marines.
When I was young, I often heard him say, "When I came to this country, they called me '$pic.' Now, they call me 'Mister.'" He was very proud of that.
It's nice to have this Texaco memory and my many other memories of Pops.
UPDATE: A friend just notified me that he discovered this matchbook and told me about it after I told him online about my search. I didn't initially remember that.
May 25, 2024, at home
I celebrate being a nerd, not a geek. Actually, Google has the exact same definition for geek and nerd, so I guess I am both: "a person who is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a particular subject, especially one of specialist or niche interest." I always thought nerds were smarter than geeks. I guess my particular subjects are Austrian pop music, men's rights, and chemistry. When I was in high school in the late 1970s, the girls hated nerds. These days, so I have been told, nerds are fashionable. (I have always been in the right place at the wrong time.)
May 24, 2024, at home
I was quite close to moving to Wyoming from Florida many years ago, well, after 1998 when I first moved to Florida. I had a telephone interview several hours long for a job as a top editor for a chain of newspapers. I didn't get the job because I screwed up the answer to one question. I am sure that's what knocked me out of contention. The interviewer asked me what made me laugh. My answer was "hypocritical people." Wrong answer. She seemed horrified by my answer. I then tried to salvage this mishap by frantically saying "The Simpsons, The Simpsons," but it was too late. LOL ... I am happy that I didn't get this job because it would have meant leaving my then girlfriend and future wife. (funny, but true)
May 23, 2024, at home
I grew up eating saltwater taffy on the beaches of south-central Long Island, New York, specifically Jones Beach State Park and, more importantly, Robert Moses State Park, Fields 4 and 5, in the 1960s and 1970s.
May 22, 2024, at home
I saw a post on Facebook requesting random advice. Here is my contribution:May 22, 2024, at home
Damn. Ever since I had sinus surgery several years ago, every time I cough really hard, I start sneezing. Weird.
May 21, 2024, at home
I like Darjeeling tea. Earl Grey tea is nice, too; I like its bergamot flavour.
