Today Is ...

May 31, 2024, at home

I do like macaroons, especially with chocolate on their bottoms.

May 31, 2024, at home

Please do this every day, especially in text messages and emails. Long ago, one of my teachers told his class: If you are going to protest, first know how to speak English. If you don't, no one will take you seriously.

Low Hemoglobin Levels

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.

6 Surgeries in 2 years

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

Juleps & Flowers

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.

Today Is ...

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 29, 2024, at home

Translation from French: chicken with wine ... I have eaten this before. It was OK.

Today Is ...

May 28, 2024, at home

How do you like your burgers?

I like medium-rare hamburgers with:

1. cheese (Swiss, Provolone or Blue) with mayonnaise and ketchup
2. a fried egg and ketchup (no mayo)
3. just peanut butter

*NEVER with lettuce, raw tomatoes, raw onions*

Memorial Day Goodies

May 27, 2024, at home

My wonderful wife made and constructed this table full of goodies in celebration of Memorial Day today.

New PICC Line Bandage

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.

I had been receiving intravenous infusions of two different antibiotics at the hospital and at home for a bone infection in my right ankle, but I decided to stop about three weeks ago due to breathing difficulties.

I recently had a blood extraction for testing at my primary doctor's office. My podiatrist, working with my infectious-disease doctor, will contact my primary doctor this week to see if I require further blood extraction for testing.

I recently had a blood infection, which was gone the last time it was recently checked. If my blood infection has returned, I will require yet another six-week-long regimen of daily intravenous antibiotic infusions. If my blood infection is still gone, my podiatrist wants me to have another blood extraction for testing in about a month.

On April 20, 2024, my podiatrist performed surgery on my right ankle: a bone biopsy, a deburring, and a draining of fluid. My right ankle is less swollen and sore than it was.

I will just mention that during my recent visit to the hospital for a week or so, the doctors had much trouble, and I had much pain, due to many difficulties installing PICC lines, midlines, and regular IV lines in my arms. Scar tissue within my veins from many past PICC lines made my veins collapse when the doctors tried to install the lines. That is why my current line is in my neck.

I have had a line in my neck twice before: in 2022, during and after my quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery, and months before that when I was on daily dialysis for six weeks for kidney failure (both kidneys) due to a bad reaction to a previous six-week-long regimen of daily intravenous antibiotics. I have had many of these regimens in recent years due to bone, skin, and blood infections caused by diabetic ulcers in both of my feet.

May 27, 2024, at home

Wow. This perfectly describes the man-woman romantic relationship. I have discovered that the feminine mindset in regard to men is: My husband/boyfriend is a jackass, but he's my jackass.

Today Is ...

 May 27, 2024, at home

Coffee Through A Straw

May 27, 2024, at home

My wife converted me into a guy who drinks hot coffee through a straw. (photo credit: my wife)

Best Guitarists

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

Tribute

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.

Thanks For Dinner, Mom

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."

Blueberries, Not Cheesecake

May 26, 2024, at home

While I am not all that fond of cheesecake, I do like blueberries.

Portable Oxygen Concentrator

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.

Monaco Grand Prix

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).

Below is a diagram of the Circuit de Monaco, which is a street circuit laid out on the city streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine around the harbour of the Principality of Monaco.

Each circuit (track) around the world has a different configuration, therefore a different dynamic, regarding turns and elevation fluctuations.

This season's 24-race schedule is as follows: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Japan, China, Miami, Italy, Monaco, Canada, Spain, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy (different circuit), Azerbaijan, Singapore, Austin, Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.

The first two races this season (in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia) were held on Saturdays due to the Islamic observance of Ramadan. All other races will be held on Sundays, as usual, except for the Las Vegas Grand Prix which will also be held on Saturday.

Before each race, there are two days of practice/qualifying. The races run every week or every other week from March into December.

In Formula 1 racing, there are 20 (male) drivers, with one driver from the United States. There are 10 teams (with two drivers on each team), so not only do drivers compete against their rivals, but also compete against their teammates. There are two championships: one for the driver and one for the constructor team.

This season, as with last season, there are three races in the United States. In fairly recent years, there were no drivers from the United States and no races in the United States.

Formula 1 racing is the only sport that I actively follow. I have been a fan for decades. I watched my first F1 race decades ago on television at the home of one of my many Austrian cousins while on vacation in Austria.

Bocce In Glen Cove

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:

"My maternal grandparents lived next door on the left (on Hazel Street). Directly across the street was Al Capone's summer house. My great-aunt Stella and great-uncle Gabe (my maternal grandfather's brother) owned and operated nearby Stango's restaurant."

My cousin Maria mentioned that her father Sal used to play bocce there.

2nd Anniversary of 3rd Surgery

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.

Remembering "Pops"

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.

Today Is ...

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 25, 2024, at home

When I was very young, I used to take my lunch to school in a metal lunch box. I remember a barn box with a silo container for my drink. As I got a bit older, still young, I switched to a brown bag just as my classmates did. I don't remember any other metal box.

May 25, 2024, at home

I prefer Austrian (not Australian) white wine and Italian red wine, specifically Chianti Classico.

Today Is ...

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 24, 2024, at home

I have a stepsister, but no brothers ... except ... for ... my fraternity brothers. Here's a tribute to the brothers of the Gamma Zeta chapter (Villanova University) of Alpha Phi Delta fraternity. ... love you guys !!!

May 24, 2024, at home

I never liked escargot, but we liked the sauce with bread, right Mom? 🙂

May 24, 2024, at home

I never ate it, but I would like to try it.

Today Is ...

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.

Advice

May 22, 2024, at home

I saw a post on Facebook requesting random advice. Here is my contribution:

Never marry a woman whose father calls her "Princess" because she believes him.

Never hire a house painter who smokes a pipe.

If you are going to protest, be sure you know proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. If you don't, no one will take you seriously.

Today Is ...

May 22, 2024, at home

I prefer chocolate pudding mixed with pistachio pudding.

Coughs & Sneezes

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.

Today Is ...

May 21, 2024, at home

I like Darjeeling tea. Earl Grey tea is nice, too; I like its bergamot flavour.

May 21, 2024, at home

I dislike whipped cream, and I REALLY dislike strawberries, although I sometimes force myself to eat them because they are healthy.