Monday, September 22, 2008

Health Update

09/22/2008

I did the cardiologist thing last Thursday.  My regular doctor thought the pain I was having in my back on the upper-left side was due to my heart.  He was wrong.  I still don’t have a clue as to what the pain was, since I have only had it a couple of times since my initial visit with Doctor Paul, but the cardio dude says my heart is healthy and I may live on for a few more years.  He told me I may out live my dad who died at age ninety-three, and that will be pretty cool, if the rest of me holds up.

The cardiologist gave my bruised ego a lift when he told me I performed in the stress test at a level equal to a 22-year old.  It is a shame that not all of me does. 

I suppose the good news is I don’t have to worry about a heart condition right now.  The bad news is I have an occasional discomfort in my back, and would love to know what the hell is happening there.

In between the last paragraph and this one I have called Dr. Paul’s office and made an appointment for a complete physical.  I can almost see the smile on his face when he knows he will have me hold my ankles as he embarrasses the hell out of me with his finger where the sun don’t shine.  But, I am a real man and can deal with it.

And that is all I have to say about that…

Thursday, September 11, 2008

9-11-08

09/11/2008

I just got back to my room at the Embassy Suites at the airport in St. Louis.  Three 23-ounce beers and a little dinner and I am a tad melancholy and have a desire to write.  Today, being the seventh anniversary of one of the saddest days in American history has left me in this state of mind. 

Perhaps all of us remember very vividly exactly what we were doing at that time on that very sad day; I sure do!  This afternoon when I got back to my hotel, after a not so exhausting day on the job, I donned my treadmill attire and headed for the Exercise Room.  I don’t recall what news program was on the TV but I was immediately immersed in the remembrances of 9-11 in New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA.  It hit me very hard, and while some of the others in the room may have thought I was wiping perspiration from my face, I was not.  This is an emotional day for many of us.  I know it is for me, especially when I think of all of those who gave up their lives seemingly for nothing of their choosing.

If you have read this before then I know you know I believe I am fully responsible for what happens to me in my life.  I accept this and wholeheartedly believe it.  And, I believe it to be true of others.  This is tough to accept by most people.  I believe that my death will come at a point in this life I choose long before it ever began, and, moreover, I believe it of all of us.  That make me weird?  It may, but it’s my story and I am sticking with it.  Nonetheless, today, 9-11-08, gave me pause to think, to cry, to be joyful and thankful.

And that is all I have to say about that…

Friday, September 05, 2008

Wishing the Election Were Over...

09/05/2008

I am soooo sick of Obama and McCain and all the thousands of local politicians that seemingly usurp all the airtime on TV these days.  I am sick of their TV ads and their speeches and their conventions.  This dumb election could have been held months ago.  We should throw all the presidential contenders on a ballot and the one with the most votes gets to take on the very thankless job of President.  It would save us a lot of time and a hell of a lot of money.  Let’s face it, they are all liars, and if you think differently you are either very liberal or very conservative.  The proof will come once one of them gets into the office and a year or two years down the road we are exactly where we are right now.

Whoever wins this thing in November of 2008 will be ridiculed for four years, perhaps eight.  He will be called a “do nothing” or worse.  In 2012 and 2016, some TV ads will be talking about a candidate wanting to “bring about change” and revitalize the American Dream the incumbent president has screwed up.  It is always the same; the only thing that changes is the faces and the names.  But all of these people do go into this thing with what they believe is the right thing to do for the country.  No one ever becomes president with an agenda to take down the United States or do harm to it in anyway.  Only a dumbass like Rosie O’Donnell would think so.

I really want to think of myself as an independent voter, but I am a registered republican, and not necessarily a good one.  I don’t agree with the republican stance on a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body, but I am not for wholesale abortions.  I definitely do not agree with the republicans on gun control.  I would do away with all of them, and if I could not, registering one would take a very, very long time.  And, God knows, no one will ever call me a right-wing Christian, though I consider myself a re-born lover of God.

As for the other side, I ain’t no liberal.  I don’t believe for a minute a national healthcare program will work.  If it could, we would have had one in the 90’s when the Clintons were president (“It takes a Village”).  Personally, I don’t see it ever getting through the House and the Senate.  I am not in favor of big government and new entitlement programs.  It ticks me off to hear the democrats speak of taking 17 million people off the tax payer rolls.  I believe everyone should pay some taxes in order to be able to vote for politicians that would remove them from the tax rolls.  I don’t care how much they pay, as long as they pay.  I don’t think anyone should receive something for nothing.  It sounds too much like Christian charity, and the dems can’t be associated with that group or they might be liberal republicans.  I’d like to see a flat tax, and don’t care if it is 20% or 25%; it could even be graduated, but every American worker would be required to pay a percentage of his/her income.  At least that way everyone would have a stake in the election, and not just a free ride.

So, I am at odds with myself as to whom to give my vote.  Do I go with Obama?  I am very proud of the democrats for choosing him as their candidate.  Many of us never thought we would see the day when an African-American (even though he is actually only half, but close enough for most people, I suppose?) could be elected to the highest office in the land.  I do not agree with everything he says or proposes, but I like the guy, and I do believe has enough experience to be president.  A president is only as good as the people he surrounds himself with as advisors.  I do think he could have done better than Biden as a choice for VP.

As for McCain, he is actually a democrat in disguise.  Some years ago he was being courted by the democrats to switch allegiance and possibly run for higher office as one of them.  I think at age seventy-two he at best is a one-term president should he win.  Perhaps Hillary can switch sides and run as a republican in 2012 if Obama wins in November?  I do not agree with all he says either.  I think corporations and business should also pay a flat tax on their profits and get no exemptions.  And as one of my co-workers said, his selection as a running mate is kind of hot.

By my count we have just another 60 days of this crap, and I, for one, will be so glad when it is over, but for the meantime I am left with a difficult decision.  So, when the time gets here – that’s when I close the curtain behind me as I step into the voting booth – I’ll make one, but right this minute I am teetering on the fence post.

And that is all I have to say about that…

Friday, August 29, 2008

I Am Not Immortal After All...

08/29/2008

Confused by the title?  So the hell am I.

I have a pain, more an ache, I suppose.  It manifested itself on the left side of my back just below the shoulder blade, and has been there now about two weeks.  Yesterday I had a visit with my local doc – Doctor Paul.

Visits with Doctor Paul can be very grueling and time consuming.  Dr. Paul loves to talk.  He is an extremely intelligent guy and talks about eighty miles over my head.  I get to nod and seriously pretend I have a clue as to what he is saying.  I am not a man with a small vocabulary, but this guy uses words I have never heard of or seen in print.  His phrasing and sentence construction gets my brain turning in circles.  A typical conversation has him talking and talking, and me nodding and nodding.  He may think I am agreeing or acknowledging, but my nodding is one indicating I don’t have any notion of what hell he is saying.  This day, however, I got it. 

Through the ten-letter words and a story of modern peoples versus the Romans, insofar as sensing the body’s signals is concerned, I got the picture.  I may have a problem.  Suffice it to say what I garnered from our pretty much one-sided conversation is that I may have an issue involving my heart.

After listening to my heart and poking and prodding my chest, sides and back, he sent me to the local hospital for an EKG, some blood work and a chest x-ray, and told me to return to his office as soon as this was accomplished.  So I did.

He had the EKG when I got back there and the blood work.  All appeared to be fine, so he told me he was not going to have me admitted to the hospital, but would get me an appointment with a cardiologist stat (that’s a medical term I picked up back in the 60s watching “Ben Casey” on TV).  Well, he really didn’t say “stat.” Call that poetic license.  He wants me to see a heart doc as soon as he can get me an appointment.  Well, needless to say, I was humbled.  I think of myself as living forever.  I am immortal, but now, only to a point, it seems. 

Back in January The Nancy and I decided to get healthy.  We began to exercise every day.  We cut back on our alcohol consumption by maybe up to a third.  We dieted and really watch what we consume these days.  We have both lost over thirty pounds and are looking damn good for older Americans (referring to myself and certainly not my ageless wife).  So, to now discover what Dr. Paul seems to think could be a life altering issue really sucks.  Shortly after I left his office, having been admonished not to do anything “over” strenuous, I went back to The Farm and did an hour on the treadmill.  It makes me sweat, but that is about all it does physically, besides burning over 500 calories making allowing me to eat carrot cake and drink a beer or two, and it just makes me feel good about me.

Well, there is my story of the month.  I feel great, except for the ache under my shoulder blade.  My life is blessed and I don’t think I can be happier than I am this day, but if for some reason my purpose for being here is done I am not afraid to die and I am not afraid of death.  Know this about this Hell of a guy: it has been one hell of a great ride.  If I could go back and relive my life from Day One, I would do it and never change a thing.  I would take the good with the bad, the sweet with the bitter, and not regret a single moment.  Life is good, except it may entail a little surgery and I don’t like hospitals.

And that is all I have to say about that…