Mona Lucy

this came out sorta good.

An improvement

Lucy was given a green card yesterday. That means she got through the day without an infraction of the rules. I knew it was only a matter of time - wait ... I hoped it was only a matter of time.
We are still having trouble in getting her to go to sleep. She hits the hay at 8 p.m. but is still up at 10 p.m. Hopefully, school will eventually tire her out.

For those keeping score

Lucy was given another yellow card on Tuesday. That's two for the first full week of kindergarten. She is going to try real hard to come away with a clean day today, but I think sometimes she has trouble with rules interpretations. The teacher tends to be broad "don't touch your classmates." Lucy tends to be specific. "I only touched him on the neck, with my pencil."

Lucy's Recipes

You never know what we are going to talk about.

Dubbing Lucy

This is one of those things that is so bad, it is really bad.

An eventful Monday

First off I had some ostomy pouch problems. I knew things were going to smoothly to last. I think I have them straightened out now and it was no big deal, except when it was happening and then it was enough to raise my respiration and perspirations (yeesh, you don't want to be around me.)



Lucy came home with a yellow card from kindergarten. This is the first week in which discipline becomes an issue. Each child starts out with a green card. If they cause a minor infraction they get a yellow card.

Repeated violations or big infractions earn a red card. That means a note home and the revocation of recess privileges.
I am not sure what constitutes a red card violation. Probably something like this:

Douglas Adams quote of the day

You live and learn.

At any rate, you live.

You also panic.

Surgery Log Home Edition

I am putting this one up again because I don't think people understand what it is about. It is completely spontaneous and hilarious.

Sunday morning

I slept from 10 p.m. until I got up at some point and moved to the couch to sleep in front of the TV. I did get back to bed in time to listen to a big rainstorm at about 5 a.m. and to get up at 6 a.m.

Love my Ambien.

Lucy had two little boy friends over to play yesterday. They were both good and it was nice to have them screaming around the house while I dozed on the couch.

I am sure I have told some of you that I have always looked forward to my retirement days. I have no plans to move to Florida, or to travel, or write a novel. I plan to hang around the house wearing a jumpsuit.



Gray and light blue are my choice colors, although I will entertain a light green if it does not look too much like hospital scrubs.

It occurred to me yesterday that the jump suit will work tremendously well with my ostomy bag! - So now I got that going for me.
Life continues to get better.

Doubtful news

Ostomy News

Warning! Warning! Warning!
Graphic content

Many people might not bee too interested in reading this.
I finally got my own supply of ostomy products and can put the stuff the hospital gave me in the emergency only pile.
Yesterday I put my first two piece system on. It is far superior, from my point of view to the one piece system.
I can see the stoma much more clearly when I put the base plate on for one thing. With the one-piece units you had to look through the plastic bag. It was very hard to see clearly.
Also, I received some lubricant/deodorant, which makes bag draining much more tolerable.
I also got some disposable bags, which will be great for work and nights out and such.
It is amazing how much this improves my life and makes me think that life with a bag attached to my belly will be fairly tolerable.
The hospital equipment was very basic and made me feel like life would suck.

I was up and around quite a bit yesterday. At the end of the day my stomach muscles were quite stressed and painful. I took a vicodin and watched a movie with Mary.. Felt much better and slept late (7 a.m.) today.
More later.

Second Day of School

Lucy is getting used to school.

This might be a little much

Waffle Bear Movie

Last one today. Not sure what Lucy was going for, but I do indulge her so.

Lucy and the Truth

One day Lucy could be president.

Cat Watching

This was a little weird. But, it's what happens when it gets quiet in the living room.

First Day of Kindergarten

It's hard to get anything out of her. I guess we place too much importance on names.

Surgery Log Home Edition

The best thing about this video is the cat in the background. It is the seldom seen Scaredy. Notice how she runs when you hear Lucy enter the house.

Medical report

So, the colorectal surgeon said he doesn't want to see me for six months and that I need to have another colonoscopy in one year (they won't need as much cable this time).
The oncologist is still waiting to look at slides and will see me in two weeks to see if I need further treatment.

The pathology says that my lymph nodes were free of cancer and that the tumor, following the treatment was a stage one cancer - the concern is that it was likely a stage two before treatment and maybe a little more.

Once we get the slides in Marion we will know more about the future. Until then, it is one day at a time.

I drove for the first time today - fortunately I had left a Tragically Hip disc in the car:

"Jacgues Chartier, right this way,
throw your coat up on the bed,
hey man you got a real bum's eye for clothes.

Come on in, sit right down,
No, you're not the first to show,
We've all been her, since God, who knows."

more later

http://www.GlitterMaker.com/ - Glitter Graphics

Socially Awkward

For those of you that think that all the, let's say different, people are on my branch of the family tree, here is a film by my niece.

News and TV thoughts

Pretty good news from the colorectal surgeon yesterday. I go to the oncologist in about an hour so I will save it all up for when I get back this morning. I think we will learn that my treatment is OVER! Now, I just have to recover from the summer of nearly killing me.
I was reminded in the hospital of this old adage: "Whatever doesn't kill me, makes me wish it had."



TV
My brother Mike and I have decided that if Paul Senior and Pauly and Mikey and Vince and the guys built a bike on a crab boat in the Bering Sea. It doesn't matter which boat. It could be with Sig on the Northwestern or on the Rollo or the Time Bandit. If they could just build a wicked looking chopper on one of those boats during the middle of opilio crab season it would be be perfect TV show

colostomy bag billy

there are a lot of problems with this but it is the only song about colostomies I could find.
First of all, there is no odor. Second, it is attached directly to your belly, not through a hose. Leaks aren't really a problem.

Off to the surgeon today

We are off to see the colorectal surgeon today. Got someone to watch Lucy. We have a lot of questions to ask - like when are the sutures in my bottome going to dissolve.
That is my major source of discomfort these days. Oh, and I am not getting back any of the energy I thought I would by this time. I am still pretty wiped out after the least bit of effort - like cooking dinner.
I know that the ride to and from Columbus is going to do me in for the day.

I am going to have to buck up, because when we get back we have to go to Lucy's open house so all her new classmates can ask her why her grandpa is taking her to schoool.

My MP3 player

Mary thought it was confusing that I had the Ipod on my last entry when I don't own one.
As usual, she is right. I use a Rio Carbon. It looks like this.






It works very nice. I have a little FM transmitter with it, so I can play it on radios on the house and in the car.

If you are wondering where you are

Check out this map

I am still at 991

I haven't added any songs to my audio player. I am stalled at 991. I still have not created any playlists. I have it set to random and it keeps me happy.
Still trying to decide if I want to upgrade to an MP3 player phone when I get the chance in October.
I don't, by the way, have an Ipod. I have a Rio Carbon. I am not even sure if Rio still makes them. I got a 5 gig refurbished one that has performed perfectly for a year now. It cost $118.
I really think, that the phone mp3 player is the way to go in the future. I just am not sure if the future is here.
I do know, for sure, that the future is in the future, but I am not sure if that is the future I am thinking about.
The only future I am thinking about is this morning at 10 a.m. when Lucy and I are going to watch MXC

Grasers love countdowns

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com

Actually, there is an open house Monday night that we will all go to. Lucy will get her desk and drop off her supplies.
On Tuesday, she has her first full day. Mom, will stay with her for the first hour or so and then she is on her own until the afternoon. Only half the class reports on Tuesday. Lucy has Wednesday off, while the rest of the class meets. The whold class meets on Thursday and then we are off to the races.

You have to know how to market

We had to pull a lot of strings to get this done.

How am I doing?

So, the doctor walks into the exam room, takes one look at me and says, "are you OK?"
"I feel OK," I said.
"You don't look good." He said. "You're very pale. I'm a doctor and you don't look good."
Turns out I did have a slightly elevated temperature while I was there. But, we had been in two traffic delays and arrived about 10 minutes late. I had to walk down a hill in sort of a hurry to get in and registered. This doctor does not tolerate tardy patients. At least, he says he doesn't. So that might have accounted for my condition.
He released me from his care, if I promised to tell the colorectal surgeon about my daily little temperature spike and occasional night sweats.
I had a little bit of a scare getting ready to go in the morning.
Lucy has told me that she hates the job of helping me put on my socks so I did it myself. If you have never had an incision down the middle of your belly you can't know how difficult this is.
The action caused me to leak some sera from the incision right near where my ostomy bag resides.
I was sure the bag was leaking, but there was no odor. I changed shirts and figured it was an aberration.
When we got to the hospital (one hour car drive) the stains were back. I had the doc look at the incision and he said it was just fluid (sera) from the incision and everything looked fine.
The ride to and from Columbus was about all I could stand for the day. I am going to have to make some rapid improvement at some point if I am going to walk to school with Lucy next week.

Today is a big day

We go to see the urologist today. It will be my first post-op visit to any doctor. Next week the pace and importance picks up with a visit to the surgeon who did the rectal surgery and the oncologist.
All I have to look forward to are Doctor appointments

Oh and the fact that:







Yes, yes, yes, Lucy starts all-day kindergarten on Aug. 21. Her last task, as far as I was concerned was to learn her phone number. It took me several days to convince her that she had a phone number - I think the cell phones in the house had her confused. Then I just recited -even sang- the number to her for several days. One day when I asked her she spit it out without hesitation.
"You did it!" I said. "You know your phone number!"
"I don't really know it," she said. "I was just guessing."

yeesh!

Logo for our movie productions

Any of you photoshop jocks got anything better?

The first movie

This is the first movie that Lucy and I made together. It took us an entire Saturday and it laid the groundwork for the breathtakingly high-tech films we are making today.



This is the second movie. Once we find something we like, we work it to death.

The Monkey Girl Movie

Just something we whipped together on a Monday afternoon.

Home and on the couch

These are shots of me on my first full day home from the hospital.

Recent photos

Here is a shot of Lucy and the Crew Cat before the Columbus Crew, Los Angeles Galaxy Game.
It ended in a 1-1 tie. Meaning that the Crew are still unbeaten when Lucy and I are in attendance. The translation of that is, that we don't go to a lot of games.






Lucy likes the games, but only sits still if you have a tight hold on her.

Classic Lucy

Here is a conversation I had with Lucy in the hospital.
She was standing beside my bed staring at the bank of instruments that controlled my IV flow. Click on the comic so you can read it.