Bus and Snow

Another snowy day means another late arrival at work. That's no big deal as my schedule is flexible but I like to be on time.

I've discovered this wonderful new feature that the Spokane Transit Authority offers. If you know the number of your particular stop, you can text it to the STA and it will tell you the time the bus is supposed to be there next. It also gives you a real time index which has been within a couple of minutes of being right. The scheduled time and the real time are usually pretty close to each other.

It snowed all night so I did get out and snow blow this morning. It only took a half hour and I got everything more of less cleaned off. It continued to snow but everything says it is going to turn to rain soon.

December Blood Pressure

Back on the Bus

I'm really glad that I made a big effort to buy a new (to me) car only to be told not to drive. I hate having that freedom taken away. 

With that said, I have still been driving but only short errands around town. I'm not going on the freeway until this is fleshed out.

I've been riding the bus to work in the morning and then bumming a ride home with a guy who works at Screen Tek and lives near me.

We got some snow this morning, looked like a couple of inches. The forecast says it's going to turn to rain by this evening and wash away in a day. So I did not get up early and do any snow blowing. I hate walking away from a good blow but considering the recent events with my heart rate, it's probably for the best.

This morning, the bus was very slow...due to the snowy conditions. I'm sure they were all running behind schedule. My bus wasn't waiting for me when Susan drove me up but it showed up after a couple of minutes. I usually punch in around 7:20 but today it was 7:38 when I got to the clock.

V-Tach Revisited

Despite the misgivings that Susan had, we painted in the sky walks last night. We were working on the sky walk over Riverside between the STA Bus Plaza and the Crescent building.

Everything was going along fine when I had a dizzy spell. I had time to get off the ladder and I tried to cough through it. Usually, I can make a dizzy spell go away by coughing forcefully. It didn't work. I went down and the defib went off. It's like getting hit in the chest with a 2x4. It happened about 8:30.

Well, that ended the painting session as far as Susan was concerned. So we packed up and headed for home.

I called the Heart Clinic this morning and reported the incident. I ended up talking to Nurse John and gave him the update. My hope was they would move up my appointment. He called back and left the appointment as is but got me a prescription for Amiodorone. That's a powerful drug I've been on before that regulates how fast my heart can go...I think.

In any event, we are painting tonight. I hope it all goes well.

V-Tach Appointment

Before I had a chance to call my Doctor's office, they called me. They got the report that my Defibrillator had worked. I spoke with Josh, one of Dr. Byazrova's nurses. He got all the information I had to impart and said he would talk to Dr. B and someone would call back to schedule an appointment.

I got a call later and they are going to rush me in for an evaluation on December 26th.

V-Tach Time

As I arrived at work today and parked the car, I had a sudden dizzy spell that was pretty strong. I came out of it okay but apparently that was because my Defibrillator paced me out of it. My heart rate went up to over 200.

Later in the day, I had a haircut appointment and as I stepped out of the car, I had another dizzy spell. The next thing I remember is sitting in the barber chair getting my haircut.

We think what happened was that I passed out on the street. I must have been laying there and someone drove by and stopped. They walked me up to the house and I went in. Sue washed my hair and started cutting  and about then is when I came out of the confusion.

I have no memory of any of that happening.

It was decided to visit the Hospital Emergency Room where Susan and I spent the next 6 hours, only to be told that I had an incident. 

Oh Good! My heart is messing up again.

Car Shield 2019

I'm using this post to record all that is happening with my car. Here's the scoop:

Tuesday Nov. 12th: 4:30ishPM: While driving home after work, the car started losing power as I got on the freeway. I was able to limp it to the Barker Road exit where it died. I called Susan to come rescue me. While waiting, a Dept. of Transportation truck pulled up behind me. He pushed me across the road and I coasted into the parking lot and the little Chevron Convenience store.

Wednesday Nov. 13th: Called Car Shield 1-800-531-1925 I told them I was broken down and arranged for a tow. My contract covers towing up to $70.00. I had to pay $20.00 to Reliable Towing. The guy showed up at 9:30 and we towed the car to Tire-Rama in Liberty Lake 509-922-7771.
Near the end of the day, Adam form Tire-Rama called and said I needed a new engine. The Timing Chain skipped a link and there was no compression in three cylinders. He had called Car Shield and they indicated it was covered by my contract.

Thursday Nov. 14th: Called Car Shield for update. The first person I spoke to said my contract was expired. I was transferred to another person who said it was not expired. Apparently, Adam called in with the information and said the mileage was 203,205. The person at Car Shield heard 230,000 and said that my contract expired at 229,801 miles. We got that problem resolved and now I am waiting to hear whether I'm getting a new engine or not.

I just got off the phone with an adjuster for Car Shield. He wants maintenance records for the car. I told him I do my own oil changes and I have no records. Waiting to see what happens next.

Claim number 945213

While heading home, I got a call from Josh at Tire-Rama. He wanted to confirm that Car Shield had contacted and updated me. We are now waiting on an Adjuster to come by and look at the car.

I asked if they had a total on what this would cost and he said it was over $7,000.00. 

I do not have a good feeling that Car Shield is going to approve this on a car that is worth about $3,000.00.

Monday Nov. 18th: I received a call from Josh at Tire-Rama. He said the Adjuster showed up and drained one quart of oil from my car. That was all it had. 

Car Shield is now asking me to authorize an engine tear down. If they find a reason for the low oil, they will authorize the repair. If they can't find a reason, they will assume I let the oil get too low and not authorize the repair. If they find me at fault, I will have to pay for the engine tear down...about $500.00.

I'm going to call in the morning and tell them I am not authorizing the tear down.

Saturday Nov. 21st: My friend Jerry helped me rent a tow dolly and haul the Escape home from Tire-Rama. It sits in the driveway while I decide what happens next.

Friday Dec 6th: I bought a vehicle. It's a 2003 GMC Envoy with 180,000 mile on it. It's a deluxe version and power everything but it has 180,000 mile on it. Hopefully, it will serve me well over the next couple years.

Saturday, Dec. 7th: I was hoping for a refund for my last payment from Car shield. today, I received a check for $555.60. That was way more than I expected. that made this whole bitter pill a bit easier to swallow.

November BP

Eye Exam 2019

I've just returned from an Eye exam through my new health insurance company, Kaiser Permanente.

About two or three weeks ago, I noticed a slight cloudiness in my left eye while driving to work in the morning. I mentioned it to Dr. O'Connor when I saw him last week and he said there looks like the start of a cataract in the left eye. 

He referred me to an eye doc and that's how I ended up at todays' appointment.

I met with Dr. Brad Jansen at the Kaiser building near downtown. He looks like a 30ish kind of guy and he was very apologetic about everything he put me through. It involved the trauma of shining a light in my eyes and touching my eyelids. 

I told him to stop apologizing and examine me.

it turns out that I'm in pretty good eye health. My right eye is 20/20 and my left is 20/25. My optic nerves looked good and there is no sign of glaucoma.

There is the start of a cataract but he recommended doing nothing right now. He said to come back in two years unless it's really bothering me.

So hopefully, I will refer back to this post in about two years and make an appointment to see how I'm doing.

October 2019 Blood Pressure

Anal Physical

I had my annual physical with Dr. O'Connor today. Here are the vital numbers from my blood draw.

Everything looked good over last time.

I noticed about a week ago that the vision in my left eye was a little cloudy. I had Dr. O'Connor take a look and he says I have a cataract forming. He is referring me to Spokane Eye Clinic.

My prostate appears to be okay. 

He is also sending me in for an x-ray on my shoulder. It's been inexplicably sore for a while now and I want to know what is going on.

All else is going well. 

My foot is still in good shape but that is not surprising a week after having the little knob removed.

More Autumn Cold

It is Sunday and I have been in bed all weekend. I do not feel like I'm getting better but I'm not really all that bad. Yeah, the coughing is annoying, the sniffling is a drag. But I don't have any headaches, or stiffness. If it wasn't for the coughing, I would be up doing stuff.

Then again, the cold gives me an excuse for staying in bed and watching football and stuff on Netflix alllllllllll weekend.

I'm planning on going to work tomorrow. I just have to keep away from everyone.

Autumn Cold

On Thursday, I came down with a cold. I noticed I was coughing pretty good in the afternoon and by the time I got home, it was a heavy persistent cough and my throat was sore. By the end of the night, my whole chest area was sore from coughing.

It is Friday afternoon and I am at home. I went to work this morning because I had to make sure a couple of jobs were ready for Monday. I left at noon and I am heading for bed. I have Nyquil and cough drops.

Dr Whitting - Foot Doctor

I have been suffering with a slight foot problem for the last 6 months. The problem involves a plugged pore. It's on the outside of my left foot just behind my little toe. It's a hard spot that could be best described as a corn. I've tried hitting it with a pumas stone. That has not worked.

It can be painful at times when I am walking around and then can just as quickly can be hardly felt.

I had this problem about three years ago and Dr. O'Connor referred me to a podiatrist, Dr. Whitting. He solved the problem quickly and efficiently and I was pain free for a couple years.

I noticed the problem again back in March and mentioned the problem to Dr. O'Connor when I saw him in April. He pulled out a little scalpel and hacked at the problem and it felt better for about half a day.

But the pain quickly returned and has been plaguing me ever since.

I finally arranged to see Dr. Whitting again and today was the day. I am fresh out of his office and feeling much better. However, there is still kind of a hard spot in that area. 

Dr. Whitting said that it may require a freezing session. He usually treats this sort of thing like a wart and freezing the thing off seems to offer the most permanent solution.

It does feel much better and I'm going to keep an eye on it.

Now, I have to go to the local Social Security office to fix a problem with my account. I expect to be there for a couple of hours.

September BP

Another Perfect Month of Blood Pressure Recordances

August BP

July BP

Cardiologizing

I had an appointment with Dr. Kadel today. It was my semi-annual obligatory visit to my Cardiologist. We discovered during my visit that I have fallen off one of my drugs: Coreg. It's a Cholesterol med. I must have run out of it back in December and then forgot to re-order it.

Anyway, I'm back on it and all is well. Dr Kadel had me go in for an ultrasound and he thought it looked good. So, for now, no changes.

I need to continue my walking, which I have not been very regular about. It's very easy to come home after a day of toil and veg. That's kind of my "Go To" position.

Obligatory Health Post for July

I feel obligated to post something regarding my health and how things are going.

Things are going fine. I've been working in the yard and walking. Climbing the hill up to Division Street and subsequently further up to Cora was a slog and I was out of breath at the top. So my goal is to get to a point where I can breath at the top.

June BP

This is the first month since I've been keeping track of my Blood Pressure that I completed the full month...every day has a notation. Sure, I missed my weight on the 18th but that just means I still have a goal to shoot for.

May Hemoglobin Tension

Gout Shoulder Update

Just to keep things updated, the shoulder gout left as swiftly as it came. It is gone now but my other shoulder is a little stiff. I think what is going on is that I'm old and getting older.

Gout Shoulder

When I got home from work on Monday evening, I felt a slight twinge a pain developing in my right shoulder. I had a really tough time sleeping. At some point during the night, I removed my watch...something I never do. When I went to look at it while in the shower, I was completely surprised to discover it missing. I have no memory of removing it. 

It has not been a constant pain, but I sure do feel it when I raise my arm above shoulder height.

The intensity seems to come and go. Last night, it was a continual dull pain, no matter how I held my arm. I ended up sleeping on back all night.

This has come on me with no warning or reason. I have not been lifting anything, heavy or not. It kind of came on me in the same fashion that gout has come on in the past.

April BP

Vital Blood Data

Here is the latest data I got from my Doctor concerning my blood work from today's appointment.

My understanding is that it is all mostly okay.

I had him look at my foot and he scraped the hard spot a little and relieved some of the pain. It's not really pain, it's discomfort. He suggested I get a pumas stone and use it regularly.

Only Tuesday

The alarm went off at 5:15 this morning and I wondered why it was going off on a weekend. It went off again a 5:30 and again, I was perplexed by it going off on a...Saturday? Sunday? Oh...wait!

I must have really been out. It took me a few minutes to realize it was a Tuesday. ONLY TUESDAY!

This week is going by slowly.

On the converse, now that I have been reduced in staff in the Art Department, my days fly by. I have lots to do. So much in fact, that I don't know why I'm sitting here typing when I should be working.

Update on Life

I've been meaning to write, but then life happens.

So here's a quick review of the last few weeks. 

#1) I am still alive. I consider this to be a good thing.
#2) I've given up beer for Lent and have done a good job of avoiding it. I was also supposed to be trying to lose weight but I have been ridiculously non compliant in terms of avoiding food I should not eat.
#3) Gonzaga made it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament and then lost to Texas Tech, who came in second. 
#4) We kind of resumed work on the TV Room but then faltered and did other stuff.
#5) I am now the only Graphic Artist working at Screen Tek. They laid off Laura who has worked with me for 20 years. Don is helping me and has all the computer skills and most of the graphics skills to make life easier. I'm back to working 5 days a week. The 4-10's experiment did not work out.

So there you go!

March BP

Lite Beer Rant

I don't like Light Beer. 

It's not that it tastes like water, which it does. It's not because it has fewer calories. Who cares!

I don't believe in the concept of Light Beer. Life is too short to drink Light Beer. I'm sure that bromide is on a shirt somewhere. If it isn't, it should be.

We are currently in the midst of the NCAA College Basketball Tournament, and with it comes many funny commercials on TV.

Bud Light is making great hay with their popular "Dilly Dilly" series of commercials.  They are set in medieval times based around a kingdom and king that loves Bud Light. 

Their current campaign touts that Bud is made with only four ingredients: barley, hops, water, and rice. They seem to be proud of it.

I have always known this and is why I rail at people that drink Bud. It says it right on their label. Don't people want to drink something with some flavor in it?

My question is, who makes beer out of rice? Big mindless conglomerates that don't care about flavor, that's who!

Please tell me what flavor rice brings to beer. It's a filler! All it does is take the place of otherwise flavorful barley to make the beer cheaper to brew.

I'm upset and passionate about this because Bud Light is the number one selling beer in the country. I don't like the thought that I live in a country where people get dinner at McDonald's and wash it down with Bud Light.

We do not seem to be a very discerning people. This is another sign that this country has its best days in the rear view mirror.

Texting Guy

Spring is almost here and the snow is melting away. But our yard still looks pretty wintery. We still have a good 12 inches of snow and I think it will be around for a while due to the house blocking the sun from hitting the front yard.

I recently learned that my texting life essentially began on December 29th, 2016 at 6:25PM. That's when I sent a text to Mark, who has never deleted any of his texts to anyone he has ever texted.

I pretty much despise texting. I don't like to do it because it seems it is so much easier to contact the person by phone and get the same information much more quickly. But, it is the wave of the future and you just can't communicate with some people any other way these days.

And so, I am...relunctantly...Texting Guy.

Mo Sno

As predicted, mo sno fell over night. It looks like four inches. I did not have time this morning to break out the snow blower. I shoveled the front walk and I made a path to the driveway. I'll have to clean it up tonight. 

I HATE that! I really like having my area of snow removal responsibility clean and I've done a poor job this year. Now that the snow blower is working properly, I have to do a better job.

I am home now and the driveway is clean. Lou cleaned my sidewalk for me so all I had to do was the drive.

Here's a good indication of the total snowfall we've gotten in the last couple of weeks. That pile of snow is 14 inches thick. 

The plows came by tonight, sometime before I got home. They didn't leave too much of a berm so it was easy to clear it off.

No more snow is forecast right away so maybe we've made it through the worst of it. It doesn't feel like St Patrick's Day is only two weeks away.

February BP

Good Luck, Kimi

We have a cold one going today. It's about 22 degrees but with the wind its about 11. There is a light but persistent snow coming down and the wind is blowing it all over the place.

One of the nice things about getting to work early is that you beat all the morning snow accidents. I guess there were a bunch this morning but I heard about from people who showed up to work after me.

Speaking of someone who showed up after me, I lost a good co-worker today. Kimi has been here for about 6 years. She was a good worker. We transferred her out of shipping into the Art Dept. She was chronically late. It was tough for her to wake up in the morning. A good solid sleeper!

Anyway, they have been on her for a long time about showing up on time and she was warned on Tuesday about it. On Wednesday, she came in 12 minutes late. We had a meeting about it and I tried to fight for her but the boss had had enough.

6:38PM: I left work early today in order to pick up film. That got me home while it was still light. I was able to tackle the two or three inches of snow with alacrity. It sound like we have more coming tonight.

Ready for More

I got the snow blower back today. It cost 75 bucks plus tax. Cheap to have the snow blower running good. I was expecting the snow to stop falling once I got the snow blower back. However, we are supposed to get 3 to 4 inches in the next day or so.

I'm ready!

Cars on the Street

We have had snow for 12 of the last 14 days. I made that up but it's very close.

My snow blower is in the shop but hopefully will be ready on Wednesday.

One of the interesting things about the snow is that it makes it easy to see how many vehicles parked on the street are essentially abandoned.

I did not seek these out. I simply drove down several residential streets today while out running errands. And I could drive down almost any stretch of street and find the same thing.

January Blood Pressure

Vacation Day for Dave

I have an appointment at 11:00 to get the stitches out of my mouth from last weeks surgery.

I have taken a vacation day to accommodate the appointment and go to a funeral.

In the meantime, I have this to deal with.

It started snowing last night and continued into the evening. At some point, it turned to rain and I expect it will be gone by the end of the day. I'm going out to fire up the snow blower but I think the snow is too wet.

I'll let you know in the next paragraph.

It's the next paragraph but only about 15 minutes have passed. The snow is too wet for the snow blower. I tried to do a little shoveling but to hell with that. I don't want to attend another funeral today. Especially as Guest of Honor.

To compound matters, the snow blower is running like shit. I think I left gas in it all summer. I got some gas stabilizer but that has not seemed to work. I need to get it in for a tune up.

11:48AM: The dentist was a breeze. Sit down, cut out the stitches, get some instructions and get out.

Now I'm going to relax until I go to the Memorial gathering for Dave Rowand. I knew Dave from High School but became his Beta Brother at Washington State.

I always thought we would be attending my funeral before Dave's. He was in great shape, skied all the time and had just retired after selling the family business last year. I suspect something with his heart took him down.

I also learned to about another death, this one a high school buddy who died last week. Another Dave! In this case, Dave Gaiser. He was just a year older than me and died of heart failure. 

I may end up out living all my peers because my heart issues are identified and monitored and under the control of lots of drugs.

Either that, or I'm dead tomorrow.

Ski Day Number One

I have discovered that my energy level is much higher on my Mondays off than it is on Sunday, just the day before. At least, that is what I have experienced the last couple of weeks.

I had a whole slew of things I was going to do yesterday and began my morning tearing into them. 

I cleaned out the fireplace and did a very thorough job of cleaning the glass on the front of the Fireplace Insert.

Then I decided it seemed like a good day for a walk...something I need to do more. While on the walk, I thought it would be a great day to be skiing. So I pulled out my phone and called my life long pal Rob. He's retired now so I new he would be free. I pitched the half day skiing idea and he was in.

So Rob picked me up at noon and we drove up to Mt. Spokane. We were  on the lift at 1:15. 

It was a nice mostly sunny day, but cold. It took me a while to adapt to the cold air. It made me cough for 20 minutes. 

Of course, the worst part of the day for me is walking from the car up to the lift. After that, gravity takes over and I'm okay. Not great, just okay.

We skied 8 runs in about two hours. After the eighth, We drove down the mountain and stopped in to the Hub.

A great day!

The Day After

To my great surprise, Dr Steve called me today to see how I was doing. I can think of only one other time where a Doctor called me the day after a procedure. That Doc was a dentist as well.

Anyway, we talked for a while and I asked him to describe the procedure he performed.

He told me he got down into my gums and really cleaned and disinfected the area. He also used cadaver bone to rebuild the damage to my jawbone/tooth. Then he gathered up more gum and refilled the area. 

This procedure cost about $2,500.00 and my insurance is covering all but $390.00 of it. Plus, I had to buy some prescription drugs, including Hydrocodone which I only took one of.

Receding Gum Report

I had surgery on my gums today.

For a few years now, my dentist has been concerned with my receding gums. I have lots of threes verging on fours and a couple of fives. Fives are bad. Even worse, a nine is really bad.

Well, I have a nine mm pocket on the inside of my #28 tooth.

So Dr. Gaunt referred me to Dr. Steve, who is a periodontal surgeon. I went in about three weeks ago and he determined I needed the surgery to rebuild the bone and gum.

So Susan drove me to Dr. Steve's office this morning at 7AM. They got me into the room and on the chair pretty quickly. The nurse gave me a cocktail to drink that had Valium and something else in it. It relaxed me pretty fast. I was never out but I was definitely in twilight.

When it was over, I lamely piled into a wheel chair. My legs were very heavy. I was outta there and back home by 9:00. Then I slept for most of the afternoon.

I experienced very little pain. The worst part of the whole thing is that they packed some dental putty on my teeth and it feels like I have a big plug of chewing tobacco in there. 

I have to go back in a week and have the stitches removed and hopefully the plug of chaw.

First Post of 2019

Here we are in the new year and I'm finally getting around to posting.

I'm back to work but really feeling like crap. I've had a cold for over a week. It's never been bad enough to keep me in bed but I haven't been terribly active.

Today I'm very congested and snotty. I've unloaded some tremendous snot balls into tissue today. It's been really impressive but not something I wanted to share with people. Just you!