We talked to Leslie at Stanford yesterday and learned that our initial week on the 23rd of June is not going to work. We looked at the following week but it contains the Fourth of July, so I don’t think that’s going to work.
So…for now…no Stanford for Stanburke.
We got the call from Stanford today.
I was out to lunch with Rob and Mark. We were at the Hub when I got an email from Susan that Stanford called and wants a callback.
I raced home and we made the call.
Leslie 650 725-3823
I am still waiting confirmation but we have set up an initial appointment for the week of June 23rd. There will be a bunch of tests and meetings and then we should hear if we are approved (or not) by the following week.
I have already contacted my friend Arnie, who lives in San Fran and will put up with us for at least a week.
If we are approved, we need to move to San Francisco for three to six months.
There are still lots of details to work out and lots of stuff we just don’t know.
Anyway, that’s the latest.
In the meantime, let ‘s get an update on my rash.
It stopped oozing almost immediately after I stopped applying Neosporun. It’s still pretty red and a little itchy but way better than it was.
I never did get the ointment that the doctor prescribed because Rite-Aid didn’t have it on hand. They had to order it and because of the Memorial Day weekend, they wouldn’t have it until at least Tuesday.
Well, by the time Tuesday rolled around, the rash was dramatically improving and I didn’t think I needed the ointment. So, sit on it, Rite-Aid.
I’ve been putting Vaseline on it because it gets pretty dry and scaly but I am definitely feeling that it is on the mend.
I have been riding the hell out of Mark’s bike. I’m really enjoying it. I can’t say that I’m getting the same kind of exercise as when I go on a walk, but I usually return to the house feeling like I stressed myself out a little.
As I’m typing right now, there is a guy named Tim from All Things Piano who is doing what I hope will be the final tune on the piano since it’s refurbishment.
We have been playing it for the last week and half, since Chris was here to do the initial tuning. As expected, it almost immediately went out of tune. During the shake down, we also indentified a few keys down on the bass end that needed a little adjustment.
He’s been here about an hour and probably has an hour to go.
In the meantime, I’m going to sit on the front porch and enjoy the weather with my lemonaid.
I have managed to secure an appointment this morning with my Dermatologist, Dr. Keith Parker, the guy I saw last January. I was able to find his name, not because of my great memory, but because I wrote about it here in this Blog.
It’s going to be a very busy day starting with this appointment at 9:50.
12:20PM: According to Dr. Parker, I am allergic to NeoSporun. He prescribed an ointment to put on the wound for a few days and then, just use Vaseline.
So, life goes on and we’ll see how this all works out.
I can’t say that it’s getting worse but it’s not getting better. The big red spot is what concerns me. It continues to ooze and I think it’s getting larger.
The oozing is the main problem. The gauge pad on the large bandage I’m using gets saturated pretty quickly. I have been changing the dressing twice a day but yesterday I changed it three times and then got up about 5am to change it again.
I will again say that it is not painful. It stings in the morning when I wash it and it’s itchy. I consider myself a top notch pussy when it comes to pain so you can take my word that it is not painful.
I have an appointment at the Express Care place at 11:00. Details to follow.
3:30 PM: I am in the ER at Sacred Heart Hospital. I’ve been here about two hours. The guy I saw at Express Care looked at my wound and said I needed to go to the ER or an Urgent Care location for a blood draw to test my blood.
So here I sit.
The place is very busy and there are lots of people here who look worse off than me. I’m staying until 5 and then I will go home and call my Doctor in the morning and go from there.
Thankfully, I brought my iPad along so I can post to this Blog and play some games. Let’s see how long I can play Mahjong or Solitaire before I kill myself.
4:15PM: I’d like to take a moment to talk about Charles Manson, cuz he’s sitting here right next to me. I know Charlie has been dead a few years, but that description also applies to this guy. He’s got the beard, the long scraggly hair. I haven’t really seen his face because he is in a perpetual slump, so I can’t tell if he has the swastika tattooed into his forehead.
There is also a young woman around the corner from me who has been here longer than I, who is clearly in some pain. She constantly moaning with an occasional grunt. Currently, there is a nurse walking around the waiting room calling for Juan. She’s calling and calling and no one is responding.
I want to tell her there’s no Juan here.
5:12PM: The lady that checked in just before me just got taken in. So I think I’m close to being seen.
I called Susan a while ago and told her I was going to leave at 5:00. She said, “Oh no you don’t either!”
So, I’m still here.
5:37PM: I’m one step closer. They’ve moved me to a comfy chair. I guess I’m waiting for Mr. Dr. to come see me.
6:30PM: The Doctor doesn’t think it’s infected. He’s ordering some labs and suggested I go see a Dermatologist. Standing by.
They have drawn blood, drawn s’more blood and really professionally wrapped up my wound. I’m not sure what I’m waiting for at this point, but I’m waiting!
7:29PM: I guess they are running the bloodwork and that’s why I’m still here jut sitting. I’m pretty played out on Mahjong.
8:15PM: I am home. I stopped at the store on the way home and bought some ice cream. Now…I’m going to eat it. I think I deserve it!
Now I have to call a Dermatologist.
Oh good! More Doctors.
I was on such a great run of posting often and for a while there, every day. I have not been walking since the Walking Challenge ended but I have been riding Mark’s E-Bike almost everyday.
I try to peddle the whole time I am riding but I think I may be fooling myself in how much exercise I’m getting. Some days, I return from a ride feeling pretty well spent and other days, I hop right off and continue my day.
The boo-boo on my arm continues to ooze and grow a bit. The odd thing is the bite that I presume started this whole thing is healing and getting smaller. The area next to it continues to be a large oozing patch. It is not painful, but it is itchy.
Nice, huh?! For anyone concerned about such a lovely wound, let me assure you it is not infected. It is not warm. It is not painful. The ooze is clear and frankly, quite tasty. I am keeping it covered and changing the bandage twice daily. I am using an ointment they prescribed for me. And I am taking an antibiotic twice a day.
The main problem is that with all my heart and lungs issues, plus my body’s age estimated somewhere in the 80’s, I am a slow healer.
Perhaps I panicked a little concerning Sunday’s post. I guess my breathing issues that day were an anomaly, or at least a semi recurring event.
I have had no problem with catching my breath the last couple of days. I had a nice eight mile bike ride yesterday with no ill effects.
However, I have a bug bite that once again is causing me some problems. I first noticed it on Saturday but it didn’t become a concern until late Sunday.
Stay tuned for more updates and pictures as they become available.
I think I shall mark today as the day I couldn't breath.
Sometimes in the morning, I can feel how wheezy my lungs are. They kind of crackle with every breath. I learned today that it totally matters how I'm lying in bed, whether I’m on my right side or left side. Everything seems okay when I’m on my back.
I got up a little after 7:00 and found I was having a really tough time catching my breath. I could take a big deep breath but I still felt winded.
I pulled out the oxygen generator and caught a few breaths with that, but the battery was low so I had to charge it.
I went to put on my Oximeter to see where my oxygen percentage was, but that battery was dead too. It's on the charger right now as well.
I'm feeling okay at the moment. We shall see what happens as the day progresses.
4:41PM: The rest of day has been pretty uneventful. I’m definitely feeling a difference on stairs. I’ll just have to watch myself.
I just returned from a brief bike ride to the bank and I felt great doing that. It was only a couple of miles but I did peddle the whole way. Peddle on assist.
Once again, I took the e-bike out on a ride. Today I used it for a practical reason. I rode 5 miles to Winco Foods to get some stuff, most notably, peanuts for the squirrels.
I managed to make the trip mostly on side streets or low traffic arterials.
The problem I didn’t anticipate was that with two bags of shelled non salted peanuts, my backpack was really heavy. I was able to strap the backpack on to the bike rack over the rear wheel.
It worked quite nicely and I had an equally enjoyable ride home.
I put about 10 miles on the bike and was on it for about an hour.
By the way, here’s a picture of the bike.
As predicted, I did not walk today. But I did ride.
My speedometer says I rode 11 miles today but I'm positive at least one of those miles was riding around and around Corbin Park trying to discharge the battery on the bike. I wasn't peddling at all, just using the throttle to use up power. I wanted to get it almost to empty before I charged it.
At the start of my ride, I rode downtown to the Centennial Trail and headed west towards Riverside State Park.
I'm still trying to figure out the battery life on this bike so I didn't get very far. When it got to 50%, I turned around to come home. It still had 20 % life on the battery when I reached the house.
Unfortunately, the bike is so heavy and I have such poor stamina that I cannot peddle for very long on low or no assistance from the electric motor. So that wears the battery down faster.
I'm planning on riding it to the grocery store tomorrow to get peanuts for the squirrels. It's at least five miles away so it should be a good test of the bikes distance.
But I'm really having a good time riding this bike around.
I guess I should have been keeping track of my mileage during this challenge but I didn’t think about that until I started typing this post. I guess it’s safe to say I walked at least 30 miles.
Until today. Instead of walking, I biked. I borrowed Mark’s electric bike and went for about a ten mile ride.
I peddled most of the time but took advantage of the peddle assist feature. Man oh man! I flew up some of those hills. It’s really fun riding this bike. I want to try and go on a long ride but I’m still feeling out this bike and trying to get a handle on the distance it can go.
Anyway, the challenge is over and I’m going to be biking for the next few days.
I measured the distance of my walk today and it was pretty close to 1.25 miles. So, that what I’m calling it.
The course is walking east on Waverly from the house to Atlantic, turn north and go two blocks to Euclid, west on Euclid to Post street, south to Waverly and back to the house.
It was another nice day. I stopped several times to get my oximeter to stop vibrating.
I only have two more days and my 30 day challenge is complete. I know I’ve missed two days but today was not one of them.
Also, it wasn’t one of my best days. I don’t think I made quite a mile and it was broken up by a stop at the Hub.
I’ll try to do better in the waning days of my challenge.
One thing about this challenge is that I have already posted more this year than all of last year. It looks like my best year of posting was in 2014 with just over 130 posts.
I guess my next challenge is to beat that number. That will require me to stay alive through the year…so that’s my new challenge. Live through the year.
Today’s walk was a bit unorthodox but it was a walk nonetheless.
Susan had to go downtown to get her bib number for Bloomsday. So we drove down, walked several blocks to the Convention Center, walked around the Trade Show and back to the car. I figure it was about a mile.
Of course, there were several mini grilled cheese sandwiches from the Franz Bakery booth as well as many frosted animal crackers.
I finally got to my walk at about 2:00. It’s a beautiful Spring day. Perhaps the first to hit 80, which is temperature as I write this.
I only did a mile and there was a stop at the Hub Tavern. I learned from my Doctor’s appointment yesterday, that when my Oximeter is buzzing, indicating my oxygen level is below 90%, I need to stop and catch my breath.
Even though I don’t feel any ill effects from the low oxygen, I am stressing my heart. Apparently, that is bad.
I haven’t looked at the data from todays’ walk yet, but I think I did a pretty good job of keeping above 90%.
Anyway, I did my mile and I can put another notch in my walking belt.
I only have 5 more days of this challenge. The next challenge will be if I continue the Challenge.
At this point, I plan to continue walking every day. I may not get out every day and if that becomes the norm, I will reinstitute the challenge to get me back on track.
I have a Doctor’s appointment at 11:30 and I want to be able to say that I walked two miles today. I’m heading out shortly and we shall see if I will be able to make that claim.
I made it. It was a beautiful warm morning and a good walk. I stopped a couple of times to catch my breath but overall, I’m happy. PLUS, I can make the claim.
Here’s the data.
I need to take my Oxygen Generator in to the OxyShop. It locked up on me twice today. I noticed it wasn’t delivering a burst of air to me. When I tried to turn it off to reset it, it wouldn’t do it. I had to pull the battery to shut it down. It came back once I turned it back on.
