"Manipulation"

Friday I go to outpatient surgery for a “manipulation” on my knee. Seems like the knee is locked up from scar tissue around the implants. As I understand it, I will be sedated (asleep) for thirty-seconds. During that time, the surgeon will bend the leg inward far as possible and then he will lay it down, place his hands across the the knee cap, and forcibly crush the joint until the the scar tissue is busted up. Hopefully that will allow me to begin straightening the knee. I will be in outpatient therapy for awhile. I really don’t understand why I was hospitalized in a rehab ho-$-pital for a month without this being diagnosed and over and done with. Six weeks since surgery and I am physically and mentally worse off than when all I had to care about was a sore knee.

I will write more as soon as I have some good news for a change. I do want to tell about my rehab encounters with a witch.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich

After a month in rehab, the food I asked for when I got home was peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So fine!
Sammy and Mason came by not long after I arrived home. I had to use the toilet and when Sammy first saw me he grinned so big. pointed at me, and ran off to tell his mama. I trust it was because he was glad to see me and not because I was on the pot. Either one, I was the happiest man in the world. Mason has forgotten me but I hope to see him more and make up for lost time.

The knee is coming along so-so; very sore up to my crotch. The therapists are working me harder at home than they did in rehab. I am closely watching for infection.

I have a few days to work by myself before a therapist comes back on Monday. Tuesday I deal with the steps once more when going to surgeon for checkup.

Taking rat poison for a blood clot in my knee; it seems to be dissolving safely but I will have to be on the med for at least three more months. A nurse just now left me after doing a blood test and taking my vital signs. All were ok.

I know all this is boring but it is my way of coping and trying to make sense of things. I still see no future without crutches but I do see a better future even with them.

I may be late answering your comments but be assured I eagerly read and appreciate all of them.
Have a good weekend, dear ones.

My Boys

Photos by Ashley.

mum

last day to blog for awhile and i can’t think of anything to write.

later, my friends. :-)

Rain

We’ve had buckets and buckets of rain this year. Lawns are almost as green now as they were in early spring; hardly any brown to be  seen.

We want to go back to Chattanooga for a few days but with all that is happening it is doubtful we will make it. I darn sure want to be walking when we go. I also want to visit some of the places I where worked construction, especially a few in West Virginia. I worked on four different power houses there and it has been thirty-six years since I was last the state. Things may have changed a bit over the years

back

bad back. may go to hospital ER.
later

For what it's worth

Last Sunday I committed the sin of sins. Last Sunday I forgot that it was my bride’s and my wedding anniversary. It was the first time in forty-nine years that I have forgotten it. The only thing that saved me from stormy feminine wrath is that Carolyn also forgot it. She always forgets it. However, I could tell that she was disappointed that I did forget.  I too am ill at ease about it. It is bad enough to forget but I just do not feel that I am old enough to be losing so much memory so quickly. Scary it is.

Been off methotrexate for two weeks now and I am feeling it. Sore fingers feel like sausage links, swollen joints reducing circulation and it is ten days to go until surgery and two weeks after that before i can go back on the pills. Then it will be three or four more weeks before they are once more effective. “I am a man of constant sorrow” but if I forget another anniversary, I will have to start drinking alcohol again for solace and that will ease some RA pain, too.

Happy Birthday, Sammy!

Finished installing free AVG anti-virus on my Tab 2, Droid X, and Carolyn’s phone. Here is a Kaspersky article about growth and threats from mobile viruses. I still don’t feel safe but I do feel safer.

Yesterday was Master Sam’s second birthday; I wanted to do a blog for him but by the time the hospital medical establishment got through with me in my pre-op tests, interviews, and money rendering I was too tired for much of anything. I have an appointment with the surgeon assistant in a few days for more of the same. We stopped at Burger King for a late lunch and I had the Memphis pulled-pork barbecue sandwich and Carolyn had a barbecue rib sandwich. They both were good but should have been larger for a satisfying meal. Anyway, a belated Happy Birthday to my Big Boy!

Late Sunday my PC suddenly shut down; I was able to restart it but it was soon down again, finally coming to the point where it would not restart. I built the unit several years ago and was able to think my way through a bit of diagnostics, deciding the power supply had failed. I immediately ordered a new power unit from Amazon which I received on Tuesday. I already had the old supply removed and eagerly and temporarily plugged in all the connections and put electric to it. The PC started fine and has been working ever since. JJ permanently installed the new unit inside the PC and all is well in computer land. I am glad I did not have to build a new PC; I just do not have the money for it right now. As it is, it cost less than $50 for the repair, including one-day shipping for the power supply. A computer repair shop fix would have been in the range of $200 — $300.

A good Sunday

Haven’t heard this ballad since Mark posted a while back. Always been a favorite.

June's last Saturday

We kept the boys the past two days; they are about all we can handle. Someone has spoiled them beyond belief. Sammy peed in my bed on Thursday and Mason nailed it yesterday.

Knee surgery scheduled for July 17; must stop taking R.A. med immediately and by the time the scalpel is sharpened, I will be meaner and ornerier than usual. Surgery should take less than an hour and I hopefully will be confined only three days. Then comes the hard part.

Heat out west must be awesome; hope for the best for Courtney and Jeremy and all the folks, young and old, who are affected the most by bad conditions.

Bob Lawson

Bobby Lawson

Bob Lawson. Another friend from my youth has passed. I first met Bob in seventh grade and we became school friends. Bob was a gentleman and an inspiration. He married his high school sweetheart Suzanne Lyle, a beautiful lady whom I was fortunate to attend school with from first grade through high school. They eventually migrated to California and we lost contact with each other until one day about eight years ago I received an email from Bob asking if I was the Wayne Anderson who attended Jonesboro High School in the early sixties. I was thrilled to hear from him after so long. Bob proudly wore his University of  Tennessee Orange.

Ain’t got no more to say today.

Blues on my mind

I am working on some blues lyrics:
It’s Tuesday
What more can I say
It came at midnight
It’ll leave the same way
Nighttime found me crying
My Baby went away

Pieces of sleep

This sadness won’t end
Mr. Sun has no shine
My poor heart can’t mend
Old Fate has dealt
A dead man’s hand
More later …

Aches and Hackers

Still awaiting a surgery date. The doctor should release me from the pneumonia thing on Monday next. The cough is all but gone away but the backache, though greatly lessened in intensity, is persistent. Mark gave me a clue about the back pain. He mentioned that his mom’s first diagnosis was for pneumonia and I think I remember him saying she had backache also. Naturally, I googled. Back pain can be a part of pneumonia.

Do you use a “cloud service” to store or backup stuff from your PC, smartphone, or tablet? If so, be aware that my cloud account was compromised (hacked) and some porn photos were uploaded to it. I won’t say which cloud service it was because they are supposed to be investigating the mess. Anyway, I deleted all my stuff from the site and am now back to backing my files by other means. This happened to me on Flickr not long after i joined that site back in ’06. I couldn’t even delete the offending photo but when I informed administration it was quickly removed.

Enough for today.

Summer Boy

Barefoot through grass when I was a boy
A stick on a string my only toy
Speeding past Grandma’s chicken coop
Toes squishing rooster poop

Days of summer simmer my heart
Shade and shadows by an old flower cart
‘Twas when lad and summer played as one
Carefully nurtured by old man Sun

Happy Hump Day

Gotta love the camel

Happy Birthday Tammy. I am running late on everything lately.

I was back to doc on Monday; I will be recovering for a couple of weeks. Got another antibiotic shot and a cortisone shot. Butt ache by the numbers. She wanted me to check into hospital but I wormed my way out of it.

Now, my back hurts. RA, I suppose.

We gave Sammy his birthday present early; a Radio Flyer wagon. I wanted one like this when I was small but I was happy to get this one. It was still around in my teen years and was probably given to a cousin. I bought my kids one like it in late 1960′s. Sammy likes his.

I’ve found a couple of good photo ops if I can ever convince Carolyn to drive me to them. I spied them as we sped by when going to and from doctor.

Jeremy has added three more of my photos to the Walk of Art store; check them all out if you have a chance. He has also created a Facebook page for the store. I must say, the photographer is amazing.

Sunday

Happy Name Day, Jolanta!

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For my kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids on Father’s Day: I am proud of all of you.

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When your body becomes weary, make the job a mind exercise.

—–

Carolyn shanghaied me and forced a haircut on me; first one in a year or more.

Boys

The boys have left us; they were with us for only just more than a week but I miss them. I miss Mason's squeals of laughter in early morning; I miss Sammy playing in our bedroom every until he gets sleepy; I miss him pecking on our door to get us up. Carolyn cried for days after they left.

When kids get out of school for summer they turn around and go back for summer sessions of book lessons. When I was a school boy and out for summer, I learned many lessons by playing with my pals and roaming the woods, hills, and fields for a couple of months. I wonder if I ended up better educated than do today's kids?

Referring to the present N.S.A. fiasco, instead of trying to cover their asses I think the powers should give us good reasons to trust them. They cannot. I really don't know what the big surprise is about the domestic spying. Bush unabashedly bypassed the constitution to allow it and it was widely publicized as was Obama's decision to expand surveillance at home and in foreign countries. If people had watched The Spy Factory on PBS's Nova when it came out several years ago, it tells nearly everything that is just now being "found" by the popular press. The documentary can be seen online here or can be found on Netflix and other sources.

Referring to Mark's diet, Carolyn and I ordered takeout cheeseburgers from the Cottage, my old time watering hole. It was Friday after I had chest x-rays. The burgers were huge and juicy.

I have a full-blown case of pneumonia in both lungs. So far, I am dodging a stay in hospital. Thursday at a doctor visit I had a nebulizer treatment which helped a lot and a shot in my butt.

Two months from diagnosis 'til death. My cousin and closest buddy from my teen years died Friday from leukemia. I will miss you Bull. "Bull" was my personal nickname for him. He was 67 years old.

We dodged a bullet, my friends. Friday 13 fell on Thursday this month.

Passing through

Happy Birthday, Robin! Robin was the first person to ever comment on one of my blog posts.

Carolyn placed a flower container on the front porch which was soon taken over by a pair of housekeeping Carolina wrens. The eggs have hatched and a lot of peeps and tweets are emerging from the nest. Nature is wonderful.

The weather today is perfect for a Worshday; rainy and gray.

I'm sleepy.

Happy day, my friends.

Sunday not in the Park

I am so happy to not know whom Justin Bieber is; all of a sudden and for the first time in my life, I feel like an adult. Hold me Mommy …

The boys are both crying but their mama is with them; it is making me nervous, though.

Carolyn is working but I can’t get a thing done at the PC; just a blah day. Even the weather looks gloomy.

Sammy is now standing beside me watching videos of himself. I think Ashley found someone to sit with the boys while she goes to work.

Have a good week, my friends.

Boys and berries

Typical hippie/stoner music from the day

Ashley and the boys are staying with us for awhile. My days are filled with either entertaining Sammy or with Mason on my lap or both things at once. Sammy’s favorite Youtube actor is … Sammy. He loves most of the videos I made of him, especially ones with music. Mason is spoiled and wants to sit up all the time. They are with Chris for the remainder of the afternoon.

In college I was assigned to read Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. I knew it was classic American literature but when I tried to read it I had problems with the language of the times and the Yankee view of life in that period. I ended up borrowing a copy of Cliff’s Notes which allowed my to get a passing grade for the course. About two weeks ago I decided to tackle reading the entire book; it is easier going this time but still a slow read. Thoreau was a remarkable man and he has come to symbolize our need for nurturing the natural world. Besides, anyone who can enjoy eating groundhog has to be a special person.

It has been a very wet spring in these hills; grass is almost as green and lush as it was in mid-April. Blackberry briars in the backyard are laden with green fruit even though there was not as many blossoms as last year. Somehow that don’t make sense but I suppose it is what it is.

Looks like I am going to have to visit an auto mechanic to have my knee fixed; the medical profession surely is not interested in that line of work.

Wish I was able to be out and about this glorious weekend.