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We�re Here for What?
2008-01-10, 3:56 p.m.

Day 1236

Communications is key. Took Bob in for what I thought was a post op follow up. Well, we got that AND a whole new round of surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma too. Turned what was a pretty routine day into a circus.

Hadn�t planned on being more than an hour at the docs. I called Cindy as the surgery was starting. I only wanted to update her on what was happening. She updated me instead.

As she was backing down the driveway this morning, we apparently lost power. Her garage door only went halfway down and froze. She assumed it was the power because of the intermittent nature of the lighting as she was getting herself ready fir work.

I had to admit � that train I thought I heard running across our roof at 5am was really a nasty blast of wind. Nasty like a 75mph gust according to the weather service. Our own neighborhood didn�t fare too badly, but some areas got pounded pretty bad. Cindy said it was like a war zone driving to work. Old Christmas trees blowing all over the place, power lines down, trees toppled left & right. Her school had power and was running on time, but many schools closed or were running late.

While she was getting her wits back, I updated her on her Dad�s situation. A little unexpected surgery happening. I though we were going to schedule the next surgery, not actually do it. Instead of me taking the entire day to play waiting room attendant and nurse, we arranged for us to swap roles around mid-day. We didn�t want to leave Bob to his own devices after surgery. He kinda has a tendency to forget all the post-op instructions � like don�t pick the stitches out, don�t get them wet, keep them coated with polysporin � all that nice stuff. Consequently, we have an unexpected houseguest for the next week or so. It�s going to be SO FUN!!

Poor Eric was home all day yesterday during the wind storm. No power. No Xbox, no internet, no TV. He actually resorted to emptying the dishwasher, just to have something to do. Heh, if I knew that�s all it took, I�d kill the main breaker every morning. After the dishwasher, he was stuck doing crossword puzzles all day. Sucks to be home on winter break, doesn�t it?

We got power back about 4pm or so. Roughly 8 hours of no power. Not a big deal at all. It was warm enough that the house only cooled down to 64. We set the thermostat back to 62 during the day anyhow so no big deal there. Unfortunately, some areas are expected to be powerless till sometime this weekend. Too bad the temps are dropping from the mid 60�s to the mid 30�s. Night times are going to be worse. At least there�s lots of firewood available.

I referred to a story a couple of days ago about a woman that fell under a horse and was trampled to death. A tragic event to be sure. I then commenced to bitching about the family�s pending lawsuits against the mall, mall security, the sheriffs department, the sheriff riding the horse, the horses breeders � anybody with money that might pay up. Well, I think the lawsuits might just be moot now. Not only did the woman who was killed recently have surgery and require the use of a cane to get around, she also had a wee drinking problem. The initial tox screen revealed she had a BAC of 0.25. DUI here in NY starts at 0.08. (I wonder if you can be posthumously arrested for DUI?) I�m thinking that at 0.25, Ms. horse-petter was hammered. (I know what Cindy was like when she was up around a 0.25. Her only stable positions involved the word �horizontal�) When she reached out to pet the horse, she missed because she couldn�t figure out which of the 3 horses she was seeing was the real one. Then, having no prayer of balance recovery, she ended up under the horse.

I never read that the family would not pursue lawsuits against any and all involved parties, but I hope they develop enough common sense to realize that their sister/mother/daughter/wife was solely to blame for her own demise.

�Nuff bummer material.

Wait � maybe not.

Lefty brother won�t be bowling tonite. Said he was very sore last Friday. Went to the ER Saturday � pain in his left side, up along his ribs. After a whole bunch of tests showed nothing abnormal, they took him in for a CAT scan. That showed a roughly 2.5cm mass in his left lung. ER doc said it could be 3 things � an infection, a clot or cancer. He�s been put on massive doses of very expensive antibiotics. If things improve in 10 days, it might be an infection. He�s been in for another CAT scan. Technician said �I can let you go because the doctor said he saw nothing� WTF?? Saw �nothing� as in �nothing at all�, �nothing new� or �nothing wrong�? (Are there more nothings?) As you can imagine, Lefty bro is a little perturbed at this lack of info. Lucky for the doctors the massive doses of vicodin are keeping him mellow. Not lucky for the doctors that his wife is not on the same doses of vicodin. She�s going to go kick some ass and get some answers. You do NOT want to mess with her when she�s pissed.

He hasn�t told our mom yet. He wants to wait until he talks to his own doctor again and gets the results of an MRI and a D-Dimer test before he mentions anything. I talked to my mom last night just to let her know we were all ok after the wind & power issues yesterday. She was worried because the three hardest hit towns are where the three of us live. Luckily, we all ended up ok. Apparently, falling trees and power lines take pity on folks dealing with medical crap. At least they did yesterday. But I gotta say, it was difficult to talk to her and keep mum about lefty�s condition. Speaking of which � I need to get me an update.

For the record, lefty never smoked, never got too heavy, hasn�t had cholesterol problems and never really even misbehaved. The only thing he doesn�t do is exercise often enough, but even at that, he isn�t horrible. I�m sure things will work out fine. I just don�t like the wait to get there.

Edited to add: Update from Lefty. Antibiotics seem to be helping. Clot is definitively ruled out. Going in for more blood tests. Again. He seems less worried. That�s good.

Time to go bowl.


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