Who would have thought. I’ve never heard such a thing. YAG? Evedently it’s a thing. I had cateract surgery a couple of years ago and it seems that the pocket that the new lense fits in, well, the bottom had become cloudy and the doctor needed to go in there and trim off the edges so my vision ca could be corrected.
It’s a simple process really. The waiting was the most difficlut part. I had to be there at 7:30 am but wasn’t called back until after 10:30 am. The proceedure was simple; just looking at a light for a couple of seconds and it was over. I have several floaters but they said that it will go away in a few days. I have a followup appointment this Wednesday so maybe he can get me a new script for new glasses.
A lot has gone on since my last update. I’ll try to limit my discussion to one or two items as so not to bore you.
My last Oyncologist report was good but on one of the tests shows that my Creatine levels were high so off to the nephrologist I go. Wwe illinated some meds and reduced my lacix but that didn’t help. I was told to lay off my lacix altogether but when I did that I gained nearly ten pounds in a week. Cause? Fluid. Fluid has been my advasary for quite some time. I go to the gym twice a week, I diet all week long, I drink at least 64 oz of water a day but my weight remains about the same each day. As long as I’m on the lacix I’m okay but when I go off it I gain weight. But, on the other hand, while I’m on the lacix I don’t lose weight no matter how hard i try. This has been going on for a couple of months now.
I had a conversation with my cardiologist the other day and he said that he didn’t want me to get my heart rate much above 130 and I’ve been trying to abide by that. It really doesn’t take much to get my heart rate up and when it does it stays around 125 to 135 and that’s when I’m on the treadmill or spin cycle. I usually try to stay on those machines for at least thirty minutes each. When I’m working out with my trainer he has my heart rate up to nearly 120 at times.
Stay tuned and I’ll tell you about my recent eye surgery.
I know, it’s been a while. I’ve been rather busy with life’s ups and downs.
The Great Cycle Challenge is over and I met my goal of 200 miles by riding 219 miles. However, I didn’t quite meet my monitary goal of $1000 but I did manage to raise over $800.
My son bought a house and he’s driving me nuts with things he’s wanting done in the house. My wife and two daughters spent a week there helping him paint several of the rooms. Now it seems every time he calls he’s wanting something else done. Now it’s hanging a fan, replacing a thermostate, and a multitude of other items that he can’t do himself.
I have failed as a father raising him. My dad made sure that I knew everything there was to know about everything. He made me help him do everything and at the time all I wanted to do is lay around and watch television. I hated him for ruining my sleep espesially on weekends. So as a father I didn’t make my son do things my dad asked me to do and now it’s coming back to haunt me. My son even called me and asked how to cut his grass. I know I’ve taught him how to cut grass but evidently I didn’t.
I appreciate the fact that my son thinks I can do anythiing he asks of me. Most of the things he asks I can do but there are some things I can’t do and I think he doesn’t believe me when I tell him so. For example, he couldn’t get his cable to work in one of his rooms. He asked me to help him fix it. I don’t know much about internet but I told him I’d help him check it out. We worked in his attic for nearly two hours trying to figure it out. Finally, I told him that he’d better call his cable company because it was obivious that we didn’t know what we were doing.
H went to college for five years to get his degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is willing to do the work himself but in most cases he doesn’t know what he’s doing and he gets himself into trouble. Example, at 8 pm the other night he decides he’s going to disconnect his washer and get it ready to move out. He called wanting to know which direction to turn the water off. I told him that even though the water is turned off he would still have pressure on the water hose that feeds the washer. He called again about five minues later telling me that he needs help because he’s flooded his kitchen. As I’m getting ready to leave my house he calls back to tell me that he thinks he’s got it. Five minutes later another call demanding me to come help becuase he’s still getting water out of the hose. I asked him how much and he says a lot of water.
His house is a good 45 minutes away. He’s stated that his kitchen is flooded and the water is getting deep. Thoughts of him having to pay for damages for his appartment as well as the one beneath him is running through my head. I’m wearing a pair of shorts and t shirt. I grab some sandels, my keys, my driver’s license and my tools from my truck and off I went in my wife’s car. Upon my arrival 45 minuets later I find that he has stuck the hose from the faucett into a bucket which is quickly filling up. I took a wrench and grabbed the handle of the valve and turned it a couple of times which caused the water to slow to a steady drip. I stuck the hose from the bucket to the drain in the wall and called it done. That will keep the water from the going on the floor until the appartment manager can call a plumber and replace the valve.
I spent the next half hour helping him clean up the water on the floor. It really wasn’t that bad. His panic made it sound a lot worse than what it was. As we were cleaning up the water we talked about what he could have done differently and what he learned from this experience. I have a rule about doing any type of plumbing work after 5pm. Most hardware places close about that time so if you run into issues then your screwed. Unless it’s an emergency it can wait until the next day. Disconnecting a washing machine is not that difficult but for someone who’s never done it and don’t know what to expect when you have a gate valve that won’t shut off completly can be quite problematic.
Now I’ve got to install a ceiling fan which I’ve never done before but I’m sure between the two of us we can figure it out. I’m proud of my son for what he’s become. He’s smart and willing to try anything. He’s been living in appartments since he’s started college and now he’s bought a house. He’s making more money that I’ve ever made. I’m sure through his many failures he’ll learn what to do and not do and when he get’s to be my age he’ll know more than I know about doing things.
As part of The Great Cyclel Challange, a cycling effort to raise money to fight kids cancer, I have set myself a goal to ride 50 miles a week throughout the month of September. My goal for the event is just 100 miles because at the time I just didn’t think I could ride that much due to not riding any for about a year. It has become apparent that I may want to up my main goal to 200 miles.
I was short milage last week because I had broken a spoke. I’ve never replaced a spoke nor did I have any spokes to replace it with. The guy at the bike shop stated that it would be the 9th of September before I’d get my wheel back. I told him why I needed it back sooner but he didn’t have the same concern that I had. I was able to get the wheel back a lot sooner than expected so that meant that I had at least 23 miles that I had to ride to reach my 50 mile/week goal. Yesterday I road a little over 25 miles which made my weekly goal of 51.98 miles.
The goal starts over today but I’m doing a recovery day. Yesterday came with a small price. I went to stop and I couldn’t get my left foot unclipped from my peddle and down I went. Banged up my left knee pretty bad. I’ve been hurt worse but I’m going to take it easy today. Maybe I’ll spend the afternoon cleaning the bike. It’s gotten quite dirty over the past week of riding.
My goal for today is 25 miles. The most I’ve done since I’ve started back riding is 17 miles. I’m behind in my 50 mile per week goal of 50 miles due to a breakdown on my bike. Hopefully I can make it.
When I started riding back in 2013, I rode a total of 1700 miles. I know, to some of you that’s a drop in a bucket but I was pretty proud of my accomplishment. 2014 is when I was diagnosed and because of my health issues, I was only able to ride 530 miles. I was able to increase my mileage somewhat to 890 miles in 2015. 2016 was a different story. I stayed in the hospital for several weeks because of complications and I never had the energy nor the strength to ride therefore I rode zero miles that year. In 2017, I was determined to start again and I did get a decent start with 150 miles but it soon faded because I was plagued with complications again. In the next two years, I was lucky to get 100 miles or less because of fatigue and weight issues. Because of this challenge that I’ve signed up for, I’ve pretty much-given caution to the wind and I’m going to ride if it kills me.
Today I was able to ride six miles, most of it pretty well. I did have some issues going up against some steep hills but I think once I lose some weight and get more in shape, I’ll get better with the hills. The only way I’m going to get better is to keep doing it. In 2013, I had worked up to 25 miles every time I got on my bike and I was riding close to four days a week during the Spring and Summer. There’s no way I can do that now but that’s my goal.
I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything but I’ve been doing other things and I haven’t taken the time to post. To be honest I’ve been rather depressed as of late. The fact that I’m not working anywhere and not able to keep my mind off of things makes it difficult to not get depressed.
Both my daughters graduated in May and here it is the end of June and neither one has any job offers on the table. One of my daughters has a teaching degree and has had a couple of interviews but no one wants to hire her. The other has some sort of advertising degree and she’s got several applications in but hasn’t had any interviews yet. They have six months to get a job to start paying their loans back. My son went through the same thing and we were prepared to help him with paying back his loans but as luck would have it, he got a job right at the end. Now we have two that we’d have to help and right now there is no way we can help. We just can’t afford it. I guess, if worse comes to worst, we could get some kind of load to help but I don’t want to get back in debt again.
The sight of my daughter getting so excited to get an interview and then wait for a phone call that never comes is more that I can handle. She says she’s alright but I know just how disappointed she is and I’m disappointed for her. What makes this thing a little worse is that she does have a part-time job working at the YMCA. The thing is that they’ve hired too many people and now only works every other week so she’s not making the money she was promised. At least my other daughter is working, at least until the end of July until she has to move out of her apartment and then she will be out of a job.
I guess it’s all part of parenting. There’s a lot more I’d rather do as a parent than to watch them struggle. My son, who I was worried about when he graduated, now has a job making nearly twice as much as I did when I worked thirty-two years and he’s only worked for about four. Go figure. Maybe my girls will end up doing the same thing. I pray they will.
I’ve always heard people say that once they’ve retired and I never believed it. Well, until now. Do you remember me talking about having to remove my shrubbery? I’m still working on getting everything put back in place. When I removed the shrubs, a ton of dirt was removed with all the roots. It left big holes in the ground which I had to purchase a couple of loads of dirt to fill in these holes.
I’ve got the holes filled in, all the rocks removed and leveled out. Then I found out that I needed to turn the new soil in so, I removed my Mantis from my shed and turned one side of my flower bed. That thing wore me out. After about thirty minutes of that thing, every muscle in my body was sore. Thank God the next day was Sunday. I could barely move. Today it rained so I went to pick up our taxes and to pick up a few items from Lowes. I’ve still got to turn the other side of the flower bed and relevel everything. We’re in the process now of trying to figure out what to plant.
I’ve already got a project to do after I get done with my flower bed. I’ve already got most of the materials for it so I’m hoping that step is done with. I’ve got to add gutters to my sunroom. I’ll be glad when I get these projects done. I’d like to take a day and go fishing.
I hope you got a chance to visit your mother today or at least made or received a phone call. I got to visit mine for a few minutes. We practiced social distancing while visiting her on our porch. My mom is in her mid 80’s so she won’t be here with us too much longer so I want to spend as much time with her as possible, front porch or not.
My family spent the afternoon last Saturday taking pictures at the University of Alabama, where my two daughters graduated. I’m so proud of both of them. The one on the left will go into advertising while the other will be going into childhood education.
Off-topic…The person I’m seeing in the mirror in the mornings as I’m getting into the shower is beginning to disgust me once again. You and I both know what that means. My gym will be opening soon and then there is that treadmill downstairs. In the meantime. I’ll be watching what I eat and walking on the treadmill. I’ll need all the encouragement I can get. The goal…10 pounds in 10 weeks.
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