Columbus OH

Started this entry on the 19th, was interrupted by a phone call, and this is the first time Lew has been able to get back.

MEDICAL NEWS:
Aches and pains are a bore for the writer, just as they must be for most readers. But for those who do ask us for a medical report, here it is:

Lew continues about the same - for two weeks he improved so much he could stand throughout an entire mass, but of course he overdid it and for the past week has been back to where he started.

Bobbi too is about the same. Her weakness in extending her left hip interferes with her stair-climbing and getting into cars, plus limits her ability to climb stairs.

After pneumonia, heart failure, a dissecting aneurysm, and a stroke, the husband of Bobbi's half-sister died exactly one week ago. The half-sister herself is tolerating her chemo poorly, the same for Bobbi's sister.

At the other extreme, the husband of Bobbi's friend, who never once in his life has followed a physician's advice and coded twice on the table during a hip replacement, recovered well not only from that surgery but also from the triple bypass at the beginning of this month. There is at least one message here, but I'm not sure of what it is. Meditate upon it for me, please.

Her friend's son with the metastatic melanoma now is on chemo. At least the friend with herself with all her chronic ills remains stable.

Now that is as short as I could make it.

FAMILY NEWS:

Paul continues on uneventfully with his nursing training. He is beginning to get into his clinicals and enjoys them. But they give him additional opportunity for his macabre sense of humor.

Scott's family too plods on uneventfully but very successfully. The two grandchildren, currently in the last stages of HS, are starting to look forward to college. Indeed, the youngest is toying with the idea of living with us and going to OSU. We'd kind of like that, but suspect that his principle motivation is to get away from his mother's strict supervision.

Lew's sister Linda continues on in her completely unremarkable stay at Kruse Retirement Center in Brenham TX. But "little" brother Luther has announced his retirement at the end of this month. Where has all the time gone? Luther's wife, children, and grandchildren remain status quo.

Lew's cousin Michael sent word that his family and Aggie's remain unchanged. However, he remarked on the damage that the drought was inflicting on the vegetation at grandmomma Holm's little house. It was necessary to remove one of the victims, a pecan tree.

Lew's aunt Irene sent a rundown on all of her large clan. They all seem to be doing well, healthwise and other. But that is her story, and anyone wanting details should send her an email.

OTHER:
Due to their limited mobility, both Bobbi and Lew have tended to amuse themselve primarily through the internet. Bobbi devotes her time to email, including Facebook.

Lew on the other hand continues to watch and listen to NHK. This month they presented a 16 part series they entitled "August Chronicles", dissecting the events that made the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs inevitable, and the aftermath of nuclear energy. Lew remembers WWII and the bombs well, thus reflected upon the fact that in barely 3 short years (from summer 1942-1945/08/15), the Churchill Warlords (Winston and FDR) and the Soviet Warlord (Stalin) had reduced the German and Japanese Empires from control of all of Europe from the channel islands to the Volga, and all of Asia from Assam to Midway - to where the German and Japanese Empires were smoking ruins inhabited by starving millions, while the English (including the USA) and to a lesser extent the Russian Empires controlled the entire world.

Of course NHK also continued to report on developments in the Fukushima-Daiichi disaster. One could hardly listen to and watch these programs without concluding that humanity and nuclear energy are completely incompatible, and mankind's only hope for survival lies in getting rid of it completely. Br-r-r. (Of course, even if mankind succeeds at this one task, it still must avoid overheating the planet, deforesting and desertifying it, and other consequences of over-population).

OK, I'm depressed, tired, and it's getting late. Signing off for now.

Columbus OH

I'm back! But again after 2 weeks.

The first faint signs of autumn have appeared. The temperatures have started to drop slightly and slowly, but steadily. One can go out in the morning and not be overwhelmed by soggy heat. Of course that doesn't last long, but it's a first step.

Unfortunately, this blog remains mostly a medical report. On Tuesday the 19th, Lew went to a neurosurgeon for a second opinion on his back. The neurosurgeon concurred that surgery was in order, but added the slight twist of a different surgical technique. Now we have to look into that further. Certainly it is relevant that the Bobbi's back surgery was not successful, in the sense that the next disk above the surgical site failed within 2 years. Makes one think - move slowly and carefully. Unfortunately, he was home before he realized that the game plan had morphed a bit; by the time he phoned the neurosurgery group the man who gave the second opinion had left on vacation, and his two colleagues artfully avoided speaking to Lew. As expected, while all this was going on, Lew's pain continued, but he was still able to manage it without opiates.

Bobbi, on the other hand already had been on fentenyl for a few weeks. And during this period her physician increased the dose when Bobbi saw her on the 29th. She continued to attend morning mass about half the time, and was able to make it into the correctional medical facility where she is chaplain on the 24th. But on the 31st she went only a couple of miles before concluding that she couldn't do it, turned around, and returned home. Her medication does make the pain tolerable, but sedates her so that it is not a good idea for her to drive.

Bobbi and Lew both are quite circumscribed in their activies. They cannot stand for more than a few seconds, or walk more than a few feet before the pain becomes intolerable. It is difficult to see how this situation can be resolved without surgery, yet that avenues doesn't appear too promising either.

On top of their own infirmities, it seems like all of their relatives and friends have become seriously ill. Bobbi's younger sister has been on chemo for breast CA during the past year, and her older half-sister (a nurse) currently is on chemo. The half-sister's husband who had pneumonia last winter recently lost consciousness, and when he was taken to the Marietta hospital, was Life-flighted to OSUH. There it was discovered that he has an aortic aneurysm. The half-sister argued with the doctors who refused to operate because they feared it might be impossible to get him off the vent. While this difference of opinion was working through, hubbie sustained a significant right-sided CVA, No doubt the physicians now are even more reluctant to tackle the aneurysm.

And the husband of Bobbi's close friend for more than thirty years (another nurse) recently had a massive heart attack while he was on the table for a hip replacement, coded twice. So he is scheduled for a triple bypass tomorrow.

Bobbi's closest friend from church - Lew's age - has had MS since she was about 20, an inoperable cerebral aneurysm for 20-30 years, a botched left hip replacement, and spinal stenosis. Her youngest son is divorced, has obesity and diabetes, and his daughter (age 20?) is aggressively gay and takes delight in continually offending everyone. Her daughter (another nurse) is grossly obese and on course for multiple illnesses in the future. And cruelest of all, now her recently divorced second youngest son has just been found to have metastatic melanoma.

As you can tell, we have sufficient bleakness. Please some of you send us some sunshine (and I don't mean more heat).