Talk About Gut Feelings....

The Daughter has been having some abdominal issues pretty much since the beginning of the year, it seems. I am sure I mentioned about a couple weeks ago she was having a scope done to see if they could find the problem, and that that test was inconclusive, as there was too much food in her stomach still. Today they did a re-test, allowing a longer period of time prior for the food to process through. They were able to "see" more of the area, and notice inflammation. Some biopsies were taken. No definite signs of an ulcer, or any other abnormality. The Doctor has mentioned that the food process taking longer, inflammation, etc, could be signs of a food allergy, but is not prescribing anything, or saying for sure until they get the results back on the biopsies. They are also going to schedule some kind of test (I forget the name) where she will eat some kind of radiated food, and they do scans to track the time/passage through her system, to see if they will give them more information.

I feel for my Daughter, having to go through each of these tests, and not knowing for sure what is going on. I don't recall any digestion problems that may "run through the family", though diabetes and other heart things do. I am just hoping at this time that it is something that can be treated without surgery, and soon.

PeacE

It's All Fine Until....

I caught something. No, I wasn't on playing a one-way version of catch, but it has turned out that way, with me on the receiving side. Up until mid-afternoon yesterday, I was feeling fine. In fact, I had just got a call from my brother, Stuman, and got invited to go to the Nascar race here at PIR this coming weekend. Inside track, turn two....oh yeah! But shortly after that, I started feeling weird. I ended up with a temp of 101, and one of them pressure headaches. But no other symptoms. No blah, queasiness, diarrhea, aching of joints. I took some ibuprofen to help with the temp and headache. I did not make it to the son's concert due to feeling this way. I also went to bed early, though ended up awake later on for another couple hours.

This morning, seems a bit more is catching up to me. Headache is gone, but feeling sort of blah, a bit achy, and be glad you are not here for the gas emissions that are happening on a VERY grand scale - not just in quantity, but super-odorific as well. I am sure a pre-cursor for some sitting time in the reading room today.

Yeah, it was all fine, until this hit. The Wife is leaving town tonight too, so I have the boys to take care of. Hope I am feeling better this afternoon/evening.

PeacE

And They're Off....

Nice to see Florida get some good rain, I guess. Enough to delay Nascar at Daytona for a day at least. Which means I am not going to be able to watch it.

Our youngest celebrated his 6th birthday yesterday. At his request we ended up at Peter Piper Pizza. The kids played games, and the adults sat and talked. We invited the grandparents (both sides) and that was it as it was Sunday evening, and pretty much spur of the moment. The kid scored good on presents.

The oldest son has Honor Orchestra concert tonight. I am not thrilled about going, but we have to support or kids, right? He plays French horn, so was asked to participate in this one, though he is not actually part of Orchestra class. This means that he has attended several Monday evenings at practices (extra driving for us). I think all he gets out of it is the satisfaction of doing it, being good enough to be asked, and ...yeah. I think that is it. No special award. No money/prizes. He doesn't even have a resume to add it as a feature. He also has All-State coming up in the next week or two. As well the Honor Band concert in April - which means more Tuesday night practices (even further away than the orchestra ones were).

The Daughter has to go through a 'scoping' again Wednesday morning to try to locate some issues she has been having. The Wife will be traveling down there again tomorrow for the night, and be back Wed. night. Hopefully, things will be able to progress correctly this time. Last week, there were issues of food still in her system, so they need to allow a longer period of not eating this time.

I feel like I have a zillion things that need to get taken care of this week (or at least I feel that way today). I should get started on some of them, but I am feeling lazy.

PeacE

Personal Debates

It's after 7am, on a Friday, and I am still at home. Usually, by this tie I am about halfway through my gym workout, but today.... I am dragging about getting started. I kind of feel like not going, but I know I need to go. I also need to refill a prescription, and that maybe the motivator I need to get to the gym, as they are not far from each other. I tell myself that, though I have not become convinced as of yet.

Plans for a Friday, other than that? Not sure. My friend Ginny has been in town this week from NC. I was able to get out Wednesday night and spend just some 'our time' together, where we had some fun. She had mentioned that she was getting together with some of my other friends tonight at one of their houses. Thinking about doing that, as it is fairly close to home. But again, just not sure. She leaves in a couple days, so it would be nice to hang out some more.

Yeah. gonna be one of them days where I just can't seem to make up my mind.

PeacE

Come Early Morning

The first thing that came to mind, with today's post title, was:

Though, I don't thin Don Williams and I had the same thought in mind. He sure sounds better than me, I do admit. No, my 'Come Early Morning' is that I am awake and out of bed at pre-5am today. Don't know exactly why, but I am. I thought about heading to the gym that early, but decided not to do so. I will wait and go at my regular time. I do admit that being up this early is a bit nice. No kids to help get ready for school, and the house is quiet. Plenty of time to do my emails, a bit of web-surfing.

I spent a good portion of yesterday evening playing Warcraft with the Daughter. It was a good 2-3 hours of playing a game, and doing some chit-chatting. I call it that, as we were not really talking about anything one thing in particular, just stuff that came to mind. She mentioned she would like to do that again sometime.

That's all I got today. I am off to take care of a few other things before the family wakes up.

PeacE

Finding the Right Calibre

The three day weekend has ended, and I can honestly say I am a bit relieved. The boys are back in school. I say that because the past couple days with them has been at times aggravating. I have more patience than I did a few years ago, but not nearly enough as I should. The oldest, I had to stay on him to get work done on his book project that is due this Friday. Most of us were probably that way when we were teenagers, too, but that is no excuse, in my thoughts anyways.

Last week I became a bit frustrated (again). I use Calibre for my ebook library. I don't know how to use all the features, but find it VERY convenient for what I do use it for with my Kindle, and sorting my books, etc. Well, a few days back, I went to start it up, but it wouldn't. An error box kept popping up. Of course, I have no clue what the error and code meant, so spent quite some time searching for similar stuff on the Web. Though there were several "tech" sites, and even through the help site for Calibre, I tried several solutions given. Uninstall, registry cleans, reinstall of older versions, system restores.... after several hours of this, I gave up. I even sent a 'bug report' to the developer, to see if he had additional help, and included the whole 'debug' information, as I had seen requested for other similar issues. Yesterday, I had no replies, and though it may have been a holiday, I still grew impatient. Again I went searching through the Web for places that maybe I missed before. I started scanning other errors people had reported, that were not even close to what I was having issues with, and found a couple more ideas to try. The second one worked. I was able to finally reload the current version, and got the program going again. The only bad part (excluding the downtime, and time spent searching for a solution) was my previous 'libraries' I had set up through Calibre, were not there. They were still on my hard drive, but the program did not know of them. Since I am not 100% knowing of all features (and some of the new ones in the latest version) I could find no way to just load up the existing libraries, so had to re-create them. Not too big of a deal at first. then I realized, all the information I had included on books (such as if it was part of a series, and what # of book in the series, etc) was all gone. Now I need to go back through and re-edit certain books with this information, as I have time again. A little bit daunting, as I think I am up to about 5Gb of  books now. I spent yesterday afternoon reloading and doing this.

Today, I may work on it some more, or I may just work on reading to help clear some of them out. In a couple hours I need to go to MILs to sit with FIL so she can do some shopping. Then I don't know what I will do. I know there is plenty to get done, whether my list or the Wife's...I may just be lazy and play on the computer.

PeacE

Doing the Face in Palm

Sigh. Children can be so exasperating at times. Spouses, too. I'm sitting here, or rather just was sitting here, with my face in my hands, trying to shake the beginnings of a nice headache.

The Daughter's procedure was yesterday, though they were not able to do the full scope. Turns out her stomach had not processed the food at a more regular rate, and there was an amount still there so they could not finish. They did find a hiatial hernia though. Another procedure was scheduled for in the next week or so, giving her a longer period of not eating before the procedure (not the week or so), so the food will hopefully be out of the stomach by then. The Wife ended up with the onset of a migraine, and could not return home last night as planned.

I was able to get out for awhile to meet up with friends from HS, though it was cut short a bit when I got the call that the Wife was not going to make it back. I had to leave and pick up the kids from MIL's. That was fine.  I had no major issues about that. The Wife calls me this morning to let me know she is finally on her way back home. Hopefully she will be here within the next hour.

In the meantime, I am going through my email, and find one from my oldest son's English teacher. She sends out  a mass email to her students parents every so often, to help keep us informed of project due dates, mid-term grade reports being sent, etc. I really like how she is able to do that and keep us informed. She mentioned grades (at the current time) were sent home Friday. My son said yes, he has a B right now. I mention about the Teacher mentioning students were informed of any missing homework. Here he admits he has a couple assignments not accounted for (hence the B I am thinking). I should start off saying my son has become fairly proficient at "missing assignments" in not just one class. It has gotten much worse this year, than last. Needless to say, he had not bothered to tell me, and I had allowed him to have recreational time most of this morning, instead of working on the missing assignments.

I was even nice about it. I didn't yell. I didn't raise my voice. I did interrogate (yeah, more than just ask) about if he knew what was missing, and explained he was going to have to work on them now. He proceeds to use the "doorway" to see assignments online, and turns out one he can't remember, the other he can't remember the pages the work was for (text pages). He sits there for several long minutes, just glancing around. I ask, did she not write them down for you? Oh. Yes. It's on the paper with his grade, which is in his backpack at the MIL's. So, now I need to take him back over there, to get this paper, so he can get the work done.... that he KNEW he would be required to do. His suggestion, was to wait until Tuesday, then he could do them that night. Heh. I don't think so. Especially since he also has his 3rd quarter book project due Friday, and he will need all the time he can get, with us forcing him to complete it. He is also notorious about waiting til the night before it is due, to work on it, thus making us (usually at 9 or later in the evening) to go out and get whatever supplies he needs, since we had no clue prior.

Easy to see why that headache is starting?

PeacE

Feeling Nostalgic

The Daughter had her scope procedure done this morning and only know of two things as of right now. One, her stomach isn't processing food as fast as it should. I don't know if this is any other than abnormal. It doesn't seem to be a bad thing in my thoughts, but it was an observation. The other is she has some kind of hiatial hernia. I got to go read about what one is now, so I have more of an idea. Plus, they want to do another scoping, since the food wasn't passed through her stomach in the slotted time they told her not to eat. That means another appointment, I think sometime next week.

Other than that, nothing of particular importance is happening. I am getting together with some friends from HS tonight, so that should be fun. Tomorrow I need to get a new tire on the Wife's van. The passenger rear one has been slowly going low on air for the past few months. Meaning, when it is low, we air it up, though I cannot find any leaks in the tread area, sidewalls, or around the valve. We decided finally to just replace the damn thing. Just have to wait until tomorrow for the Wife to be back home.

PeacE

A Nice Time

This morning, I called Reverend Mother up, and invited her out for lunch, followed by some shopping. With a smile in her voice, she said she could always do the shopping! It was for my youngest son's birthday, which is later this month. Lunch was just an added thing I wanted to do, so we could have a chance to do some catch-up and one-on-one conversation. I know in our own ways, we both enjoy these few times we get together. So, overall, I had a nice time.

It's about 12 hours or so later than the time I usually pop off some drivel for you to read, but today was just slow enough, that I felt I had nothing to really contribute for today. I guess maybe I should find some topics to actually have some material to post. Though, that would probably mean I would have to pre-write the post, so I could be sure to cover the topic as fair as I wanted. I don't know. Another thing to think about I guess.

The Wife left me this evening. No, not for good. Just for an overnight to Tucson to be with the Daughter as she goes in for a scoping of the innards. I am waiting now for her to call saying she has made it in safe. Well, I gave up and just called her. She has arrived there and is just now finishing bringing in the stuff she took down. Guess now all I can do is wait to hear how the procedure goes tomorrow and what they are finding.

PeacE

Being Mellow

I am being mellow at this current moment. I have been to the gym and completed a nice 40 minute workout. Now, following my long, hot shower, I am sitting here listening to the new album I downloaded by Adele. She has one of those nice voices. I don't feel like doing much today. I could really enjoy kicking back with my Kindle, some soft tunes like these in the background.... yeah... nice.

Mellowing out, as I am, I don't want to make my brain function any harder than the necessities. That means, this post is definitely lacking in content today.

Preacher Tom and I went to see "Safe House" yesterday afternoon, on a couple free passes I thin Reverend Mother had received as a gift. I think she appreciated the couple hours or so I got PT out from her hair! Either way, Denzel Washington played a good role, and both of us enjoyed the movie. We are talking maybe in the next couple weeks go see "The Grey". Anything that can be better than "J. Edgar" was.

I'm two pounds into the forty I am striving to lose this year. At forty (years of age, and weight to lose) I figure that is about three pounds a month. Doesn't sound like much. Especially in British currency (aha-ha). I put on five pounds while the cast was on, and I am still not up to complete mobility and movement range that I had before. I find walking even on the treadmill brings on an ache. I am sure it is the tendons/muscles getting back to par. So lately I have been riding the bike instead. I get off that bike, and feel my heart beat at a higher rate, and sweat more. Maybe it is a better form of cardio for me at the moment. Either way, I think I will keep on it instead the walking so much.

Enough mental stimulation. More being mellow.

PeacE

Hallmark's Holiday*

Valentine's Day. Another holiday for the card companies to make their profits. I actually feel that the meaning practiced this day, is a decent thing. Letting others know you love them is not a bad thing. Of course, it should be done more often than just one holiday (or only on holidays). Even friends like to know how much they mean to you.

I have no special plans for the Wife today, though. With today being a regular work day for her, and one of the boys have extra practice tonight (for Honor Band - am I able to brag enough about him being in it? No). So no special Date Night, or dinner out. I will admit though, that we will have one of those soon...when scheduling permits. I haven't even gotten out to buy a card. I doubt I will do that even. Maybe I will figure something different out....

While I am debating/thinking on that, take this extra time (since I don't have much content today) to go tell someone that you appreciate them.

PeacE

* - I picked up that phrase from Joe, over at Fat in Indiana.

Helping the Daughter Out

The Daughter has been having some pain issues since the middle of January. Some sort of abdominal pain when she is laying down, etc. as well as some other symptoms. She had gone to Urgent Care in Tucson, and they had given here some antibiotics, then referred her to an ultrasound place, and another doc that does GI procedures. The U/S came back with inconclusive results. She finally was to have an appointment back on the 3rd for the GI doc. It turned out to be more of a consultation, than doing any procedure. She now has a procedure for Friday that they are going to insert a camera to see if they can see what the problem may be. The Wife and I think it may be a bleeding ulcer, but obviously we a re not doctors. So the Wife is going down Thursday night, escort the Daughter to her procedure, and hopefully return Friday night. No big deal.

Well, I guess it was Friday, the billing department of the people that are doing the procedure, called my daughter, demanding she give them banking information over the phone, and that she had to pay $207 right at that moment. She was smart, and did not give them anything, stating that she would need to call them back. From the second-hand information I have heard, they did not bother to tell the Daughter what the $207 (yes, that was the exact figure they gave) was for - be it the standard amount that is patient responsibility for this type of procedure? Maybe a percentage deposit for the facility to do the procedure? I mean, it definitely is not the copay!

So here in the next couple hours I will be calling the Daughter to get the info, and then calling this place back and find out what is going on, what is this figure for, if a deposit, will it be applied to any patient resp. etc. I just find it so callous and unprofessional, to call a patient and demand their banking information, and money, for a procedure that has not been done yet, to a patient that obviously is not well even. Are they just trying to take advantage of my 20 year old daughter, as she would be more susceptible to not knowing how things usually work in this instance? I don't know, but it angers me. Yet another injustice. Today, I hope to give them a verbal smack in the face, and if deserving, maybe even humiliate some worker that can't seem to have any decency or common sense.

Yes, you can tell it is a Monday.

PeacE

Getting Ready to Party

Welcome to another Friday! I have nothing of exciting importance for you today, so guess I will just leave up some videos of songs I like.

I don't play Skyrim, as I am an avid Warcraft player.... but some of the music, and like this one from a fan, is pretty good.

And my all time favorite!

Have a good weekend!!

PeacE

Filling up the Calendar

I added a few items for different dates on our calendar last night. the I kind of sat back, and looked at this month as a whole. It seems there are more days with something going on, than those without. I guess that is what happens when you have kids... and even more so as hey grow up. I think mot of the items are the eldest son's practice times and locations for Honor Band and Honor Orchestra, plus any upcoming concerts for both the older boys. Only one item (this month) is for me, though it is just a possibility, and may not happen.

At times like these, I wonder how it can appear I am so busy, but yet I am not. Or is it that I am just not bothered by doing some of these things? I dunno. I just know that the past couple days I have been feeling tired more than I regularly do. I don't know if I am fighting some sort of virus (no particular symptoms of anything that I have noticed) or what is going on.

Well, I guess I am out of here. I have some grocery sales the Wife wants me to get today (one day only ones) and meeting a friend for breakfast.

PeacE

Substance Abuse

Heh.

Yeah. That title says it all. I commit that seemingly everday when I write here. So much of my posts seem to lack substance.

Today is one of those days.

PeacE

Over For Another Year

This year's "big match-up" for the SuperBowl was no big deal to me. I do not care for either team. I will admit though, it was a good opportunity to get with some friends and have a good time. This year, I went over to the BIL of a friend. This BIL always has a great party, with lots of family, friends and food. I had attended one several years ago, and remember the fun I had then. RM & PT invited me over to watch the game with them, but I didn't feel like going over there. Okay, I'll be honest. I hoped to go somewhere where I could have a couple beers. I called up my buddy, and he told me to come on over, so I did. By the end of the first quarter, I had a couple beers in me, and a plate full of food. By halftime, I was ready for a nap.

The party, as is the norm, was thrown out in the garage and drive. Yes, weather in AZ this year was so nice, we had the garage door up, and tables spread out. Only one large screen TV, so if you were out of the garage, you couldn't hear it, but you could at least see the action going on. Which was fine for me. I spent more time talking to friends and others I hadn't seen in awhile. Kids were running around everywhere, though I hadn't brought mine. They even did some fireworks after the game. I helped clean up, then headed home, feeling VERY tired.

That brings us into Monday morning. I am not making it to the gym this morning as the youngest son is coughing, and sounding congested int he chest. He is spending the day at home rather than in school. We also felt he shouldn't be over at Grandma's as with Grandpa, he is more easily susceptible to getting sick. So here's to hoping I don't get it, and that no one else in our family does...especially considering the two younger sons share a room.

The younger son is sitting at the other computer watching YouTube videos of Lego people, and T-rexes. He's so easily amused!

PeacE

Presidential Party Selection

Friday I received in the mail, the Republican ballot for Pres. Party Selection. Obviously I received it as when I first registered, I had put Republican as my party preference. Just like during any type of campaign period, I receive 99% Republican flyers, etc, rather than an equal number from all parties.

Either way, I figured there would be a handful of candidates to choose from (not that it is an easy choice among them). Wrong. There are just under 25 candidates on this ballot. Three-fourths of them I have never heard of before. I have a few days before this ballot needs to be returned (in AZ) but still.... the time it will take to research and review each person, to see if I feel that they would be my best selection, will take even longer.

In many ways, I feel like I am down to flipping a coin and letting that decide who to select. But how does one do that with so many candidates? Put the first together and flip? Or first and last, and move inwards? I got it! Draw numbers to assign to each one, then draw up a playoff diagram! One winner for all brackets!

Yeah, sometimes I feel that that is how our President gets elected. It's so hard to believe any politician, if you spend the time reading what their website says because obviously they are going to say things that put them in the best light. Just like if you read an opponent's view, it would be the worst.

So how does one best select a candidate, that would do the best job for their interests? Or is it anymore, not about who WOULD do the best, but who can SAY they would?

PeacE

Gaining on me....

I did my weigh-in at the gym this morning, and I am not happy. I gained. I'm not going to say how much, because almost any amount is depressing. As I went through my workout, I tried to think back this past week and try to figure out where I ate too much, or maybe something that would bring on the weight, like a heavier food type. I could come up with nothing.

Then I started trying to formulate some sort of excuse. Why would I gain? Now that I am back to exercising, shouldn't there be a small amount of loss, if nothing else? It's only been one week since I got the cast off, and resumed workouts. Maybe because getting my body adjusted back to working out, and not being at the level of activity I was before is just some residual effect of the gain. Sounds plausible, but is it true? I know my eating habits didn't change, but you would think I would have gained more while the cast was on, rather than the one week when I return to the gym....

I think it was about then I had the reason. Or at least one I think is the bigger part of it.

I haven't been drinking. No, I am not referring to water, etc. I am talking about beer and whiskey. I normally get out to the pub once or twice a week, for an evening out with the buds, and have a few. I usually skip dinner as when I get home (later in the night) I am not hungry (meaning I had too much beer). Yes, I know that it is empty calories, and high intake. But, since I am not out, I am eating supper, so it sounds to me like a more valid reasoning.

I guess I should fix that and get my ass out drinking more. Sounds fine, but I don't think the Wife would like it.

PeacE

Blah Blah-Blah, Blah Blah

Ugh. I have a headache this morning. Actually, I believe it ids a carryover from last night. No, I have not taken anything for it, as I have only been up for maybe an hour, but I see some ibuprofen in my near future. The Wife woke yesterday feeling a migraine coming on, but was able to make it through the day, though she said it was still bothering her last night. Seems neither of us slept well - I blame it on her tossing & turning. Either way, hopefully here in the next hour or so I will feel better. If not, I sense a nap in my future.

Other than that, what do I have for you readers today? Not much. It is going to be one of those days where I either curl up with my Kindle, or sit here and watch TV episodes I have allowed to back up on Hulu.com. Either way, it's a pretty much 'No Think' day.

PeacE

Taking the Baby Steps

Just under a week ago, I had a cast on my ankle removed. After five weeks, I was at the point that I felt it needed to come off. I was having some bouts of back pain, caused from the irregular walking gait I had (due to the cast). I was anxious the morning I went in to see the specialist, knowing that there would be x-rays, and I was holding on to hope it was healed enough to have the cast removed for good. It was. Though I had not thought ahead about once the cast was off.

Here it has been six days since the removal, and I just finally was able to get on the treadmill and do some actual walking to day. The ankle had stiffened (well, the tendons/ligaments) from being locked into position for five weeks. I am learning all over again how to move my ankle, and frankly, it hurts a bit. I stopped using the cane to assist in walking about 4 days ago, though my gait is still a bit unsteady-looking in appearance. I made myself do a quarter mile on the treadmill this morning before I finally agreed to rest the ankle. It felt good!

I am almost back to a full workout routine, though I did drop the weights a bit until I get back fully. Today finds me not as sore as I had been the previous days. Maybe in the next week, it won't get worse, even as I try to get the weights back to where they were.

Weigh-in is Friday. Hoping for some good news.

PeacE