Day 4270

I went back to the gym today. All I did was walk around and around the indoor track, but it's a start. I'm still tired, but I didn't feel bad today. I actually think I look worse than I feel. I've got some nasty looking black and blue blotches on my stomach, but the pain is minimal now.

I called the surgical team this morning to schedule my post-op follow up visit and they told me that after reviewing all my lab reports, they didn't need to see me. Evidently, all my blood work is returning to normal and the cultured samples they took showed no growth after five days. This is all good. It appears that I am a routine case with no abnormalities at all. 

I'm glad I'm finished with the Cipro. I feel a little better already. The peripheral neuropathy I'd been feeling is much less evident today. The doctor I talked with this morning said that tendonitis wasn't much of a worry either. Evidently, a five day course of Cipro is very short. Problems with this drug are much more common when you have to take it for long periods of time.

It never got cool today. Even our sunrise walk was pretty warm. It was definitely too hot to take a sunset walk with Dawn. She doesn't seem to mind. As long as she has her spot on the bed, she's a happy dog. The heat was the main reason that I decided to return to the gym. I'm starting to get cabin fever and it's hard to stay active inside the house. I'll probably go back to the gym tomorrow. Walking around the indoor track is boring, but all my doctors says that walking is good.

Dawn seems to feel so much better now that her bladder stones are gone. I think the new allergy medicine she'd taking is helping as well. The paw licking has largely stopped and she has more energy on her walks. I wonder how long she had the stones? It could have been a long time. I've noticed that she's even been a little friendlier toward me lately. Maybe now that we are both free of stones, life will take a turn for the better.

It's weird not to have any travel plans whatsoever. Launches are still taking place at Kennedy Space Center, but Florida is such a mess that it's going to be a while before I get press credentials again. I have no desire to travel to Florida anyway. Truthfully, I don't have much of a desire to travel anywhere. There's no rush. Covid will eventually run its course and life will return to normal. In theory I'll be returning to the observatory in late October, but I suspect that this will change. With hospital admissions rising all over the state, I doubt that that they'd want to take chances with large crowds.

We'll see what happens tomorrow. Janet took the trash out to the curb this evening because I'm still not supposed to lift anything. I wonder if I'll ever feel like having a smoothie again. I've completely lost my taste for these things. This is very strange, since I've enjoyed my morning smoothies for years. I don't like change, but I think I've dealt with last week's changes fairly well. I'm very glad that I'm a reasonably healthy person. Illness of any sort is for the birds.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4269

Another long, uneventful day. I finished taking my antibiotics this morning, so hopefully the weird Cipro induced side effects will stop soon. For some reason I don't feel like having a smoothie for breakfast anymore. Very strange. I've been eating shredded wheat for the time being and having a very light dinner. I probably should be eating more, but my appetite is gone.

I drove to the post office after breakfast and mailed the letter to my sister. No problems driving. I'm not going to be driving anywhere far for a while though. My digestive system still hasn't returned to normal and it's still good to have a bathroom nearby. Janet thinks I ought to start going back to the gym and walking around the indoor track. Maybe next week. I'm still feeling a little nauseous even though the hospital drugs should be completely out of my system by now.

I think today might have been the hottest day of the year so far. We walked very early this morning, but it was starting to feel warm even before sunrise. I didn't take an evening walk because it was too hot. Dawn still wanted to go to training class though. Somehow she knows that Wednesday evening is her day and starts whining to go to class right after dinner. Janet said everything was fine because it cools off quickly after the sun goes down.

Now that the excess fluids the hospital pumped me up with have mostly been eliminated, I feel like my skin is one size too big for my body. Old skin is not very flexible. It's going to take a long time to get back in shape again. Oh, well. I certainly don't have much else to do this month. I'm definitely getting better, so I really need to work on getting strong again. Today I just felt like sleeping all day and that's not a good thing. There's really no reason to feel discouraged. I survived a somewhat serious condition and am on the mend.

I'm fully vaccinated and always carry a mask with me, but I'm getting sick of all the gaslighting and virtue signaling. Have you noticed that the people who are quickest to call someone else selfish are the very same people who were the first to resume traveling, going to sporting events and concerts, and hanging out with their friends. Who's really being selfish here? It's fine if you want to criticize the unvaccinated but let's get real. How about criticizing all the fat people, smokers, and substance abusers who have been clogging up our healthcare system for decades. It's easy to criticize others. A little harder to change your own behavior. 

I'm a bit conflicted here. I'm a very disciplined person, but did I do something wrong that caused my own hospitalization? How hard will it be to change my behavior? They say gallstones are primarily caused by when bile contains too much cholesterol for the liver to dissolve or bilirubin levels are too high. My blood work is typically normal and my cholesterol has been under control for ages. I think I have a healthy diet, but maybe not. My smoothie is probably way too sweet and I know I don't drink enough water. I eat plenty of fresh vegetables but I also love smoked meats, pizza and pasta. 

Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully I can find something interesting to keep me occupied. Recovery is slow and I'm not terribly patient.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4268

I really miss my long walks in the park. These walks provided a much needed sense of purpose. Sure, I was really just killing time, but it was easy to convince myself that I was doing something important. Hey, as you grow older, staying active and healthy actually is important. Sadly, I'm going to have to wait a while until I can get back on the trails. I can take short walks for now, but my doctors say it will be at least three weeks before I'll be able to resume any semblance of my normal activities.

With each passing day I continue to feel a little better. I think I can attribute most of the weirdness I'm feeling now to the Cipro I have to continue taking. Cipro has a number of unfortunate side effects and I seem to be affected by several of them. Cipro is known to cause peripheral neuropathy and I am feeling an odd tingling sensation in my fingers and legs when I am inactive. This may also be caused by poor circulation, since my resting heart rate is curently much lower than normal. I'm blaming the Cipro though. Cipro also causes headaches and I have one right now. Luckily, I was prescribed a short course of this drug. I only have three pills left and I'll be done tomorrow evening.

We are having a mild heat wave. The temperature got up to 97 degrees today. Our sunrise walk with Dawn was fairly normal, but you could tell it was going to be hot later in the day. We didn't take Dawn on a sunset walk because we were afraid the pavement was too hot for her paws. Dawn certainly didn't seem to mind staying inside. I should have stayed home as well, but I felt like I needed to move. I hate being cooped up all day. I waited until it was just about dark and then took a short one mile walk. I was a little tired when I returned home, but I got to see a pretty sunset. I definitely needed the exercise.

Today wasn't very productive. I watered a few plants, wrote a letter to my sister, and made an appointment for later in September to see my gastrointestinal doctor. They want to review their Barrett's esophagus diagnosis with me. I think they'll want to do some biopsies of the esophagus to check for precancerous cells. Unfortunately, this means another hospital visit, but I think the dreaded event is at least three months away.

I wonder where people find the strength to deal with serious illness? My Dad dealt with Parkinson's disease for decades and my sister has been in and out of hospitals for years. I've generally been the healthy one in the family. I did have Hepatitis C but that was the hospital's fault. It's hard to believe now, but hospitals used to routinely buy blood from winos on the street. It's amazing we all lived through the 60's and 70's. In the grand scheme of things, my surgery last week was minor. It has redoubled my resolve to stay healthy though. I don't have that much time left and I want to enjoy it.

Hard to believe that tomorrow will be September. Where did this year go? 2020 and 2021 have all just blurred together. I wonder if things will ever return to normal? Covid boosters will probably be just like flu shots in the future. The work world will never be the same. I never thought I'd see the day when companies of all sizes were begging for workers and the unemployed still didn't want to work. There is a tendency to blame someone else for everything now. Nobody wants to take personal responsibility for their own lives any more. It's all pretty sad. I'm convinced that the country will remain permanently divided and this won't be good for anyone. We live in strange times. I'm just glad I had a chance to grow up in world that was a much better place.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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