Day 4331

Well, I've got two more medical procedures behind me now. I think everything went well. My upper GI endoscopy has the longest name imaginable. Technically the procedure is called a esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The doctor wanted to do a follow-up biopsy of my esophagus when they discovered that I had a condition known as Barrett's esophagus. Very rarely Barrett's esophagus leads to esophageal cancer, so early testing is always wise. I think they discovered why I have reflux issues so often. The upper part of my stomach protrudes into my esophagus a bit. The doctor didn't think this was serious and said most people learn to live with it. Surgical options are available, but I'd rather just learn to eat foods that don't cause reflux.

The Colonoscopy I had done at the same time also went well. They removed one very small polyp from my colon. Polyps are very common at my age, so I was pleased that I only had one. The worst thing about today's Colonoscopy was the prep liquid I had to drink last night. This always seems like an enormous amount of water to drink in a single evening. I was up most of the night. I was hoping that this would be my last Colonoscopy ever, but the doctor said since they found a polyp, I would have to have one more five years from now. I might also need to have one more upper GI endoscopy, depending on the results of today's biopsy.

Hospital visits are always interesting. The administrative part of the visit is always slow and tedious, while the medical part is usually very swift and efficient. I think I sat in the waiting room this morning for longer than it took to do the procedure. When you sit in a waiting room for any length of time you realize that most patients are older and many are extremely overweight. Old people are why health care is so expensive. If we just threw the old people to the wolves, health care would be a lot less expensive. Since I am an old person, I'm happy to get good care though. I do try to do my part to stay healthy. I stay active, exercise a lot, and eat healthy food. No fast food for this guy. It's probably been decades since I've been to a McDonalds.

Janet wanted to vote today, so we stopped at our polling place while she was driving me home from the hospital. It was a cold, rainy day and the only things on the ballot were a bunch of constitutional amendments. No one was actually running for office where we live. You have to be careful when you vote for propositions or amendments. They seem to be worded as obscurely as humanly possible. If you don't read the ballot slowly and carefully, it's easy to end up voting for the opposite of what you intended.

I missed getting a minimum of 10,000 steps for the first time in a long time today. The doctor said it would be OK to take a walk later in the day, but it was raining outside so walking was out of the question. I can't decide whether to leave the pumps running tonight. If the pumps run dry, there's a chance they can overheat, but if I leave them off there's a chance of a roof leak. We need the rain, but rain is never my friend. Rain disrupts my walks, Dawn gets dirty on her walks, and there's always that pesky roof leak.

The Rolling Stones are in town tonight. It's a sign that I'm getting older that I have no desire to sit out in the cold at the Cotton Bowl and hear them in the rain again. Been there, done that. It always seems to rain when the Stones come to the Cotton Bowl.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

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Day 4303

It's always interesting to go to a new doctor. I think this one is a keeper. The doctor I talked with today was the same one who removed the stones from my bile duct while I was hospitalized. and discovered that I had Barrett's esophagus. She did a good job of explaining why a second endoscopy and a biopsy of the esophagus was necessary. Evidently Barrett's esophagus is considered a pre-cancerous condition, even though the chances of it turning into cancer are very low. This inflammation of the lower part of the esophagus is caused by years of repeated acid reflux.  I've certainly experienced heartburn for a long time. Chances are the damage was done decades ago.

The upshot is that I go back to the hospital in a few weeks for an upper GI tract endoscopy. As a dubious bonus I am going to have a colonoscopy done at the same time. I knew that my primary care physician would never stop bugging me about the colonoscopy, so I thought this might be a good idea. Hey, I'm always up for killing two birds with one stone. I was somewhat surprised that the doctor agreed and said that doing both procedures at the same time would be no problem.

I don't look forward to being anesthetized again and having tubes shoved up both ends, but I'm a practical person and agree that this is necessary. No matter how healthy you think you are, seeing the doctor more often is just part of growing older. This is the time of year when I'm due for most of my annual exams anyway. I still need to make appointments to see the dermatologist, the urologist, and the eye doctor.

My doctor's appointment didn't stop me from taking my long walk. My new routine is to start the day with our sunrise walk with Dawn, eat a quick breakfast, and then immediately return to the trails for my long six mile walk before it gets too hot. This seems like a good plan even though it doesn't really get too hot anymore. The weather is just much nicer before 11 AM. 

People continue to send me surveys to fill out on an almost daily basis. What is the deal with all these surveys? I get them from the Land Rover dealer, the hospital, various doctors, elected representatives, the electric company, and just about anyone else I've crossed paths with. This is a recent phenomenon. Five years ago nobody asked me to take a survey. I wonder what has changed? Probably everything is driven by big data now and surveys determine what products and services we will get in the future. That's a shame if this is true. The world would be a much better place if people just used common sense to make decisions.

I finally figured out how to get the new medical features on my Apple Watch to work. The good news is that I have a few more graphs to look at in the morning. The bad news is that the batteries on both my phone and watch don't seem to last as long anymore. I've been trying to disable the background app refresh settings on my phone whenever I can find them. These seems to be on by default when you upgrade your operating system. Apple doesn't really care how long your battery lasts. They'd rather just sell you a new phone or computer every couple of years.

I think I'm more or less caught up on things for a while. I haven't heard from the observatory lately, so I'll probably just postpone my next visit until the Spring. I doubt that I'll be returning to Kennedy Space Center this year either. The launches I want to see have all been postponed until 2022. Maybe this is all for the best. It's been an expensive year and I don't have much money left for travel anyway. There's always plenty of walking to do. I'll just walk my way into 2022 and then pick up where I left off.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4285

Today was busy. I finished writing my article about the Inspiration 4 mission for SpaceFlight Magazine and started editing the hundreds of pictures I took to illustrate the article. When Janet proofread my story, she said I should say some nice things about Hayley. Seems fair enough. Hayley will definitely be the one people remember. I found a dozen or so pictures that would look good in a magazine and sent everything off to London. I haven't heard anything from my editor yet, but there's a big time zone difference.

I rescheduled my appointment with the digestive specialists who removed the gallstones from my bile duct. They want to do another endoscopy to examine a problem they found with my esophagus. Evidently I have Barrett’s Esophagus which is caused by long term acid reflux. I suspect they will want me to change my diet. I think I eat very healthy meals, but everything I like tends to cause heartburn. I'm willing to make some changes, but I definitely don't want to become a vegetarian.

I weighed myself for the first time since I was hospitalized and I've lost nearly ten pounds. I must have been sicker than I thought. This weight loss was a huge surprise, since I certainly don't look or feel any lighter. Actually, this puts me right at the target weight I've been trying to reach for a long time. Now I've just got to put some muscle on these bones. Muscle atrophy is a real problem as you grow older.  It's easy to lose muscle mass, but hard to build it back.

I took my first six mile walk in quite a while this morning. I did fine, but my pace was pretty slow. The temperatures are getting cooler, so I think I'll be able to get back to my old self fairly soon. Sometimes I get sick of walking every morning and writing every evening. I still think you've got to keep your body and mind active. I don't understand people who find exercise exhilarating. I'd still rather take a nice long nap.

I finally got my bags unpacked, did a load of dirty laundry, and put my suitcase away. I think it's OK to lift things again, but I still don't feel like mowing the lawn. Travel never used to be this tiring. I really like my trips to the observatory and the space center, but I'm usually worn out when I return. Oh, well. Getting old isn't a picnic, but I'm still a lot healthier than my Mom and Dad were at this age.

Hard to believe that the week is over and it's time to make a grocery list again. This week just flew by. I have no real plans for the weekend. Usually it's just grocery shopping on Saturday and Dawn's Sunday outing the next day. Maybe I'll do something interesting, but I wouldn't count on it.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3540

No long walks today. It was way too hot and we were too busy. After breakfast I tried to get organized so we could spend the afternoon with the Dalmatians. I paid some bills, went to the post office and the bank, and got the car ready to transport Hank. The last time Hank was in the car, he made a mess of things, so I made sure that I added some extra padding this time.

We couldn't pick Hank up at the emergency vet until 3 PM, so we stopped by the boarding kennel and played with the other Dalmatians first. Rolly is in the middle of his heartworm treatment, so he couldn't play, but Treasure and Charlie were eager for some extra attention. Treasure has perfected rolling over for treats and Charlie can catch them in mid air. Dalmatians are very food motivated. The next time we visit, there will be some new dogs. We've picked up two new adults and four puppies. I hope we get to see the puppies before they go to their forever homes. We very rarely get Dalmatian puppies and there is always a waiting list. Puppies are almost always adopted as soon as they become available.

Nothing conclusive was discovered during Hank's diagnostic exam this morning, but the vet is sending some biopsy samples to the lab for further testing. Hopefully, the endoscopy procedure Hank had today will help determine why he continues vomiting and having bloody diarrhea. It is weird that he will be completely normal for weeks at a time and then the bloody stools will return. Diet alone doesn't explain this recurring problem. Something else is going on. I was hoping that they would examine Hank's colon, since the blood is usually bright red, but today's test only examined the stomach and upper GI tract. This is a process of elimination. Hank may need further tests as well.

The traffic was terrible today. The congestion made me miss the empty roads of Jeff Davis County. You can drive for miles without passing a single car. Fort Davis, the county seat and largest city, has a population of around 2,200 people. I think more people than that live in our own little neighborhood near the lake. Despite its small size, Fort Davis has a veterinarian, a good restaurant, and can connect to the Internet. What more do you need? Until we spent some time in the Davis Mountains I don't think I realized the appeal of wide open spaces. I'm not a city person by nature.

I didn't make much progress on my article today, but there's always tomorrow. It's probably best to stay inside anyway. The cooler weather we had when it rained a few days ago is over. We're in the middle of another heat wave. Our August electric bill was horrendous. September won't be much better. I shouldn't complain though. At least we don't have to worry about hurricanes.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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