Nine Days Ater Surgery

If you recall this was not just any surgery but lumbar spinal fusion where my L2-3-4-5-S1 were joined with two screws in each level and a bar on either side.  Bone was taken from my right hip to start the fusion process at each level, and the incession, I believe based upon the patch I see in the mirror gives me the indication that my cut was about 12"-15" long.

Currently, I can say the following:

• My appetite has returned
• I have no problems sleeping
• Regular bowel movement have returned
• I have progressed from a walker to a cane to walking unassisted
• I need no assistance getting in and out of bed
• I need no assistance putting on clothes
• I need no assistance using the bathroom
• I walk about 10-15 minutes each day which includes mornings, afternoons, and early evenings
• I cannot stand in one place too long
• I can sit up or recline but have to alternate positions
• I feel pressure in my lower back along with slight discomfort
• I've gone from 12 hour pain pills to 24 hour pain pills but cannot really tell any difference 2-3 hours later
• I have no problems sleeping on my sides but can only lay directly on my back for about 30-40 minutes.
• My walking is not completely free form as my legs don't move with a full gait yet.
• I have no patience watching any TV Series and after 2-3 episodes turn it off completely...  rather bored and annoyed

I have very little to desire to watch the news and no longer feel anger and resentment towards the progressives for pushing us green, allowing inflation to eat up our profits, and unleashing a tidal wave of illegal immigrants into our country...  I don't care if Biden is the worst President under which I have lived because none of this relative to the improvement of my back means anything at all to me.

MY wife keeps reminding me that the hospital orders were that I do nothing for the first couple of weeks, but did not elaborate on what nothing was...  so, as soon as I could get out of bed, I was out and going into the living to sit and do whatever...  whatever was not much as I recall and by mid-morning I was back in bed.  For the first 3 days, my wife would not let me in or out of the bed without her help regardless of the time...  that loyalty made me feel a little guilty about what I had allowed happen to me.

So far there is no depression or anxiety or a feeling of helplessness if you have read the writings of John Paul Satre...  but, there is a feeling of not being interested in doing anything but sitting around with a blank mind which is a lot harder to achieve than you might think.  Yet, I doubt that I am meditating.

My concerns:

1. Did I move too quickly doing things?
2. Did I push my body too quickly into movement?
3. If so, will that slow down my recovery?
4. When will my other interests return?

Reimagining America

This concept is not so easy to imagine nor is it that easy to consider all the areas that one would think needs to be considered... like:

• politics
• education
• business
• Military
• Manufacturing
• retail
• Travel & Tourism
• Banking & Investments
• Housing & Transportation

Do you reimagine a country with no opposing view?

Do you reimagine a country with no police force?

Do you reimagine a country without a second amendment?

Do you reimagine a country with no minorities or with just as many females as you have males?

Do you imagine a country that has no freedom of speech?

And when you are doing all this reimagining, who tells you what to remove and what to keep...  and what if you disagree?  What then?  Does your disagreement get taken to a court of law to decide? 

So, how would you reimagine America?

No large cities...

No houses close together...

Only one language is spoken...

Recycle and Trash are picked up at the same time.

No Personal vehicles...

Cube

 

FAMILY

Family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as members mature and learn to participate in the community. Historically, most human societies use family as the primary locus of attachment, nurturance, and socialization.

Anthropologists classify most family organizations as matrifocal (a mother and her children), patrifocal (a father and his children), conjugal (a wife, her husband, and children, also called the nuclear family), avuncular (a man, his sister, and her children), or extended (in addition to parents and children, may include grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins).  

Source:  Wikipedia...  trust them or not...  but you gotta like the fact that they are always around.

1947 - 1962 > I grew up in a nuclear family separated by 500 miles from the parents and relatives of both my parents who had lived in the same state all their lives.  My father was the first to leave home after the military.

1962 - 1972 > I was pretty much on my own and during the later part of that decade, I started my own family away from parents and siblings.

1972 - 2012 >  A family transformation was taking place that involved the entire family.  While my parents had moved back to the state of their parents, my siblings and I decided to spread our friendship over thousands of miles as we moved out of the United States, and into foreign countries where we lived, worked, and socialized with the locals.  Our family ancestors back home were completely ignored and over time we no longer communicate at all.

Divorce brought the disillusionment of one side of the family only to have it replaced by ancestors from the families of our new spouse.  Sometimes, these relationships were better and sometimes worse...

But the family traditions as displayed so eloquently in the mini-series Peaky Binders is no longer present in our family.

2012 - Present >  Our family is no longer together and no longer communicated with other members of the family unless they are put into a situation where they have to communicate.  The focus is no longer on the family (siblings and their families) but on the family that you are currently the oldest member.

In other words, your children and their children is your family and you literally have no desire to reach out beyond that other than acknowledge you once had parents, a brother, and a sister.

High Gas Prices

The Democrats want to push all Americans and those who live within her borders, towards electric vehicles since the price of gasoline has doubled since Biden has been our President.  

First of all, the USA is not fully prepared to go 100% EV because it would take several years for our companies to manufacture them. 

 Second, there are not enough charging stations to accommodate all Americans to charge their vehicles and it would also take several years to build those stations

Third, the electric grid for the USA is not powerful enough to support that many EVs plus provide power to all the homes and businesses, and other places that needed electricity to operate.  

Fourth, the components to build electric vehicles come from overseas and there is simply not enough supply for all the EVs we need, especially since the Democrats are trying to push solar panels as well.  

Fifth, until the cost of purchasing an EV becomes affordable, the average American who is making $50,000 a year, is not going to be able to afford those cars.

Therefore, most Americans will simply keep their gasoline cars and pay the high price for gasoline but in order to make it work for them, they will simply drive less...  not only will their drive less, but they will also spend less money on other items like clothes, restaurants, and vacations because they are spending so much for gasoline.

When Americans start doing this, finding alternative sources because the Democrats have decided they want to end fossil fuel TODAY...  the reduction of spending will have the opposite effect that the stimulus money had on the economy...  and, the USA will plunge into a recession.

What is really going to be interesting is when we are in this recession, how are we going to be able to provide resources to all those illegal immigrants that we allowed into the country for the last two years?  These illegals will need:

• Food
• Housing
• Education
• Clothes
• Medical

And, I would be willing to bet that they damn sure don't have the money to buy an EV and make the Democrats happy.

As the Democrats screw up our economy because of their desire to go GREEN...  other countries, like our ENEMIES, for instance, are not going GREEN and that will enable those economies to grow and prosper while our economy is shrinking...  These countries are:

• China
• Russia
• India
• Pakistan
• Middle East (all countries)
• North Korea

I am confident that our enemies will be sympathetic concerning what the Democrats are trying to do with our country...

Do you know how many countries out there want the USA to fail because we tried to force them to live like us???

Dog Slides on Back

 

Signs of Mental Illness

Whether it is depression, anxiety, or something else, mental illness is not something to take lightly. Individuals who feel they might be struggling with some type of issue with their mental health should reach out for assistance and visit a doctor or mental health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, as soon as they can. Doing so can greatly assist in the identification of what is wrong, if anything, and can help with starting effective treatment sooner. Individuals may also want to consider speaking to a trusted friend or other loved one, particularly if they are nervous about seeking professional help, as they can be a great source of support.

Prolonged Sadness
Feeling down every now and again is normal. Everyone has bad days and there are always going to be some rough patches throughout life. Yet, if an individual has felt disengaged for an extended period with no true reason for feeling this way, they may have something more serious they should be treated for. If at any point individuals feel their feelings are overtaking their life and are more than they can handle, they should seek out help right away and take control.


Extreme Highs And Lows
If frequent mood changes could be a serious sign an individual has a mental health condition. Someone's emotions are likely to change throughout the day, but if an individual finds themselves bringing these emotions to the extreme and doing so quite frequently, they may be dealing with a mental health disorder like bipolar disorder. With this condtion, patients may sometimes feel over-excited about things and lose sleep due to it, acting impulsively, and experiencing racing thoughts. Other times, getting out of bed may seem like an impossibility. There are medication and lifestyle tactics patients can implement to help cope with this disorder.


Social Withdrawal
Social activity is important and keeps the mind stimulated and engaged on a regular basis. When individuals find themselves feeling down more regularly, it is often easy to withdraw from others and avoid going out at all possible costs. In doing this, individuals are enabling themselves to shut down and sink deeper into their feelings of depression and loneliness. Patients experiencing this, beyond seeking professional assistance, should often try to set small goals to lessen their isolation. These small goals include making a phone call or going on a short walk with a friend. Any little bit helps.


TO READ MORE ABOUT YOUR MENTAL HEALTH, CLICK HERE...

Dog Awakes

 

WELL I be...

Those who are in control of the Democratic Party may well believe that they will lose the midterm elections but they are aware that because of the ensuring activities of the newly empowered republicans going after Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, Unleashing US Oil, Curtailing Immigration, and all those who tried to assassinate Trump's character, they will be able to keep the presidency in 2024 and that will pretty much kill the oil industry forcing a big economic lunge in electric vehicles.

In January of 2023, Republicans will control a super majority of both the House and the Senate and will be perceived as the party who pushed us into the EV Business at full speed.

What does this mean?

• more charging stations
• less long vehicle trips

I am so SICK of POLICITICS and POLITICIANS

Fighting each other over how we should live our lives seems to be the height of ignorance and the supreme arrogance of those who think they control the lives of other Americans...  that will dissolve like salt in a summer rain upon death... and for what purpose then?

• You don't control my thoughts only how I express them
• You don't control my personality or its ability to change as you approach
• You don't control what I see or what I decide to put into my head
• you relish in money like a pig in mud wishing you had more of both
• your addiction to power and control will leave you without anything in the last nanosecond of life

I have all that I need and enjoy what has been given and worry not anymore if you are a democrat or a republican...  only that our lives no longer choose to include each other.  We spend what we have been given or earned and not a dime more shall leave the banks of our guardians.

We have no purpose in life other than live life as we think we should and while some of us feel a 12,000 square foot home is what we need, others feel that 1,200 square feet might be just right.

I no longer pay attention to 

• political races
• presidential elections
• who control the house or senate
• how many illegal drugs are in our house
• how many illegal immigrants have crossed over our border

I not longer listen to:

• BLM
• BEING WOKE
• CRT
• 1619 Project

Or if you want to be equal with us

Or just wanted someone to provide you with equity

I don't care about changing the name of a building because it reminds you of slavery but slavery ended with the civil war and at some point, after renaming or changing anything, you are going to have to simply find a way to get over your anxiety of the civil war.

Politics and politicians bring out
this stuff and I am just getting tired of hearing about it...  I just turn it off.

Earth's CO2 Levels

CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps heat, gradually causing global warming 

[File: Charlie Riedel/AP Photo]

Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May were 50 percent higher than during the pre-industrial era, reaching levels not seen on Earth for about four million years, the main US climate agency said on Friday.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passed the threshold of 420 parts per million (ppm), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. PPM is a unit of measurement used to quantify pollution in the atmosphere.

Last May, the rate was 419ppm, and in 2020, 417ppm.

Global warming caused by humans, particularly through the production of electricity using fossil fuels, transport, the production of cement, or even deforestation, is responsible for the new high, the NOAA said.

CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps heat, gradually causing global warming. It remains in the atmosphere and oceans for thousands of years.

Its warming effect is already causing dramatic consequences, noted NOAA, including the multiplication of heatwaves, droughts, fires or floods.

“Carbon dioxide is at levels our species has never experienced before – this is not new,” said Pieter Tans, a scientist with the Global Monitoring Laboratory at NOAA.

“We have known about this for half a century, and have failed to do anything meaningful about it. What’s it going to take for us to wake up?”  READ MORE...

Surfing

 

Not Completely Ready to Go

I thought I would be a lot more mobile quicker than I have actually become...  It was not that the surgery was more intense because none of that changed...  it is just taking longer for my body to bounce back this time...

It feels like my incision is about 2 feet in length and there is a lot more discomfort than I thought I would experience.  I have also spent more time in bed than anticipated.

I have not eaten a complete meal since last Tuesday and only just today had my first full cup of coffee that prompted me to want more.

My recovery in the hospital was non-existent except for the 15 minutes I spent with two different therapists.  And, this was by far the worst hospital food  I have ever had...

On the day of my discharge, I was in the lobby waiting for my wife because they had kicked me out of the room by 8:30...   so when they are done with you they are down with you.

I only started taking my pain pills when I got home because my blood pressure was low.  My desire to eat and move around increased with those pills.

As always some nurses were incredibly competent and skilled while others must have been teachers.

My urination returned to normal after returning home and I have yet to have a bowel movement but I have not eaten much either.

The most difficult part for me is getting in and out of bed and trying to get on one or the other side.  Cannot lie on my back and it is a NO-NO to lay on my stomach.

My hand-eye coordination has deteriorated and my sight is remaining fuzzy for most of ther day...  making it really difficult to any form of legitimate opinion piece...   I thought I would be back in the saddle after a week,  but today I don't think that is going to happen...

I'm working on 1-2 pieces a day but I again am asking for your patience...

Remember, my L2-L3-L4-L5-S1 vertebrae were fused together with 2 screws each and two rods on either..  and I ain't no spring chicken anymore.  The pain alone has thrown me for a loop, always being told to expect a lot and end up hardly experiencing any at all.

I am wearing no brace but cannot drive for 6 weeks.  I cannot lift anything over 5 lbs for 6 weeks and cannot do any kind of physical therapy other than walking for 3-6 months...

This too shall pass quickly.

Whales

 

MEDICAL BREAK

 DUE TO

BACK SURGERY,

MY REGULAR POSTINGS WILL BE SUSPENDED UNTIL JUNE 13, 2022 

TOMORROW... 

MEDICAL BREAK

 DUE TO

BACK SURGERY,

MY REGULAR POSTINGS WILL BE SUSPENDED UNTIL JUNE 13, 2022... 

2 DAYS

FROM NOW... 

MEDICAL BREAK

 DUE TO

BACK SURGERY,

MY REGULAR POSTINGS WILL BE SUSPENDED UNTIL JUNE 13, 2022... 

3 DAYS

FROM NOW... 

MEDICAL BREAK

 DUE TO

BACK SURGERY,

MY REGULAR POSTINGS WILL BE SUSPENDED UNTIL JUNE 13, 2022... 

4 DAYS

FROM NOW... 

MEDICAL BREAK

DUE TO

BACK SURGERY,

MY REGULAR POSTINGS WILL BE SUSPENDED UNTIL JUNE 13, 2022... 

5 DAYS

FROM NOW... 

My PLIF surgery (Posterior Lumbar Interwoven Fusion) will undertake to fuse together L2 - L3 - L4 - L5 - S1 with 2 screws in each vertebrae and 2 rods on either side. 

The surgery itself will take 4-6 hours and my surgeon has 27 years experience in this field and has done over 1,000 of these surgeries. The infection rate at the hospital where the procedure is to take place is 2.5% and because of my current treatment for Lymphoma and Melanoma, the potential infection rate will double which is still good odds.  

I will remain in the hospital a minimum of 1 night, maybe two depending upon how my body responds.  The first couple of days will be critical in terms of adjust to the pain and the new equipment in my body but I should force myself to start walking as soon as possible.  

I will have limited abilities for the first 4-6 weeks which means no lifting over a container of milk and I will not be able to drive.  I should try and walk for 30 minutes twice a day and they rest of the time, I should sleep or watch television, or perhaps write on my blogs.  

I will not be able to start any physical therapy until after 3 months...  and, it will take anywhere from 12-18 months before I am back to normal whatever that means as far as this infusion is concerned.  I am sure that some of my back movements will be limited but I am not sure by how much.

I appreciate your patience and hope that you will return to this blog when I resume my writing and posting on June 20.

Gun Culture in America

As a result of our Second Amendment right, Americans have spent the last several decades acquiring guns like some acquire clothes, furniture, cars, and smart devices.  Most of the gun owners are law-abiding citizens and want to take advantage of the second amendment or simply have other uses for owning guns, like target practice and hunting.  These people, I suppose, do have a right to purchase and/or collect guns although I really cannot imagine why they want to do so...  as many of them have never fired a gun and never want to.

In contrast, we have criminals and those who want to break the law, who purchase guns and do so for the sole purpose of committing a crime believing that few people will stop them if they show these people that are carrying a gun and give them the impression that they are going to use it.

Most if not all of the people (those who commit crimes with guns) are mentally handicapped or mentally imbalanced or suffer from some sort of mental illness as killing others is not necessarily part of our survival skills.  Although, all living creatures see survival as the key to life and should only be done under a certain set of circumstances...  like kill or be killed.

Since this is our human nature, the second amendment seems rather pointless to our survival in the decade in which we currently live or will live and was probably not necessary in numerous decades of our past.

We should make owning a gun very difficult and we should increase the age to 25...  although using guns for other purposes such as target practice and hunting could be accomplished under the age of 25 and with the supervision of someone over 25.

We should also make the punishment for using a gun while committing a crime very steep so as to discourage people from using guns for that purpose.

Civilized societies do not need guns as they have a police department for protection internally and a military for protection externally...

However, each society should be able to use guns for recreational purposes.

Of course, this is just my opinion...  if I had my way, I would remove the second amendment except for reaction unless you want to remove that part out of the constitution as well...