Month 21

Greetings everyone! or two….

Another month has come and gone, and there’s not a lot to report on the health side of things. Next week I see my doctor to go over my PSA results (I just got the blood drawn Thursday), and in early April I get another PET scan to see if I’m still clear of cancer.

My weight is holding steady in the 141 – 144 range. On the bodily function side of things, my poops are finally becoming more normal, with fewer of them being small (thumb-size) poops, and more that are bigger (but not too big) and better shaped. Usually two bowel movements a day, for anybody that’s counting.

I am continuing with my physical therapy twice a week. It seems to be helping, but not by leaps and bounds. My shoulders feel much better, but they are still weak…e.g. it’s tough to hang up my coat in the closet, tough to put a dish away on a shelf above my head.

In Grants Pass earlier this month I saw another physical therapist, one who specializes in ‘centered physical therapy’. It has to do with how you move your body on a daily basis and how to make lasting changes. The goal for me is to improve my breathing and my daily posture.

Endurance still not good, and in an effort to strengthen it, I ended up pushing my heart into a rapid and erratic beat while working out at the gym. Twice this month I had to stop my exercises when my heart got out of control, with rapid, weak beats, followed by skipped beats, and back to rapid weak ones. I felt light-headed each time, and there was no way I could continue with the exercises.

I saw my regular doctor about the incidents. He ordered an EKG, and next week I’ll be fitted with a heart monitor for 24 hours. Then I’m supposed to try to get my heart to repeat its rapid, erratic beat so they can determine what the problem is.

The only other medical appointments this month were for an eye check-up and a visit with the sleep clinic regarding my sleep apnea machine. All’s well with the eyes, and the doctor tweaked my prescription a little, so I got a new pair of glasses and dark glasses, too. Looking pretty darn dapper now.

I also ordered a new swim suit and prescription goggles. So I’m getting myself psyched to get back in the pool as soon as it gets a little warmer. I hope I can do it….5:30 in the morning is pretty early.

Two trips this month, one to Grants Pass for a ‘granddaughter fix’ and another to Oceanside for a reunion with some old college buddies, including one of my old roommates. He and his wife played their guitars and serenaded the group with songs they had written. We rented an eight bedroom house on the beach that accommodated everyone, and we had a fine time reminiscing about the old days.

So, that’s about it. Not much this month. I’ll let you know at the end of March what the PSA results were, then for April I’ll report on the PET scan. And I suspect that might be the end of this blog experiment.

In the meantime, here’s a poem from 2013 about some reminiscing, perhaps with the same Oceanside group.

College Reunion

A weekend in the City
With all faculties intact
Fifty years from college days
To which we can't go back.

But we can talk and we can dream
And we can reminisce
About the days when we were young
And hungry for a kiss.

Talks of all the old times
And the loves that came and went
And the classes that we cut
In a youth somewhat misspent.

But somehow we have made it
To this mellow time of life
When the kids are on their own
And we have a loving wife.

So savor all these golden years
Laugh with friends--and strangers, too
For soon this time will also pass
When the setting sun comes into view.