LATEST HEALTH REPORT
Several people have called to see how the genius is faring, so here is the update on his health: he's hanging in there. He was doing pretty well -- the pain in both his back and leg was abating -- and then he went back to work!!
Yesterday was his first day of inservice for teachers, so he had me drive him as close as possible to the building where most of his meetings were. He sat through all the morning meetings and then slowly walked to another building where he remained until 4:30 when he called me to come and get him. He didn't even go to lunch (which was free) but instead ate some trail mix he had carried with him in his briefcase. If you know him at all and how he loves to eat, you would realize what a departure from his usual behavior this was.
He had a rough night but seemed a little better by the time he went back this morning. At least he has a sandwich in his briefcase today. I doubt very seriously if he calls me to pick him up before all the meetings are over.
Tomorrow he has another meeting with the physical therapist and then potentially, he has five days off before his one class starts. I say "potentially" because I'm betting he will still go into work on Monday and Tuesday.
But we will see -- I'll keep you posted on his condition. And we both appreciate all your calls.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
THE STREAK
Those people who know the genius well are aware of the fact that he is a very goal-oriented man as well as a person who is interested in numbers. The two traits combined caused him to start riding a bike (indoors or out) everyday. For many years he had jogged almost daily, but his knees were beginning to deteriorate, so his doctor suggested the switch to a bicycle. And so he did.
As of Tuesday of last week he had ridden at least a mile, usually more like 12-15 miles per day. This unbroken streak lasted through two cataract operations and thyroid surgery. On those days he rode before the surgery, and then the next day he would pedal a mile, gradually building back up to more.
Well, I am very sad to report that the streak has been broken after 3778 days straight (that's 10 years and almost 4 months!). He just couldn't keep it going with the excruciating pain in his back and leg. In fact, he couldn't walk down to the exercise room of the hotel in Miami.
I am sooo sad for him, but very proud of him, too. To have that kind of persistence day after day during all kinds of colds and various other minor illnesses, to say nothing of just being tired after work is truly remarkable to me. On the best of days I don't like to exercise, and usually don't, but he has been so faithful to keep it up -- I just have to admire such perserverence!!!
So here's to my husband for his constant adherence to a principle he believed in and his dedication in carrying it out!!!
But please, Lord, let him get back to work!! I'm worn out fixing him three meals a day!!!!
Those people who know the genius well are aware of the fact that he is a very goal-oriented man as well as a person who is interested in numbers. The two traits combined caused him to start riding a bike (indoors or out) everyday. For many years he had jogged almost daily, but his knees were beginning to deteriorate, so his doctor suggested the switch to a bicycle. And so he did.
As of Tuesday of last week he had ridden at least a mile, usually more like 12-15 miles per day. This unbroken streak lasted through two cataract operations and thyroid surgery. On those days he rode before the surgery, and then the next day he would pedal a mile, gradually building back up to more.
Well, I am very sad to report that the streak has been broken after 3778 days straight (that's 10 years and almost 4 months!). He just couldn't keep it going with the excruciating pain in his back and leg. In fact, he couldn't walk down to the exercise room of the hotel in Miami.
I am sooo sad for him, but very proud of him, too. To have that kind of persistence day after day during all kinds of colds and various other minor illnesses, to say nothing of just being tired after work is truly remarkable to me. On the best of days I don't like to exercise, and usually don't, but he has been so faithful to keep it up -- I just have to admire such perserverence!!!
So here's to my husband for his constant adherence to a principle he believed in and his dedication in carrying it out!!!
But please, Lord, let him get back to work!! I'm worn out fixing him three meals a day!!!!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
THE THIRD DAY
Day 3 began with the genius' waking me up at 6:00 a.m. saying he was in GREAT pain and could not straighten up. When I watched him walk with his upper body almost parallel to the floor, I realized he was indeed in very bad shape. The pain was shooting down his left leg and unbeknownst to him, the leg was also becoming very weak. We immediately contacted the hotel doctor on call who told us to come in to see him at his office.
That ride by taxi to and from the doctor's was a nightmare. He just couldn't get comfortable and walking was almost impossible. He finally made it in and got a couple of prescriptions for pain and relaxing the muscles; after filling them, it was back to the hotel.
From this time on, we were forced to depend on room service for our food, which in less expensive hotels is not so bad. But in this one, it was another story. At least we were in upgraded accomodations -- I can't imagine what a horror story it would have been if we had been in a single room with two queen beds. Here we had a nice round dining table on which to eat our meals.
I will say that the food was truly delicious! AND there were generous servings, so we learned to order one meal and split it -- that way it wasn't quite so hard on our pocketbooks, which were being emptied at an alarming rate. I did make a trip to the ATM in the lobby and it was $5.00 to withdraw $80.00 (the maximum).
This is about all I will report on this lovely excursion except that we spent Day 4 the same way, relaxing in the room and calling for room service. On the fifth day, we hobbled to the limo, rode to the airport, and this time checked our bags.
However, before we leave the subject of the Fontainebleau, below are pics to view of our place where we spent so much time.
Our Lovely Soft Bed
My Shower
View from Our Balcony
The Kitchen (the dining table is at the lower right)
to be cont'd
Day 3 began with the genius' waking me up at 6:00 a.m. saying he was in GREAT pain and could not straighten up. When I watched him walk with his upper body almost parallel to the floor, I realized he was indeed in very bad shape. The pain was shooting down his left leg and unbeknownst to him, the leg was also becoming very weak. We immediately contacted the hotel doctor on call who told us to come in to see him at his office.
That ride by taxi to and from the doctor's was a nightmare. He just couldn't get comfortable and walking was almost impossible. He finally made it in and got a couple of prescriptions for pain and relaxing the muscles; after filling them, it was back to the hotel.
From this time on, we were forced to depend on room service for our food, which in less expensive hotels is not so bad. But in this one, it was another story. At least we were in upgraded accomodations -- I can't imagine what a horror story it would have been if we had been in a single room with two queen beds. Here we had a nice round dining table on which to eat our meals.
I will say that the food was truly delicious! AND there were generous servings, so we learned to order one meal and split it -- that way it wasn't quite so hard on our pocketbooks, which were being emptied at an alarming rate. I did make a trip to the ATM in the lobby and it was $5.00 to withdraw $80.00 (the maximum).
This is about all I will report on this lovely excursion except that we spent Day 4 the same way, relaxing in the room and calling for room service. On the fifth day, we hobbled to the limo, rode to the airport, and this time checked our bags.
However, before we leave the subject of the Fontainebleau, below are pics to view of our place where we spent so much time.
Our Lovely Soft Bed
My Shower
View from Our Balcony
The Kitchen (the dining table is at the lower right)
to be cont'd
Saturday, August 6, 2011
MIAMI TRIP CONTINUED
I think I mentioned in yesterday's post that the genius had worked hard getting several jobs completed before we left. On the way down to Miami, he said that his lower back was a little sore from the yard work. (Later I discovered that moving out of his office had entailed lifting several heavy boxes of books and hefting them up to the top shelves in a closet.) Plus, what plane seat, on Southwest anyway, is ever comfortable? By the time we walked forever to catch our ride to the hotel, he was moving more slowly than usual.
I'll interject here that I didn't really think anything about his pains -- we both have bouts with pain throughout our old bodies, especially hips, knees, and backs. But with a little rest or Advil we go right on, and they get "well."
The first night we settled into our luxurious apartment and finally turned out the lights at a later than usual hour for us. As we sank down into the king-sized bed, I noticed that the mattress was quite soft and thought to myself< "That's not going to help a bad back!" But as I was really tired, I drifted off pretty quickly.
You guessed it -- when we woke up the next morning, the genius was in much more pain. He was still able to maneuver pretty well, though, and made a trip to the conference to register, etc. When he came back about lunch time, we walked (slowly) around the huge complex looking at the menus of the various restaurants until deciding upon a place to eat. Afterwards, we looked at the nine pools and interesting places within the hotel, again at a slow pace. We eventually ended up at a very quiet pool located on the 5th floor of our building overlooking the water, where we remained until time to get ready for dinner.
We took a cab to a seafood place named A Fish Called Avalon, and I must say the food was excellent. When we had finished our leisurely dinner, we had a taxi drop us at a Walgreen's about 6 blocks from the hotel so we could stock up on drinks, etc. for the refrigerator we hadn't expected to have. All this time, the genius was getting worse as we plodded on; the pain now extended down his leg to his bad knee. When we got back to our suite, he made the decision to sleep on the sofa in the living room rather than take a chance on the soft mattress again.
All of our actions, from the time we left Nashville until this second night, were contributing to a very bad situation, indeed!!
to be cont'd
I think I mentioned in yesterday's post that the genius had worked hard getting several jobs completed before we left. On the way down to Miami, he said that his lower back was a little sore from the yard work. (Later I discovered that moving out of his office had entailed lifting several heavy boxes of books and hefting them up to the top shelves in a closet.) Plus, what plane seat, on Southwest anyway, is ever comfortable? By the time we walked forever to catch our ride to the hotel, he was moving more slowly than usual.
I'll interject here that I didn't really think anything about his pains -- we both have bouts with pain throughout our old bodies, especially hips, knees, and backs. But with a little rest or Advil we go right on, and they get "well."
The first night we settled into our luxurious apartment and finally turned out the lights at a later than usual hour for us. As we sank down into the king-sized bed, I noticed that the mattress was quite soft and thought to myself< "That's not going to help a bad back!" But as I was really tired, I drifted off pretty quickly.
You guessed it -- when we woke up the next morning, the genius was in much more pain. He was still able to maneuver pretty well, though, and made a trip to the conference to register, etc. When he came back about lunch time, we walked (slowly) around the huge complex looking at the menus of the various restaurants until deciding upon a place to eat. Afterwards, we looked at the nine pools and interesting places within the hotel, again at a slow pace. We eventually ended up at a very quiet pool located on the 5th floor of our building overlooking the water, where we remained until time to get ready for dinner.
We took a cab to a seafood place named A Fish Called Avalon, and I must say the food was excellent. When we had finished our leisurely dinner, we had a taxi drop us at a Walgreen's about 6 blocks from the hotel so we could stock up on drinks, etc. for the refrigerator we hadn't expected to have. All this time, the genius was getting worse as we plodded on; the pain now extended down his leg to his bad knee. When we got back to our suite, he made the decision to sleep on the sofa in the living room rather than take a chance on the soft mattress again.
All of our actions, from the time we left Nashville until this second night, were contributing to a very bad situation, indeed!!
to be cont'd
Friday, August 5, 2011
TRIP TO MIAMI BEACH -- SUMMER 2011
The discussion of what to do for summer vacation began early in the spring with several ideas being bandied around. We could return to our favorite vacation spot, Cape San Blas, Florida, for a week's visit. Another thought was to re-visit a place on the Panhandle that we frequented for many years with children and grandchildren: Perdido Key, FL But the one we ended up selecting was a trip to Miami Beach that coincided with a statistics meeting that the genius would attend. That was one memorable vacation we will never forget!
The first decision involved transportation. We ruled out the 24 hour drive (one-way) pretty quickly -- too time consuming and not much fun. Then came the choice on which airlines to fly -- we both like Southwest, but they only fly into Fort Lauderdale, which meant a 45 minute ride to Miami Beach. But American only had an Eagle flight to Miami, and even though the genius was ok with that, I wasn't -- I'd heard too much about how those little planes bounce around. So we decided to go for Fort Lauderdale (and how could we miss with a name like that?).
With that decision out of the way, we moved on to where we would stay. The convention listed 12 hotels, one of which was the Fontainebleau. I had heard much about that one and so researched it on line. It had recently undergone a one billion dollar renovation and although it was a little more than the others, we decided to go for it. So we were all set.
We worked feverishly to get all our chores done before we left. The genius worked for weeks moving out of his office at school, which he would no longer need next year due to his lighter work load. He also did some much needed yard work. I, on the other hand, had much more important tasks like getting my nails done and my hair colored and styled.
But the big day of departure finally came. Rufus was picked up by Jim IV and carted out to his house. The genius and I took off from Nashville and arrived in Fort Lauderdale about 9:30 p.m. We were able to get a car (much nicer than a cab) to the hotel for a pretty decent price, so the situation was looking good. And when we got to the hotel, because of the late hour and hotel overbooking, we were given a one bedroom suite!! with living/dining room!! and a full modern kitchen!! and best of all, 2 beautiful full baths decked out in marble!!!
This vacation was looking better and better!!!
to be con'd.
The discussion of what to do for summer vacation began early in the spring with several ideas being bandied around. We could return to our favorite vacation spot, Cape San Blas, Florida, for a week's visit. Another thought was to re-visit a place on the Panhandle that we frequented for many years with children and grandchildren: Perdido Key, FL But the one we ended up selecting was a trip to Miami Beach that coincided with a statistics meeting that the genius would attend. That was one memorable vacation we will never forget!
The first decision involved transportation. We ruled out the 24 hour drive (one-way) pretty quickly -- too time consuming and not much fun. Then came the choice on which airlines to fly -- we both like Southwest, but they only fly into Fort Lauderdale, which meant a 45 minute ride to Miami Beach. But American only had an Eagle flight to Miami, and even though the genius was ok with that, I wasn't -- I'd heard too much about how those little planes bounce around. So we decided to go for Fort Lauderdale (and how could we miss with a name like that?).
With that decision out of the way, we moved on to where we would stay. The convention listed 12 hotels, one of which was the Fontainebleau. I had heard much about that one and so researched it on line. It had recently undergone a one billion dollar renovation and although it was a little more than the others, we decided to go for it. So we were all set.
We worked feverishly to get all our chores done before we left. The genius worked for weeks moving out of his office at school, which he would no longer need next year due to his lighter work load. He also did some much needed yard work. I, on the other hand, had much more important tasks like getting my nails done and my hair colored and styled.
But the big day of departure finally came. Rufus was picked up by Jim IV and carted out to his house. The genius and I took off from Nashville and arrived in Fort Lauderdale about 9:30 p.m. We were able to get a car (much nicer than a cab) to the hotel for a pretty decent price, so the situation was looking good. And when we got to the hotel, because of the late hour and hotel overbooking, we were given a one bedroom suite!! with living/dining room!! and a full modern kitchen!! and best of all, 2 beautiful full baths decked out in marble!!!
This vacation was looking better and better!!!
to be con'd.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)