Category Archives: Health

Decumulation, Health, holidays, St. Lucia, travel, Uncategorized

Quite A Year

4 Comments
Snow greeted our year, but my doctor said I shouldn’t shovel it.

A year such as 2025 can most easily be shared as a series of bullet points.

  • We began the year in Worcester, Massachusetts. This was a five-day trip by air, delayed a week after I suffered a seizure with ER visit on Dec. 22, 2024. We visited our son and his husband. It was a good trip, during which we celebrated my 73rd birthday and New Year’s Day rather than Christmas.
  • Charles was in good spirits before his brain surgery.

    In February, our son, Charles, had brain surgery due to the seizure he suffered in Oct 2024. We flew back for the surgery. The surgery was successful, and his recovery was much more rapid and complete than the most optimistic expectations.

  • In mid-April, I suffered a second seizure, of about the same severity as the first one. This left my speech further impaired than it had been after my two strokes in 2024. But except for speech, I seemed to have no impairments from the seizures.
  • We traveled masked so as not to infect Charles.

    I completed out-patient cardio rehab in March. Recovery from my Sept 30, 2024 open-heart surgery for valve replacement has been good. I get a fleeting pain once in a while, but all in all I’m glad I went through with the surgery and pleased with the results.

  • You never know who you’ll run into in Worcester.

    The months of April-May-June-July were mainly taken up with decumulation tasks and yardwork. My blackberries did well. But I made only one cobbler and didn’t come close to picking all the berries. I lacked strength to do all the work required. Consequently…

  • …I did no stock/options trading until almost the end of May. Of course, that means I had almost no exposure to the wild market gyrations of Feb. and April.
  • The Berkshire woods looked a lot like our Ozarks woods.

    We decided to get away for a while, and built an almost 4-week road trip in August around my 55-year high school reunion. We spent a few days in Rhode Island with friends for the reunion, then a week on Cape Cod that included excursions to Provincetown and Martha’s Vineyard, then two weeks in the Berkshires, just enjoying our resort, taking easy hikes, walking the resort grounds, and doing a few tourist things. On the return drive, we spent two days at the Columbus OH zoo, which Lynda had wanted to see for several years due to its connection with Jack Hanna.

  • We decided to drive to Lake Jackson, Texas in early October to visit Sara and her family. We hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving 2024. We got to attend cross-country races and other things. It was an enjoyable trip, which we thought might be the last for te year. However, three more adventures awaited us.
  • Finally went to beautiful St. Lucia after years of dreaming.

    In June, Charles attended a professional conference that included a keynote presentation about universities and slavery. That got him interested in where our black ancestry came from, and said, “We need to go to St. Lucia.” That’s been a dream of mine for years, to see the place my maternal grandmother grew up in. It turned out Thanksgiving was the best time, so we took our third plane trip of the year and spent seven days/six nights in Castries, using up all accumulated timeshare points (and some cash). It was a wonderful trip, one I’m planning to blog more about.

  • Charles had finally convinced Lynda that if we moved in a downsizing, it would be better if we moved to the Lake Jackson-Houston area rather than to Massachusetts. So we made plans to move in about a year. Then, a week after we got back from L.J., and house very close to Sara went up for sale. It was the perfect downsize for us. We made another road trip to L.J., saw the house, it looked just right, we put in an offer, and bought it.
  • So now our decumulation has turned into moving preparation. We took a U-Haul load on Dec 19 and stayed through Christmas. Now we are planning on moving for good around Feb. 1, 2026. I don’t want to be paying for two houses for too long.

So that’s our year. With all the trips and work, I put off having knee surgery, originally scheduled for Nov, then Dec, then Jan, until sometime after the move. I suspect it will be part of my 2027 story.

Also, I’ve said nothing about my writing activities. So stay tuned for another post in a couple of days to cover that.

Decumulation, Health, miscellaneous

A New Tale for the Vagabond

4 Comments
The legacy books were once a part of my journey. They are all gone now.

For a long time, I thought, if I ever wrote my autobiography, it would be titled The Journey Was A Joy. But as started to write it, that seemed wrong. I thought that would instead be the name of the last chapter. As I thought about the journeys I have been on—spatial, physical, spiritual, professional, intellectual, avocational—I decided instead I would title it Tales Of A Vagabond. I’ve written the first six chapters of that.

I’m about to embark on a new chapter of the vagabond life. For a long time Lynda and I have talked about moving to be close to one of our children. The choices were Worcester, Massachusetts and Lake Jackson, Texas. The problem is, neither of them may be in their current locations for a long time. Either of them could pick up and move in a matter of a few years. Knowing that, we’ve been slow-walking our decumulation efforts, as readers of this blog will know. Our son in Worcester finally convinced Lynda that the better place for us to move was to Lake Jackson. I had been of that mind for some time.

The health journey is also a consideration.

A couple of weeks ago, a house across the street and two doors down from our daughter came up for sale. To make a long story short, we found the house to be perfect in size and location. Through a realtor we made an offer, came to an agreement with the seller, and are under contract to buy the house. Closing is scheduled for Dec. 8.

Monday, we met with a realtor (husband and wife team) in our house in Bella Vista.  Within a day or two we will likely put her to work as our realtor, and get the house listed ASAP. We think it will show well (if we can get it at least somewhat more presentable) and hope it will sell reasonably quickly. Our time to move is between Dec 18-ish and April 1. I have knee replacement surgery scheduled for Jan 27, so it may not happen then depending on when we do make the move.

Interest journeys have been part of it, as writing became a part of my life.

Am I excited? No. The amount of work before us is massive. Slow walking isn’t going to get it done. The worst part will be leaving our church of almost 36 years. That will be hard.

We’ve been in this house for close to 24 years, and in this area since January 1991. That kind of stability probably negates the idea of me being a vagabond. But life isn’t defined only by your physical location. My life has included many other types of journeys.

If I live long enough, like into my nineties, it is likely that this won’t be the last move in the vagabond journey.

Bible study, Christianity, Decumulation, Documenting America, Genealogy, goals, Health, letters, Writing

Goals for June 2025

Leave a comment

Last month I resumed setting goals for the month. I had suspended this practice, which used to include progress, as my injuries and medical issues piled up in 2024 and continued in early 2025. But I decided to resume setting goals but not taking time to report progress on the prior month’s goals. So here are goals for June.

  • Begin editing Vol. 5 of the A Walk Through Holy Week Bible study series. Based on how the last couple of volumes went, it’s likely I’ll finish it this month.
  • Continue with work on computer files. This, for now, will mainly  be checking scanned files to see if I’ve properly saved them and then get rid of the duplicate file.
  • Having done a good job on genealogy research this month, I’d like to continue it in June. This may be mainly organizing computer files, getting rid of duplicate material and superseded files, rather than new research.
  • Work some more on going through family photos. It would be nice to finish one of our four main families and send those photos off to the next family member who needs to deal with them.
  • Continue going through my father-in-law’s letter files. They are in approximate chronological order. I’m going through them one a day, from newest working backwards. At this rate it will take me a couple of years to get through them all.
  • Consolidate a few ideas I’ve had lately for future writing in the Documenting America series.

I have other things I’d like to accomplish, but these seem like enough to set for the month. Especially in consideration of the outdoor work I have to do in the blackberry patch.

Health

The Surprise at the Hospital

3 Comments
All this with no warning, no ability to plan my time.

Tuesday this week I was scheduled to go to Washington Regional Medical Center for an EEG test. This was my second of this test. I had one scheduled for January. It was a follow up to my Sept. 3, 2024 stroke, but a couple of weeks before that I had my first seizure. Thus, the EEG might also give them information about what happened with the seizure.

For that test, I had to be awake 24 hours before, with no caffeine, so that the test, consisting of 1 1/4 hours prep and 45 min test would be in a sleep deprived state, with me falling asleep for most of the test period. That test worked well.

After my second seizure, on April 17 (treated at the ER of a different hospital), I contacted my neurologist’s office, which is associated with WRMC, to see if they wanted to see me. After some delay, they contacted me to say they wanted me to first have another EEG. We found a mutually acceptable date, Ma7 20, and Lynda and I made the 45 mile drive. This time, the instructions they gave me, through calls with both the hospital and my neurologist, was to go without caffeine. Sleep deprivation was not part of it.

I got to WRMC, and as the EEG technician was walking me back to the room, he said this test would last two days. I would leave the hospital and go home with 20 electrodes stuck to my head, covered by a tight-fitting skull cap, and a 2-pound electronic unit in a bag slung over my head and shoulder. Don’t go near water, but otherwise go about life as usual.

Right. I take it that technician has never undergone this test. Look at the photo.

With all respect to the hospital and the neurologist, I feel like I should have been informed about the nature and duration of the test before it—I mean long before it. I had outdoor work planned for Tuesday afternoon, but no way I could do it carrying this pack. Had I known, I could have done the yardwork in the morning and saved my indoor writing work for after the test started. We are about out of groceries, which I planned to go for on Wednesday. But no way I’m going to Walmart carrying this pack, looking like an idiot. Had I known, I could have gone for groceries on Monday.

I was really hacked on Tuesday, and gave the tech an earful. It wasn’t his fault, but he was the hospital’s representative at that moment, and his organization either dropped the ball in keeping the patient informed or, possibly, purposely withheld that info so I wouldn’t back out of the test.

Having the test is good. The way the hospital and doctor failed to help me to prepare for it is a big failure. 1-star reviews for both.

Health

Still Recovering

Leave a comment

After my seizure late Thursday, that is. I blacked out for probably 30 to 45 minutes, coming to in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. By the time I got there, it was as if nothing had happened, except I had bitten my tongue. It was severely swollen and I could hardly talk. Swallowing was tough.

As of today, my energy is mostly back, but my speech and are still way sub-par. So this won’t be a real post today. Hopefully I’ll be back on Friday. Yesterday I was able to write a letter to a grandson and do a little editing on a Bible study.

Health

Recovering

Leave a comment

Last night, at 11:30 p.m., I had another seizure. Lynda called 9-1-1. The ambulance transported me to the hospital. A CT scan showed no abnormalities, and I was back to normal, so they sent me home about 2:00 a.m.

Today I mainly rested. Fell asleep during the day and missed my PT appointment. Alas. I’m doing well but am quite tired.

Health

A New Low

Leave a comment

Yesterday morning, I hit a new low on my weight. I was 187.4 pounds. That leaves me only 7.4 pounds to go to reach my goal, or, 12.4 pounds to reach my wife’s goal for me. That’s down from a peak weight of 304, reached in 2004 and 2006.

How did I lose over 100 pounds? Slowly, over 19 years. A little more exercise, a little more careful eating. Helped along the way by the health problems I went through last year.

The current question is, how do I keep it off? Check in again on this blog, where on occasion I talk about my health.

Health

Wiped Out

Leave a comment

My plan for today had been to post a review of a book I recently finished reading. But last night, shortly after bedtime, I had a low blood sugar incident. My blood sugar went from 112 (a v. good bedtime number) to 33 in just 40 minutes—and that with having a small snack. I got up and barely managed to take a sugar reading, get a glucose pill, and go to the kitchen for food. In theory, the glucose pill should have been enough had I just waited for it to take effect. But, in that condition, which I’ve had before (but not for a couple of years), I feel like I’d better get some food in me.

But, because of that, I’m wiped out this morning. That kind of low blood sugar takes a physical toll. I’ll push my intended blog post out until Monday. Hopefully I’ll feel up to doing a few things today. I have a physical therapy evaluation appointment this morning that I will keep. But not sure I’ll do much more today.

Health

The Best Laid Plans

Leave a comment
Oh hail!

Friday was to have been a celebration, of sorts. That was my last day of cardio rehab. 35 sessions from Nov 20th± to March 14, with interruptions for Thanksgiving, Christmas, my seizure, and two trips to Massachusetts. I did not see an improvement on my weight or waistline, which I attribute to two weeks of restaurant food in Massachusetts, but the muscle tone in my legs sure is better. Since Dec. 22, Lynda’s had to do all the driving (20 miles each way) for all these, since I’m not allowed to drive due to the seizure.

Friday was a windy day. We were southbound on Interstate 49, Lynda constantly fighting the wind. At one point, she was driving in the left lane on a 3-lane stretch when a box blew out of a flatbed truck just ahead of us and a lane over. The box bounced in our path, and it seemed we could not miss hitting it. But the wind blew the box across the lane in front of us, with debris spilling out on the pavement. We missed the box but ran over the debris, whatever it was.

By the time we got to the rehab place, the low-pressure light was on. By the time I got out of rehab an hour later, the tire was flat. I called AAA. They sent a truck, but I had trouble using their online locator guide and had him going to the wrong place. We were in a huge parking lot for the hospital/dr offices building. The guy found us, actually fairly quickly, aired up the tire, and it wouldn’t hold air. So AAA sent a tow truck, which also came fairly quickly. I had them tow us to the Dodge dealership we use, which was only 3 or 4 miles away. In the process, we learned that our minivan did not have a spare tire in the place allotted for it.

The dealership mounted a new tire and had us on our way in an hour and a half, me downing two cups of coffee and one package of peanut butter crackers during the wait. Just before we pulled out of the service garage, it started raining—pouring, actually. At times, Lynda couldn’t really see the road. Then came the hail, really hard and probably grape size. We passed several churches with drive-unders, but other cars had already parked under them before us, so we kept going. By the time we got to the main road through Bentonville, the hail had stopped, and the rain tapered off to a fine mist. By the time we got back onto the Interstate, all rain had stopped. Our neighborhood was dry, as it was west of the storm line. We drove right through that line.

By this time, neither of us felt like celebrating the end of rehab. But it was 5 p.m. and we also knew neither of us would feel like preparing supper. So, as planned, we stopped at our nearest Mexican restaurant and got take-out fajitas.

As a result, I lost the entire afternoon for work, and two items on my 4-item Friday to-do list didn’t get done—still aren’t done. And neither of us even want to look at what damage we might have to the car from the hail.

Bible study, Health, Writing

Writing Again

Leave a comment
Soon, Volume 1 of AWTHW will not be an orphan.

Last Saturday (3/1, that is), for only the second time since my seizure on Dec 22, I wrote. Wrote on one of my books, that is. I’ve been doing a little journaling in Jan and Feb, but no real writing. A Walk Through Holy Week, Volume 3, lacked only one chapter and the Introduction of being done. Even earlier parts of the book had been through one edit.

But I just wasn’t feeling up to writing. I would go downstairs to The Dungeon each morning, feel overwhelmed at decumulation and decluttering tasks, feel my slowness at the keyboard, and do other things than writing. Any other things. The last time I had written was around Jan 22, and I added very few words that day.

But that Saturday, it felt good. I wrote the first section of the last chapter. It took less than an hour, and it felt good. That day I had already spent an hour transcribing entries from an old field book into my e-journal. That felt good, and so did the writing. I took Sunday off, but then wrote each weekday last week. That brought me to Saturday with one section and the Introduction to do. I got the one section, for which I had not done any planning, done in 45 minutes or so, and decided to shift over to the Introduction. In another 45 minutes, I had that done as well. An hour and a half was probably the most writing I had done in one session since my stroke on Sept 3.

So, AWTHW V3 is now ready for finishing round 1 of edits and moving quickly into rounds 2 and 3. AWTHW V2 is ready for typing of final edits, and the input of beta readers, if I can find any. The later volumes scream at me, asking me to please get to editing them and move on to publishing. I have to keep shushing them, saying, “All in good time, all in good time.”

Meanwhile, brainstorming is in progress about what comes next. I know what the next three, or possibly four, books will be, but not after that. I just can’t help thinking and planning ahead.

What about it, friends? Anyone want to be a beta reader for Volumes 2 and/or 3? Just let me know with a comment and I’ll be in touch. Or reach me through Facebook.