And, no, I'm not talking about my incontinence....
We've had rain and storms for 9 of the last 10 days, putting us well above our average rainfall for April (3 inches/8 cm)--we've had over 12 inches/30.5 cm so far and the month isn't even over!! In fact, it's the rainiest month on record for Cincinnati--ever.
Needless to say, everyone's getting a little fed up with the weather lately. I spent pretty much the entire three-day Easter weekend hanging out around the house.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Week 23 - Road Trip
Most of the last week has been spent on the road. Yep. I managed to take my first post-surgery road trip and it went pretty well.
I actually left on Wednesday night (and used the scheduling feature to automatically post my blog post on Thursday) and headed south into Kentucky. I spent the night in London, KY and Thursday morning headed to Cumberland Gap National Park. The dogwoods and redbuds were in full bloom, so there were explosions of white, pink, and purple mixed into the forests that were just beginning to turn green.
I stopped at the Abraham Lincoln Museum on the campus of Lincoln Memorial Universaity in the tiny town of Harrogate, TN before heading off to Charlottesville, VA to visit Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello. Impressive.
From there, I became reacquainted with the Beltway traffic in the greater Washington, DC area as I visited a former coworker and her husband, and a college/Navy buddy whom I hadn't seen since around 1989 (we guessed).
On Saturday, we hit the Museum of American History (part of the Smithsonian) and saw the Abraham Lincoln exhibit; the actual Star Spangled Banner that was flying over Ft. McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write his poem; and saw the ruby red slippers that Judy Garland wore in the "Wizard of Oz."
On the way home, I stopped to see Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, Fallingwater, in Mill Run, PA. Awesome. I spent the night near Pittsburgh and then headed home Tuesday afternoon.
You can check out photos from the trip using the link to my photos to the right. (Don't worry--there's only 43 of them!)
Physically, I did pretty well most days on the trip. I could tell that I need to walk more to build up my endurance. Most of the days, the incontinence was minimal, but there were one or two days where, after an extended period of walking around all day long, my body got tired and the minor leaks increased. Again, take it gradually and build up my strength.
Finally, it's been a sad day, as today marks the fifth anniversary of Mom's passing... We miss you, Mom.
I actually left on Wednesday night (and used the scheduling feature to automatically post my blog post on Thursday) and headed south into Kentucky. I spent the night in London, KY and Thursday morning headed to Cumberland Gap National Park. The dogwoods and redbuds were in full bloom, so there were explosions of white, pink, and purple mixed into the forests that were just beginning to turn green.
I stopped at the Abraham Lincoln Museum on the campus of Lincoln Memorial Universaity in the tiny town of Harrogate, TN before heading off to Charlottesville, VA to visit Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello. Impressive.
From there, I became reacquainted with the Beltway traffic in the greater Washington, DC area as I visited a former coworker and her husband, and a college/Navy buddy whom I hadn't seen since around 1989 (we guessed).
On Saturday, we hit the Museum of American History (part of the Smithsonian) and saw the Abraham Lincoln exhibit; the actual Star Spangled Banner that was flying over Ft. McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write his poem; and saw the ruby red slippers that Judy Garland wore in the "Wizard of Oz."
On the way home, I stopped to see Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, Fallingwater, in Mill Run, PA. Awesome. I spent the night near Pittsburgh and then headed home Tuesday afternoon.
You can check out photos from the trip using the link to my photos to the right. (Don't worry--there's only 43 of them!)
* * *
BIOLOGY AHEAD
Physically, I did pretty well most days on the trip. I could tell that I need to walk more to build up my endurance. Most of the days, the incontinence was minimal, but there were one or two days where, after an extended period of walking around all day long, my body got tired and the minor leaks increased. Again, take it gradually and build up my strength.
* * *
Finally, it's been a sad day, as today marks the fifth anniversary of Mom's passing... We miss you, Mom.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Week 22 - Sneezy
Funny. I'm struggling to come up with anything of real interest that happened in the last week.
Friday my head got all stopped up again, but I think it was from the explosion of pollen in the area. Nearly every fruit-bearing tree is in full bloom, lawns are being mowed, and trees are popping leaves. My allergies just didn't like it at all, I'm guessing.
Saturday rained a good chunk of the day so I spent the day indoors working on my spreadsheet for work. Yes, I'm not keen on working at home on the weekend, but sometimes I can get more done in four hours at home with no interruptions than I can in eight hours at work with all the distractions.
Sunday broke temperature records here--we hit 85 degrees. I had opened the windows and I think Saturday's rain knocked down some of the pollen.
I tossed and turned Sunday night because it was a balmy 74 degrees when I went to bed. The comforter was peeled off and I seriously debated turning on the air conditioning. I left my window wide open and brought in a fan instead. That helped cool things down a little.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday--all pretty routine days at work.
I did see the optometrist on Friday and he gave my eyes a clean bill of health. No signs of glaucoma, cataracts, or optic nerve damage. It was the last that I was worried about from taking the Cialis. He was okay with me resuming it, but after his comments about "catastrophic vision loss," should something happen, I'm not so sure I want to take the risk. He had never seen or heard of someone who went through that, so the likelihood is "infinitessimally small." But when you only have one set of eyes and the damage is irreversible... Gives one something to think about.
The incontinence over the weekend and early this week was minimal. In fact, I went the whole weekend without guards except for about 6 hours Saturday evening. I had a giant pollen-induced sneeze that caused me to leak enough to warrant changing clothes and put a guard in place.
But Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all decent days. Let's hope the trend continues.
Friday my head got all stopped up again, but I think it was from the explosion of pollen in the area. Nearly every fruit-bearing tree is in full bloom, lawns are being mowed, and trees are popping leaves. My allergies just didn't like it at all, I'm guessing.
Saturday rained a good chunk of the day so I spent the day indoors working on my spreadsheet for work. Yes, I'm not keen on working at home on the weekend, but sometimes I can get more done in four hours at home with no interruptions than I can in eight hours at work with all the distractions.
Sunday broke temperature records here--we hit 85 degrees. I had opened the windows and I think Saturday's rain knocked down some of the pollen.
I tossed and turned Sunday night because it was a balmy 74 degrees when I went to bed. The comforter was peeled off and I seriously debated turning on the air conditioning. I left my window wide open and brought in a fan instead. That helped cool things down a little.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday--all pretty routine days at work.
BIOLOGY AHEAD
I did see the optometrist on Friday and he gave my eyes a clean bill of health. No signs of glaucoma, cataracts, or optic nerve damage. It was the last that I was worried about from taking the Cialis. He was okay with me resuming it, but after his comments about "catastrophic vision loss," should something happen, I'm not so sure I want to take the risk. He had never seen or heard of someone who went through that, so the likelihood is "infinitessimally small." But when you only have one set of eyes and the damage is irreversible... Gives one something to think about.
The incontinence over the weekend and early this week was minimal. In fact, I went the whole weekend without guards except for about 6 hours Saturday evening. I had a giant pollen-induced sneeze that caused me to leak enough to warrant changing clothes and put a guard in place.
But Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all decent days. Let's hope the trend continues.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Week 21 - Puzzled
Sorry for the later-than-usual posting... It was so nice, I drove to Cincinnati for dinner and a little shopping.
A while ago, a friend at work told me how he liked to work on jigsaw puzzles. I had an old puzzle that was of a topographic map of Yosemite National Park--no easy task to complete with all the contour lines and similar colors.
When he returned it, he gave me one of his puzzles to do. It was a brilliantly colored image of birds in a tropical rain forest. I started on the puzzle about 5 weeks ago, getting the border in place and some of the inner pieces put together.
Sunday evening, I decided to tackle the puzzle in earnest while I was doing a load of laundry after dinner. The next thing I know, it was 11:00 PM and I was only about 40% done. I returned to the puzzle Monday night after dinner and kept at it. When it was nearly 11:00 PM again, I only had 30-40 pieces to go, so I kept at it. I finished it shortly after midnight.
I'll have to admit that the last time I did a jigsaw puzzle was the Yosemite Puzzle when I was living in San Diego in the late 1980's. It was fun, frustrating, annoying, and a great diversion from work, the Internet, and television. Plus, you actually get to see what you accomplish each time you sit at the table.
My spring cleaning bug has continued, at least on the inside. I really need to get outside and do some work around the yard. The weather has been a bit whacky thought--warm, cold, sunny, rainy, windy. This weekend is supposed to be in the low 80's already.
I'll have to admit that I've been a rather withdrawn and reflective mood as of late. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the approaching five-year anniversary of my mom's death; or some of the challenges at work; or just trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I don't know. Puzzling, eh?
* * *
A while ago, a friend at work told me how he liked to work on jigsaw puzzles. I had an old puzzle that was of a topographic map of Yosemite National Park--no easy task to complete with all the contour lines and similar colors.
When he returned it, he gave me one of his puzzles to do. It was a brilliantly colored image of birds in a tropical rain forest. I started on the puzzle about 5 weeks ago, getting the border in place and some of the inner pieces put together.
Sunday evening, I decided to tackle the puzzle in earnest while I was doing a load of laundry after dinner. The next thing I know, it was 11:00 PM and I was only about 40% done. I returned to the puzzle Monday night after dinner and kept at it. When it was nearly 11:00 PM again, I only had 30-40 pieces to go, so I kept at it. I finished it shortly after midnight.
I'll have to admit that the last time I did a jigsaw puzzle was the Yosemite Puzzle when I was living in San Diego in the late 1980's. It was fun, frustrating, annoying, and a great diversion from work, the Internet, and television. Plus, you actually get to see what you accomplish each time you sit at the table.
* * *
My spring cleaning bug has continued, at least on the inside. I really need to get outside and do some work around the yard. The weather has been a bit whacky thought--warm, cold, sunny, rainy, windy. This weekend is supposed to be in the low 80's already.
* * *
I'll have to admit that I've been a rather withdrawn and reflective mood as of late. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the approaching five-year anniversary of my mom's death; or some of the challenges at work; or just trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I don't know. Puzzling, eh?
* * *
BIOLOGY AHEAD
I continue to ride the incontinence roller coaster. Yesterday and today have been two of my better days, and I probably could have gotten away without using pads. Monday, I wasn't so lucky.
When I compare the nuisance of having to wear a pad versus dying from cancer, I'll put up with the nuisance every time. Of course, in a perfect world, I'd be dry (in prostate cancer lingo), padless, cancer-free, have a full head of hair, and be a Powerball winner.
On the really positive side, I can pretty much sleep through the night pad-free now. That's a good thing. Of course, when you stay up doing puzzles till midnight, that means I only have to make it through 5-6 hours.
Tomorrow's the optometrist appointment and I'll learn if I can resume the Cialis.
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