The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #54 in VA, MD & DE
11/21/00
0 miles this trip, odometer now 73,179 total, miles this year
21,005.
From VA, Hi Everyone!
Well, I did get down to Portsmouth Naval Hospital for a pre-op
appointment and the operation is now set for Nov 16th. I hope
it isn’t delayed any longer as I wanted to make the Sunshine
Statesmen rally in Florida the first weekend in December.
When I went down to Portsmouth for the appointment I enjoyed
a couple days in Va. Beach with my nephew Jimmy and his family
as his mother had other company. When the other company left I
had a short visit with Virginia and while I was there her twin
17 year old granddaughters Jennifer & Elizabeth showed up.
Each carrying what looked like a baby, They told me it was a class
project to learn how to make babies. They started with a 5 lb.
Bag of flower and with panty hose stuffed with cotton, they made
the head, arms and legs. They did a very good job, they then had
to take them every where they went for a few days. I guess it
was to discourage them from making the real thing. When I was
a 17 year old, living in farming country in Nebraska, we all knew
how to make babies, we also knew how not to make babies. If you
don’t want the heifers pregnant you kept them away from the
bull. It worked very well. We also learned that a plain old aspirin
makes a very good birth control pill. The gal just clamps it between
her knees at the appropriate time and it works very well. What
really turned me against sex, was when I was 17 years old and
enlisted in the Navy. We were shown a lot of VD movies in boot
camp, it sure made a believer out of me, that you can live without
sex. I believe they could forget about those bags of flower and
show those VD movies to 17 year olds today and do more to prevent
teenage pregnancies.
I made the hospital appointment on the 16th and when I was
being prepped for the OR, Dr. Snyder the surgeon said he wanted
my defibrillator turned off but first he wanted an EKG to see
how my heart was performing. That was when the shit hit the fan,
the EKG showed a very dangerous heart rhythm. By checking my defibrillator,
they found that it had started about two weeks earlier. I felt
good and the blood flow was OK so my defibrillator didn’t
care. My surgery is postponed till the heart rhythm is back to
normal. The cardiology dept. wanted to review the medical records
from Sioux Valley hospital. I should have taken them with me.
I made another $10 payment on the bridge tunnel to return to the
motorhome and I have an appointment on 11/21 to deliver them.
The hernia keeps getting worse but I have very little pain
now. If I stand for any length of time it will come out and I
have to push it back in. To control this I bought a tight fitting
pair of compression shorts. By cutting a hole in the crotch for
my plumbing and family jewels to go through, more pressure is
applied where I need it and I don’t have to lower them to
water the grass. I have a blood pressure cuff and a computer program
that I use to monitor my blood pressure and heart rhythm, I see
some improvement in the rhythm. I hope it keeps improving so I
can have the operation and head for Florida, it’s getting
too damn cold up here.
I made the appointment on 11/21 and after reading medical
records from Sioux Valley, Dr. Shows the cardiologist, informed
me that I shouldn’t be here. He said I was the only person
he has seen that survived a heart attack like the one I had back
in 1990. He did an EKG and my heart is ready for the surgery.
He wants me back tomorrow morning without any breakfast so I can
have my cholesterol tested. He wants to put me on some cholesterol
medicine that he says will give a little more time even to a person
not prone to heart attacks. I’ll take any thing he offers.
I now have an appointment on 12/01 to again talk to Dr. Snyder
about the surgery. He is a very busy Dr. so I hope I can get the
surgery this year. Will fill you in on how the surgery went in
my next letter.
Even I, don’t understand why I am still here and
so many of my friends I thought were in good health are now gone.
In looking at the ages in the obituary column I figure I must
be doing something right, the list of ages less than mine keeps
getting longer and the list of those older than me keeps getting
shorter. When I get there, I want to see the other ages all less
than mine. One thing that may contribute most to my longevity
is being happy. Yes, I was happy the day I was born and I have
had a very interesting and happy life. The road I traveled has
not been easy and smooth, had a few big bumps but I can always
find someone who has had it worse than I have. I feel sorry for
those who travel on an easy and smooth road, I know that they
can’t be having as much fun as I am having. I always enjoyed
the work I was doing, much of it was hard work and I remember
the long hours but most, I remember the thrill when the job was
done. I was happy that I was able to do it, so many are not. I
remember the gal in Calif. Who wanted to die at 50 years, she
must never have known true happiness, and she had always traveled
on the smooth easy road. Another thing that I believe contributes
to my longevity is controlling my weight, I do that by staying
hungry. And of course there is the 1976 GMC Motorhome, I keep
her young and she keeps me young. We both have fun in our travels.
I was happy to submit a plan for the presidential election
in 2004 that would prevent all the problems they had in Florida
this year from happening again. Some friends and I were discussing
the election and I told them of my plan. They told me that Morley
Safer the TV reporter is a friend of theirs, might be interested
in it. I sent it to him and if he can do something with it, we
will all be happy in 2004. The first thing, in my opinion, is
to do away with that stupid Electoral College, it should have
been done away with when the telephone was invented. If it had
been, Al Gore would have won the election, (I voted for George
W. Bush) and we would know who the next president is.
Don’t eat too much turkey and I hope to send the next
letter from somewhere in Florida, I wonder if we will know who
the next president will be?
Till next time, Dallas or Dad if it fits.
Me & My Shadow, with Gertrude, Gus & Keith on the road.