EMG

I got the nerve induction done yesterday.
Sciatica.
I guess that could account for the fun stuff in the toes.
I might be able to get a TENS unit...
The other news of note was the blood work done on my visit to the neurologist April 13.
It seems that the 3 antibodies that could indicate the presence of cancer were almost negligible.

CT Scan

I got the scan done yesterday.
The veins in the hand were not cooperative.
It goes like that sometimes.
The radiology tech's name was Robyn........good looking!

The Rig

The data was sent to the neurologist at the Sepulveda VA ACC in North Hills.
Basically, the wait begins on step one in this little journey that I am on.

I'll say it, OK?
Cancer.
That is what we are looking for.
Yes, I am scared shitless..................

Thursday, the 11th, I have my EMG at Sepulveda. The neuropathy thing is still an issue itself.

Shit is getting real or not. Who the hell knows at this point.

I haven't even seen any lab results from about a month ago............That is beginning to piss me off a tad.

Anyway, it's a step by step process............

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the electrical current going through me..............not.

Consult and other news...................

I had my consult for my upcoming colonoscopy yesterday. I was in the place for two hours...........
I will get a call from the place where it will take place to let me know the day and time.

Other news:
I had my CT Scan date changed to the 8th of this month under the Veteran's Choice Program. Beats the hell out of waiting until the 26th of June! I only have to go to Tehachapi Hospital Radiology. I am not looking forward to the contrast........................... But I guess it is on the order of a minor inconvenience considering what all this is for.

Doc Riggs called this evolution a tumor hunt......................

Thoughts on the upcoming events.....................

I have my "consult" for my scope this Friday the 28th in Tehachapi. I will be handed a prescription for a product called GoLytely..............................which is anything but that. I will say no as I have before. I prefer magnesium citrate............
The actual scope will be scheduled then. I am so glad they now use general anesthesia...........
Enough of that, OK?




I got my CT Scan Appointment when they Sepulveda VA ACC called me yesterday afternoon waking me up.............22 June. The guy said that after I wait 7 days to call the Veteran's Choice Program and try to get something sooner. Works for me! I figure I should get that done ASAP.


My EMG(Nerve Conduction) is on the 11th of May still.




I did get the neurology folks at Sepulveda to agree to send me the lab results from the last two trips for the neuropathy that may end up ( I said May) at the oncology department. I hope that doesn't happen.................thoughts at a million miles an hour.....................


Am I scared? Quite frankly, yes........
It's the not knowing...................
Maddening at times you know.............


When the doc said that word....................cancer........................

About Last Thursday.............

On this past Thursday the 13th of April...................
I had an appointment with the neurologist at the Sepulveda Veteran's Ambulatory Care Clinic in North Hills, California in the San Fernando Valley. It is such a fun drive in because of the 14, 5 and 405 Freeways. This is a regularly scheduled thing for yours truly as I have had peripheral neuropathy for almost 2 years now.

I showed up on time even with the traffic. The neurologist I see is a young guy and I like him. I hope the Department of Veteran's Affairs tries to keep him. We did the usual talk about how things have been with my feet and lower legs have been concerning the new medication. That is new since this past winter. I take pregabalin 25mg capsules at the rate of 6 each, twice a day. I told him that sometimes it seems to work and sometimes it doesn't.

We then got into the lab work from the last visit about three months before....................yeah...........
A CT and EMG have been ordered. The CT is scheduled for 26 June...........I have a way to make that happen faster, I do believe. I am on the Veteran's Choice Program because I live over 40 miles away from the nearest VA facility. For me that was the Veteran's Community Based Outreach Clinic in Lancaster. The Choice Program lets us use the outside the same as the VA system. Perhaps I can get things sped up a bit..........................😏😏

It seems there were three antibodies in the blood work that are normally associated with...........cancer..............yeah...........three months? I think that I should have been notified just a bit sooner on this one, perhaps?

A CT Scan and an EMG(Nerve Conduction) were ordered by Doc and off to the lab I went.........8 vials of blood were drawn................yep.................shit like this is getting far too regular ya know......

Of course by this time, the mind is going about a million miles an hour just like it did on September 4, 2009 when I got the "good news, bad news" speech from my doctor in Wichita. That was when the left kidney went bye-bye 17 days later.

I now sit waiting.....
When I got home, I tried to sleep as the graveyard shift awaited..............allegory there, I think? What say you Chris Goodrich? Oh, where were we? Sleep...........yeah. I wound up being up for around 24 hours. I got home Friday morning and after what I hope was the last cigar, the lights went out. I did manage to catch my Beloved Montreal Canadiens win game two over the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Oh yeah, waiting.....................
I called the records folks and did the dance and my records from the time I got in the Greater Los Angeles Veteran's Healthcare System. There is a mouthful!!!!!
I also have to fill out the release to satisfy the legal stuff.
I need the records for my regular Doc in Tehachapi in that he may have reservations about how things work at the Federal Government level.

Oh, did I mention that the neurologist said that the antibodies were indicative of the possibility of cancer? 😔😔😔😔😔

Missus ORPO and her sister had a long phone conversation yesterday about me...........the Sis-in-Law thinks that I crashed so hard as a reaction to getting the "C" word news.............It can have an effect I suppose.

I guess I will be blogging more again as this will be the journal of that little trip.............
We will see how it goes........................................

I have been thinking on this.............the career in Navy Air.

I am also on Google Plus and got a comment on a post from a gentleman who thought I should start a chronicle of sorts about my Navy career and the places I have been and some of the things I have experienced.
I aim to start this coming weekend with perhaps boot camp but more than likely my first sea tour on The Good Ship Independence with the first work up and deployment to the Mediterranean Sea.
We will see how it goes.

62 Trips around the Sun

62.
Damn.
I had to spend Thursday night and Friday morning in the ER at Palmdale Regional Medical Center due to the results of blood work at the Lancaster VA. I got the notice via voice mail late in the afternoon Thursday. The nurse said my potassium was at 2.7. The preferred range is 3.6 to 5.6.
It was a definite strain.
Buck was right.
Gettin' old ain't for sissies.
62...............................

Suspended

I got suspended for three days from Facebook as of Friday afternoon. I said a bad, politically incorrect word....................
Imagine that!
It ends tomorrow afternoon.
Shit happens.

6 years

As a little note.......................
Old Retired Petty Officer is now 6 years of age...............................
Dang, still at it....................................
Thanks to Joy, Christopher, Jeff and to the two no longer with us, Buck Pennington and Carroll Lefon..............................................

Chinese firm plans L.A.-to-Vegas train | CalWatchdog.com

Found while checking my news list......................................

"For bemused Californians, there’s another bullet train in town, thanks to the Chinese government.

More specifically, credit — $100 million worth — goes to China Railway International USA, a venture spearheaded by Beijing’s national railroad, China Railway. The consortium has ponied up funds for XpressWest, “the transportation arm of Marnell Companies, a gaming resort development firm,” as the Sacramento Business Journal noted.

Formerly known as DesertXpress, the company has labored to send a high-speed track toward Las Vegas since “at least 2007,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

According to Chinese officials cited by the Times, passengers would travel “a 230-mile route with an additional stop in Palmdale and eventual service throughout the Los Angeles area using some of the same track that would be used by the publicly backed California high-speed rail project.” Past plans envisioned a run of 185 miles alongside I-15.

The logic behind the idea drew from some straightforward numbers. “About one-quarter of Las Vegas’s 41 million visitors in 2014 came from Southern California, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, many via a several hour highway drive,” Quartz noted. Vegas has been without a passenger train since Amtrak shut down its Desert Wind line in 1997."

27 Sep, 2015-James Poulos

Those big numbers tossed around like it's no big deal. If this system in both California and Nevada are built, I still have a minimum one hour drive to use it from where I live.
I'm thinking that Moonbeam is going after other sources of funding for the High Speed Train(Moonbeam's Crazy Train).
Just a thought.

The entire article is at the link below..............................

Chinese firm plans L.A.-to-Vegas train | CalWatchdog.com

Miller High Life Delivery Man Windell Middlebrooks Dead at 36

I saw this while doing my usual Sunday Surfing.....................Sad news at such a
young age. I lost an Uncle to a heart attack when he was 36.
I loved the Miller High Life Commercials he made and The Suite Life On Deck. He was a really funny guy.








Miller High Life Delivery Man Windell Middlebrooks Dead at 36 - Us Weekly



The Daily Mail has a pretty good article about him as well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2995022/Delivery-guy-Miller-High-Life-commercial-actor-Windell-Middlebrooks-died-fatal-blood-clot.html

ER Visit

I left work last night early. My diverticulitis flared up on me. Pain.
I initially went to the Urgent Care in Lancaster. They had to refer me to the ER at either Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster or Palmdale Regional Medical Center down the 14. I elected Palmdale as the hospital in Lancaster has, issues, shall we say.
I arrived at about 0030 hours and waited after check in. I finally was called into the exam area and got the gown and an EKG..................................................waited................................waited.
Did I mention I waited?
It was around three hours before I got a CT Scan.........................................
Then the there was the blood draw at almost 0500................................Yep. Backwards.
The belly hurt the entire time............................
Labs normal
No one told me how the scan was
It all began with wanting an appointment at the VA Clinic in Lancaster with my doc. Instant hold and the nurse answered..........................
Tell nurse what was wrong and wait for a call back
Call back when I was on a jet...................
I explain to these people that I am out of touch except for voice mail after 1400
Antibiotics................................one week and no beer......................................
I got home at 0800 this morning.......................I crashed about 1000. I had been up about 25 hours. I called the supervisor and told him I would not be in tonight. Tomorrow is a wait and see thing.
Buck was right about one thing. Gettin old ain't for sissies.................................

USS Gerald R. Ford CVN-78. Life on a Carrier has changed..........................A lot.

The times have definitely changed.

The Old Retired Petty Officer would gladly go to sea on a ship such as this, even at my slightly advanced age................

I did six deployments on Independence, Ranger and Kitty Hawk. I also made a long work up on Nimitz and The Shakedown of George Washington, the last was just over 22 years ago.

Creature comforts were not a major consideration in those days. Not by a long shot.

Cold Showers that left one smelling like jet fuel. Long chow lines(until I made PO1). There were times when the Standard Navy Box Lunch was a main meal when working the Flight Deck. 

Yes, I would go to sea on this fine ship.................Give me a fast ship, a star to steer her by and send her in Harm's Way..........................

The Sea was my home and always will be.

Thanks to Blog Bud Arthur Barie for the link and the story. Damn, he did good.

Launched in November 2013, the ship is coming to life. The crew had accepted 675 of 2,700 spaces from shipbuilders, as of the end of September, a tally that grows by about 25 a week. Sailors are scheduled to start moving aboard in 2015, with sea trials a year later.

Navy Times recently spent a day with the Ford’s builders, leaders and crew to get their thoughts on life aboard the next-generation flattop. While the Ford still has many hurdles to surpass before its 2016 sea trials, the crew gave their ship high marks, with some saying the smaller berthings and shorter chow lines meant that sailors could live more like chiefs

http://www.navytimes.com/interactive/article/20141013/NEWS04/310130026/Crew-s-ship-Sailors-comfort-centerpiece-new-supercarrier-Ford

Yeah! I would ride in that! World’s Biggest Aircraft Is Funded by Iron Maiden’s Frontman

Pretty Cool Concept.

"It looks like a sketch from Howard Hughes’ notebooks, but this massive air ship is real, and currently the biggest aircraft ever produced. It can also be remote-controlled and land on water. And the lead singer of Iron Maiden is an investor.
The HAV 304 “Airlander” is just over 300 feet long. That’s nearly 60 feet longer than a Boeing 747, 80 feet longer than the Spruce Goose, and 30 feet longer than the Antonov An-225, the previous title-holder for the world’s largest aircraft.
The flying leviathan was produced by British aeronautics firm Hybrid Air Vehicles, and it’s being considered for commercial and rescue applications–at around $100 million each."
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/airlander-biggest-aircraft/?mbid=social_twitter
Think of the places one could go in something like this.

The Niece is getting married-Official Engagement Pictures

Ashlee Marie Luque and Michael Quick..........Dusty in here all of a sudden. This is one Special Young Lady to Missus ORPO and I.................................

Jeepers, I am getting old.........................

Waxing Philosophical for a moment.

Four years, three months ago, I had a life changing event. The Left Kidney went Bye-Bye. The Pathology said Cancer. Every time the counter rolls over, it is a good thing.

Yep. The calendar changes...............Still here. What's not to like.

To all of you who follow this here blog and the members I have, I wish you the best in the New Year. 

Do not let the Bastards wear you down!

 

I am still around---------------Morning Bike Ride

The Missus and I took a few days and wandered off to Oceanside to visit the Sister in Law and Brother in Law. I was going to the MCAS Miramar Air Show on Saturday the 5th........................................it got cancelled...............................
The pic is from this morning after my ride......................Low 50's with winds at times gusting to 35 mph................Only did six miles but I rode into the wind for three of it and came back to the house with the wind. It was a good ride even for just six miles....................BP after the shower and prepping lunch for work tonight was 123/70. I did see my doc for a follow up yesterday on the new BP med. He says I am doing fine.

Looking like a bit of a scalawag..................................................................................

Blood Pressure SitRep @ 110/69 and a Good Day

I have been on a diuretic for my BP since I had my hernia almost three years ago. Last Thursday, I saw my Doc with readings for a six week period. I got another medication for it. Lisinopril it is called. I started taking it on Saturday. Today I was at 110/69.
I have also been getting regular exercise in the form of my Walmart Special Mountain Bike. I had to replace an inner tube on the back tire and hit the sprockets and chain with WD-40 but it works. I ride at least three days a week for up to 8 miles at a time. Low impact Aerobic type stuff. No more running for me.............
Still cleaning out from the quitting smoking in 2009 when the kidney was removed. .

Additionally I saw a news article on the Army website that said SecDef Hagel has shortened the furlough for us DoD civilian employees. I need only five more furlough hours to meet the new total. It has been cut to six days from eleven but we are on an alternate pay period so I have been losing 17 hours per two week pay period.

Good Day, I do believe.

Home in California

We got in on Wednesday Evening. Unloaded the next day which was Independence Day. Irony perhaps? No longer tied to the house in Wichita.
We filled a 10 by 10 storage unit in Wichita with furniture and boxes of stuff. I had a 6 by 12 U Haul trailer behind the Titan and it was full!
I got about 13 mpg overall on the return. I like my truck as it works and can pull about 9,200 pounds. But it can hurt at the pump.
We got everything into the garage and a storage unit we have here in Cal City. The trailer was returned on Friday AM with no issues at all. Done.
California is now home, for better or worse.
To all who sent the wishes and such, thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Done in Wichita

Got all the stuff we came after from the house. We filled a 10 by 10 storage space in Wichita. There is a 6 by 12 U haul behind the Titan. We will be heading west in a bit.
Going to be a long drive.