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........................................

Restless................Gordon Lightfoot.

The lyrics only..............................
It describes the feelings that The Old Retired Petty Officer has these days.......................

Gordon Lightfoot...............................

There's a kind of a restless feeling and it pulls me from within
It sets my senses reeling and my wheels begin to spin
In the quietude of winter you can hear the wild geese cry
And I will always love that sound until the day I die
There's a plain and a simple answer to each and every quest
From every quiet dance who might be a special guest
In a movie made for TV or a late night interview
You might even find them on the Young and the Restless too

Do ya get that restless feelin' when you hear a whistle blast
Like an echo from the past
Of an old engine flyin' down a road that's ironcast

The lake is blue, the sky is gray, the leaves have turned to gold
The wild goose will be on her way, the weather's much too cold
When the muskie and the old trout too have all gone down to rest
We will be returning to the things that we love best

Do ya get that restless yearning when you think about your dad
And the scrimshaw that he had
Of an old schooner rovin' 'neath a sky that's ironclad

There's a kind of a restless feeling and it catches you off guard
As we gaze off at the distance through the trees in my back yard
I can feel that restless yearning of those geese as off they roam
Then trade that for a warm bed and a place I can call home

Will ya get that restless yearning when you hear the wicked blast
Of a spectre from the past
Of a cold diesel rollin' down a road that's built to last

Still I get that restless feelin' when I hear a whistle blast
See an image from the past
Of an old schooner flyin' down a sky that's overcast

A Life It's Ownself Post

Went to the family doctor Wednesday about my acute weight loss. 26 pounds in 15 months.
Referrals are being sent to Tricare for a scan from the neck to the groin and a colonoscopy.
I'm due for the scope anyway.
He used the term "tumor hunt" in the conversation.
Trying to deal with that.......

Sort of out of the loop

Sorry for the absence dear readers. September has been a rather strange month. I wound up dealing with some potassium and water pill issues.
I spent the night of 8-9 September in the ER at Palmdale Regional Medical Center after the Lancaster VA Clinic said my potassium was critical.
I think my outside doctor might have it figured out. I am now off the water pills and the potassium supplement.

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...............................