<$BlogRSDURL$>
Transplant Athlete
Thursday, May 28, 2009
  RJ

RJ had his tonsils and Adenoids removed and tubes placed in his ears today. He is not a happy camper right now, but he can already hear better.
 

(1)Leave a Comment
Email This Article
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
  One Of These Days...

Sorry folks, I know the blog posts have been a bit lite lately. I've been working on a little side project. Back in 2005, I imagined what had become of some of my favorite cartoon characters as a child (no not Bugs Bunny) and the genesis of a story emerged. Since I've had a lot of time on my hands during Dialysis, I pulled the story out, dusted it off, and got to writing.

I've found that Pink Floyd is excellent background music for writing. The cartoon was based on Japanese Manga, so yeah, it's sci fi, and the trippy spacey soundscapes that Floyd created seem to flow really well. Most days in dialysis, when I put my mind to it, I can crank through 500 to 1000 words (which is pretty impressive considering I've only got one hand to type with).

I'm up to about 32,000 words and I'm guessing it's heading to 50,000. It's loosely based on Battle Of The Planets, which was based on Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. They'll be bringing a Science Ninja Team Gatchaman movie out next year according to Wikipedia (I just found out - and Paul Dini is writing it).

 

(0)Leave a Comment
Email This Article
Monday, May 25, 2009
  I'd Like To Get My Hands On Her Ample Nacelles

Da Wife and I went to see the New Star Trek movie. We've been dying to see it, but have had trouble getting a babysitter. So, we dropped the kids off at the in-laws and went to the movies.

Spoiler alert: It was the perfect Trek Movie from a non-trek director. By having the Romulans alter the timeline, they had free reign to change everything in the Trek universe. For instance, die-hard fans will tell you that the Enterprise was built in San Francisco, but since the time line was altered, the Enterprise was now built in Iowa. Another example, In Star Trek The Old Series (TOS), the Romulans have never shown their faces to anyone else before Kirk and Spock hijack their communication signal in "Balance Of Terror", but Nero going back in time and changes all that.

There were a few things I didn't like.

  1. It was a little disconcerting when everyone seemed to leave their posts. Pike goes over to the Romulan Vessel, Spock goes down to Vulcan, Chekov goes running through the ship screaming, "I can do that" over and over again. Was there anyone actually in charge of the Enterprise at that point?
  2. And shouldn't there have been a mutiny on board the ship when Kirk (a suspended cadet) gets promoted to Captain? There wasn't one senior officer on board that thought he might have a bit more experience than Kirk? Although, it's entirely possible that since the big E left spacedock early (hopefully with a tractor beam) that the crew was entirely made up of cadets.
  3. And what was the deal with the Corvette? I'm guessing JJ was thinking, I've always wanted to crash a corvette in a movie, but I couldn't find one where it advanced the plot.
  4. Finally, why did all the UFP ships look like breweries?

Great special effects, good cast chemistry, great storyline. I laughed, I cried, it was better than CATS, I'd see it again and again.

 

(0)Leave a Comment
Email This Article
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
  AIG Can't Pay Back US Government, Plots To Destroy World

CNN is reporting that paying back the Federal Goverment is "beyond the earnings ability of the company." Go ahead and throw up, I know I did.

So Chief Executive Dr. Conrad Zimsky is planning on appearing before a House Subcommittee to lay out AIG's plan to destroy the planet, known as "PROJECT DESTINI". Which as everyone knows stands for "Deep Earth Seismic Trigger Initiative"

To stop him, I'm going to need an unlimited supply of Xena tapes and hot pockets.

  Link

(0)Leave a Comment
Email This Article
Monday, May 11, 2009
  The Next Generation

I took Q for a ride yesterday. We rode roughly 4 miles into Reston on the W&OD, then we rode up the Lake Fairfax Trail to the Athletic fields. When we first left pavement, Q got stuck in a giant mud puddle, shortly after that, she freaked out on a downhill and took her feet off the pedals. She's on a bike with coaster brakes, so that was a bad thing. She started bouncing around out of control. She was able to get back under control, but not before visions of her tumbling head over heels down the hill filled my head.

After that, she maintained control on the descents and got off and walked around the mud puddles. She still had to push her bike up most of the climbs, but she did awesome for her first time off-road.

I called ABL for a SAG as soon as we got to the Athletic Fields, Q was tired and I thought it was too late to make it back the way we came. We did a lap of the campground to check out where we might like to camp the next time we go. We rode over the Dam towards the Water Mine and since ABL wasn't there yet, we rode out towards Baron Cameron.

  Link

(2)Leave a Comment
Email This Article
Thursday, May 07, 2009
  Somebody Has Been Watching Too Much Dukes Of Hazzard

This poor guy, Roderick Daniels of Tennessee, was driving through Tenaha, Texas when the cops pulled him over for doing 37 in a 35 mile per hour zone. I know you're saying to yourself, 2 miles over the speed limit, what a bogus charge, but big deal, people get charged with bogus crimes all the time; but that's not the sad part, the sad part is that police confiscated $8500 Daniels had on him at the time. Daniels claims he was going to buy a car. The police claim he was into money laundering and made Daniels sign paperwork turning the money over to them under the threat of some serious charges.

The police in Tenaha have "confiscated" $3 million in the past 3 years under similar circumstances from mostly African-American and Latino drivers. Boss Hogg is alive and well and living in Tenaha, Texas...Bo and Luke where are you when we need you?

Just two good ol' boys, wouldn't change if they could,
Fightin' the system like two modern-day Robin Hoods...

  Link

(1)Leave a Comment
Email This Article
Monday, May 04, 2009
  Kt/V

When my kidneys were originally failing way back in 2000, I was trying to understand why I needed to get a transplant. He explained it something like this (paraphrasing, because my memory stinks): your creatinine is 10.3, your kidneys are not cleaning your blood effectively, the wastes that are building up in your bloodstream will damage your internal organs.

So, when a simple change to my dialysis routine sent me to the hospital, I reviewed my chart at Davita. My Kt/V was in the good or adequate range (i forget their actual terminology), which as far as Davita and Dr. Goel (the Nephrologist I fired) were concerned that was good enough.

What's Kt/V? Wikipedia says, "Kt/V is a dimensionless number used to quantify hemodialysis efficiency". Where V is the volume of water in the body. T is the time dialyzed and K is the dialyzer clearance of Urea.

So, what I can't understand is how we can say I'm adequately dialyzed, when my Creatinine is around 14...I'm not a nephrologist, but I'm pretty sure that's in the range that would damage my internal organs.

My new nephrologist and I discussed this briefly and he recommended that we extend my dialysis from 3.5 hours to 4 hours. After seeing my creatinine at 14, I agreed.

 

(1)Leave a Comment
Email This Article
Friday, May 01, 2009
  Little Eddie

I traveled 273 miles in the dead of night to attend my cousin Eddie's wedding in North Carolina. I arrived at the hotel with family in tow at midnight. I had to be up at 5AM to get to dialysis on time. TGL would not go to sleep and I was up about 4 times between 12:30 and 5am.

Dialysis went smoothly, they took me down to 71 Kilos with my shoes on, which is about two kilos lower than my home center could have gotten me. I did pay a price for all that fluid coming off. My blood pressure had dropped and my heart rate was well above my aerobic zone. It was now 11AM and I hadn't eaten anything since last night, so I stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast. I got lost but soon rejoined my family at the hotel.

Walking around was difficult because I was running out of breath and my heart was racing. Standing was worse. I really should have just napped at that point, but I wanted to be around the family. By the time we got to the church, I was dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out.
TGL pointing out the Jacuzzi in the church

I started drinking water, took off my blood pressure patch, and eventually took off my jacket (it was 93 degrees). As the ceremony got under way, it became apparent to me that all that standing was going to make me pass out. I started praying to God to get through it without passing out. I could walk a little bit, but standing in a stationary position was out of the question. In the middle of all this, my son fell asleep.

RJ and Q brought the gifts up to the priest with me following right behind. Laura was beautiful, Eddie looked goofy with that square soul patch.
Joe (Eddie's brother and best man) is getting deployed to Afghanistan in about a week.

Everyone loved my children and I kept hearing how cute they were. The reception was at 6:30 pm and the ceremony was over at around 3ish, so ABL and I took the kids to Red Robin and we got food to go. Once again, I should have went to sleep, but I stayed up and I was paying for it throughout the ceremony. (possibly to be continued).

 

(0)Leave a Comment
Email This Article
I've gone through kidney failure twice. The first time in 2000, my mother donated a kidney; and again in 2008, I'm on dialysis waiting for a breakthrough in immuno-suppression medicines before seeking a new kidney.

ARCHIVES
January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011




Google


Warning Signs for Kidney Disease:

  • High Blood Pressure
  • Burning or Difficulty when Urinating
  • Frequent Urination at Night
  • Blood in your urine
  • Cola or tea colored urine
  • Swellig of the eyes, ankles, or feet
  • Lower back pain unrelated to physical activity


Send Me Email:


Blogs I Read:
PACTour
Ultra Rob
Get Rich Slowly
Ecomodder