Talked to my surgeon today…

Well…as I mentioned earlier, today was the zoom meeting with my surgeon and it went well…talked for about 20 minutes about the plan going forward and we are now in wait and watch mode with PSA tests every three months for the next two years, every 6 months for the next three and then down to one per year…he did tell me one thing that I didn’t know…10 years ago they would have put me right into radiation treatment to attack the rest of the cancer but in studies they did, the outcome is no better than waiting until the PSA starts to come up again and then doing the treatment and for 50% of patients, they never need treatment…so I’m done with doctors for the rest of the year and that feels good…and I am going to have some cocktails tonight to celebrate…

Red state brain drain…

Well…as I’ve talked about before, with the repubs running red states into the ground both economically and socially, new studies are daily showing that the college educated are fleeing red states and women of college age are not going to school in red states…and with the harsh anti abortion laws being passed in those states that criminalize women’s health care, many hospitals have stopped even delivering babies since the specialists that do those procedures have all left to avoid being charged with felonies for doing their jobs…and many other hospitals in those states are closing from not being able to staff them since these draconian laws were passed…and it’s not just doctors who are staying away from red states…in a survey done over the past few months, 67 college administrators told prospective students to stay away from their colleges because the stupid legislators are meddling in what can be taught and how…I mean how can you even get a degree in history when red states ban the teaching of it? We are quickly moving to a two tiered country when it comes to freedom and economic opportunity…every red state but one is a taker state…they get more from the federal government than they send in taxes and that means all of us blue states are paying red states welfare money and are becoming havens for freedoms that red states are working really hard to take away…so the next time you hear a repub talking about “freedom” ask them for who? Surely not women, children, or minorities….geez…

November 22nd

Well..this is getting to be a habit…woke up at 5:07 again this morning but stayed in bed a whopping 12 minutes more until 6…it rained all day yesterday and I just checked the radar and there is one little blob of it coming over right now but the rest of the day looks dry…so, do I ride indoors or out today? I have about an hour and a half to decide since I’d like to get two rides in before the zoom appointment with my surgeon at 10:40….and that means I have to get on the bike by 8…but then I have the next 5 weeks to do what I want…I have decided to end the tradition of making a turkey for myself for t-day and make burritos instead…have had a taste for spicy food for a while since I can barely taste anything anymore….took a pound of burger out of the freezer yesterday and I’ll add some taco seasoning but today will have to be just a bean burrito since it won’t be thawed until tomorrow…have enchilada sauce to make it a wet burrito and leftover lettuce and tomatoes from the BLT’s to top it along with a pound of shredded cheddar….I do still have to do one more pickup of the leaves before next Monday so it needs to stop raining…and it looks like tomorrow would be the day with highs in the 40′s but thee crashing down into the mid 30′s for highs and snow Sunday…ick…not much to do today….just the meeting and rides then the day belongs to me…not sure what to do but it belongs to me….more later…

Moms for liberty?

Well…not sure if you’ve heard about these idiots who call themselves Mom’s for Liberty but boy, what a group…their main reason for being is to ban books across the country and try to flood local school boards with their members to makes sure it’s as racist and stupid as can be…in the last election a couple of weeks ago they were clobbered and not many of their candidates were elected so the US dodged a bullet there…but, as with many of repub right wing groups these days, once you dig a little into the backgrounds of these people you find all kinds of criminals that are running them…and MFL is no different…one of the “faith based” outreach leaders was convicted of felony sexual abuse of a 14 year old boy…yep, some faith they have there where it’s perfectly fine to have a guy running the place who abused a 14 year old…I guess it like jim jordan at Ohio state letting the abuse of athletes go on for years or trump “grab them by the p***y still being the front runner for the repub nomination with 91 felony counts charged against him…the modern repub party is just nothing more than a cesspool of abuse and hate…the ideas are d.o.a….geez…

More free covid tests…

Well…Just a quickie on the news that was announced yesterday that everyone in the US is eligible to receive 4 more free covid tests through the USPS…it only takes about a minuted to order them and they will ship next Monday if the order is in by the end of the week…about a month ago, I ordered 4 more and have 18 in my covid drawer in the bathroom…so these 4 will make 22 and that should get me through the holidays at least…heck, they will probably get me through a year since I don’t go out anywhere other than the grocery store and don’t get exposed much…so order them, wear a mask, and avoid crowds…and I am still looking for a political topic for today…more later

November 21st

Well…another night of identical sleep with waking up at 5:07 and then out of bed at 5:47 and have been waiting for the darn computer to re-boot after it did an update overnight….one of these days I’m going to buy a new one…it’s only 35 out there and the little widget at the bottom of the screen says ‘rain and snow” and the radar looks like it will be raining most of the day so it will be another day on the indoor bike…which is okay since it is so easy to just walk downstairs…had a taste for Mexican food so I’m going to make bean burritos in a couple of days…I do have a pound of burger in the freezer so I could make meat/bean burritos…hmmm…I am going to make turkey soup and another batch of potato soup, too, so I’ll have plenty to eat….just one more doctor appointment until the end of the year and will be happy when it’s over tomorrow and I can just settle in for a while…doing the grocery run today since I don’t want to be in the stores the day before t-day but I may go out to DD if they have anything good in their ad tomorrow…not much to do today…just the grocery run and then on the bike for two then winging it for the rest of the day….more later…

Some good news…

Well…as you know, I had to have blood drawn for another PSA test to monitor if the surgery was successful or not…that went okay but as I said earlier…I have a good sized bruise from the needle…but the results are relieving…no change from the September test and I still test <.1 or undetectable….so that is 5 months after the surgery with no PSA and that is a good sign…it can go off the rails at any point but I’ll take this little win and enjoy the rest of the week…need to talk to my surgeon Wed and I hope I’m not misinterpreting the results…still sucks to go through this every three months…

Damn, I’m bruised…

Well…after running out to get my blood drawn this morning, I have had a bruise forming near the drawing point but not over it and that’s a little weird…and now to sit here and wait for the results…again…and to realize I’ll be worrying every damn three months for the next two years sucks…oh, well…after I got back here and finished my coffee, I went out to pull the rear wheels off the car and lube the parking brake cables and linkages so they won’t freeze up over the winter…and I wd’d the wheel studs and hub so the wheels won’t freeze to them…after that, I waited a little while for the temp to come up so I could get on the bike but it was sprinkling off and on and the temp never got above 38 so I did two rides downstairs instead…and will likely be down there for the next few days with the rain that is forecast and the really cold temps that are coming…now all I have left to do is put the garbage bin out for pick up tomorrow and I’ll be done for the day…after I make the grocery list since I’m doing the run tomorrow so I don’t have to be in stores Wed…

What the hell is wrong with dems?

Well…I know it’s a year out from the 2024 election but I’m starting to get a little pissed at an increasing number of dems saying they won’t vote for Biden since he is too old or he supports Israel or some such bullshit…and you know what? If we don’t vote for Joe it’s the same thing as voting for the idiot trump…I know some people value ideological purity more than anything but damn, folks, no third party or protest votes this time…it’s too damn important that we keep any repub out of the WH and take back control of the House and keep the Senate….look, the only thing that will happen if we throw away our votes sine Joe is not far enough left for some people is that the rich will get richer, the environment will continue to deteriorate, and we will all lose more and more rights as the repubs trash the government and destroy programs that are keeping many of us oldsters alive…that is how important this coming election is…just look what happened here in Michigan when the people voted…things that are important to everyone has been passed…women have their rights enshrined in the constitution and we have fair voting districts in there, too…so dems, suck it up and get out to vote and protect this country…and that means no votes for any repub….geez…

November 20th

Well…damn, I’m getting to be a broken record but I am so damn worn out this morning…up at 3:09 and then out of bed at 5:48 didn’t help that at all…my legs were really flat on the bike yesterday and they hurt right now along with my left shoulder and that is really unusual…normally my right shoulder hurts and I think this is part of the moving tendonitis that has been going on for years…I am so damn tired of all of health issues I’ve had this year…and I need to run out and get more blood drawn today for another PSA test that is probably going to show me that the cancer is back and more treatment needs to be done…and then I have a video appointment Wed morning with my surgeon…with all of the dental surgery and then getting my prostate removed, I am just done with any medical crap…so I’m taking from Wed until the rest of the year off and then it starts again in January…I can now see how this crap wears people out….didn’t get much done but make soup and the rides yesterday and I’ll be back on the bike when I get home if it’s warm enough…I am going to get a day off later in the week with the rain that is coming in…it was supposed to be snow but the cold temps have been pushed back a few days….not much to do today…just going to get the blood done and wait for the bad news….more later…