Well…had a nice visit with my son, DIL and their dog Art today and it was sure good to see them and hang out for a few hours…my daughter made some great tacos and I had a couple soft ones but I still feel stuffed 3 hours later so I probably won’t eat again today…it was so funny when Art was trying to play and he barked with a bark that sounded like the dragons on GOT…so low pitched…had a bit of a scare when I stopped filling up my bag and thought my kidneys had stopped or my bladder had gotten screwed up somehow but it’s working a bit again so I can breathe again…so only one more day and the catheter comes out Tuesday and I won’t have to think every time I move anymore…it hasn’t been that bad but I’m done with it and just want it over…okay, that’s enough for now…

Well…running a little late today but was up at 5 with a full bag and that will be done Tuesday….still have pain in my abdomen but it’s more on my left side now so it may be some gas that I can’t pass with my intestines still trying to get back to normal…I can move around just fine without much pain so that bodes well for being able to do the UK trip since I still have almost two months to heal still…had the best damn meal yesterday…probably the best thing I’ve eaten this year when my daughter made Chicken Tikka Masala, an Indian dish with just so much flavor that she made in the instant pot and she left enough ingredients to do another one for me later in the summer….my son and DIL and Art are coming for tacos at noon and it will be good to see them…still pretty worn out but I think that is just from not doing a lot and the energy that is going into healing…still not eating a lot but I’m not supposed to until my intestines are back to normal….just had to take some mirilax to make that happen and I hope it works before noon….not much to do today…just going to do the normal recovery stuff until they get here and take a shower and shave…and need to get on that here soon since I want to see the F1 race at 9 and it’s already 7:30….more later….

Well…I’m quickly running out of month so it looks like I won’t make the goal of three of these a day…have been having a hell of a time coming up with political topics and the health problems have absorbed a lot of my brain capacity over the month with the surgery and recovery…so what do I do about it? Not sure at this point….Mastodon has been taking up a lot of my time as I try to flesh it out and make it a good topic source but right now it just more fun than anything else…meeting a lot of nice, smart people there who are interesting and fun and I like to talk to them…just talked vintage stereo equipment with another fan and he couldn’t believe my stuff is almost 50 years old and still working…and that kind of stuff goes on all the time…so, I think I’ll go look for a topic and maybe have some carrots and celery with ranch that my daughter cut up for me…

Well…running a bit late today with getting up a little after 6 but having to shower and change my clothes which is a pretty big production with still having the catheter in…just three more days and it comes out and I can get started on rehabbing and getting dry…felt okay yesterday but this morning I’m feel a little sore and constipated so I took the miralax along with the colace today so I am hopeful something will happen later…was able to move around with just a little pain yesterday but I seem to hurt across my shoulders and the swelling in my abdomen is not even with my right side still really puffy and the left almost back to normal…my incisions are healing pretty good with no infection or drainage…they are all dry so that’s a good thing…I do heal pretty fast normally….so today I have to clean this place up some with my son and DIL coming over tomorrow but I have all day for that and I’m feeling pretty worn out right now…can’t wait to get the catheter out Tuesday…it’s such a pain hauling that thing around with me….more later…oh, we did get some storms overnight and it looks like we got a couple of inches of rain…we needed it…

Well…it’s kind of weird to announce that my intestines are working again but it is a milestone that the doctors were concerned with and I’m happy to hit it…and the pain is subsiding and I can more or less move around as I want so that is cool…and the next milestone is getting the catheter out Tuesday and I am looking forward to that….and looking forward to my son and DIL coming out for a visit Sunday and my daughter making tacos for it…and my SIL is all in on helping get me into a nice neighborhood so that is cool, too…it gives me hope that I can find a good, quiet life out here when I have time to investigate that I didn’t have on this house….it seem as I have had a weight lifted off me and I don’t have the compulsion to make noise calls anymore…and my daughter has found at least a half dozen houses in a cursory Zillow search that would work for me…and Zillow says my house is worth 138 grand so I’ll have almost 100K to put down on the next one….so, lots of change in a short time but it’s all good change so I can take that…more later…

Well…I think I had a breakthrough night last night and got up this morning with very little pain…slept really well…yeah, that sounds weird to me, too…and the voltaren that my daughter got me for my shoulder pain worked all through the night and I was able to spend most of the night on my right side that I like to sleep on and didn’t wake up til 5:11 and out of bed at 6:11…progress….the pain is shrinking in size down to just the front of my abdomen now and damn, I feel pretty good…the incisions are still dry and healing and I think my intestines are going to be ready to give it a try today or tomorrow and that will feel good….with my daughter’s counsel, I have decided to give up on this place and start looking for another house after the trip to the UK…it’s just too much noise up here and it’s too much work to just live…will probably stay out here in Muskegon since housing is reasonable but will move farther west and get out of the city…she said she can afford to help me pay a higher payment and we’ve been looking at houses around 200 K in nicer neighborhoods…she’ll carry me until the interest rates come down and I can then afford the payment on my own…we had a nice talk last night and she told me that she wouldn’t have gotten where she is without my help paying a lot of her bills when she was in school in DC and letting her keep the 30K in profit on the sale of the condo I bought for her while she was out there…it was nice to be recognized but it’s just what a father is supposed to do and I told her that…I saw her potential and was going to do everything I could to allow her to be successful…pretty damn neat….not much to do today…it’s going to be another veg day on the couch watching F1 from Spa which is my favorite track they go to and the one I look forward to every year…and it starts here in about 15 minutes…the progress from Wed to today is just remarkable and I think I’m out of the woods…for pain, anyway…more later….

Well…running about on time today but it was a struggle of a day with all the pain and had to take a tramadol just to be able to sleep a bit last night and I did get some so that was cool…but I still have some air in my abdominal cavity that is causing pain and I hope it gets absorbed soon…my incisions are doing okay…nice and dry so they are healing fine…my daughter bought some topical painkiller called voltaran and I just put some of that on my shoulders and neck and I think it’s going to be another help for all the pain…need to start eating more and that is going to start with some toast and peanut butter this morning…going to try to take a shower today since I haven’t had one since Monday morning and my skin is so oily that feel like a greased pig…it was not a good day for the pain yesterday but it was all the traveling and walking I had to do…and I need to get up once an hour and walk around…not much to do today…and that is especially true for me today….going to do nothing but sit here and read and write a bit with minimal movement…it is still weird to not have to pee since Tuesday and I fill the bag overnight so the kidneys are working fine…now just need to get the intestines going with more food,,,,more later….

Well…running late with not getting back to here today until around two and the power being off until right now and that is almost 6pm…and I’m in pain that is making me wince every time I move unless I’m sitting still…I thought I was getting better earlier today but I guess I wasn’t….have my friend the bag sitting in a tub here next to me and it is going to be with me til the first…have to figure out how to navigate around here with it…my kidneys are still doing their thing and putting stuff into the bag and that is a good thing but I am just worn out from the pain and the surgery….I know it’s only the first day after it but you know I’m pretty impatient and want to be able to move around right now….but I am going to take care of myself and follow the instructions so I don’t have any problems…they didn’t give me any pain medications at all and i can’t figure that out since I got some for my teeth work and this is much more painful than that….oh, well…haven’t eaten much today so I need to go and do that right now…more tomorrow…

Well…it’s 4:21 here in Ann Arbor and I think I slept about 2 hours tonight and that make for under 10 since Saturday night….but I don’t feel bad so I guess I’ll have to make up for it when I’m lying in the hospital bed today….went to bed at 10, didn’t get to sleep til 11, up at 1:35 and then up for good at 2:36…and I just realized looking in the mirror getting ready that I went too far losing weight…just look too gaunt and not eating for the last 36 hours hasn’t helped…sure hope I’m able to get a lunch today since my stomach is a bit roiled with only having water for all that time…so, I’m going to end here and slowly get ready for leaving in 45 minutes…more Wednesday….

Well…sitting on the bed in a hotel in Ann Arbor waiting for the surgery tomorrow and need to start the prep here soon and that is not fun…but the time is getting close and only one more night with cancer…haven’t had anything to eat since 6:30 last night and have another 17 hours to go before the surgery is over…really do hope to be able to eat something in the hospital or it will be three days without food and, while I like the weight loss, it’s not good for someone recovering from surgery….it is going to be nice to have the surgery in the rearview mirror even with all the damage it’s going to do……I know what I need to do to recover and have started that a month ago so that should help…going to have to stay flexible and take the setbacks as they come as I know they will….but, I’ve got a good attitude and my daughter helping me so I’m hopeful….