End of Year Rant...

Well, we have survived another year. I have been sick most of the last two weeks - sometimes worse than others. But, its not been any fun at all.

Now, I am restricted to being able to move about 10 to 15 steps, without a rest. Today, when Pam got home from work, she had to take me to town to mail some stuff and pickup some printing and s couple of other minor things. When we were leaving the house, I forgot to bring a tube for the printers to see, and had to walk back from the kitchen to the office and back and almost couldn't make it. I reallllly hate this whole thing.

One of the tasks was to go to Costco and return a version of Quickbooks after I found one online for almost $ 100 less. She recommended that she could go get one of those handicapped carts for me to use. That really gagged me out. I have never had to use one of them before and the thought of doing so does not come easy for me. I can deal with the parking spaces, but the powered shopping carts are beyond my pail.

There has been no pool for the last two weeks so I haven't missed anything, but I couldn't have gone if there were.

My surgeon is suppose to return from his vacation next Monday and I am scheduled for a battery of tests at the vascular lab at 8am. Hopefully, I will have the repair of this problem done after all the lab work. My surgeon is the only one in Twin Falls that does vascular surgery, or I would have had this resolved long ago.

I have been working on the new Quickbooks software when I could and it is great stuff. I am impressed by all its features. And, I should know, since I sold and customized such software for many years in my other life.

Pam is being wonderful in the middle of all this big mess. I would probably not survived without her help.

Well, I now feel well enough to get back to the couch and TV, so that is all I can write about here in DaHo...

Christmas Tree 2.0...

This weekend, we were sitting around and watching the snow fall and decided to get a Christmas Tree after all. We still didn't have the energy to drag all the packed up Christmas stuff out of the garage, so we went down to Lowe's and picked up a tree and new lights and new decorations. All we used from our usual stuff is the stand, which we knew how to find and the tip/top angle which Pam pulled from somewhere. All the decorations are plastic so Felix wouldn't destroy them, after all this is his first Christmas and we didn't know what he would do with it all. So, far, he is being a good kitty, but he is very impressed with it and his new catnip filled mouse play toy. He sucked on and licks it until it is wet, then he sleeps.






I am becoming 'normal' again and its a bummer. This is the first time I have not done yoga every day or two, depending upon my schedule, for years and this is ugly. I quit the day of my first surgery on 12/2, and cannot do it again until after I recover from the Aortic Aneurysm Kinky Stent surgery 2.0, which will be 'next year', grumble, grumble...

I did play pool last week and did well. I didn't get any table runs but did win all four games, so that is good. We don't play this week because of Christmas and all.

Pam and I are moving all the Business 'stuff' up to the upstairs guest suite.That is where all the order processing will be happening for the time being. I have to find all the right storage containers and packing stuff and get it all set up.

I am going to get a new Premier version of Quickbooks for manufacturers and wholesale distribution, as it seems to have a lot of the features that we will need to handle orders from all the different dealer and distributor types of partners we will have soon. That and having a bill of materials capability so we can keep track of all the 'parts' that goes into each set of needles. I have spent many years dealing with such things in my computer past-life.

We get our fireplace fixed next week. It hasn't worked right since summer and the last annual flying ant attack. So, we have been using the tabletop personal fireplace that Aaron and Tara got us. It uses special cans of 'fire' that are some custom version of Sterno. It works well and a can will last about 2 hours.

The weather has been crazy cold here for a couple of weeks now. Nightly lows in the teens and below and 'highs' in the 20s and 30s. There is about 6" of snow on the ground and more comes or gets blown away every day it seems. We have been driving the jeep up and down the driveway 5-10 times a day to pack all the snow so Pam can get in and out from the garage with the Lincoln.

Well, I have to go, but it seems much happier with the Christmas Tree, here in DaHo...

Kinky Stent...

Well, since I last posted to this tome, I spent about 4 hours in the hospital labs getting my second CAT scan. We had to wait so long after our appointment that they gave us a $30 gift certificate to a nice local restaurant for our trouble. So, a little bitching and being frustrated, does pay off some times...

Then, this morning, I called the doctor's office and asked about the results and was told to wait until the Dr checked it out and he would get back to me. After a long while, the nurse called back and said that the doctor did have a chance to check the CAT results and that I had a "Kinky Stent", meaning that the stent that I have in my left leg is kinked over and therefore blocking most of the blood flow for my left leg. The fix, is that they are going to have to go back in, read another operation, and replace the 'normal' stent with a heavier one that won't Kink.

After explaining it all to me, the nurse said that we will have to get right on it in a couple of weeks...(Skreech!) I said that I thought this was all going so fast and everybody was so excited about it, that it would happen way before then. Right now, if I walk around a large store, I am getting heavy leg pains and that I really would like to get this done before 'next year'. And, is this causing any damage to any of my 'natural' parts?

After a little hemming and hawing, she said that the doctor was leaving in a couple of hours for a two week vacation and he couldn't do it until he got back, but to be sure to take an aspirin every day just in case...

So, I guess I am on quarter power until 'next year' when the doctor gets back to work... And, then I have to go through the whole operation FUN again.

At this point, Christmas is pretty much cancelled with all these medical problems and all the work I have been trying to do, when I could, on the new product launch for Jan 1st. This will be the first Christmas that we will not have a tree, I/or Pam can remember.

We can barely get up the driveway with all the snow now, and the forecast is that it will get really crazy in the next couple of days. The 7 day forecast had snow in 6 of them for next week. Luckily, our great friend Storm, called and now has a snow blade on his truck and offered to scrape the driveway after the big storm is over.

What is with all the Global Warming Crap. I saw on the news last night that the biggest snow storm in 30 years hit Las Vegas and they even had to close the air port because it was snowed in. Maybe we can get Al Gore to come scrape the driveway.

If I got stuck in the snow, I couldn't get out of it to save my life, in my quarter power mode, grumble, grumble...

So, to all you readers of this blog, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from here in DaHo...

How Far Can You Go...

Well, today was the first day I was going to venture out again to do all the stuff I need to get done. I was feeling better and stuff needed to get done. It happened to snow and freeze last night and I was woken up Pam coming home for 'lunch, at 8:30AM to get her glasses. She said she couldn't get the Lincoln up the driveway because of the ice and snow and left. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night and was groggy from the event, but got up and it was ice and snow all around.

I got up and got dressed and got the Lincoln snow stud tires down from the real high shelf in the garage and loaded them up in the Jeep. I first went to the printers with the new, and improved, 7" X 7" version of the needle instructions and then went to Costco to see about getting the snow tires put on the Lincoln. They had a wait, so I parked the Jeep at Costco and walked over to Dell to get the Lincoln, so Costco could install the snow tires.

So, on the long walk to Dell, about 2 blocks on flat ground, I started having serious feeling of exhaustion in my left thigh. It was like I had run a couple of hard miles or something. The weird part about it was that I wasn't breathing hard, or was any other parts of my body even warmed up yet. I finally got to the car and got in and drove the two blocks back to Costco. Then I had to go get the 4 unmounted tires out of the Jeep, which I almost couldn't do - because of my left thigh.

I was a little freaked out because I knew what was probably going on. I seemed to be feeling ok, except for my leg. So, after a rest in the car, I went to a local restaurant to have some lunch - around people, to see how it was all going. I had lunch and all seemed quite normal again.

I left for the printers to pick up my stuff, and while there called the Dr. that just did my surgery and they said to come right in. I went to their office and was brought right in for an hour checkup and analysis. Then, I had to go straight to the Emergency Room, again, to be sent to the Cardo-vascular Lab for some tests. I spent the next two hours there doing all sorts of testing and was finally released.

The nurse called tonight and I have to go to a MRI or cat scan Wednesday at 1pm.

So, what is going on, unless I am way off here, is that the leg of the little designer pants stent that the put in during my operation less than two weeks ago, is somehow blocking the flow of blood to my left leg. If I go up a flight of stairs or something crazy like that, my left leg is starving for blood/oxygen because the blood is being blocked by this stent.

Again, unless I am way off here, the Dr. is doing the MRI to try and figure out what their options are - if they can fix the stent through my left artery, or worse yet, will have to go in, like before stents, and I will be in the hospital for a couple of weeks.

So, either way, I guess I am spending my birthday and Christmas in the hospital or close to it. I am not a happy camper here at all...

Honey, Will you Take a Look at This...

That is all it took and with an hour I was back with another new bracelet...


During the recovery period, the right side incision was way more painful than the left side. I figured that there was probably a stitch that was pulling something in there that hurt. Then, Friday was the first day that I really felt almost Good since the operation. So, I was out doing errands that I haven't been doing since the operation and was out and about for 3-4 hours.

After about 2 hours, my left side incision started feeling weird and it kept feeling like there was some liquid leaking out of it. Each time it happened, I check and there was nothing leaking I could find, so I went on. By the time I got home I was very exhausted and glad to be here. Anyway, when Pam got home she was worn to a frazzle from working and taking care of me, so we watched some low key TV and was going to bed early. So, I was getting into my pajamas and she was already in bed. I felt the right side incision location and it was all swollen up again, so I asked 'The Question' which is the title of this entry.

Well, she mildly freaked and called the doctor and to make a long story shorter, check out the picture of my new Emergency Room jewelry...

They did a complete sonogram deal and the doctor checked it all out by hand. The sonogram guy, turned down the lights while he was rubbing lube all over my genitals, so I asked him if there was any romantic light music...

The lump was caused from internal bleeding from the incision that happened sometime before, but the bottom line was that there was no bleeding still happening so after an hour of screwing around as only ERs can do, we were out of there and back home.

Then, when I got home I realized that the 200 instruction booklets for the needle instructions that I picked up that day weren't going to work right in the tubes and had to switch the page size from 5.5" X 8" to 7" X 7", grumble, grumble.

It is now Sunday, and I have finally got the new document done and ready to get to the printers again Monday morning.

And, I am still getting better and better from the operation. I get the stitches out next Wed and will get to talk to the doctor that did the 'procedure' in person.

We had our first light snows of the year on Friday and Saturday nights. It feels so weird - I don't even remember summer happening yet and its Christmas...

Well, That was Easy...

I thought that being home from the hospital was pretty much the end of the 'procedure'. I was very wrong. I got much worse for about three days. It felt like I had been beaten with a bat or pipe from just below my ribcage to just above my knees - Front and Back. I didn't even have anything done on my back that I am aware of, but my lower back was screaming.

I think it was mostly from doing the whole anesthesia thing that they do to put you out in the hospital - like the drugs that put you out, the IVs, the dreaded catheter, and whatever else they want to do when no one is looking...

My nose is also almost finally feeling OK. Now, how did my nose get sore? I told the anesthesiologist that I was a neckbreather and even a story about a previous operation, where the idiot anesthesiologist started putting tubes up my nose, and there is no way to get past my throat with any type of air stuff, but somehow something happened and it was sore.

He also said that the the catheter from hell was installed with ease and there was no reason for any pain from it - Yah, right. I think they all get together after you are put out and beat you and laugh about all the money they are getting for all the fun...

So, to get back to the story, after I wrote my last blog entry, I thought I was done and all was good, then the next 3 days just kept getting worse. I could barley move. Pam was great in taking care of me in my time of need. Without her great help, the cats and I would have starved.

I tried to get up every day an check email for a little while, but that was about it. After about 5 days, we went into town to have dinner and I barely made it home. A couple more days of getting better and I finally was able to limp around a couple of hours a day.

Then, it all got much better all of a sudden and I feel pretty good now. My groin area, just below the belt line, I have a 1 1/2" incision with stitches on each side and the whole area is swollen badly, but is good unless something messes with it - like being used for a cat launching pad.

So, looking back on it, either the doctor lied about the recovery time, or all the hospital operation fun hits a 'older' person much harder than it use to...

Anyway, I am glad it is over now and I can feel comfortable being out in strange remote places fishing without worrying about the whole thing blowing up.

During this whole process, and for a week or two before, I have been working on an instruction booklet for the new and larger needle tubes. It is 8 logical pages that fits onto 2 physical 8.5"X11" landscaped pages. It is finally be printed on really nice 60# paper and will be rolled up and put into every one of the large outer tubes for the new needles. I was just going to have it copied, but went to 4 different places and none of them could do it worth a darn. So, now its being printed and I pick it all up today. It is amazing how much time such a task can consume. Almost every sentence was rewritten many times so it would fit just right with all the instructional pictures that are embedded in the document. And I had to do all the pictures 4 different times to get something that could be seen and understood in the 2"X3" sizes on the booklet pages. Pam finally suggested that I use a black felt background and white lines for the pictures and that worked great. They really 'POP' now, as they say on HGTV.

So, while I was recovering from the operation, I decided to quit making needles. It was fun and we made some money from them, but I give up making them ever again. So we are closing down the 'factory' forever. That is the good news, the great news is that DaHo Products is reinventing itself as a world wide supplier of our new partner made needles.

Speaking of needles, I received the final 5 sets of samples from our new vendor and they are great. All of the feedback I received this last year from all the experts that I have been working with has paid off in Spades. These new needles are the best ever made and are vastly superior to the competitions ,or even my handmade ones. I couldn't replicate many of the features that they were able to do without problem. So, the first 100 sets show up just before Christmas and another 400 sets in the middle of January. Yesterday, went down to the bank to have the first payment transferred to the vendor. I have full trust in the vendor at this time. He is a good person and really create exactly what I want.

I think we can pretty much take over the worldwide hollow Spectra needle market in the next year or two. I will foresee us having employees, gulp, within the next 3 months or so. We are almost done with all the collateral materials for the new products and from now on, the job is acquiring new dealers and distributors, the bigger the better. I can have new supplies of needles made in a few weeks and I just don't see any roadblocks in the way of making this all happen and happen pretty quickly. But, as always, time will tell the real story...

I did go play pool last night - the first time in two weeks. I played well, but the results were mediocre at best. I had another break and run for one game, which keeps me up there on that stat. I was playing one fellow that was not very good, and gave him a chance. He ended up making 4 of the most amazing shots in a row and won the game. We were all stunned, including him. That is just how it goes sometimes.

Our local pool hall, The Pocket, is changing their tables to be all the little bar 7 foot size. They only have two 8 foot tables left and our team was suppose to play on one. Just before the game, the owner came over and told us that he was switching the table on us, so we had to play on one of the new small ones. I was really frustrated by the ensuing conversation, where he told us all about the migration to being all the small 7 foot tables. I said when it was all finished, he should also change the name of the business from 'The Pocket' to 'The Small Pocket' - grumble, grumble...

The new tables are pretty good. They are the new bar tables that are used in tournaments that use 7 foot tables. They have a large rail on top and are much better than the 7 footers from the past, but still very small.

Well, I have a lot of stuff to do now, that I am sorta back online again, so I must stop writing and get to work. Besides, that is about all that is going on here in DaHo...

Back Home from the Hospital...

I got back from the hospital yesterday and able to sit and write a little today.

So, I am doing better, but today, I am really hurting in the spots they cut open and put in the stent through. Until now, they didn’t bother me at all. The major pain was from the catheter. When I woke up after the operation, I was screaming from it and after they couldn’t get it to stop hurting, they finally took it out. But, 'it' was still killing me. The worst part of the whole hospital stay was they said that if I couldn’t pea within 12 hours, they would have to put another one back in. So, for the next 10 hours or so, that is all I could think about. I told them I would have to be put out or tied down, or both, before that would happen again. Every time I tried, it felt like red hot liquid metal or something. Its getting better now, but that was the worst part of the whole ordeal - by far.

In second place was all of my 'attachments' - I had 4 IVs, all the heart monitoring patches and wires, blood pressure cuff, blood sugar clamp, and various other things that were on me from all sides Any time I moved or tried to do anything, something would get hung up and would cause the monitor to start screaming. Those nurses really need some cable management training. The problem was mostly caused by my attempts to stand up to fend off the dreaded catheter deadline...

They kept coming in every few minutes and checking my pulse in my ankles. I guess to be sure that the little pants stent hadn't come apart and was blocking the blood from getting circulated around as it should. That, and my blood pressure monitor on my arm going off every 10 minutes with extreme pressure. So, I didn't hardly get sleep at all while in the hospital.

I guess before the stents, they had to cut you open and do blood bypasses and it was a very bad, 2 week hospital ordeal that usually included a heart attack and/or stroke somewhere in the operation or recovery period.

The doctor said it all went great and he was quite happy about it all - a little too happy for my tastes... Sort of like "Wow, it really worked!" sort of happy...

So, Pam came and picked me up yesterday morning and I stayed in bed most of the day and night. The actual operation cut areas had not really been an issue until today. Now, the area is all swollen up and quite sore, but that is to be expected, I guess, since I don't have the joy of the great pain meds that they have in the hospital.

Pam is staying home to take care of me. I got up before she did or I would probably not be sitting here writing to you all. She is taking great care of me as she always has.

Anyway, all is well but I have this weird question to ask the doctor when I see him. I was looking around and saw these characters on my feet as you can see below.




I have no idea what they are or where they came from or what their purpose could be...

But, all is well, or at least getting better. I am not suppose to do yoga for a week or more, so I am missing it.

Anyway, I will have more to say in a day or two, but all is well with me and I am sure glad to be out of the hospital. Even with all their good drugs, its not fun to be in the hospital at all, even here in DaHo...