THE DEATH WATCH-TWENTY
Random Observations-V
I just finished reading Philip Roth’s latest book “Exit Ghost”. It turned out to be very apropos because it dealt with a 71 year old man that was going through a procedure to narrow down the opening in his urinary tract so that he would be less incontinent. His incontinence was due to the removal of a cancerous prostate. His description of having to change his diapers often and his fear of going swimming in public hit home. He also was impotent as a result of the surgery, which annoyed him no end. The most heartening part is when he tells of making a date with a slightly older woman, who has had brain surgery and still has brain cancer. He himself has to keep a notebook for all his conversations in order to keep track of where he’d been and where he was supposed to go. They made a date to meet for dinner via telephone and each wasn’t sure the other would show up. He went to the restaurant and waited to order till she showed up but after waiting an hour just sipping water he realized that he might be in the wrong restaurant. He didn’t have her phone number with him so he rushed to call his hotel and got the message that she had been waiting for an hour in another restaurant and that she understood why he had not shown up. It is never clear as to who was in error but the whole story is very sad because neither person was surprised when the other failed to show and was willing to accept that fact. I guess that getting old is a real bitch.
I have started to carry a Palm Pilot with me for my appointments and scheduled events and as long as I keep the battery charged I should be in good shape. I can set alarms as reminders and I also carry with me a set of addresses and phone numbers, in addition to the ones already on my cell phone.
So far my head still seems to be on straight and I am carefully monitoring my driving performance while on painkillers. I have not any problems yet and I hope to avoid problems in the future.
It’s 6:00PM on Thursday, which turns out to have been a VERY LONG day. I doubt very much I’ll be able to get anything posted to the Blog today. The day started with an appointment with the oncologist and then I continued the day with the Clinical Trial coordinator who took me through a day of tests. First, I got evaluated by the Dialysis nurse to see if my veins were good enough to take Ivs when they run their tests. Her assessment was that I ought to have a central line put in by a doctor so that they would not have to get IVs every time they ran the tests. (I am having this line installed next Tuesday)
My next appointment was to have some radioactive material injected into my blood stream for a later-that-day bone scan. I had to kill two hours before that appointment so I got a chance to read the paper and do the crossword. Immediately after hat I was supposed to get an Ultrasound of my abdomen but the CT scan of my chest and abdomen was done first. After the Ultrasound I had o lay low for another two hours before they could do my bone scan. It was almost 5:00PM when I got through with all those tests plus I had an EKG thrown in at sometime between tests. I had not eaten all day nor had I taken any pain meds since early morning so by the time I started to head home I was a wreck. I am having my dinner now and expect to be asleep very soon. Net result is no posting Thursday.
I just finished reading Philip Roth’s latest book “Exit Ghost”. It turned out to be very apropos because it dealt with a 71 year old man that was going through a procedure to narrow down the opening in his urinary tract so that he would be less incontinent. His incontinence was due to the removal of a cancerous prostate. His description of having to change his diapers often and his fear of going swimming in public hit home. He also was impotent as a result of the surgery, which annoyed him no end. The most heartening part is when he tells of making a date with a slightly older woman, who has had brain surgery and still has brain cancer. He himself has to keep a notebook for all his conversations in order to keep track of where he’d been and where he was supposed to go. They made a date to meet for dinner via telephone and each wasn’t sure the other would show up. He went to the restaurant and waited to order till she showed up but after waiting an hour just sipping water he realized that he might be in the wrong restaurant. He didn’t have her phone number with him so he rushed to call his hotel and got the message that she had been waiting for an hour in another restaurant and that she understood why he had not shown up. It is never clear as to who was in error but the whole story is very sad because neither person was surprised when the other failed to show and was willing to accept that fact. I guess that getting old is a real bitch.
I have started to carry a Palm Pilot with me for my appointments and scheduled events and as long as I keep the battery charged I should be in good shape. I can set alarms as reminders and I also carry with me a set of addresses and phone numbers, in addition to the ones already on my cell phone.
So far my head still seems to be on straight and I am carefully monitoring my driving performance while on painkillers. I have not any problems yet and I hope to avoid problems in the future.
It’s 6:00PM on Thursday, which turns out to have been a VERY LONG day. I doubt very much I’ll be able to get anything posted to the Blog today. The day started with an appointment with the oncologist and then I continued the day with the Clinical Trial coordinator who took me through a day of tests. First, I got evaluated by the Dialysis nurse to see if my veins were good enough to take Ivs when they run their tests. Her assessment was that I ought to have a central line put in by a doctor so that they would not have to get IVs every time they ran the tests. (I am having this line installed next Tuesday)
My next appointment was to have some radioactive material injected into my blood stream for a later-that-day bone scan. I had to kill two hours before that appointment so I got a chance to read the paper and do the crossword. Immediately after hat I was supposed to get an Ultrasound of my abdomen but the CT scan of my chest and abdomen was done first. After the Ultrasound I had o lay low for another two hours before they could do my bone scan. It was almost 5:00PM when I got through with all those tests plus I had an EKG thrown in at sometime between tests. I had not eaten all day nor had I taken any pain meds since early morning so by the time I started to head home I was a wreck. I am having my dinner now and expect to be asleep very soon. Net result is no posting Thursday.
posted by Michael at
4:34:00 AM
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