Where did the year go?
Where did the year go?
It seemed like only yesterday that I was in the hospital for surgery to have my colon reconnected after having to use a colostomy bag for two and half years. But, of course, that happened at the end of January.
After recovering from surgery, Doug joined my fraternity in April when my old chapter was reinstalled. Doug will be the first to admit that he was luke warm to the idea of joining a fraternity. After going through the initiation and participating in some of the ceremony, he was very glad that he did.
Then, I got my not so new MINI Convertible in the middle of June but I had to wait another week until the dealership fixed some factory defect. Since the car was assembled in the United Kingdom, I was not surprised. I don’t think they understand the concept of quality control very well.
I have owned two cars that were assembled in the United Kingdom. Both came with factory defects. That is not a very good track record.
I do love driving the MINI. I have put over 8,000 miles on it since I finally took possession of it.
Summer was sort of a blur since it was one of the coldest or maybe coolest Summers on record for Southern California. It was not good driving with the top down weather for me. I did manage to catch a nasty cold; possibly from too much top down driving, that lingered for almost two weeks.
For some unknown reason, I started to write a science fiction novel this Summer. I managed to finish it and it has something over 600 pages, which was way more than I thought I could write.
I even started to write a sequel to the first novel. Right now, I am at Chapter 11 of 20 Chapters and I have just over 400 pages written.
When I finish the second novel, I have to go back and add perhaps as much as 150 pages to the first one to provide more narrative and background material. So far, I have plotted out, in varying degrees, ten sequential books. Obviously, the far out books are mere hints of a skeleton outline now.
I am going to have to take a break from novel writing for a day or two while I write my Christmas Letter.
Where did the year go?
On holiday probably.
Second Opinion
On Wednesday, I drove out to the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California to receive a second opinion on my current colon cancer treatment plan. The City of Hope in a nationally recognized, highly ranked cancer center.
Doug had thought about going with me until I told him my appointment was at 7:30. He decided that he could wait and get my version of the opinion.
I got up at 4:15 AM that day. I wanted to make certain that I arrived on time. It had been raining the day before and one never knows what the morning freeway traffic will be like. My drive was very nice to Duarte. I should certainly have hoped so. Leaving so early, the freeway onramp traffic flow meter was off so I was able to drive on to the onramp and then swing around a curve at full speed in the MINI.
It felt very nice to lock up the seat belt tensioners as the MINI held the curve like it was on a Disneyland ride track
Needless to say, I was very early for my appointment. Fortunately, I had the day’s newspaper and my Kindle with two unread books in it. The waiting room chairs were soft and there were few patients waiting with me.
Excellent.
I saw Dr. Julio Garcia-Aguilar. He is the Chief of Oncological Colorectal Surgery; that’s a mouthful of titles.
The short version of his opinion is I ought to have the lesions on my liver biopsied at a minimum. He would prefer to cut that portion of my liver out and be done with any worry about the lesions. The liver is one organ that will grow back I think he would like to remove any more of the old tumor that is next to my left ureter. He also recommended that I have a specialized CT scan done of my liver.
I will see Dr. D. in a week or so and we’ll talk about what to do next. I also have an appointment with the colorectal surgeons at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and I will see what they have to say about the second opinion.
Teaching
I have my teaching schedule for next quarter. I will be teaching five courses as of now. Things can always change up to almost the last minute at ITT Technical Institute. The nice thing about my courses is that I have taught them all before so my preparation time will be minimal.
This week, I learned that our long term Dean of Academic Affairs had left the school. Depending on who you spoke to, he retired, resigned, or was fired. The method of his separation from the school doesn’t matter that much to me. I will miss him. He was a steadying influence on the instructors.
Thanksgiving
I had my Thanksgiving Dinner with Doug and my ex-wife at her house on Thursday.
They had a turkey with all of the usual side dishes and snacks. I really enjoyed myself. My ex-wife cooked the sweet potatos differently than I do. She mashed hers with chunks of pineapple. It was an interesting combination. I think I will serve my sweet potatos in my usual way with brown sugar and spices when they come to my flat for Christmas dinner.
We had a long discussion about what to have for dinner at Christmas. Doug is somewhat of a selective eater; he will eat tuna belly but not Honey Baked Ham. It made him sick once and he swore off it since. He will eat Spanish style cured ham.
I said that he shouldn’t hold his breath because some Spanish style ham, from Spain of course, costs USD$1,200 for a five pound ham.
His mother was shocked.
I told that I would look and see if I could find a lesser priced Spanish ham for him. I will also cook a turkey with homemade dressing. I’ve already started picking up my ingredients this week. I just have a few items left to purchase now like a turkey and some vegetables.
Be well and stay happy.
It seemed like only yesterday that I was in the hospital for surgery to have my colon reconnected after having to use a colostomy bag for two and half years. But, of course, that happened at the end of January.
After recovering from surgery, Doug joined my fraternity in April when my old chapter was reinstalled. Doug will be the first to admit that he was luke warm to the idea of joining a fraternity. After going through the initiation and participating in some of the ceremony, he was very glad that he did.
Then, I got my not so new MINI Convertible in the middle of June but I had to wait another week until the dealership fixed some factory defect. Since the car was assembled in the United Kingdom, I was not surprised. I don’t think they understand the concept of quality control very well.
I have owned two cars that were assembled in the United Kingdom. Both came with factory defects. That is not a very good track record.
I do love driving the MINI. I have put over 8,000 miles on it since I finally took possession of it.
Summer was sort of a blur since it was one of the coldest or maybe coolest Summers on record for Southern California. It was not good driving with the top down weather for me. I did manage to catch a nasty cold; possibly from too much top down driving, that lingered for almost two weeks.
For some unknown reason, I started to write a science fiction novel this Summer. I managed to finish it and it has something over 600 pages, which was way more than I thought I could write.
I even started to write a sequel to the first novel. Right now, I am at Chapter 11 of 20 Chapters and I have just over 400 pages written.
When I finish the second novel, I have to go back and add perhaps as much as 150 pages to the first one to provide more narrative and background material. So far, I have plotted out, in varying degrees, ten sequential books. Obviously, the far out books are mere hints of a skeleton outline now.
I am going to have to take a break from novel writing for a day or two while I write my Christmas Letter.
Where did the year go?
On holiday probably.
Second Opinion
On Wednesday, I drove out to the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California to receive a second opinion on my current colon cancer treatment plan. The City of Hope in a nationally recognized, highly ranked cancer center.
Doug had thought about going with me until I told him my appointment was at 7:30. He decided that he could wait and get my version of the opinion.
I got up at 4:15 AM that day. I wanted to make certain that I arrived on time. It had been raining the day before and one never knows what the morning freeway traffic will be like. My drive was very nice to Duarte. I should certainly have hoped so. Leaving so early, the freeway onramp traffic flow meter was off so I was able to drive on to the onramp and then swing around a curve at full speed in the MINI.
It felt very nice to lock up the seat belt tensioners as the MINI held the curve like it was on a Disneyland ride track
Needless to say, I was very early for my appointment. Fortunately, I had the day’s newspaper and my Kindle with two unread books in it. The waiting room chairs were soft and there were few patients waiting with me.
Excellent.
I saw Dr. Julio Garcia-Aguilar. He is the Chief of Oncological Colorectal Surgery; that’s a mouthful of titles.
The short version of his opinion is I ought to have the lesions on my liver biopsied at a minimum. He would prefer to cut that portion of my liver out and be done with any worry about the lesions. The liver is one organ that will grow back I think he would like to remove any more of the old tumor that is next to my left ureter. He also recommended that I have a specialized CT scan done of my liver.
I will see Dr. D. in a week or so and we’ll talk about what to do next. I also have an appointment with the colorectal surgeons at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and I will see what they have to say about the second opinion.
Teaching
I have my teaching schedule for next quarter. I will be teaching five courses as of now. Things can always change up to almost the last minute at ITT Technical Institute. The nice thing about my courses is that I have taught them all before so my preparation time will be minimal.
This week, I learned that our long term Dean of Academic Affairs had left the school. Depending on who you spoke to, he retired, resigned, or was fired. The method of his separation from the school doesn’t matter that much to me. I will miss him. He was a steadying influence on the instructors.
Thanksgiving
I had my Thanksgiving Dinner with Doug and my ex-wife at her house on Thursday.
They had a turkey with all of the usual side dishes and snacks. I really enjoyed myself. My ex-wife cooked the sweet potatos differently than I do. She mashed hers with chunks of pineapple. It was an interesting combination. I think I will serve my sweet potatos in my usual way with brown sugar and spices when they come to my flat for Christmas dinner.
We had a long discussion about what to have for dinner at Christmas. Doug is somewhat of a selective eater; he will eat tuna belly but not Honey Baked Ham. It made him sick once and he swore off it since. He will eat Spanish style cured ham.
I said that he shouldn’t hold his breath because some Spanish style ham, from Spain of course, costs USD$1,200 for a five pound ham.
His mother was shocked.
I told that I would look and see if I could find a lesser priced Spanish ham for him. I will also cook a turkey with homemade dressing. I’ve already started picking up my ingredients this week. I just have a few items left to purchase now like a turkey and some vegetables.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 3:52 PM
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