Bloated Legs

I’ve been to the new doktors in Baltimore regarding the liver situation. The University of Maryland Medical System is top shelf, as I really like the entire staff there. They make it easy to get around and seem to be interested in helping the patients.

Not much to report, as this was an initial consultation. I had to answer the usual round of questions, and one suggesting regarding my frequent bathroom visits was that I should do two Imodium tabs in the morning, followed by one more each visit to the bathroom. I did that, and everything was fine, at least for a few days. In fact, I even slept through the night for the first time in recent memory. On about the third day though, my ankles and legs from just above the knee swelled up big time. Usually when I’m on Imodium, I end up urinating quite a bit to expel the water. This time, the urination was not there, so I suspect my system found another storage area for the water. I mean, I could not recognize my legs and my feet looked like elephant feet- no kidding.

So, I stopped with the Imodium and my legs came back to normal after a few days. Sadly, so did my frequent bathroom visits. As I’m going to Cleveland in a few days, I’ll ask there about the situation as maybe I can to the two in the morning and maybe one or two more during the day. I don’t want to damage the liver any more than it is of course.


I got a notice in the mail a few weeks ago from my mortgage company, where they let me know that my personal information was stolen by a now-former employee and sold to the bad guys. They were kind enough to give me 90 days worth of credit protection. So, I changed my checking account and other nice things and I’m still in the process of doing so, including placing fraud alerts on all my accounts. As I have been watching my records closely since 1992, nothing has been done so far. Then today I get a notice from a brokerage account I’ve got saying they lost a backup tape with my personal information on it, and they are giving me 90 days worth of credit protection and free credit reports. Lovely.


I sent my Chapman Stick to Stick Enterprises for a retrofit using the latest technologies. My Stick is twenty years old now, so advancements in everything from the pickup to even the adjustable strap was made. Since I’m under the weather at the moment I can’t try it out, but I will this weekend. It looks great, and the minute or two I played it I can already tell the feel is awesome. It’s kind of neat knowing that Stick Enterprises and specifically Emmitt Chapman himself “blessed” the instrument itself before it left the factory. I’m going to get busy learning from Greg Howard’s fantastic book/CD set, and I also picked up Steve Adelson’s book/DVD from Amazon as well. Greg’s is more my style I think, but Steve’s take on learning has quite a bit of potential. I wish he went a little deeper in explaining his concepts though.


I’ve also upgraded my Mac’s VMWare Fusion to version 2.0. This product lets me run Windows XP (among other operating systems) right on my Mac quite seamlessly. I’m really happy with the new version, as I need XP to remotely log into my work’s system via the VPN. I’ve even installed Oracle on it so I can learn that too, or at least get familiar with it since I know nothing about it at the moment. Sadly, XP’s interface is the pits. I’m so used to the Mac’s interface that Windows seems like a cheap ripoff that doesn’t quite cut it. Luckily, Fusion lets me get around some of this with integration of the windows between XP and OS X.


Finally, I don’t wish to dwell on this subject too much, but my family suffered a terrible loss on Sunday morning. A fire claimed the lives of two of my cousins, ages 10 and 3, and the remaining family lost everything as the house was a complete loss. I don’t normally ask anyone to do anything, and in fact I kind of forbid people from doing things for me as I was recovering from surgery. This case though is a bit different, as any donations provided will support the family directly through this tough time.

For details and the latest news, check on the local newpaper’s website here:
Evening Observer
The stories should be easy to find since this sort of thing does not happen too often in my hometown.

And donations are being accepted at the local bank on behalf of the family:
Lake Shore Savings and Loan

Any help would be appreciated and know that the family is directly benefitting from those of us who are able to contribute, and thanks.

Potty Privacy Issues (no, not Republican related)

Hi again, it’s been a while I know, but I’ve been busy. As usual, let’s start with the medical stuff to get that out of the way. I’ve still been working on the medical insurance transition. Say what you want about HMOs, but Kaiser really had their act together for the patient. At least in my case they did. That is not to say the new one doesn’t, but I’ve had to do more of the legwork on my own.

For example, I’m used to making one call, usually to the same one or two people, and just sit back and everything was resolved for me. Travel to Cleveland now requires me to set up the flight, hotel, ground transportation, meals, etc. I need to save all the receipts and then submit them. It’s not too bad, but I’m used to making one call and all of it being done for me.

Plus, I need to arrange a general purpose doktor for my needs. Although I don’t need referrals for anything as long as I stay in-network, finding a doktor is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be. I’m looking for someone close to my home, and also someone who can see me quickly. So far I’ve called quite a few, and they are all out on holiday leave or are not accepting new patients. Plus, I don’t want one that deals with pediatrics since waiting rooms are difficult enough without that distraction. I remember calling one that had me wait over seven hours in their waiting room that was more like a romper room since they were booked that day and said if I waited long enough they’d see me. With Kaiser, I’d call in the 1-800 number for the advice nurse in the morning, and since they had my entire records available, I’d be fast tracked and would be in the doktor’s office meeting with the doktor within an hour. The longest wait I had was maybe fifteen minutes. Those days are over.

Yes, I’ve got a Cleveland visit in another few weeks. A series of the usual tests and a consultant visit with the transplant doktor. Nothing but the usual.

Over the weekend Darcy and I went to Reds at the AFI Silver theater. As I’ve been feeling okay for the most part, I thought I’d try eating a large popcorn. Everything was fine, until the night. Boy, my system is NOT ready for popcorn, nor will I suggest it will ever be. My dad doesn’t like it when I get very descriptive here about my details in the potty, but let’s just say I didn’t get to sleep until maybe 6am.

We also went to dinner with two good friends to an organic vegetarian-only place, Great Sage in Clarksville. Awesome restaurant. I do have one major issue though, not surprisingly with the bathroom. There are two toilets there: one standing urinal, and one sitting. They are positioned in such a way that if two people are using them at the same time, a two and a half inch gap in the “privacy walls” exists such that they can see each other doing their thing. I cannot believe the restaurant allows this, or maybe it was installed by females.

I’ve pretty much lost my inhibitions for bathroom going due to necessity, especially following the episode a few years ago when the threat of a catheter was held over me unless I produced enough urine- I did everything including handstands in the bed to go, but I’ve already talked about that at length. Search on “you go now” and I’m sure it’s there. Anyway, I thought the gaps at the bathrooms at the BWI Airport were the worst until I saw the ones at the Great Sage. I’m going to let them know I’d love to eat there but the lack of privacy is enough to scare me away by choice. I wrote them an email so let’s see what I hear back.

Since my last update, I’ve also visited Toronto with Darcy and T.R. The city is always fun, and the Steelers/Bills game was fun for a preseason tilt as well. Speaking of bathrooms though, I’m sure whoever designed them at the SkyDome (okay, Rogers Centre) does not go #2 very often. The great majority of men’s restrooms at the SkyDome have maybe forty standing urunals and two, count ‘em two, sitting toilets. Of course, those are occupied by slobs who pee on every inch of the area including the seat, or are used by those who need to sneak in a smoke. That is a disgrace.

Enough bellyaching: one of the highlights of the trip was having dinner at Ilio DiPaolo’s Italian Restaurant with my family. There were twelve of us including the kids who are getting big. I’m convinced that Calvin is doomed to be nothing but a great musician given the headstart he’s getting from Lori and Ted. I’m looking forward to hearing his band’s music in ten or fifteen years. Hopefully if I get better he’ll invite me on stage sometime when he’s playing the large arenas in a few years! I also suspect that Sarah will be heading into medicine. Maybe she’ll be able to grow a liver for me someday…

I also got my Marillion Weekend tickets for Montreal. I’m not thrilled about going to Montreal again (they smoke everywhere!) but hopefully things will be better this time than my previous visits. I would have preferred Toronto (duh!) or even Vancouver. Maybe it’s just the Leafs fan in me though.