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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Rant #3,315: Take a Giant Step


I am trying to wean myself away from my leg brace, albeit very slowly.

During my examination by my dictor/surgeon last week, he told me that although I still needed the brace, when I was sitting around the house, I could keep the brace off.

It took a few days for that message to get into my head, but finally yesterday morning, I did as he said.

I am sitting here now typing this Rant out without the brace on, and I haven't had it on for a few hours now.

Without the brace on, my leg feels a bit tight in the knee area, but I noticed that when I sat at the counter in the kitchen to read the newspaper, my leg was not straight out, as it would be with the brace on; it was naturally bent without the brace, not fully bent but certainly more so than it would be with the brace on.

So I think that is good.

I still have to use the brace when I am outside of the house, and it will remain on every time I have to go somewhere in the car or when I walk outside.

I try to get outside of the house each and every day, and one of my jobs that I recently appointed myself to do is to go to the mailbox and get the mail--with either my wife or son with me--six days a week.

The development we live in has a common area which includes a mailbox section. It is a short walk from our apartment, but for me, it is a giant leap on my road to recovery.

Back inside our apartment, I am a little hesitant about what to do when I am sleeping. Do I keep the brace on or not? 

I simply don't know what to do about that.

The doctor also said that I would not have to wear the brace at all by mid-April, so what I am doing now is simply a precursor to all of that.

Look, I still have quite a way to go physically, mentally and emotionally with this injury, but I do think I am getting there.

Nothing is easy, and I am working on every facet of this situation each and every day, with varying results.

This has been a tough ride for me during the past six months or so.

I have learned that you just can't simply blink, and it will go away just like that.

It takes a lot of hard work.on all levels, but I think the mental part is the most difficult to shake, but like I said, I am working on it.

One day, I hope to look at the brace and say to myself, "Remember when?"

I am not at that point yet, but I do feel.like I am getting there ... slowly.

Baby steps ... literally and physically and emotionally ...

I will reach my goal, but I still have a lot of work to do.

Due to work obligations--I have a major meeting to cover beginning today and extending through Wednesday--I am going to have to skip the next two days of Rants.

I will need a lot of time to transcribe and write up a decent story about the proceedings.

But I will be back as good as ever on Friday, so speak to you again then.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Rant #3,314: Who Do You Love?


Ok, do you prefer Biden or Trump ... or neither one?

Last week, I put up a Rant about who I was going to vote for our commander in chief.

I put up a similar, smaller post on the same subject on Facebook, and it elicited a pretty strong response, from those firmly on one side or another and from those in the middle like me.

"Vote Biden, if you know what's good for you and for the country!"

"Vote Trump, if you know what's good for you and for the country,"

Thst's paraphrasing, of course, but that is pretty much whst respondents said in their posts.

But to me, I still won't be voting for either candidate ... simply because I have no confidence that either one of them is any good, for either myself or our country.

As I sit here continuing to nurse my left leg, I have had a lot of time to think about this, and this might be the worst choice we have ever hsd to fill the presidential position.

And that we have done it twice ... where did we go wrong?

I don't have a clear answer to that.

Is it apathy -- as so few people vote in the presidential election every four years?

Could be; but that is really nothing more than an excuse.

I don't think the votes will be as high for either candidate this time around, because Americans back then four years back were seemingly galvanized to vote.

This time around, I do believe many people will sit this one out.

They cannot choose either candidate with a clear conscious, so they won't vote for either one.

But thst won't stop the candidates from enticing the public to vote for them.

You will see millions of dollars' worth of advertising throughout media to try and get you to vote either Democrat or Republcan.

You will want to pull your eyes out of their sockets after we get weeks and weeks of this

It might turn off even more voters from casting their votes.

Me, I will cast a vote no matter what, but it will be a write-in candidate no.matter what.

Look, we still have to get through this election and four more years of either Biden and Trump.

But looking into my crystal ball, I do believe that the 2028 election will be much more interesting than this one.

There will be new blood in that race. On both sides of the aisle--

Even though either Biden or Trump can run again depending on which candidate loses  I doubt either one will, for a variety of reasons.

So in 2028, there will be new skin in the game, and it will be quite interesting to see who emerges post-Biden or post-Trump.

But that is years away.

Biden or Trump ... Trump.or Biden?

Who's it gonna be?


Friday, March 15, 2024

Rant #3,313: You'll Never Walk Alone

I went to my doctor/surgeon yesterday to get an update on the condition of my left leg, and the news was pretty good.

Not perfect, but pretty good.

My leg is not bendable yet at the required angle of 90 percent at this stage of my rehab, and at first, the doctor thought it was much less.

We were told at physical therapy that I was in the 70s percentile, but when the doctor first looked at my leg, he said I was only in the 40s.

But then he saw my range of motion--up and down and side to side--and he changed his tune, saying I was actually doing pretty well, in particular because this was a second operation--recovery from a second operation is a bit more difficult.

The doctor said that now was the prime time for me to really ramp it up at physical therapy, and get the leg beyond where it is in the 70s percentile to into the 90s.

I am already doing this, and let me tell you, when I come out of PT, I am pretty tired and a little sore, but a good tired and a good sore, if you know what I mean.

And he wants me to ramp.it up with my home exercises, which I told him I am already doing. One of my exercises, in fact, I do more than 450 times a day--the exact one he told me to ramp up--so I am doing what I need to do to get back to as normal a situation as possible.

The doctor then loosened my brace a bit, allowing for more independent movement even while wearing the brace.

And yes, he said I can take the brace off in a month, and yes, I should be able to drive by my goal, which is April 28, my birthday.

And better yet, he wants to see me again in two months, not the customary one month, so the doctor must have a good sense of where I am and where he believes I will be in May.

And with this crazy-but-beautiful weather we are having, I walk around my new neighborhood with either my wife or my son each and every day, so that certainly is helping me.

So all told, I guess I am doing pretty well--but there is just so much more to do.

Right at the onset of this, i was told that my recovery would take seven to 12 months, and certainly, my second mishap set me back several months.

So when you add everything up, most people are dreaming of a white Christmas, but I am dreaming of a "walk" Christmas, as by the end of the year, I should be as close to beating this thing as.possible.

But honestly, if it takes longer, i am "all in" for whatever it will take to get me back to where i should be.

So all in all, while the examination might not have been perfect, it was as good as I could expect it to be.

Yes, I am.on my way ... but like I said, I still have plenty of work to do.

Have a great weekend. And I will speak to you again on Monday.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Rant #3,312: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Less than six months prior to the fact, let me ask you this question:

Who are you voting for as our president?

I know that that is the most personal of questions, and it really isn't anyone's business who you are voting for.

And that belief is particularly important in this virulent political climate we are living in right now.

However, I am ready to talk about this subject, so please hear me out.

I can tell you right away who I am not voting for.

I am not voting for a second term for President Biden.

Are we really, truly better off now than we were under his predecessor?

His policies have had a horrid effect on just about every facet of our lives as Americans.

And if that didn't convince me that four more years of Biden would be a major mistake, just go to the supermarket, and tell me how we are better off now than we were during the previous administration--

An administration led by former President Trump, who I will not vote for either.

I do believe he was a good President, but he completely trashed his legacy with his crybaby/sore loser attitude he had when he lost to Biden.

And what happened in our nation's capitol on January 6, 2021, which he egged on and seemingly adored every moment of, cannot ever be excused, and I do mean NEVER.

So who do you vote for when you are talking literally about two candidates who go from bad to worse?

I guess I am going to have to write in a candidate. Based on the two main choices, I don't think I have a choice, and I am being forced to do this, especially as an independent voter who has no ties with any party.

Now, who do I vote for?

In the past, I have voted for John Anderson years ago, and during the two Bush administrations, I voted for neither father nor son for president.

(To be more accurate, I did vote for the younger Bush once. I was forced to do this as when I went into the voting booth (remember those?), there was no write-in material available. 

I complained, sticking my head outside of the curtain to do so, was told there was nothing they could do about it, voted for Bush because i could not write in anyone, and later called up the Board of Elections to complain, and they laughed at me on the phone.)

And just so you know where I am coming from, I won't vote for RFK Jr., either, because 1) his behavior and beliefs are truly repulsive, and 2) choosing either Aaron Rogers or Jesse Ventura as a running mate is, well, idiotic.

So again, who am I voting for?

I am certainly not going to write in Nikki Haley's name.

I am sure thousands of people will do this, as they will write in Michele Obama, Mickey Mouse, and a slew of other characters that defy any logic.

So again, who am I voting for?

In the past, maybe i would say Pat Paulsen, but he left us a long time ago.

Maybe Alvin Chipmunk or Snoopy of Peanuts fame, but I may as well vote for George Santos if I vote for them.

So again, who am I going to vote for?

Maybe I will end up doing what I did years ago, when I refused to vote for either Bush ...

I could use a job with a steady income, you know.


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Rant #3,311: Money


My son is in a bowling league which plays its games on Saturday afternoon.

He likes to.pay exact change to cover the two games each Saturday, and usually, there isn't a problem in putting together the proper collection of bills to get his payment to be exact.

But this past Saturday, for the first time in my memory, between myself, my wife and our son, we could not come up with exact change.

We looked through our wallets and simply couldn't give him exact change with anything we had in those wallets.

He was going to have to break a large bill to pay for bowling, which was doable, but which was also the first time he was going to have to do this in all the years he had been in this league.

Again, no big deal.

We looked and looked, and cobbled together a few singles and a $5 bill, but it still left him short of what he needed for exact change.

And then one of us said, "Look in yout bank," meaning getting out a bank our son had in his room that we figured only had change in it.

We found the bank, and I dumped dozens of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters on my bed ... but then I noticed that there was something else in there--

It sounded like paper dollars.

Since we had not opened up this bank in probably a decade or more, I had no idea what was in the bank, and when I discovered that there were a few paper dollars in there, I assumed that they were $1 bills, which would have been fine and solved the problem if that is what was in there.

I reached in with my fingers, and pulled out three separate bills.

But they weren't $1 bills--

They were $2 bills!

I hadn't seen a $2 bill in ages (have you?).

I know that esrly in the 20th century, they were in circulation, were later pulled, and did not come back until 1976, the Bicentennial year, when they were re-released with great fanfare.

But then our government found out thst most people weren't recirculating the $2 bills; they were keeping them, pretty much as oddities.

Nearly 50 years later, the government still produces them, they are legal tender, and they can be circulated.

So we put together one of the $2 bills with the other bills we cobbled together, and I reminded my son that they are legal tender ... but if, for some reason, he was questioned, that he could take some change with him to cover the $2.

But there were no problems, and his streak of paying exact price for his bowling continued.

I have no idea where he got those bills, but we obviously buried them in his bank, not circulating them like most people don't do.

Thomas Jefferson is on the front of the bill, a rendering of the Declaration of Independence is on the other side, and it actually is a nice looking bill.

Preserved at the bottom of an old bank that we hadn't opened in years, it was like finding buried treasure, in a funny sort of way.

The $2 question is this: will we have to use another $2 bill this week to keep our son's streak alive?

I don't know yet ... let me look in my wallet.


Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Rant #3,310: Talking In Your Sleep


My life as a sedentary person has greatly affected me, both mentally and physically.

The physical part is one thing, and it is the "easiest" thing about what I am going through.

"Easy" is the operative word here.

The physical part of this is getting better all of the time, and with the physical therapy I am going through, and the work on the physical side that I am doing st home, I believe that I will be back to some semblance of myself later this year.

The mental toll is harder to figure.

Being so cooped up in the house much of the time has put a heavy load on me.

I was always a very active person, and now, not being so active, I have had to change many things in my lifestyle.

I have had to reduce my sugar intake, watch my salt intake, and try to stay as busy as possible, all within the confines of a small two-bedroom residence.

It has not been easy, and I take it day by day, as some days are better than others.

I have not been sleeping very well. 

I am not a heavy sleeper to begin with, but since my first accident, my sleeping has been ragged at best.

I sleep an hour here, two hours there, 45 minutes elsewhere, and this has been going on since the end of September, when I first hurt myself.

My wife suggested that perhaps my soda intake was greatly affecting my sleeping during the past six months or so.

When I was active, I just burned off a lot of the caffeine and sugar, but now, not running around nearly as much, my body simply can't do it anymore.

So I first cut it down to having my favorite Coke at dinner, but it just had little impact on my sleeping.

So then, I decided to cut it out completely.

This was a tough decision, as I am not the most prolific water drinker ... although I do like seltzer.

My wife found a sugar-free juice that is OK, and we put the premise that the soda was affecting me now like it never had before into practice.

Well, it has worked. To a certain degree at least.

I am not sleeping in my bed or bedroom very much, probably because it is very uncomfortable to sleep with the leg brace on.

But even though I am doing much of my sleeping--at least 80 percent of it--in the living room, with my leg propped up on an ottoman that we have--my sleeping has improved, but not consistently.

Although I continue to sleep in clips, the clips are somtimes longer. And most important, I can get back to sleep easier, but not all of the time.

For instance, on Friday and Saturday nights, I slept for about nine and 10 hours total each night.

Before, I was sleeping maybe four ir five hours, sometimes six.

But on Sunday evening, I had a setback, and only slept about three hours.

Monday evening, I probably slept about five or six hours, but it was split up, not consecutive hours but some time here and some time there.

Look, I am not sleeping normally, not sleeping through the night without getting up for several minutes in between, but things were better, at least on Friday and Saturday nights.

I continue.to have some anxiety, and I continue to believe thst staying as busy as I can is the best remedy for what ails me in my head.

But while I do miss my daily Coke to a certain degree, if it is going to.impact my sleep, perhaps I can live without it.

Maybe at some point in the future, when I am well and running around like I usually do, I can go back to drinking soda, but right now, I can live without it.

I previously went a few years without soda when I had my gall bladder removed when I was age 50--I tried to drink it afterwards, but i.stopped drinking it because it made my stomach feel a bit bloated--but I went back to it gradually, and never had any ill effect from it.

But now, I am getting away from the stuff again.

Maybe I will return to my favorite beverage again at some point, but right now, I won't lose any sleep over this loss.

Hopefully, I will be able to gain some sleep--and some mental peace of mind--from pushing soda aside and letting it fizzle out from my daily routine.

But I clearly am suffering from insomnia related to my injury, and I keep on trying to learn how to fix this.

I am frustrated, but I am not defeated.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Rant #3,309: Mama


Today, you get a second Rant.

Happy birthday to my late mom.

She would have been 93 years old today.

I hope she is enjoying her day in heaven.

I am going to keep this bonus Rant shirt and sweet.

Here she is, on the far left, with my grandmother (her own mom) and my sister, in a picture taken sometime in the 1980s or so, I would guess.

If you look.closely, I unwittingly got into the picture myself, in my bar mitzvah portrait in the background.

What a photo!

I have no idea who took it, it might have been me for all I know, but look.how happy everyone is there.

Happy birthday, mom!