Birdman

PD

2010-11-29T00:07:00.000-05:00

So, I've started my peritoneal dialysis and it seems to be working great! I'm extremely pleased with the process (although I end up with a LOT of trash at the end of the week... miles of tubing, lots of empty bags and boxes, and endless amounts of tape and gauze... BUT IT'S WORTH IT!

2010-11-02T23:20:00.000-05:00

Well, my surgeries are healing up nicely. I had the staples taken out of my hernia repair last Tuesday. I have had my peritoneal dialysis catheter "flushed" twice and the nurses doing the "flushing" said it was working "great". So, I'm a happy camper!

Dialysis is still taking its' toll on me. The day of, it wipes me out completely. Sometimes the day after isn't so good either. Hopefully, all that will change when I start peritoneal dialysis at home.

Went to church at First Evangelical this past Sunday. Got to see quite a few people we hadn't seen in 20 years or so! Saw Ron Mann, too. That was a real joy! Of course, Sandy and I are now scheduled for the Christmas music.

Not much else going on. Catch you later.

The surgical journey...

2010-10-18T02:49:00.000-05:00

This past Tuesday I went in Methodist Hospital Germantown for surgery. I was having a hernia repaired and the possibility of a peritoneal dialysis catheter put in. Thankfully, God was good and lined me up with an excellent surgeon... in fact, a surgeon I have known as a good friend for over 20 years: Dr. Charles Radford Andrews!

Needless to say, Dr. Andrews did a GREAT job. He repaired the hernia and DID put in the PD catheter! Although he warned that the PD cath might not work, he also said that he had seen people with a lot more scar tissue (from previous surgeries) and the PD cath worked for them. So that's good news.

First, I have to say that the night crew at Methodist Germantown on the floor where I was, was great! Danielle (the nurse) did a great job and made me feel like I really DID matter. James (the PCA) took good care of me, too. On the other hand, Jackeline (the day nurse) was curt and almost rude. The PCA's during the day had no clue as to how to treat a person with dignity. The day crew made me feel like it was just their "job" to take care of me and they were only there for the pay check. Also, the food was always cold and tasted terrible. The only time anyone did anything for me was when I asked (including changing my bed linens, changing my gowns, etc.).

All in all, I'm doing fairly well. I went home on Friday and have already been "out and about", albeit for a very short stint.

Strike 3 for Davita!

2010-10-08T21:36:00.000-05:00

So I'm REALLY pissed at Davita Dialysis Galleria... mostly the person who is in charge because professionalism starts at the top... and this is the most UNPROFESSIONALLY run medical facility I have EVER experienced!

Now, I haven't listed on this blog the last two strikes. I did on Facebook, so you'll have to look through some earlier posts there. This time, well, here's what happened: I have been experiencing "excessive bleeding" after my sessions when they are trying to bandage me up. So, they made an appointment with a vascular center to have my access examined. The appointment was for two o'clock yesterday. I drive down there and, after a short wait, I am ushered back to change into a gown. After I do this, they ask me when the last time I ate was. I told them I had lunch about 2 hours earlier. They said that I was supposed to have fasted for the 6 hours leading up to the procedure. NO ONE TOLD ME THIS! So, they said I had two options: 1. I could reschedule for next Tuesday or 2. I could undergo the procedure under local anesthetic. I told them I was having surgery next Tuesday, so that was out. They said, well, I could undergo the local anesthetic but I would probably experience some pain. Probably not much because they would use a pretty strong sedative. I said okay. So they took me into the surgical room. Then they asked if I drove myself. I said yes. They said that they couldn't use the strong sedative (morphine) because I had to drive afterwards. So they would have to use a much milder sedative. Long story short, I had to undergo the whole procedure (much like an angioplasty) totally awake and aware of all the details of the procedure, all because no one at the Davita center bothered to explain to me what to expect or how to prepare! I'M REALLY PISSED!!!

I called the Davita customer service line and lodged a formal complaint.I have been too angry to speak with anyone because I'm afraid I would say something I would be sorry for... and this is the best form of self control I could take.

I'm done now.

I'm on REVERBNATION!

2010-10-06T03:34:00.001-05:00

Not only can you follow my blog, check out more photos, listen to my music, but you can actually PURCHASE my music at my REVERBNATION store! Check it out!

A LOT has transpired...

2010-07-07T19:07:00.003-05:00

About a month ago, I spent 10 days in the hospital... 3 of which were in a coma! What happened was, I got sick and started throwing-up. That threw my blood sugar WAY off. Over 1100! I ended up in the hospital. They weren't sure I was going to make it, so they called Jessica to come from California. When I woke up, I wasn't sure who I was, where I was or anything else for that matter. They didn't let me try to walk until a few days before I was discharged.

Although I was sorry for the reason, I was SO glad to see Jess, and she brought her youngest, Emily.

Sandy's sister, Sammie, came to stay with her also. I'm glad they were all there to give Sandy support.

Now, we're packing-up for Memphis. I knew that with my health the way it is, Sandy would probably need more help and support in the future. So, we're moving back to where her family and most of our friends are. (I know, never end a sentence with a preposition...)

So, we're gonna have to get some beach time in and a couple more "cigar drives" along Longboat before we go. I'm gonna miss the sun, the palms and the beaches.

Recent event....

2010-02-07T02:19:00.002-05:00

Well, this past Thursday was a bad day. I was to pick up Sandy from work at 4:30pm. My low blood sugar alarm went off at 4pm. I did everything I was supposed to... ate some carbs, drank a couple of glasses of "real" (non-diet) grape soda, etc. The next thing I know I'm waking up in an ambulance at the intersection of 17th avenue (where Sandy's store was located that day) and Beneva Avenue. Apparently my sugar had continued to drop even after all the things I'd done to correct it! I (while unconscious) ran the red light at Beneva and 17th and hit a brick wall.

First, I have to say that it was the grace of God that kept me from 1. hitting anyone else (at the height of rush hour) and 2. not injuring myself. The Jeep on the other hand was not so blessed (although I was told that the tow truck guy drove the Jeep onto his tow truck). They took me to the hospital anyway to insure my blood sugar was straightened out.

I've been on a new insulin pump for the past two weeks. It actually notifies me when my sugars are too high or too low. It's been working great. REALLY! But my new pump had not been adjusted much since I started wearing it.

Needless to say, we are currently without transportation (the Jeep was the only vehicle we owned). Also, needless to say, I am in the process of readjusting my pump. I have also placed myself on a one month automobile abstinence. Once we have a vehicle again, I will not be driving it until I have been "stable" for one month.

Our prayers are these: First, thanking and praising God for His grace and mercy that no one was injured in this accident! Second, that I will get my pump regulated properly and in that way, my blood sugars, and third that in some way we will gain possession of a vehicle. Your prayers will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you Father and thanks one and all!

My wife the life-saver

2009-12-26T13:10:00.002-05:00

Once again, my wife saved my life. Apparently, my blood sugar dropped to the point where I was unconscious again. Sandy called the house to check on me and when I didn't answer the phone, she knew something was wrong. She came home, couldn't waken me so she called 911. I awakened to several EMT's standing over me and a couple of IV's in my arms. Apparently my blood sugar was 44. VERY low.

I'm fine now, thanks once again to my wonderful wife.

2009-12-25T22:56:00.001-05:00

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Medical experience?

2009-12-02T18:57:00.002-05:00

So, Saturday night late I took the dog out front for a walk. According to Sandy, the dog came back in the house and I didn't! Sandy found me laying on the front lanai.

For a few hours (I presume), I awaken sporadically and see familiar faces around me ( one of my pastors, Kevin; Trace and Jeanette Altman and my wonderful wife, Sandy).. this while the hospital personnel are stripping me and poking me with needles, running CT scans, and the like.

I spent til Tuesday morning in the hospital. While there, I noticed a "spider web-like" thing in my left eye. I figure I jarred myself so hard falling that I jarred something loose in my left eye. I told my primary care physician about it and he referred me that afternoon to an ophthalmologist. Now, let me say at this point that I have the UTMOST respect and admiration for my primary care physician. And, I felt reasonably comfortable with the new ophthalmologist. Then, after an extremely long time of prodding around and shining 9 million watt kleeg lights in my left eye (necessary I should add), he said he was afraid he might have seen a tear in my retina and he was going to get me in to see a retina specialist that afternoon.

I got in to the retina specialist and he spent an extremely lengthy period of time prodding and shining a 9 million watt kleeg light in my left eye. He said he couldn't see the tear, but wanted to talk to the ophthalmologist about it. That I would need to come back in the morning.

So, I got back to the retinal specialist's office at 8:30am. They put drops in my eyes and I waited for my eyes to dilate. As soon as they were ready, I sat in the exam chair and the doctor started probing in my my eye, my RIGHT eye. After looking in my right eye for some time, and having conferred with the ophthalmologists notes, the doctor stands up and proclaims, "I believe I'm zeroing in on what [the ophthalmologist] was referring to." At that point I calmly said, "You do remember it's the LEFT eye, correct?" Needless to say, the retinal specialist was extremely embarrassed and fumbled around a bit and then looked at the CORRECT eye! Of course, he STILL didn't find anything (just blood that was causing the "spider web" effect).

What a WONDERFUL weekend and beginning to a week!

"Date" night

2009-11-15T01:00:00.003-05:00

So, Sandy and I finally had a "date" night. We had a lot of fun. We drove to Tampa and saw "A Christmas Carol" in IMAX 3D. Then, we went to Miguel's for Mexican food.

We were both impressed with "A Christmas Carol". I think the thing that we were most impressed with was the fact that it wasn't "politically correct". What I mean is, they left all the lines in that referred to Christ (when Tiny Tim hoped others would see that he was crippled and "remember the One who made blind men see and lame men walk") and ALL the music was traditional Christmas hymns and anthems. REALLY great! They even showed people going into church on Christmas day (and the cross on the church was front and center). I'm not saying this was done on purpose, but it sure fit the traditional "A Christmas Carol". The music was phenominal and the new song at the end (sung by Andrea Bocelli) I think could become a Christmas tradition/classic. We really enjoyed it. There are parts that I think might actually upset smaller children (of course, with all they're exposed to today, I could be wrong), but over all, a great Christmas movie. (Yeah, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet.) (Of coaurse, all this in a day and age when our President is going to have a "Holiday Tree" lest he insult anyone who doesn't like "Christmas"! Oh, PLEASE!!!!!)

Oliva cigar tasting

2009-11-15T00:56:00.002-05:00

So, last night I attended an Oliva cigar tasting. Met a lot of fellow cigar enthusiasts and bought a few cigars. Tried the Oliva Churchill maduro. EXCELLENT cigar... so I bought a box (hey, everything was on SALE, too!). With the box I got 6 free cigars, too. Nice. Enjoyed the food (the owner, being Armenian, I thought sure would have some of that GREAT Armenian food. Wrong). Enjoyed a little wine (that was VERY good). And just relaxed and chatted with the other CE's (cigar enthusiats). Really had a good time.

So, some of our DEAREST friends are the Downeys

2009-11-13T01:52:00.005-05:00

We hung around together in Memphis for quite a few years. Tim and Kaye Downey... then their daughter Brooke (or "Brookie Bear" as we called her). We had GREAT times laughing together. "Moo" contests where we would fill our mouths with half-melted icecream and then try to "moo". Wild tile-rummy games.... with Tim's seriously involved moves only to end up not working. We even vacationed together... fun times on Culman Lake in Alabama. They later moved to Eastern Europe as missionaries. Had two more children (Melissa and Lauren) and are now in Chicago, Illinois.

Well, we hadn't seen any of the kids since they were really little... until this past weekend. Melissa (Tim and Kaye's middle girl) lives in Ft. Meyers, Florida. So she and her roommate came up and had dinner with us this past Saturday!

Melissa

Melissa and Haley

Melissa

We had a GREAT time! After eating at "Old Salty Dog", we went back to our house for coffee and cigars. Again, it was a GREAT time!

2009-10-31T15:36:00.001-05:00

Garden to the City from Garden to the City on Vimeo.

2009-10-22T19:53:00.002-05:00

So, Sandy's battling a cold right now. NOT fun! She's been down TWO days with it. Jeanette Altman from church brought us some GREAT homemade chicken soup... a salad and dessert! IT WAS EXCELLENT! Made ME feel better and I'm not sick. Thanks Jeanette (and for the listening ear). Been kicking back tonight. Enjoying a nice Don Tomas cigar and a little vino. Can't complain. Still praying God will supply me with a descent keyboard so I can write (songs) again. I get lots of great ideas but can't see them through to fruition... no keyboard. In God's time. Still waiting on the pager to go off for my transplant. Any day now!!!!

More grandkids pictures! I miss 'em a bunch!

2009-10-15T21:46:00.001-05:00

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What can I say? I love ‘em!!!

2009-09-27T20:42:00.000-05:00

2009-09-25T20:47:00.000-05:00

http://cs85.clearspring.com/u/4a68a38bd1a1717f/4abd7215bf5cd55f

End of Summer

2009-09-20T17:28:00.001-05:00

So, Micahel and Sammie left for Memphis yesterday. DeWayne and Sonya Balentine and their kids left for Memphis today. We’ve had a full Summer.

Stephen Holland and his family visited, then Jess and her family (our wonderful grandkids) spent most of August here. Then Layne visited the last week Jess was here. A few weeks later Sammie and Michael (Layne’s parents) came. And the Balentines dropped in for the night last night. A LOT of company, but we’ve enjoyed EVERY minute!

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Of course, the Balentines had to experience the Old Salty Dog.

We had a great time! A GOOD Summer.

CRAP!!

2009-09-12T12:00:00.001-05:00

That's right, I'll say it again... CRAP! I started running a fever yesterday. So now I'm on antibiotics. That means they will NOT call me for a transplant if one becomes available. Now, I'm taking a "Zpak", which only lasts five days. So hopefully, I'll be all cleared up in a couple of days.

Surprise! Surprise!

2009-09-05T19:49:00.001-05:00

As of YEATERDAY, I am officially on the kidney/pancreas transplant list!! Whooo hoo! Praise God!

Good news!!!!

2009-09-02T16:57:00.001-05:00

I got the word today... I'll be officially "on the list" (for my dual transplant) in 5-7 days! God is good!

Tampa, LifeLink and the staple remover…

2009-09-01T16:14:00.001-05:00

Sandy and I took a trip to Tampa this morning for my surgery “follow-up”. Everything went great!

After the surgeon examined me he said that he was going to take the staples out. Sandy decided it was time to leave. When she saw the staple remover she said, “Hmmm. Maybe I’ll stay.” I don’t know if that was because it didn’t look to bad or she might enjoy seeing me squirm. It was the latter.

The doc said I might have the “lump” on my stomach for a while, but if it took longer to get the transplant, he’d fix it for me. Other than that, everything was cool!

Too short a stay…

2009-08-23T16:07:00.002-05:00

Yup. The grandkids, that is. We had such a great time. I know it was rough on Jess… Menua was over-excited about all the new stuff, i.e. surroundings, people, beach and surf, toys, sleeping arrangements. All kept Menua quite wound-up. Melany? She just grinned and “bounced” all the time.

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More grandchildren shots…

2009-08-22T21:27:00.001-05:00

Had a GREAT time with my daughter’s family this past month. Although it was a month, it was WAY too short!

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All these shots are from my phone. I’ll have more later from the camera.

Two weeks ago last Thursday…

2009-08-22T20:32:00.001-05:00

Well, I had a “nephrectomy”. LifeLink removed my previous kidney transplant to prepare me for the next transplant. They were going to remove the pancreas transplant too, but there wasn’t enough left of it to bother with.

So, here’s the result

It has not been comfortable. Besides the expected pain, I have had NO appetite (yes, that’s right Mark. NO appetite). That has reeked havoc on my blood sugars. Needless to say, I have had two mornings of being awakened by the EMT’s. Not fun. So, the doctor has lowered my insulin intake quite a bit.

Now I’m just awaiting my new transplants.

Enjoying the visit!

2009-07-28T16:58:00.001-05:00

What can I say? My daughter and her family are here from California and life is good!

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Interesting news...

2009-07-08T14:46:00.002-05:00

So, I got a call from LifeLink today... I go in for my "heart clearance' conference tomorrow. I'm expecting that to go well. However, tomorrow I will also set up an appointment to have a pancreatotomy and a nephrectomy. In other words, they're going to remove my pancreas and kidney transplants from six years ago! That will clear the way for my new trsplants! COOL!

Sorry… It’s been a while… ORLANDO!!!

2009-07-07T23:59:00.001-05:00

Not much new has been going on. I guess that’s why I haven’t blogged in a while.

We did have company for a short while last week… Stephen Holland (nephew) and his wife (Tiffany) and daughter (Olivia) came to Sarasota. For the short time we got to spend with them, we had a good time.

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We ate at Salty Dog and played on Lido Beach. Then went to the house to talk and smoke cigars (and Aaron made some killer Mango Mojitos!).

The weekend of the 4th, we had a rare opportunity to visit with family in Orlando.

We had dinner Friday night at T. G. I. Friday’s (appropriate) with the Lewises (Mark, Becky, Rachael and Alli). Then had breakfast at their hotel Saturday morning. Becky’s mom, Jamie and stepdad, Hans were there, too!

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Later Saturday afternoon, we spent the afternoon with Bradley and Jenna Urbaniak and their daughter Colbie (Jenna is our goddaughter). We also got to spend some time with Jenna’s mom, our friend Sheila Bell. (Unhappily, we had to leave before our godson and his wife arrived… Caleb and Mimi Bell.)

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Colbie and "the stroller"

We headed home tired, but happy & content.

Full two days

2009-06-10T22:28:00.002-05:00

So, yesterday and today were quite jam-packed...

Yesterday morning (10:00am) I went to Sarasota Memorial Hospital to get my "pretesting" done for the surgery I was going to have at 1:00pm. Got it done, then went to the pre-op room to get an IV put in and wait my turn. Well, 2pm went by, then 2:30pm went by... then a nurse comes in and says, "Your doctor had to do an unexpected surgery for another doctor. It'll probably be another hour." Now, I haven't eaten since 11pm the night before. I'm REALLY hungry! Three o'clock rolls by and then 4pm rolls by. Still nothin'. Then the nurse comes in and says, "it's time for me to go, so I'm gonna move you to another room." Finally, 4:45pm approaches and they take me to surgery. I told the nurse that if I'm "out" before the doctor arrives in the room, she's to tell him he owes my a steak dinner!

I wake up at 7pm in the recovery room. The doctor comes by to check on me. I ask him if the nurse gave him my message. He grins and says, "I owe you a steak dinner." As he leaves the room, he shouts back, "I'll get you that steak." I'll believe it when I'm carving it and shoving it in my mouth...

Today, I had my heart catheterization. Sandy & I got to Sarasota Memorial at 6am. They checked me in and sent us over to the cath lab. There, I got two IV's put in and a "shave and a hair cut"... just not on my head or face. They wheeled me into the cath lab and the doctor says, "You're gonna feel a little pressure." I feel one needle to deaden the groin area where they're gonna put the catheter and push the "line" up through to my heart. I'm waiting... and waiting... finally I ask the doctor when he's gonna start. He says, "I'm just about finished."

After he's done, he tells me that my heart looks really good. Just a few very small blocked arteries that I shouldn't even think about. Looks like LifeLink and the transplant will be a "go"!

My life as a medical journey...

2009-06-04T19:06:00.002-05:00

So, I'm trying to get all the tests out of the way to clear a path for my transplant. Tuesday, I had an abdominal ultrasound and a chest x-ray at Tampa General. Today, I had an EKG. Monday (if the doctor gets the schedule worked out), I'll have my heart cath. at Sarasota Memorial. At that point, provided my last colonoscopy satisfies the powers that be at LifeLink, I should be done with all the tests. If I pass the heart cath., I'm pretty well set to go. Whoooo hoooo!

Yes, it's ANOTHER medical update... keeping the drama of "ER" alive...

2009-05-24T22:04:00.002-05:00

So, week before last, the Sarasota Kidney Center decided they would start using my new fistula instead of my temporary catheter ports. That's cool. They had no problem hitting the arterial part of the fistula, but a little trouble hitting the venus part. So the nurse in charge of the center tried... BINGO! No problem.

So, my next trip in, the tech in charge of me that day also hits both (only a little trouble with the venus "stick"). About 30 minutes into the treatment, the dialysis machine sounds an alarm that the blood isn't circulating properly (happens even if I move a certain way... the machine is VERY sensitive... which is a GOOD thing). So the tech comes over and repositions the needle a little. No good. So she calls another tech over and he tries. Still nada. So one of the nurses come over and determines that there is probably a clot in the needle. So, they take the needle out. Sure enough (and if talking about blood bothers you, don't read the rest of this sentence) there's a long, slender clot hanging from the end of the needle. They decide to leave the unclotted needle in and use the catheter in place of the clotted needle. That works fine. Of course, after running an hour behind, the charge nurse comes over and tells me I shouldn't have let an inexperienced tech "stick" me. I asked her how was I supposed to know the tech was "inexperienced"? She admitted that it really wasn't my job to know that and someone else should have made the decision to give me a more experienced tech. GREAT!

The next treatment, they try the two needle method again. Can't find the venus spot again. So, they run the arterial by needle and the venus by catheter... again.

My last treatment, a nurse was in charge of me. He takes his stethescope and listens for the blood flow through my fistula. Nothing. He says, "Well, you're fistula is clotted." So they run everything through my catheter.

So now, I have to see the surgeon on Wednesday to have him see if he needs to do surgery on my fistula to unclog it. FUN! In the mean time, my fistula has become this large, hard knot on my arm.

Is this payback for things going so well at LifeLink? Hmmmm.

LifeLink Visit 2009

2009-05-20T16:59:00.002-05:00

And the process begins anew...

I spent most of the day today at LifeLink Transplant Institute in Tampa. It started at 8am (which meant leaving here at about 6:30am to compensate for possible traffic problems). I must say, it was a very encouraging day!

It all began with being weighed (NEVER a pleasant experience... well, the experience itself isn't bad, it's just the results of the experience). Then I met with the nurse coordinator, Christy. She definitely set the tone for the day. She was very pleasant and personable; made going over all my meds, past medical problems, past surgeries, etc. very easy. She kin of "escorted" me through the rest of the day. From there, on to the surgeon for my first full physical.

Dr. Leone was great. VERY personable with a great "bedside manner". He explained everything he was doing and WHY he was doing it. Then he proceeded to explain the "next steps" (quick note: not necessarily in this order). He told me everything seemed good. That he considered me a great candidate for a transplant. It would really just depend on the out-come of one test: a cardiac catheterization. You see, the last transplant I had, the doctors opted out of this step because I passed the stress test and they didn't want to risk making my kidneys any worse (from the catheterization dye) and at that time I was not on dialysis. This time, because I AM already on dialysis, he feels a cardiac cath. would be much better than the stress test. So, all that being said, he stated that if the cardiac cath. caused my kidneys to cease COMPLETELY then, they would go in and remove my previous transplanted organs and take me off of my anti rejection meds. (This keeps the body from building up too many antibodies that might make the future transplant more difficult) see? I told you explained everything.) If my kidneys "survive" the cath. dye, then they would probably leave the organs in and keep me on the anti rejection drugs.

After Dr. Leone, I met with Laurie the social worker. We went over my routine, my "support system" (what people will be around to help take care of me after the surgery, etc.) and reviewed my interview with the previous social worker from my last transplant. Laurie was also very personable and friendly. Very easy to talk to.

From there, I went to the lab and had about 10 test tubes of blood drawn.

After being sucked dry (okay, it wasn't THAT bad) I met with one of the nephrology "interns" who did another complete physical. He also came away saying that he felt I was a very good candidate for the dual transplant. Once again, very encouraging. He left for a moment and came back with Dr. Saunders, the chief nephrologist.

Now, Dr. Saunders I had worked with during my previous transplant so, he was very familiar with me and I was very familiar with him. He's a very soft-spoken man but, what he had to say came through loud and clear: he said I was a very good candidate for a dual transplant! COOL! Again, everything pretty much revolves around the results from the cardio cath. But WOW! I'm THAT MUCH CLOSER!!!

I then had another test tube of blood drawn, waited for Christy to come back with my "get out of jail" (her words) papers and the schedule for my cardio cath. (which, by the way, is scheduled for July 10, 2009).

Then, I drove home in a thunderstorm which was fine because I LOVE thunderstorms.

Tomorrow, I get up bright and early for a make-up dialysis session (seeing as today was my regularly scheduled day).

Your prayers for the up-coming tests and committee decision are GREATLY appreciated!

[Side note... I passed by Tampa's new IKEA store on my way home. I'm broke, but I'd still love to check it out.]

2009-05-13T19:28:00.008-05:00

Wow! Easter was the last time I posted? What a sloucher! So, a few things have happened since I last posted...

We have some NEW shots of the fabulous grandkids!!!:

Melany and Menua

And there are a TON more... ALL of them cute!

I also found out recently that I actually qualify for another kidney AND pancreas transplant. Now I still have to get through the pre-testing for it to be finalized... but I'm prayerful and hopeful!

Most recently, my niece Becky and two of her friends, Tammy and Jami, spent a few days on Treasure Island near Clearwater, Florida. We met them and we all went to Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on Clearwater Beach.

Tammy, Jami & Becky

We had a GREAT time!

Have a very BLESSED Easter everyone!

2009-04-11T23:08:00.001-05:00

BLOCK PARTY!!! at West Coast Church of the Cross

2009-04-04T18:52:00.001-05:00

Our church had a GREAT block party today… with a great turnout. Man, there was EVERYTHING there (all legal stuff, of course).

There were the games for the kids (and, knowing our group, probably a few adults or a pastor or two)

Plus ALL SORTS of “vendors” (as this was also a huge yard sale)

And there was even a few of the more “unusual” (although very entertaining) “displays”…

After the spider, I wanted to join the hedgehog (it’s that old Holt spider thing again).

The West Coast Worship Band also played… and they were really great!

(L to R) Tony (Bass), Trent (Electric Guitar), Brett (Lead Vocals) and Trace (Acoustic Guitar and Worship Leader)

(L to R) Mike (Drums/Percussion) and Gerry (Keyboards)

And of course my blog would not be complete if I didn’t mention the food (at least, according to Mark Lewis)… it was excellent, too… chili, grilled chili dogs, cheeseburgers, and baked goods (with VERY diabetic-pleasing brownies… I’d been craving a brownie for WEEKS)…

and the more “yard sale” (shoulda bought that electric can-opener I saw. Oh well…)

Another worship band played towards the end. They were also VERY GOOD.

All in all, GREAT FUN! Beautiful day! God IS GREATER than good!

My life (thus far) on dialysis

2009-04-03T18:57:00.002-05:00

So, when my nephrologist told me I was going on dialysis, he said, "Oh, you'll feel so much better once you're on dialysis." Then I went in to the surgeon (so he could get my temporary and permanent "ports" put in for dialysis) and he says, "Oh, you'll feel so much better once you're on dialysis." Then I'm talking to some people who have worked in diaqlysis and they say (wait for it. Wait for it...), "Oh, you'll feel so much better once you're on dialysis." Well, not to sound like a complaint but, I've been on dialysis for over a month and have only felt "somewhat" better maybe two or three days.

Don't get me wrong. I'm EXTREMELY thankful for dialysis. The people who take care of me at the dialysis unit are GREAT! They're very kind, understanding, and have a good attitude that helps make being there, well, not too bad. Unhappily, I have had several episodes of very low blood pressure (with the diastolic number (the top number) being in the 70's). Add that to the anemia and my fatigue gets unbearable. I can't walk across the room without having to sit down and rest. THAT sucks.

All in all, however, I AM truly thankful. In spite of how I may feel I know that God has my best interests at heart.

Fun Vacation!

2009-03-13T21:33:00.010-05:00

So, last Saturday Sandy drove to Tampa to pick up our nephew Layne and his mom, Sandy’s sister Sammie. Nothing unusual about that. We had been planning this for a long time. The surprise was that Sandy’s brother Randy came along! When she saw him at the airport (he snuck up on her), she broke into tears. It’s been great having all of them here. The first night we all ate at “The Beach House”… Randy’s son Aaron works there. Aaron didn’t know his dad was coming down either.

Randy and Layne at The Beach House

Layne “satisfied” after his coconut crusted fish

Next day, off to Lido Beach…

Layne on Lido

Sandy & Sammie on Lido

Randy on Lido

From Lido, we went and had lunch at The Old Salty Dog…

Later that evening, everyone gathered around Layne’s computer to laugh at the stuff on “rotten.com”.

Of course, we had to eat lunch at least ONCE at Tijuana Flats…

Layne eating his beef flautas

We also enjoyed a lot of time on our back lanai…

One night, we grilled out burgers and brats. Wednesday night, Randy fixed steaks, chicken and potatoes on the grill… It was FANTASTIC!

One night we drove down to Venice, Florida and ate at Sharkey’s…

Next day, we headed down to St. Armand’s Circle to do a little shopping (actually, Layne was doing most of the shopping… for Dayna…)

Layne, Randy and I stopped for an Irish coffee at Lynches' Pub…

Then, a bit more beach time at Turtle Beach…

Sometimes, we’d just come home and napped…

Our last day together (today), the girls went shopping again while Randy and I went first to Tervis Tumbler, then to Spanish Point for lunch…

We spent the evening at Marker 4 in Venice…

All in all, it’s been a GREAT week.

We also went to the beach several other times. Layne and Randy got the top off my Jeep for me, so we spent some time tooling around in the beautiful weather. Couldn’t ask for better! (Although, I really missed Jess and her family… we missed Michael, Brenda and Wesley, too.)

Status report:

2009-03-04T21:45:00.001-05:00

So, I’ve had my third dialysis treatment. Not too bad. I’m on the “second shift” on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I spend about 4 hours hooked-up to the dialysis unit.

This is a photo of the unit to which I’m connected

I watch the news mostly. I’m going to pick up a CD player (I know, mp3 players are the thing, but most “educational” stuff still comes via CD) so I can do a little “learning” while I just sit and “cleanse”.

Minus the bandage

2009-02-22T18:40:00.001-05:00

So, whatever tape the doctor used to hold the dressing (not blue cheese) on my surgical sites was eating my skin… every time I moved my arm it felt like someone was giving me a HUGE indian sunburn (remember those? Right up there with “dutch rubs”…).

So, I decided to change the dressing (I’m more of a “hot bacon” guy, myself). Here’s the fistula without the bandage:

Not too bad. It’s just that it’s right in the crook of my arm (so on top of everything else, I have to deal with “crooks”? Geez…).

Surgery and the results thereof…

2009-02-18T14:35:00.001-05:00

So, yesterday was my outpatient surgery.

All the surgery was done under “local” anesthetic. They put me in what they called “twilight” anesthesia. I actually think I heard Rod Serling… I do know that at one point, I started singing. I don’t remember what I sang, but it must not have been very good… nothing in the ol’ “tip” jar afterwards.

In the recovery room

Of course, I won’t actually get to see the “work” done on me until I get to remove the bandages.

The fistula is at the bend in my left arm

The “temporary” catheter used until my fistula matures

The surgery itself wasn’t too bad. The only part that was “uncomfortable” was when they put in the temporary catheter. It felt kinda like they were trying to shove a hose down a clogged drain. At one point, I think the doctor was standing on my chest (not really, but it felt that way) just to get leverage to push harder!

Everybody was really nice to me, though. I gotta say, as far as hospitals are concerned, Sarasota Memorial is one of the best! I’ve had a lot done there over the past few years and each time, they made the experience fairly pleasurable (as pleasurable as a stay in the hospital can be).

The road to dialysis (soon to be a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby classic)

2009-02-14T11:57:00.002-05:00

So, this is why I need dialysis:

These are what I laughingly call my “elephant feet”. Because my kidneys don’t work right, I retain a LOT of fluid and toxins in my body. This causes my feet and legs to swell. Now, you’d think that this would give me better stability. You know, a larger surface area to walk on. Nope, I’m kinda like one of those “punch clowns”. You know, very round at the bottom so when you hit it, it rocks backwards and rocks back up. Except, I don’t rock back up.

So, yesterday I went in to the surgeon’s office and had a sonogram done of my arm so they could mark out the vein and the artery they would tie together to make the “fistula” for my dialysis.

The surgeon said that the dialysis would get me down to my “dry weight”. Which I’m hoping is about 50lbs. less than what I am now (I doubt it, but I can dream, can’t I?).

I’ll have more for you after this Tuesday.

“Resistance is futile…”

2009-02-11T12:20:00.001-05:00

Well, the next step in my Borg transformation takes place next Tuesday. That’s the day I get my “fistula” created. This is the “port” that will connect me to the hemodialysis machine.

So, with a dialysis machine and an insulin pump, soon I will look like this:

California and the Western “fam”…

2009-02-09T14:28:00.001-05:00

Well, we just got back from Burbank, California and a visit with our daughter and grandkids! Whooo hooo! It was great! I’m gonna let the pictures do most of the “talking”…

The view headed toward Jess & Vahe’s apartment.

Menua

Me and Melany Grace

I got to spend A LOT of time pushing Menua in his “car”

Grammy and Melany

Mom and son (playing “catch and feed”)

Grandaddy and Menua (Menua’s in his “prison pants”…)

Grammy entertaining Menua while Jessica naps

Melany Grace

Sandy cutting our anniversary cake (the Garibyan family threw us an anniversary dinner… it was our 30th anniversary)

Menua is very “Hollywood”

A view down at the “Americana”

Vahe’s uncle and his wife (Rafi and Ida) took us all out to dinner at the Americana. It’s a huge, open-air mall in Glendale, California. Water fountains synchronized to music (Menua’s favorite), lots of stores and a trolley system. Above the stores are condominiums (that start at about $750,000.00).

We ate at one of Jessica’s favorites… the Cheesecake Factory.

Oh, did I mention that the street lights at the Americana are CHANDELIERS! Yup!

Ida and Menua

Rafi

A few more random shots…

Rafi’s daughter Anna with Melany (Rafi in the foreground)

“the RARE nap

Grammy and Menua watching the musical fountain

First time down a slide… at Americana

3 Generations

The Garibyans had another big dinner for us the night before we left.

More pictures to come in another entry!

Oh. The lies and accusations abound!

2009-01-29T12:43:00.001-05:00

Well, I have been accused of my blog basically being the “Sarasota Restaurant Menu”. Harrumph, I say! Not true. Lies, all lies.

Actually, that’s all I have to say. I have no actual proof, but then again, I take my queues from the politicians of our day.

The “bubble & squeak”

2009-01-29T09:11:00.001-05:00

The other night was once again, “Bubble & Squeak” night. Yes, we like “B&S” (as apposed to just BS), but this time it was because I still had a lot of the ingredients from the last time and I wanted to use it before it went bad.

Onions & Bacon on the left (to which ham will be added), Cabbage on the right (which will be added to the onion, bacon, and ham, along with sliced, baked, potatoes). Seasoned to taste.

Thank you for joining “Chef Sparrow” today at “Che Holt”.

The latest picture of Melany Grace

2009-01-26T17:58:00.001-05:00

Dog Day Afternoon…

2009-01-26T14:14:00.001-05:00

Today is Tucker’s “dog day”. He went to the dog “beauty parlor” and got a bath and a haircut. I know, you’re asking, “Why don’t you bathe him yourself? You’d save money!” Well, I USED to do that, before it got really difficult for me to kneel for an extended period of time and then TRY to get back up again. Katie calls it “age-itis”. Whatever it is, I got it! Anyway, they do the works at the groomer… toenails, ear-cleaning, gland-expressing (not that I’d ever want expressive glands, but apparently when they’re done with Tucker, his are).

After which, I take him for a long ride so he can hang and drool out the window to his hearts content.

Old Salty Dog (no, I’m not talking about myself)…

2009-01-26T14:04:00.001-05:00

After a great worship service yesterday, Sandy and I made our way out to the “Old Salty Dog” restaurant. We really like this place primarily because of it’s location… RIGHT on the water! (Although, the food is good, too).

The view from our table.

Sandy had the “Old Salty Dog” It’s a 1/4 lb. hot dog, deep fried in beer batter.(No remarks, Lewis, on why they probably call it the “Old Salty Dog”!)

I had the “Dog Bites”. The same 1/4 lb hot dog, just cut into “bites” before deep frying in the beer batter.

Then we drove to a few places in preparation for our California trip this weekend.

Today, it’s official…

2009-01-22T13:32:00.001-05:00

I’ll start hemodialysis in about 3 weeks. Right after my return from California. We’ve been anticipating this for a while, but today my nephrologist made it official. Now, this also means I’ll go back on the transplant list. Of course, I’ll have to wait a lot longer this time than I did the last time. The last time I was getting a DUAL transplant… both a kidney AND a pancreas. The waiting list for a dual transplant is much shorter than for a kidney alone. For a kidney, I may have to wait several years.

Thankfully, hemodialysis has come a long way over the years. If God chooses to bless, I’ll be getting a home dialysis unit, called a Nxstage. It’s actually small and PORTABLE. I would still be able to travel. Plus, I would do dialysis a couple of hours every day, as apposed to 6-8 hours every other day, 3 times per week.

Here’s what the Nxstage looks like:

It’s amazing what technology is available to us. Praise God!

11 days and counting!

2009-01-21T13:53:00.001-05:00

Yup. In 11 days we wing our way to L.A. No, NOT “lower Alabama”, but Los Angeles! We’re gonna visit our daughter and her family and love on some grandchildren! CAN’T WAIT!

We’re actually going to spend our 30th anniversary in L.A.! Yup. February first will be THIRTY years! Cool!

What??!! THIS is a MEMPHIS winter…

2009-01-20T21:22:00.001-05:00

So, today was COLD and RAINY!!! That’s right. COLD AND RAINY! I expected this in winter, in Memphis… BUT NOT HERE! THIS SUCKS!

Driving along Casey Key

And windy, too. Did I mention that? No? Well, it was!

After church lunch…

2009-01-18T16:51:00.002-05:00

After church today (which, BTW, was excellent) Sandy and I did our usual “Where do you wanna eat?”, “I don’t know. Where do YOU wana eat?” routine. We decided on the bar-b-q place that I had “discovered” at the Sarasota New Year’s eve festival. Unhappily, we couldn’t find it. (RATS!!!)

So then Sandy mentioned one of my favorite places… JOEY D’s! I know I’ve mentioned it on here before, but I can’t help mentioning it again. Yes, the food is THAT good! But only if you like Chicago-style food. They are a TRUE Chicago eatery.

Now, I LOVE their Italian roast beef sandwiches with the polish sausage under the roast beef… with onions and peppers… FANTASTIC! But their PIZZA is great, too. They don’t do the usual Chicago deep-dish. But they do the REAL Chicago thin crust. WOW! The one I get is called “Da Bulls”. It’s all meat!

I always get the medium, so I can take some home for the next day (nothin’ like pizza for breakfast!!! Breakfast of champions!).

Sandy usually gets the “eggplant Parmesan”.

WONDERFUL! Just, there’s one thing about this Chicago eatery that makes it ESPECIALLY nice… palm trees and sunshine. NO SNOW!! Whooo hooo!

After that, a nice cigar as we drive home along Longboat Key and the Gulf. Beautiful day!

A new shot of my granddaughter!!!

2009-01-15T22:59:00.001-05:00

Melany Grace Garibyan

Insomnia update:

2009-01-15T22:56:00.001-05:00

So, I finalyy fell asleep… at about 9am this morning. Unhappily, I only slept til 11am. So I’m cruising in a daze of only two hours sleep since 8am yesterday morning.

Some of my favorite places…

2009-01-15T07:05:00.001-05:00

So, with insomnia, you have to have SOMETHING to do.

Here is a collage of some of my favorite places… you’ll find: Sedona, Boca Grande, New Pass, Lido Beach. “Trees” Beach, my front lanai, Jackson Hole, and a couple of others.

Insomnia is NOT my friend…

2009-01-15T04:43:00.001-05:00

I tried. I REALLY tried. I even took some Nighttime Tylenol. NOTHIN’! THIS SUCKS! It’s 4:35am. A.M.! Freakin’ prednisone…

My best “game face” at 4:35am

The unofficial “Official Spoil Sandy Day”

2009-01-13T20:38:00.002-05:00

Yup, that’s right. Today is “Spoil Sandy Day”. She chose whatever we did today.

First, brunch at “First Watch” in downtown Sarasota.

Sandy had an Avacado and something omlette. She said it was excellent.

I had a bacon & onion “skillet”. Bacon & onions mixed with fried potatos topped by two eggs. Needless to say, I enjoyed it.

From there we headed over to one of Sandy’s favorite stores: Home Goods. All we got there was a doll for Melany.

From there, over to “the” Walmart. I bought some paint (still trying to fix up the house) and Sandy bought some pants. Now, I also ended up buying a non-diet Pepsi (known as COLA-SUGAR SYRUP), and a Reese’s Penut Butter Cup. BUT YOU’RE DIABETIC!, you might yell. Yes, I bought them for that very reason. I actually started having a severe hypoglycemic reaction which calls for an influx of sugar to keep me from going whacky and passing out. Unhappily, those didn’t work. Thankfully, Sandy was in the line next to mine and saw what was going on and got my Glucagon shot out and shot me. About 10 minutes later, everything was back to normal. Ahhh, fun times.

Of course, our next stop was 7-11 for a diet cherry-Pepsi. 7-11 has the best. Then we went home to “drink (our Pepsi’s) and smoke”.

We wrapped up the evening having dinner with Sue at Mi Pueblo… steak fajitas and soppapias. Nice.

It felt good…

2009-01-12T16:38:00.001-05:00

to be back singing for God on a worship team! This was only my second Sunday to sing at West Coast Church of the Cross, but it was a lot of fun and very satisfying.

“Bonfire of the Christmas Trees”

2009-01-11T00:15:00.006-05:00

Tonight was the night to definitely say goodbye to Christmas 2008.

Our worship leader from church and his wife, Trace and Jeanette, invited us out for their traditional Christmas Tree bonfire. They live in one of those parts of Sarasota you don’t realize exsists till you get there. A beautiful 2 or 3 acre spot “in the country”, kinda, sorta.

Anyway, a lot of their friends and others from church, including the pastor and his wife, Kevin and Terry-lynn were there.

There were several different types of chili, veggie platters, cornbread, Boston Creme Pie, a variety of wines and beers and soft drinks and of course, a bonfire.

Things REALLy got good when the Christmas trees were added to the fire:

(I wonder if this is what the “Pillar of Fire by night” looked like in the dessert with the Children of Israel?)

Anyway, it was a GREAT time!

Well, we are blessed…

2009-01-09T22:49:00.002-05:00

God just keeps on blessing!

The last few years have been rough, to say the least. The job I took after leaving the church I was called to down here, basically destroyed my health. The schedule was such that I just couldn’t get my blood sugar under control. THAT of course, made my kidney disease worse.

Then, because my diabetes was so outta whack, I started having hypoglycemic reactions at work so severe that at one point, EMT’s had to be called. From there, I was asked to leave work and not come back until my doctor said it was okay. (Although the doctor initially said I could return only two weeks later… the company I am working for decided to make things tough…)

From there, it’s been a LONG battle with my employer. Of course, I am not making any money, which has seriously hindered my ability to pay for the house we live in…

BUT, as I said, God just keeps blessing through it all. How, you might ask? Well,

Although the damage has already been done, my diabetes has improved quite a bit now that I can keep a regular schedule (because I’m not working). God also blessed us with an excellent, Christian attorney, Morgan Streetman out of Tampa (to handle the company problems among other things). Sandy and I have also been able to plug back into church (long missed and long overdue). That has allowed me to get involved with the worship team there. I had missed that part of my life IMMENSELY! Sandy and I have also been able to spend more time together. We’ve seen the birth of our two beautiful grandchildren, Menua Samuel and Melany Grace. We’ve also been able to “sharpen our focus” and make some plans for the future (including moving to Arizona or California, the exact place is still a little out of focus…). I’m getting back to the basics: songwriting. Through some very dear friends, we’ve been able to get plane tickets to go and see our kids and grandkids in two weeks.

Oh, sure, some things are still unresolved, but it’s nice to know that it’s all in God’s hands and that whatever happens, He’s in control and it will be for our best.

So, as I said, God just keeps on blessing!

Downtown

2009-01-02T18:26:00.004-05:00

Okay, I'm not actually HUNG UP on downtown Sarasota, but it really IS a nice place. And if the development programs go through as planned, it's gonna be BEAUTIFUL! As I understand it, it'll be like one huge palm tree infested outdoor mall! I've seen a couple of sketches, and they look pretty cool.

One of my favorite places to hang out at downtown is Smokin' Joe's! For obvious reasons...

Nice place just to sit, have a nice cigar and a glass of wine. They have a nice walk-in humidor and a nice selection of cigars.

Oops... forgot to mention...

2009-01-01T14:34:00.004-05:00

The most IMPORTANT part of the downtown Sarasota New Year's celebration: I may have actually discovered a GOOD bar-b-q place here in Sarasota! Yup, that's right! It's not Memphis bar-b-q, but it's darn close... Lookout Mt. Tennessee bar-b-q.

They were giving away free samples (which was good, 'cause I was broke). Now, I hadn't actually tasted the sauce. I mean, it was a little difficult... they handed me a rib, no napkin, no plate, just the rib... so sauce at that point was out of the question (I was in my "Free Cuba" t-shirt and didn't want to sauce it up...). The ribs are done RIGHT! Even if I don't like their sauce, I can always get the ribs "in the nude" (the ribs, not me) and add some "Corky's" or "Dancing Pigs" to it.

New Year's Eve 2008... Sarasota does it RIGHT!

2008-12-31T18:58:00.009-05:00

So, I thought I'd take a little jaunt downtown... what did I find? Sarasota doing New Year's Eve RIGHT!

A MASSIVE street party! All of Main Street was blocked off... they had ALL kinds of food available.

They even had carnival rides and a lighted "ball" that will drop when it's midnight.

What can I say? Sarasota does things RIGHT! (Oh yeah, I already said that.)

My annual "Sort through the crap" day

2008-12-29T14:46:00.001-05:00

It's close to the year's end. Since (at least) January 1 of this year, I have slowly accumulated "crap" close to my computer "perch" (okay, my name is Sparrow... a bird reference is allowed). Unhappily unlike most perches, I can't just remove and replace the old newspaper at the bottom of the cage... as nice as that would be (there's an invention in there somewhere, but I can't for the life of me get a handle on it yet). So, I must, piece by piece, sort through all the accumulated crap, tossing what has been long expired and trying to salvage what should, for all intensive purposes, be salvaged.

Of course, getting organized is NOT the main reason I do this. The main reason is because, if I don't move this stuff there will be no place for me to put the coming year's crap.

Nuff said.

Well, today was GOING to be an Orlando trip...

2008-12-28T17:35:00.001-05:00

Unhappily, the people we were going to visit had sick kids, so we didn't go.

Instead, we drove down to one of our favorite places... BOCA GRANDE! If you've followed this blog for very long, you'll remember other entries about Boca Grande. We love this place. It's a small town located on Gasparilla Island about an hour south of Sarasota. It's a fairly EXPENSIVE place to live, but a very nice place to visit (I suppose it would be a nice place to live, too, if you can afford it). People like the Bush's have a home there... Harrison Ford. Catie Curric vacations there. The thing is, the town is like, two streets... and SHORT streets at that. But it's GORGEOUS!

The lighthouse was decorated for Christmas.

The beach on this end of the island used to look more like a beach in Maine. A lot of rocks along the shore, but they have recently "reclaimed" the beach.

They have a beautiful Catholic Church on the island.

And of course, the wildlife.

There's also a small chapel right on the beach.

It was a beautiful day and I spent it with my beautiful wife... and a great cigar!

Perfect day.

And as I approach the new year....

2008-12-27T17:56:00.001-05:00

Melanie Grace Garibyan

2008-12-27T15:30:00.001-05:00

Our new granddaughter was born on December 19, 2008. She was 4lbs. 8ozs. and 17 inches long.

and at Christmas time...

God has certainly blessed us this Christmas!

2008-12-25T08:03:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!!!!

2008-12-24T22:10:00.003-05:00

It's Christmas Eve, 2008! Christmas Eve in Sarasota, Florida! Wow!

It was 80 degrees today. What a way to spend Christmas. Palm trees, white sand beaches, sunshine, blue skies... the only thing missing is family & friends!

So, the penguin's lit (and if you were a penguin in 80 degree weather, you'd get lit, too). The Christmas lights dancing on the lawn, and inside is the Christmas tree with presents underneath ...

(Okay, so our tree is a bit SMALLER than the usual, but it has served us well for MANY years (yes it's fake, too.... it's the thought that counts, geez).

And, of course, Christmas would not be Christmas without the traditional Christmas Martian...

The Martian has been a part of the Holt family Christmas since Jessica was about 5 years old (maybe even younger). You see, it's actually a "toy soldier" ornament (on the REVERSE side), but when Jess and I were painting them many years ago, we noticed how the shape was much like an alien we had seen in an old 50's movie. So, the "Martian Christmas ornament" was born! He's landed in our tree every year since.

SPEAKING of being born.... BIG NEWS!!!!! Last Friday our newest family member arrived: Melanie Grace Garibyan was born! 4lbs. 8ozs., 17 inches long! She was a bit early, but I guess she wanted to be with her mom, papa, and big brother for Christmas! We're PUMPED!!!

Boat Parade 2008

2008-12-14T15:49:00.003-05:00

So, last night was the 2008 Sarasota Boat Parade. It was great! The boats start out at south Longboat Key, then head south under the Ringling Bridge and then go around to Marina Jack's for judging. Wow! Some of the boats were amazing! Unhappily, my cell phone's battery was too low to take any pictures and Sandy left her camera at home. Drats!

We got a pretty good spot to watch at a small park that is right under the bridge. It was a bit chilly (yes, I had to wear LONG pants and even a jacket!). There was a great turn-out, too. One tradition I'll miss in Arizona.

A good friend of mine posted this on his "Facebook" page

2008-12-06T19:22:00.001-05:00

I love it!

Lighting the Christmas tree...

2008-12-06T07:56:00.005-05:00

So, we went out to St. Armands last night for the traditional "lighting of the Christmas tree". Man, I had never SEEN so many people packed into such a tiny area! The cars were parked from the end of the Ringling bridge all the way to the circle. Then all around the circle. Everybody sang Christmas carols and when it was time for Santa to arrive, we all broke into "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". It was a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we made our way over to Columbia for some Spanish bean soup and to see Aaron (our nephew) who is a bartender there. We sat at the bar and enjoyed our dinner. Thanks to Aaron, it was affordable! (So were the drinks.)

So, I LOVE the Gulf and Sarasota, but....

2008-11-24T11:31:00.009-05:00

There are actually a couple of places I would live that have NOTHING to do with water or the tropics. Yes, that's right. I said places OTHER THAN the tropics! (Get over it.)

One place is Sedona, Arizona. I just LOVE it there.

The weather there is beautiful, plus you get the full range of seasons (even a little snowfall in winter). And as you can tell from the pictures (which don't do it justice), the scenery ain't to shabby either.

There are a couple of downsides... one is, it's an EXPENSIVE place to live. The other is, it's a tourist town. But then again, those two "downsides" seem to be involved any time you find an "ideal" place to live.

The other place I think I would enjoy living in is... okay, hang on.... Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Yup, that's what I said.

Again, the place is BEAUTIFUL. Talk about "picturesque". I really LOVED it there. Jackson Hole is a VERY small town. Still very much a "cowboy" town. The town square is surrounded by buildings that look like they're from "Gunsmoke" or "Bonanza" (okay, "Unforgiven" for the younger set). VERY laid-back.

A few more downsides to Jackson Hole than with Sedona, though. Winters in Jackson Hole are like winters in Chicago, without the restaraunts, theaters, museums, clubs, etc. that you can escape from the cold in in Chicago. In fact, the best form of transportation in Jackson Hole in the winter is snowmobile. Now, if you love to ski, you're set!

Another downside is, albeit just a SLIGHT one, is the fact that Jackson Hole is VERY close to Yellowstone Park. Now, this CAN be a plus, except that Yellowstone Park is basically a flat volcano waiting to erupt. Again, just a SLIGHT drawback, but one that you have to at least consider.

Now I say all this because we are trying to move from Sarasota. I LOVE it here, but it's a LONG way away from our daughter and her family in California. Sandy won't go to California (the land of "fruit and nuts"). So, we're looking at someplace closer, but not too close. Although Sedona would be ideal, I don't think that's going to be affordable. So, we're actually looking at Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Lake Havasu City is right on the Colorado River. In fact, the river forms Lake Havasu before going on down to the more southern regions. So, we'd still have palm trees, sand, AND water! Then there would be the bonus of mountains and dessert. Now, I understand the downside is that it gets to be 120 degrees in Lake Havasu City. But it's a DRY heat, right? Plus, as long as there's air conditioning and water nearby, what the heck? Plus, we'd be a 4 hour drive from Jess and her family, and a three hour drive from my mom and sister and her family. Plus, housing's pretty affordable and the cost of living isn't bad.

Well, that's where we're at right now. Consider yourself informed, maybe uselessly informed, but informed.

Once again, it's thanksgiving time...

2008-11-23T00:46:00.003-05:00

I have a lot to be thankful for:

Something I forgot to mention...

2008-11-20T17:01:00.003-05:00

Yup, a milestone! Last month, my beautiful wife celebrated 15 tears with her company! FIFTEEN! She made the list in the last company magazine:

What can I say? She's the best!

Tagged again! (I'll get you, Sonya!)

2008-11-19T00:23:00.002-05:00

So, the idea behind this tag was to go the the fourth folder on your computer (a photos folder, obviously), upload the fourth photo you find, and explain it. So, here's the photo:
We love this shot (and the ones that went with it). We sent Menua, our grandson, a Red Flyer wagon for his first birthday. Well, he was so excited about it that his dad didn't even get to take his work shirt off before having to put it together! Here he is putting it together with Menua "helping".

Now, I'm supposed to tag someone else. I'm not going to because I've discovered that the people I tag don't respond to these. So, I'll just respond and leave it at that.

Just a nice day

2008-11-18T23:59:00.002-05:00

Got up LATE this morning. Kinda nice to sleep in.

Started working around the house... then realized we needed some things from Ace Hardware. We headed over there and, you know, spent a WHOLE lot more time in there than I planned. What is it about hardware stores? Maybe it's just Sandy and me, but we LOVE to browse through hardware stores. It's NOT a fetish... I don't think. Hmmm. Maybe I better take a closer look at this.

We then went to the $8 hair cut place so Sandy could get her hair cut. Yup, you got it! EIGHT BUCKS! What was nice was that we discovered a brand new restaraunt in the same location. A small soup place called "B&G Soups". They had like 10 different fresh, homemade soups. You could sample any of them (so, I did, naturally). But the BEST thing was the mac & cheese. MAN! It was FANTASTIC! Had a bit of smoke and spice to it. They'd make sandwiches, too. So, I had a cup of the mac & cheese and a half of a Cuban sandwich. GREAT stuff! Sandy had half a Cuban sandwich and vegetable beef soup. She enjoyed it (plus a few bites of my mac & cheese). Anyway, we'll definitely go back (it was cheap, too!).

After that, we headed home to the animals and worked around the house a bit more. You know, houses are nice, but they're sure a PAIN! Condo/townhouse living is looking more and more attractive...

Strange days....

2008-11-09T18:45:00.005-05:00

So, Sandy's been sick with a ROTTEN cold for about a week now. She missed work Wednesday and Thursday, which means she's REALLY sick!

She's a bit better now, but still all "snotty" and coughing. But she at least felt like getting out today. She wanted to go to the beach and relax and let the sun "burn" the cold out of here. So we did.

Now, I on the other hand, have been dealing with insomnia since my transplant. Some days, after I've had about 4 to 5 hours sleep, I feel okay (not sleepy). Other days, when I can get only a couple hours sleep, fight sleep all day. Today was one of those days. So, with Sandy sick and me not getting any sleep, we didn't make it to church this morning. I'm not proud of that fact, but something had to give...

This afternoon, we went to "Turtle Beach". It's a smaller beach (although larger than it used to be) down at the south end of Siesta Key.

Turtle Beach

Menua's first birthday and Halloween

2008-11-04T19:56:00.020-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, Menua turned 1 this past October! And, of course, kinda enjoyed his first Halloween. The reason I said "kinda" is because he was actually too sick to go out in the cool night air to participate, but he DID dress up! So, I'll just let you look at the pictures.

Menua and his daddy.

"Helping" his dad put the birthday wagon together.

And, of course, taking the wagon for a "spin"...

Then, the actual BIRTHDAY...

ALL of Vahe and Jess's California family were there...

First, they "unwrapped" the birthday boy...

And he dove right in.

Menua and his cousin "eye" the prize.

Mom, Dad, Menua and another one of his cousins "get their party on".

Then... Halloween...

...and AFTER Halloween.

Vision

2008-11-02T13:14:00.003-05:00

I'm really impressed with our pastor's and the church's vision for West Coast Church of the Cross.

Had a great service this morning. Oh, by the way, here's the church:

St Armands Auto Show

2008-11-01T15:21:00.015-05:00

Today I went to the annual "St. Armands Auto Show". It was a BEAUTIFUL day... 72 degrees, sunshine, palm trees... and HOT cars.

This, too, can all be yours for only $550,000.00. (At that price, take TWO.)

This one made me wish my dad had kept his Austin-Healey...

...and for those of you who think the Mini-Cooper is cool...

There were a LOT more, but I don't want to fill up ALL the space with cars...

Sorry Jon, no '57 Chevy and Steve, no Impala...

So I'm getting an upgrade....

2008-10-29T19:58:00.004-05:00

Yes, I know. I've already had SEVERAL upgrades all to little avail... an insulin pump, a pancreas transplant, a kidney transplant, back on the insulin pump. Now I'm getting a new insulin pump. Actually, I've gone through about 4 pumps over the years (maybe 5... I lose count... anyway). I started way back in the 80's with a Eugly Pump. This thing was about the size of an open wallet. Fairly large and EVERYTHING had to be calculated and THEN entered into the pump to get proper dosages.

Then I graduated a couple of years later to the MiniMed Insulin pump. A little smaller than a deck of cards. This one had several different insulin settings so insulin could be delivered at different rates depending on the time of day. Much tighter control.

Then MiniMed advanced the design and you could take your blood sugar using a glucose meter and it would enter the reading automaticxally into the pump by "radio". Then you add the amount of insulin you need to cover what you eat and you're done. Of course, it too had several different settings to give different amounts of insulin depending on the time of day.

Then MiniMed advanced the pump a bit further. It does all of the above PLUS figures how much insulin you need depending on the amount of carbohydrates you eat! Cool! (Plus, if you can afford it, you can wear a Continuous Glucose Monitor that actually monitors your blood sugar for you and sends the info to your pump automatically... insurance won't cover THAT part yet).

Now I'm actually changing pump brands. I'm going to the Cozmo Pump (no, it's not the latest from Cosmo Magazine.... although it IS quite stylish :) ). I won't go into all the details here (if you're THAT excited about it, click on the Cozmo link here). It should give me even better control (okay, so this is where being a control freak is a GOOD thing). You could say, I'm pretty "pumped" about it all. (I'm sorry, I really hadn't PLANNED on saying that, but then, it was just so natural.....)

The Cozmore Pump

2008-10-28T14:46:00.003-05:00

So, it's FALL in Sarasota. The high today will be about 68 and it's getting "chilly" at night... low 60s. Beautiful weather!

I'm STILL off from work. Now I'm in a bit of a quandary. I have an attorney working on my work situation and the doctors at LifeLink (and my nephrologist) are saying I should apply for full disability! I'm definitely TIRED ALL the time (along with a bunch of other physical stuff that goes with my renal failure and diabetes I won't go into here)... they won't correct the hernia I got at work because of my other medical problems. So THAT won't be fixed (until I get another transplant, MAYBE). Oh well, life goes on... And in spite of it all, God is STILL good!

The house is just about ready to put it officially "on the market". We've had it listed for some time on some of the "house swapping" sites... and I even had a web page up advertising it for over a year (had to let it go because of $$$ - the lack thereof). We've been woking on getting into "showing shape" so we can list it with a realtor.

We're REALLY enjoying our church. That's been a big highlight of the past few months. The chili cook-off was fun this past Sunday (although I paid for it gastronomically the next day). Unhappily, our chili didn't get finished in time for the cook-off. It was okay, though. There was enough chili to feed an army (not that an army would want to march for very long after eating chili, if you get my drift...). It was a good time.

Not much news

2008-10-17T20:00:00.002-05:00

Not much going on.... still trying to get things "resolved" with the company I work for. Unhappily, as of today, I have no more disability. So, we're just trusting God.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but we've found a good church to plug into. (The ONE good thing about being off for so long... I haven't been working on Sundays!) We're going to "West Coast Church of the Cross". The pastor, Kevin O'Hara and the assocxiate pastor, Brett (ah, oh, I forgot his last name!), trade off preaching, and they both do a great job! The arts part of the worship is really good, too. It's actually a local Christian band that plays every Sunday. Unhappily, they'll be gone this next summer... attending a worship school in Ft. Lauderdale. I'm enjoying being part of the congregation (although, I still really miss being directly involved...).

Two Sundays ago they had an after service cook-out. It was a lot of fun and we got to meet a few of the people. They do a "dinner and a movie" night once a month. They offer REAL WINE or grape juice at communion (I felt sorry for the people behind us. I think they were going for the grape juice and got a surprise... oh, well).

It's a small church, but there's a lot of the Spirit there. The people are really friendly and there's a wide variety. Anyway, we're REALLY enjoying it!

I'm still applying for jobs (both with the church and outside the church), but nothing's come up yet. Keep praying! We appreciate it!

Why not? Here's a few more pics...

2008-10-06T19:28:00.007-05:00

Some NEW pics of the little man! (Who'll turn 1 this month!!!)

2008-10-03T19:13:00.009-05:00

...and WALKING!!!

but not driving (yet).

A NICE LOOOONG walk on the beach

2008-10-01T21:16:00.003-05:00

Yesterday evening was very nice. Sandy and I went to Lido and walked. Walked further than we ever had before... It was really peaceful... hardly anyone there.

It's been a while...

2008-09-28T19:02:00.002-05:00

but that's because there's not a whole lot to say. I'm still off work... in fact, my disability is now gone as well. Just have to wait for the new notes from my doctor to reinstate it for a little while longer anyway. But in the mean time, just trusting God to provide (seeing as my job isn't anymore). I'm not sitting still, though. I am still sending my resume out EVERYWHERE. Just no results yet.

Still no movement on the house. It's taking us a little longer to get it ready for the realtor than we had hoped. Unhappily, with my being so tired all the time (did I mention they're treating me for anemia again?), and Sandy working all the time (with less and less help and more and more stuff being added to her plate), we just can't get it done like we would like.

I don't know how people who don't trust in God make it (not that I'm always where I should be in that regard....). I AM thankful, though.

"Where to now, St. Peter?"

2008-09-15T17:27:00.002-05:00

With apologies to Bernie Taupin.....

"I understand I'm on the road

Where all that was is gone

So where to now St. Peter?

Show me which road I'm on.

Which road I'm on."

Took Sandy to the airport...

2008-09-14T09:40:00.003-05:00

Well, it's THAT week in September. The week where Sandy and her sister vacation together. So, yesterday I dropped Sandy off at the airport in Tampa so she could fly to Mobile, Alabama. She and her sister Sammie are staying with Vandeen and Newton Campbell, friends of the family from WAY back.

After dropping Sandy off at the airport, I zipped over to Ybor City to buy some hand-rolled cigars. I went into the place where Layne and Sandy and I went the week Layne was here. I met the owner, Lazarus, and we sat, smoked a nice cigar (his gift to me) and sipped on some great Cuban coffee. Lazarus is from Havana, Cuba. He does a lot of the cigar rolling himself. His place is really nice. Beautiful dominoes table in the front, coffee bar in the back and a nice walk-in humidor. One of the original, old Ybor buildings. After quite a nice stay there, I walked over to another cigar store and bought a "Free Cuba" t-shirt. Beautiful Cuban art... VERY "artfully cigar". I stopped at Krystal and bought a sack full to take home with me. Then, I drove home.

Now it's just me and the animals. I REALLY miss my wife already. Hope she's having a good time.

A note about the song you hear on this site...

2008-09-13T15:16:00.004-05:00

I should mention that the song you hear when this site loads, "Humble Before You" is one of my last original studio projects. Although my PLAN is to do more (and I have a LOT of songs not yet recorded), I'm not sure when that will happen.

One of my biggest enjoyments working on this project was working with Mark Lewis (the guy in the post below). In fact, it was the first time he and I had met. He's the sax player on the project. Who knew that all these years later he would be one of my closest and most trusted friends. I actually consider him family (but don't tell him, 'cause he'll NEVER let me live it down!). He's one of the finest Christian guys I know.

Alan Wyse was also a great guy to work with. He poured a TON of his personal time into the project. A very creative guy. We had a lot of fun on the project (and came to LOVE, and live on, the Subway "Seafood and Crab" sandwich... although they have since gone SERIOUSLY downhill).

Mark Pickens has been a good friend for years. A really giving person who loves God and is blessed with a fantastic voice. Although he's a successful businessman, I think he's also into auto racing now.

I'm not sure what Don Ashton is up to now. He also is an extremely creative guy.

Michael Toles? Well, his CD dicography says it all. One of the founders of classic Memphis music. He's played on almost everything that's come out of Memphis (well, I exagerate.... but just a bit).

I'd actually love to see all these guys again sometime. Hang out. Maybe split a Seafood and Crab sandwich (but NOT from Subway).

The other people involved in the project are as follows:

Produced by: Sparrow Holt & Alan Wyse
Engineered by: Alan Wyse
Sax: Mark Lewis
Programming and Keyboards: Don Ashton
Background Vocals: Mark Pickens and Sparrow Holt
Guitar: Michael Toles
Bass: Alan Wyse

It was all recorded at Alan Wyse's studio in Memphis, Tennessee.

Mullet madness...

2008-09-12T16:25:00.004-05:00

Well, my good friend Sonya started this trip down memory lane when her son accidently got a mullet cut (see her September 4, 2008 blog entry). Anyway, I'm showing my best friend Mark Lewis my blog and he decides he's going to blog. Cool! But he uses THIS picture:

It was an early promo shot from back in the 80's (he calls it his "Mystery Date" shot). Of course, I had to make unending, scathing remarks to him about it. It was SUCH fun. Then, I found a copy of MY old promo shot from the 80's:

Okay. Go ahead, Mark. Enjoy!

So, Tina dumped Ike. How do WE?

2008-09-09T21:55:00.002-05:00

Actually, I can't complain too much. All we're getting is the usual rain and a bit of wind. Actually, kinda nice for sitting out on the front lanai and smoking a cigar! Too bad I'm too broke to get any cigars (and my humidor runneth on empty....).

Of course, there are two downsides to our thunderstorms: 1. the satilite goes out and 2. Tucker is at the age that thunder scares him.... so we usually have to hold him through the storms. But even with those drawbacks, there's nothing like a cleansing t-storm in paradise!

Another miracle I'm counting on.....

2008-09-06T14:39:00.001-05:00

Ahhh yes. A quiet little neighborhood....

2008-09-05T19:02:00.002-05:00

So Sandy and I are watching a little tube when there's this knock on the front door. I open it and there's one of my neighbors. He says, "I just wanted to let you know that I caught a guy breaking into my house last night. So I thought I'd better let the neighborhood know so they can be careful." Then he goes on and says, "Apparently, they've broken into about 11 houses on this street." I thank him profusely and he leaves. Then I move the bikes from the front lanai to the back.

Now I'm thinking, "They've hit 11 houses in this neighborhood and I'm JUST now hearing about it? How could they hit THAT many and not get caught?" And, c'mon now! Does our neighborhood look like it has MONEY? Anyway, at least it's not a murder every half hour like it seemed back in Memphis!

So, here I sit...

2008-09-03T09:17:00.002-05:00

STILL on "temporary disability" from the company I work for. After jumping through hoop after hoop (which probably hasn't helped my health any), the Human Resources department of the company has put the ball BACK in the court of my District Manager. It's going on my 7th week now. Money is MORE than tight, and I'm STILL waiting to hear from him.

Now, if they think I'm gonna sit around and wait for them to decide my future, they're wrong. While "off", I've been sending my resume EVERYWHERE. Unhappily, there's not much out there. I'm actually trying to get back to my calling... a Worship Pastor.

Your prayers would be GREATLY appreciated.

Dadgummit! Sonya tagged me for ANOTHER of those "things about yourself" things....

2008-09-02T19:23:00.002-05:00

This one has to do with "Six Unremarkable things About Yourself"... or something like that.

The rules go something like this:
1. Include a link to the person who tagged you. (In this case, Sonya)
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag six bloggers by linking.
5. Leave a comment for each blogger.

Okay, first of all let me ask "only SIX?". I have a lot of unremarkable things. I don't talk about them because, well, they're UNREMARKABLE! Okay, here goes...

1. I MUST shower after I get up before I can do anything else (other than have a cup of coffee). Otherwise, I feel like a grease-ball. Even if what I'm about to do, i.e. work in the yard, go to the beach and swim, clean around the house, etc. is going to require a shower afterwards, I still MUST shower before hand.

2. Boiled okra makes me puke. That's right, PUKE! It's like eating squid brains. Even the thought of it is repulsive. I would almost rather eat chitlins (I said ALMOST).

3. Feta cheese smells like butt. It's right up there with boiled okra. Although Sandy likes it, we refer to it as "butt-cheese" around here.

4. I HATE spiders. I am FASCINATED by them, but don't let one get anywhere near me. I will whip out my lighter and torch it, even if it means burning something down, I WILL torch it!

5. I love wearing hats. You won't much see me in one because I also think hat-hair is avoidable and SHOULD be.

6. I love pretzels and milk. Puting the pretzel in my mouth then filling my mouth with milk, chewing, and swallowing. Heaven will be like that.

The list could go on and on, but six is the limit.

Now I'm tagging the following people (why should I be the only one to bare my soul?):

Becky
Katie
Stephanie

Wind-up

2008-08-24T15:10:00.011-05:00

Well, Layne flew home last night. Let me digress...

After wednesday night's closer, we decided to hit the beach again Thursday. But first, Layne decided he wanted to get his hair cut. So, he and his aunt Sandy went to the $8 haircut joint. Now, Layne will tell you that he was planning to get his hair cut all along. Sandy will tell you that she "talked him into it". But REALLY, it was ME who pointed out the EASE with which getting ready for the beach or getting out of the water short hair avails itself. Whala! Layne cut his hair. (Don't listen to ANYONE else. I am telling the truth!)

Unhappily, it was a "blustery day" at the beach. Fay was still back-tracking across the upper part of the state so, although there was plenty of sun, there was also plenty of sand... in the air, not on the ground where it should be.

Next day, Sandy and Layne hit "tree beach" again. That night, we headed to "Marker 4" for grouper nuggets.

Unhappily, "Marker 4" doesn't get grouper anymore. They said they just can't get good grouper right now. So, Layne went for the Cod nuggets. I went for the Red Snapper fingers, and Sandy had her usual "summer trio" of shrimp salad, crab salad, and chicken salad with tomato and fresh fruit.

From there, we went to the South Jetty in Venice (right down the street) to watch the sunset. Unhappily, there were a lot of clouds, so the sunset wasn't so spectacular, but the waves WERE:

A good way to end the day....

2008-08-21T23:17:00.003-05:00

So, we ended the day with a cigar and a drink at Cha Cha Coconuts. Yes, I was STILL feeling puny, but I had to make the sacrifice.....