Not that Bob

Bruin, my wife's specialist is at UCLA. He saved her life and she's still here to bitch at me 10 years later. The specialist just happened to be acquainted with the surgeon at M.D. Anderson. Small world, lucky circumstance and all that. I try to remember that every day is a gift. I'm not very good at it but at least I know I should. Keep pushing forward.

I posted this some 10 years ago on TOS. This is to the best of my memory as I didn’t save it: My wife was in M.D. Anderson Hospital for a delicate surgery. Her specialist said the surgeon at Anderson was “the best”, so that’s how she got admitted to M.D. Anderson, even though she didn’t have cancer. It was “only” a benign tumor, but believe me, a benign tumor in the wrong place is not good. If you are admitted to M.D. Anderson it’s a sure bet that you are sick. We went to the Cafeteria to break the monotony of the room and to get something other than the food on the food service tray. The Cafeteria at M.D. Anderson is a large well lit and relatively welcoming place. Once we got our food and took a table we started to notice our fellow diners. There was a pretty little girl to my left, probably 12 or 13. Pale white skin and jet black hair. My wife and I decided that with her pale skin and black hair she was Snow White, and have since fondly remembered her by that name. Snow White was wheeling her IV pole with her, as did most of the other diners. A forest of IV poles carrying bags of medication and chemotherapy. I realized that Snow White’s jet black hair was a wig. She had lost all her hair to chemotherapy. She was bald, but she didn’t seclude herself in her hospital room. She came to the Cafeteria, not a freak or a cripple, but a human being…having lunch with the rest of us human beings. At the table to my right was a family, a kid who looked to be the oldest son was the member tethered to the IV pole. I could hear the Dad telling nonstop corny jokes and generally yucking it up. He was trying to bring some humor and levity to his families’ table. Trying to lighten everyone’s mood. Trying to suppress his own tears. Trying to not allow the IV pole to be the only thing in the room. Trying the help his son to be not a freak or a cripple, but to be a human being having lunch with the rest of the human beings. The next day’s lunch, a table to my left. The son, middle teens I guess, in a wheelchair and obviously with cerebral palsy, or some type of palsy that made his movements difficult and clumsy. Despite the great difficulty of movement, the family allowed him to feed himself. His movements with the utensils were very slow and intentional. He dropped very little. It was clear that his family had spent countless hours helping him learn to be independent. His dad, now with the inconvenience of an IV pole in tow, pushed his son’s chair a little closer to the table. Dad didn’t let this inconvenience alter the ongoing helping and teaching of his son. This giant of a father, who spent God knows how many hours helping, teaching his son how to be, not a freak or a cripple, but a human being having lunch with the rest of us human beings. Heroes to me, like my friends mentioned above? Damn right!

I spent 200 bucks on the fancy dancy Freeze Misers only to find that they don’t work with my aged leaking backflow preventers, as if I needed another reason to hate backflow preventers.

Plumbing a few pipes and programming the controller and making the controller Wi-Fi work.

SIAP, anyone recommend pool repair person in Austin?

My 2 cents for everyone living with the "changes" that cancer, the surgery, and the treatments make to the human body. It sucks, lots, but after some time you adapt and it becomes more of an inconvenience than a horror. Three examples from people I know, one guy now gets all his nutrition through a tube. He still goes to work and has learned to chew and spit out food just so he can enjoy the taste. He has to spit in a cup because he can't swallow his saliva. He has adapted. That is his new normal. He works. He runs his few cattle. Another example, a prostate cancer surgery was less than perfect and he has to wear incontinence pads to catch "emergencies". That's his new normal. He has adapted. Another is in end stage ALS. He has lost use of his limbs, but his abdominal muscles still work. His wife cuts up his food and he bends over and eats it off the plate like a dog. This is his new normal. He has adapted. The guys above are as cheerful as possible given the circumstances, and their adaptations have allowed them to live a "normal" life...well not exactly normal, but they do have some joy and they aren't dead, which they would be had they not opted for the radical treatments that took away some function but allowed life. These guys are all heroes to me because I have watched them adapt and not allow the disease to take away their lives. Keep pushing forward.

A stroll down Congress Avenue: Reynolds Penland. J.R. Reed Music Company. The Austin National Bank The Avenue Cafe Yaring's Fashion Window Capitol Theatre, actually on 6th. Piccadilly Cafeteria Gordon selling The Austin American about 3rd or 4th and Congress. The closest thing Austin had to a news stand. Step around the corner to 6th Street, Joe Koen Jewelers Help me out here, AB. I guess these were more local than "Name Brands", but they seemed like a big deal when I was a kid.

Braniff Henry J Studebaker

Unfortunately, alcohol is one of the worst triggers. Salt is also a no no, so no chips, especially Fritos. No rapid or severe movement of the head. Large changes in barometric pressure. Anything you can think of that would irritate the inner ear or cause rapid changes in the pressure within the small space of the inner ear. I've been able to control it relatively well, but damn I miss beer. I really, really miss beer.

See my post in "Best Divorce Albums" in the Music forum. Yes. Yes, I'll be watching this.

I need a counselor in Austin that can help me begin to "help" people who are in another city. I guess I need to look at ADATC.

Thanks. Couple not in Austin. I need to know what to do via phone.

I need a recommendation for a source in Austin. "A friend"...yeah, I know, is in a toxic relationship and alcohol is a big part of it. I don't know how to approach the husband, he is the drinker and, according to the wife, is the abuser, but she is histrionic and keeps secrets. I need to know how to approach either/both of them, probably I need to approach the husband, but I worry about enraging him and causing him to take it out on the wife. I'd like some guidance from someone in Austin.

Yeah, she’s a keeper, but this wasn’t a male vs female thing. They asked more questions than I’ve experienced when getting a home loan. It was intrusive, invasive, and fuck their windows. If they were playing odds they rolled the wrong dice.

I just went through the very same thing trying to schedule an estimate with Anderson Windows. It must be a new technique. Pissed me off.

That water comes from somewhere and people in the area are concerned with dwindling ground water. Consumption of that much water will not be good for the area.

This version has nice visuals

Oh, don't worry. The new one will sound great...it's miced so they can run it through the jumbotron...with Bob Cole.

What do y'all think of the retirement of Big Bertha? I am not fond of the new one. Don't need no space age materials in my drums!

Just a heads up, you’ll not be able to kill her by swerving in to her lane because she’s on to your lane changing trickery.

How does this fit in with my spouse driving in the blind spot for fucking ever because “They might change lanes “?

Tell me Russian Embassy, what was the lead up to that precedent set by The United States?