Bud’s Bits and Bytes

I have now been in Florida 6 days and feel so much better. The rest is doing me great and being with Mom and Dad sure is nice. I have spent many hours converting our old family video’s to DVD. It sure will be nice for everyone in the family to have copies and I have relived lots of wonderful memories. It takes a long time because for every hour of video I probably spend an hour and a half to transfer to DVD by the time I review, record, label, etc.

Dad and I went to Tarpon Springs today for one of the giant Gyros sandwiches we love. I am so stuffed I could burst. Spent lots of time walking around the big flea market this weekend but mostly just working on the videos and relaxing. Getting lots of sleep (early to bed, early to rise around here).

I just tried calling Audra but again all cell phone circuits are busy because of hurricane Rita. On her Blog she say’s she may head to New Orleans tomorrow. I am proud of her concern for her patients but I also get to be a worried father. Given her law enforcement training she can probably take of herself better than I can myself but dad’s get to worry, it is part of our make up.

Well, today is my mother’s birthday so I am going to go out and spend the rest of the evening with her.

Well, it is 10:30 am and I am loading the car (I have help since I cannot lift anything). I will run a few errands and hope to be Florida bound by around noon. I am really looking forward to the time with my mom and dad. I am taking all of the videos I have shot during the past 27 years and putting them on DVD while I am there. I will also get some sun, watch some sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico and just plain relax. I had a very interesting weekend having spent it at a Buddist Monastery in West Virginia. Perhaps while I am in Florida I will share my thoughts and insights on this blog. Well, the sooner I get moving, the sooner I will get to Florida. I will go about 1/2 way today and the rest tomorrow. It is about 840 miles and should take about 14 hours.

Well, the body is amazing in its ability to heal. I have come a long way toward feeling better. A few beautiful days driving around in my Corvette definitely provided a lot of healing power. I saw the doctor who did the operation on Tuesday and he said I am healing well but does not want me returning to work until October 9th. Today I am spending the entire day putting our old video cassettes on DVDs. It is a long process but the memories flooding in are incredbile as I watch these tapes. I will make copies for each member of the family. These are our memories and we should all cherish them.

When I realize how close Audra came to losing everything had her house in New Orleans flooded, I decided we should each have copies of our memories in multiple locations so they are preserved.

Next week I will be driving down to visit my mom and dad for awhile. What a wonderful opportunity to spend time with them. It will be dad and mom’s Birthday’s this month.

Well, it has been a very difficult period of time. I experienced the joy of Cruise Woodward and spending such wonderful time with my son Adam and daughter Audra. Since then my wonderful dog Bridget died, Audra had to evacuate her home in New Orleans and has probably lost everything they couldn’t fit in her car, and I had a severe Gall Bladder Attack. I went to work last Friday at noon. By about 4:00 I clocked out due to pain in my back. I came home but the pain got worse and moved to my gut. I then realized I was having a Gall Bladder attack. I hoped it would pass but by midnight I was in so much pain that my girlfriend took me to the Emergency Room at a local clinic. Xrays and and a sonagram confirmed that I was having a severe Gall Bladder attack. They called my doctor about 4:00 am and at 7:00 am they put me in an ambulance (my first ambulance ride) to the Inova Hospital in Alexandria. By now they had me loaded with pain killers (morphine had no effect and they had to move to heavier duty stuff) so at least I wasn’t in pain. A Doctor who specializes in this type of surgery came in talked to me and by noon I was being preped for surgery. Next think I know they woke me up in recovery (surgery took about an hour) and told me it was all over and that my gall bladder had been removed. Because of the severity of the attack they kept me in the hospital overnight and did not release me until 6 pm Sunday evening.

I have been healing, managed to get off the pain killers yesterday and today actually feel human again. I still have pain but it is greatly diminished. I am able to walk and get around (in fact they had me on my feet within hours of surgery). I must have been quite a sight pushing my IV holder up and down the hallway in the hospital, at least until the nurse came over and tied my gown differently in the back so I would quite flashing everyone.

I will see the doctor at 11:45 am on the 13th of this month to get my stiches out and have him check my recovery. I will not be able to lift anything for at least 4 weeks and since my job involves lifing of heavy computers and monitors all day long it is not clear when I will return to work.