Not Quite Ivan’s Style, But Thank You To Speed Shift TV

I have to admit that at certain times of the year I every much envy my friend Ivan Tracy.  Thanksgiving is one of those times. On Thursday night, Tracy was in California watching NASCAR star Kyle Larson defeat 51 other drivers in 76^th Turkey Night Grand Prix. The win at Ventura Raceway was Larson’s second in the event. He also won in 2012 when the race was held at Perris Auto Speedway. Rounding out the top five were Brady Bacon, Carson Macedo, Rico Abreu, and Damion Gardner.

On Friday, Tracy drove his luxury RV to Phoenix and Arizona Speedway to take in the Copper Classic, a two night season-ending race at the Arizona track. Sprint cars or not, I definitely wish I could have been there, well, be there tonight.

What did I do those days? Well, I continued my “Breakfast at Fremont Medical Center” series. Thursday, Friday, and today I did my 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th rounds of antibiotic infusion. Great fun, especially when the nurses have to find a new vein for the IV. One more treatment to go and I am praying the current vein holds up one last time.

I continue to be hesitant to say I am getting better-every time I have thought that I get kicked in the gut with something new-but maybe this time will be the charm, at least on the Proteus. The C-diff progress is open for debate, but after November 18^th-19^th it has not been as bad as I feared it would be. This was a case I wish I had not been an overachiever.

My plan is to start back to work on Monday, and yes, I am looking forward to that.

Today, I am going to watch the Ohio State-Michigan game, do some reading, maybe watch a little NU volleyball, and do an instant replay of last night when I watched the Copper Classic and the Turkey Classic on Speed Shift TV. I switched back and forth and saw plenty of good racing action. Check it out.

I have a feeling that today and tomorrow will have plenty of nap time too. I have been reminded repeatedly that surgery on someone who is 26 produces far less problems than on someone who is 66. I have managed to find most of those problems, and a lot of the time I simply have no energy. Between my wife-and I very much gave thanks for her on Thursday, my urologist, and my family doctor I have been told 1,000 times I am getting better. There is a process. It takes time. OK, so be it. Just get me better.

Thanks to all of you who have hung around the past month. I appreciate you so very much.

 

40 Miles Of Bad Road

No, I am not a Duane Eddy fan. Let’s just say I see him as a not very nice person. However, I do like the song-see below, and it sure describes my health journey the past two weeks-40 miles of bad road, and then 40 more miles, and an additional 40 miles of going nowhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoZymsInDEA

Start with last Monday and Tuesday. My blood work showed a high WBC and I had a fever, meaning I had an infection. By Wednesday the doctor decided the oral antibiotic was not working on this infection, so he gave me an antibiotic shot. Whoa, that sucker stung.  And did nothing-well, maybe it destroyed all the good bacteria, just not the bad bacteria. Thursday was an indifferent day, but Friday the —- hit the fan, and that was damn close to literally.

Last Friday I found I had not one, but two infections-not something you really want to overachieve in-and they both had names. Yeah, way out here they got a name for wind and rain and fire. The fire is C-diff, the rain Proteus, and they call the wind Tony Anville. Sorry. I do like Harve Presnell though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByqYEzugleE

Friday I learned that the shot of antibiotic did no good, and that I now was going to have to have 10 straight days of IV infusion therapy as an outpatient at the Fremont Medical Center. That was for the Proteus. For the C-diff I was to take another antibiotic 4 times a day. I am now halfway through the IV therapy.

Do I feel better? I don’t know how to answer that. For days I have been listless-no appetite, no energy, only wanting to crawl under a blanket and sleep. The doctor says I am doing the things I need to do to get better. I just wish I would see some results.

I think I am recovering nicely from the prostate cryoblation. My urologist says the cancer was destroyed and other signs show I am getting better. But those damn infections are driving me batty. Oh, and I almost forgot the side show-I did not have shingles like was once a possibility, rather a pinched nerve. I am still having radiating pain running along my other right leg from my hip to my knee. Two infections and nerve pain-a trifecta.

I had hoped to have special reasons for giving thanks on Thanksgiving. Maybe I can’t be thankful yet for some things, but I can be thankful that I still have Jane, I have two fantastic kids in Matt and Amanda, a great daughter in-law in Steph, and the most perfect grandson in Henry Ross Meyer. Oh, and I can’t forget one Pippa Meyer, Amanda’s wild child silkie terrier. Maybe my Christmas present will be good health for Jane and I, something we have not had for a long time.

All my medical issues have kept me from doing things I love to do, including watching racing. On Sunday I intended to watch all of the NASCAR championship race. I lasted about 80 laps-note I did not actually see 80 laps of racing, thanks to NBC-Nothing but Commercials, I saw maybe 50-60 laps of racing. Anyway, congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on a 7^th NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, leaving him tied with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. Pretty good company to be in.

This weekend-keep my fingers crossed about feeling better, I hope to watch NU defeat Iowa on Friday and then on Friday and Saturday night tune into Speed Shift TV to watch either the ASCS Copper Classic from Arizona Speedway or the Turkey Classic from Cocopah Speedway. Probably some of both. There are not many events left to watch, so take advantage of what is out there.

Thanks for stopping by, and a special thanks to those of you who have sent me get well wishes. With people like you behind me, I know I am going to get better.

 

 

 

 

 

I Am Sick Of Being Sick And I Don’t Like Joey Logano Either

For those of you who don’t want to read about my health maladies, skip down. Anymore I am confused about what is happening and why, so it isn’t much fun to write about either.

I visited the urologist 4 times last week, a neurologist twice, and my family physician once. I’ve had new meds prescribed and I guess there must be a reason in that. Wednesday I awoke with a numbness in my outside right leg from my hip down to my knee. My urologist took me to a neurologist in the next office over, and the neurologist gave me some kind of pill that supposed healed nerve damage. Whether it did or not is open to debate, but one thing it did was knock me out like anesthesia.

Thursday had been the day I was waiting for-the day the @#$% catheter came out. First though was a stop at the neurologist. It takes a while, but it hit me that the numbness and fiery pain in my right leg, the terrible ache in my back, and knees that simply felt leaden was exactly what I had felt when I had shingles in March.

And the neurologist agreed I might very well have shingles again. Damn, can’t anything go easy for me? Well, that was the bad news for the day. The good news was the catheter came out. Thank you Lord Jesus and all your disciples. I would say the good news outweighed the bad news on Thursday.

On Friday the urologist called and told me to come out for a bladder scan. I did. When he came into the examination room with his right hand extended I nearly cried. No need for a catheter to be put back on.

The shingle pain if that is what it is was strong, but thankfully I had pain pills to deal with that. I am thinking of stamping “stupid” on my forehead though. I should have got a shingles shot and I did not.

Hopefully both Jane and I will have more than normal to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Our lives have been a mess since Jane’s knee replacement surgery on October 3^rd, and enough is enough.

RACING. For the second weekend in a row I watch sprint car racing on Speed Shift TV. This week was the Budweiser Oval Nationals from Perris Auto Speedway in California. I only knew a handful of the drivers racing, but still enjoyed the action. I even watched all of Saturday’s A feature and it ended up well after midnight. These meds I am taking must really be messing my mind. Anyway, Damion Gardner-a driver I do know of and like-led all 40 laps of the feature, collecting a $25,000 first place prize.

The shingles knocked me for a loop on Sunday and I watched very little of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Phoenix. Just as well with Joey Logano winning. So, Logano, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, and Carl Edwards will battle for the championship at Homestead-Miami. As far as my favorites, it would be Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Logano in that order. I have become a real Kyle Busch fan the past several years, though it would be OK if Johnson joined Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. as seven time champs.

I’ll have to get out my “ABJ” t-shirt, or “Anybody but Joey.” Or maybe make up a voodoo 22 car and start sticking pins in it. Hopefully the season finale will be a good one.

This is the time of year I get my invited to Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon in Las Vegas. Many of the secondary Sprint Cup awards are handed out at this luncheon. I would really love to go, but just can’t make it work. I have already missed too many days from work, plus I don’t feel I am healed enough for a long airplane journey. Always next year I guess-the story of my life.

Thank all of you for stopping by and staying with me these past three weeks. It means more to me than I could ever say.

 

All’s Well That Ends Well

If too much medical information offends you, skip the next five paragraphs.

I had a script written in my mind how my cancer surgery and recovery was going to play out. I wrote it long before the surgery and went over it so many times I had it memorized. October 25^th would see me in the operating room for 45 minutes, I would spend a few hours in recovery, and then I would go home to the comfort of my own bed. I was wrong from the very beginning.

Instead of 45 minutes in the operating room I spent 3 ½ hours. Instead of going home I went from the recovery room to a 4^th floor room to spend the night at the Fremont Medical Center. I had the evil catheter coming out on Friday October 28^th, and I was a little ahead of schedule on that one-well, sort of.  The catheter was blocked by a blood clot and so it did come out, but another replaced it.

That catheter had to be designed by an auditor because it was more than a little painful to deal with. Last weekend was miserable. Even pain pills could not get rid of the pain. I thought I was going out of my mind. The catheter finally came out on Monday-incredible relief, but not until later did I find out it probably should have just been replaced.

My script had me returning to work full-time on Tuesday, November 1^st. I did return to work, but worked only 4 hours. I worked 5 hours on Wednesday, none on Thursday, and just 2 hours on Friday. Thank goodness I work for an outstanding employer and with some incredible co-workers. Wednesday night things that were supposed to be working better, stopped working at all. I spent an awful 15 hours before getting in to the urologist-where once again, I met an old friend, the catheter.

Plus, all this time I seemed to want to really do only one thing-sleep. I have been in bed so much that I am getting dizzy lying down or getting up. Crazy. How long will it be before I see things in my life as close to normal?  On Friday, the 4^th time I saw the urologist last week, he said it would be 2-3 weeks. I am hoping for a nice Thanksgiving. Praying for a nice Thanksgiving. As Shakespeare wrote “All’s Well That Ends Well.” And no, I have never read that play.

END OF MEDICAL, ON TO RACING

I had a plan to watch plenty of racing this weekend, with the National 100 from Alabama and the Western World from Arizona streaming on my computer. I watched some of each, just not as much as I had planned-remember I had a lot of sleeping to do.

Anyway, I remember now why they call it the National 100. The 100 isn’t just for the number of laps in the late model feature, it is for the number of support classes racing. At least it seemed that way. On Friday, I watched hot laps, ate supper, and slept for about three hours. I decided to check out the race anyway, and found my timing was perfect. They were just getting ready to start the late model preliminary A feature. That is pretty much all I was interested in and so I watched Tim McCreadie have an easy time winning his first feature of the year and collecting $5,000.

Saturday was déjà vu all over again. Eat, sleep, log on to www.DirtonDirt.CALM. Hey, that is how the Alabama announcer said it. I watched a Cruiser feature that was really decent. In this case Cruiser did not mean two-man junk cars, but more like Pro-Am or IMCA Stock Cars. Plenty of side by side racing, and that is what I like.

The late model results were déjà vu as well, with McCreadie collecting another win and $5,000 more. He had to work hard for the win though as Don O’Neal was with him for much of the last half of the race. It was a fun race to watch.

Per the East Alabama Speedway website, late model B Mains will start at 6:00 p.m. tonight, and will be followed by the 100 lap A feature. I will be there-well, in front of my computer screen at least.

I watched a little of the Western World races-less than I thought I would, and hope I can find them on the replay board at www.SpeedShiftTV.com. I really enjoy the wingless sprint cars. Bouncing through the turns, or accelerating on the straightaway, it seems like all 4 wheels are never on the ground with these cars. While the National 100 is not on my bucket list, Western World is.

And of course I will be watching The Chase, NASCAR’s Sprint Cup race from Texas today. I would prefer that Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin do bad. I am indifferent about Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch, and Jimmie Johnson has already won a race and will run for the championship at Homestead, Florida. So if Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, or Kyle Busch win, that would be OK.

No, I am not going back to bed. I am trying to stay up today. I guess I can read about the second worst loss ever by an NU football team. Or read my book on Depression Era baseball. Or play games on the computer. Just no sleeping today.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Racing, Icing, Fussing, Whining

I have been somewhat remiss in printing my friend Tony Anville’s thoughts on his visit to Talladega a few weeks ago. Here are a few of his thoughts-hey, he doesn’t have all that many to begin with.

 

“This was the first time I’ve sat in the front row of the tri-oval. But it will not be the last. The most interesting thing…after the field goes by you would immediately expect a rush of air. Nope. That doesn’t happen until the cars are exiting turn 2. I found that very interesting.

 

One thing I’ve noticed over the past 30 years at Talladega…the drinking crowd in the grandstand is nearly non-existent. They still drink…but nothing in comparison to what it uses to be. It’s much more family.

 

Also, a younger crowd than I see at Kansas. More kids with parents.”

 

Thanks Tony. Hope not too many teenagers egged your house last night.

 

I am sure the pack going by someone sitting in row one of the tri-oval at Talladega is quite a rush, no pun intended. I thought a handful of cars going by 100’ away at Kansas at about 190 miles per hour was wild, so 40 cars doing nearly 200 miles per hour at Talladega must be extreme.

 

There is a thread on www.dirtdrivers.com Eagle forum that I read from time to time, and find interesting. It is posted by Eagle Pit Shack Guy and is titled “Meet some of the drivers for the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Nationals.” No, I have not been kidnapped and no, my mind has not been addled by a bunch of pain killing drugs taken after my cancer procedure (actually I am not taking any right now).  Greg and I have disagreed about some things, but I very much respect his passion for racing-and I am one who likes to learn more about drivers from around the country, even sprint car drivers. Check out the thread.

 

I would like to say I spent an enjoyable week off work last week-I started back today. I would like to say that, but it wasn’t really so. I wouldn’t call any day fun, but the weekend was beyond “un-fun.” It appears that my recovery will be a long, slow, frustrating process. BUT, it will be a recovery, and that is what is important. Actually, I should have said FRUSTRATING. Took a step back today-ended up going home early, and have two doctor visits scheduled for Tuesday. There is a quaint somewhat profane saying someone might use when someone or something irritates him that kind of says it all in my situation. Unfortunately it is too appropriate.

 

As I said, last weekend was not real fun for me. I watched less than a quarter of the NU vs. Wisconsin football game. I watched at most 10 laps of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Martinsville, and I did not watch any of the WoO season ending PPV from Charlotte.  Whether I missed much is open to debate.
This week I plan on doing some watching, especially the National 100 on www.DirtonDirt.com. DOD is planning 3 nights of coverage from November 4^th-6^th. Super Late Models will be racing all three nights, with 42 lap features paying $5,000 to win on Friday and Saturday. The 100 lap feature on Sunday pays $20,000 to win.

 

A 3 day package for DOD subscribers costs $39.99. Add $10.00 if you are a non-subscriber. Single day packages run $19.99 per day for November 4^th and 5^th, and $24.99 for November 6^th.
If you are an open wheel fan, Speed Shift TV is your place to be this weekend. Speed Shift will bring you the 49^th Annual USAC Western World special from Arizona Speedway on November 4^th and 5^th. Non-wing 410 sprints will be featured and USAC 360 sprints will also be on the bill. Honestly, I may tune into some of this show too-I do like the non-winged open wheel cars.
With his win at Martinsville, Jimmie Johnson will be one of four drivers vying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship at Homestead, Florida later this month. Who will be with him? Well, given that a win at Phoenix will put a driver into the championship bout, it seems like Kevin Harvick is likely to be one of the four. My guess for the other two would be Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Oh wait, no Roush Fenway drivers qualified for the Chase AGAIN this year. OK. How about Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth? That would be a fun event to go to, but I’ll just watch from the comfort of an easy chair.

 

Not much else to say today. Thanks for stopping by.