[PRCo] Re: The Bear Returns

[Derrick Brashear]

what kind of keyboard do you want for the mac? I can raid the basement  
and see what got permanently stashed after the last move

Derrick


On Jun 21, 2009, at 20:07, Schneider Fred <fwschneider at comcast.net>  
wrote:

>
> Its either this keyboard that needs replacement or the fingers are
> not finding the right keys.   I've had a whole lot of trouble since I
> came home.   Maybe a combination of both because I could just feel my
> left finger reach for a "b" and I watched it come out "p" on the
> monitor.   Any one who knows touch typing understands that the first
> finger of the left hand hits the b and the third finger of the right
> hand selects the p.   That is not a fatigue issue.   Guess I need to
> buy a new keyboard for the MAC.
>
> But there is also a lot of "fat-e-gue" since coming home.   I slept
> 12 hours last night.   Was up for 4 1/2 hours then conked out for
> three more hours until Marie called me for dinner.   Is this
> unusual?   No.   I was killed, I laid dead on a table for four hours
> and then awakened after they restarted my heart.   I'm not supposed
> to feel bright eyed and bushy tailed on the fifth day after open
> heart surgery, am I Rich?
>
> I've been told that just being sent home four days out for a man
> almost 70 years old can be one to days ahead of the curve.   The
> nurses told my wife they felt sorry for her yesterday because when I
> wanted something and they didn't respond in reasonable time to the
> call bell, I was out in the hall hunting them.  They don't care for
> proactive patients.   Upsets their coffee breaks.
>
>
> On Jun 21, 2009, at 2:37 PM, richard allman wrote:
>
>> oops, Fred-looks like you've lost as step-misspelled Welt and  
>> Khameni!
>> Seriously, welcome home!!! RICH
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Schneider Fred" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>; "Allman Rich"
>> <AllmanR at einstein.edu>; "Bill Murphey" <canonwfm at comcast.net>; "Barb
>> Ciccone" <bciccone at vitullotravel.com>; "Collins Tom and Pat"
>> <tandpc at comcast.net>; "Duke Don" <trainbook at earthlink.net>;
>> "Middleton Bill"
>> <wdmiddleton at earthlink.net>; "Hiser Tom" <pthiser at aol.com>; "Michele
>> Hiester" <MHiester at state.pa.us>; "Becker Scott" <Sbecker at pa-
>> trolley.org>;
>> <PTMOPS at comcast.net>; "Bente Bruce" <bbente at bellsouth.net>;
>> "Kochmanski
>> Lynne" <lynne at dougkochmanski.com>; "Koo Karen" <kkoo912 at comcast.net>;
>> "Kotulak Dick" <CRVLKOTULA at aol.com>; "Mattern Adam"
>> <ajmattern3 at aol.com>;
>> "Richards Ruth Ann" <rlrichards2 at peoplepc.com>; "Betty Savitz J."
>> <bjsavitz at dejazzd.com>; "FRANZ SCHNEIDER"
>> <FRANZ.SCHNEIDER at prodigy.net>;
>> "Volkmer Bill" <bvolkmer at bellsouth.net>; "Wayne Koch"
>> <396z28 at optionline.net>; "Jackson Russ" <JacksoRE at STVINC.COM>;
>> "Ulrich-Riedel Hans" <huriedel at htp-tel.de>; "Ulrich Bill"
>> <billu at dejazzd.com>; "Vutz Norm" <nvutz at ltk.com>; "Tim Wells"
>> <trwells at comcast.net>; "Bruce Wells" <cuzinbrucie at mac.com>; "Bob
>> Foley"
>> <rfoley at ceresoft.com>; "James Martin" <jmartin5217 at sbcglobal.net>;
>> "Bell
>> Kurt" <kubell at state.pa.us>; "Craig Phil" <philgcraig204 at yahoo.com>;
>> "May
>> Jack" <Jack.May at americomm.net>; "Bottoms Glenn & Suzanne"
>> <gsbotts at verizon.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 10:07 PM
>> Subject: [PRCo] The Bear Returns
>>
>>
>>> This message was written to people in my high school reunion mailing
>>> list.   Because I'm too lazy rewrite it for 50 different people, you
>>> can sort out of what you find of interest.
>>> The tell me that normal hospital stay for a coronary bypass  
>>> operation
>>> these days is 5 days ... longer if you are in for a repeat operation
>>> because the risks are higher and longer if you are older.
>>>
>>> I was told today that being discharged on the 4th day for a man 69
>>> years old seldom happens.   I must have been irritating the nurses
>>> too much thereby forcing them to throw me out???
>>>
>>> My first operation cardiac bypass (a triple) 13 years ago was
>>> miserable because of a drug interaction that put on Saturn or
>>> Pluto.   I could look at the chart on the wall giving the month, day
>>> and year and not be able to answer them when they asked me what day
>>> it is.   I didn't know my wife when she came in to see me.   I might
>>> have been in the hospital for 8 or 9 days.
>>>
>>> This time I went in teary-eyed not really expecting to return.    
>>> They
>>> control the withdrawal from anesthesia so that you have no internal
>>> bleeding ... I think the object is to keep you under for 12 hours.
>>> By midnight they allowed me to awaken and pulled out the breathing
>>> tubes.   By 3 a.m. I wondering why PBS television changed their
>>> broadcast schedule to get rid of Deutsche Welle (German World), the
>>> German news service that used to play all night.   It eventually  
>>> came
>>> on by 5 a.m. and by  6 a.m. I was watching the stimulating events in
>>> Iran on BBC television about Khomeini  demanding that the public
>>> accept the election of his candidate.   The mind was processing
>>> everything as it should.  By Wednesday evening they have out of bed
>>> and walking.   I thought they were nuts but I went along with the
>>> drill.   I've got a pinched sciatic nerve that causes all sorts of
>>> grief and all I needed was that pain coupled with the pain from the
>>> surgery.   But once they forced me to move, I found out the body was
>>> willing to react favorably.
>>>
>>> More than favorably.   On the second walk at 3 a.m. Wednesday, I
>>> hiked the equivalent of a city block within the ICU.   They have  
>>> this
>>> great home made walker built in their shop out of 3" polyvinyl
>>> chloride pipe forming a box frame ... you sit down in it, or stand  
>>> up
>>> and roll it.   Somebody was using his brain from something more than
>>> hat rack.   Needs to be patented.   It was heavier than your average
>>> garden variety aluminum walker but then it would meet the standards
>>> of your suit-happy lawyer looking to make money on malpractice or
>>> wrongful injury (sorry Sue).
>>>
>>> By Thursday we had figured out, in conjunction with a separate pain
>>> management group, how to medicate the spinal pain as well as the
>>> incisions and weep holes from this surgery and how to demand that
>>> some of the people listen to me ... "No, that's not what you are to
>>> be doing with my pain control ... read the instructions that Dr.
>>> _____ left for you at 3:15 this afternoon."     By the way, to get  
>>> to
>>> the back side of the heart, they went in through an 11 1/4" incision
>>> between the rips on the left side.   Below it were two holes for 1/2
>>> inch diameter drain tubes.    Initially the pain was roughly
>>> analogous to the time I fell and broke three ribs but that has
>>> improved vastly.
>>>
>>> By Friday afternoon I had finally been moved from ICU to a room on  
>>> 5-
>>> East (the heart floor) ... the wait was so long because "there were
>>> no rooms at the inn."   Then I went out to explore.   I told the new
>>> nurses that I had not had a good walk in 12 hours and it was  
>>> time ...
>>> needed to get the kinks out of frame.  Fifty feet down the hall from
>>> room, my nurses aide told me to slow down ... she was having
>>> difficulty keeping up with my pace.   I didn't listen well.  She
>>> handed me my urine bag and told me to carry it.   I carried and kept
>>> tramping along.   A few minutes later I looked back and she was  
>>> where
>>> in sight.   Five minutes later later, after exploring the entire  
>>> east
>>> end of the 5th floor, the bear came storming back dragging his  
>>> walker
>>> behind him and triumphantly waving the cane in the air and using the
>>> just the two God-given legs for support.   On the room doors are
>>> stars with rating from 1 up to 4 depending on how safe it is to  
>>> leave
>>> the patient alone.   The highest rating ... the star with the  
>>> numeral
>>> 4 means ... tie the bastard in bed and guard him or he's going to
>>> fall and cause us trouble.   They immediately changed mine to the
>>> lowest rating.   Because of leg pains radiating from the pinched
>>> sciatic nerve, I found it best to sleep in a reclining chair instead
>>> of a bed ... that's great too because I didn't have to argue with
>>> those people over putting up the safety rails on the bed.   At that
>>> point they gave up watching me and I was permitted to move around at
>>> my will.
>>>
>>> I am thoroughly convinced that medicine is out of control when the
>>> (1) insurance companies are telling the hospitals and doctors what
>>> they are allowed to charge and (2) depending on your age, experience
>>> and specialization, you have to add from $3 to $10 to every  
>>> patient's
>>> office visit just to pay for the malpractice insurance.  This leave
>>> you, the patient, having to be your own patient advocate.   In my
>>> case it is damn nice to be able to ask a dear friend, would you let
>>> your girl friend go this doctor?   It 's also nice have another old
>>> friend from my college days who is practicing medicine in Philly who
>>> insists on giving free second opinions.   I'm a more than a little
>>> concerned with where medicine is going but I have no answers.   I've
>>> seen our system that leaves something like 90 million people without
>>> health care.   I've seen national health systems all of Europe and
>>> Canada that let you wait three extra months for surgery or pay extra
>>> for upper tier benefits to get it now.   Needless to say, I have no
>>> good answers ... just a lot of concerns.
>>>
>>> The greatest compliment was when my wife came in today, worrying
>>> about being about to take care of me at home.   The duty nurse told
>>> her that the patient has a remarkable ability to understand what his
>>> own body is telling him and he knows how listen to it.   We give him
>>> rules but he will do what he wants and I know he won't do anything  
>>> to
>>> hurt himself.   Do not worry Mrs. Schneider.   What a remarkable
>>> person.
>>>
>>> I found the hospital food to be some of the worst I have had in my
>>> life time and I grew up with a mom whom I thought was the worst cook
>>> on the planet.   Today I was watching this fabulous food travelogue
>>> of Tuscany on television.   They were showing a street vendor  
>>> carving
>>> up tripe (the cow's stomach) sandwiches in Firenzia (Florence).  At
>>> that moment the garbage patrol came in with my lunch ... a dried out
>>> chicken breast bearing some resemblance to a piece of white pressed
>>> wallboad.    The told me we had beef one night ... could not have
>>> proven it by me because it would have passed an endurance test for a
>>> 6-ply truck tire.   They also have a rule that everyone on 5-East
>>> (the heart wing) gets low sodium because salt might drive up the
>>> blood pressure    But guys, I have low blood pressure.   Another
>>> example of the one-size fits all rule is the surgeon trying to put  
>>> me
>>> back on beta blockers which contain a blood pressure medication ...
>>> He never once questioned I was not on them before.  Reason, I get
>>> dizzy from the blood pressure going too low.  They did it again in
>>> the hospital.   In spite of that and my weaving back and forth  
>>> before
>>> I took myself off of it, he told me on discharge, you probably won't
>>> take it but I'm giving a prescription for it anyway.   Huh?   Why do
>>> you think my family doctor and my own cardiologist took me off of
>>> Metroporolol?   Is this because 95% of the heart patients might die
>>> and sue the doctor for not doing it, so I'm going to protect myself
>>> anyway?   If you fall then you can't sue me because I can't prove I
>>> gave you the prescription?    Duh?
>>>
>>> I met two fabulous nurses, one male and one female, both of whom  
>>> gave
>>> me the impression that they loved their work.   In my work as a  
>>> labor
>>> statistician I actually began to ask people at random if they loved
>>> their work?   Do you love to come on Monday morning?   Well in
>>> general, I think about 9 out 10 in the U S labor force are there for
>>> the pay check and 1 out of 10 truly love what they are doing.    I
>>> found two in the hospital who I thought loved their work.   Those  
>>> are
>>> pretty good odds.
>>>
>>> I also want to publicly thank a man who appeared in the hospital  
>>> just
>>> to say hello.   This is someone I didn't even know in high school
>>> because he was so damned ambitious both academically and  
>>> athletically
>>> that I never was in his league.   I didn't appreciate the value of
>>> learning for many years after he caught on.   I got to  gradually
>>> know this man as a medical practitioner and later on the class
>>> reunion committee.   I would have never believed that 50 years ago I
>>> would now be occasionally going out to lunch with John Eshleman and
>>> treasuring those meetings.  .   And John, thanks so much for coming
>>> in to my room every day to see how I was doing.   You and Patty (I
>>> want to thank her for coming in yesterday too) are absolutely
>>> wonderful friends.
>>>
>>> And now we can schedule the back surgery! and sewing up the hernia
>>> and then a trip back India.
>>>
>>> And back to the subject of people who love their work:
>>>
>>> 1)    If you live in Central Pennsylvania where you can pick up WITF
>>> channel 33 (Harrisburg) or 33.1 (Chambersburg).   I noticed while I
>>> was lying in the hospital bed an advertisement for a show at 8 pm on
>>> Wednesday June 24th called Sandwiches That You Will Like.   I
>>> immediately recognized the voice of the man narrating the show:
>>> Rick Seeback of station WQED, the Pittsburgh Public Television
>>> Station.   The first show that I can remember that Rick did was one
>>> titled Things That Are Not There Any More.    If you grew up there
>>> (like I partly did) or went to Carnegie Tech or Pitt (like some of
>>> our classmates did ... Julie Fatherely comes to mind), seeing it
>>> might have reminded you of Isaly's delis, the roller coasters at  
>>> West
>>> View Park, the trolley cars, and many more icons that no longer
>>> exist.   It became a pattern that Maryland Public Television,
>>> Philadelphia, Harrisburg and other attempted to emulate but all of
>>> them fell short of Rick's quality.   I thought they fell flat on
>>> their video faces in comparison.  I once commented to Rick that I
>>> thought the big  difference was that someone instinctively  
>>> understood
>>> how to allow person he was interviewing to lead him from topic right
>>> to another.   For example, he might have used used someone talking
>>> about going to West View Park on trolley as his way to transition
>>> your attention from one landmark (the park) to another (those
>>> ubiquitous red and cream trolleys).   He knew how to let the person
>>> he was talking to transition the viewer's attention and not let the
>>> interviewer do it.   Someone knew how to let Rick play the straight
>>> man and take advantage of the interviewee.   When I mentioned that  
>>> to
>>> Rick and said, whoever does your editing does a fabulous job, he  
>>> said
>>> "No one every told me they picked up on that before.   I do my own
>>> editing."  There was a sincerely look of surprise on his face that
>>> listener would actually pick up on the editing process.   He seemed
>>> very pleased.    He did an entire series of shows for WQED called  
>>> the
>>> Pittsburgh History Series and then he branched out into other topics
>>> that could easily be syndicated and make money for the station ..
>>> one that I fondly remember was Pennsylvania Diners and Other  
>>> Roadside
>>> Restaurants because many of his choices helped to make me fat.   I
>>> had eaten in 75% of them.     He also traveled the entire USA to  
>>> make
>>> make some VCR tapes like his ice cream tape, a national amusement
>>> park tape, a hamburger video, and now a DVD on sandwiches.   I have
>>> not yet seen this one but I would commend it to you because I have
>>> never seen this man do a bad one.   He explained his work to me
>>> thusly, "Isn't it wonderful when someone is willing to pay you for
>>> doing something that you would do free of charge just because you
>>> love the work?"  I loved what I did so I could not even of
>>> disagreeing with him.  And in his case, he was offered a chance to
>>> move back to his home town to do what he loved to do.
>>>
>>> 2) Tavis Smiley has an interview show that airs late at 11:30 on
>>> WITF-
>>> TV in Harrisburg right after BBC news.   It has national interviews
>>> so I suspect it is a syndicated show and a couple of you might have
>>> seen this same one I saw in Lancaster General Hospital.   Tavis was
>>> interviewing another Rick.   This one I've never met personally
>>> though we crossed paths in the Dordogne Region of France in the same
>>> hotel.   One of his tours was there.   He came in late and I left
>>> early.   I left a note for him at the desk and he responded later.
>>> It's a person I also admired because he's doing something I would
>>> like to do.   Name is Rick Steeves.   Some of you may recall him  
>>> from
>>> the Travels in Europe Series on  that originates from Oregon public
>>> television, locally on Saturday afternoons.
>>>
>>> In this Tavis Smiley interview,  Rick was promoting his new book
>>> Travel as a Political Act.  As I listened to the interview I said,
>>> Damn it, I'm listening to myself.   He was describing how his
>>> attitudes about the world and travel within it had changed over the
>>> years and I just rested there thinking, that's me.   That everything
>>> I've been saying to people.   He talked about how he first went to
>>> Europe hunting the cheaper hotels.   Yes, Rick, we did that when we
>>> were younger.   We went through the same phases.  In the 1990s he
>>> impressed me because his tours (and he suggested you go on your own
>>> but ran guided tours for those afraid to go on their own) offered
>>> classes on how to be a tourist.   He would not  take a customer
>>> unless they signed an affidavit that they had read and agreed his
>>> tour instructions or listed to video and agreed with it ...
>>> essentially he was staying in the instructions that he expect you  
>>> not
>>> to be a sour puss and to get along with everyone and attempt to make
>>> other people in other nations accept you and that you will accept
>>> them.   When I crossed paths with him in the Blagnac, I was  
>>> astounded
>>> looking at his schedule for the next day that he was giving lessons
>>> in (1) piloting a canoe in the Dordogne River and (2) basic French  
>>> so
>>> that you could walk in a store, and be able to smile, say hello and
>>> buy something on your own.  And today he was saying, "Just because
>>> someone in Turkey or England or Germany or France doesn't want to
>>> trade their passport for yours doesn't mean they don't like you.    
>>> It
>>> only means they are perfectly content living were they are and maybe
>>> it also means that they are reasonably happy with their politicians
>>> and not enamored with ours.   They're happy in they life and we
>>> should not try to change them." Amen, Rick.    I've not spent as  
>>> many
>>> miles in Europe as he has ... suspect he has me beat 7 or 8 to  
>>> 1.   I
>>> have over 48 months there.   But I certainly agree with his
>>> notions.   If you want to read what he says, here is a link to the
>>> book.
>>>
>>> http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/catalog/index.cfm?
>>> fuseaction=product&theParentId=11&id=385
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
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