jake_bear217

My political persuasion

2006-09-08T19:08:52Z

You Are a Conservative Democrat

Frankly, the way most other Democrats behave embarasses you greatly.
You pride yourself on a high level of morals, and you have a good grasp on right and wrong.
It's likely you think America needs to get back to its conservative, Juedo-Christian values.
Why aren't you a Republican then? Because you believe the goverment helps more than hurts.

What's Your Political Persuasion?

Birthday Wishes

2006-08-24T13:22:25Z

I would like to wish that both ivorydamsel and sierra_victor each have a most enjoyable birthday.

Happy B-day to you both!

Update on my little Bro

2006-08-20T06:54:01Z

Well, Jonathan evidently came through swimmingly from his sugery. They took 2 slices of bone from his hip and fused them into #3 an #4 vertabra in his neck. And they were able to go through the front without doing any opening on his back. He's actually out of the hospital and at my parent's home recovering.

The doctor did tell them that there could be some problem with #6 in the future, but he did not feel that it needed to be dealt with at this time.

Oh, and I was wrong about how long ago his first neck surgery was. It was only abit more than 2 years ago. They did #5, but they used cadaver bone at that time. They suggested using his hip bone this time to cut down costs. Evidently cadaver bone for such fusions cost $1,000 a pop.

For pain, he told me they have him on a combo of Percosets and Valium. He said those are actually more effective on him that the morphine they had him on directly after the surgery.

Some concerns

2006-08-17T18:27:12Z

Got home late last night [after 11 PM], and I found a note from my room-mate that my Mom had called. For most folks that would not be alarming, but I usually call members of my family. Rough estimate would be that someone from my family has called me about a dozen times in the last 5 years Plus my Mom hates talking to answering machines, so she’s prone not to leave messages if she does not get me directly.

Well, I called. It seems my youngest brother [14 years junior to me], Jonathan, is to have surgery today, on his upper spine. Earlier this one of his recurring health problems was finally properly diagnosed. He has spinal stenosis, cervical variety. I am not sure exactly which vertebrae it is. Years ago to treat recurring nerve numbness and extreme pain; he had a surgical procedure done on his neck, just a whole lot less intrusive than what’s going down to day.

Jon has not been able to work for a number of months due to pain and loss of coordination. Mother had told me a month or 2 ago that he always walked as if he was drunk. Jon has no health insurance, and the efforts to get him some type of government assistance have failed to this point. So my folks are going to see what they can do, as the doctor has very recently told them that given the severity of the condition [pain management is no longer working – due to several factors], that he did not want to hold off surgery for very much longer. He told my folks to see that he got paid, and the rest would take care of itself as it will. My parents are on Social Security and Dad gets a bit of a pension from the brickyard that he worked at for 30+ years. Mom turns 66 in September, and Father will be 69 on Columbus Day. They are in nowhere near to being rich.

Now the surgeon did tell Mom that, barring complications, it could be possible for Jon to be fit to work again in about 3 months. Considering that the overall procedure calls for taking a couple of small bone slices from one of his thighs to fuse into the affected vertebrae to give the spinal cord more room… Well Mom and I both think it might be a little longer. The doctor has also said that Jon may, after a couple of years, get back to how he had been health-wise, but he could give no guarantees.

Considering how much I hate to write/type, the previous spewing of words kinda proves that the overall situation is weighing on my mind. Hell, I even helped to name him.

On the work front, I have some issues that are depressing/concerning me as well, but I have taken longer with this than I originally planned to. Meaning I have to get back to trying to actually focus on some work tasks.

All for now.

This coming week

2006-05-30T21:42:49Z

I have a visit to my allergist scheduled on 5/31 in the afternoon, and I have to not take my allergy meds, as well as avoid aspirin and Tylenol until after his tests. Oh, and I get to see my dentist at noon on Saturday, 6/3.

I'm having folk over on Friday, 6/2 for a D&D game. Although not everyone has replied yet about their potential attendance.

My Team at work gets to have a meeting with the Assistant Program Manager on Wednesday morning. Best guess is he's going to give us a talking to for upsetting the government customer last week. Even though the customer is somewhat like warm nitro on a rut filled road - you never know what is going to set him off. And once he gets set off, he becomes almost immune to rational thought for an unknown length of time. So, I am not expecting the meeting to be fun.

Then there is assisting my Team Lead with various monthly and weekly reports that are due very soon now.

It's time to go catch the Metro.

All for now.

This past week

2006-05-28T17:03:09Z

Missed 3 days of work due to sinitus and bronchitis. Had a team meeting on Thursday with the government customer in which I somehow contributed to him getting p.o.'d with our company, even though I only asked questions at his insistence. And only on matters that I actually needed resolved in order to serve his and the task's best interests. So come Friday, the week was adding up to be an extremely sucky one.

Friday evening made up for the whole rest of the preceding week. I got to meet someone new in person that night. We saw The Davinci Code; had dinner at a decent Thai restaurant, and a pleasant, engaging conversation. I walked her to her car, and then got dropped off at the closest Metro stop to get myself home.

Now I'm doing a little picking up around the apartment, but mostly just vegging with the TV and a book or two.

All for now.

New to LJ

2006-05-21T02:38:12Z

Hello all. I've just set up a LJ account.