Almost Done

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Just Chuck

Day 12 completed of a self quarantine due to possible exposure to someone who tested positive for Covid.  That someone being my son, who was then around his mother who was then around me.  I saw my son for all of 5 minutes on Father’s Day (June 21) and that was from 15-20 feet across the room.  My wife on the other hand was the one who drove him to the ER son that Saturday morning (June 27) 12 days ago.

Come Saturday we will have completed 14 days of quarantine.  Working from home, hanging out with our grandson who got stuck with us an extra week, and generally just taking it easy.

We found out today that my son’s girlfriend finally got her test results from 12 days ago getting tested at CVS pharmacy.  She tested positive.  That means she had it same time as my son.  She did the quick blood test earlier this week and it came up negative.  So go figure.  It’s highly probable my son got the virus from her, and she got it from a child or parent at the day care she works the week before.  Hence the reason she had to get the test – the day care was informed, which triggered all their employees needing testing.  Unfortunately it took TWO WEEKS for CVS to get the results back.  Meanwhile she was in contact with my son and also came by our house.  C’mon CVS.

In the end, she never really got sick.  My son got sick but he never showed any virus symptoms.  But we think his sickness was from the diabetes that snuck up on him.  The diabetes could’ve triggered a positive virus test results.

So did the diabetes trigger a positive test result or did the virus trigger the diabetes?  I’ve read articles saying both.  Will we ever know?  I doubt it.  You can’t get two Doctors to agree on a treatment plan both during and after the virus.

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Subdued holiday

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Just Chuck

Well, 4th of July has come and gone.  No BBQ with the family, no driving out to watch fireworks.  And now, I’ve started my second week of self quarantine.  I guess if nothing pops up by this Friday I can consider myself virus free.

Meanwhile my son has been adapting to his new role as a diabetic.  He’s lost the cough he had when he left the hospital.  I would give him two weeks of no flare up and consider him virus free as well.  He’s getting into a routine for his diabetes and has a new doctor and a visit coming up.  So he’s on a nice glide path.

We were supposed to attend a wedding this Saturday for my nephew, that ain’t happening.  On top of us being quarantined, they found out today that one of the bridesmaid has tested positive.  And they had a big bridal shower last week.  yikes.

We cancelled our beach vacation to Destin, FL.  Probably was a wise decision.  Looks like Florida is closing bars and beaches left and right to try and stop the spread of the virus.  And it doesn’t hurt that I’m saving $4K.

What a frickin’ year its been.  Is there no end in sight?

 

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Feeling blessed today

Posted on July 3, 2020 by Just Chuck

My son got released from the hospital this morning!  Yay!  He was told to quarantine himself for at least 72 hours and be symptom free and he should be fine.  I would’ve preferred they run another covid test.  He’s locking himself in his apartment for a week.  So this time next Friday he should be able to come over and swim with us.

Meanwhile he has to get into an eating pattern for his diabetes.  Test, eat, insulin shot, repeat.  It’s definitely a life change for him and his girlfriend, and us.  He’s always been in good health, not overweight (skinny even), eats fairly healthy.  Still weird that he becomes a diabetic.  Thank goodness he is still on my health insurance.

My father -in-law is a diabetic, and we always have to watch out for him and make sure he doesn’t go into a daze.  I remember one episode where he didn’t test before leaving work and ended up going into a haze where he could still drive his car but couldn’t control where.  He ended up leaving his job in downtown Austin (TX) and driving straight up highway I35 (a major highway running north) and ending up in a ditch 50 miles north of Austin.  Scary shit.  There have been a number of minor episodes where he’ll space out and you have to give him a candy bar or a coke to get him back.

My brother was diagnosed diabetic 3 weeks ago.  He’s having to learn the whole pattern.  He is not overweight but he does not eat healthy so his diagnosis is out of the blue at 56 years old.  So this has been a strange, stressful month.

So glad my son is looking healthy and in good spirits.  We’ll look back on his hospitalization and all this pandemic activities in the future and wonder how this all could happen on such a large scale, affecting so many lives.

If you’ve read this far – wear a mask when in public around strangers or at work.  It does help.  And wash your hands constantly.

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We thought it wasn’t that bad

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Just Chuck

We were wrong.  Sure we were careful but not in the strict sense.  Wearing our masks, not venturing out too much.  Eating at home.  That is until our middle son woke up Saturday morning asking to be taken to the Emergency Room.  His mother was at his apartment checking how he was doing and noticed he was laboring to breathe while he was sleeping.  He woke up and requested to be taken to ER.

Before this even happened, at 4:00 a.m. that morning his girlfriend had to call an ambulance because he had been throwing up for almost 24 hours.  The EMT checked him out and said “you have no fever, no cough, no Covid symptoms, you must have a stomach virus”.

Upon arrival at the ER, he was checked again, and again, no fever, with only symptom being labored breathing.  They took him back and ran tests.  Then we waited for the dreaded results.

He tested positive for Covid.  What?  Are you sure?  He’s been diligent about masks and staying home.  Yep the Scarlet C.  Once he tested positive he was moved into ICU and we could no longer see him.

He spent a day and night in ICU, then improved enough for them to move him into a CCU (critical care unit) room on Monday.  And a day later he was downgraded to a regular Covid room.  We’ve not seen him since Saturday morning.

It is now late Thursday night, he is doing better but his White Blood Cell (WBC) count was low on Wednesday and so they’ve been monitoring him.  This afternoons report was his WBC was trending upward.  So that is good.

HOWEVER.  As if Covid wasn’t enough, they diagnosed him as diabetic, type 2.  WTF?  What do you mean a 25 year old who is in good health, not overweight contracts diabetes?  So another issue he’s been fighting in the hospital is his insulin level.  It took 2 days to stabilize that.  Then on Tuesday they started teaching him how to test his blood and give himself a shot.  This got us worried because diabetes is a near death sentence if you have Covid.

Everything came crashing down on him and he was crying when we finally got to talk to him over the phone.  I can’t tell you how bad it feels to hear your 25 year old son cry because he is overwhelmed with what is happening to him.  Why is this happening?  How could this happen?

Hopefully Friday brings more positive news and he can look forward to getting released.  Meanwhile those of us who had contact with him in the few days leading up to his ER visit are in self quarantine.  14 days.  And we are monitoring our temperature and oxygen content daily.  Working from home.  Every cough, sore throat or headache is suspect now.  I’m finding it difficult to get a good night sleep.  Worrying about my other sons, my grandson, my wife and myself.  I’ll feel better when these next 8 days of quarantine pass uneventful.

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I swear I’m going to blog regularly

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Just Chuck

I need to use this blog to get shit off my mind. A history of my life too perhaps starting NOW!. Or tomorrow, July 1, 2020. Yeah that sounds like a plan. So get ready for a catch up posting.

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I’ve Got Something to Say

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Just Chuck

Time to start getting more regular in my postings.  Facebook is great for sharing photos and seeing what family and friends are up to, but I’d like to say more.  I used to say more when I had my blog years ago.  So I’m going to comment on stuff and what’s going on and leave it at that.  If you happened on this blog by random coincidence, welcome.

Two weekends ago I went to my first comic book convention.  I wouldn’t call this a convention.  It was pretty small but it was a great one to start with.  Lots of comic vendors and toy vendors.  A couple of handfuls of local COS players.  over 10 writers and artists, some that I know and  enjoy their work.  I went with my oldest son and grand kids.  It was a great little starter experience.  I think I could be ready for a bigger convention now.  I don’t like crowds so this one was right up my alley.  And the kids enjoyed it.  we were there 2 hours and took photos with a number of COS players.  Picked up a bunch of Funko POP figures.  I’ve started a 1966 Batman collection.

So this past weekend, on Friday the wife and I attended a concert.  Frampton and the Steve Miller Band.  Two iconic rock heroes from the 70’s.  I  saw Peter Frampton back in 1979 when I was attending USM.  Had 2nd row seats which was pretty cool.  Frampton opened the show and played all his hits and of course the whole talkbox thing.  He is still a great guitarist even without his hair.  What really made the show special was the stories he told about the past.  Great stuff.

I had never seen Steve Miller so this was a treat.  We used to listen to his album (8 track actually) Book of Dreams when we’d head out on the school bus to play a football game.  Good times.  Steve Miller played all his hits and like Peter Frampton he added stories behind songs or behind the Sitar he bought for $125 that he played.  What I really thought was cool was bringing out Peter Frampton and they played two blues numbers.  I had to giggle.  the people there to see him play his radio hits didn’t know what to think.  This girl 3 rows in front of us had to stop dancing and sit down.  Which brings me to two pet peeves:

  1. people who come to a concert and then talk during it.  two ladies sitting right behind me spent the first two songs of Framptons set talking about their mothers and other stupid shit.  Arrgh!
  2. people who stand up in front of you dancing our just fucking standing there with their hands in their pockets.  Jesus Christ.

Steve Miller and Peter Frampton were entertaining and I’m glad we got the floor tickets and saw them.

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Testing

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Just Chuck

Testing, Testing.  Is this thing on?

It’s me, 5 years later.  Can’t believe this blog is still active and I can still post stuff on it.  I think this just may be the outlet I need to release my opinions and frustrations.  Facebook just isn’t the spot for that.  Facebook is like a family photo album with advertisements and/or a place to find old girlfriends and buddies and try to reconnect. 

Ever wonder how many divorces Facebook has caused thanks to that ability to find old flames, or the one that got away?

So in the past 5 years all my kids are grown and I’ve become an ATM machine.  But I feel blessed.  My parents are still around, my kids and wife are healthy, my grand kids are healthy.  Everyone is well adjusted and no drama.

Things I would like to see:

  1. My oldest son getting a better paying job with benefits.  Either get a degree or learn a trade so he can move up and provide for his family without my support.
  2. My middle son getting a degree or learning a trade and successfully moving out on his own
  3. My youngest son completing his final 2 years of college and getting a good paying job and start paying off his student loans.

In addition to the above I’d like to get out of credit card debt,  Just this year we’ve racked up a bunch of debt due to car repairs, house improvements and my own self indulgence with a new TV, sound system, Mac computer and recording stuff.  And now we have a big beach vacation coming up that was charged on the credit card.  Ouch.

I want to keep this blog thing going so we’ll see how this works.

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Another month gone by

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Just Chuck

Wow I’m only posting things once a month.  That’s sad.  I’m not sure why.  Lack of time?  Not focused on being a writer anymore?  A combination of both those but mostly lazy.  Maybe it’s cause not much happens weekly, even less daily.  Pretty boring life.

Let’s see what’s been happening.  the weight loss has slowed some.  I lost a few more lbs since the last posting.  Now weigh 50 lbs less.  That’s been a big change.  I continue to work on replacing my fence around my backyard.  There is no way I could do that if I stilled weighed 277 lbs.  Not in the Texas heat we’ve had lately.  I continue to play hockey at least once per week and we are signing up for a D league this summer, starts on July 14.

So what’s this about not being a writer?  Yes I’ve stopped my subscription to Writers Digest and really haven’t been doing anything in regards to writing.  Except this blog.  My focus now is on music production.  I’ve been gathering lyric ideas to go with all the guitar riffs I have.  And I’ve pulled out some old song demos with the plan to dust them off and maybe rerecord and add lyrics.  I’m still a member of BMI but I have only one song registered with them.  An old song from 2001 called O.B.L.  It’s a song about Osama Bin Laden and was written a couple of days after September 11.  The lyrics came to me in the shower.  Was pretty easy writing.  Then I added a folk song guitar accompaniment to the lyrics and recorded before I would forget it.  Pretty cheesy 16 years later.

Anyway my focus these days is on my fence, playing hockey, watching my calorie intake and working on my music.  And of course dealing with the day to day issues that come up with the family.

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A Month Later…

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Just Chuck

A little over a month ago was my last posting.  Let’s see… what’s been going on.

Well my youngest son was in the hospital after passing out while driving.  The cause seems to be low blood sugar due to over exertion and lack of hydration.  That was two days in the hospital and the bills are starting to roll in.

File May 19, 2 38 38 PM

The day before that happened my oldest son was in a hit and run car accident.  Some asshole pulled out onto street to go left and clipped the rear end of my son’s car spinning him 360 degrees and into a tall curb.  It totaled the car.  A car that was paid for and ran good.  I got $3300 for that.  There is no way I can find a comparable car for $3300.  So that sucked.

I had to spend a couple of weeks in Virginia for work.  I got to come home for the weekend in between the two weeks but it still sucked.

On a positive note I have lost a total of 47 pounds as of today.  That is since January 6th.  Clothes are getting looser, energy is getting better.  I’ve started playing hockey again.

File May 19, 2 39 20 PM

With the extra energy I’m able to work on stuff around the house.  so I’ve been working on replacing my fence.  I bought a miter saw and table and I’ve been working on one section at a time every weekend.

File May 19, 2 37 41 PM

Finally, I sold my dirt bike.  My 2002 YZ426F is gone.  It was time.  It was a pain to maintain and we only went riding twice last year.  It freed up a lot of space in my garage, space that is now occupied by my miter saw.

It’s been a hell of a month.

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Been on my mind since the election

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Just Chuck

I gotta get something off my mind. It’s been stuck there since the election and I just want to get it out.

I didn’t really vote for Trump. I couldn’t bring myself to actually fill in the circle next to his name (we have forms where you fill in circle with a sharpie like you used to do when taking those special exams in grade school). Instead, I voted straight Republican. I didn’t feel like he was right for the job.  so he got my vote as a by product of my Republican thinking.  Yes I’m a Republican but that’s a whole another posting or discussion.

I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Hillary either. I just couldn’t. She had this air of entitlement that rubbed me the wrong way. A smugness that I couldn’t get past. Plus there were too many questions about her integrity. I didn’t want Status Quo in D.C. anymore either. And probably the biggest reason was her supporters, especially the news networks, who said she had it in the bag. All those worthless talking heads on the 24 hour news networks. God I hate those people. Get a real job! It was so enjoyable on election night to watch these anal-ist see there chosen candidate go down the tubes. Oh it was priceless. They were dumb founded. Wow could this be? It’s the apocalypse. Whine, whine.

Funny thing is eight years ago I would’ve voted for Hillary.

The days after the Hillary loss were extremely amusing. All these people demonstrating. All the whining on Facebook and Twitter. Get over it. Support the President. Be an american.

I didn’t say stop complaining or fully accept Trump. God knows I’ve questioned some of his recent decisions just like I did with Obama or the Bush tandem. I definitely wish he’d stop the whole tweeting shit and act more like a President and less like a spoiled kid not getting his way. He’s pretty transparent in that respect. But he’s the President and there is a reason we have a congress and a supreme court – to offset any stupidity or shenanigans he may try or cause.

So that’s what’s been on my mind. I did but didn’t vote for Trump.  He’s shaking shit up in D.C. which is what I wanted to see. He’s pissing off the news networks which I’m loving.  We’ll see how things turn out.  In the 8 years Obama was in office I’ve had to pay 30% more out of pocket for my health insurance.  Other than that he’s had very little affect on my life.

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