%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  Writings about things that have occurred in my life. Not in Chronological Order |
| Things that have happened in my life, good or bad. The entries will not be in Chronological order |
15 Hours So what's so important about 15 hours? Tomorrow, at about 9:30 am, I get these plastic tubes removed from my nose! It doesn't sound like much, I've posted no selfies of my face with the tubes inserted (for good reason, I don't want to gross anyone out, plus it's a quite a bit TMI if you ask me), but I really can't wait. Let me explain. The tubes are not very big in diameter, smaller than a cigarette. I have no idea of their length since they were inserted while I was still under anesthesia, then again, I do. They are probably 3 inches in length or so, and press against an optic nerve near the bridge of my nose. Any bump or movement of the tubes causes excruciating pain; you know, the kind that brings tears to your eyes. Plus they 'leak' of course, since my sinus passages are slowly healing. A short length of black thread is tied to them and taped up on the bridge of my nose, that will be used in extracting them tomorrow. Thank the heavens that they will numb that area before removing them! Despite what I've said so far, there isn't much pain with them, it's more of a major discomfort. It's just that they are a 'pain', you know what I mean. Being so uncomfortable, it makes it hard to do anything, hard to concentrate, and prohibits almost any thought of going out in public, even wearing a mask. Daily chores have been put on the back-burner, I'm doing what must be done, and that's about all. My biggest fear though, is this. Suppose they say, "Oh Jim, you haven't healed enough. Those need to remain in place another week..." My reply will be something like this. "They have to come out today. Either you remove them here, or I will do it once I get home." I'm fairly certain they will be removed, I'm not bleeding, haven't been since Friday. But we'll see, huh! On a side note, the good thing in all this, if there's anything good to be found, is that my appetite is way down. As a result, I've lost 7-8 pounds since last Wednesday. Now to keep it off.... Y'all keep on writing, maybe even post a few Anniversary Reviews. That would make my day, and month. Till next time, love to you all. Take care of yourself, be healthy, be safe, be happy, and most of all; Love, and Be Loved. |
A Day At The Races Okay, so I wasn't actually at a race, but I spent the early afternoon watching the Indianapolis 500. I believe this is the first time I've been able to watch this the whole time. There's always been something that popped up to interfere with my viewing pleasure, but it's been okay. I feel a little history is in order. I've been an Indy-car fan for over 60 years now. It started when we lived in Milwaukee Wisconsin from 1960 to 1962. The Wisconsin State Fair held a Indy-Car race during the fair, and I listened with my father to the race both years we were there. Being only 6 or 7, I quickly grew to idolize one of the racers, Eddie Sachs. Every year my father would prepare a sheet to document the Indy 500 race standings every 25 miles of the race. This was 1962 or so, he would prepare this paper before the race, and fill it out as the race progressed. Sadly, my idol and Indy-car hero was killed in a horrific crash on lap 2 of the 1964 Indy 500. But filling that paper out, listening to the race on the radio, became a 'thing' for me. Yet I never listened (or watched, once it came to the television) a complete race. Today I did that, and loved every minute of it. Helio Castroneves became the fourth driver to win the race 4 times. This was last done in 1991 by Rick Mears. He joins the elite group of Rick Mears, A.J. Foyt, and Al Unser. Five years ago I was given the birthday gift of a lifetime. I was given the chance to take a 30 minute course on driving an Indy-car, then had the opportunity to actually drive one on the Chicagoland Speedway! It wasn't new by any means, was probably a good 10-15 years old, and had an engine limiter on it so you couldn't go faster than 175 mph. Still.... I was in heaven. During the course, they told us a few things, one of them being to put the pedal to the metal and don't let up. The car would not skid or flip on us. They were right. My fastest lap ended up being right at 150 mph. Not quite what I'd hoped to reach, yet at the same time, faster than I thought I was going while in the car. Yes, that's the car I drove in the photo below. A special gift, a special day, and for me, a special race. Now to see about maybe getting tickets to the race one day.    Jim Dorrell |
Sinus Surgery 5/26/21 Due to that ongoing cough I've had for a while now, and other sinus issues, the ENT (and other specialists) decided that Sinus Surgery should be performed. Yesterday was the big day, which leaves me with one big statement to make. "I can't believe there are people who will voluntarily undergo a procedure like this just so their nose will 'look better'!" Yes, I realize that's a different type of surgery altogether, but it's in the same area, I'm sure they felt the same afterwards as I did yesterday. Maybe I'm just a wimp.... For me, the surgery itself was a breeze. I checked in at 11:30 am for my 1 pm appointment, and was quickly ushered to a waiting room. I went through the typical barrage of questions that had been answered many times before, and the nurse started an IV, and the fun began. First, the IV was nothing, even though she warned me beforehand. She numbed my hand first, and cautioned about the sting (I felt nothing), then a burning due to the numbing medicine being injected. Again, I felt nothing. As she inserted the needle for the IV, she said, "A lot pressure and sting." I felt nothing, she had numbed it well. After that, it was a waiting game for at least an hour. They finally came to wheel me to the operating room, as they were pushing my bed, one of them said, "I've already given you a light sedative, you might feel some lightheadedness." I said something back about I expected it, but I don't recall exactly what I said. Anyway, I don't remember arriving in the exact room, I don't recall being moved to a different bed, I was out. The next thing I was aware of, is waking with my nose stuffed, some minor pain, and being told over and over to breathe deep to get my blood oxygen level above 90. Eventually I was sent home with instructions on after care. Those instructions weren't given to me of course, but we knew what to do at least. I slept the evening away, and through most of the night, waking at 4 am. There's not a lot of pain, then again, I was prescribed Norco. I will stop taking that sometime today if I can, but do have a week's supply available. I have the next two weeks off, with activity restrictions in place. No bending over, no lifting anything over 10 pounds, I must sleep with my head elevated at least 30 degrees (Thank God for our nice reclining love seat!) for about a week. There is a tube stuck in each nostril to keep things clear, and I have a 'mustache dressing' taped in place that is changed every hour or so. (Mustache dressing = gauze rolled and taped above my upper lip). I even thought of a 'joke' I could post here about all this.... It would go something like this. Scenario - We're sitting around talking about our past, where we've been, where we'd like to go back to. Eventually she says, "I would love to go someplace I haven't been in a long time." I reply, "How about the kitchen?" Insert post-op selfie labeled, Me, after her reply., followed by the statement... "I am recovering nicely, and will be able to smell things again in about 2 weeks!" Seriously, I am fine really, and will rest all I can, while I can. Love to you all, take care of yourselves! |
French Horn When I was in the 4th grade, the girl of my dreams joined the elementary school band. I begged my parents to let me join, never telling them about Rita Sanchez being the reason I wanted to join. No matter how I pleaded, the answer was always a resounding, "No!" Their reasoning was that most likely I wouldn't continue it and give it up after a couple of months. We were poor as could be, getting an instrument for me was out of the question. When I started the 5th grade, I was determined to be in band, just so I could be with the love of my life. Now understand one thing. Rita Sanchez didn't know I existed. She was cute, she was my first crush, and I needed to be near her as much as I could. I thought that being in band with her would lead to us finally getting to talk. I was far too shy to go up to her and say hi. Besides, she was gorgeous (in my eyes), and I was just a nerdy, gangly boy. Luckily for me, my parents relented and finally let me sign up for band. I was all set, I would play Trumpet, and play it so well that she would notice me, and we'd be a couple forever. Except now there were two problems. First, my parents couldn't afford to buy me a trumpet, so we would have to rent an instrument from the school system. There was yet another problem. The school system didn't rent trumpets. The only instruments they rented were trombones, baritones, Tuba/Sousaphones, and French Horns. I thought about it some, and decided on the French Horn. Why? I knew what the other instruments looked like, but had no idea what a French Horn looked like, and thought I'd play that. And that's how I ended up playing French Horn from the fifth grade through HS graduation. Oh, and Rita? Well, she didn't continue band in the 5th grade.... We went to different Middle Schools/Junior High Schools, but the same High School. I never did speak to her, she never knew I was alive. I was fine though, I'd found a new love in music. |
30 DBC Prompt 5/23 Write about nicknames. What nicknames do you have for people in your life? What nicknames do others use to refer to you? Do any of these names have an interesting story for how they came to be? I've only had one nickname in my life, Buddy. I got this when I was very young, thanks to my sister. I think it was because she couldn't pronounce my given name (James) very well, and heard everyone referring to me as their little buddy. Well, she couldn't pronounce Buddy either, but called me Bubby. Whatever, I don't mind what I'm called, as long as I'm not called "Late For Dinner"  I don't really call anyone by a nickname, to me you use their given name. On a side note, don't get me started on the whole 'letters used in place of the name' thing. Example, his name is Terrell Owens, not TO. Change your name legally, that's fine. But as long as it's your legal name, then it should be used. Yes, I know. I'm old school. At work, a couple of close friends call me JD, including the man who was my mentor when I hired in. Now, he's the Director of North American training, and still calls me JD. I don't mind, but I'd never refer to myself in that way. Is that a double standard, considering how I feel about people calling Terrell Owens TO? Yes. No. Maybe. I'm waffling here. I guess my view on it is I wouldn't correct any of Terrell Owens' friends for calling him TO, but the media should use his real name. Make sense? Not really, but it works for me. Just MHO, and I know what it's worth. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
Oops... there she blows!