« July 2007 | Main | September 2007 »
August 30, 2007
Story Update
We're going to Kingston today, may stay overnight.
Anyway, I'll have the next chapter up by Saturday night at the latest.
Posted by OldGuy at 7:23 AM | Comments (2)
August 28, 2007
He's Home Again
The lad came home last night after all. I went to see him shortly after that last update and the specialist had just been in. He asked the lad if he was feeling okay, which he was, and if he wanted to go home, which he most definitely did. So after setting up a follow up appointment he was released, and boy, was he glad to get out. Anyway, he's home safe and sound and we're all breathing a sigh of relief.
Last night before I went to bed I gave his left arm a little squeeze and said I was glad to have him home, forgetting that he'd had an IV line and several needles in that arm for two days. His reaction was quite interesting. It was almost as though his vision had suddenly narrowed so completely that he no longer saw me as a whole person but rather as a single, small yet vital body part, the name of which I am loath to reveal.
I'm on vacation again this week. Circumstances being what they are we're sticking close to home, maybe a little trip to Kingston on Thursday but that's about it. That's fine by me, I can use the rest.
I'm going to try to get the next chapter of the story up by the end of the week, however it may go until next week. Sorry about that, but as they say in the movies "c'est la vie."
Once again, thanks to everyone who dropped by and inquired about the lad, your concern was greatly appreciated. I'll be dropping in on all of you over the next few days.
Last but not least, I've been taking sunset pictures again. Yesterday I decided to Photoshop one of them just for fun. Before and after pictures are top and bottom. Not bad if I say so myself.
Posted by OldGuy at 10:48 AM | Comments (10)
August 27, 2007
Update On the Lad
Thanks everyone for all your comments and prayers, they are greatly appreciated.
The lad is still in hospital as he hasn't seen the specialist yet and they're still trying to get his numbers settled down. He should be home by tomorrow.
The DKA was quite a scare. Although I had suspected this the other night, I wasn't sure until I read up on the condition again yesterday (it's been a couple of years since we underwent diabetes education); turns out he could have have had heart problems with this too. See, one of the things DKA does is lower potassium levels in the blood, and potassium is necessary for proper functioning of all muscles, including the heart. Normal levels should be between 22-25. The other night when I brought him in he was at 2.8. As a result his heart was beating way too fast (yeah I know, you'd think it would slow down but it speeds up as it works to send blood to vital organs to keep them from shutting down). If this had gone on much longer he might have gone into cardiac arrythmia. Through the night, besides giving him lots of intravenous fluids and insulin they also gave him 6 huge (yes huge, they looked like they were meant for a horse) vials of potassium, testing his levels after each. They also ran several EKG's to make sure his heart wasn't compromised.
Anyway, he's feeling better today but they're still keeping him until tomorrow just to make sure he's okay. He's not happy about that but he doesn't have any say in the matter.
Then begins the process of getting him back on track again as it looks like he let his diabetes control slip up a bit after he left home a few months ago.
Posted by OldGuy at 5:26 PM | Comments (1)
August 26, 2007
DKA
It stands for diabetic ketoacidosis and it's a complication of Type 1 diabetes. It's usually seen in people who haven't yet been diagnosed. They get sick, go to the hospital, and a diagnosis of diabetes is made (if it hasn't been caught before this).
It can also occur in previously diagnosed patients whose blood sugars have been out of whack for a period of time.
DKA may take time to develop but once the body enters into it the symptoms come on quite rapidly, nausea and vomitting being the most alarming ones. Left untreated DKA is almost always fatal.
So why am I mentioning this ?
As some of you know the lad has Type 1 diabetes. Yesterday he woke up feeling out of sorts and by the time I took him to the hospital at 3 a.m. he was in full-blown DKA. I was at the hospital until 11 a.m. when my wife came and took over. Knowing her she'll spend the night with him even if they tell her to go home.
He should be okay, but he'll probably be in the hospital until tomorrow.
At one point last night he was laying in the hospital bed with his eyes closed. He was shaking and I could tell that his eyes were rolling around under his eyelids. I got a little concerned so called a nurse over and asked her if he was okay. She replied "he's very sick."
It scared the hell out of me.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:48 PM | Comments (7)
August 24, 2007
The Work Gloves, Part 2
Charlie felt like hell.
He'd hardly slept in three days, and when he did manage to nod off he saw the Chinaman's hands in his dreams.
He'd lost his appetite. When he sat down to a meal he mostly pushed his food around on his plate until he got tired of the exercise then he threw everything out.
He'd started drinking. Not a lot, a drink after work, another one before bed, sometimes one in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep, but he suspected it would get worse before long. A lot worse.
And at work - if you can call what I do work he sometimes thought, what I really do is stand guard over slaves - he couldn't help but stare at the Chinaman's hands.
Those goddamn, long-fingered, ruined and ravaged hands.
Charlie couldn't understand how the Chinaman worked with his hands messed up like that, yet work he did, harder than any of them, hell, harder than any man Charlie had ever seen.
Sometimes Charlie looked at his own hands and wondered how they'd feel all cut up and blistered like that. He thought the pain would have driven him crazy by now.
But the Chinaman just kept laying track.
On the fifth day after the Chinaman had come to him and asked for a pair of gloves Charlie took him aside.
"What the hell did you do to me ?' he asked
"I did nothing to you Charlie, I only asked for a pair of gloves" the Chinaman replied.
"You did a lot more than that, you did some Chinee magic and now I can't get you out of my head" replied Charlie.
"No Charlie, I did nothing. Perhaps my request bothers you because you see."
"See what, the only thing I see are your goddamn bloody hands." replied Charlie.
"Then you see enough." replied the Chinaman, as he turned and left.
Later that day Charlie went to the supply depot and asked for a pair of gloves. When the clerk asked him what he needed them for Charlie didn't know what to say. If he lied and said he was doing some work the clerk would know he was lying, Charlie was a foremen and foremen didn't do physical labour. If he told the truth and said he was going to give them to a Chinaman the clerk would refuse to give them to him. He might even report him and Charlie would lose his job for going soft.
Charlie briefly considered breaking into the depot later that night but if he got caught, again, he'd lose his job.
Then he remembered the gloves Emily had given him not long before she died, the ones she'd bought him because she said she didn't want him to ruin his hands, the strong yet gentle hands that farmed their land by day and made love to her by night, the hands that no longer knew the feel of the soft brown earth but were very familiar with the feel of a gun.
Posted by OldGuy at 3:16 PM | Comments (6)
August 21, 2007
The Story Below
2 things.
1.) First of all, this story is going to be a bit longer than I expected so I've decided to split it up into 2-3 parts. Besides, there are still a few details to work out.
2.) No disrespect is meant to anyone by this story. It takes place in the 1800's, and that's the way things were.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:08 PM | Comments (3)
The Work Gloves, Part 1
All the foremen hated the Chinese.
All except for Charlie.
Charlie didn't care about them one way or the other, they were just labour. If a Chinaman died laying track you replaced him, if he lived, you worked him harder tomorrow. That was just the way it was, you did your job. Emotion didn't enter into it any more than it entered into any part of Charlie's life since his wife died.
So when the Chinaman came to him, palms raw and bleeding from laying track with his bare hands, and asked for a pair of gloves, Charlie didn't get angry and beat the crap out of him like the other foremen would have done. Instead he peered at him intently, trying to read him.
The Chinaman had asked politely, "May I have a pair of gloves please ?" and that was okay, but the way he'd looked directly into Charlie's eyes, head held high, not looking down at his feet, not deferring to him, that bugged him a little. And there was the fact that he'd asked in the first place. None of the Chinamen ever asked the foremen for anything, preferring to stay as far away from them as possible. But not this one. He'd walked up, looked Charlie in the eyes, and asked. Had he known Charlie wouldn't hit him or had he risked being beaten ? Charlie didn't know and that bugged him too.
Charlie's initial reaction was to say no, after all, you didn't lend work gloves to a Chinaman. At best the other foremen would shun him, at worst he'd get fired. Not that he actually cared what the other foremen thought but he had to work with them and they were sometimes good for a free drink on a Saturday night. More importantly, he needed the job.
On the other hand the Chinaman had gotten to him, something few people had done since Emily died and Charlie started his slow but steady decline into the land of "I don't give a damn."
So he'd sent the Chinaman away, saying he'd think about it
And think about it he did.
All that day.
All that night, when he couldn't sleep because he kept seeing the Chinaman's ruined hands in his head.
All the next day, when he couldn't help but watch the Chinaman's hands as he worked.
Raw, bleeding.
And the Chinaman never complained, he just worked and waited.
What the hell was going on ? Had the Chinaman jinxed him, woven a magic spell and gotten inside his head ?
Once again Charlie didn't know, and once again it bugged him.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:06 PM | Comments (4)
A Haiku
The train moves too fast
His fevered brain trapped inside
The young man derails
Posted by OldGuy at 12:29 PM | Comments (2)
An Encounter
I saw her again on the bus this morning.
That woman.
Sitting quietly.
Reading.
Once in a while up looking up.
Acting no different than anybody else.
As if her life is still the same.
As if nothing changed.
I know better of course, I remember what hapened.
As do others, I mean hey, it was all over the news right ?
Yet she sits quietly, reading her book, waiting for her stop.
I want to say something to her, I've thought about it often since, well, since that time.
But I don't because I'm afraid.
And besides, what would I say ?
So I wait for my stop, get off, and go on my way.
Wondering.
How does she do it ?
It's been two almost two years since this lady's daughter was kidnapped and murdered.
Posted by OldGuy at 9:01 AM
August 20, 2007
"Why the Hell Was I Over There ?"
My wife and I had an evening out last night. She won free tickets (yes, again) to see Rich Little at the Civic Centre. The show was at 7 p.m. so we left a little early so we could get a bite to eat on the way and walk around the fair a little bit before heading indoors for the show. While we were walking about we took in a show put on by a local group of break dancers. There were five or six of them, all pretty good, but two in particular were absolutely amazing. They did spins, handstands, jumping handstands, all sorts of neat stuff. These guys were talented and in amazing physical shape. Of course, the oldest one looked maybe 18, I mean hey, I could've done that when I was 18 too. Okay, maybe not.
The highlight of the evening was Mr. Rich Little himself. Rich is from Ottawa and of course he played on that a little (get it, little, he he). He did a great show, imitating all sorts of people. At one point he did say though that anyone under 40 probably wouldn't enjoy the show because he does mostly older, deader people (and if you're old or dead you know who you are; ha, I kill myself), guys like Milton Berle, Jimmy Stewart, etc. The youngest people he did were Neil diamond and Glen Campbell and even they're getting long in the tooth. He did a skit where he imitated several US presidents, including Ronald Reagan. When he does Reagan the skit starts with him walking to one end of the stage and pretending to talk to the audience. Of course the mic is still at centre stage so nobody can hear him. One of the band members calls him back and when he gets to the mic he looks around, as if totally confused, and utters the very presidential phrase "Why the hell was I over there ?" It was hilarious.
Anyway, we had a good time, and the walk back to the car was quite pleasant too as we'd parked in a nice area of town and the evening was warm.
All in all it was a very enjoyable evening.
Oh, and the work gloves story should be up by tomorrow night.
Posted by OldGuy at 11:33 AM | Comments (4)
August 17, 2007
TGIF, Woo Hoo !
Although it was a short week I'm still glad it's Friday. Getting up for work after a week of sleeping late sucks so it'll be nice to sleep in tomorrow.
Not a whole lot going on right now. The Princess is going to a friend's place tonight to watch High School Musical 2 and have a sleepover. There are going to be a few other girls there too so she should have fun. The lad is making dinner tonight, Chicken Teriyaki, looking forward to that.
We don't have any big plans for the weekend, the only sure thing is that we'll take in the Greek Festival as we do every year. We really do enjoy it, there's always good music, good dancing, good food, and it's just plain fun.
I finally started writing the story about the work gloves yesterday. I expect it's going to take a few days as it'll probably be a little longer than my usual stuff. I also started a little poem yesterday. It might be spooky or it might just be silly, not sure yet, the first stanza just popped into my head while I was on the bus yesterday so I wrote it down.
Oh hey, I've been playing around with Photoshop again too, it's been months since I touched it. Not so much making things as playing around with some of the pictures I've taken with my digital camera. Maybe I'll post a few more of them.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm flitting from one thing to another again, but I finally figured something out the last few months. The writing is what I enjoy the most. The Photoshoppping is fun and I'll continue to do it but in the end I always come back to the writing.
Anyway, that's it for now folks.
Cheerio.
Posted by OldGuy at 12:53 PM | Comments (1)
August 14, 2007
Weird word
Saw this (pun intended) in the glasses store last night.
"Presbyopia". I thought it was the inability to see Presbyterians.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:13 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
August 13, 2007
I'm A New Man
Got new glasses, a hair cut, renewed my medications, and got a new book.
I'm good to go !
Posted by OldGuy at 9:44 PM | Comments (6)
August 11, 2007
Overheard While Camping
"I caught a frog !"
"Can I go swimming ?"
"The topping fell off my pizza.""
"I like dark chocolate s'mores better."
"Man, look at all the stars !"
"Where's the bug spray ?"
"Who wants a beer ?"
"How long did I swim today ?"
"Can you guys turn it down, we're trying to sleep."
"Look at that sunset !"
"I'm just gonna veg and watch a movie."
"Your dad's taking our picture."
"Dad, will you take me swimming again ?"
"She knows every kid here already."
"Now I'm relaxing."
"She invited all her friends for s'mores."
"I'll do it later."
"Look at the picture I got of the kids on the dock at sunset !"
Posted by OldGuy at 5:02 PM | Comments (5)
August 7, 2007
Summer Fun
I'm on holidays again this week. I also have another week at the end of August. We may go away for a few days tomorrow. My brother-in-law has a trailer near a lake not too far from here so we'd like to go for a few days. The Princess has never been camping and she'd really enjoy that. Of course we all want to get away for a few days. The lad just got back from a weekend at a friend's cottage so he may or may not want to join us. Hopefully he will.
We've been trying to keep busy the last couple of days. On Friday night we went to the Busker Festival with a friend and his daughter and a couple of other girls. We took the same crew to a water park yesterday. The picture is from the Busker Festival; the girls had just gotten light sticks. Today was a quiet day as my wife was a little under the weather. I managed to weed the garden and fix the speakers in the back of the car, which hadn't been working for quite some time. Actually I didn't really fix them, I just jiggled some wires and played with the controls until they started working. I guess that was all they needed.
We've had some gorgeous sunsets here lately and I've taken a whole bunch of pictures of them. Although I posted one last week I might post another one some time as they're just too beautiful not to share (at least I think so). I'm also thinking about a poem that has to do with the end of day. It's just an idea right now but it keeps working at me. I'm still thinking about that black and green Duster down the street too as well as the picture of the work gloves I posted a few weeks ago. There are a couple of stories there.
Anyway, it's the middle of the night so I should get back to bed where I belong.
Cheers.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:53 AM | Comments (5)
August 2, 2007
The Poem Below
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last couple of years you've heard of Build-a-Bear, that place where kids make their own little friends, dress them, give them a name, then make their birth certificates.
The princess has seven of them. Let me introduce you.
Posted by OldGuy at 6:04 PM | Comments (8)
Huggable Friends
My name is Cookie
I'm the oldest of the bunch
I'm not as strong as a wookie
Bit I'll happily join you for lunch
I'm Mr. Munk Munk
Hockey is my game
I'm a furry little hunk
Destined for the Hall of Fame
I'm a cuddly little rabbitt
By the name of Annabelle
I'll make loving you a habit
Coz I think you're really swell
I'm sweet little Pumpkin Pie
And I really love Halloween
So get your broom and let's fly
Time to make that spooky scene
I'm the one they call Max
And I'm not fond of bugs
But if you feed me tasty snacks
I'll give you a million hugs
If you're ever in a jam
Or you can't sleep at night
I'm your friend Laura Lamb
And you can hug me tight
If you're feeling crabby
Come and have a chat
Coz with a name like Gabbie
I just love to chew the fat
Posted by OldGuy at 9:58 AM | Comments (5)