Is it July already?

Once again, quite a long time has elapsed since my last post. A little over half a year since my New Years Day post for 2014. I'd like to say that the reason I haven't posted is that I've been extremely busy and preoccupied with other things, but that is not the case. However the year so far has had some noteworthy events to share with you all.

Since the last post, the one year anniversary of my time here at Echostar/Sling passed. Along with a fairly decent annual review and raise. I am definitely enjoying my time here, and still believe that getting laid off from my Northrop Grumman position was a blessing in disguise.

My one year anniversary at Echostar is noteworthy, but so far the highlight of the year (and perhaps the last couple years) is something that I would never have thought possible a few years back. It pretty much deserves its own post, so I will only touch upon it here. Last month, June, my daughter Reagan came to California for a visit. In her 13 years, this was the first time that I had the opportunity to spend time with just my daughter. I'll expand on her visit in another post, but overall it was a pretty good time.

That said, there is still not much else new. Still putting off getting my hip surgery, and two of the three motorcycles still need repair of some degree. Hell, the Dyna even now seems to be starting to make a little top end noise. At 36k miles, it likely needs a valve adjustment and perhaps a look at the cam chain. But, if I do one thing well, it's procrastinate.

That's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have some time to write about Reagan's visit sooner rather than later. Until then, take care and enjoy the day.

I'm not a Hipster - Part 2

Like I said, I really cannot get into the habit of posting on a regular basis. But while waiting to head out for dinner, I figured I'm long overdue. Besides, there has been something on my mind that I wanted to share.

It was at the beginning of the year when I posted I'm not a Hipster, the story about my 1984 motorcycle accident and my bad left hip. For the most part, I've been more than happy to procrastinate and continue to put off having the hip replacement surgery. But lately, the words of the orthopedic surgeon that repaired my broken femur after the accident and later diagnosed my bad hip are really starting to hit home. It was sometime in the late 1980s when I was first diagnosed with hip problems and at that time Dr. John Calhoun Killian told me this about getting a hip replacement. He said that I would get along just fine for a while, perhaps needing aspirin now and then. As time progresses, I would probably switch to the stronger OTC pain meds (back in the day ibuprofen was recently available without a prescription). He went on to say that at some point I will then start taking prescription, probably narcotic, pain medications. Finally he said, I will finally get fed up with the pain and discomfort and opt for the surgery. A reason for not just getting the surgery when the issue was first discovered is simple. The replacements wear out, and since I was much younger then, I would likely be on my 2nd or 3rd replacement by now. Well, those who know me have heard me say that the time is coming soon for a while now. It's been about 4 years since I filled my first prescription for Hydrocodone. This time, I'm thinking that it may really be that time.

For years, riding my motorcycle didn't bother or aggravate the hip. As a matter of fact, there were times that I felt a little stiff and cramped getting on the bike, but after a nice ride I felt fine when I got off. That is no longer the case. In the last few weeks or months I've noticed a change in that now riding the motorcycle exacerbates any pain or cramps as well as creates pain when it wasn't there before the ride. My sister told me that one time she was discussing my hip issues with my father and she said I would probably not get the surgery until I couldn't ride. She may have been right. The frequency and level of pain I've been suffering from the past few months is really starting to get to me. Hell, just getting on and off the bike is a chore. I even tried to ride my bicycle a couple weeks ago, and could not for the life of me get my leg over the seat! If I didn't know better, I would bet that I've lost more range of motion in the last 3 or 4 months than I have in the 3 or 4 years prior. Tying the shoelaces on my left sneaker is almost impossible. Where the pain and discomfort used to be something that was easily dismissed and dealt with, it is now front and center almost every day. So I guess, the time really is near. Exactly when, still undetermined. But definitely looming on the horizon.

I'm not a hipster

Twenty-eight years ago this coming July 22, I had a serious motorcycle accident. The last vehicle in a chain of three or four that collided while avoiding a car that had entered the Northern State Parkway in an unsafe manner. The bike went into a high-slide when I tried to lay it down, and I slammed into the back bumper of a Buick 225. I will admit, I am partially to blame.

I ended up with a compound fracture of my left femur, and some nerve damage that caused 'foot drop' of my left foot. I was hospitalized for just under six weeks. During that time, things got dicey when a fat embolism made its way to one of my lungs. The surgery to repair my leg, inserting a titanium rod (sometimes called a Kushner Rod) in the femur had to wait until the embolism was cleared up. Combined with an external prosthetic brace, the rod allows one to begin putting weight on the leg immediately after being discharged from the hospital. This reduces or eliminates the muscle atrophy that one would get if the leg was in a cast for a few months. I forget how long I ended up wearing the brace as I progressed from using two crutches, to one crutch, and then to a cane. I used cane regularly for quite a few years, perhaps six or seven, maybe a little more.

A couple years later I returned to the hospital to have the titanium rod removed. I was only in the hospital for a day. I had asked to keep the rod, but I never did get it. Around that same time, the 'foot drop' went away quite suddenly. I had been going for testing, and surgery was suggested to correct the nerve damage. But one day while hanging out with a friend at her job, I noticed that I was tapping my foot to music. With the rod removed and the nerve damage gone, it seemed that the ordeal was completely behind me. Or so I thought...

Not too long after I began to suffer from back pain after walking, running, etc. When it got bad enough to visit the doctor, a leg length discrepancy was discovered. My left leg was now about a half inch or so shorter than my right. X-Rays showed that my left hip was starting to develop arthritis. The doctor theorized that it could have been an unnoticed hairline fracture at the time of the accident. I was measured for a prosthesis (a lift that fits inside my left sneaker) and the back pain did go away. But at that time, the orthopedic doctor told me the progression I should expect. He said I'd be fine for a while, perhaps needing an aspirin or two now and then. After that, I will likely switch to the stronger OTC meds for more frequent and severe bouts of pain (at the time Ibuprofen was the drug that you no longer required a prescription for). He said the next phase would be that I would end up taking perhaps twice the listed dosage on a frequent, if not regular, basis to deal with the hip and leg pain as the hip deteriorates further. After that, prescription pain killers. This is the phase I have been at for the last three years. My regular doctor had tried to prescribe anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs like Celebrex, but they barely took the edge off the pain, let alone make it go away. So the last three years, I have been taking Vicodin aka Hydrocodone. Not every day mind you, just when the pain gets past a certain threshold. It gets tricky now and then, deciding whether or not to take the opioid. Some days, I wait too long and end up 'chasing the pain'. When that happens, even taking the max dose of Vicodin does little more than soften the edge of the pain. The last phase as you can guess is that I finally opt for the hip replacement surgery. Why not just get it done years ago you ask? The replacements wear out, and if I were to have had it replaced when first discovered I probably would have had it redone once or twice since then. The doctor years ago suggested I wait until I can't deal with the pain any longer.

And that's almost where I am now. I saw a specialist at Stanford University Hospital a couple times the last two years. The bad news he gave me last time was that my hip is getting near a point where the damage will make the surgery and recovery more difficult. But I am still thinking of the logistics of being out of work for a couple months, getting around immediately following the surgery, and other related issues. Then again, the increased pain has had other effects. I'm less mobile these days, and that's causing a bit of a weight gain issue. Of course the gain in weight makes it more painful to be mobile, which goes back to the beginning of the cycle. When will I get my hip replaced? I'm not sure, but at this point I know that I need to pull the trigger sooner rather than later.

Born to be wild

Sitting on my couch, watching the NASCAR Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on ESPN. It's Labor Day weekend and therefore I have the day off tomorrow. But this post isn't about Labor Day, nor is it about NASCAR. Back in July, I said that I should perhaps tell the story of how the movie "Easy Rider" had an impact on my life. So here goes.

The movie "Easy Rider" was released in 1969. Directed by Dennis Hopper (1936-2010), and written by Hopper along with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern. I'm not going to summarize the movie, but if you're someone who isn't familiar with it, please go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064276/.

Now I didn't see it in the movies, as I was eight years old in 1969. I'm not quite sure exactly when I did see it, but I think I was ten or eleven years old (1971 or 1972) at the time. I remember being sick with a cold, flu, or some other ailment. I was having trouble sleeping, and my mom let me stay up in the living room and watch television. "Easy Rider" happened to be the late late movie or something like that, starting at maybe 1:00am or something. As a young boy, seeing the motorcycles on the screen while I was changing channels looking for something to watch, I had stopped searching and took my spot on the couch. I think I caught it right near the beginning. As a young boy I obviously was interested in cars, motorcycles, and anything else with a motor that made noise. :) Sears catalogs would have mini-bikes and go-carts, and like every other boy my age, one or the other would be on my Christmas list every year.

So there I was, feeling under the weather, not being able to sleep, and watching a movie that contained themes and images I didn't quite understand. To me, the stars of the movies were the motorcycles. The big star was the Captain America bike ridden by Peter Fonda. Lots of chrome and the stars and stripes paint job on the gas tank, quite an impression to a young boy. But it wasn't just the motorcycles. I may not have fully understood the scenes depicting drug use and other adult issues, but something inside of me understood the feeling of being out on the road. Something inside my head clicked that night. I started drawing choppers in my school notebooks, and buying the chopper type motorcycle magazines that were allowed to be sold to minors. I knew that when I got older, I would be riding a motorcycle all over this great country.

Time did pass, and I owned a few different motorcycles over the years. And yes, I did ride across the country and through 42 states on my first Harley Davidson. Also, somewhere along the line as I matured I started to appreciate the motorcycle ridden by Dennis Hopper, aka "Billy", in the movie. I think that's common with a lot of fans of the movie who ride. Would I have been this interested in motorcycles (mainly Harleys and Choppers) have I not seen "Easy Rider" that night years ago? I guess we can never know. But I did the see the movie and I believe it had an impact on my life as it is today.

Thank you Dennis Hopper. RIP.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way I can watch the last half of the race still going on. Going to wash the SRT8 tomorrow, and grill up some steak for dinner later in the day. For those of you celebrating the holiday, enjoy it.

Until next time, take care.