And the good news is....

Well it turns out I don't have Barrett's esophagus which is pretty nice because that would have meant I had a sort of pre-cancerous condition. I do have something going on in the esophagus and in the stomach with inflammation I guess is the best way to put it. So I am on one of those antacid things that I have to take every day and I can't eat anything that I used to eat (which is probably good too but my taste buds don't believe it yet). I still have the anxiety, shakes, and all that other stuff that evidently is from stress (mostly self induced). But I'll try to deal with that in my own private battle. I thought maybe posting stuff to the blog will help to deal with it but that might just be spreading it out to those who read the blog. I'm sort of like a carrier when it comes to stress. It's only recently that I've started to feel the effects myself.

This holiday weekend has been pretty good. We showed the rental home to two people but it was cold cloudy and foggy so that didn't do us much good. Add to that the fact that the house smells like a smoking lounge at an airport and I don't think we are putting our best foot forward. Still one of the people that looked at it seemed pretty interested. We have taken the craigslist posting down because we figure it is best to paint and fix up and fumigate before showing it to more people. If this person doesn't take it we will wait to show it until after fix up takes place.

Spent two days at Bodega Bay at my aunt's place. My cousins were also visiting with their families so there were 11 people and 3 dogs staying in the one house but there was plenty of room for everyone. The weather yesterday was great sunny and almost warm but today on Memorial Day the clouds, fog, and cold returned.

Well that's the update for now. My comedy writing has been on hold the last two months - no more on hold than the previous 50 years but this time sort of on intentional hold. I'm going to have to bear down and get on with it. There is so much going on at work that I can't seem to get my mind into being funny. Somehow that seems funny in itself.

the john

And I think I'm going out of my head

My neck now seems to be the least of my problems. After many many different tests, ECG, EKG, Tilt table tests, blood tests, and finally an endoscopy (they put a camera on a hose down your throat and look at your stomach among other things). Well I found out that I am way vitamin D deficient, B12 deficient and a few other things like testosterone which was almost nil. Now those of you that know me at all may find the testosterone thing weird but I am now officially on steroids for the rest of my life as the doctor explains it. I'm still having trouble with shakes, anxiety, and general unrest from lack of sleep but I'm trying to do something about that. I have to wait until the biopsies come back on my esophagus and stomach but they already told me I have GERD or acid reflux, and some ulcers so my diet is now restricted to everything that I never ate before and I can't drink or eat anything that was part of my normal diet before. So no fat, no pepper, no carbonated beverages (that means I can't have a half gallon of diet coke for breakfast anymore) no caffeine (so no more 6 cups of coffee a day), no acidic fruits or vegetables so no tomatoes, pizza, curry, etc. So I don't know what I'm going to do for food from here on out. Fat free blueberry muffins may become my only meal. You know I'm trying to find the humor in all of this and I haven't gotten there yet but I think with enough time I can turn this into comedy.

the john

Neck and Back pains

I've probably already let everyone know about my herniated disk and arthritis in my neck which causes me to wear one of those white neck braces which causes me to look like an egg in an egg coddler. Well I thought I had problems. It turns out that Ginny's lower back pains which she has been suffering since March of last year (08) is caused by a stress fracture. She has tried chiropractors, physical therapy and tylenol but she saw a Physiatrist (sp?) and he reviewed her MRI and spotted it immediately. Now she has her own brace to wear and she has to lay off the weight lifting, hill climbing/running and a buch of other things for about 6 weeks. The Dr. also ordered a CT Scan because he fears there may be another fracture which he can't see with the MRI. The good news is that if she rests properly she might do away with a lot of the pain and could go back to her normal exercise routines. Stay tuned.

the john

Much ado about nothing

well I went to the cardiologist on Wednesday and after much discussion he said" I am going to conlude that you don't have a heart problem".  so now i have to follow up with the regular doctor and see if it is gastrointestinal related or whether there is something from my pinched nerve and herniated disk in my neck that could be affecting this.  For those of you who have the patience to read this, I'll keep you up to date.  meanwhile today has been pretty good.  we found out on Thursday that the guy who rents our other house here in pacifica is moving out.  That was sort of mixed news.  He has paid rent on time without fail for about 7 years and has made no demands of any type for improvements etc.  On the other hand we had the rent set at a rate that didn't cover the costs of mortgage let alone mortgage, upkeep and taxes.  So at the advice of our real estate advisor (Kelly Janes) we put an posting on craiglist for the place and raised the rent 900 bucks and we got a response overnight.  We dont know if it will pan out or not but at least we know we should be able to get a rent that will cover our basic costs.  housing was appreciating at 10 percent a year we didn't worry too much but the zillow value of that house has dropped about 30 percent in the last year or so.  I'm not complaining but with job worries, 401k worries etc. it is nice to know that this place will carry itself while we sort through this economy.  stay tuned.

the john