If It's Not One Thing..........

Patricia took off work at school yesterday, as I needed a "responsible"adult to drive me home from Fort Wayne after the scheduled Epidural Injection on my spine.

Lucky for us the ice storm went to the north and west, and we were just stuck with fog and rain....temps hovering around 35 degrees...we got to Fort Wayne Orthopedics about 2:15pm, a good 45 minutes early...after filling out some minor forms I was whisked back to pre-op...and that's where the odyssey begins.

The trip over was rather painful, my pain had radiated to my right hip and buttock, it's usually, but not always, on the left side or square in the lower butt. The FWO nurses hooked me up to the pulse and blood pressure monitors....Now just for a little history, there are some blood pressure issues in the family, brother Mike, a life long smoker until 10 months ago, takes BP meds, my youngest sister Kelly, is also cursed with high BP...and mom, at 83 has some higher readings, and on occasion takes medication. Dad had high BP and died of a heart attack at 55....Me? Never, my BP usually sits on the moderate-slightly high ratings of 135/85 to 140/90...and my regular doc has always said "it's not a problem or concern"....well yesterday that all changed....the readings started out at: 212/118...well needless to say that was not going to work, so they hit me up with a small amount of morphine and then a relaxer...the readings were as follows:

212/118

175/96

197/107

183/88

177/97

then back to 200/92

Well Hell, that did that...off the outpatient surgery list, and across the street to Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital ER....blood work proves negative but the readings really did not improve...actually by this time I was feeling pretty damn good(Morphine?), the back stopped hurting and I was in good spirits despite knowing there would be no back relief injection tonight...

The Readings at Lutheran:

188/114

185/90

169/100

213/115

The ER Doc said he was going to release me because besides the BP, I had no blood work problems...he gave me prescription to get filled for a low dose BP prescription....and off we went back to Ohio through the rain....now with a nice headache in hand, the morphine, the fasting, no caffeine?

Anyway here I sit...not really pissed, not really worried(just not in my make-up)...I will call Doc Bergman this morning, see what he has to say, and then start the process over again....in the meantime, screw it.....after no pain meds for a week, I took a nice dose of Ibupropan this morning to try to knock out the headache, and ease the pain, now back in my left hip and buttocks somewhat.....

Here we go again.....now I never want/wanted to be one of those old farts that sit around talking about illness or medical problems until my dying day...and I won't...but this blog is a pretty good way to bitch about it...

{photos..your basic BP Kit...and the BP reading from FWO...with the ER reading Patricia added as I sat in ER at Lutheran Hospital}

90 years ago today

Fog, Ice, drizzle, pretty nasty stuff on top of a few inches of melting snow....most of the heavy ice went north and is hitting west of us....my guess is Bruno

http://brunosblusterings.blogspot.com/

is getting hit with some of the major stuff, as it looks like I-44 from St Louis to Oklahoma City is in for a week of nasty weather...snow I can learn to like, Ice on the roofs, roads, and wires, has no redeeming value, to anybody.

Hopefully it will stay above 32 in the Fort Wayne area, so I can get to FWO and get the Epidural Back Injection out of the way......of course it could be worse, taking the brother to meet with his daughter this afternoon....he goes in for pre-op in Columbus tomorrow, the laser surgery on his vocal cord on Friday....will see how that works for him.

We are falling apart....Oh Hell, just getting old............who am I kidding?

12/10/1917_________If dad was still around today would have been his 90th birthday. Stan Houseworth was born in Scott, Ohio, on December 10, 1917....he passed away just after his 55th birthday on Christmas Eve, 1972....a sudden heart attack at home, after watching his favorite team, the Miami Dolphins defeat the Browns in the playoffs....the Fins went on to history that post season, going undefeated....will the Patriots match and surpass that feat? Time will tell.

Dad was a hunter and a fisherman his entire life....worked as a youngest for the Civilian Conservation Corp, out in Idaho, in 1939, doing rip rap work on the Snake(and other) Rivers.....he left that to join the Army Air Corp(before the Air Force was formed) after the beginning of WW2....Dad was lucky, sort of, he never had to go overseas...stationed in spots such as New Castle, Delaware(where he met mom), Lowery Field, Denver, and Mather Air Base outside Sacramento, California....the only major problem dad had was when working as a mechanic on a freight train...the box cars moved and caught his right hand in between the hitches...despite efforts to reattach...he ended up losing 2 fingers and part of another.....he received about 10% disability for that....enough to make the payment(about $90 a month at that time)on the house we bought in Florida.....the loss of those fingers did not stop dad from hunting, fishing, bowling, and being a life long automobile mechanic.....we kids never noticed, although mom always said dad was a little touchy about those missing parts.

One thing about the old man, when he felt like moving, he did, and we went with him....Ohio to Delaware, back to Ohio, to Florida for a decade, then back to Ohio to be near the family.....he was preparing to move back to Venice, Florida, right before he died....he had enough time working for the City of Celina to freeze his retirement, and mom was going to freeze hers as well.....but that did not happen.

I was in upstate New York when I got the call that Christmas Eve....flew from Syracuse to Dayton the next morning....Christmas morning. I was a lucky one, I got to fish, hunt, and spend time at Reds games and elsewhere with the old man.....he died when I was 23, heck yes, 55 is too young, but time is guaranteed to no one.....and I am thankful for the time we had.....If you're looking down from somewhere..."Happy Birthday Dad"

{photos....dad doing what he liked best, fishing at the Venice Jetties in the fall of 1956, studio shot with his brothers...Forrest(Housie)1912-1966, top, and John(Furl)1915-1990, ...dad is the youngest on the lower left facing us around 1937, and his AAF days in 1944}

Pack Ratting/Christmas of 55

I have discussed in the past how my Grandma Houseworth and her 2 daughters, Eva and Cecil lived out their long lives in Scott, Ohio(Population 300)....in fact they resided(more or less between marriages) in the same house, from the early 1930s until Eva went to a nursing home in 1995 and passed away in 1998 at the age of 87...both Grandma and Cecil lived into their early 90s.....the house, or early pop culture museum, as I call it, was one of the first in Scott, built in 1839.....and came complete with an out house and no running water until the late 1950s.....the summers we spent there in the mid 1950s, on our escapes from south Florida, are some of the most memorable I have ever had.

All 3 of the women were pack rat's....when I got ready to sell the place after Aunt Eva died, it was unbelievable......the stuff, both valuable and junk alike could make a 50 page blog in itself....everything from 50 year old shell collections from the beaches of Florida, to my Great Grandfather's leather Ohio Hunting Licenses from the early 1900s(which the value, staggered even me)....I and my cousins split between the families what we wanted, no way were we going to auction off this stuff......gave away what we could, and tossed the 30 year supply of "Atomic Bomb" shelter style food......took us months to clear the place out....I sold it to another 2nd cousin, and he remodeled it and sold it at a pretty fair profit.

Grandma Houseworth was born Wilda Waldron in 1883 near Scott....she passed away in 1975 at the age of 91....and is buried in the Scott Cemetery. While growing up in Florida, Wilda would come south for the winter and spend them with us....a sort of home sitting/baby sitter security guard, whom you wouldn't cross.....she spent her time, crocheting hot pads, doilies, collecting shells on the beach, and watching the new fad....Soap Operas on Channels 8 and 13 out of Tampa.

Shells____________Grandma collected shells and shell gifts by the thousands....she had been since her first trips to Florida with her sister, back in the 1940s. When I was cleaning out her house and the out buildings...I found thousands and thousands of shells...stored, stacked, and dumped in boxes that sat stacked in attics and closets, as well as the rafters of the out building on her property.....which brings me to the "BOOK"...the book is called simply The Dictionary of "Shells", the first edition in large style paperback was printed in 1955....mom and dad got Wilda a copy so she could identify the shells she was looking for along the beach and in the shops of Venice and Englewood....the book was purchased previous to Christmas 1955 at the Fort Myers Shell Factory gift shop.....the place still exists today, not far from one of my RV drop off dealers in North Ft. Myers:

http://www.shellfactory.com/

Anyway as you can see from the attached photos....the Shell book was a gift that Christmas of 55....sitting under the chalkboard that my sister was to get.....I still have that First Edition today....how much is it worth? Priceless...just one of those memories of Christmases past and folks that shaped your life, long gone.

{photos...Christmas of 55 South Venice, Florida, the Shell Book then and as it looks today, and the 3 Houseworth Kids, (another was to be added later) looking Mike and I looking half asleep, while Marty looking ready for the unwrapping}

December 7, 1941

I need to pass along this salute to the Greatest Generation before the midnight hour strikes. Pearl Harbor does not get the mention as the turning point in US and World History that it once did.....that is a shame.

The attack on the Hawaiian Island changed America from a sleepy isolationist nation post WWI to the victim, albeit, a pissed off victim of Japan's aggression....of course tossing Nazi Germany into the mix was a "bargain" chip.....let's face it, a lot of men died, mistakes were made, but we kicked their asses....yes we had some help, especially from the rough and tumble Brits(what a nation of limp wrists that has become)....and from other countries...but make no mistake about it....despite what the left wing revisionists of history may say.....it was the American GI that kicked Germany's ass....and the guts of Harry Truman to end the bloodshed by dropping a couple of big ones on the Japs, that won the war......Politically Correct I am not....never have been, never will be......we as a people and a country need to take a page out of the WW2 generation's play book....and prepare to kick some Islamic ass.....and kick it so they won't want or be able to ask for seconds.

Salute to the WW2 Generation.....

{photos} The framed "Remember Pearl Harbor" item hung on my grandmother's wall for well over 50 years....it now hangs in the "Antique Room" of my basement(note the 1951 calender next to it) along with many other war and post war items.......Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941}

Air Vietnam Crash 12/22/1969

Hey to all the old WOs stopping by....thanks, and Welcome Home! And Thanks for
bringing my numbers up. I got over myself long ago Shark4...and the war too. PRH 7-1-09

As I sit here looking for the bright sun to make a dent in the 5 inch snow fall, and rest the back...thinking what the Hell am I going to do in the next 5 days, and if the injections fails...where do we go from here? I pulled a couple of old photos out of the Vietnam Box...and I notice one, pretty non-interesting that shows an open air school house from my days at Nha Trang, RVN....the back of the photo simply reads "Gook School House 1969", crude to say the least, but that's they way things were 38 years ago....I had nothing against the Vietnamese people in general....it was a crude slang, like so many others used to describe a group of folks. I tend not to worry about ancient history....others should not either....if they do, well, sorry about their personal problem.

What was interesting about this school house, was, it was located at the end of the main runway at Nha Trang AB.....on December 22, 1969, I was finishing up my tour at Nha Trang, and would be heading south to Saigon, Tan Son Nhut Air Base, to serve another 6 months in Vietnam. I had 5 days left at Nha Trang. December 22nd dawned bright and sunny, I do remember that much...I also remember it as the day I realized just how much I disliked Army Warrant Officers...it was nothing personal, I didn't like their attitudes, I just didn't like them....Warrant Officers, were in my opinion, half assed officers....Helicopter Jockies who thought their shit didn't stink.....we had to put up with them, because they were stationed next to us....in general, they were a pain in the ass.....by the end of 12/22/1969, I couldn't stand the sight of them.

We received notice of an in-air situation concerning a Air Vietnam DC 6....someone had exploded a bomb on board the plane, but it was still flying, and was going to attempt to make a landing at our runway.....Cops, and the guys with the bright red fire trucks were called out....the Security Police would clear the area...the Fire guys would sit by and wait to see if the plane would land safely, if not, those boys knew what to do.....I knew a little about Air Force Fire Protection Specialists, my older brother Mike was one.......our problem clearing the runway and surrounding area would have been easy, the Air Force guys knew better than to give us any grief...the clowns that called themselves Warrant Officers(I called them assholes), were not as easy to chase off....I especially remember one overweight blond WO....as I told him to get off the pylon, and out of the area, he yelled back, I had no authority, and I was to call him sir(The Air Force didn't recognize WOs as officers, so we did not salute them or call them "sir")....that did it, I laughed at him, and told him the only thing I would call him was "Jackass", and he had 30 seconds to clear the area, if not, I was going to arrest him......the stare down lasted about 30 seconds until Staff Sgt Melvin Sloan showed up, and told "Blondie" he had just used up his free pass....looking at the 6' 4" black man, with the pissed off look on his face, I guess the WO figured, he best not force the issue, and with a glare(at me) left the flight line. Sloan was my buddy....plus I figured, if any fight ensued, it was best to have him on my side...especially at the NCO Club, or elsewhere some didn't appreciate off duty Cops.

My issue with this WO, and others, was here we were with a good chance of people dying, and they wanted to shoot photos.....they were not from "Stars and Stripes", and I wasn't letting them get close enough to see death and destruction.....no photos were taken by anybody near us, that I know.

The aftermaths of the "crash landing" can be found at:

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0283.shtml

and:

http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1969/1969-81.htm

What I remember is the plane approaching from over the beach on the South China Sea....you could see the gaping hole in the rear passenger side....as in slow motion, the plane landed far down the runway.....it did not burst into flames, but it did spark and come apart...as it slid towards the school house and the shacks in the neighborhood......

How most of those on the plane survived, is a mystery.....to this day I can't remember exactly what happened on the ground....I know the school was hit and basically destroyed, 24 people on the ground were killed....what I don't recall, and probably best that way, is whether the school was evacuated.....and whether it was kids in the school or residents in the area that lost their lives.....I just know, I can still see the slow motion picture in front of me....and the thought that I was lucky I never saw the Warrant Officer again, I probably would have ended up in jail.... instead, I was gone in 5 days, heading for Saigon.....I don't know what happened to "Blondie", and frankly, I could care less....I'm just glad he never got to get his death photos, at least on my side of the runway.

{A DC 6B....not the one that crashed... the School House at the end of the Nha Trang Runway, a few weeks before the crash, and me in my blue Sky Cop Helmet manning the Civilian Gate in October 1969}

A Day at Fort Wayne Orthopedics

Patricia and I headed out to Fort Wayne around 11 this morning for a 1:30 appointment with the Orto Surgeon at FWO....the 65 mile trip usually take an hour and a half tops, but with the 5 inches of snow, we decided to leave early....taking her van, a smoother ride than the Jeep Wrangler...although not as sure in the icy conditions.

The roads in Ohio from Celina to Willshire(on the Indiana Line) were pretty slippery, less snow in the Hoosier state made things a lot easier and we got to FWO a good hour before the appointment. My recent MRI images were in hand....and after about 15 minutes in the waiting room Doc showed up and proceeded to go over the MRI with us.

I always like somebody that does not try to talk above your head and this guy(his name is not necessary to put out on a blog) let us get into the conversation....bottom line:

The canal space between the 3rd and 4th vertebra is starting to narrow from Spinal Stenosis...in short the flow space is closing....caused by age, activity, and basically is a narrowing of the spinal canal....this is pinching the nerve, and thus the pain in the ass(for lack of a better term) and the leg pain are the results......in addition, the 5th(or lowest) disk is pretty well squashed down on the two surfaces....this causes some back pain and stiffness, but is not the cause of the main pain.....surgery? Not yet....he thinks I have a good chance of alleviating the pain with a Epidural Injection to the 3 and 4 space. This will happen after a week off Ibuprofen and Aspirin....I can take the Celebrex, but probably won't....so a painful 6 days may be coming.

I go back to Fort Wayne next Tuesday at 3PM....and they invade the back with this procedure.....sometimes these work, if not, other options will be considered. I have had one before, back in the late summer of 1993.....one step away from open back surgery...it worked to perfection, and I was pretty well pain free for the next 14 years. I don't expect that long of relief this time...why? I am 58 not 44, and the damage is not going away...best I can hope for IMO, is for this to work, and possibly work for months....giving me time to look at other options....but who knows? Maybe I'll get another shot at long term relief.

I'm not as opposed to open back or laser surgery as I once was....hard core pain will do that to you.....but if I can avoid those procedures, I certainly would welcome that as well.

Updates coming as they happen on this breaking story......lol!

First Snow of the Season!!

No it's not a big deal... 3 or 4 inches of the heavy wet variety so far.....but being the first of the season, most of the local schools, including Celina(where I reside) and St. Henry(where the wife teaches) have shut down.....and they wonder why they use up their 5 calamity days so fast....the freaking winter has not even gotten underway.

Anyway, makes it perfect for driving to Fort Wayne Orthopedics(about 65 miles) on the west side of that Indiana city....was going to take the Jeep, but Patricia insists she go along(since she has no school), and we take the van.....wish me luck(with the back and the drive to and from).

If I find out anything from the MRI read, will report that as well. Photos of the Driveway and the back yard getting their first white stuff this morning around 9AM.

Had to add one more!

After sending out this photo to Buck Pennington and others, and at his behest, I add this one.....

1920 Era Motorcycle with sidecar......my great aunt and her husband tooling the streets of Scott, Ohio......

The Weekend/Old Cars in Old Photos

I have to say I sat around watching football and nursing the back all weekend....not something I'd rather do, but you go with what you are given, and that's where I am at right now.....with the MRI done, I head back to Fort Wayne Wednesday, and look forward to moving forward, with whatever it takes to get back on the right path to walking and sleeping like a normal 58 year old(whatever the Hell that might be).

The football was interesting...both local teams won their respective State Championships(see previous posts), in Division 5 and Division 4......also Ohio State and LSU backed into the National Championship game in D 1 college...thanks to a monumental choke by West Virginia, and Missouri tanking it to Oklahoma. It probably should have come down to OSU and LSU...Big 1o vs the SEC, and 2 Ohio born coaches going for all the marbles.

I was even watching the NFL yesterday.....something I usually don't do if the weather and back are doing well....but they were not, so I did....both Ohio teams did what they do best.... the Browns and Bengals lost.

Cars____________

Did you ever notice how cars are a big part of almost all photo albums? Well at least that's the case in my family...I dug out some old photos from the 1920s and 1930s saying, "I wish I had those cars today" We always had a variety of vehicles...dad was a mechanic, and a fixer upper of assorted cars...when he died on Christmas eve of 1972 he was working on a 1939 Studebaker....the damn thing had some kind of "reverse" engine....and he had it torn down...we had no clue, so mom sold it a year or so later just to get it out of the driveway...because we were clueless on how to get the damn thing running again.....as good as the old man was working on engines...that's how bad I am...always love to drive em', just never liked working on them.....

Anyhow, here are some photos of long gone family members and some of their vehicles......just don't ask me to name each vehicle....I can remember or identify some, but not all of them.

Anyway, top to bottom looks something like this:

(1)1975 at Daytona Beach, me in my Hippy Dippy 1960 something Ford Van.

(2) Grandma Houseworth's ride and her dog back in the 1930s

(3) My Aunt Eva Houseworth Anspaugh in 1938

(4) The Waldron Family Reunion with a line of cars back in 1930 at Paulding, Ohio

(5) My 1987 T/A Firebird, got rid of that before the boys could drive it...those things are sharp, but not worth a damn in snow or even rain.

(6)My 9th birthday party, March of 1958, with the Blackburn Boys in Venice, Florida...I have the catcher's mitt(my present) and the only girl is my sister Marty...the ride is a 1956 Chevy, my mom learned to drive in this one at the ripe old age of 33.

(7)Aunt Cecil Houseworth Linker in 1920(outside with hat on) and some Houseworlth cousins, out for a "Sunday" drive.

(8) Aunt Eva again, my guess is the early 40s.....

(9) My Grandad DeVore...mom's dad, back in the early 40s....not sure what he was getting into, but always like his pose in this photo.

(10) Cecil and her husband Hank with a friend, back in 1923.

2 Down 0 to Go!!!

The upset of the Ohio High School Playoffs happened this afternoon in Massilon....Coldwater Cavilers defeated Youngstown Cardinal Mooney 28-27 in come-from-behind fashion. The win gives the Midwest Athletic Conference it's 18th football title in the past decade or so....Mooney came into the game ranked #2 in the state and #8(USA Today poll) in the nation.....14-0 they last lost in 2005 to...who else?....Coldwater, they had won 28 in a row...the Cavs meanwhile were 13-1 their only loss coming to league rival Marion Local who won the Division 5 crown yesterday over another Youngstown parochial school.

Coldwater was down 21-7 going into the 4th quarter....they scored 3 touchdowns, 2 on razzle dazzle plays and the 3rd on a circus catch after a fumble recovery with about 2 1/2 minutes left....Mooney, not to be denied moved the ball down the field and scored on a 6 yard pass play with 12 seconds left, it appeared to be headed for overtime...when the middle of the Coldwater defensive line pushed back the O-Line of the Cardinals and blocked the point after.....securing a 28-27 upset win.....Coldwater's second title in 3 seasons.

Our little county has about 42,000 souls, and for the second year in a row, two Mercer County teams have won football titles. To add to the sports heroics Marion Local's girls Volleyball team won the state title 2 weeks ago.

OK...that's it for the night....back with another "real" post tomorrow.

One Down One to Go!

One of the local county teams the Marion Local Flyers defeated Youngstown Ursuline today to win the Division 5 Ohio High School Football Championship....Marion(not to be confused with the city of Marion some 100 miles east)is a township school located about 7 miles south of Grand Lake and 10 miles from Celina. The 20-14 win over the big city Catholic school marks the 4th football championship since 2000...last year they won small school Division 6th, this year as the smallest school in Division 5 they take home the crown again.

Our family interest is twofold...they are local, and the youngest son Hal coaches many of the players in summer High School Baseball....Marion finishes 15 wins 0 loses.

Tomorrow in Division 4, Coldwater(same league as Marion) takes on nationally ranked Youngstown Cardinal Mooney...Mooney stands at 14-0, Coldwater 13-1, their only loss coming to league champion and the smaller Marion Local Flyer Squad.

Another Passing____________Evil Knievel died today at 69....the pop icon of the 70s sure beat the Hell out of his body.....it is amazing he lasted this long...I still remember watching him fail at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.....they still show that one in slow motion, with Evil breaking almost every bone in his body, and surviving.....kind of the pain I have felt of late....can not imagine putting your body through that.

Evil's Greatest Crash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYGGCVE2lKY

How bad would the back pain have been...???

PHOTOS....Flyers Football and the Great Pop Icon Evil K