Where is Mike O'Handley

[Mark P]

What happend to Mike I have not seen him on the board for awhile. Where o where is our board leader?

[Scottpat]

I saw him in KC at an NHIE exam question writing meeting several weeks back and he was nursing his shoulder from surgery that was repaired after his fall. He was still the loving and sensitive Mike we all know and love![]

[Erby]

Careful there, Scott. You're sarcasm is dripping.

[hausdok]

Hi Mark,

I'm right here; I've just been up to my arse in alligators and unless we can figure out how to slow the rotation of the earth so days are something like 60 hours long instead of only 24 I sometimes feel like I'll never get caught up. [8]

I fell in early April, busted the crap out of my right shoulder and had to get a new shoulder joint installed. Keyboarding is hard. Up until I got the brace off last week, I either had to do it with a few fingers with my left hand or remove the brace, lift the right arm with my left and rest it on the edge of the desk so my fingers could reach the keyboard for about fifteen minutes at a time, or I avoided keyboarding.

Since returning from the NHIE session I've been doing physical therapy and I'm happy to say that now I can lift that arm enough to rest it on the steering wheel and pull a little bit with it and I can now pull up my shorts on that side instead of letting the damned waistband roll under and drive me crazy for the ten minutes it takes me to straighten it out unassisted using my left hand. It was a good day the first time that I was able, after surgery and finally getting the brace thingy off, to fasten that button at the waistband of my jeans without yelling for my wife to do it for me. All credit goes to a very capable physical therapist at the PacMed Canyon Park Clinic. [-crzwom] She's doing a great job (Although she took revenge on me this morning for being ten minutes late for my appointment by having me do a lot more reps than usual and stuff that I'm convinced I'm not supposed to be attempting yet. When I left this morning she said, "Don't be late next time."). As sore as I am now, I don't even want to contemplate what I'm gonna feel like tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to the day when I no longer have to struggle to wipe my ass with my non-dominant hand [:-yuck] and can do the deed right using my dominant hand. When that day comes I might just throw a party. [:-party]

It was good seeing some of the other guys at the NHIE session. A very dedicated bunch of pros. Every year's session is like getting a 3-4 day root canal but at the end one looks back and feels pride at having been asked to participate. It's also a good way to get one's swollen head deflated. There's a lot of smartness in that room. You can go in there feeling tall and come out feeling like a runt at the end of the day. [:-dunce] The experience builds character.

Poor Scott, one night he ate a piece of cake the size of one of Dr. J's Nikes and the next day it got its revenge on him. For the next couple of days the rest of us worried about catching whatever it was that he had.

Two days after getting off the plane in Seattle, I came down with a cough. Five days after arriving in Seattle I would have welcomed a bullet in the head 'cuz my nose and sinuses were completely blocked, I could barely breath and every time I breathed in the fluid in my lungs made a nasty rattling sound. [:-sick] It came and went for the next four weeks. I finally went to the doc and he prescribed some antibiotics and a few days later it finally went away.

After that, I'm not looking forward to next weeks flight to Noo Yaawk to attend my niece's wedding across the river in Noo Joysee. [:-scared]

Maybe I'll wear a surgical mask while on the planes. Wonder if the airline would kick me off for scaring the rest of the passengers by doing that?

The County Sheriff's office has closed the Kenmore substation. Nice little brick building that would be ideal for a little home inspection school. [:-idea]Hmm, maybe there's an exit strategy there somewhere.

OK, enough. Got to get back to the alligators. Can you tell that I can now keyboard normally and hold my right arm up again without supporting it on the edge of the desk?

[Mark P]

Damn Mike I'm sorry to hear of all your woes and tribulations. I was really sorry to hear about the issues with your dominant hand. Good grief that might have crossed the boundaries into the realm of To Much Information!

It sounds like you can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Keep on Keepin' on.

[hausdok]

Hee Hee,

You know me, Mark. It's pretty damned hard to embarrass me and I'm not one to couch my language; so you never know what I'm gonna say....or write.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[jigsaw]

I had a German Shepherd once that came home after we left him in a Kennel for a few days that coughed like that. The Vet called it "Kennel cough". You might want to check in with your local vet.

[Steven Hockstein]

Look who I found!

Click to Enlarge

56.94 KB

Actually, Mike was staying near me and I finally got to meet him. Glad I did.

[hausdok]

So,

Since I was here last I got out to the east coast for my niece's wedding and on or about the 27th, after a couple of hours wandering around Noo Joysee without a clue as to where I was going, because the GPS I was provided with was in Korean and couldn't be changed to English, I finally got close enough to where Steve was that he was able to find me and then we went and sat in a dive bar jawing for a couple of hours.

Steve is a very friendly fellow and a very good host. If any of you get down the Noo Joysee way you should say hi.

Back for a week and a half so far and back at work without assistance. Today (yesterday actually) was a literal pain. Attic was like a maze of cross braces with no room to stand up. Took me a long time to traverse it with this jammed up shoulder. Got the shot I needed and then it took me an equally long time to get back out. By then the bicep was swollen pretty big and then into the crawlspace where I found a bunch of rot in the most difficult corner to get too because it was being a large supply plenum that took up all of the space from the floor of the crawl to the joists above.

Right about now I'm thinking I should have kept the guy in tow for a couple of more weeks.

All isn't lost though. I'll have about a month and a half before the rains return where I'll be able to roll the Packard chassis out of the garage and make some progress before the rains return in September. It would have been about 4 months if I hadn't screwed myself up again. Oh well.

Been doing lots of physical therapy. The therapist most have learned her trade in a dungeon in the middle ages. She's helping me make progress though and it doesn't hurt that she's very pretty.

Got to get back to this report. I'll try and post some pictures of my nieces wedding reception when I get a chance.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Tom Raymond]

PT = Physical Torture

OT= the Other Torture

Listen to the pretty lady and get better or you'll never get that Packard done.