lyonsacc
Member
Okay, this is more along the lines of therapy for me than anything else . . .
The last 13 months have been rough. Last August (2014) my 50 year old brother passed away unexpectedly, not totally shocking, but still unexpectedly. A day or two after the funeral I came down with an amazingly painful infection, through which we discovered some prostate problems I was having. It took a month or two or three to work through my medical issues and help my parents, sister-in-law & her kids begin to adjust to their new life. My wife and I have a small accounting firm (there are just 3 or 4 of us here depending on the time of year) and the "busy season" hit in January. In February while trying to learn to snowboard with my 9 year old I managed to fracture my glenoid (shoulder). The fracture was missed on the original x-ray, so I plugged on through tax season in a decent amount of pain. In April once tax season was over, I had a scan of my shoulder that discovered the fracture had healed, but the scar tissue had caused "frozen" shoulder – which started a month of painful physical therapy. The shoulder scan also revealed a lump in my lungs. A lung scan revealed 4 small masses that they don't think are cancerous but want to check again next year and also an enlarged thyroid. That led to a thyroid ultrasound and then a biopsy, which all came back good. The chest scan also revealed the source of some of my pain, a herniated disk. In the meantime, my wife and I were attempting to keep up with work at our business. Work was a bit crazier than usual this year due to some tax law changes and other issues. As well, we had spent a decent chunk of money this year trying to make some improvements to the business. Unfortunately, the new staff and other things we did only produced about 20% of the results we hoped for (and very little additional income). So, like most small business owners know, when things don't go as planned the first thing that happens is the owners get a pay cut. Now where was I, oh yes, the physical therapy on my shoulder wasn't producing the results expected, so I had surgery in early August. It went pretty well, and I am still going to physical therapy. They tell me it will be December or January before the pain is gone and I have most of the motion back in my arm. Last week, I had a follow up prostate biopsy. Yesterday, a few days before my 50th birthday, the results came back with some cancer cells. It is very small and most likely entirely contained in the gland, so the surgery next month has a high likelihood of getting it all out. I am impressed with my doctor, finding such a small tumor down there had to be like finding a needle in a haystack . . . (sorry, I had to throw that in). I've had a family member and a friend go through this and the recovery period can be a bit unpleasant, but the results should be fine. Okay, I think I might be done whining.
Oh wait, no I am not done whining. I think I have made 3 or 4 pens this year (my kids have made more than me!). At the beginning of this year I bought some kits from Exotics, a nice watch parts blank (my first), a baseball poly clay blank, and some other special blanks from Roy during his nice BASH sale, I bought a couple bangles from the bangle guy, a couple gallons of cactus juice from Curtis, some wood from the USS Constituion, and a few other things. And guess what?!? Most all of it is still sitting untouched in the basement. Ugh! However, I did manage to finish this pen in June for a dear friend of ours (it was supposed to be a present last Christmas, but just a little late)
I have pens to turn for folks, but with work being the way it has this year and all of the time "lost" for the physical therapy and other medical junk, I'm not going to get to any of this fun stuff anytime soon.
On top of that, I have a coat rack ½ built that needs finished by this winter (ours broke last year). And the school for which my daughter plays in the marching band is in need of a stand built for their glockenspiel ASAP. (At least that gets me some time in the shop)
Depressing and frustrating.
Anyway, other than that, life is good. My wife and I will be celebrating our 25th this coming year. She is an amazing and beautiful woman! I have 3 really, really, great kids. My faith in God is as strongas it has been for years.
Okay, thanks for letting me whine. Therapy for the soul. I feel better.
Oh! And MPG or MWPG or whatever it is called is going to be 45 minutes from my parent's house this year – but it is the weekend before the4/15 tax deadline. Aaaaaghhhhh!! It will be so close, but I can't go . . . .
I promise I am done whining. For today. At least until dinner.
Thanks for listening.
Dave
The last 13 months have been rough. Last August (2014) my 50 year old brother passed away unexpectedly, not totally shocking, but still unexpectedly. A day or two after the funeral I came down with an amazingly painful infection, through which we discovered some prostate problems I was having. It took a month or two or three to work through my medical issues and help my parents, sister-in-law & her kids begin to adjust to their new life. My wife and I have a small accounting firm (there are just 3 or 4 of us here depending on the time of year) and the "busy season" hit in January. In February while trying to learn to snowboard with my 9 year old I managed to fracture my glenoid (shoulder). The fracture was missed on the original x-ray, so I plugged on through tax season in a decent amount of pain. In April once tax season was over, I had a scan of my shoulder that discovered the fracture had healed, but the scar tissue had caused "frozen" shoulder – which started a month of painful physical therapy. The shoulder scan also revealed a lump in my lungs. A lung scan revealed 4 small masses that they don't think are cancerous but want to check again next year and also an enlarged thyroid. That led to a thyroid ultrasound and then a biopsy, which all came back good. The chest scan also revealed the source of some of my pain, a herniated disk. In the meantime, my wife and I were attempting to keep up with work at our business. Work was a bit crazier than usual this year due to some tax law changes and other issues. As well, we had spent a decent chunk of money this year trying to make some improvements to the business. Unfortunately, the new staff and other things we did only produced about 20% of the results we hoped for (and very little additional income). So, like most small business owners know, when things don't go as planned the first thing that happens is the owners get a pay cut. Now where was I, oh yes, the physical therapy on my shoulder wasn't producing the results expected, so I had surgery in early August. It went pretty well, and I am still going to physical therapy. They tell me it will be December or January before the pain is gone and I have most of the motion back in my arm. Last week, I had a follow up prostate biopsy. Yesterday, a few days before my 50th birthday, the results came back with some cancer cells. It is very small and most likely entirely contained in the gland, so the surgery next month has a high likelihood of getting it all out. I am impressed with my doctor, finding such a small tumor down there had to be like finding a needle in a haystack . . . (sorry, I had to throw that in). I've had a family member and a friend go through this and the recovery period can be a bit unpleasant, but the results should be fine. Okay, I think I might be done whining.
Oh wait, no I am not done whining. I think I have made 3 or 4 pens this year (my kids have made more than me!). At the beginning of this year I bought some kits from Exotics, a nice watch parts blank (my first), a baseball poly clay blank, and some other special blanks from Roy during his nice BASH sale, I bought a couple bangles from the bangle guy, a couple gallons of cactus juice from Curtis, some wood from the USS Constituion, and a few other things. And guess what?!? Most all of it is still sitting untouched in the basement. Ugh! However, I did manage to finish this pen in June for a dear friend of ours (it was supposed to be a present last Christmas, but just a little late)
I have pens to turn for folks, but with work being the way it has this year and all of the time "lost" for the physical therapy and other medical junk, I'm not going to get to any of this fun stuff anytime soon.
On top of that, I have a coat rack ½ built that needs finished by this winter (ours broke last year). And the school for which my daughter plays in the marching band is in need of a stand built for their glockenspiel ASAP. (At least that gets me some time in the shop)
Depressing and frustrating.
Anyway, other than that, life is good. My wife and I will be celebrating our 25th this coming year. She is an amazing and beautiful woman! I have 3 really, really, great kids. My faith in God is as strongas it has been for years.
Okay, thanks for letting me whine. Therapy for the soul. I feel better.
Oh! And MPG or MWPG or whatever it is called is going to be 45 minutes from my parent's house this year – but it is the weekend before the4/15 tax deadline. Aaaaaghhhhh!! It will be so close, but I can't go . . . .
I promise I am done whining. For today. At least until dinner.
Thanks for listening.
Dave
