Yes, I’ve been on the road yet again.  This time, it was back to Chicago for my oldest nephew’s wedding on Sunday.

It was a very nice, small affair in an intimate chapel followed by dinner and one of their favorite restaurants.  The wacky Chicago spring weather could have cooperated a bit more.  Overcast, windy, cold (40-degrees) and rain before the ceremony.  Just overcast, windy, and cold after the ceremony.

Of course, with the wedding on Sunday, that meant that I just had to take another vacation day on Monday.

After having lunch with my sister, I took the scenic route back, stopping in the town of Warsaw, Indiana to check out a lakefront home of one of the relatives.  Very nice.  I contacted a friend in nearby Ft. Wayne to see if she might be available for dinner, but she was already booked.  (That’s one of the problems with spur-of-the-moment ideas–not everything works out.)

Work has been busy as we’re preparing the FY 2012 budget plan.  That meant another couple of days buried in my mega-spreadsheet.  (With more to come.)

The incontinence continues to improve to the point where I’ve not worn a pad since the wedding on Sunday (and that was for insurance purposes).  No incidents at home or work, so that’s good.  Still, I find myself running to the bathroom more frequently just to drain my bladder and make sure that there’s only minimal “ammunition” available for a leak should one occur.  Given a bit more time, the confidence level will go up.

So that’s it for this week.

First, apologies for last week’s truncated post.  I started it on Tuesday, forgot about it on Wednesday, and just hit the “Publish Post” button on Thursday as I was sitting on the beach in Coronado, California.

Yep.  I spread my wings and took my first post-surgery flight to San Diego on Wednesday night for a five day weekend in paradise.  Two weeks ago, I was pretty much on the Atlantic Ocean; this week, the Pacific.

I stayed near my old apartment on the island and just spent Thursday and Friday walking up and down Orange Avenue and the beach.  It was great.  Very relaxing.  On Saturday, I checked out of the hotel and spent the next two nights with some friends that I served with when I was in the Navy.  It was great to see them again.

Photos are available via the link to the right and below.

I did have some concerns over getting through security at the airport with an absorbant pad shoved down my pants in case I got the full body scanner treatment, so I took a chance and went to the airport without wearing one.

As fate would have it, I did get the full body scanner screening and made it through just fine without it.  Afterwards, I asked the TSA agent what would happen if I had to wear the pad through the scanner.  He explained that I would be taking into a private screening area and be given a more thorough personal screening in there.

Even though I had extra pads in my carry-on bag, I opted not to wear one during the entire flight and, save a cough-induced leak, did quite well.

For the return trip, I did the same thing, but I could tell that it might be a leaky day, so I took a pad out of my carry-on, hit the men’s room, and put it in place.

Walking several miles in an afternoon didn’t seem to bother me too much at all.  I need to do more of that if the rain around here would only stop.

Things are getting better with time…  

So that’s it for this week.

And, no, I’m not talking about my incontinence…. 

We’ve had rain and storms for 9 of the last 10 days, putting us well above our average rainfall for April (3 inches/8 cm)–we’ve had over 12 inches/30.5 cm so far and the month isn’t even over!!  In fact, it’s the rainiest month on record for Cincinnati–ever. 

Needless to say, everyone’s getting a little fed up with the weather lately.  I spent pretty much the entire three-day Easter weekend hanging out around the house.

Most of the last week has been spent on the road.  Yep.  I managed to take my first post-surgery road trip and it went pretty well.

I actually left on Wednesday night (and used the scheduling feature to automatically post my blog post on Thursday) and headed south into Kentucky.  I spent the night in London, KY and Thursday morning headed to Cumberland Gap National Park.  The dogwoods and redbuds were in full bloom, so there were explosions of white, pink, and purple mixed into the forests that were just beginning to turn green.

I stopped at the Abraham Lincoln Museum on the campus of Lincoln Memorial Universaity in the tiny town of Harrogate, TN before heading off to Charlottesville, VA to visit Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello.  Impressive.

From there, I became reacquainted with the Beltway traffic in the greater Washington, DC area as I visited a former coworker and her husband, and a college/Navy buddy whom I hadn’t seen since around 1989 (we guessed). 

On Saturday, we hit the Museum of American History (part of the Smithsonian) and saw the Abraham Lincoln exhibit; the actual Star Spangled Banner that was flying over Ft. McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write his poem; and saw the ruby red slippers that Judy Garland wore in the “Wizard of Oz.”

On the way home, I stopped to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater, in Mill Run, PA.  Awesome.  I spent the night near Pittsburgh and then headed home Tuesday afternoon.

You can check out photos from the trip using the link to my photos to the right.  (Don’t worry–there’s only 43 of them!)

Physically, I did pretty well most days on the trip.  I could tell that I need to walk more to build up my endurance.  Most of the days, the incontinence was minimal, but there were one or two days where, after an extended period of walking around all day long, my body got tired and the minor leaks increased.  Again, take it gradually and build up my strength.

Finally, it’s been a sad day, as today marks the fifth anniversary of Mom’s passing…  We miss you, Mom.

Funny.  I’m struggling to come up with anything of real interest that happened in the last week.

Friday my head got all stopped up again, but I think it was from the explosion of pollen in the area.  Nearly every fruit-bearing tree is in full bloom, lawns are being mowed, and trees are popping leaves.  My allergies just didn’t like it at all, I’m guessing.

Saturday rained a good chunk of the day so I spent the day indoors working on my spreadsheet for work.  Yes, I’m not keen on working at home on the weekend, but sometimes I can get more done in four hours at home with no interruptions than I can in eight hours at work with all the distractions.

Sunday broke temperature records here–we hit 85 degrees.  I had opened the windows and I think Saturday’s rain knocked down some of the pollen. 

I tossed and turned Sunday night because it was a balmy 74 degrees when I went to bed.  The comforter was peeled off and I seriously debated turning on the air conditioning.  I left my window wide open and brought in a fan instead.  That helped cool things down a little.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday–all pretty routine days at work.

I did see the optometrist on Friday and he gave my eyes a clean bill of health.  No signs of glaucoma, cataracts, or optic nerve damage.  It was the last that I was worried about from taking the Cialis.  He was okay with me resuming it, but after his comments about “catastrophic vision loss,” should something happen, I’m not so sure I want to take the risk.  He had never seen or heard of someone who went through that, so the likelihood is “infinitessimally small.”  But when you only have one set of eyes and the damage is irreversible…  Gives one something to think about.

The incontinence over the weekend and early this week was minimal.  In fact, I went the whole weekend without guards except for about 6 hours Saturday evening.  I had a giant pollen-induced sneeze that caused me to leak enough to warrant changing clothes and put a guard in place. 

But Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all decent days.  Let’s hope the trend continues.

Sorry for the later-than-usual posting… It was so nice, I drove to Cincinnati for dinner and a little shopping.

A while ago, a friend at work told me how he liked to work on jigsaw puzzles. I had an old puzzle that was of a topographic map of Yosemite National Park–no easy task to complete with all the contour lines and similar colors.

When he returned it, he gave me one of his puzzles to do. It was a brilliantly colored image of birds in a tropical rain forest. I started on the puzzle about 5 weeks ago, getting the border in place and some of the inner pieces put together.

Sunday evening, I decided to tackle the puzzle in earnest while I was doing a load of laundry after dinner. The next thing I know, it was 11:00 PM and I was only about 40% done. I returned to the puzzle Monday night after dinner and kept at it. When it was nearly 11:00 PM again, I only had 30-40 pieces to go, so I kept at it. I finished it shortly after midnight.

I’ll have to admit that the last time I did a jigsaw puzzle was the Yosemite Puzzle when I was living in San Diego in the late 1980’s. It was fun, frustrating, annoying, and a great diversion from work, the Internet, and television. Plus, you actually get to see what you accomplish each time you sit at the table.

My spring cleaning bug has continued, at least on the inside. I really need to get outside and do some work around the yard. The weather has been a bit whacky thought–warm, cold, sunny, rainy, windy. This weekend is supposed to be in the low 80’s already.

I’ll have to admit that I’ve been a rather withdrawn and reflective mood as of late. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s the approaching five-year anniversary of my mom’s death; or some of the challenges at work; or just trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I don’t know. Puzzling, eh?

BIOLOGY AHEAD

Success. 

You already know I’m a spreadsheet geek, so it wouldn’t be a surprise that I created a monster spreadsheet about two years ago to manage the program I’m in charge of at work.  Well, our new leadership wanted to see our numbers presented in a different way, so that caused me about 25 – 30 hours worth of work restructuring the spreadsheet to meet the new requirements.  (Told you it was a monster!) 

Anyhow, by Friday morning, I had completed it and it tied off dollar-for-dollar with the old spreadsheet.  I let out a not-so-quiet “Woo-hoo!!!” when I finished the validation.  At the end of the day, I wound up at the local watering hole celebrating with two of our financial analysts.  I’m now an official honorary Finance geek.  But an old one.  Their combined ages was still less than my age.  Ugh.

For some reason, over the last few days I’ve had a spring cleaning bug.  Unfortunately, the more I cleaned, the bigger the mess I had.  That’s not how it’s supposed to work.

It started on Saturday with me searching for something in my file cabinet.  The next thing you know, it looked like a paper explosion hit my home office.  I had crap everywhere.  Old bills, reports, notes from grad school–you name it, it was there.

I fired up the shredder and got rid of a lot of it, and reorganized what was left.  I still had a stack to shred on Wednesday night.

Saturday, I also got out and messed around with a little photography for the first time in a long time.  It was sunny, but colder than I expected, so I didn’t stay out too long.

Sunday was tax day.  I had started them in late January/early February when I was still on leave, but sat on them until now (in part, because the IRS wasn’t accepting itemized returns until after mid-February.)  I’m glad to have that monkey off my back.

Healthwise, I’m doing okay.  The head cold I had as all but gone away.  I still have a little tickle in my throat that will cause me to cough now and again (and the associated equal but opposite reaction down below).  Others who had the same cold said it took about two weeks for it to fully clear.

The incontinence continues to improve.  Not as fast as I’d like, but it’s getting better, slowly but surely.  In fact, I spent Sunday around the house doing taxes and some other odds and ends, and I did it without wearing an absorbant pad all day long.  I found myself moving just a little more carefully to make sure that nothing happened, and it didn’t.  Monday at work, I probably could have gotten away without the pads; Tuesday, probably not.  I can still get through the night without them.

And speaking of getting through the night… The multiple runs to the bathroom throught he middle of the night have all but stopped (except when I’m stupid and drink too much too close to bedtime).  That makes me a much more pleasant person during the day when compared to the sleep-deprived version of me.

Next week I finally have my appointment with the optometrist to check my eyes.  You may recall that I stopped taking the Cialis because listed side effects were blurred or complete loss of vision.  I’m not sure if he’ll be able to tie the two together or not–or if it’s just the fact that I spend 25-30 hours looking at one spreadsheet!

So that’s been the last week.

Dang.  I almost forgot to post something this week!  Sheesh.

So the head cold that I told you about last week kicked in full-force.  I missed work on Friday and spend the entire day in bed.  Saturday and half of Sunday, too.  I’ve had worse, but I’ll have to admit that the post-surgery side effects made this one a little different.  Nearly everytime I coughed, sneezed, or blew my nose, I had an equal but opposite reaction at the other end.  Not fun.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday weren’t too bad at work.  Each day was a little better.  I think letting my body have all that rest over the weekend was a good thing–it put the cold behind me for the most part.

The weather here had been great up until yesterday–a balmy 74 degrees.  Then the storm came through and it was 32 and snowing this morning on the way to work.  Ugh. March in Indiana.  It’s supposed to stay cold through the weekend.

I did talk to another prostate cancer survivor at work yesterday, and we compared notes.  He went through the full-blown slice you from your navel to the pelvic bone surgery 5 years ago.  He reminded me to keep doing my Kegel exercises and to be patient.  He still does his every day 5 years later.  It will get better.  I sure hope so.  He also reminded me that it beats the alternative.

He also told me that he hadn’t been to the doctor “in 20 years” prior to a free wellness screening offered at work.  That’s how they discovered his cancer–an elevated PSA test.  His family physician had him wait a couple of months and retested, and the PSA was higher and that caused them to do the biopsy that confirmed the cancer.  He said had it not been for the wellness screening, he wouldn’t be around to have this conversation.

So guys reading this: Once again, get tested!  Especially if it’s been a year or two or twenty.

Have I made the leap on a new car yet?  Nope.  The head cold kind of put that on the back burner.

So that’s about it from here.  I think if the weather’s going to be as bad as they say it is this weekend, I feel a date with the IRS and Indiana Dept. of Revenue is in the works.  I need to finish and file taxes.

So I’m writing this on Wednesday night because it’s supposed to be 70 degrees here for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow.  I have a funny feeling that I may not be available to put this together tomorrow night.  Something was said about green beer after work tomorrow…  (Where’s that catheter and two liter drainage bag when you really need it?!?)

It must have been a pretty boring week, because I’m struggling to come up with anything of interest.  Oh.  I continued to kick tires on new vehicles. 

When I dropped off the car that I was allowed to take home on Thursday night, I asked if I could take a different model home on Friday night.  “No problem.”  Off I went, in another new vehicle on just a handshake.

Have I made a commitment yet?  Nope.  Not yet.  The salesman worked up a price on the second car (much more of a joy to drive), but we’re going to have to put some negotiating skills to use before signing on any dotted lines.  Plus, selecting the right options is akin to selecting a surgeon.  (Yes, only I can make a decision that painful!)

Both at work and at home, I’ve been playing with a lot of data and computer files this week.  I’m overhauling a massive spreadsheet that I use at work to accommodate a new reporting format, and I’ve probably got 25 hours invested in updating it, and I’m still only about halfway through it.  Fun. 

About 48 hours ago, I noticed that I was getting a little bit of a sore throat, and it’s continued to intensify since Monday night.  Luckily, there’s no serious coughing or congestion with it.  If there was, I’d be in trouble.  Every time I cough, I leak.  Every time I blow my nose, I leak.  (You’ve seen my nose.  It takes considerable force to clear that puppy!)

There has been a good side to the sore throat.  I’ve taken NyQuil the last two nights, and I’ve slept from about 10:30 PM to 6:30 AM without interruption!  And without incident!  That makes me hopeful that I’ll get back to a more normal sleep pattern eventually.  And, no, I won’t turn into a NyQuil junkie–I value my liver too much.

Otherwise, I’m doing fine and more than ready for Spring to finally arrive.

So that’s it on this St. Patrick’s Day Eve. Enjoy!