wiremanranch

Stroke Survivor - male
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Blog Entries posted by wiremanranch

  1. wiremanranch

    A Story

    By wiremanranch,

    So when I went on the cruise in January I kept running in to this guy at the bar. ( Not that I hung out at the bar ) And we struck up some conversations. I even talked him into upgrading his drink package. Probably about the forth time I seen him we were talking and he said something about his life, divorce, his second wife chipped in and how he still had to work. ( He was 70) He did't have a hard life, could have passed off for 60ish. We were talking about our travels and I said something to the effect life is too short and to enjoy it. I said I had a life changing event and now I live every second to it's fullest. ( Something like that) Of course he asked what happened. I told my little buddy on the ship "I had a stroke". Well guess what…. he was a Neurologist. Asked me what I did wrong. Hmm…. I told him I was born. Just lucky. He gave me a few pointers. Watch my red meat, alcohol and left. The guy could not even remember his room card, when he was sitting with me at the bar!. Just amazing who you can run into. And yeah he was a bonehead!
    Terry
  2. wiremanranch
    It's been awhile since I have posted anything. Life has been too busy, needs to slow down a little. Everything is going well. We just got back from a Eastern Caribbean Cruise that went to San Juan, St Thomas, and St Maarten. The change in the weather was nice as we left Jan 10th and ended Jan 17th. I was in the 70's and 80's while back home it was terrible weather. Of course it was also nice the Buckeye's won the National championship. So some changes in the same ol' life. Only gained about 3 pounds so better then the average 1 pound a day that was what to be expected. Meet some interesting people and had a great time. I will get on a little more regular as I do like to keep in touch with all of you.
    Terry
  4. wiremanranch
    This past week we went camping with some out of state friends and all the family at a local campground. I took a few days off of work and was able to get a site on a short notice. We headed out. It was the first time I pulled our rv with the new truck. It was about an hour and a half drive. We got about 12 miles from the campground a a little old lady passed me when I was turning onto another highway. ( i am not making this up) Beeping her horn and pointing to the back of my rv. i finished the turn and stopped the truck. I went back to the trailer and all four tires were smoking and extremely hot! I looked under the trailer and noticed flames from the drivers wheel well. I panicked. I grabbed a case of bottled water and was using it to put out the fire and just to cool everything down. I had just passed the center line of the highway so I was under the camper and my legs was hanging over the center line. ( not smart) A sheriff deputy stopped and helped also called the fire department. The fire was out just wanted to make sure nothing else present with thermal imaging gun. The wheel liner had melted and was against my tire. Big crowd…. Got the trailer jacked up and removed the tire. About 10 of our family and friends showed up at the site to kinda assist. I drove to the campsite with 3 tires. Parked it, set up the camper, dug it the cooler and got a cold one. Next day cut the wheel liner out, put the tire on. Looks like the electric over hydraulic brakes on the camper did not like my factory truck brake controller. Just got done talking to the adjuster. Looks like everything is covered. Good thing, as it basically wasted wheels, tires, calipers, rotors. (allot of parts) Just another day in my life!
  7. wiremanranch

    Memories

    By wiremanranch,

    Kind of like a legacy. Your gone and what you leave is memories. : ) I will have plenty. I want it that way. Some good…. some…. well, maybe not as good. But still some story to tell. I have been very unpredictable after my stroke. My family has always stood by me. From my anger of having a stroke, myself dealing with the deficits of the stroke and my own acceptance. My family has always stood by my side, even when it was'nt very pretty. I am by no means an angel. Sometimes I do fall from the sky, but one thing is certain….. for some reason I have plenty of people that care about me. I am not complaining just sometimes can't believe they are always behind me. Got some funny stories and some not so funny stories. My granddaughter just got done with a little visit tonight. She was born on my birthday. We were talking tonight while I was grilling out. She was talking about her other grandfather and ( he passed away from a stroke) she asked me why I quit smoking. ( She is a very smart 8 year old) I said, because of you. I told her the doctor told me I would not live past her 3rd year in school if I did not quit. I told her I quit then, because I want to see her past the 3rd grade. : ) Who knows…. I hope for more, almost 7 years and still counting. Just kinda bittersweet tonight. I guess I should't have to worry about the 7 years and still counting, but I'll take what i can get…….
    Terry
  8. wiremanranch
    Truck drama…. I sold my beloved truck last year and have to replace it. That is if i want to pull my Airstream this summer. But it has been very stressful. My BIL owns a car lot and sells trucks as Fleet sales. So I am able to "twist" the system a little and get the fleet discount for my personal truck.( Better then employee pricing) So I ordered one. I started the process about three months ago. And it looks like in another month I should have it delivered. So I get on all the truck websites and read about delays, parts shortage, recalls to factory….. just a little hype right now. Not to mention how much these things cost, and of course I am a little OCD, second guess kind of guy. I live in Ohio and I have to pick the truck up in Atlanta. I talked to the sales guy today, he actually surprised me and said he would pick me up at the airport with my truck. So he is going to drive my brand new crew cab dually to the Atalanta airport. Now of course I am thinking the worst. Only time will tell.
    Terry
  9. wiremanranch
    I know I like to enhance your lives with music..... and just so happens that Red Light Kings have a little bit of ink of the arms. This one is pretty easy to listen too and the lyrics are pretty cool. And sometimes..... Times are hard
    Terry

  10. wiremanranch
    So maybe an extended blog or maybe not. i want to have a StrokeNet challenge. I want another tattoo. I have several ideas. Anything ranging from a tree of souls with blackbirds to the Sun and Moon to a Skull with wings. I was also thinking of a compass with roses or a spartan helmet with skull and a shield with a survivor ribbon. Some of my ideas. of course it would probably be the entire arm including my original tattoo. I seem my dads arms at his age and I might as well cover mine with some ink. My one and only tattoo was in 2010! So it has been awhile, I have allot of ideas just need some help? : ) So a contest. that seems doable, Now....... any suggestions! Oh..... include pics!
  12. wiremanranch

    Zanax Class 8!

    By wiremanranch,

    So all the crap I had to deal with I had to change my Family Practitioner and she was not buying the Zanax prescription. I take extended release Zanax for my anxiety. Part or my side effects of my stroke. Well my first visit did not go well. She wanted me to take a pee test every week. Which I thought was excessive as I have been under care for the last seven years. She then recanted to every month. And gave me examples of some 80 year old man that would give his prescriptions away. I told her I could not function without them. I am not very proud of that but it is very true, My work environment is very busy and noisy so I would have an extreme problem dealing with that. When I left I would have to take a pee test every month. (she did not look at my record) when she actually did she called my wife and said I only needed to come in every 3 months to refill the prescription. No drug test, She finally read my history. Finally. I do not like the fact that I have to take medication for my condition. But it works and it keeps me working. She was crying ( the doctor) . So I have had a pretty interesting week, dealing with my Dad, and dealing with my stuff. Everything turned out ok. but it has been very interesting. Chalk it up to a day in the Life!
    Terry
  13. wiremanranch

    DRAMA......

    By wiremanranch,

    Drama. It's what has been the center of my attention lately. My Dad just went through a heart cath and they found an artery that was 90% blocked. It started with him becoming ill with the flu. Due to his heart ( right side only working at 10% he had some issues. His specialist did a heart cath and put a stent to open the artery. He did not have any damage to his heart. He was very lucky. But my sister, my mom, my dad are stating he did indeed have a heart attack. His specialist, his doctor and I did hear it all..... said he did not. My sister is very, how should I put it.... very vane, selfish. I had an extremely estranged relationship with her. After my stroke I wanted to include her in my life. I would invite her to many outings or just go out to dinner and she would waint to the last minute to cancel or would not tell me at all. This deal with my Dad has been it for me. I have always had all Holiday dinners at my house, have no problem with that except because she is still mad at me as I am going off of what the doctors said "he was lucky" he did not have a heart attack, She will not attend Easter and she is upset of my opinion. I have no clue why we as a family our torn between the glass half full or empty. Me if someone said I did'nt have a stroke I would be all over it. For some reason my family wants the symphony. I told my sister I was done. Done meaning to not bother me any more, I hate it, that it turned out this way. But it was a one way street. This is the short version. I understand how short life can be.... she does not. And I am a good person. Just having a hard time dealing with this crap. My family means the most to me. I guess it will just be the immediate family.
    Terry
  14. wiremanranch
    My Dad went in to the hospital Tuesday, he had to have a heart cath done to check for some abnormals from failing his stress test a few weeks ago. I drove my Mom and Dad in as my Mom refuses to drive. We get to the CiCU unit for the cath. I hate this place. Reminds me when I was in the hospital. I went up to the nurses station and looked at the board. There were 10 scheduled for the day. Same doctor. His name is Arapor. I paused and asked the nurses if I was in the right place ( always key) and that I was here for Arapor day. They got a little chuckle out of it. He did great, they did have to put a stent in as he had 90% blockage on his right side. This makes stent #5. He is 78 and if you took away the congestive heart failure in decent health. : ) He did not tell no one how he was feeling, nothing. he is very lucky. So this story has a happy ending except that did I tell you I hate hospitals!
    Terry
  16. wiremanranch
    So I went to a Ducks Unlimited banquet tonight and the quest speaker was Rob Portman ( Ohio) He had a nice little story to tell about his model 12 Remington and his grandfather. His aid thought I had a deep carry voice as I did. But the bonehead did not need to tell me that. i did not disrupt Portman's speech... But for some reason his aid was to the extreme. I am a republican but... not a Portman fan.. So I will keep my voice and ol' Portman can keep his and his aid well ,,,,,, he can stay home. Politics can just stay out of my way.
    Terry
  17. wiremanranch

    Made it back!!

    By wiremanranch,

    Made it back from Antigua. Very interesting trip. When we flew into Atlanta we had what the pilot described as a "landing miss". As we approached the runway for landing they suddenly aborted and began to climb. Not a very good feeling. I guess due to the storm and tornado sitings we stayed in a holding pattern for about an hour. The airport was completely shutdown. When we did finally land we rushed to our connecting flight. Waited another hour and a half for every to board and headed out on the pad to wait another two hours for the final leg of our four and half hour flight to Antigua. I would have much waited at the gate then wait 3.5 hours in a seat on a plane. Sandals resort was nice. But it was kinda like ground hog day...... about the same routine everyday. I did go snorkeling and that was again interesting. The better half wanted to go. So I took some quick lessons plus one key note is I cannot swim. I put my flippers, mask and snorkel on and went in the pool. The first attempt I kinda forgot to use my feet (flippers) The instructor asked me if I would use them the next time around. I did.... and he passed me. We headed out to the ocean, got suited up with my little blow up vest and snorkeling gear and jumped in. I was not very graceful. Kept sucking in salt water, went for about 15 minutes, the boys on the boat kept asking me if I wanted to come in. I think I was in agreement, I ended up taking my flippers of about 15 feet from the boat. Big mistake, started going with the current. Kinda looked like Baywatch when they threw me the little bobber and pulled me in. On the plus side when I finally got into the boat they did point me to the cooler. So I set next to it and watched everyone else snorkel. I was ok with that. It was a good time. Very stress free vacation. (Except for the snorkeling)
    Terry
  18. wiremanranch
    Not me. Probably never. Why should I? I want just to be recalled a few times after I'm gone. I live a little fast. I ride a motorcycle on plavix and aspirin, and of course shorts and flip flops. I have one tattoo and want more. i have a few ideas just need to get it done. I am coming up on 51 soon and I have no plans to slow down. I am in a good place..... how long I have no idea. I am going to enjoy it though, and live each day like it was the last. Oh.... and i still like this music. Weird huh? The point...... I want to live life. Where it takes me will be the fun part!
     


  19. wiremanranch
    So i had a personal goal set for myself that I would be at a certain weight by Jan. 11. I did't make it. So initially i bought all the clothes I would need for my trip I am going on. I did't realize how large of a goal I set. ( The summer clearance at Macy's was cheap, bargain shopping!) Well i did not make my goal. I started the weight loss campaign about the 1st of November. I exercised and actually watched my diet. I was able to lose 23#. So not bad for 2 1/2 months. Not depressed.... just had a little higher expectations then actual. So I have to stretch out the timeframe a little. This summer I should be in decent shape. I am on the elliptical two times a day @ 30-40 minutes. So I am trying. it was very interesting in the beginning. I started on the treadmill, it killed me. The elliptical was allot better. Anyway.... Antigua here I come. And yeah, I am going to gain a little back as it is a all inclusive, but hey you only go around once!
    Terry
  20. wiremanranch

    30 Years!

    By wiremanranch,

    My wife and I this past October celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. She might want to put in for some type of medal for putting up with me! We were married young, she was 19 and I was 20. Its been an interesting journey and would't change a thing. So we decided to celebrate the occasion by going somewhere this winter. I do not know how it happened but somehow I got conned into going to Antigua. it started out as a cruise, then was going to go to Jamaica, then turned into the Antigua trip. We started planning about a month ago. I also started dieting and exercising. ( Gotta look good in the swim trunks) I lost about 20 pounds, still got to go another 10 pounds . I have a month do get this done. I also have been doing a little portion control and using the elliptical. I was on the treadmill at first and I thought my legs were going to snap. It has been very painful to develop a routine, but I will continue on. I have to ... I bought alot of cool clearance beach wear. Of course a couple sizes smaller just to make it interesting. Wish me luck. I have some incentive so motivation is here, I plan on exercising daily so I can maintain a healthy weight in the future. We will see what happens.
    Terry
  21. wiremanranch
    I was here about two weeks ago. There was a grandmother that tried the hillclimb , she was 65 years old. She made it to the second hill before she wiped out. She was unbelievable! ( She was not seriously hurt) I would not even want to attempt something like this. Even when I was a little more stupid 30 years ago. It was defiantly an interesting event. Maybe about 20 to 30k people. They have been doing this hill climb for 64 years. We rode the bikes up, getting there was also interesting as it was very hilly and allot of traffic. It was a fun time.
    Terry

  22. wiremanranch

    I lost my truck!

    By wiremanranch,

    Well... not exactly! I sold it. And of all places on ebay. I tried to get my BIL to sell it (he has a car lot) but typically like a car salesman, he did not take any of my many hints. So I put an ebay ad together and listed my best friend! I bought it new so i was a little attached. 2004 model.... diesel..... DRW... King Ranch, hince the WiremanRanch started. Sold it.... to a guy in North Carolina. He bought it as a company truck. I was a little taken back by all that but hey... he bought it. The truck had 58,000 miles on it. And looked like new. I took a 1/2 day off work to completely detail it. The next day two guys show up to drive it back to Ky. I went over the truck.... they could care less. (They did't own it) So one guy asks about the tags. Hmm.... I am not giving up my custom W Ranch tag. So I told them he could get a temp tag in town. So spent an hour at the DMV. Got back, put the tag on, and they headed off. (I had already been paid by wire transfer) So I never heard from the buyer until the following Monday night. Basically five days went by.... He said the truck broke down and the gauges pointed to the fuel pump. ? The guy that picked my truck up did not even no how to start it. Turn the ignition of and wait for the glow plugs to charge. I told the buyer I had zero problems with the truck and he told me it had stalled two times and he was getting it checked out. You just cannot make this stuff up. So I sold the ol' girl on ebay...... and it has been interesting. I'm in a calm place right now..... Looking for a new truck. :big_grin:
    Terry
  23. wiremanranch
    I was talking with this co-worker at lunch the other day. A guy we knew passed out behind the wheel of his car and crashed into a tree. My lunch buddy asked me how the retirement worked. He thought his wife would get nothing with his retirement and then we talked about life insurance. ( This is how smart he is) We have a policy at work that pays you 2x your yearly earnings as long as you are employed over and above your other life insurance policies. My lunch buddy said to me after that revaluation that I was a walking lottery ticket. For some reason at that point I wanted to take my numb hand and knock his teeth down his throat. ( I did not do that) I informed him that he also was in the same boat as a walking lottery ticket as he has high cholesterol and high blood pressure. So.... I handled it well considering. Maybe I won't be so nice next time.
    Terry
  24. wiremanranch
    Ok.... I am usually adventurous and love to plan our camping trips. I have one planned for this week starting today. It was to Indiana near Bloomington on Lake Monroe. It is a beautiful lakefront site. The problem? I have an aluminum trailer (Airstream) and we have strong thunderstorms coming in later tonight with a good possibility of hail. So I am doing some downtime at home waiting until tomorrow to leave. I will have three days instead of four and it is still calling for thunderstorms 20-30%. Currently the bike is loaded and ready. Just need to make a decision if I am still going to take it. My wife has never rode in a thunderstorm. LOL So I think it would take her awhile to forget about riding in a torrential downpour. One plus.... I do have rain gear. But I am thinking it will not be enough. :badmood: So if anyone needs the weather report for Bloomington Indiana today I could probably help you out!
     
    P.S. I am still taking the bike.
    Terry