soggemoen's Blog

I went to the Face and Jaw Surgery Center last week to have cyst removed that was attached to one of my tooth roots.  They put me to sleep and the surgery lasted a hour.  They sent the cyst to a pathologist to see if it is cancerous, but so far I haven't heard anything from them.  The surgery was on February 19, and my mouth (gums) are still sore.   I am looking for words of encouragement from anyone who went through this procedure.  I becoming a nervous wreck

Remember me?  It has been a couple month sense I wrote anything so I will continue boring you good people again.  Every thing is still the same.  I am still alive: physically that is.  Mentally I am a wreck.  I live life but I just can't enjoy it.  I have a good family, a understanding wife and decent job, but there is something missing from this equation: happiness.  I don't have many friends and I lack the confidence to do anything.  Yea, I know, I am feeling sorry for myself.  I am afraid that when I retire in a couple years I'll  become a recluse especially if anything happens to my wife.  Thanks for listening.

I visited my mother earlier.  She is only 79 and has been confined to a nursing home for the last 10 years.  She has dementia or some form of Alzheimer's.  She was institutionalized a couple years ago and was in severe mental anguish until the doctors got the right combination of medication figured out. Now see seems do be doing better, still confused and forgetful but we can still carry on a conversation with her. My dad died in 1996 at the age of 81.  He had brain cancer but the official cause of death was pneumonia. 

My parents had a satisfying but rather poor life.  Dad retired from the railroad and my mother was a home maker. They both spent their life in the same county and didn't do any extensive traveling other than short localized trips or vacations.  Dad was content staying home tending to his garden or fixing things.  Mom was just happy that dad was satisfied

Another day, another dollar,a million days a million dollars.  An old co-worker used to recite that saying and I got excited about saving a dollar a day until I realized how long a million days were.  It rained all day with strong thunder storms scattered across the state.  The wind tipped trucks over on the Interstate and cows were reported being picked by the wind sent airborne briefly when a strong wind hit a farm.  Now I am not a violent guy, but damn I would love to see a cow go flying through the air.  My wife made reservations for the musical at Medora  and reserved a motel room.   Even if the musical gets rained out, we may get entertained by flying cows.

During my last entry I mentioned my wife was going to an appointment with a Rheumatologist for a Fibromyalgia condition.  Now they want to try her on a new type of therapy where they use different techniques in working with the muscles.  At least we can have the therapy done locally instead of traveling the 150 miles across state to visit the Doctor.  With the high gas price (as of yesterday it was $4.17 a gallon) it is nice to be able  to stay close to home.

Having said that, our next adventure will be this coming week end where we will be traveling to the other end of the state to attend a family reunion on my wife's side.  Apparently the price of gas has to go up higher than it is to keep us home.  After a long winter it is good to get out again.  After the reunion we plan on going to the Badlands to see the musical and take in the sites.  I bought a 70-200 F2.8 IS lens for my Canon 40D camera so I will be taking a ton of pictures with it this week end. 

We made back from my wife's nephew high school graduation.  I suppose it went all right, but I would have sooner stayed home.  The nephew and his family are good people, but I am not a very sociable person and I let my wife do most of the visiting.  If it weren't for my wife I would spent most of my time alone.  Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I am unfriendly: rather just shy.

Tomorrow we will be traveling across state where my wife will be having a doctors appointment with a Rheumatologist.  Her last appointment was last January and the doctor increased the strenght of her prescription.  She was originally diagnosed with arthritis in the back but the medication she received for that was bad on her kidneys.  Every time we go to the Rheumatoligist is an adventure.

Just when I start feeling sorry for myself, I think of all the medical problems my wife has.  Her health has been deteriorating over the last several years.  Right now her biggest concern is Fibromyalgia that has been causing her unbearable pain.  She has several other ailments including a weak heart, diabetes and poor kidneys.  We were trying out a new mattress a few days ago when she had a severe muscle spasm in her back.  It took a few minutes to get her on her feet again.  The furniture store called and they will be delivering the new mattress on June 4.  We will be leaving to a far off kingdom this afternoon for a few days to attend a high school graduation for one of her nephews.  Despite the high gas prices, the trip will do us both some good

I was in an accident last week where a truck backed into me while at work.  Actually it bumped me, but it was a tandem loaded with gravel so I felt sore and still for a few days afterwards.  A few years ago I got hit with a nail gun also at work.  The four inch nail lodged into my chin and I didn't even know I got hit until a co-worker told me.  A trip to the ER got the nail out and I returned to work the same day just like nothing happened.  Had the nail hit me either a inch or so higher or lower it could have been disasters. To this day my co-workers call me "Spike".  Mishaps like this have plagued me over my 37 year career.  Hope I will make it to retirement in a couple more years.  Now if you will excuse me I am going to feel sorry for myself, nurse my pride and have a few beers.

I don't know what your Memorial Day was like, but here it was cold (20 degrees below average) and windy.  The warmer weather is slow to come after a long winter. Since this is my first entry I will just say I am a 59 year old looking forward to retirement.  I have a wife, two grown kids and three grandchildren. I will gradually start filling in details about my boring life anther time.  Until then enjoy what is left of this Memorial Day. :>)