Where To, Bud?

I couldn't get all I wanted to write on the previous entry, hence this Part II. ================================================ ================================================ A Word Or Two About Medicare And Drug Costs Or Life In The Gap If you're on Medicare or have a loved one who is, you'll know what I mean. For those of you who don't here's quick and dirty explanation. Medicare allows your Part D insurance carrier to pay only a set amount (about $1900.00) a year for drug costs. When you reach that limit, you'll be in "the gap" or "the donut hole" as it is more popularly known. You'll know it right away because (for 2012), you will pay 86% and your chosen Part D carrier will pay 14% of your drug bill. This is for generic drugs only. Sometimes brand-name manufacturers will offer a discount, but until you're out of the hole (when you reach about $4300.00 or the first of the following year) you'll suffer finan...

Hello everyone and apologies for not having posted in a few months. Other things have occupied me, not the least of which is Dondra , who has had 2 hospital admissions for atrial fibrillation (rapid , irregular heartbeat). It was a scary time for us, because she needed to convert to a normal rhythm which sometimes happens on its own, but when it doesn't, off we go to the ER. She was put on an IV and after about an hour and a half she finally converted with the medicine they gave her. She's done this both times, but had the meds not worked, then shocking the heart would have been necessary. Right now all is well and she's feeling good. She's on a new medication which we hope will control the a-fib. =============================================== =============================================== WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON WITH ME Let's go from the latest to the earliest....... A month ago I had another sleep study. We did this because I have sleep apnea...

I'm still "kickin'", so don't forget about me. Got lots to tell y'all and I'll get it posted before the weekend, promise. Bill

Don't worry. I'm not giving you a heads up, and wouldn't anyway. No. That isn't what this entry is about. What it is  about is my wondering, "How many of us diagnosed with Alzheimer's Dementia kill ourselves because of it?" The "short and dirty" answer is, no one knows. No one can  know for sure, because depression   is so prevalent in many of the diagnosed cases. Especially with those of us diagnosed as "Young Onset Alzheimer's" patients. Consider the following true story: A friend of mine, with whom I once worked in broadcasting, had a Grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's by her doctor, went home and promptly blew her brains out with a double barrel shotgun. How can you attribute that to Alzheimer's and be sure? The answer is, you can't.. You can't because there's no way to blame it. Not even if one leaves a "suicide note". You can say, "Well, he or she was so depressed beca...

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dear friend and teammate Marty Neese, who passed yesterday evening at a local hospital due to complications with his heart and lungs. Team C2CR2C, consisting of myself, Dondra, Becky Purkiss and BillDL, will miss Marty, his enthusiasm and his love for people and animals. Each member of our cycling team played a very important part in making the two rides (our first was in 2008) a success, but we honestly could not have done it without Marty, and we spoke of this many times after the cross country rides from Texas to Georgia to benefit Humane Societies as well as the Spay, Neuter and Adopt project. Our friend had not had an easy time of it, having lost his 9 year old son, Joshua to Muscular Dystrophy  and his daughter Brandie to Ovarian Cancer at age 28 in 2010. Dondra and I, as well as our son Jason and daughter in law Susan and our grandson Julian considered him not only a friend and team member but a part of our family a...

Sorry to have been MIA for so long, guys and ladies, but there really hasn't been a whole lot news-worthy going on with the "German Boy" of late, so we'll make this entry a compilation of sorts, okay? So I finally had the eyelid surgery and am still recovering from that. I don't get out in public much anyway, but everyone who's seen me tells me I look like I've been "rode hard and put up wet". I'll post some "before and after" pictures a little later. =============================================================== =============================================================== In addition to posting to my blog, I have also begun writing about my dementia on my Facebook page. This gets news and information "out there" a little faster and gives me a chance to do some Q&A "live", as it were. If you, as a subscriber to my blog want to befriend me, find me under the name "Wilhelm Trommler" there. ...

Sunday, July 8th...... We aren't sure why, but during the night and early morning of that day Dondra began having seizures. Some so severe she bit into her lip deep enough to draw blood. Because of my sleep apnea and snoring, I sleep in a separate bedroom, so when those seizures began, I wasn't able to hear her crying out, so it wasn't until later Sunday morning that I heard her call my name, rushed into her bedroom just as she was going into another one. (She told Jason and I that she could actually "feel" herself about to go into one of them, and was aware of her surroundings). I immediately called 911 and Rescue and EMT's arrived within minutes. It was very fortunate that our son Jason and his wife Susan were here with us - they kept me calm and helped the EMT's with questions they had. Let me tell you something: I don't care if you've been trained one year or 20, when it's a loved one who is right in front of you, thrashing about, loo...

"Live today. Tomorrow is promised to no one" -- Proverbs 27:1 Julian is my 12 year old grandson and he's spending 3 weeks with us. I always enjoy his visits because he's such a good kid, very polite and like his Dad and myself, very good with animals. Yesterday he and his dad Jason (he and his wife Susan live with us in a small basement apartment) put together a mountain bike made from spare and junk parts gotten from a local bike shop's trash box and then went cycling together, Jason riding my bicycle, a Trek 1000. Anyway, Dondra and I are spoiling "TC" and are pretending while he is here, that he's our son even though we do have to share him. ================================================ ================================================ D o I love and care about Julian and my readers? ================================================= ================================================= That's it for today, but before I go, I want ...

The difference being that my son is with us for this one (he and his wife live in a small apartment in our basement) and he and I have patched up a lot of rough spots in both our pasts. I think he realizes as I do that we're not omnipotent and we better set things right before we both shuffle off this "mortal coil". ================================================= ================================================= My eyelid surgery got pushed back to July 13th (a Friday!), and I'm looking forward to posting pictures of my two swollen black eyes as soon as I get back home from the same day surgery. Speaking of medical stuff, I'm also due a colonoscopy so that's on the agenda as well. That's where they stick a tube up your rectum and check for colon cancer. They also stick it down your esophagus to check for ulcers and/or lesions there. The same tube. Which I fervently hope they use on my esophagus first . You know? We medical folks are the worst to...

And I don't mean the 4-legged kind, but the 2-legged ones who are supposed to take care of the 4-leggers! =================================================================== =================================================================== Today, I had a couple of very good things happen and I'd like to tell you about them and tell you how they interrelate, okay? First good thing is that a very good internet friend of mine told me he appreciated my being non-materialistic, caring for and loving my wife, the world and the people in it. I didn't realize I was projecting that, but I am glad he recognizes that in me, because I tend to have low self esteem at times. Joke: When I don't feel particularly energetic, I sometimes complain that I have "Low Self-Steam". HAHAHAHAHA. *ahem* Back to the subject..... The second good thing is that on my Yahoo Finance page I found this . Isn't that a great story? Talk about non-materialism (is that a word...

We really did! It was May 31st. Many of you know this was our second marriage and our first anniversary was February 27th. So I guess I can list forgetting that special day as another symptom !!! HAHA! ================================================= ================================================= In other news, I'll be going for eyelid surgery in a week and a half. I have drooping lids and Medicare will pay for that procedure if the lids are low enough to obstruct my vision. There's also a possibility they may approve surgery on the bags under my eyes which are so large I can catch rainwater in them, but that's not a guarantee. If that can happen, I'll feel like a new man. Next, I'll be going for a sleep study to determine the amount of sleep apnea I have, which is so bad it's scaring Dondra and making me sleep poorly. I already know I'll be getting a machine, it's just a matter of what the settings will be. According to Dondra I have stopped b...

I've had panic attacks before, but not as bad as the one I had Sunday. I was sitting in front of my computer writing some memories, some opinions, some (I hope ) funny stuff when all of a sudden I began misspelling words, not only misspelling them, not making typos, but writing words, even spelled correctly that didn't make sense with the rest of what I was trying to write. Now, some folks are likely to tell you the most recent one is the worst they have ever had, and for a lot of them it's true, because a panic attack is a very personal thing. A panic attack is like someone following you meaning to do you harm. You never know where or when it may strike, and the first thing which pops into the head of someone observing is that it must be drugs, next thing is an epileptic seizure and the third misconception is a heart attack. I don't have a cite for these statements, it's my conjecture and whether I'm right or wrong I will leave up to you, the reader. Somet...

What, all  of them???? Well, okay, but I don't know where some of those chicks live anymore! *JOKE* But really, at 62 I'm beginning to have those "Well, it's been a good life" thoughts, and I wonder if any of y'all who are my age do too? Is this the age at which one "prepares" himself for "Mr. Death"? If so, I guess I'll go quietly, but I have to admit, I have been scared to die all my life up till now. I've never thought I'd live forever, but now that I have this shitty disease, I do think about it a lot. Hopefully with a little humor. ====================================================== ====================================================== In other news, I got this in my e-mail this morning. As I wrote on my FB page this morning, I hate to be a Killjoy about this but having been involved as an advocate and visited our nation's Capitol and spoken with Senators and staff, I see this as a "Get 'em off our...

If you've read the blog since I began writing, you'll know that for 17 years I worked in the ER of a local hospital as a respiratory therapist and why I voluntarily left the profession. On several emergent occasions, I'd blank out on important things necessary to save a patient's life. For instance placing the patient on airway life support and forgetting to plug in the ventilator (some of you call it "respirator"), drawing arterial blood, looking at the lab values and blanking out on how to adjust the ventilator in order to improve a patient's breathing. Something I'd done for 17 years in less than a minute. As these things became more frequent, and knowing about dementias (both my parents had Alzheimer's and I carry the gene for one of its causes) I decided to see a neurologist, and after several MRI's, lab work, MMPI and other testing, it was decided I had Alzheimer's Related Dementia. I decided to quit my job before I killed someone. ...

Remember that accident I caused last April, which almost killed me and two other drivers, but luckily injured no one, and which is the reason I no longer drive? Well, guess what? I'm still not over it. I think about it every single time I get into the car with Dondra to go to my doctor's appointments and the few times we go to the supermarket or post office together. At those times, I usually take my Kindle and read or play word games on it. I'm nervous as a cat at those times, and if I weren't reading or playing, I'd have to lie down on the back seat. Anything to keep me watching the traffic and keep my head down. I absolutely do not look up, because my sharp intakes of breath when I think I see an "impending" accident make D  nervous and piss her off. That is also the reason I stay at home a lot, unless she takes me to the track or the gym - a very short ride. I estimate that out of 7 days, I am at home at least 80% of the time - I just have no d...

Hey Everyone As promised, here I am on the blog which has been set to "invitation only". Some of you have already been invited and are ready to read, and some have not. These are folks who haven't followed the blog in some time, and some who are no longer followers at all, so it will take some time to build the readership again. But no worries, at least this way I can control who reads and/or posts here. Thanks for hanging in there with me (I started this in 2008) and I'll continue to keep you informed as to any changes. Welcome to all the new "kids". Thanks and please remember to click and feed the animals. It's free! Bill

Sorry. Been a while, hasn't it, but there's really nothing new except to tell you that my good friend and co-editor of this blog, BillDL is recovering nicely from abdominal surgery and D and I are very pleased about that! He's been hurting a long time, and actually knew what was wrong with him before his doctors did. My favorite Scot is a genius ! Oh yeah! Speaking of Scotland, I looked up the Craig Clan tartan, and that thing is beautiful! I'm planning to buy the material and have Dondra make me a klit. ===================================================================== And so, on to the story..... When I was about 8 (I think - gotta check it out with my uncle Bernd) I spent some time with my German grandmother who lived in Communist-occupied East Germany. Since there wasn't a whole lot to do in the Summer, I was asked if I wanted to join a youth organization (much like the Boy Scouts here) called The Young Pioneers. "It's fun!", I was told...

I've never really had one and this was a doozie, folks. Right down to the rapid breathing, rapid heart beat which I could feel as a flutter, and sweating. It happened while I was fixing my daily meds for the next week. Some of them sound alike to me and some are almost the same shape and color. For example, "Metaprolol" and "Meloxicam", "Lamatrogine" "Losartan" and "Lovastatin". I had several partial bottles of the above meds, and wanted to combine them and then it happened. I put the Losartan into the partiall full Lovastatin bottle. Luckily just to make sure everything was cool, I checked all the bottles I had combined with the description of each pill, and couldn't find the Losartan. That's my blood pressure pill and I never miss a day. And there I went. Checked, double checked, triple checked. Nothing. I'll spare you the swearing, but believe me, it was there, as was the throwing of the empty bottles against ...

After World War II in 1959, the Russians built a wall separating East from West Berlin. Both my grandparents were born and lived in an East German town called Zeitz and they had 11 children, only 2 still alive, my uncles Bernd and Jürgen (pronounced "Yer-gen"). My grandfather fought for the German army - the "Wehrmacht"*. He wasn't a Nazi, just a common soldier who never took the Hitler oath of loyalty - and when the war was over he was on the west side, and she on the Communist-occupied eastern side. He decided that being a normal German living in a democracy was better than being a Communist and got ready to have her and the kids brought over. But fate intervened. First of all, she and the kids were now under the rule of the Russian Communists and travel anywhere to the west became pretty much impossible unless one tunneled under the wall, but my grandfather kept trying to get special permission for his family to join him. It was never given. Did ...

The weather here in Georgia has been unseasonably warm, so, because there's really no way to ride a bicycle here in Carrollton without risking one's life, I've taken to the track to start my running program (and lose about 25 pounds of "holiday weight"!). D doesn't trust me on the roads or sidewalks, so it's either the track or a treadmill, and since I don't have one of those, it's left-turn, left-turn, left-turn, which is okay with me for right now. If I run the marathon later in the year, however, I'll have to get some hill training somewhere . As far as the cycling, don't know. Maybe mount my bike on a trainer and cycle stationarily. I'm doing this as a kind of experiment on myself. I've been very sedentary of late, which really has added to my depression, so I want to find out if the release of endorphins and the exercise will help not only that , but also the dementia. I've read up on this, and exercise is definitely ...

I hadn't realized what a recluse I'd become until D and I took our son and his wife out to dinner Sunday afternoon. Other than meeting an old classmate of mine a couple of weeks ago for lunch, it was the first time I've gone anywhere of any substance in 8 months or longer. O'Charley's has a weird way of wrapping their silverware - they don't just roll it in a napkin - they lock it in some way, and as I ripped it open those utensils flew off the table, and we had to ask for new ones. I guess they've made them childproof or something. Anyway, I don't have a lot of luck in restaurants and Dondra had to hold me to keep me from bolting out of the booth. I remember once I couldn't figure out which goes on the lap; the silverware or the napkin and I kept doing back and forth "trials" until it finally "kicked in" and we all had a big laugh over it. That's the visual/physical stuff. Also still having trouble with the written/spo...

Time. Man!!! Where does it go ??? Seems like only yesterday I was playing my drums, shaking my long hair and having a great time playing in rock band after rock band. Now, here I sit ("broken-hearted. Paid a dime and only farted," - an old pay-toilet joke.) 62 years old, feeling it in my bones and my brain, but not yet in my body (except for having to wear the incontinence "Speedos" of course!). I ask myself sometimes, "What are you still doing here, dumb ass? She doesn't look a day over 50, and you're just taking up space! Get the hell off the planet !" But then she does or says some little thing that makes me remember why I fell in love with her in the first place, and I gain strength from that to make it through one more day. "Madondra". (She hates when I call her that, but I do it because I like the way her eyes narrow and blaze as I say it, heh-heh!) Dondra: A woman for the ages. A woman for all seasons. And a friend to ...

Still not to the deepest and most regretful of all of them, but don't lose interest! There are several more to come which may make you wince and/or shake your head. I regret very much treating my brother like shit most of his young life, and this goes back to the "me-me-me" life I led and am still leading, regretfully , today. My Mom and Dad were both very industrious people and worked hard until they died - Mom sometimes 2 jobs plus her volunteer work at the hospital in Villa Rica. My Dad, retired after 20 years in the Army, went right to work in "millville", AKA "Fullerville" - a suburb (for lack of a better word) of Villa Rica. There he inhaled cotton dust until it finally killed him in '95. Mom died two years later, after we both had taken a vacation trip to Germany on my USAir employees' pass. An in-depth entry about my parents is in the works. But back to my Bro': Because they worked so hard and were gone much of the afternoon...

I've always liked that Frank Sinatra (written by Paul Anka) tune, but never liked the part where he sings, "......too few to mention". Bullshit. I bet if some thought were given to it, that phrase could be written the way it appears above. I'll talk about a few of my own while I still have a little time remaining on the planet. I'm sure the list will be added to and amended several times throughout the course of this little diary/blog or whatever you'd like to call this drivel you're kind enough to read! It's your call as to whether what I'm about to write has any merit, but it does need to be written down and remembered. Consider it a "work in progress" ( "regress" ?) =============================================================== =============================================================== My first regret (note I did not write "deepest") is that I never "forgave" my Dad for bringing me, my Mom an...

It was awesome seeing you again today after how many years - 44???? Darryl was the first kid ever to befriend me following my family's emigration to Georgia in 1960. Specifically a small town named Villa Rica - not really the friendliest place for a kid of 11, who barely spoke any English. =================================================== =================================================== So there we sat today at noon: two old guys with similar afflictions (he with Parkinson's added in), throwing memories at each other, correcting them and, at times, guffawing so loud it caused the Longhorn's clientele to turn and smile as they caught little wisps of our conversation. We couldn't have looked more different had we been born on separate planets. Me with my brown hair shaggy with bangs in my eyes, Beatles' style, and he with his snow-white hair and flowing beard, making him look like a pirate (his favorite historical character), his once flame-red locks no...

As many of you know, I'm very active in animal welfare. Not as much as I'd like to be, but I keep myself informed and contribute what I can where I can, and in keeping with that, I've found a way to help contribute funds which only requires a little time: filling out surveys. Now, one has to be careful with this, because some of those sites are nothing but scammers and spammers, but I've found a trustworthy one and I'll tell you about it, if you'll send me an e-mail. I can't mention it in the blog because that would be advertising, and the blog isn't set up that way, sorry. It isn't only surveys (those are the "money-makers"), it's also "paid e-mails" (which only pay 2 cents per mail), but it all adds up, and when you get to a certain amount, you ask to be sent a check, and mine goes to the Paulding County Humane Society, alternated with the Carroll County Humane Society. So if you want to know more, send me a private...