Where To, Bud?

  And it's left me behind, it seems. Cruel  time! Did I somehow overstay my allotted time to mourn, or did I (as Dondra would jokingly say) just get lazy? How about a little of both? Let's get you caught up, shall we? From October 2024 until June 2025 I lived in an RV I rented from my in-laws. I am grateful to them for this because it was a nightmare indeed trying to find a one bedroom, 1-bath apartment I could afford. Thanks to my brother Larry and some strings he was able to pull, I now reside in a 2 bedroom duplex and am working to get my life back on track - with the help of some friends and pharmaceuticals from my doctors. So when someone asks how I'm doing and/or am I happy, I just answer "Working on it." That's as honest as I know how to be at this time. Some would say I'm "A work in progress", but I (and others) are noticing an improvement in my demeanor, and I can now speak of my late wife without tears. I have to give a huge amount of c...

 Writing again. If anyone's still watching, new stuff is forthcoming. "Lazy Buzzard" is a name my late wife used when she was unhappy about something I didn't do. 😇

Hey, everyone. It’s me, Jenni (Argentrose) again. This past Thursday morning Dondra passed away in the hospital.   Bill was with her at the time, and while he is doing his best to keep it together, the love and support of friends and family have been vital.   So, please, if you see this and can, do reach out to Bill—either through a message here or an e-mail or a phone call. I know he’d really appreciate it. There is a lot that needs to be done still, and Bill is preparing for Dondra’s celebration of life gathering as well as dealing with all the little details that need to be taken care of after a loved one passes. It can be hard to express, sometimes, how vital and important someone is in our lives, but I know Dondra means a great deal to Bill.   Despite their ups and downs, they never stopped loving one another, and I know it will be difficult for him to be without her now. So, please be patient with us while we process these events and our own love, sadness, a...

 Hey, everyone. I'm Jennifer, the Editor and Producer of the podcast "Where to, Bud?"--the podcast Bill, Jon, and myself have been working on in the background based off of Bill's own recountings here on this blog. Bill asked me to send you all an update on how everything is going—and also to give an update about why there hasn’t been much written here about the podcast of late. At the end of September Dondra asked to be admitted to the hospital and while there, she, Bill, and the doctors talked.   Dondra then began hospice care, and they’ve kept her at the hospital to keep her comfortable and make sure that they can manage her pain more easily. Bill has been with her at the hospital during this time and work on the podcast has, obviously, been put on the back burner while their family has been dealing with all of this.   That doesn’t mean there will be no podcast, but for the time being, and for the foreseeable future, we’re taking a break from production. It...

Hey Folks! I know: "Promises, Promises", right? 😁 I am sorry it's taking so long, but as I have written before, Priority I is and always will be Dondra, my wife, who is in Stage IV of her kidney disease, and I have been concentrating my efforts into taking care of her. As I am sure you know, being a caregiver is a full time job. Luckily, however, my friends and partners Jenni and Jon (editor, producer; sound, director and producer) have been hard at work getting things ready on their end and since I work well with deadlines ( most of the time) from my days as a journalist, they have given me certain assignments to prepare. Because they are and have been so understanding, I can work under those circumstances.  I don't want to jinx the program by naming a launch date, so I will hold off for now until we all three are satisfied that we will have for you will be both informative and enjoyable. So thanks very much for being what Stephen King calls my "Constant Reader...

 I'll keep this short and sweet, I have only myself to blame about not making the run (a 10K) I always had misgivings about it, even while training on "The Carrollton (GA) Greenbelt". It was a fun time for me (as mentioned previously), but I was forgetting, that I'd be going alone and Dondra would be staying home, and even though neighbors would be going to stay with her, I wondered if I was maybe being selfish, and decided I was. So we talked about it, she and I. To refresh your memory if you haven't read me in a while, Dondra is in end stage renal disease and the only thing which helps is the dialysis she gets three times a week. She didn't qualify for a transplanted kidney (too many other health-related problems stood in our way). So even though I was enjoying the training runs (up until then I was home getting fatter), and doing those all-important intervals, I wondered to myself if I'd make that run. And in the end, I didn't. The race got "Bl...

Hey Everyone   Sorry to have wimped out on logging my training efforts, but at my age and the work that is required, sometimes afterward all I want to do is lie down. With a little more than a month to go, I'm having a ball outside getting some sun and working on my stamina. Getting as much of that as a 74 year old can, I guess. I know I'm supposed to train one day on and one day rest, but I'm already running intervals and enjoying it, so if I feel like it, why not do it? (Rhetorical question - I know I have some followers who run and/or cycle and they may have a word or two to say about my regimen). My intervals began at 20 strides at a slow run, then 40 a little quicker; and now I'm at 120 strides and will begin hill training this coming weekend (Memorial Day). The Race begins on an incline and then tops off on what is known as "Cardiac Hill", which is why I need the hill training. Downhill? Oh, yeah. I look forward to those, but even there I have to run car...

In the beginning of this journal, I identified myself as an amateur "Beethoven Scholar". From the time I was a student musician in high school and played the percussion part in the Eroica  symphony, which he had originally composed in tribute to Napoleon, I became enamored of all his works, their little nuances and pastoral influences (he loved nature) and combed my way through all the stories, legends and lies. What remained was a huge question mark. He died at 56 In Vienna, Austria, sick, deaf and destitute, but no one knew what ultimately killed him. I was of the opinion he may have died of one of 11 dementias, but nothing definitive was ever proven. Now we think  we know, but we're still not 100^ sure. An article  here  goes into more detail, and, if you're interested, I invite you to read it, and maybe you'll come away with a better understanding of what could kill us in the 19th century, and how a prescient Beethoven himself delivered a lock of his hair to...

First of all, I really picked myself a challenge, didn’t I? 74 years old, 28 pounds overweight and less than 2 months to get myself trained up. The last time I ran the Peachtree, I also ran the Atlanta Half-Marathon, planning to run the “Full” a year later, in 1991. It’s good I kept my number, because The Atlanta Track Club had a fire and records from that date were destroyed. I remembered that date and my finish time which I shared with the Then-Director Julia Emmons, who allowed me to replace my own, lost medal on the strength of knowing my number. Julia served for 22 years as Director and from all accounts did a fantastic job. While I won’t share my official time with you, I will tell you I finished before they picked up the cones and was so overcome with emotion that I finished at all , that I dropped to the ground and hugged my friend Ed and his wife. I still think Ed ran a bet sheet on me, which he denies to this day. This year, for the 4th Of July Road Race, I knew I would need ...

...up from 74 or down ? Doesn't matter - take your pick. Either way, I'm still around, and "...still crazy after all these years."  First, let's get you caught up on the bad/sad news: Dondra didn't make the cut for a kidney transplant, because of numerous reasons - any one of which will disqualify a person. To be honest, I think we both knew in the backs of our minds there wasn't much of a chance, but we were hoping to get those things fixed within the time we had. Sadly, it just wasn't to be. I received permission from my wife to tell you the reasons so that it may help one of your  loved ones. Had everything been "hunky-dory", her age might not have mattered. She was 74 when we applied and she'll be 76 in July. So "Father Time" was always lurking throughout the preliminary lab work, the interviews, and decision-making process. Cut-off was age 75, so not much "wiggle-room", was it? The official reason was listed as ...

 Hello again - Have you seen a sign like the above on the side of the street lately? Of course you haven't, (right?), but since checking online, I have discovered that Medicare has handed down a decision which makes it tougher to buy these medications. Here's a quote from the Alzheimer's Association;"In April 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an unprecedented decision that blocks Medicare coverage of FDA-approved treatments that target amyloid for Alzheimer's disease. This policy applies to all currently FDA-approved monoclonal antibody treatments, including Aduhelm and others that may receive approval in the coming months. The Association recommends a letter to your congress person asking them to intervene. I know. Another "write your congressman" recommendation, and given the divisiveness of our two major parties, how can you be sure it's going to be read? When it comes times like this, Bernie Sanders' name alwa...

 Is that a sigh of relief that just washed over me from wherever you are? 😃 Great! I'm glad that makes you happy. I don't want to rain on your parade, but even though we're getting out of the pandemic status, people are still dying, and the virus continues to mutate. 🙄 I know - "Party-Pooper", right? Its latest variant is "Arcturus" and it causes pink eye.  So if you get itchy eyes, you should probably take a Covid test. It probably came from India, and it's here with us, now, in at least 10 states Here  are the latest Covid figures for the US, if anyone is interested. We live in Carroll County, Georgia and the latest figures per capita show less than 10 deaths from  January 1st, 2023 through last Monday, April 17th, 2023. That doesn't even cause a "blip" on the Covid 'Radar" here, but folks are still "trickling in" to get their vaccinations and Dondra and I have our boosters and are up-to-date. So what will you do...

    To be honest, I hadn't given much thought to the cancer lately, but once one gets diagnosed, one's doctors and nurses (The "Oncology Team") follow their patient (s) usually for five years to make sure  all the numbers and values remain within normal limits. In my case the numbers are so low, they don't register on the machine which analyzes them. Just as a refresher, PSA stands for "Prostate Specific Antigen". That's the test used to determine prostate function, and therefore, possibly cancer. To keep things simple, here are the numbers for us guys (all figures usually reported as nanograms of PSA per milliliter of blood): 0 - 2.5: Normal for a man 40 - 50 yrs. 2.5 - 3.5: Normal for a man 50 - 60 yrs. 3.5 - 4.5: Normal for a man 60 - 70 yrs, 4.5 - 5.5: Normal for a man 70 - 80 yrs.  In my case, (adenocarcinoma of prostate) before my procedure my PSA was 5.480, which was considered "abnormally high". Following  my surgical procedure, my...

 No excuses offered - I've been just plain lazy , friends and guests. That's not to say no journal-worthy events have happened , because they have. They have either sucked all the energy out of me or I just said "Hell with it!". Which one's your  choice, friend? How about we just say "both of them" and be done with it? Good. So here's an update. Dondra now has full-blown kidney disease for which she must undergo dialysis three times a week for 4 hours a day. She hates it, but the alternative to not  cleaning her blood is much, much worse. There was a time when we considered a home dialysis unit, but we absolutely do not have room here for all the equipment that requires. Maybe you know of someone who is on dialysis - either at home or at a center - and you're familiar with what goes on? So because we only live 5 minutes away from her center, I drive her there and pick her up. No muss, no fuss and our living room is free of wires and jugs of fluid...

 Since it's been a while since I've written anything (August 29th - lost my muse again, ah reckon 💔), I thought I'd combine two of the more humorous events occurring lately - hence the two titles. The first refers to a little "compromise" I try to reach with my wife Dondra over the thermostat settings. She likes it warm, I like it cool. I know this must sound familiar to many of my readers, but as you will find out, I have to actually "negotiate" for that one degree of coolness. What happens is -  I will add a "chore" to my already "numerous" ones, and for the rest of the afternoon and early evening, I get to enjoy my degree. Said chore might include the hated dusting, or cleaning the "hell-hole" that is my office. Her terminology - not mine. To me, it doesn't look that bad, and I can put my hands on anything I need within seconds. In all fairness to her, I must tell you that since her minor stroke several years ago, sh...

 Yesterday's discussion dealt with the human  aspect of the new Infrastructure Bill. Today I want to add an "e" to the word "human" and take a look at what our Caregivers need from that angle. Currently, there are an estimated 53 million Americans serving as caregivers to their elderly family members who require care for their disabilities. They are not recompensed for that expense which comes at an emotional cost as well as the financial one. Figures released by the AARP indicate that on average, family caregivers spend about 24 hours a week along with $7.000.00 in out-of-pocket expenses. Paid Long-term Care is a dream for those family members, so they'll foot the bills on their own.

........... about neurodegenerative disease.  The one I want to focus on in this entry is what is known as "Sandwich Care". That is, caring for an adult with Alzheimer's while also taking care of a child or children at home.  These caregivers constitute nearly 1 in 4 and nearly 60% of those folks rate their stress level as "very high" with 40% reporting symptoms of depression. Lest you think I'm referring to adult children taking care of their elderly parents with Alzheimer's, don't. Don't think that, because I want you to go back a little further in age. I want you to think of teenagers  taking care of their elderly parents. You remember teens, right? Those humans who, from the ages of 13 to 18 are supposed to be going to school and participating in extra-curricular activities such as sports and dating. Just being kids, in other words. Going to dances, proms, games. In short,  having fun ? Instead, we have children taking care of their sick par...

 But don't worry - it's supposed to be there, just like a certain amount is supposed to be in the rest of your body, where it makes cell membranes and manufactures hormones. What's on/in your brain though, (about 25%) works on creating myelin sheaths which protect your nerve cells, serving as insulation and acting as neurotransmitters. If those sheaths get damaged you might get neurological diseases such as our old friend, "Dr. Alzheimer" or "Dr. Parkinson". Protein is the culprit here (how'd you guess?) just as it is with Alzheimer's. TDP- 43 is the protein that's damaging the sheaths and if you don't have them (the sheaths) then your brain can't process the cholesterol properly and you get a neurodegenerative disease. In the words of the late Roseanne Rosannadanna, " It's always somethin' " So what's the answer? Well, controlling your cholesterol is a good thing, and letting the researchers isolate TDP-43 and t...

 It's probably not much different from yours, considering what's happening to and in our world, but since I have nothing else of any great importance going on that I can bitch about - humorously or otherwise - I will try to let you in on "A Day In My Life" 8:30 am - Awaken quietly - usually, my wife Dondra is still asleep. She and I are very light sleepers, so sleep eludes us much of the night - and take my meds. 9:00 am - Off to the bathroom to perform the morning rituals including hygiene. Luckily the hygiene portion is "ingrained" - otherwise, I would need a list on the mirror. 9:45 am - By now, Dondra is awake and I turn into the "Icewater/Ice-Coffee Getter" and I bring them to her bedside. It's part of OUR daily ritual, and I'd miss doing it if I didn't get to. If there are news or health issues to discuss, we do it then with me sitting at her bedside. This is also the time for the daily "neuro-check": One of us says ...

 500 Entries today! If you stayed with the journal since I began, thank you. If you'd like to continue reading my stuff here's a way: 1. To the far right of the title and at the bottom near the comments section,  you'll see a triangular little sign with a ball on each end 2. Click on that little sign 3. Choose "link" and copy/paste that link into your bookmarks 4. Or just send me an e-mail by clicking my name which is under the title highlighted in blue Until I can figure out how to get Blogger to accept a "subscribe" button that's the way we'll have to do it - sorry. Of course, you can also put the journal title on your desktop as a shortcut, but I will leave that to you. ========================================================= As you know, we lost a great guitarist and singer not too long ago - Glen Campbell. You probably have your own favorite song by Glen, so I won't post one here, but I did want to share with you a talk his wife Kim gav...