Still no diagnosis, but at least this time they hit the spot with a nice cocktail of drugs. They gave me a high dosage of an anti-inflammatory, another big anti-biotic, some spectacular narcotic of a pain killer and one other wonder drug. I was able to eat dinner and even enjoy a home made brownie… I must be on the road to getting better.
My culture results should be in tomorrow, and if there are nothing definitive there then they will refer me to an ENT specialist. But as long as I can eat and breath I’m better than I was this morning.
I don't know if sharing my mystery throat infection with the world is really appropriate, but it takes my mind off of things and I think one or two people out there may like staying apprised at my situation. I'm back at the ER… We'll see how it goes this time. This trip was Tanya's call. When I was having a hard time swallowing she had me show her my throat and she said it's nearly swollen shut. Even the 'hanging ball thingy' as she calls the uvula is swollen all crazy.
I was taking Darvocet for the pain circus that was going on in my mouth, but it wasn’t really doing much the last couple of days. When we were at the hospital yesterday the Dr. prescribed Vicoden.
MUCH BETTER.
I’m going back to sleep now.No, they aren’t really blue and red gel caps, but I liked picture.
I am lame. I’m going to the E.R. because I have a sore throat. Sure, it’s really bad and not responding to antibiotics and makes me want to cry because of pain but going to the E.R. for a sore throat is like missing the championship game because of a ingrown toenail. Wish me luck.
“A homeless woman who sneaked into a man’s house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.
Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man’s closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.
The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.
One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.
‘We searched the house … checking everywhere someone could possibly hide,’ Itakura said. ‘When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side.’
The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man’s house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.
She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman ‘neat and clean.'”
My wife recently added a mapping application to her blog. It tracks, through ip addresses, the cities that blog readers visited from. It was pretty interesting since we didn’t know people in some of the areas so I thought I’d take a look at my recent map. How cool! I may not get as many hits on my blog per day as my wife does but my readers are certainly more diverse. Thanks for reading my blog everybody!
I don’t get sick very often. Maybe once a year I’ll have a headache or something. Late last week I started to feel a bit sluggish and then my glands started swelling. I went in to the Dr. yesterday and they did a rapid strep test which came back negative. Then they gave me a nice shot in the bum (antibiotic in case it was strep) and took some blood to check for Mono. Mono? Who gets mono? Well, they called today and apparently not me. I don’t have strep and I don’t have mono. I just can’t stay awake for more than a couple of hours, it hurts like mad to swallow and I have no energy.
Which brings me to the point of my post. Help. I need some home remedies for something that seems a lot like Strep Throat. I’ve gargled salt water already, but I’m open to anything. I just want to get better so I can play with my kids and help my wife around the house. Come on all of you Moms out there, give me your home remedies.
Gone skydiving? Traveled to Hong Kong? Been on Safari? Helped a stranger for the better? My beautiful wife rented The Bucket List for us to watch. I’m not much for writing movie reviews, but all in all it was a good flick. It made me think a little bit about my life’s goals and aspirations. In the movie Morgan Freeman’s character has a nice family life (but a stale marriage), a modest job and a traditional home. Somehow he ends up sharing a hospital room with Jack Nicholson’s character (sorry about the Lakers in Game 4 Jack) who is an extremely wealthy man, but with no family ties to speak of. Both characters get to impart a bit of their views to the other through the movie and end up better people in the end.
The first thing I thought of was my amazing family. I have three ridiculously amazing children and a super star wife. If I were left desolate in a shack in Tulsa (the Paris of Oklahoma) but I had my family then life would be alright. The next thing I thought about is that I want to see some stuff while I’m on this earth. I’ve been lucky to chase giraffe in Africa and I am very grateful for my time there… but I want to see Machu Picchu, sing to my wife in Italy, tour the Holy Land and climb Kilimanjaro.
While I was in South Africa I read some words in Afrikaans that have stuck with me.
Gryp Die Dag
Many of you know it’s Latin counterpart, Carpe Diem. Both say the same thing so both are obviously good but Gryp Die Dag, said in a gluteral and milataristic voice full denotes expedient and forceful action. Carpe Diem is so much more poetic and light.
That being said, two questions to think about? 1. What is one thing you feel you MUST do before you kick the bucket?
2. What is the most rewarding thing you can do TODAY?
My thoughts after watching the movie are in line with Baird’s poem:
Time flies on wings of lightning; We cannot call it back; It comes, then passes forward Along its onward track; And if we are not mindful, The chance will fade away; For life is quick in passing. ‘Tis as a single day.
Life your life with a sense of determined urgency. Reap while the sun shines. Entertain me and leave a comment with your answer to question #1. Maybe there’s a prize for whoever leaves a comment with the most original answer.
I don’t think I’m supposed to publicly talk about how well I did, but yesterday I filmed an episode of ABC’s new show WIPEOUT. It was awesomely brutal and I was humbled and encouraged to get back into shape.
The course I did was a bit different than this one, but it was VERY challenging. The other contestants were all awesome and great to hang out with all day in the blazing heat. Stay tuned, I’ll let you know when my episode is going to air.
I had an awesome day today. I spent most of the day down in Orange County negotiating contracts on a few big real estate deals. I have some great clients that I am working with to put together a commercial venture and we wrote up a couple offers on residential properties today. Then I had lunch with a good friend and business partner (thanks for lunch Phil, the cucumber wrapped spicy tuna rocked). Just when I thought the day was approaching it’s apex I landed a new client that has a lot of property in coastal Orange County. One of his properties leases for $19,000 a month and I’m hoping to have it sold this week!
To top it all off I met my wife and kids at Disneyland for dinner and check out my score on Buzz Lightyear… I don’t know why, but I was really proud of this.
An interesting thing about blogging is that you start to feel like you are friends with the people whose blogs you read, even though you don’t know them personally. DJ is a friend of my friend Deyl and they are both amazing entrepreneurs, but in very different fields. DJ posted this on his blog, which was borrowed from one of his friends blogs. I really like the way this video is put together.
It seems to me that most people that we think of as highly successful didn’t arrive at that destination on their first go round. What makes these people different is their perseverance and their resiliency to the negative and debilitating obstacles that were in their paths. We are all faced with stumbling blocks, or failures, and we must each determine how we will react to the challenge.
When I was about 13 years old my Bishop at church shared this poem with us, he had it memorized.
The Race By: Delbert H. Groberg
Quit, Give up! You’re beaten! They shout at me and plead. There’s just too much against you now, this time you can’t succeed.
And as I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face, My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
And hope fills my weakened will, as I recall that scene For just the thought of that short race rejuvenates my being.
A children’s race — young boys, young girls. How I remember so well.
They all lined up so full of hope; each thought to win that race, Or tie for first, or if not that, at least tie for second place.
And every parent watched from off the side, cheering for their daughters and their sons, And every kid hoped to show their mom and dad, that they would be the one.
The whistle blew and off they went, young hearts and hopes afire. To win and be the hero was each and every kid’s desire.
And one boy in particular whose dad was in the crowd, Was running near the lead and thought, my dad will be so proud.
But as they speeded down the field, across a shallow dip, The little boy who thought to win, lost his step and slipped.
And trying hard to catch himself, his hands flew out to brace, Mid the laughter of the crowd he fell right upon his face.
So down he fell and with him hope, he couldn’t win it now, Embarrassed, sad, if he could only disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face, Which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win the race.”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit, that’s all, And ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself — to catch up and to win, His mind went faster than his legs — and he slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace, “I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”
But in the laughing crowd, he searched and found his father’s face, That steady look which said again, “Get up and win the race.”
So up he jumped to try again, ten yards behind the last. “If I’m going to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to move real fast.”
Exerting everything he had, he regained eight or ten, But trying so hard to catch the lead he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently, a tear dropped from his eye. “There’s no sense running any more. Three strikes, I’m out. Why should I even try?
The will to rise had disappeared, all hope had fled away. So far behind, so error prone, a loser all the way.
“I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought, “I’ll live with my disgrace.” But then he thought about his dad whom soon he’d have to face.
Get up, an echo sounded, get up and take your place. You were not meant for failure here, Get up and win the race.
With borrowed will, Get up, it said, You haven’t lost at all. For winning is no more than this: To rise each time you fall.
So up he rose to run once more, and with a new commit, He resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been. Still he gave it all he had and ran as though to win.
Three times he’d fallen, stumbling: Three time he rose again. Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran his best to the end.
They cheered the winning runner as she crossed the line in first place. Head high and proud, and happy, no falling, no disgrace.
But when the fallen youngster crossed the line in final place, The crowd gave him the greatest cheer for just finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud, You would have thought he’d won the race to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.” “To me, you won,” his father said, “You rose each time you fell.”
And now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face, The memory of that little boy should help all of us in our race.
For all of life is like that race with ups and down and all, And all you have to do to win, is rise each time you fall.
“Quit, give up, you’re beaten,” they will always shout in your face. But another voice within you will say, “Get up and win the race.”
These are challenging times in which we live. It seems we work harder and longer to make ends meet and the payouts seem to be getting smaller. With all of the challenges, failures and set backs just remember, rise each time you fall.
”We Cannot govern the length of our lives, but we can control the depth and breadth of our lives. We cannot control the weather, but we can control the atmosphere that surrounds us. There is a raise in your future. It becomes effective when you do.” Hank Trisler
I really enjoyed the concepts put forth in this quote. I have long believed that we are the sum of the people we surround ourselves with. The atmosphere around us relates to the people with which we associate, the way in which we communicate, the attitudes we exhibit et cetera. So much of our lives are wasted in the wrong local weather of doubt and fear. We empower ourselves when we create a positive forward thinking, problem solving environment in which to dwell.
Recently I’ve been wanting a ‘raise’. To hear it put that it is there ready for me, as soon as I am effective enough to obtain it was humbling. Today I am empowering myself to be more effective in my goals. p.s. I included this comic because I found it humorous… not because I think this young lad was being more effective… I mean, I could handle $250 a glass but $500 is just crazy.
The other day at work we had a conversation about the health effects of Guarana that is in some Vitamin Waters. None of us knew if this was a good stimulant, like that found in cocoa, or a bad stimulant like caffeine. Although I’m still not sure of the answer, I no longer have to worry since I had my ‘last’ vitamin water yesterday.
My wife pointed out this article to me today. Worst “Healthy” Drink Glaceau VitaminWater (any flavor; 20 oz bottle) 130 calories 33 grams sugar
I’m a little disappointed, because I really liked Vitamin Water. I felt healthy since it was all vitaminny and watery. Things I was told were good for me. Turns out it’s mostly sugary. Well, I’m back to just water.
Yesterday was my birthday, and it was certainly an interesting day. Here is, in pictures, a synopsis of my day: I started the day off with an early trip down to Newport Beach to go to the Temple, followed by peeing in a cup for a drug test (I’ve had to do two of these in the last week… don’t they know that I don’t do dope?) then we piled into our hot mini-van and hit the road to Las Vegas… with 3 kids… it took 6 hours. We finally got to our resort and will be here a few days for my sister in laws wedding. I spent the evening sitting on the balcony listening to the crickets and gazing at the Vegas lights while the girls planned wedding stuff. It may not have been the most exciting birthday, but it was certainly an interesting one.
