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Saturday==>Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays and Merry Chappaqua to all of my loyal and faithful readers and followers out there in the morass known as cyberspace.
Yes, your favorite blogger is alive (sometimes just barely) so while he is feeling like it, he wants to bring everyone up-to-date ... so ... before things get back to the usual blah standard ... let’s start with Billi Pod’s upcoming Christmas schedule ...
Sunday night around 8:00pm John Scott Reed aka Fabson and our mutual friend, Maria Claudio, will show up at my apartment in Winter Park and then they, my son Bill III aka The Bill, and I will have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in Winter Park Village.
As most of you know, Scott works for Facebook and is stationed in New York. Maria also works for Facebook and she is stationed in the home office in San Francisco.
Scott has rented a condo in New Smyrna Beach for the holidays so he can have time with his brother and his family.
Really glad that Scott and The Bill will finally have an opportunity to meet face-to-face and Maria and I can have some much needed/wanted face time.
Then ... on Tuesday evening, the Norris clan (me and Bill), the Bendeck clan (Dr. John and Kathi) and the Falletta clan (Alex, Gina, Saylor and Finley), will arrive at Bill’s new house in Casselberry for our “Christmas” dinner, which will be an AWESOME tenderloin, cooked by Bill. After dinner we will exchange gifts.
The next day, Wednesday, the group will come to my ‘hood for lunch. Alex and his family will then head down to PFC aka Polk Fucking County, to be with his father, David.
On Thursday, Dr. John and Kathi will also head down to PFC so she can spend some time with her mother, Mary Francis Kilgore, who lives in Bartow.
For Christmas Eve, Bill and I will have dinner at Golden Corral with Renzy Hanshaw, a former neighbor who is retired from the NYC Fire Department and Kenny Baboolal, one of Bill’s golfing buddies.
On Christmas Day we will just chill.
I hope you will agree that this is a pretty AWESOME schedule. Hopefully, I will be able to fully participate in everything.
OK ... now on the health issue(s) ...
Bottom line ... I still spend the majority of the day/evening on the couch feeling like shit.
My appetite is somewhat better, but Thank God, for Boost Plus.
I am still “self-catheterizing” 4 times a day and, man, has that become old.
On Monday morning I am having a CT scan at Florida Hospital in Winter Park. I report at 9:30am and will be given a lot of nasty stuff to drink. I will then have 2 hours to kill. The scan will take place around noon.
This will be in preparation for my appointment with my oncologist, Raul Castillo, on 10:15am on January 6th. Hopefully, we can begin reducing the chemo and the related nasty side effects.
Then, on Monday afternoon, December 28th, I will have an outpatient procedure by my urologist, Thomas Cangiano, at Florida Hospital at Altamonte Springs, to monitor the kidney and urinary blockage issues.
Suddenly running out of energy so ... will close with one more health-related issue ... for whatever reason, my body is having serious issues with my blood-thinner levels. My cardiologist, Barton Sickinger, has taken me totally off blood-thinner since December 15th because the levels are “abnormally high.” Will have the levels checked on Monday to see where we go. Man, what the fuck is wrong with my body?
OK, on this happy note will close this out with ...
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays and Merry Chappaqua ... and ... together ... let’s ...
KICK CANCER’S ASS.
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
PS: Please forgive me for any errors, typos, etc ...
Wednesday==>I have no excuse for failing to post timely on this blog other than I still basically feel like shit for most of the day/night and I just haven’t been able to make myself sit down in front of this ‘puter and write. Sorry.
So .. I will try to bring you loyal and faithful readers and followers up-to-date...
Since the last posting, way back on November 25th ...
I had a terrific Thanksgiving Dinner with my son Bill III aka The Bill at his new house on a golf course up in Casselberry.
Bill did everything. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and terrific rolls. We stuffed ourselves, of course.
Bill has been an absolute rock and I just don’t have adequate words to express my appreciation for his love, care and concern.
On Monday, November 30th, I had the 4-month steroid injection of Leuprolide into my butt and, man, it was a lot more painful than I remembered the first one being. The pain and swelling lasted for over a week. Bummer. It made just getting around very difficult.
The combination of the injection and the daily pill, Casodex, result in the side effects of chills, sweats, loss of appetite and energy and basic malaise and have become really emotionally and physically draining.
I also am still “self-catheterizing” 4 times a day and that has become old, of course. I force myself to religiously follow each step of the protocol in order to avoid a dreaded urinary infection.
I have a scheduled procedure with my urologist, Thomas Cangiano, on December 28th, to monitor the kidney blockage status, which I believe to be greatly improved.
On Thursday, December 17th, I have an appointment with my cardiologist, Barton Sickinger.
On January 6th I have an appointment with my oncologist, Raul Castillo, and hopefully then we will take steps to reduce some of the side-effects of his regimen.
Now ... let’s move on to something much more positive ...
On Tuesday I had an AWESOME lunch at The Cheesecake Factory in Winter Park Village with my dear friends Chuck Chance of Gainesville, Steve Dakan of Sarasota, and Carolyn Fulmer of Lakeland. The “event” was organized by Chuck. We were all Judges way back when. The fact that they had driven here solely to be with me was the very personification of friendship, which I will never ever forget.
In the picture it is Carolyn, Chuck, moi, and Steve.
Of course another major positive has been the weekly Sunday night dinners with Bill at our favorite Winter Park restaurant, The Outback Steakhouse, located on Aloma Drive.
OK, my loyal and faithful readers and followers, this is just all I can do ... so ... together let’s continue to ...
KICK CANCER’S ASS.
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
