Tuesday, June 02, 2015

LIfe Goes On

It's been six weeks since the last CT scan showed some growth in the spots on my lungs. I had another scan two days ago. I get to hear the results on Thursday. I waited around after the scan and got a CD with the images on them for both scans and looked at them already. Yeah, I can't interpret them at all, but in my layman's opinion the second one appears to be worse. I'm not looking forward to Thursday at all.

As I mentioned in my last post, Dr. Whoosh adjusted my cancer medication. I was taking three pills a day, he had me raise it to four pills per day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and told me to keep an eye on my blood pressure. After a couple of weeks, the blood pressure hadn't gone up a great amount, so I increased it to four pills every day as he had suggested. Nope...the blood pressure went up some more so I've dropped it back down to alternating three and four pills per day.

During the visit, the nurse practitioner noticed a rash on my wrist and asked about it. I explained that it was some contact dermatitis I had gotten from my wristwatch. Over the last couple of years I've gotten to the point that I can't wear any type of wristwatch without it causing a rash within a week or so. I've tried metal, plastic, fabric...all to no avail. She suggested a pocket watch and started joking around with my wife about how I'd look very distinguished in a waistcoat with a pocket watch on a gold chain, what with my white hair and beard. The conversation escalated, and by the time we left the office, my wife was making plans to dress me up steampunk style. I got hooked on the idea and we discussed it all the way home. By the time we reached home we had decided to create our own steampunk costumes and attend a steampunk convention somewhere.

Since I can't walk more that a few hundred feet without resting, I decided I'd need to invest in a wheelchair...so why not get one and steampunk it? I also don't want to make my wife have to push me around, so I'd need to motorize it. This all lead to my current project...building a steampunk wheelchair to take to a steampunk convention in Cincinnati in April of next year.

I've got a little over $200 invested in it already, but a good portion of the major mechanical and electrical components are already purchased. I'm hoping to bring it in at under $500. You can read about the ongoing project on my other blog at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/grampy0729. Note that you'll need a Tumblr account to view the blog.

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