Sunday, Oct 19- Devil is in the Details

I discovered some medication errors.  Because of pain at night while sleeping the doctor increased my Gabapentin dosage.  The nurse told me to go from 3 to 4 pills per day.  The problem is my original dosage was 600 mg and the new prescription they prescribe was 300 mg.  So I was taking way too much.  Last week I was also told to take Nexium.  I bought the over the counter bottle of pills, which is half the dosage of my prescription.  Oh well, I think everything is correct now.

Last night was another hard night to try to sleep.  My strategy is to sleep on my back without a pillow to minimize movement.  However, after an hour I feel vivid pain, maybe a seven on a scale of 10.  Oddly, this pain last for about 10 minutes and then begins to abate.  I then try to read for 30 min-hour until I get very sleepy and go back to bed.  After another hour or so in bed I repeat the process.  Last night there was no pain in my left arm.  All the pain was in my neck right shoulder blade and radiating down the right arm.  This morning the pain was pretty intense and felt like I had a broken shoulder for half an hour.  On the good side, Sherry and I got up at 9:00, so I ended up with probably 7 hours of actual sleep.  I don't have pain problems during the day, since I'm sitting up and moving around.

I've been thinking about what to do with my life, if and when the 100-Day bone marrow biopsy shows a clean bill of health.  I look at my brother Don and all the passion he possesses to help seniors have safer housing.  He's retired, yet has a full-time volunteer job and is happier than he's ever been.  I look at my ultra runner buddy Drew, who is 67 years old and running 100-milers in the mountains.  I love endurance exercise and fully appreciate the commitment it takes to demand so much from one's body.  Then, there's Tom Ekenberg, who is now a Masters world class weight lifter and wad recently inducted into the Hall of a Fame.  Or, I could return to work and try bring home some big commissions and make donations to the Christian school I like in Guatemala.  If all works right, I plan to return to work by the first of the year.  I love Gateway Church and have thought of getting more envolved.  But, I think Curly said it best when he stressed the importance of 'just one thing'.  You remember Curly.  He was the wise and leathery cowboy from the movie City Slickers.  Fortunately, I know my 'just one thing' and she's my darling wife, Sherry.  I definitely married up and can't wait to see what adventures lay ahead of us.  And to those old ORU graduates out there.  We all remember Oral's admonition, "She's not your woman; she's your wife."