Sick and weak is no way to fix a bobcat undercarriage

I am getting stronger and will probably start posting again next week, but without dealing with the pain levels I really cannot function with a clear head. So Northwestern is sending the prescription to the state of Illinois by fed ex which will give a time stamp when they got it. The State of Illinois has claimed they have not gotten the prescription in their terminal priority section. The nurse claims she mailed it, and she claims she emailed it. My wife checked with the state and they never received a thing. Monday the fed ex shall bring this 60 day delay in getting some pain relief to a focus as to who is incompetent.

Because the pain is growing, and the state of Illinois has failed to give approval to the PRRT trials at Northwestern after 9 months waiting, I need to buy some time. The surgeon after reviewing my scans believes I still have blood vessels which will allow a chemo embolization attack on the most aggressive endocrine tumor on my liver. The chemo embolization surgery is scheduled for Nov 13th, and should be an out patient four hour procedure. It should knock me on my asz for a little over a week, and optimistically could give me six months which may be time to get into the trials if the State can get their act together. In the meantime I must deal with the constipation issues using my prescribed opiates which I do not take because of insufferable disruptions and pain for a week after using an opiate. The tumors set up in the intestinal wall, and my cousin's husband who died from endocrine cancer actually had a camera he swallowed for a full digestive 60k image internal examination have the camera get stuck on a large endocrine tumor. They removed it, but Moffit Cancer center in Tampa simply did not have the expertise in radioembolization and did 2 procedures and he was dead.

My fear is that I may have developed blockage which is magnified by the opiates. I will be getting a colonoscopy between now and November 13th to make sure that the pain is not radiating from a tumor blocking my digestive system. The good news is that I am up and working. I actually meet with customers in my semi retirement business on Monday for the first time in almost a month, and I am sweating working on the bobcat......If I can get just a little stronger, I can start messing with people again.

2seaoat wrote:I am getting stronger and will probably start posting again next week, but without dealing with the pain levels I really cannot function with a clear head.  So Northwestern is sending the prescription to the state of Illinois by fed ex which will give a time stamp when they got it.  The State of Illinois has claimed they have not gotten the prescription in their terminal priority section.  The nurse claims she mailed it, and she claims she emailed it.  My wife checked with the state and they never received a thing.  Monday the fed ex shall bring this 60 day delay in getting some pain relief to a focus as to who is incompetent.

Because the pain is growing, and the state of Illinois has failed to give approval to the PRRT trials at Northwestern after 9 months waiting, I need to buy some time.  The surgeon after reviewing my scans believes I still have blood vessels which will allow a chemo embolization attack on the most aggressive endocrine tumor on my liver.  The chemo embolization surgery is scheduled for Nov 13th, and should be an out patient four hour procedure.  It should knock me on my asz for a little over a week, and optimistically could give me six months which may be time to get into the trials if the State can get their act together.  In the meantime I must deal with the constipation issues using my prescribed opiates which I do not take because of insufferable disruptions and pain for a week after using an opiate.  The tumors set up in the intestinal wall, and my cousin's husband who died from endocrine cancer actually had a camera he swallowed for a full digestive 60k image internal examination have the camera get stuck on a large endocrine tumor.  They removed it, but Moffit Cancer center in Tampa simply did not have the expertise in radioembolization and did 2 procedures and he was dead.

My fear is that I may have developed blockage which is magnified by the opiates.  I will be getting a colonoscopy between now and November 13th to make sure that the pain is not radiating from a tumor blocking my digestive system.   The good news is that I am up and working.   I actually meet with customers in my semi retirement business on Monday for the first time in almost a month, and I am sweating working on the bobcat......If I can get just a little stronger, I can start messing with people again.

All optimism . . . . I am so happy for you!

We are pulling for you!

Just trying to keep moving for right now. I am grinding the decals off, sanding, and painting the Bobcat and will replace all the lights and back window as we wait a couple of weeks for the rebuild of the hydraulic drive pump. I am exhausted, but I am out of bed and celebrating that I can work.

Very good day. Got about four hours of work done on bobcat, and took the Lull and pulled flood logs off one of our causeways to avoid blowing out the causeway with another large flood. We hired a a former employee to chain trees in the river which my wife used to do, but at 64 she has just worn out since I no longer can really assist her, and I pulled out full Maple trees which were blown out in the July flood. He did a great job and we will be paying him $15 an hour to chain saw and split the trees. I completed second coats on the bobcat and applied decals. Will put the new tailights in after I return from work Monday(first time in a month that I have gone into work). In addition got to watch the Bears beat the Steelers.

The more I am able to work, the lower the pain. It is really peculiar. We find out Monday if the State got the Doctor's prescription, but I am sleeping through the night again. I was convinced I was done.

2seaoat wrote:

Sure looks largely white to me.

In any event, nice going all around, Sea. Glad you're up and about and working, and that it's making you feel better and helping you sleep.

Have a good meeting Monday.

Silly day. I made it to the office for the first time in a month. Collected mail, and met with some customers, and then I went and played some poker because I have not felt good enough to do the same for almost three months. I played terrible poker and lost a hundred dollars and realized that my bone met on my tailbone just makes it very hard to play over an hour, and if you cannot commit four hours to a table, you probably are going to lose. So I go out to the carnival games, and play a table game called flush. About the fifth hand I am dealt seven cards, and I have a four card straight flush and a seven card flush. The 7 card flush paid $1500, and four card straight flush within the flush paid $300 for an $1,800 win. They had to stop play to issue me a 1099 which they normally do not do unless you hit the top odd bet on that table which I did with the seven card flush, but had I lined up all seven cards in a straight flush, I would have won 42k. I gave the two players who had to wait 15 minutes to commence play again fifty bucks each, and seventy five to the dealer. I lost a few more hands, and got up and left.

The hydraulic drive was picked up by UPS going to Texas. We get the three bearings and rear idler by UPS on Tuesday and will reassemble the lower rollers Tuesday, but must wait fourteen days on the drive to put the rubber tracks back on and work on reseeding the islands. I need to be careful because I am flushing and pain levels are high, even after taking a four hour nap. So happy to be out of bed and moving.

Glad you won at poker, and that you're happy to be up and moving, though the pain is worrisome. Guess the operative phrase is, "I need to be careful." But when did you ever listen to your own advice?

My medical pot card is approved and I have been staying as active as I can, but I will not get the card until 10 days, and the pain has been variable. We sealed the blacktop, and power washed the house, and finished painting the bobcat cage, and applied the rear decal and put new lights in the bobcat. You can compare this photo with the one above. Progress, but if I bring it down to Florida in December, I will scuff it up in twenty minutes. My inclination now is to rent one in Florida rather than go to the hassle and costs to transport my bobcat.

We will be installing three of the new roller bearings you see on the ground along with the rear idler on Friday morning. It is going to be difficult because I am so weak, but I figure we can use some long 2x4s to provide leverage to force the bearings into place without having to lift.....just too weak. we will see.

It looks great....I agree you should rent a Cat here.

We have completed all Bobcat repairs except the drive motor which is being rebuilt in Texas. We expect that after the Colombus day weekend. The new rear idler is in, the three new bearings are mounted, the rear lights are in but I need to pick up two new light bulbs for the running lights, two new headlights installed, and the best part is we figured out how to install the new rear window. We watched ubtubes and Mrs. Seaoat took some cord and ran it in the glass seal cut on the rubber gasket and we installed the gasket on the window and then as I am pressing the back window in she was in the cab pulling the cord which opened the rubber gasket which as I pressed from the outside set the glass into the steel frame. Incredible what you can learn from watching utubes. The one on Bobcat rear windows was terrible, but they had one on installing a rear window in an older ford truck and they used the cord method and it is remarkable that two old farts pulled that one off. Here are the new bearings and idler which you can see bolted on the lower side of the carriage

Earlier this year while clearing a section of the islands, I had a long willow branch about eight inches in diameter crash through the safety glass as I was backing up. It missed my head by about four inches. We cleaned out the broken glass and kept the seal. We got the new window last week, and you can see in the photo below an orange triangle looped on to the safety cord on the interior of the bobcat. You are suppose to be able to pull that cord in an emergency when your front exit is blocked and push out the window. I have told the story of how one of the causeways collapsed and the bobcat slid down the causeway and flipped upside down in about seven feet of water with me inside upside down and submerged in the river. Well, if the front had been blocked, I would have had to turn around, pull the cord, push the window out and get all 6'3" through that small rear window. NO WAY. Fortunately, I shattered the front glass a month earlier and I simply swam to the surface through the large opening in the front part of the bobcat. I would like to reattach the front door and put the glass back in, but after that experience, and now seeing how fricking small the back window is.....no new glass in the front.

A little bit of bad news. No bear game so I decided to power wash a trailer we have for storage. I slipped on the ladder and took a fall from the second rung. Landed on my hip, and no broken bones but a contusion on my knee and hip. We will see how I feel in the morning. I have lost two customers who died falling off step ladders in their sixties. Old farts should stay off ladders. Sick old farts should have a shock collar on which automatically shocks them when they step up on a ladder. Ouch, I could have hit my head, so I guess I was lucky. What is funny is they just found a bone met on one of my hips which as it advances will weaken the bone and result in fractures.....I got doubly lucky that I did not break the hip.

2seaoat wrote:A little bit of bad news.  No bear game so I decided to power wash a trailer we have for storage.  I slipped on the ladder and took a fall from the second rung.  Landed on my hip, and no broken bones but a contusion on my knee and hip.  We will see how I feel in the morning.  I have lost two customers who died falling off step ladders in their sixties.  Old farts should stay off ladders.  Sick old farts should have a shock collar on which automatically shocks them when they step up on a ladder.  Ouch, I could have hit my head, so I guess I was lucky.  What is funny is they just found a bone met on one of my hips which as it advances will weaken the bone and result in fractures.....I got doubly lucky that I did not break the hip.

You do not want to do that....not with bone mets.

I certainly did not plan on slipping and falling, but I have to recognize I am having increasing balance problems and with the mets expanding with pain, I certainly have to be much more aware of falls. This storage unit had a layer of mud from the July floods, and I simple had to go two steps up on a ladder to enter the trailer as I was power washing the dried mud out of the storage unit. What I did not count on was my treads on my gym shoes simply wore out, so when the water and mud hit the ladder there was no traction. It easily could have been my end if the head had hit the power washer base which I just missed. I am barely walking now as everything is very ginger, but I can still make it to the bathroom on my own. My wife and I just laughed tonight as I limped to the bathroom.....we talked about those falls off our bikes as children and how we were able to get right back up on the bike.....well it is funny as hell to see this limping fool trying to get around. What a wonderful journey. You just cannot help laughing at yourself at times, and being thankful that things are not worse.

We will not be getting the drive motor until late next week. It took 7 days to ship it to TX. Good news is that I get to be with my granddaughters all weekend as my daughter is getting her gall bladder taken out. We may be able to keep them until Monday. They will be looking for fresh water pearls, but they will be collecting more mother of pearl shells, bringing them back to the house and scrubbing them up and putting them in a box. River is way down so you can walk right into the beds and maybe they will find another pearl.

Absolutely beautiful, precious grandchildren. What a joy!

Cuties. My brother&family are arriving tomorrow night. I can't wait. 2 nephews 13 & 11. Can't wait..!!

We are having simply beautiful fall weather as a cool front came through yesterday, and I hope it pushes the storm further east and away from Pensacola. I am simply unable to get to Pensacola by Sunday to secure the park model. I hope it fizzles, but we had five feet of water from the Ivan surge and this will present a problem on the park model.

Beautiful girls Seaoat. Good thoughts for your daughter.

Pkrbum enjoy those boys. Fun age.

I have had the grandkids (only 5) during the day for several days. My girls are studying.
Actually l am the chauffeur. Taking them to school, picking up at 3 different schools and times... starting @ 1 and ending @ 4:30. I love it.
I took the little one around the golf course and the park.  Then took the kids to Baskin Robbins. Long couple of days.

Long couple of days.


I so understand that part of being a grandparent.....absolute joy and just not enough energy to keep up.

Home now....will start again at 7am.

2seaoat wrote:We are having simply beautiful fall weather as a cool front came through yesterday, and I hope it pushes the storm further east and away from Pensacola.  I am simply unable to get to Pensacola by Sunday to secure the park model.  I hope it fizzles, but we had five feet of water from the Ivan surge and this will present a problem on the park model.

No way is the storm moving "further east"; on the contrary, the predicted track is now significantly farther west than yesterday, centered on likely landfall along the southeastern Louisiana coast, possibly at the Mississippi border, though the far eastern edge of the cone still reaches the Alabama/Florida line (please refer to the constantly updating graphic first up on Page 1 of the "Eye to the sky, Gulf Coasters" thread).  

We're on the bad side of things, yet effects here are expected to be no greater than that of a tropical storm, and that's the watch we're now under.  Lots of rain and wind, possibly a tornado here and there, but nothing like five feet of surge expected, nor will there be an evacuation of Santa Rosa Island unless Nate somehow rapidly intensifies into a monster over the Gulf, not considered likely.