Ekserb

[Ekserb]

So glad you're feeling stronger. Yay!

Thank you, sweetie.

 

[nonimura65]

Glad to hear you are doing better.

 

[Ekserb]

Glad to hear you are doing better.

I am doing much better, thank you.

 

[youngleo]

Im glad to hear you are feeling better.

 

[Ekserb]

Im glad to hear you are feeling better.

Thank you.

 

[murmurmara]

Almost two months since my last update. This will not do.

I'm waiting for an appointment date for my right elbow surgery. The orthopedic surgeon is going to cut open my elbow and remove the excess bone growth that essentially encapsulates the joint, fusing it solid. They need to first get a CT scan of the arm so the doctors can get a better look at how much work they need to do and where would be best to enter. I'll also get a dose of radiation that is supposed to help permanently stop any more growth, although at this point it seems to have slowed or stopped on its own. Finally, I'll get some intense physical therapy to regain use of an arm that hasn't bent in about six months.

I'm really looking forward to getting at least one arm back and it should alleviate my daily need for help with everything from taking off a shirt to washing my own hair.

Other than that, I'm feeling better and stronger. I can walk until I get bored and I'm able to almost run for a few minutes. My scars seem to be very slowly healing, but I don't expect to see much improvement for many months to come.

I'm glad to hear from you. You're on my Reiki list, so you're in my heart regularly. It's good tai chi for you to be in my head as well. How wonderful to hear you are feeling better and stronger. And amazing that the predicted slowing or stopping of bone growth Did in fact happen. What a long long road it's been for you, though. I'm so heartened to hear that your surgery is now within sight. Visualizing a smoothly flowing right elbow...

 

[Ekserb]

I'm glad to hear from you. You're on my Reiki list, so you're in my heart regularly. It's good tai chi for you to be in my head as well. How wonderful to hear you are feeling better and stronger. And amazing that the predicted slowing or stopping of bone growth Did in fact happen. What a long long road it's been for you, though. I'm so heartened to hear that your surgery is now within sight. Visualizing a smoothly flowing right elbow...

I happen to think it's good for me to be in everyone's head, but some people may beg to differ.

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[Ekserb]

For anyone who might be interested, here's a video I made the other day inside my skoolie conversion motorhome. I share some details of the explosion event and give a short tour of the post-fire interior. On my YouTube channel there are other videos of the bus going back to 2011.

If you'd like to read really detailed descriptions of the full conversion project, I have a build thread on skoolie.net with pictures, CAD renders, and lots of information.

Meanwhile, I know what you fuckers really want. Here's a photo of a pretty girl:
http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-N2hh86c/0/O/i-N2hh86c.jpg

 

[talikat]

For anyone who might be interested, here's a video I made the other day inside my skoolie conversion motorhome. I share some details of the explosion event and give a short tour of the post-fire interior. On my YouTube channel there are other videos of the bus going back to 2011.

If you'd like to read really detailed descriptions of the full conversion project, I have a build thread on skoolie.net with pictures, CAD renders, and lots of information.

Well, you look great, I hope you're feeling better every day.

How odd about the corner protectors. The bus design you have looks nice and cozy though.

 

[Ekserb]

Well, you look great, I hope you're feeling better every day.

How odd about the corner protectors. The bus design you have looks nice and cozy though.

Thanks.

It is cozy, so I still wonder if my girlfriend and I will be able to actually stand each other once we hit the road, but I think we'll live in it together for a while before then and take a few long weekends to places here in Florida. The Keys and my hometown of Miami are obvious destinations.

 

[monique1971]

Nice to see you here and elsewhere. You are constantly in my thoughts and I'm glad your recovery is progressing.

 

[Ekserb]

Nice to see you here and elsewhere. You are constantly in my thoughts and I'm glad your recovery is progressing.

"Constantly" in your thoughts? While I highly doubt that—based on your recent Facebook postings, I say others things probably occupy a good deal more time than my welfare—I'm still very flattered. I thank you, mi amor.

 

[Ekserb]

A few updates:

I am strong enough and fit enough that I can run at fairly high speed on the treadmill for short durations of up to a quarter-mile. The other day I forced myself into interval training for about 25 minutes and by the end I was completely exhausted. But I also felt great. My knees are almost back to full range of motion, with pain only at the most acute bend angle.

Surgery on my right elbow is Monday morning, followed by a couple days in the hospital and then some intense physical therapy for that arm. Can't wait to get back the use of at least one arm.

My girlfriend and I have decided to take a break for a while. Some recent conversations had taken bad turns and we thought it would be better to break up and remain friends than to argue about the future and possibly never talk again. It seems at this point like our paths in life go in different directions, but we still like each other enough that we don't want to lose what we still have. We're happy with this decision and we don't rule out a reconciliation.

I've been dabbling in fractal art. Here's a few samples:

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-85J9pJQ/0/O/i-85J9pJQ.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-qdWT8sR/0/O/i-qdWT8sR.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-3f5TsjC/0/O/i-3f5TsjC.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-gwHJHLK/0/O/i-gwHJHLK.jpg

 

[talikat]

A few updates:

I am strong enough and fit enough that I can run at fairly high speed on the treadmill for short durations of up to a quarter-mile. The other day I forced myself into interval training for about 25 minutes and by the end I was completely exhausted. But I also felt great. My knees are almost back to full range of motion, with pain only at the most acute bend angle.

Surgery on my right elbow is Monday morning, followed by a couple days in the hospital and then some intense physical therapy for that arm. Can't wait to get back the use of at least one arm.

My girlfriend and I have decided to take a break for a while. Some recent conversations had taken bad turns and we thought it would be better to break up and remain friends than to argue about the future and possibly never talk again. It seems at this point like our paths in life go in different directions, but we still like each other enough that we don't want to lose what we still have. We're happy with this decision and we don't rule out a reconciliation.

I've been dabbling in fractal art. Here's a few samples:

That's great that you're back to exercising and getting fuller range of motion.

Good luck with the surgery.

Pretty photos with lovely colors, like a kaleidoscope.

 

[Ekserb]

That's great that you're back to exercising and getting fuller range of motion.

Good luck with the surgery.

Pretty photos with lovely colors, like a kaleidoscope.

Ugh. The surgery. I just got a call from the occupational therapist asking what I'll need after the operation. Like I have any idea what I'll need.

 

[Ekserb]

I got another call from the VA Occupational Therapy clinic and they tell me the consult request they received is for PRE-op therapy, but after speaking with me it's clear I'll need POST-op therapy. Of course, that requires a different consult request. I sent a message to my local clinic and asked for a post-op consult and to her credit, my doctor sent a request for a non-VA consult. I was hoping to avoid the two-hour round trip drive to Gainesville, and hopefully the VA will approve treatment at a local facility.

 

[Ekserb]

More fractals:

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-2R2fqpw/0/XL/i-2R2fqpw-XL.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-hxtgkp9/0/XL/i-hxtgkp9-XL.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-4dGBF9d/0/XL/i-4dGBF9d-XL.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-HnG3msS/0/XL/i-HnG3msS-XL.jpg

 

[talikat]

Ugh. The surgery. I just got a call from the occupational therapist asking what I'll need after the operation. Like I have any idea what I'll need.

Pain killers!

I got another call from the VA Occupational Therapy clinic and they tell me the consult request they received is for PRE-op therapy, but after speaking with me it's clear I'll need POST-op therapy. Of course, that requires a different consult request. I sent a message to my local clinic and asked for a post-op consult and to her credit, my doctor sent a request for a non-VA consult. I was hoping to avoid the two-hour round trip drive to Gainesville, and hopefully the VA will approve treatment at a local facility.

They should if it's local.

 

[Ekserb]

Pain killers!

Anything but morphine. I had crazy, scary hallucinations on morphine during my three months in the ICU. I didn't realize I was hallucinating, even after my family would tell me that my stories of the previous night didn't really happen. Yet the idea of being hunted by corrupt police, or of sleeping in a house with an attic filled with live, dangerous animals, or of trying to climb out of my bed to hide a gun I thought I had mistakenly brought in with me ... these ideas didn't seem strange at all until I had been off morphine for about a week and even then I had a hard time distinguishing these "dreams" from reality. (By the way, I really did try to climb out of my bed—thinking I had the strength to do so—and that act led to me yanking out one of my chest tubes and may have cost me an extra two weeks in the ICU due to slower recuperation from a lung infection.) Fucking morphine.

 

[talikat]

Anything but morphine. I had crazy, scary hallucinations on morphine during my three months in the ICU. I didn't realize I was hallucinating, even after my family would tell me that my stories of the previous night didn't really happen. Yet idea of being hunted by corrupt police, or of sleeping in a house with an attic filled with live, dangerous animals, or of trying to climb out of my bed to hide a gun I thought I had mistakenly brought in with me ... these ideas didn't seem strange at all until I had been off morphine for about a week and even then I had a hard time distinguishing these "dreams" from reality. (By the way, I really did try to climb out of my bed—thinking I had the strength to do so—and that act led to me yanking out one of my chest tubes and may have led cost me an extra two weeks in the ICU due to slower recuperation from a lung infection.) Fucking morphine.

I hear you, it turns my stomach.

Those pictures are so cool!!

 

[Ekserb]

News: Following a suggestion by a friend, I can now use a camera. I have to mount it on a tripod and use a remote shutter release, but it works well enough that I should be able to continue filling up hard drives with new images. I've already notified two of my local models and they are very excited to get back to work on whatever we can dream up.

This new development was made possible by the elbow operation I endured in April. I've been going to intense physical therapy, but the scar tissue from the operation was too heavy to just push through, so the doctor is going to manipulate the joint after installing a nerve block in my shoulder that will render my entire arm numb. I'll be sore after this event, but at least I should be able to bend the arm through a nearly full range of motion.

 

[Ekserb]

More fractal art:

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-S926jfD/0/O/i-S926jfD.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-RX2CrXM/0/O/i-RX2CrXM.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-8CxhnKh/0/O/i-8CxhnKh.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-S5TX5pr/0/O/i-S5TX5pr.jpg

http://pdbreske.smugmug.com/photos/i-PVz46nf/0/O/i-PVz46nf.jpg

 

[MastersWench]

Hi Ekserb,

I have been following along when time permits, and I really appreciate your art!

I absolutely love fractal art. I am a quilter and I think fractal art appeals to that aspect of my passion.

I've very happy for you that somehow, in spite of things, you are finding ways to move forward.

Thanks for taking me to a happy place today!

 

[Ekserb]

Hi Ekserb,

I have been following along when time permits, and I really appreciate your art!

I absolutely love fractal art. I am a quilter and I think fractal art appeals to that aspect of my passion.

I've very happy for you that somehow, in spite of things, you are finding ways to move forward.

Thanks for taking me to a happy place today!

Thank you for your kind words. I'm trying to get back to normal just as soon as my body will allow.

 

[talikat]

Baby steps! Glad you're still coming along Ekserb.

Loving the fractal art too! Trippy man!