Leanna is fine, but you should all be told that she suffered a stroke Wednesday evening. We got her to the hospital on time (three-hour window before the drugs cannot be used) and the stroke-reversing drugs eliminated the problem.

She had confusion, numbness in both arms (she dropped her purse and shopping bag when it hit), and slurred speech, but that all went away with the anti-stroke drugs.

A whole day of tests on Thursday proved that she had zero permanent damage. She is resting at home watching chick-flicks with Jean and should be back to work next week.

I advise all of my friends to take a few minutes to google stroke and read about it, learn to recognize the symptoms, and what the anti-stroke drugs do.

The drugs are dangerous and there was a 5% chance of sudden death, but traded against never being able to speak clearly or take care of herself (drive, cook) again, she decided to take them. The one-hour danger zone, in which I held her hand and kept her talking so the doctors could tell when she improved and if she got worse was the scariest thing I have ever been through. But she came through with flying colors, quickly returning to normal speech, normal muscle control, and no confusion.

Thanks to the doctors, nurses, the stranger who helped her and called 911, and God and His Son for her recovery. Twenty years ago, she would not have.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 23, 2016 - 05:00 pm: Edit

Just so you all know, I have had two "surgery" visits in the last 16 days (one today) to remove a kidney stone from my one remaining kidney. Fairly big stone as these things go, but it is now a bit of ash and sand and will wash downstream over the next week. Lots and lots of details I am not giving you because they are "icky". While the two events were full surgery, operating room and anesthesia and all that, the operation wasn't dangerous and wasn't any more than a dental tooth extraction. But I didn't want you to worry.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, October 28, 2016 - 11:48 am: Edit

Buying an extra cover to get a dozen counters seems like a really bad idea.

We might be convinced to print some cardstock with all of the "missing" counters?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, December 16, 2016 - 02:17 pm: Edit

One year without cancer. That cost me a kidney, but the tennis-ball-sized tumor was entirely self-contained and had not spread. Still trying to adjust my body and the "live just fine with one kidney" turns out to have a few footnotes, but I'm alive and that's better than the alternative.

Had a gigantic one-pound prime rib for lunch (Jean had a ribeye) and we both feel on top of the world.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 19, 2017 - 03:35 pm: Edit

I know that I haven't posted a MY DAY in a week, and I'm sorry. I'll get it done later today.

The "system" hard disk in my computer died catastrophically (directory failure, so it also destroyed the backups), but the "data" hard disk is just fine and fully backed up. So no products were lost. I did lose any unanswered email or uncopied reports/submissions from 4 Sept 2016 to 6 Jan 2017, but that's not much. (Biggest loss was two Starlist requests I cannot get back; I have no way to tell those two people why they didn't get an answer and won't unless they ask again.)

At this time, DO NOT resend me any files.
If you asked me a question and did not get an answer, ask again.
If you sent a submission, then send me a note and I'll see if I transferred it or need another copy.
If you asked me to do something and I never did it, then ask me again and I'll do it when I get a moment.

Problem at the moment is the new "system hard disk" has some kind of software nervous breakdown and cannot get on the internet or the officenet. So I can't email or transfer stuff to the PC (or other Macs) or print anything. Best I can do until Leanna (who is working hard to find the issue) fixes this is to transfer stuff from one computer to the other (three feet apart) by thumbdrives, which is annoyingly hard due to file formats and everything else. Sigh.

On the other hand I have begun the long-delayed process of learning to use a PC. I did the CL52 Proposals Board article on the PC-word, and have gotten pretty good at PC-Photoshop. PC-Excel is being difficult but I'll get there. PC-Freehand (or the other graphics program) is another story. Leanna bought a copy of Pagemaker for the PC and that's going to be fun to try out.