I am irritated gents..

[nivek]

Doggonit..

I hate the cold and creepies weatherwise. I live in Columbia River Basin's "bannana belt". Areas all around us, Boise, Spokane, Portland, OR, Seattle, Wa can have snow, winds, WINTER weather.

Here is is a milds 40-ish, CAVU, maybe some distant clouds.

Weather's been outstanding. We in Eastern Oregon failed to get a drop of the huge storm mess the Coasters got.

So? My snivel? Damnned diabeties and the neuropathic problems, hand and feet hurt so achingly bad spending time in shop doing my little stuff for Old Blue has come to sudden stop.

Was taking a lot of the sandblasted parts, priming them, painting them a coat of OD to prevent rust. Hands ache so bad I dropped my spraygun and had to clean an OD spot off concrete.

Doc has me on meds for *pain* and the neuropathy shakes and jitters. Both work, until they quit working mid-day. I can take a ton more meds, but often that leaves me 'nuked'. Just sit back in fatdaddy TV chair and stare at the dogs fighting over chewtoys..

Had one buddy who is a lot less driven than I am tell me "I'd love to NOT have to WORK and be able to lounge around all DAY!"
If I could reach him and not fall over I'd kick his shin! Told him several times I'll trade his pancreas and kidney, just one, and let him have the enforced time off.

Just gotta rant a bit.. I want to get Old Blue going to point I can put tub on this winter. Be nice to have drive components in, and able to stop.

This past summer was a wash 'fixit time' with me, too danged down to do much but get old and moan about lost time.. ARrRRGgGGGGggGGHH!

I guess if I had anything constructive to add, if you are diabetic or headed that way, take better care of yourself than I did.. Ignored the problems until they all but wiped me out. Now I *may* get to turn a bolt or two a day, even with 'not working'.

Doc says you *need* to do something, just look my way at a 46 y/o guy with things FUBAR'd past 'easy fixin's '

Thnx for reading..

kL

[Lifer]

I feel your pain, Kevin! I feel your pain! I'm diabetic, too (a nasty side effect of the massive doses of Prednisone and Mestinon that keep me alive). The meds also caused me to develop severe asthma, which further restricts my ability to do honest WORK.

I was shuffling rather painfully into the grocery store the other day from the handicapped parking spot nearest the door when some insensitive clod said "I sure wish I could park right next to the door!" I went off on his sorry @ss and told him that I wished I could park in the farthest corner of the lot and enjoy the liesurely stroll into the store.

Some peoples' kids! I just don't know how they grow up that way!

OK...that's my rant over.

[greencom]

Hi Guys, yeah, most people who have never had any serious medical problems just don't realize how blessed and lucky they are. I was born with a cataract in my left eye (1951) which was removed in the early 80's. Because of the operation I later got a detached retina and ultimately lost most of the vision in it. Later I developed one in my right eye which was removed but left me with glaucoma. I'm not complaining because I managed to find a niche in the electronics industry (defense). Because of this problem I was unable to enlist in the military or get a pilot's license or even play ball (no depth perception). I'm not even supposed to lean over very far to work on my beloved M37. I've even been accused of being a draft dodger by ex-servicemen who don't seem to realize that not everyone can pass the military physical. I have developed a zero- tolerance attitude for people who bitch and moan about not ever doing the things they wanted to for whatever reason while they never had any physical problems that ever held them back. So in short I really feel for you fellows and pray that you will be able to cope with your problems and pursue your dreams.
Greencom

[HingsingM37]

Nivek,

Heres to you feeling better soon. If you were not on the opposite side of the country from me I would come over and help you put that old blue back into one piece. I work cheap,keep me in beer, Doritos, pizza, and good cigars and you can get alot of hard labor and tall tales from me

[SOTVEN]

I feel for you people as I have good friends and relatives who are not well in their health. Unfortunatelly for the rest of us, good health is something we take for granted until the day we loose it. Me too, like Hingsingm37, I would like to help you with your projects, but I am on the opposite side of the planet. However, I believe that one day of work that you guys perform on your trucks equals one year of ours. Keep it up, and maybe better days will come.

[Joe L]

I can't say I know what you're going thru, but I feel for you. The only physical problem I've had to deal with in my 52 was a hernia, and I got that from using my back more than my brain. So you might keep that 'not using my brain' stuff in mind during the rest of this post. Life has sure seemed to kick me in the head awfully hard the last couple of years, and I always think back to something my cousin told me once. Bill was a guy that got kicked hard all thru his life. I won't go into all that happened to him, none of it physical, but if ever a person was a candidate to go out in a field and sit down and say "that's enough' it would be him. But he told me once that life is like riding a motorcycle, you have to stay focused on what's up ahead, when you look down is when you get into trouble. Now I think about that quite a bit.
What I'm trying to say is I've read you're posts and I perceive that you have a zest for life and a sense of humor. Hold on to that. No matter how you feel keep that zest and sense of humor. That's 90% of the battle. Keep focused on what's up ahead. If one day only produces one bolt tightened, that's still one bolt closer. You have a lot of friends out here that are with you and here for you. If you feel like venting, go ahead. If you feel like laughing, we'd like to hear that too. Just remember to keep looking ahead.
Again, I've never come close to the physical pain you are enduring and hope you don't see this as being presumptive. Just keep plugging away my friend.