Lotus NoteBook

Category Life
Back in August I went out of my comfort zone and wrote a non-technical post about personal happenings in my life. I thought I'd step outside the box again and give everybody an update.

First of all, I can't thank everybody enough for all the support and well wishes I received. I really do appreciate it!!!

So what's been happening?

First the good news:

My Uncle seems to be recovering nicely from Triple Bypass surgery. He's up and around and starting to get back to his daily walking regimen. My dad has been a little up and down. We had a scare over labor day weekend when I got a call to get him to the hospital due to breathing problems and tremendous pain in his chest.  Long story short is he likely had some kind of blister inside his lung burst.  It was a long day that day I'll tell you. But the good news is that he seems to be recovering nicely and is getting back to his old self.  It looks like one of the problems might have been that a Dr. in Philadelphia took him off some medicine that had been working.  When asked at the next appointment why that happened the Dr. was under the impression that my Dad couldn't AFFORD the medicine. While my Dad certainly has a knack for "grousing" he's fortunate to be in a position where the price of medicine will never be an issue. So I think there was a little mis-communication which has been resolved and he's back on "the good stuff" which seems to be working.

So the great news is the family health is improving. In fact I'm trying to take a page out of Kathy Brown's book and I've started walking several times a week.  No I won't be running anytime soon, but I will be walking and eating better.  I hope to get into better shape by Lotusphere.

Now the really bad news...
When I wrote in August I mentioned that a co-worker was killed in a motorcycle accident.  That was quite a shock. But nothing like the shock I had today when I found out that ANOTHER co-worker was killed in her own home!  These two ladies sat within 15 feet of each other. I really don't know what to say other then WTF is going on here? Such a senseless waste.  I just don't understand it.

Anyway - I guess the point of everything is that life is short, you never know what's coming next - so have you hugged your kids today?  Or called your parents? Or done something special for your spouse? It's easy to lose time in all the work, and learning, and tweets, and games, and everything else that crosses our paths. Make sure that you never forget the important stuff.  For me, that's my family.

Posted by David Leedy At 8:56 PM Location Lebanon, Pa | Permalink | Comments (4)

Category Life
I tend to mostly blog about Lotus Notes or other technical type issues.  I don't blog much about personal happenings or life in general. Actually I'm not sure if I've ever blogged about a non tech topic. I'm not sure why I don't do that, it's just not exactly my comfort zone I guess.  I do have a family. I have a simply wonderful wife and best friend in Becky. We enjoy an awesome 6 year old son, Matthew, and a beautiful 8 year old daughter, Elizabeth.  I'll throw out an occasional tweet or twitpic sometimes but that's it.  I'll have to think about this I guess. Maybe I should talk more about them.

Anyway, things have been a little bumpy for me in the "real" world. So I thought I'd take a minute or two to sit down and write about it.

A couple of weeks ago during the IamLUG conference I learned that both my Father and Uncle was taken the ER for breathing problems.

My Dad's case is still progressing.  I'm not really sure what the status is.  He's on oxygen almost full time at the moment and has good days and bad days.  His next appointment is at Temple in Philadelphia next week so hopefully we'll know more about what's going on then.

My Uncle, Dave, who is technically Becky's great Uncle is a different story. He went in for breathing issues, and after some looking around it was determined there was a blockage near the heart and he would require a "stent".  While I guess no surgery is without risk I was told that putting a stent in was "relatively routine".  Unfortunately that was not to be.  I'm not sure the chain of events, but last night we found out that it might be a "bigger" deal then that.  Today he underwent a "Triple Bypass" surgery.  The word from the Dr. is that this was a very difficult operation and there was plaque everywhere and some of it was as "hard as teeth". During the surgery his lower heart got lazy and required some kind of pump.  It should be noted that for 60ish Uncle Dave is in great shape.  He regularly walks and GeoCaches and the only medication he's on is for arthritis. Apparently this heart disease is genetic. He made it out of the Surgery and is now "Hour by Hour".  Due to that pump being attached he'll be sedated for at least a day or 2 I think. So we're waiting and praying right now.

On a third note, I started the week with some really bad news. A wonderful co-worker of mine, Susan Wolfe, was killed in a Motor Cycle accident over the weekend. She was to be on vacation next week. Just on Friday before, I had a conversation with her about accessing her email while she was out of the office and as it happened, more then once, I teased her about her phone. She had some old phone that simply "made phone calls" and I would often make fun of it and tell her to get an iPhone. She was as nice a person as could be.  She was an accomplished Fluteist and not only gave lessons but was in at least 3 local area bands.  Her boyfriend had a motorcycle and she loved going on rides with him. Somewhere along the way, which I did not know, she started riding herself. I'm told she was a safety freak - helmet and whatever else you can do to be safe.  I really don't know myself.  But I guess what happened is she went out for a ride this weekend and went around a bend and drifted into the other lane where a SUV was coming. And that was that.  

So anyway, if anyone reads this far, I just thought it might be prudent to remind everyone to unplug now and then.  Make sure you spend time with your family and keep you're priorities in order.  You just never know what's going to happen next.

Posted by David Leedy At 7:36 PM Location Lebanon, Pa | Permalink | Comments (5)