This Just In: King of Pop Michael Jackson dies

The meltdown finally slowed to a stop. Michael Jackson, the self proclaimed "King of Pop" died Thursday, June 25th at 2:36 p.m. pdt of a heart attack. An autopsy is scheduled. He was 50 years old. Although his star shone brightest during the period when the "Thriller" album and cd just couldn't seem to keep off the top of the pop charts in the early 80s, his "HisTory" spanned nearly all the decades in which he lived.

First skyrocketing to fame with his family group "The Jackson Five" in the early 70s, and later forging a place near the top of the pop iconography when the aforementioned "Thriller" album dominated the charts for nearly half a decade, Michael's legacy has always been a strange one, and was muddled further and further during this past decade when he was accused, (and then aquitted) of child abuse, and seemed to get weirder and weirder as his life spiraled out of control. He had just signed up for a series of "farewell concerts" in hopes of eliciting some sort of payday after his financial woes caused him to sell his famed estate, "Neverland". Early in 2009, he was able to stop a planned auction of his personal effects.

The Jackson Five sings "I'll Be There" with featured vocal by Michael.

I could say I've been living under a rock for most of the past month, because of my hospital stay, followed by a long recuperation at home. I usually read the newspaper once a day, and rarely if ever watch television news. When a person as famous as Jackson passes, however, this rock is moved pretty quickly, and chances are anyone reading this, which  is being posted really early in the morning of the 26th, a day after his death, already has "heard the news".  A quick look at the "top blogs" on Xanga did show more than a couple of "tribute posts" to the artist.

I haven't been actively blogging during my recuperation, and my next planned blogs are an appreciation of "the little things in life" followed by a tribute blog for my friend Joel, who passed away almost exactly a year ago. However, I always call myself a "student of popular culture" and would like to chime in with a tribute post of my own about Michael. Jackson's career is a strange one, and he has been both admired and reviled. I was somewhat surprised to find that I don't have any Jackson cds or albums in my mighty music collection (except for Jackson Five records) but that makes sense, since I believe I gave all the Jackson albums to Pat's kids when we broke up. I do remember purchasing Thriller and Off the Wall back in the 80s.

Michael's "heyday" would have been the mid 80s to the early 90s. He began to fall out of public favor in the early 90s when he began to alter his face pretty drastically with plastic surgery, and was first accused of child molestation. Tributes I read or watched yesterday compared him with Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, but for the most part, he 'shared' the spotlight of superstar in the 80s with Madonna. Nobody has really eclipsed the careers of Sinatra and Presley (whose daughter Michael married for a couple of years in the 90s) for longevity or impact. With the segmentation of popular music these days, possibly nobody will ever eclipse them. (The Beatles pretty much own the 60s, but they were a group and not a sole artist, as was Sinatra (the 40s) and Presley (the 50s). )

I was a high schooler when The Jackson Five started spitting out hit after hit on the Motown label in 1969. I tracked the top twenty singles each weekend when I listened to Casey Casem's American Top 40 radio show, and remember writing the Jackson's name quite a few times as the group with the Number One Hit.. I wasn't a 'fan' of the Jacksons, and labeled their music pretty much "teen music" or "bubblegum music". But there is still a lot of power in young Michael's voice in songs like "I'll be There" (which I've added to this blog entry) or "Ben", the most beautiful love song to a rat ever devised. Truly, Michael outshone his brothers in the early days, and when he came out with solo albums like "Off the Wall", it wasn't that much of stretch to see his career rise solidly.

I think I always liked the idea of Jackson's "Neverland Ranch" because I collect pop paraphanelia myself. Jackson had his own zoo, populated his mansion with life sized figures and statues, and collected paraphanalia dedicated to Shirley Temple and Marilyn Monroe. He was a bit vain , commissioning artworks and paintings of himself portrayed as a royal subject. He "self proclaimed" himself the "King of Pop." His ever changing face became pretty much a big joke, and he wanted to be forever young, like Peter Pan. (Neverland, of course, is the home of the boy who never grows up.) Elvis (The "King" of rock and roll) died young (at 42) and in the midst of a career spiral. His bloated appearances during his last days have pretty much been covered up by his family in the ensuing decades, so those who didn't know him don't know how bad he really looked at the end of his short career. I don't know if Jackson's slide downhill will be able to be stopped and redirected, since it has been pretty much all of the reportage of him for the past decade, I don't think some will say that Jackson will eventually be as revered an artist as Elvis, but I believe history will prove to idolize him and inflate his good points rather than his bad ones.

Those "good points" include 1. A mastery of body movement and dance. Besides the famous "moonwalk", it might be argued that Jackson almost singlehandedly brought (back) dance moves into the r and b lexicon. 2. The Voice. There is simply no denying the power of Michael's high notes. 3. Perpetual Fame. Even though I believe that being in the spotlight since before he was 5 years old might be part of the "problem" which caused most of his eccentricities, this constant fame is part and parcel of what made Michael Jackson "the King of Pop." 4. Video Superstar. Michael's music videos for songs on Off the Wall and especially Thriller helped to cement his early superstardom. MTV and Michael Jackson were "made for each other", and Michael was the first black artist featured on the early music video channel. 

Michael Jackson is surely a pop icon, and is sure to be canonized by purveyors of pop culture. Of course, some younger people might only see his eccentricities (which were hard to miss) and might not understand his place in the pop iconography, but it does belong there, very close to the stars of Sinatra and Presley. In his better days, Mike had the charisma and the chops to blow almost anyone else out of the pop universe. He's not my favorite performer, but his performances will be missed.

Rest in Peace, Michael. You lived a whirlwind life. You made some great strides, and you made some dreadful mistakes. You had the spotlight directed on you pretty early in life, and you spent most of that life trying to find a childhood that never existed in the first place. You were lauded and loved as much as you were reviled and misunderstood. Personally, I never thought the "child abuse" allocations were true. You were simply too sheltered and naive to understand that your actions seemed a might strange to the world at large. I don't think anyone can deny the fact that you were a "true original."

L.A. Times Obituary 

A Leg To Stand On

HOME FOR A WEEK & A HALF

It's been a week and a half since I got out of the hospital. I don't really feel like "doing" much these days. Although the healing of the hip revision is going great, and I'm able to walk down to the clubhouse and back to my own home on the walker without any problems, I'm somewhat bothered by some congestion which showed up during my hospital stay and which doesn't seem to be going away. I'm tired pretty much most of the time.

A typical day: Awake at around 8am, fix some hot tea and breakfast. My 'bath' is a washdown of my upper body and legs. I haven't been able to locate the clear bandages which were ordered for my wound. (They can be special ordered for 6 bucks apiece through a medical supply house but I haven't ordered any yet) I saw my orthopaedist last Tuesday (the first time I drove since the operation) and he took out my staples, but there is only a series of small bandages over the actual wound, over which I place a pad, which is secured by my "hip wrap", a velcro aided large flexible wrap which I fasten over my left hip, thigh and buttock. I know I'm not supposed to get the wound wet, and won't see the doctor for another three weeks. So far since I'm not spending my days doing much, it doesn't really matter if I shower completely. After tea and breakfast, I take my first "walk" around the mobile home park. I'm probably walking four-five miles a day. At around 10am I watch a movie or TV show on my bigscreen, and then I'm usually taking a nap in the early afternoon. Then a sandwich for lunch, more TV or another movie, another nap, dinner, and at 5pm my antibiotic treatment which I'll be taking for another three weeks. It takes about a half hour to inject the antibiotics, and I'm doing this myself. A nurse comes by on Mondays to change the dressing on my arm where the Picc line is inserted. After my antibiotics, I take my evening walk around the park. At 9 or 10 I go to bed.

I've ventured outside the confines of the mobile home park three times. First an appointment with the orthopaedist last Tuesday, then a visit to my own doctor, plus a visit to my workplace to say hi to everyone on Wednesday. On Friday, I drove around to two separate medical supply houses and found out I had to have the clear plastic bandages special ordered. Since I don't really think I need them, I didn't order any. I did get "skis" for my walker, which take the place of the rubber tips on the back legs (the front legs have wheels). I wore out the rubber tips pretty quickly. (The technician at the medical supply house told me it was "good" that I wore out the rubber tips so quickly cause this meant I was using the walker a lot.)

I want to go back to work this week if possible. On Wednesday, my "three week vacation" from work will be over. Depending upon how I feel, I might go back to work mid week, or wait till next Monday. It's not busy at work at all, and by the looks of it during my visit, my presence is not missed all that much. The folks I trained to do some of my tasks while I was gone are doing pretty well. One of the two things that bother me right now is that I'm tired most of the time, and the few times I've attempted driving and going places, I got tired really quickly. While at home, preparing meals and watching TV, I haven't felt all that tired. I am taking lots of naps however.

I'm still not ready to blog on a regular basis. There's really not much to report. Life is pretty "boring" right now. I wish I could take some of this time and actually "do something" but even the thought of sitting in a theater seat to see a movie at a theater might be too daunting. At home, I sit on a pillow, and move to the bed pretty frequently to alleviate any pain. I'm not taking too many pain pills however, which is a good thing.

The worst thing right now, and what is bothering me the most is the cough. As I mentioned, I seem to have gotten some congestion in my chest during my hospital stay, and while I'm not "sick" like with a cold, and am not running a fever, the cough is terrible, and I don't seem to be clearing the congestion. (Which seems really weird since I'm pumping antibiotics into my body on a daily basis.) When I saw my regular doctor last week, and complained of this he prescribed proventil, (a 40 dollar inhaler!!) Mucinex, and a cough syrup. Finally, today, for the first time, I don't seem to be coughing as much, although I can still feel the conjestion when I breathe.

I don't need any additional "help" around the house, but I have the phone numbers of four different friends/neighbors by my side in case of emergency. So far, with the help of the "hip kit", which includes a grabber and long handle scrub brush and shoe horns, and with the walker, I'm "getting around" pretty well.

I just seem to be too tired to do anything except lounge around and watch movies on my bigscreen and take lots of naps. (If memory serves I spent about three weeks after the first operation 16 years ago doing exactly the same thing.)

Excuse me that I'm not blogging much, and that this "update" isn't very well written or presented. I'm sure there are at least a dozen folks who will be happy to find out that I'm doing as well as can be expected. Thanks to all who left comments/messages after my last entry. If this damn cough will go away, then I would pretty much say I'm almost fully healed.

Well, it's time to take a nap.

A Stay at The Hospital Hotel

Hospital Hotel Itinerary

(Denial only goes so far....)

"Welcome to the Hospital Hotel. You can check out any time you like. But you can never leave..."

I'm going to spend my "vacation" at the "Hospital Hotel". A Five Star residence hotel/hosptial called the USC University Hospital, located in East Los Angeles, CA. Although right up the street from USC County, or "County Genreral", the old city hospital, USC University is a teaching hospital for the school, and is where my orthopaedist, a specialist who can perform my "hip revision", works. I'm going in for a 3-5 day stay in order to replace or repair my ailing and ancient hip. It's been over a year since I first met my Doctor, Dr. Longjohn, and even Joel was aware of my upcoming operation, even though he's been gone a year now. Instead of using state disability funds right away, I schedule a three week vacation from work. My paycheck will continue to be direct deposited into my checking account on Thursday nights at midnight.
I take my final work day on Monday 6/1 and spend Tuesday 6/2 stocking up on supplies for post op at my house. I stock up on food for about two weeks. First meals will be microwave "TV Dinners" and Top Ramen noodle dishes, easy to make and to eat. I also get chicken and hamburger, which I put in the freezer for meals later in the two or three week period. Liz and her boyfriend Spencer pick me up at my house at around 2:00pm. We have a liesurely lunch waterside at Old Tony's on the Pier in Redondo Beach. Liz treats me, cause she didn't get around to treating my on my birthday this year, a ritual since we met in 2004. After the meal, we head up to Simi Valley, where she lives. I will spend the evening with her at her place, and then we'll drive in to checkin at the hospital at 6:00am the next day. The later evening is spent watching National Treasure: Book of Secrets on her Netflix enabled TV, and then we go to bed.

Following is my "timeline" for this adventure, detailing my stay at "The Hospital Hotel".

6/3 WED.
6:00 am: Check in at concierge. I first joke to my friend Liz, after we get to the hospital, that I'm spending my vacation at the "Hospital Hotel." I'm given a "pager coaster" just like at the Claim Jumper restaurant, which will alert me when I'm ready to go upstairs for pre op prep.
6:30 am: While perusing the newspaper in the richly appointed wating room, my "pager" begins to buzz and flash. About a half dozen patients are escorted to preop room.
7:00-8:00 am: Pre op preparation. I fill out and sign innuberable forms and precautions. Administration of the epidural procedure for anaesthesia and pain control, in which I'd expressed an interest during preliminary check in procedures the week before. Liz tells me her goodbyes at this point, and we hug each other tightly. I have to bend over and accept insertion of the needle in my spinal column. It tickles. Before I know it,. the needle is in my back, and liquid heaven is being pumped in my system. Surgery scheduled for 9:30 am. I fill out and sign still more innuberable forms and precautions.
9:30 am. Surgery delayed when doctor's team needed for emergency heart transplant in another OR.
11:00 am. Surgery rescheduled. By now all patients in my group, plus all patients in preop room when I arrived, around 20, have been moved into surgery except me.
11:45 am. Doctor Longjohn, my orthopaedic surgeon, who will perform the "hip revision" operation, appears, apologizes for delays, and promises I'll be in surgery by noon.
12 noon: Surgery begins.
3:00 pm: Surgery completed. No complications encountered at all. Top ball of thigh bone prosthesis replaced. Total socket replaced. New ball/socket is about 40mm larger in diameter than on the existing prothesis. Wound is sealed with stainless steel staples and is pretty much in exact place as previous wound from original hip replacement.
3:30 pm: Check in room 635, a single with attached bathroom. Upgrade had been requested and delivered. The hospital is small, with 265 beds, and it's a good thing I won't be sharing my room. I'll be staying from "3-5 days" with planned checkout for Sunday, 6/7, or perhaps even before. Prior to surgery, a nose swab detected a bacterial infection which causes my room to be semi quarantined. Entrants always have to wash their hands and wear antiseptic gowns and caps while in the room.

6/4 THUR. through 6/6 SAT.
Normal period of rest, recuperation, and physical therapy rehabilitation. I attempt to exhibit a dash of class and remain distinguished even in a somewhat less than classy and less than distinguished environment. I find that there are so many things to learn about healthcare through the nurse's perspective, and meet a lot of nurses really quickly over the space of a few days. No matter how vehemently a certain nurse might believe in a method of treatment, another nurse will most certainly believe doing exactly the opposite. If both nurses are on suceeding shifts, they end up undoing the other's 'work' while badmouthing.The same nurse who is able, as if by rote, to recite all rules, regulations, warnings, and precautions relating to your specific ailment, will most probably move your water pitcher or walker just out of your reach before they exit your hospital room. I'm told repeatedly that I'm on track for early dismissal based on my progress in physical therapy and in occupational therapy. All my nurses tell me I'm a model patient, and they wish they had more like me.

One patient, "the screamer", bellows loudly for nursing staff from his room. Another room seems to be filled with Mexican partygoers from 8-10pm each evening. I like to be left alone, (with the door closed) and only call a nurse if I need to go to the bathroom. I need her help to unhook whatever fluids are flowing into my veins from the IV pole so I can ambulate untethered into the bathroom. I can use the "pee cup" at my bedside, but prefer the "cleaner " version of using the toilet whenever possible.

I make an attempt to remember each nurse, technician, or doctor who enters my room (in order to take up time, and to get them all straight in my head.) There is Jennifer, the night nurse with the bubbly personality. Audrey, a  new hire nurse who seems to get a perplexed look on her face whenver confronted with a piece of medical apparatus. Nurse Kilyoung, who is matter of fact, opinionated, and loudly disagrees with all nursing procedures performed by others before him. Nurse Charles, who always seems to be distracted by something else, but is otherwise pretty professional, if not overwhelmingly giving of his help. My night nurses, Nurse Fil and Nurse Nannette, who always take the time to really help their patients, even though it seems they are totally alone in this endeavor during the evening hours and are continually being paged.

I meet so many people, and am made to feel safe and  am given excellent care. One of my lab techs, Daniel Neyra, is from Peru, and has a last name similar to mine. On Friday evening my night nurse is Gina, from another wing and floor of the hosptial, who informed me I have "floating veins" and couldn't find one in which to insert the IV tube, so had to call another nurse for help. The nurse who had never seen a digital thermometer before scared me a little. I'm sure they've been around for at least 20 years.Each time a lab tech comes to draw blood, I mention the "floating veins". The tech will instruct me that he never has any problems at all, and then he will leave me with three balls of cotton taped to the various pricks from which he unsuccessfully tried to draw my blood.

Since I usually eat only one full meal a day, I'm a bit hornswoggled by being sent meals three times each day, and at first treat this as an unwanted nuisance. (Like someone was forcing food down my throat at all times.) I might need pain medication or other nursing assistance, and seem to wait longer and longer for these important things to happen as the time wears on. However, the food service people always seem to be underfoot, taking orders for the next day's meals, or arriving with new platters piled with food. After a while my appetite returns in full force, and I begin to look forward to the meal breaks as exciting distractions to otherwise boring routines. I decide that the two murder mysteries I brought along as reading matter are not interesting to me at all, and flip on the (non DVR equipped) basic cable TV from time to time, relishing finding shows on PBS dedicated to 40s swing music and the 60s pop group The Mamas and the Papas.

6/7 SUN.
7:30 am: During removal and redressing of the wound, I'm told by my doctors that I should be checking out later in the afternoon. I call Liz, who will be taking me home, with the good news. I let her know I'll call her as soon as I know I'm being discharged for certain, since I don't want her to have to wait around on "hospital time", where a minute can stretch to a few hours in the seeming blink of an eye. My mental health is positive and high. My physical therapy is going strong, and I'm making vast improvements. I'm more than ready to go home, and have had quite the experience, taking mental notes on all that happened during my stay.
9:45 am: Things begin to take a small turn for the worse, accellerating wildly an unpredictably. My nurse brings in some "antibiotics" on an IV drip. Perplexed, I ask why I'm again on an IV, since I'd been taking most medicines orally for the past couple of days. The nurse tells me I'll have to wait for my doctor to explain.(Not a good sign when this happens on the medical shows on TV!)
11:30am: My orthopaedist arrives to give me the latest prognosis. It seems that a staph infection (the coagulase negative staph aureus bacteria) was found in my blood, so I've been ordered to stay an additional 24-48 hours for observation, and will be taking intraveneous antibiotics twice a day.
11:45am: I begin to get a bit depressed, call Liz to tell her about this latest delay, and begin to "wait". Imperceptible cracks begin to form in my classy demeanor.

6/8 MON.
6:30 am: When the wound is undressed early in the morning, Dr. Longjohn's assistants declare that there is still too much seepage of fluids. Besides the bacterial infection, this latest snafu draws some more anquish and anxiety from the patient.
 9:30am: I meet my latest nurse, Nurse Joycelyn, who wears a Nurse Betty Boop themed shirt/blouse and a Betty Boop watch. Our conversations center around a number of subjects, and one is how I began to watch my health when I turned 40, which is why I have a hip repIacement in the first place. I cause her to blush (which I've never seen a black person do before) when I tell her she doesn't look a day over 25, and she confesses to being 43. Because of the gloves the nurses all wear when in my room, I can't detect whether or not Nurse Joycelyn is wearing a ring, but I'm getting interested in somehow continuing our relationship after I leave, if the opportunity presents itself and it is at all possible.
2:30 pm: In rapid succession, I meet Jack and Dr. Geisel from the Infectious Diseases department. Jack is an Asian American with a deadpan delivery, who tells me that I don't have anything to worry about concerning the staph infection, which might already have been in my body. Because of the mix of biological parts, plus old and new prosthesis parts, nobody wants any complications with infection. Dr. Geisel seems to have come direct from Central Casting. With wild thinning white hair, erratic hand gestures, and an accent which sounds exactly like Dr. Ludwig Von Drake, he explains to me that the antibiotic program has been changed to another drug.
7:00 pm: At shift change, I'm a bit disappointed that Nurse Jocyelyn doesn't drop by to say goodbye. I'd written a list of URLs for my blog and websites earlier, and wanted to give them to her, so she could see my Betty Boop website.
8:15 pm: Nurse Fil, the night nurse, gives me my nightly morphine injection, so I can go to sleep. Since Saturday, my evenings have been nice and restful. Sometimes I get strange fever dreams (and nightmares) from the pain drugs, but for the most part I've been sleeping better than I normally do at home!

6/9 TUES.
7:00 am. I meet with Dr. Longjohn, and his assistants, Drs. Luke and Jackson. The last dressing, which should be clean as a baby's bottom, is still filled with blood and a sickly yellow fluid. The doc gives me a worst case scenario having me go under the knife again in order to undergo exploratory examination, and further clean these fluids from the open wound. Although I try not to  show it, my depression deepens. A best case scenario involves dermabond, a super glue for skin. I can't leave hospital observation until my wound is clean.
10:00 am. In my daily phone call to work, I upgrade my metaphor of the hospital as hotel to a jail.
10:30 am: Dr. Luke applies the dermabond to my wound area. If there is no seepage found in 24 hours, then I should be allowed to go home on Wednesday, fully a week after I checked in.
12:00 noon: Procedure to install 'Picc" line in my arm for intraveneous fluid delivery after my discharge. The entire procedure is done in my hospital room. First I'm given an ultrasound in my right upper arm to find a good vein, then a local anasthesia is applied to my arm, and the picc line inserted in the vein until it gets pretty close to my heart itself.
12:30 pm: Chest Xray. The machine is rolled into my hosptial room and looks like a small forklift. The plate is situated behind my back, and the Xray aimed at my chest while I'm still in my hospital bed.
1:30 pm: In the midst of one of my numerous naps, my remote, which controls lighting, the TV, and calls the nursing station, aquires a life of it's own, and begins to call the nurse repeatedly. I keep apologizing, and telling the nurse I think the remote is broken.(Cue Twilight Zone theme music here.)
2:15 pm: While I'm taking a bathroom break, the remote calls the nursing station again. I call from the toilet that I can't turn it off, since I'm otherwise indisposed. After getting back in my bed, I turn on the TV (with the remote), but can't adjust sound levels, or even get any sound. Using the phone, I call the nurse's station (the remote won't let me!) and let them know I need a new remote. When an orderly appears to check it out, she slaps the remote up against the side of the bed frame, and then aims it at the TV. Sound suddenly comes on, and it seems to be "fixed".
3:00 pm: The theme on Oprah is medical misdiagnoses. A chef almost had his tounge and lower mandible removed, and a gal had her lasik surgery almost applied to the wrong eye, which would have blinded her. Glad the remote is finally working, I shut offf the program quite quickly.
9:00 pm: During a telephone call with Liz, I tell her not to even mention that there is any possibility of my being released from the hospital, in order not to jinx anything.

6/10 WED.
6:30 am: Dr. Luke removes dressing, and inspects dermabond around wound area. No seepage detected. I'm told I will be released within a few hours, as soon as Dr. Longjohn reviews Dr. Luke's assessment.
7:15 am: Breakfast comes a little late this morning. I eat my meal, read my newspaper, and regale anyone within earshot about my impending release.(Which begins to sound like Chicken Little proclaiming that the sky is falling after a while.) Most of the people to whom I talk are orderlies or cleaning crew.
11:00 am: A representative from "social services" drops by. She is assigned to "longtime patients", one of which I have become since I've been in the hospital for over a week. During her interrogation, she asks when a good time for release might be. I answer by saying "three or four hours ago." She explainst that I could be discharged the same day, if provisions can be found for delivery of the antibiotic medicine to my house for uninterrupted coverage. The social services gal is short, a bit pudgy, and really seems concerned when I tell her I understand I'm not the "engineer driving the train" but if the bacterial infection is at bay, and the medicine on it's way to my house, I'd really like to get out of there as I'm beginning to go stir crazy. She goes, to return a few moments later to tell me she's conferred with my doctor, and I will definitely be released today. Optimum time is to be 2:30pm. I have time to call Liz, arrange for her to pick up my "hip kit" from a local medical supply house, and should be out of the hospital immediately following my evening antibiotics treatment, which will be moved up an hour, to 5:00pm.
2:00 pm: I stare at the clock hand for an hour.
4:30 pm: Liz comes by, is given the latest delays, and leaves to pick up the hip kit. She'll eat dinner while I'm having the antibiotics treatment, and then return when the treatment is over to take me home.
5:00 pm: Nurse Charles hooks me up to the antibiotics drip one last time.
6:00 pm: Liz arrives with the needed supplies. Discharge procedure begun with Nurse Charles.
7:00 pm: Release (er, discharge) from hospital.
8:00pm-10:00pm: Filling of prescriptions written during hospital stay.

Mike's Video Blog #10: My Little House

Mike's Video Blog #10: My Little House (Parts 1 and 2)

Mike's Video Blog 10.1: "My Little House Part 1" (11 min. 34 sec.) Shot over a four month period. Assembled 5/30/09. After a nine month absence, Mike's Video Blogs returns with the story of Mike's move from his rented house of 14 years to "My Little House", a double wide mobile home bought in February. Mike takes us on a tour of the house after getting settled, and begins to show what he plans to do with the garden and lawn.

Mike's Video Blog 10.2: "My Little House Part 2" (12 min. 51 sec.) Shot over a four month period. Assembled 5/30/09. The continuation of Mike's tour of his new mobile home continues in Part 2, showing the progress made on the rock bed, and ending with an up close look at the main curio cabinet in the Betty Boop Museum.

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DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY: Since I'm offering almost a half hour of video footage on this post, I won't waste time with much commentary. Suffice it to say that this video was four months in the making. Beginning with a drive to the mobile home park in early February, after I was approved for the loan, then continuing after I moved in to my new place, I took the camera out at various times, shot over an hour of footage, and assembled the video over this past weekend, as my last major project prior to going in for my "hip revision" surgery to repair my broken hip replacement.

Even though I only planned a short "tour", I shot far more footage than needed, as usual, so this video blog, like all my others, is highly edited. I always attempt to make smooth camera moves, and I narrate while I'm shooting, sometimes memorizing passages, and sometimes, as in the prologue, reading from a "teleprompter".

I've planned on presenting this video blog for some time now, but didn't make the time to shoot the "connecting sequences" till this weekend. The "green screen" prologue was shot early Saturday morning, and although the placement of the masking looked okay in preview, I notice that the mask was feathered too low over my bald spot, and so it looks like the top of my head is semi transparent. It took most of Saturday to assemble Part 1, and Part 2 was finished on Sunday, with uploading taking most of the day Sunday, so I certainly couldn't redo the prologue in time to get the whole thing online and presented this morning. Also, these are YouTube streams, cause I didn't want to go through the trouble of uploading to Xanga, which takes longer, and sometimes fails in the middle of the upload. Besides, Xanga doesn't have a "starred" page for videos anymore, and the YouTube streams are higher quality, affording a more detailed look at "my little house."

OPERATION UPDATE: I'm definitely going in for my "hip revision" (new term I heard from my doctor) at 7:30 am this Wednesday. The actual operation will be at about 10am, and the doc tells me he's going to have all the "parts" assembled before him. Best case scenario: 3 hours operation, only replacing the socket with no problems, and the doc gets to pick up his daughter at school at 3pm. Worst case, (well, let's not be so negative), a less than best case scenario would have the operation lasting over 6 hours, with total replacement of both the socket and the legbone, and the doc won't get to pick up his daughter. Let's hope he's able to pick up his daughter, OK? I'm pretty sure I'm going to authorize the "epidural anaesthetic", in which a catheter is inserted into the epidural above my spine, delivering medicine to deaden sensation in the lower part of my body. According to the anaethesiologist, I will suffer far less pain in the hours immediately following the operation than I did 16 years ago with a morphine drip. My stay in  "Hospital Hotel" will be from 3 to 5 days. In the meantime, I'm presenting lots of video footage for you to watch, comment upon, and recommend. "See" you all in about a week! MFN/ppf

News and Notes: Operation Update

OPERATION UPDATE: I haven't been actively blogging, and don't know when I'll be able to participate in the Xangasphere. Since I haven't been visiting in a while, I've noticed my footprints have shrunk, and I'm getting less comments. I thought I'd take this time to update any interested persons on my progress.

My operation is only FIVE days away. I had my first pre op appointment this past Wednesday, one of the worst days I've had in recent memory. First, although I gave myself an hour for a half hour drive to the medical center, which is about 25 miles from my workplace, there was a wreck on the freeway, and I was a half hour late for the appointment.

The doctor, whom I've never seen before, gave me a short physical to determine that I was fit enough to go under the knife. I was also given an EKG. The doctor ordered a chest Xray and some bloodwork. Since I'm on an HMO, and the USC University complex, where my orthopedist is located, and where I'm having the surgery, is not affilliated with an HMO, all the procedures and tests have to have referrals approved by the HMO. I was sent to the lab, where the receptionist told me they need authorization. I waited a half hour or so for an HMO coordinator to tell me that I had to go back to my own doctor at Healthcare Partners (my HMO medical center in Long Beach) to have the tests performed, then they could be 'faxed' to the doctor at USC University Center.

When I got back to Long Beach, I signed my name on the lab waiting list, and finally got in to get the blood test. The HMO coordinator at USC said I wouldn't have to schedule an appointment with my own doctor, but just take their paperwork into my own HMO's lab. But when the lab technician saw that Healthcare Partners had not ordered the labwork, he told me I DID have to have my own doctor order the tests.

I had to go to my doctor's office, and after being shuttled to two receptionists (where I outlined my predicament twice) someone took the paperwork, and got my doctor to reorder the tests. To add insult to injury, when I offered the new paperwork along with the original orders to the lab tech, he asked me for the "fax number" to send the results. I told him I had no idea. It seems that USC neglected to give the number on the forms. After a phone call, the technician took my blood samples (three of them.) Then I peed in a cup, and took the other paperwork into the radiology department.

My preop appointment was at 9am. I left at 8am (after working for 3 hours, since I'd come in at 5am) and finally returned to the office at 12:30pm.

My next appointment is scheduled for the 2nd at 11:30am. My last day at work will be Monday. At work, I'm training my three week replacements. I have to teach three separate people three different tasks. One guy is going to take over quotes. Another will be doing the drawings, and another will be testing the panels. I could write a whole blog article about some problems at work, but I don't want to go into that now. I plan to take my three weeks vacation, and at the end of that time, hopefully I'll be well enough to come back into work.

My hospital stay is unknown at this point. I was in the actual hospital for three days last time I had the hip replacement 16 years ago. I wanted to get out as quick as possible. Since I was living with Pat back then, I had a caregiver. This time, I live alone. Liz will drive me home, but at home I won't have anyone around to help if I need it, so I will stay as long as I need to in the hospital. I plan on taking a kit bag with a couple of books to read.

Since I haven't had a pre op appointment with the orthopedist yet, I won't know a lot until this happens on the day before the operation. I plan on taking that day off from work, so I can get around and get anything I will need, like two or three weeks of food and supplies. I won't be able to drive for a while after the operation I'm supposing. Liz has offered to drop by my place on weekends to check up on me, and I have the phone numbers of both of my neighbors in case of emergency.

Last night I got home to see a message on my phone machine. My orthopedist's office called to say they wanted me to come in today to have another XRay taken. I explained the whole HMO thing to the technician when I called her back. She understood, and told me she'd call me back. That didn't happen. It' s only 7am right now, and at 8am I'll call her to ask if she still needs me to go into their facility to get an (approved) XRay or if I need to go to my own HMO, like on Wednesday. You'd think all these tests and XRays would have been approved earlier, since I've only been wating 8 months to have this operation!

I certainly hope the date of the operation isn't delayed any longer. Believe it or not, I seem to have more and more pain as the months pass, and I'm a bit (sick and) tired of waiting.

I'll probably be "back" on the internet sometime during the week of the 8th. If I can make the time, I might finish my latest videoblog, Mike's Video Blog #10, a tour of my new house showcasing my collections and the work I'm doing in the garden (which has to be postponed now until after I heal) this upcoming weekend. If I do, I'm going to send a message announcing the video, which will be my last creative endeavor prior to surgery.

If not, this will probably be my last post for a couple of weeks.

Wish me luck. Pray for me. I'll be back.

(And please forgive me for not visting and commenting much. I'm sure I'll have LOTS of time after the operation.)

(HERE is a link to my most recent "Leg to Stand On" essay with links to other hip replacement related blog entries and web destinations. )