Tiki Central Member Infirmary

You look damned manly Grog!

Now that's a proper scar for a man!

Grog IS tough! So tough, has his own military honor guard!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy4pp-rSU80

welcome back MAN!

You look great without the beard. I think your zipper looks good. Did you have a tracheotomy? Wendy

Just a quick update; Sandra Todd(Tiki Sand)is now home from the hospital and doing well. The surgery went well, and now she has get her recuperation in gear. Thanks for all the well wishes and kind thoughts. Zach

That is great to hear Tiki Mantis! I am glad everything went well.

Zach, Nancy & I are thinking of you guys!

Grog is back! Hope you can relax and heal up good. Almost didn't recognize you without the beard- the zipper, I admit, gave it away. Grog is going to look like one tough caveman when you're all healed up!

Congrats on getting through a big procedure.

Three cheers for Tiki Sand! You look like
the kind of rough, tough tiki girl who
won't let a little thing like a growth on
your pituitary trip you up!

Prayers and best wishes . . . . . kraken

Yay tiki Sand! Fellow passenger on the recuperation train. Hope your trip is steady.

Ernie

Very impressive zipper, Grog. Mine looked
that good seven years ago, but it faded away
and yours will, too---boo hoo hoo.

Actually, mine looked better in at least two
ways. First it was on my lower torso, to
remove cancerous bowel, and my stomach
fat made it pucker up in one place, looking
like a second belly button.

Then too, just above my crotch it intersected
a second, transverse zipper, left from a cut
to and through my bladder, to remove a
grossly enlarged prostate; no possibility of a
roto-rooter job here.

My prayers and best wishes for your recovery.

. . . . . . . . . kraken

God Bless you both for wonderful lives from now on. Wendy

Great news - glad everyone's healing up!

Love the zipper Grog...you look good. Maybe a tattoo is in your future. Glad you are doing well. Take care....well...take it any way you can get it!!!

Shout out to TikiSand also for a speedy recovery.

"Oh waiter, another cocktail please!!!"

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2013-09-20 20:52 ]

Agree grog need tattoo to embellish Zipper. Get well quick Grog!

Heal up quick Grog!

I see Grog got a 2 for 1 deal

I almost missed the ring

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2013-09-22 06:31 ]

Very glad to see that 3 hours later Grog back to normal

hang10tiki you are a wonderful historian. Feel free to post these on my thread. I would like everyone to see how well he is doing. Wendy

Thanks everybody.

Hanging10"------you crazy.

BENZART!! Good to hear from you. Hope you are doing well.

Tiki Sand----mend like the wind!!

Everything happened so fast. Got tumor and got it out! I was inspired by Grog's blog and wrote a funny letter to family, friends and colleagues that jettisoned my mood and prepared me for brain surgery. The surgery was intense and it scared me. I am on the road to recovery now and sort of feel washed up on the beach with sand in my pouch. (Inside family joke that you can ask me about later) I donated my hair to locks of love, which helped further in my development as a human and my great appreciation for others!

Many thanks for the kind words and continued support from our Tiki Friends!

Grog looks sexy, like TikiMantis (Zach), with zipper! Ask to see how clever surgeon went around his tattoo!

Tiki Sand sends love, hugs and kisses,

Tiki Sand- glad you are on the mend.

Grog - good to see they did not remove your funny bone.

Of coarse I am referring to your sense of humer

[->>King Bushwich 33rd on Hulu.com

Sandra! we are glad you doing well, sounds like you went thru
an intense ordeal, man!

You had to shave all your hair off, cool time for a Mohawk
you take care & feel better.

XOXO

Tiki Sand I don't recall having met you but I'm certainly happy to hear that you are on the mend along with GROG. Best wishes always for you both to have a speedy recovery. Wendy

Good to see you posting Tiki sand. They shaved my hair off Too!!

So how are our two favorite surgery invalids
doing? Haven't seen a post in 5 days.

Grog we can follow on his surgery journal
at the clinic if need be. His posts there
seem pretty adventurous.

But how about you, Tiki Sand? Are things
going as well as they started in your recuperation?

Kraken

But how about you, Tiki Sand? Are things
going as well as they started in your recuperation? Kraken, every day is better than the last. Looking back at two weeks, I'm way better! I'm still shaken by the experience but take strength in the kindness of others.

Lance and Ernie,

My hair was over 10 inches long and I do enjoy the pony tail and the hair bun. When the Doc told me I couldn't wash my hair for 5 days, I remember how difficult it was to get the tangles from my daughter's hair after her recovery from a car wreck. So, I cut it! Boy, am I glad I did.

They didn't actually shave my head. Thanks to modern technology, they entered through my nostril, sinus, broke the bone between my eyes, entered soft tissue into almost the middle of the base of the brain to the pituitary. They removed a benign tumor that was messing with my brain messages and pressing on optic nerve. I lost partial vision in my right eye, which we are hoping will heal.

For those of you that remember Lily Tomlin, comedian on Laugh-In, I think of her as my pituitary gland main operator and it shocked me she was in peril. (One ringy-dingy!)

Wendy, one of the pleasures of the tiki events is seeking and reaching out to people like you! Let's find each other at the next Intl Marketplace.

King Buschwich the 33rd, I appreciate the love and please let us know when you are in town.

I'm looking forward to a little tiki time,

Always wishing those who are not up to par, for better days ahead soon !!

Keep feeling better Sandra!
It is always nice to see you two at events, all smiles!
Hope to see ya soon.

No kidding Tiki Sand. I worked with the same people for 35 years and none of us keep in touch. All the people who I've met in the tiki world are the dearest people to me, like family. So lets meet up one day. Was your tumor a pituitary adenoma? I was diagnosed with that many years ago but it never grew past the microscopic stage. I even stopped the prolactin blood test. I'm always thankful for modern medicine.

Wow GROG you have been through the mill a second time. I just caught up on all your troubles. Eventually this will all be in the past and your be your huggable self again. Take care. Wendy

http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/journals/user/erniekeen

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-09-29 08:56 ]

On 2013-09-29 08:46, danlovestikis wrote:
No kidding Tiki Sand. I worked with the same people for 35 years and none of us keep in touch. All the people who I've met in the tiki world are the dearest people to me, like family. So lets meet up one day. Was your tumor a pituitary adenoma? I was diagnosed with that many years ago but it never grew past the microscopic stage. I even stopped the prolactin blood test. I'm always thankful for modern medicine.

Yes, it was an adenoma. I'm hoping it won't grow back. I told my husband if I knew what was going to happen, he'd have to drag me to the hospital. I'm so glad it's over. I'm looking forward to the blood work to help figure out the hormone balance. I will look for you at Don's!
Tiki Sand

Wow GROG you have been through the mill a second time. I just caught up on all your troubles. Eventually this will all be in the past and your be your huggable self again. Take care. Wendy

http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/journals/user/erniekeen

---

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-09-29 08:56 ]

Tiki Sand, I've never heard of one growing back. They did tell me if I had a persistent headache it was time for another MRI and blood work. I'll pray for your eyesight to return to normal. Your husband would have had to drag you because you had to have this done. God Bless, Wendy

Hooray for Tiki Sand! Sounds as though you skimmed
through here! Here's praying that no further complications
crop up regarding all this!

Grog, I think you made a mistake, letting them knock you
out for this operation. If you'd been awake when they found
calcification to be the problem, you could have told the
surgeons "Well, just clean the calcification off and sew me
back up," thus saving yourself from a lifetime of taking
anti-rejection drugs.

Kraken

Wow....that is some fancy maneuvering on your surgery TikiSand. Wishing you a full recovery.

Thinking of you Grog....take care.

Grog, no need to be embarrassed about smashing
up your wrist cuff. In high school I had a friend
whose father ran a fairly prosperous company but
always bought the cheapest possible wrist watches;
wind-up in those days, of course. Whenever his
watch stopped working properly, he would simply
sit down on the nearest curb, smash the watch to
pieces on the curb, throw the pieces in the nearest
trash can and go buy another cheap watch.

Kraken

Thanks everybody for your support and encouragement. Here's my shrine of cards and art that has been sent to me. Came home from the hospital 3 weeks ago today.

Coming home.

Pleased to read that Grog is thriving. Recovering well
after major surgery is much like starting a new life.
I know--I've done it.

How about you, Tiki Sand? Still recuperating satisfactorily?
If so, perhaps this is the time to explain your family's old
joke aout feeling "washed up on the beach with sand in
my pouch."

. . . . . . . . . kraken

Good health and good friends makes Tiki Central a very happy place.

GROG you look great. Soon you'll be moving well enough to make some tikis.

Cheers, Wendy

How about you, Tiki Sand? Still recuperating satisfactorily?
If so, perhaps this is the time to explain your family's old
joke aout feeling "washed up on the beach with sand in
my pouch."

. . . . . . . . . kraken
I had a setback. I have an upper respiratory infection. Recovery is not for sissies! I'm feeling like the scarecrow that lost his stuffing. Ha! Oral surgery scheduled for Oct 15th. My teeth shifted around so I guess this is corrective surgery. I have had two extractions and other adjustments to my teeth in the past year. In retrospect, this was my first sign of trouble with the pituitary gland. At 54, I'm looking at braces. Ugh!

As for the washed up beach story, when my daughter was just a toddler beach-combing with family, she went too close to the water and got swept up by a wave. She came up to me crying and pulling on her one-piece bathing suit at the crotch. With a pout on her lip that would tug at any parent's heart, she proclaimed to have sand in her pouch. I can still remember trying to suppress a laugh at her tender feelings! Since then, any time I feel defeated, I think about the horror of having sand in my pouch and how it feels to be tossed up on the beach.

Lance, many thanks for checking in on me. I hope to make it to Don's at the end of this month.

Tiki Sand that is such a sweet story. We can't make it to Don's this time but I hope you do. I wish you all good outcomes and a great future, Wendy

Tiki Sand, there is just no way NOT to love that
"sand in my pouch" story!

Very sorry to read about your tooth problems,
but your teeth looked so nice in that photo Zach
posted 4 weeks ago that wearing braces for a
while should be well worth it.

Respiratory infections can be nasty devils. Here's
hoping your medical team can clear this up quickly.
If not, the cure for colds that I posted previously in
this thread (top of page 4) works just as well for any
type of respiratory infection.

. . . . . . . kraken

"Alcohol costs a lot of money."---Ernie's Heart
Valve Journal.

You bet it does! I first took that to heart when
a friend and I used to drive into San Francisco
about once a month to see a play in downtown
SF. Parking downtown was so expensive that
we used to park near Aquatic Park, which was
free then, and take the cable car to the theatre
district. The parking savings was enough to
pay for the cable car plus our first Irish Coffee
at the nearby Buena Vista Cafe.

But we didn't stop at one Irish Coffee: usually
we had about three. This went on until one
night we couldn't get into the Buena Vista and
had to go to the theatre stone cold sober. As
the cable car crested the first big hill we felt a
strong lurch and crash. Inquiry told us the dip
had long been there; we just didn't feel it after
three Irish Coffees. The texture of the play that
night seemed much more complex than usual,
too.

Since then I don't get sloshed. I just drink
enough to get nicely loosened up. That does
not take a lot because I am especially sensitive
to alcohol--this runs in my family. And when
I recently had to give up drinking altogether
due to some medicines I must take, I didn't
much miss the alcohol. I should add that I pay
little attention to people who get down on me
for no good reason.

These days I drink exotic teas. The flavors are
more subtle and satisfying than any cocktails,
and the people involved are pretty nice.

. . . . . . . . . . kraken

The blood in Grog's urine sounds worrisome, especially
since the surgery was quite a way away from his urinary
tract. Grog, I'd take that up right away with one or the
other of your physicians. Don't wait for an appointment;
tell someone in the doctor's office by phone.

. . . . . . . . . . kraken

http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/journals/user/erniekeen

He just went to the doctor today. Maybe we'll have a follow up here soon, Wendy

Yep. Peed in a cup yesterday and Dr. said no blood. Wants GROG to make an appointment to ultrasound GROG' kidneys to make sure nothing is wrong. Feeling pretty good today. Thanks for the concern.

GROG miss Tiki-Kate

[ Edited by: GROG 2013-10-23 00:26 ]

Hey GROG, hopes of a speedy recovery and a clean check up!

My feeling is, if you're not peeing blood you're not a REAL MAN. Good work, GROG.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pass out on the bathroom floor.