I'm back....*sigh*

Published on May 6, 2006 By ----- In Misc

Well, I'm back from my trip up north. It went....erm. Well, I'll just tell you what went on.

Our way up was fairly uneventful. We stopped by Autzen Stadium, so (Yeah!) I was able to look around the stadium. Its massive! I also saw Coach Belloti. I didn't say hi, as he was talking to someone.

(Dang)

One thing that was...somewhat eventful, was driving up to portland. Oy! Portland folk drive like maniacs! Course, it didn't help with a liquid (FLAMMABLE!) oxygen tank in the back of our van.

We stayed at a hotel that was....cheap. Thats kinda self explainitory, hmmm? The water was cold, the lights didn't work, the phone did not work. Not only that...but it was near one of the'not so good' neigborhoods. So...siren after siren... *shrugs* It was...

...eventful, shall I say.

We went up to OHSU, to the actual building my first appointment was located. I had an Echo(cardiogram?) done. Then, went and had a PFT (Pulminary function test~measure your lung[s]). Then, i headed over to another building (all 3 things were in different sections of OHSU) and met with my pulminary/lung doctor. He then proceeded to point out that my mother was, "controlling".

That she was "preventing me from becoming an adult and trying to instill me the qualities of a mama's boy." (More or less in those words) I was, shocked. My mother, speechless. The doc was waaaay off. First of all, my mum and I made a deal in that i would take care of the house, and she would work. As long as i live in the house. And, I still live here, and will until (i believe) june of 2007. The doc (and later, his boss) said that while my lung may be the way it is, that it is not life threatening unless i do not lose weight. So, bottom line is--I MUST lose weight. They both said that i can live with a lung (and a "half"). If I DO lose weight, they can perform a cosmetic surgery to move the diaphragm down, to help with the lung. There was also another option they talked about, but, as of yet...i do not remember.

Some things that struck me...were: 1) The docs never answered my mother's or my questions. They always seemed to side step them. 2) They are not willing to look for a cause of my diaphragm paralyzing. They did say that the reason my lung "collapsed" is that my diaphragm quit. 3) They seemed to point a finger at my mother...saying that she was "holding me back". (Coincidently, the same thing my aunt, and cousins are saying)

Well, we were done by about one. We found a ticket on the van. Cause, we were an "undersized vehicle" in an oversized vehicle parking spot. When, A) We were told we could park their.

Our van is not undersized...trust me. So, besides that, we decided to go and check out the Oregon zoo.'

Well, The zoo was..."craptastic". They charged an arm and a leg for admission. Then, most of the animals were not in the cage. (There were a few that were staying cool, due to the time of day, but, most were being cleaned,etc...) Then, we had lunch there. They charged another arm and a leg for ok food, and crappy service. (Portland people are very blunt, rude, and

) So....while i did enjoy the time with my mum...the zoo was meh.

My mum was driving, as I did NOT want to drive in the city. (Think, bumblebees on crack...and going 55mph +). She decided, since I hadn't gone to the ocean in 6-7 years...and she hadn't been their longer....to go to the ocean...to the beach.

We got within 25-30 miles of the destination (beach/ a city called astoria) and the oil pressure dropped. My mum freaked. So, we stopped at a 'dinky little' gas station along the highway. The attendent filled the car up, and checked the oil (cause my mum asked him to). He then proceeded to hit the alternator with the dip stick(or generator?) and lose about 4-6 inches (rough guess) of the dip stick. It fell down into the oil pan.

My mum freaked out. So, in her panic...we drove all the way back to a city called hillsboro, and eventually made our way to the nearest chevy dealer. The mechanic comforted her and told her not to worry. That no big damage was dealt. So, no ocean. We made our way back to our hotel/motel room. After we got lost, again. (Yes, we had a map.) We ended up in downtown portland when it was nearly sundown. (It is trippy driving at night there). Eventually, we got back to our room, and fell asleep quickly.

We then, cautiously, made our way down to my cousin T's place. (As we were to pick up a load of her stuff). We took the "long" way, down a backwoods highway. We made it in about 5 hours. (Which, on the interstate...would take 2-2.5 hours). When we got there, my mum asked them (cousin and fiance) if they wanted to head over to the coast for a few hours. (was about 1). They said yes. So, it took us about....2 hours to get to Newport. Along the way, we nearly hit a wild turkey, a squirrel, and a goat.

So, we spent from about 3-9ish, at the beach. Walking...and enjoying it. It was great. Then, we had dinner on the pier. We made it back to their house by about midnight.

We got up at around 7 and loaded our van. We left at about 9:30 and slowly made our way home. Normally, it would take about 4 hours to get over the cascades and home. It took us until 4pm. Thats about 6.5 hours.

Finally, we were home. We unloaded the van (cousin's stuff included) and had dinner with my sis.

The trip was fun. It was hilarious at some parts. I enjoyed it. It's been a while since I was out of town. (Since the last trip, nearly 6 months ago. I did get some great pics. Which are going to be in another post.

~Lucas

Comments

dharmagrl

on May 06, 2006

Dude, I haven't even met you face to face but I agree with the doctors. You DO display remarkable immature qualities for a boy your age. Whether that makes you a momma's boy or not, I dunno, but....I can see it too.

Maybe they don't know why your lung quit working. Maybe they think that they can best treat you by quitting wondering why it happened and by moving onto treating your symptoms. You need to lose weight in order to have any quality of life....but you already knew that, didn't you? The healthiest way to lose weight is to watch what you eat and increase your physical activity. I know how hard that can be when you have a condition that makes it difficult or painful to exercise, but I can guarantee you that once you've dropped a few pounds you'll feel so much better. Just watch what you put into your body, and start walking more.

I wish you all the best, Lucas. Good luck with your weight loss quest.

-----

on May 06, 2006

I definantly felt better when i was down in the 240s. (I'm now back up at 273ish) The biggest "giant" for me...is the will to lose weight. Believe me, i want to lose the weight. But, getting down and doing...and continuing to do it...

I am lazy. I do get angry...and yeah, that would be "immature".

However....other than that, I am fairly mature. I can be extremely absent minded at times.

I wish you all the best, Lucas. Good luck with your weight loss quest

Thanks... Good luck with your new addition to the family.

~Lucas

dharmagrl

on May 07, 2006

definantly felt better when i was down in the 240s. (I'm now back up at 273ish) The biggest "giant" for me...is the will to lose weight. Believe me, i want to lose the weight. But, getting down and doing...and continuing to do it...

Okay, you remember how much better you felt when you were down in the 230's. So, take that feeling and hang onto it.

I'll tell you what: if you're willing to do this and you can promise me that you will be honest and truthful with me, you and I will try and lose weight together ( I could safely lose 10 or 15 lbs and still be healthy). We'll email each other every day and tell each other what we ate and how long we walked or exercised for (I'm getting a new bike at the end of the week so I'll be riding a lot more) and we'll encourage each other when we lose willpower and eat chocolate or chips and stuff. It's going to be really important to be honest with this, Lucas. You'll only be harming yourself if you lie about what you did - or didn't do. I won't be mad at you if you tell me you didn't watch what you ate or didn't exercise one day, I'll only be mad at you if you lie to me about it.

You pick the start date, and we'll do it.

(email me at dharmagirl69@gmail.com - I lost your email address)

-----

on May 07, 2006

Reply By: dharmagrl

Erm, I don't want to cause a problem with your husband and you. (Regarding previous stuff...) I could definantly use someone to be a 'weight loss buddy', so to speak. However, like i said, given my past...stupidity...as long as everything is a-ok.

Other than that...I'd say the best starting time would be...a week from this coming monday. May 14th... As I have to catch up with the work I missed in class....and it is going to take every brain cell,etc... to get back on track. I missed a paper, two or three tests, etc...

~Lucas

dharmagrl

on May 08, 2006

Erm, I don't want to cause a problem with your husband and you

BWAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!! Oh, I'm sorry, but that's just hilarious.

You won't cause a problem. Trust me.

Ok, May 14th. I'm ready.

One more thing....you've been very good about not using " and ' quite so much, but you're using 'etc' all the time in places where it doesn't belong. 'Etc' is an abbreviation of etcetera, which means additional unspecified odds and ends. In your last comment, etc is used properly, but in your article about the badgers and also the one with the flag and words you use it a little too liberally. I hope that you don't take offense at my telling you this; I'm simply trying to improve your language skills. If you want to write books you're going to need to know this kind of thing...

-----

on May 08, 2006

O...K...then.

I was serious.

Ok, I'll keep that in mind.

~Lucas

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!