ProfessorTomoe

Read that as good.  Like I said, not my kind of music, but unlike other not my kinds of music I've been exposed to, I listened to the whole thing.

I'm home from the hospital. As far as I know, everything went without problems. I've got a bit of bleeding on my left big toe where the doctor trimmed a bit of bone off the tip, but it's nothing serious and should stop at any time. As for the right foot, well, I've got some throbbing with it elevated and a good deal of pain when I try to walk on it. It definitely hurts.
They've got me in surgical shoes on both feet. I definitely look weird, and I feel sorry for Mrs. Prof, who's taking care of almost all of my walking duties for the foreseeable future (bathroom duties are still left to me). It's going to be a real pain when she leaves to take care of cat duties.
Thanks for the support and well wishes! I appreciate them all.

Good luck!  Hope this works out for you.

Good fortune, man. I hope it works.
Knocking on wood would be difficult. Do you think particle board works? I think the doors might have actual wood veneer.

The Bach Prelude has been mailed to the director of the Austin Symphonic Band! I put it in the mail yesterday after getting it bound at a place called Dallas Bindery.(they don't have a web site). Along with it, I sent a thumb drive that had my two woodwind quintets ("Woodwind Quintet No. 1" and "Theme and Tangents") and the Bruckner 6th Symphony, 1st Movement. All had MP3s, PDF scores, and PDF parts. The PDF parts for the Bach Prelude are also on the thumb drive.
Likewise, the Bruckner 6th Symphony, 1st Movement has been mailed to the conductor of the Wind Symphony of the University of Texas at Arlington (their top band), I also got it bound at Dallas Bindery (more on that experience in a second). Since it was so huge (11" x 17"), it had to go via a special 2-day postal rate that cost $9.00. I figured as much and was prepared. Again, like with the Austin Symphonic Band mailing, I sent a thumb drive with the woodwind quintets on it. However, I sent the score, parts, and MP3 of the Bach Prelude as a bonus feature this time, and included the basic PDF parts for the Bruckner at the top of the directory structure. In other words, the opposite of what I sent to the Austin Symphonic Band.
Now, my experience with Dallas Bindery was interesting. The guy who runs the place is a character. He told us a few stories, listened to one or two of mine, and was sympathetic to what I was trying to do with my binding of the musical scores. In the end, I got the scores bound for no charge, on hopes that I might be able to bring him back more business. I hope I can.

Long time no see update:
I had a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack - also known as a mini-stroke) back on 9/17. Wound up spending a night in the hospital for observation as a result.
It hit me as a bad headache on the right side of my skull, with numbness on the right side of my face and difficulty controlling my speech out of the right side of my mouth. The symptoms lasted about 30 minutes and were relatively mild. I had to really sit and figure out if I was having a stroke or not. In the end, we called 911, who took me to the hospital with lights and siren going all the way.
None of the physical tests showed anything, but I flunked some of the therapy tests they give you after such an event, mainly having to do with memory. My primary care doctor has me following up with a neurologist, plus he's got me getting a carotid artery ultrasound scan next week.
I had a scare a few days ago, when my head generated a full-skull headache that was so bad it felt like my head was going to explode. I got sick to my stomach from it. It came in two separate, short waves. My wife called 911 on that, too. Fortunately, a hyper-dose of Advil calmed it down after about 90 minutes, so no hospital trip this time.
I'm on a hair-trigger when it comes to stroke symptoms now. Not fun.

I'm headed out to a surgical center on Monday (Sept. 11) to have a procedure done - yet another Rhizotomy. I just had one a little over 6 months ago, and I've lost count of how many I've had, but man, am I in desperate need of another one. I can't stand in one place and do anything (like cooking) without my lumbar spine giving me excruciating pain after just a few minutes. They're going to zap my spinal nerves with radio waves and follow up with steroid injections, if I'm remembering the procedure correctly. I've been told by my physician's assistant at the pain clinic to ask for extra pain medicine on the left-hand side, since that's where the worst lower back pain is happening.
I go in at 10:30 a.m. Monday morning and should be out in a couple of hours. With luck, I should be feeling relief within a week.

Good luck!

Yes, good fortune.

And they say the moon is made of green cheese. They had to get the cows up there somehow.

I know. I played some of PDQ Bach's music. I even constructed and played a tromboon once. Too bad that it was my band director's trombone that I used for the trom part of the rig - he didn't appreciate my sense of humor.

Music world logic is a wreath of pretty flowers that smell bad.

Saw my cardiologist yesterday for my approximately six-month follow-up appointment. He gave me a run down on the results from the heart monitor that they made me wear to see what was causing my heart palpitations. According to him, I have something called Premature Atrial Contractions (PACs), which is where the upper chamber of the heart beats before it should. This is in addition to the Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs) I've had for years, but it's worse in that it's happening more frequently and stringing together into multiple events. He also said that, since it's doing the multiple-event thing, it could lead to Atrial Fibrillations, which is where the chamber gets all out of whack, basically. That's something that could definitely land me in the Emergency Room, or worse.
He was a little bit hesitant to change my medication, since my heart rate was already a bit slow, but in the end he upped my metoprolol (a beta blocker) from 50mg to 100mg. He also prescribed me a 40 mEq packet of potassium powder to dissolve in water and drink each day, since my potassium levels have been off. He tried to prescribe a potassium pill instead of the powder, but those things are big enough to choke a Clydesdale horse, so I talked him out of that.
I asked him if I was still being diagnosed with HFpEF (heart failure with preserved ejection fraction), which is a situation that leads to fluids not being circulated like they should and is a partial cause of my leg edema/swelling that I'm still fighting. He said yes, as long as my edema continues, I'll be diagnosed with HFpEF.
So, to summarize, I've got three diagnoses going in my heart right now: HFpEF, PACs, and PVCs. Joy. I'm not going to do any joy jumping up-and-down in response, since I don't want to find out how my heart would react if I did. I've got enough going on as it is.  

I would call Ron DeSantis a pretty good argument for abortion into the 138th trimester.

I have gathered up my strength and am in the process of putting together what the New York Times calls their "Best Gazpacho" recipe. I've cut up all of the vegetation and am taking a break to get the sweat to stop flowing. Once I get my strength back, I'll fire up the blender and sieve to complete the construction process.
Now, I've only rarely had gazpacho (maybe once or twice in my life), but from what I remember of it, this recipe is kind of unique in that it has no bread in it. Just tomatoes, an onion, a cucumber, an Anaheim pepper, and a clove of garlic, along with some sherry vinegar and some salt. Oh, and a half cup of extra virgin olive oil, plus a bit more to drizzle on top. The recipe is here, but since it's on the New York Times' cooking website, you might get prompted to make a free account in order to look at it.
Once I get the gazpacho all strained out, I'm supposed to let it chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight, in a glass jug no less). I think we'll probably have some for dinner tonight, and maybe have whatever is left tomorrow (if it's any good, and if any is left).
(I should tell you my real motivation behind whipping this stuff up. You see, I'm a little bit of a Red Dwarf fan. Not much, but enough of one to know the old episodes. One of my best friends, however, is a Red Dwarf cognoscenti. He can quote chapter and verse. So, he, another Red Dwarf nut, and I get together every year for a big Super Bowl party, and when I go next year, I plan on bringing a jug of...you guessed it if you know Arnold Rimmer's dying words - gazpacho soup.  If you know, you know.)

You make me feel inadequate.  I feel good if I make a meal that takes more than one pan and has more than 3 ingredients.   

We live in interesting times.

The first rule of European Fight Club is, for God's Sake, please don't tell Germany.

For the first time in almost a month, I am no longer on antibiotics. Yay. Let's see if I can stay that way.
I haven't been posting my weight because, frankly, I haven't been weighing myself lately. My weight has been steady around 314-316 for the past couple of weeks. I just have to make sure I stay on top of my Bumex, don't eat any extraneous salt, and keep my legs elevated all the time. The big downside is that I can't get up to go to use my big Music Computer yet, since I can't work out a way to budget my "unelevated" time on it. Sigh.

I run Firefox, and set DuckDuckGo as my browser. Also add AdBlockPlus, Ghostery, FaceBook Container, Flash Block Plus, and HTTPS Everywhere. Plus, of course, an AV; using BitDefenser now.
I ran Kaspersky for years, it seemed to be a reliable product. I had no issues, but given the situation with Russia, I would no longer trust it.

Foot surgery is scheduled at last! I'm set to go in for my pre-op appointment on June 26th, and then the actual surgery will follow on June 29th. I then have a post-op follow-up scheduled on July 5th. Now I can get rid of the cause of these ulcers!

***The Edema Chronicles for June 9, 2023
Today's weight, taken at around 2:38 a.m., was 318 lbs.
In less than 48 hours, I have lost 5 lbs of water weight. I feel drained.

I have frequently found it necessary to bypass Occam's Razor and go straight for Occam's Bazooka instead.

You get a Lamp of Diogenes and use it for lighting in Plato's Cave. Once inside you cross the Einstein-Rosen bridge to where you will find the box with Schrödinger's Cat. The replacement blades lie right next to the box.