Tank birthday, 47+ years

[ReeferSamster]

Paul, you look like you're only 50 years old! I hope I can age as nicely as you.
Take care. :)

 

[Paul B]

Do you remember Ed's Aquariums? Best of luck.

Of course. The front window was in the shape of a copperband or some other butterfly. I got my last 100 gallon tank from them in about 1980 or so. They have been out of business for decades.

ReeferSamster, Thanks, that picture was probably 10 years ago so I was a young man then. :)

I look more like this now. Only skinnier because I lost 27lbs. I am waiting for a call from Marie Osmond to see if she wants me as a spokesmodel for Jenny Craig even though I didn't go on that or any other diet. :D

Not bad for 73. (This was Veterans Day when I wear that)

 

[Paul B]

So I was all set to go to the hospital for my 2:30 surgery appointment. They called me last night to tell me,now it is 6:00am. :rolleyes:

6"00 am is better but a little warning would have been nice. It's a good thing my friend/nurse is sleeping here to help my wife for a couple of days. She will do things like feed my fish, throw in some calcium, read to them, clean the glass etc. (she won't touch the worms) ;Yuck

I is almost 4:30 and I am ready to go being I don't live next door to the hospital.

I am ready to go now and it is 4:30am. :p

I had eye muscle surgery many years ago and they had me naked on this stainless steel gourney in the operating room. ( I am sure I put this on here already, if I did, go and watch Oprah) I am sure they just took it out of the freezer or used it to hold all the Bud Lights just before the Superbowl game. The nurse took my arm and stuck an IV in me full of I think an orange slushy that was just in the same freezer as the gourney.

The first thing I said was "you are sure you are operating on the right end of my body aren't you, being naked and all"?

Remember, it's my eyes!

I was shivering so much I almost vibrated off the table. There were 7 female "Nurses, Doctors assistants, anesthesiologists, ice cream vendors all around me with masks on. I am pretty sure I also saw Dorothy Hamill there practicing for the olympics.

One saw me shaking and figured I was afraid of the operation. She held my hand, came close to my ear, smiled and said:
"Don't be afraid Honey, you will be fine"

I said "I am not afraid, I am freezing, and how could I be afraid while being surrounded by seven beautiful Ladies"

They were all hysterical laughing. :D

None of them said, That wasn't PC but I was a little afraid I would wake up cross eyed. ;Wacky

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I've only ever had a colonoscopy.
I only came too see how old the reef was. Lol.
Safe surgery sir!
-d

 

[Rybren]

I hope that the surgery went well Paul. Heal quickly and don't forget to write.

 

[Paul B]

hi guys. typing with one hand so no capitals. i got home a few hours ago and still have the nerve block so no pain yet. i will start screaming tonight. i don't know how it went because i didn't talk to the dr. yet but the guy who swept the floor gave me a thumbs up. :rolleyes:

i was in there for 6 hours but the surgery was probably much shorter, maybe an hour and 15 minutes.
(it takes 15 minutes to get to home depot from the hospital and i don't know if the dr. had to go there for something)

the nurses are really nice there and i had 5 or 6 of them doing different things. one was really interested in me and googled my name there. she may buy my book. :D

when they brought me into the operating room the two anesthesiologists were there. both young men but one of them didn't exude confidence. did you ever see "alien vs predator" ?

the alien looks like a praying mantis and sweats blood while the predator has dread locks, green scales and shoots laser beams from his rotator cuff. he looked somewhat like the two of them.

i noticed a young girl there dressed like a surgeon. i figured it was "take your granddaughter to work day". i also noticed girl scout cookies on the jungle gym. :oops:

they assured me she was a surgeon and showed me a photo of her desk with one of those little statues made out of nuts and bolts shaped like a surgeon. i knew it was real because it had a little stethoscope and a plack that read "worlds best surgeon".

i asked the anesthesiologist if he could keep me knocked out for 6 weeks until the brace comes off but he just said "good night"

now i have this hard brace on and it keeps my arm facing straight out from my body so when i walk down the street, people either shake hands with me, give me spare change or say, "who you pointing at! ". :oops:

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Glad to see they didn't do a "senseofhumorectomy"! ;Playful

 

[bnord]

glad you are back to the screen, as my sister says, "if I can complain, it means I'm breathing"

hang ion there

 

[Paul B]

The surgeon called and said the surgery went better than he expected. After all the surgeries on that shoulder he didn't think there would be any place to anchor the thing and he figured it was shredded. He said my shoulder bones are very big and beefy, probably because I worked commercial and industrial electrician for almost 50 years and everything was heavy so my shoulder bones got big. Not so much my tendons and rotator cuff so it ripped off.

There was also a lot of shredded pieces of muscle and bone he had to clean out which was causing pain.

He used a new kind of composite anchor that should last the rest of my life as the last ones only lasted about 8 years.
I said to him, it isn't that painful, are you sure you used an anchor and not duct tape? He laughed. :D
My good buddy is here taking care of me. She just put this ice pack machine on me.

After 60 years she started going to a gym. She went about two weeks and is bulking up and is very proud.

Don't get excited, my wife took the picture and she is our best friend. Her husband and my best friend died of Covid last year. I know her over fifty years.

 

[Jekyl]

The surgeon called and said the surgery went better than he expected. After all the surgeries on that shoulder he didn't think there would be any place to anchor the thing and he figured it was shredded. He said my shoulder bones are very big and beefy, probably because I worked commercial and industrial electrician for almost 50 years and everything was heavy so my shoulder bones got big. Not so much my tendons and rotator cuff so it ripped off.

There was also a lot of shredded pieces of muscle and bone he had to clean out which was causing pain.

He used a new kind of composite anchor that should last the rest of my life as the last ones only lasted about 8 years.
I said to him, it isn't that painful, are you sure you used an anchor and not duct tape? He laughed. :biggrin:
My good buddy is here taking care of me. She just put this ice pack machine on me.

After 60 years she started going to a gym. She went about two weeks and is bulking up and is very proud.

Don't get excited, my wife took the picture and she is our best friend. Her husband and my best friend died of Covid last year. I know her over fifty years.

Glad to hear you're doing well. Glad to see you back to chasing super models.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks, All my friends are Supermodels. :D There is nothing like having great, lifelong friends which I would do anything for and they would do the same for me. :)

She came here for a few days to help my wife do things like take out the garbage, make the beds, cook and clean. Many of the things I normally do but have a little problem with now that I can't move my left arm.

In few weeks I will be as good as new and in the meantime, other friends will fill in. :cool:

 

[Paul B]

So I looked behind my tank just now and saw that one tube came apart from my reverse undergravel filter. It is in a terrible place under a bunch of big rocks at the bottom and I can't see how to fix this without removing a bunch of rocks.

Of course I can't do anything now because my left arm is in a hard brace from this stupid surgery so this may have to wait two months. There is a remote possibility that if a friend comes over, I can position the pieces together with a long bent rod and someone can push the tube from the far side of the tank. But it is a stretch. :(

I have the tube pushed close to the other one here and it will have to stay like this for many weeks so that side of the tank UG filter won't get any water. ;Bucktooth

 

[MnFish1]

So I looked behind my tank just now and saw that one tube came apart from my reverse undergravel filter. It is in a terrible place under a bunch of big rocks at the bottom and I can't see how to fix this without removing a bunch of rocks.

Of course I can't do anything now because my left arm is in a hard brace from this stupid surgery so this may have to wait two months. There is a remote possibility that if a friend comes over, I can position the pieces together with a long bent rod and someone can push the tube from the far side of the tank. But it is a stretch. :(

I have the tube pushed close to the other one here and it will have to stay like this for many weeks so that side of the tank UG filter won't get any water. ;Bucktooth

For a minute I thought that was a picture of your shoulder:). Glad everything came out ok. Except sorry for the tank

 

[atoll]

hi guys. typing with one hand so no capitals. i got home a few hours ago and still have the nerve block so no pain yet. i will start screaming tonight. i don't know how it went because i didn't talk to the dr. yet but the guy who swept the floor gave me a thumbs up. :rolleyes:

i was in there for 6 hours but the surgery was probably much shorter, maybe an hour and 15 minutes.
(it takes 15 minutes to get to home depot from the hospital and i don't know if the dr. had to go there for something)

the nurses are really nice there and i had 5 or 6 of them doing different things. one was really interested in me and googled my name there. she may buy my book. :D

when they brought me into the operating room the two anesthesiologists were there. both young men but one of them didn't exude confidence. did you ever see "alien vs predator" ?

the alien looks like a praying mantis and sweats blood while the predator has dread locks, green scales and shoots laser beams from his rotator cuff. he looked somewhat like the two of them.

i noticed a young girl there dressed like a surgeon. i figured it was "take your granddaughter to work day". i also noticed girl scout cookies on the jungle gym. :oops:

they assured me she was a surgeon and showed me a photo of her desk with one of those little statues made out of nuts and bolts shaped like a surgeon. i knew it was real because it had a little stethoscope and a plack that read "worlds best surgeon".

i asked the anesthesiologist if he could keep me knocked out for 6 weeks until the brace comes off but he just said "good night"

now i have this hard brace on and it keeps my arm facing straight out from my body so when i walk down the street, people either shake hands with me, give me spare change or say, "who you pointing at! ". :oops:

What you need to do Paul is put your other arm out and then walk like a robot.

 

[atoll]

The surgeon called and said the surgery went better than he expected. After all the surgeries on that shoulder he didn't think there would be any place to anchor the thing and he figured it was shredded. He said my shoulder bones are very big and beefy, probably because I worked commercial and industrial electrician for almost 50 years and everything was heavy so my shoulder bones got big. Not so much my tendons and rotator cuff so it ripped off.

There was also a lot of shredded pieces of muscle and bone he had to clean out which was causing pain.

He used a new kind of composite anchor that should last the rest of my life as the last ones only lasted about 8 years.
I said to him, it isn't that painful, are you sure you used an anchor and not duct tape? He laughed. :D
My good buddy is here taking care of me. She just put this ice pack machine on me.

After 60 years she started going to a gym. She went about two weeks and is bulking up and is very proud.

Don't get excited, my wife took the picture and she is our best friend. Her husband and my best friend died of Covid last year. I know her over fifty years.

Glad to hear your surgery went well Paul. That young lady has bigger mussels than me.

 

[Paul B]

Me to and she only went to the gym like a week or two. :)

 

[atoll]

Me to and she only went to the guy like a week or two. :)

Wouldn't want to cross her she would have you in a headlock in a jiffy.

 

[Paul B]

I have two possum wrasses, different species I think.

This guy



And this girl/guy? Very hard to get a picture

They are doing the spawning dance but I didn't think these two would spawn. I have the first one many years and this one only a year or two so maybe they have been spawning all along.

 

[Paul B]

I got my stitches out this morning. I miss them already. In 3 weeks I start PT and I am happy to go because I know the PT person. She looks like Angelina Jolie but of course that had nothing to do with me picking her. I am sure she went to high school and everything. :p

My wife goes to the same place for PT for a different reason. I am just going for fun as I am not a big believer in that sort of thing as it is for Sissies and Girly Men. :rolleyes:

They help you move your arm back and forth a few inches, then rest and have a cookie. Soon after you lift some paper clips while standing on one foot, then rest and have another cookie.

Real men just go out and swing an ax or cro bar a few dozen times or just make wine and you are good to go. :D

 

[atoll]

Paul.do.you use Kalk as in old school to add KH and Calcium?