Thanks for sharing the news that you are progressing forward, Patrick. Its sounds rough, but you have your wits about you, a supportive wife by your side, and a virtual Pelican fan section.

I hope you recover before you know it.

That is perfect.

Patrick, I talked to J. Milliman today. Sends his best.

Goll-dang it…I have Ohio dust all the out here in my Az eyes. ;)

You’re improving, press on.

As I mentioned earlier, I simply forget how alien hospitals can be. Really hope, as a patient, I stay out of them. This is the year I shop for long term care insurance. ugh

A close friend lives in Cincy, planning on visiting this spring. They have an RS60 Boxster, hope you’re healthy and driving. Would love to see the VW….or maybe even the Speedster.

We’ll see.

Btw, you mentioned not wanting to build a model. What is it?

Hope the next pain report is like this morning.

Just before I went under the knife Pelican put their line of plastic engine models on sale. I didn't know anything about the quality of these kits so I got the less expensive VW motor. It was a good bit cheaper than the 4 cam Carrera model.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702827474.jpg

I got started cutting some parts off of the sprues and sanding off the sprue tits and then this pain thing kicked in, so all progress stopped.
This is one thing Vicki was NO help with. I had the box open on the kitchen table and she thought it was a box of trash and threw it out. I can understand how she got that impression because the box contains about 2 dozen plastic bags with a few parts in each one. It did look like a box of trash. Then she picked up a plastic bag with the parts i had worked on in it by the bottom and scattered these parts all over the kitchen floor.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702827474.jpg


A fancy book came with it 2/3rds of which was the history of VW. This is one of the pictures they included. This would be a very rare and valuable VW if the photo was accurate!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702827474.jpg

I was going to start posting my progress in the model thread, but maybe now I'll post it here. What do you think?

This must be a VW for the RHD market. Those crafty Germans thoughrt of everything.

I think you should post the progress here, so we can match the progress of the kit with the progress of the surgery, then, when the kit is finished, post it to the model thread with a link to the build.

I can't wait to see this.

Must be a mirror image.

Yes, in the old days we would say the stripper taped the half-tone screen top side down. That was pretty easy to do.
Screwing up an electronic image but getting it top side down seems like it would be a lot harder.

LOL! Yeah, they thought of everything except proofreading their plates.

Will do. I may get back to it early next week.

I'm glad that you seem to be on the mend! Keep up the forward progress. Exercise as you can, but don't over-do it. It really sucks that you had to go through that experience. It's crazy that it's possible to get such bad service in a hospital, especially considering the costs involved.

Keep on keepin' on. You'll get through this.

Yes, I'd love to see the progress on the model. I guess you realized and were able to get it back out of the trash? Or did you just buy another? I've been curious about those myself. They look pretty cool.

My dad went into the hospital for back surgery in his late 50s and never came home.

Back when I was a stripper, we would have said e-up or emulsion up. Probably a regional thing.

(E down was the norm to prevent dot gain when you contacted the film to finals or to a plate.)

Today marks 5 weeks since I went under the knife.
In five weeks I haven't had a decent night's sleep or a decent meal.
The sleep - first it was the frequent urination combined with the pain. Both are much better now and I can get out of bed on my own when I do have to pee. Now the problem is night sweats, that I can sleep for more than an hour at a time, when I do wake up I'm drenched in sweat. I had to change my shirt and shorts 3 time a couple of nights ago. That's when started staying up half the night and sleeping during the day.
Almost everything I've eaten in the past 5 weeks has come out of a cardboard box or plastic bag. My wife can cook, but she hates it so she doesn't. My neighbor's wife has been my only source of home cooked food, but I'm getting kind of tired of soup and cookies. When I mention that I might make something for dinner she says, "Oh, I'll do that." But then 5 o'clock rolls around and she hasn't started dinner, so it's another night of Bertolini's family skillet dinner.

As of this morning I've lost exactly 30 pounds since the surgery.

Dave called and asked me to call in payment for the Speedster's paint. $1700 for two quarts of black paint and all the primer, clear coat, etc that goes with it. I want to go down and visit my car soon, but I can't drive just yet.
So many reasons I need to get well.

Sounds like you are continuing to make progress. Hopefully that will continue.

Have you thought about some type of meal service? I've never used them but it might be worth a try.

https://www.hellofresh.com/pages/meal-kit-delivery?page=pages&page=meal-kit-delivery&addShippingOnTotal=true&brand=HelloFresh& c=1L-SCOV1K5VX&dis_channel=sea-nonbrand&discount_comm_id=69a00013-80db-4f6e-8cdb-87ca07973397&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAhJWsBhAaEi wAmrNyqz8v-CXcqYpRtENwwv2DFid8m0f4q-d5Vgr7W73ZdD1ShuAql7T5thoCY7kQAvD_BwE&locale=en-US&mealsize=3-2&prefix=pages&utm_campaign=SEA_US_google_Act_2023 _NB_Offer_Update_Google_16FM_FB_BTS_WK39&utm_conte nt=act_seanonbrand_seanonbrand&utm_medium=cpc&utm_ source=google&version=fb4l_wk33&vs_campaign_id=9fb 94fe4-b79f-4f8c-8d27-e3aadeeaf624

Dave sent a couple of pictures of the Speedster's progress. I'm glad to see they took the wheels off. They got overspray on the backs of the VW wheels. I wasn't too happy about that.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703257870.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703257870.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703257870.jpg

I sanded off the joint lines on the VW engine's pistons, painted them, and assembled the rods. The instructions don't mention lube, but it's a working model so I put dry teflon on the bearing surfaces. Must follow proper mechanical principles.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703257870.jpg

I need to get back in my kitchen and enforce a little discipline. First - frozen pizza for dinner. Then - cutting frozen pizza on a pizza stone with my good chef's knife. :eek::eek:

That would imply that she's not taking good care of me. I shudder to think of the drama that would cause. Better to eat cat food and let her think I'm just fine than to suggest that she isn't doing a great job of caring for me.

Patrick, it sounds like you and the Speedster are kindred spirits this winter - looking pretty damn good on the outside, with a peek under the hood revealing some work to be done; now that you've pulled the trigger and decided to stop putting it off, here you both are in a state of disassembly with light at the end of the tunnel (and some wanker discussing lucre at a time when you both just need healing).

I can imagine you with your fresh spine in that freshly renewed Porsche with the wind in your hair and your bride by your side - maybe this summer! - while you take an evening drive to a fantastic restaurant and then home to a hot tub and some wine and a spectacular sunset....

My daughter is home for the holiday and brought Magnesium Spray Oil for sleep.

https://holyappetite.com/magnesium-oil-for-sleep/

It has helped me return to sleep quickly as part of the routine until my hip is repaced in January (fingers crossed).

Give it a try, Patrick. As always, this could be the biggest placebo scam on the market but I try just about anything to stay away from drugs.

Nice metaphor Mike! Never thought of it that way.

Thanks Paul. The problem isn't falling asleep, it's waking up in a pool of sweat an hour after falling asleep. I think I'm going to turn myself into a 'possum. I had a hell of a time sleeping last night - got about 4 hours in all told. I took a 2 hour nap this morning and woke up dry and somewhat refreshed.

All good, Patrick...I of course wish you the best.

It is interesting having a daughter, and son, that look outside the realm of their Dad's limited deer trails to help.

Merry Christmas and best.

Sounds like you are making progress . If every day is a bit better that's a good thing . Just figure out the food issues and you are all set . Hang in there .