Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/28/2015 01:29 PM
Good Morning Bluey! I hope your wife is doing better. I've been prayin'. I'm doing much better and hope to continue. Living where we have "pure" water that never sees the light of day until it comes out the faucet and now having to BOIL that pure water, really irritates me! But little by little, my sinus issues and digestive issues are going away AND my overall energy level is vastly improved. There's a difference between being tired and just dragging yourself around, plodding through life.
How come little dogs are so fearless and feisty? Banty rooster syndrome??? Speaking of dogs, last Saturday I was introduced to a new breed: a Pyrenean Mastiff! It looked just like a big, black Newfoundland, with white on its chest!
Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/29/2015 11:43 AM
Thanks bluey (me old possum ;-)! A great thing about the song "All the Way" is that Dan was writing about something that really happened... "Cruising out on an open road, Ventura Highway on the radio".
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Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/29/2015 07:54 PM
Thanks Ellen. I'm pleased that your health is on the improve.
A couple of days ago we travelled down to Newcastle (2 hour drive) for my wife's yearly MRI/Checkup with her neurosurgeon. Nearly 3 years ago she had a CT-Scan at our local hospital for an ear ailment (we later found out that it was a Fistual) and by chance the scan showed a large brain tumour (Meningioma). She was immediately hospitalised and the next day she was taken down my ambulance to the massive John Hunter Hospital Neurology Unit, Newcastle. Because of the swelling she was treated with antibiotics (steroids) and operated on a week later. The tumour was removed but unfortunately a "side effect" was she lost her sense of smell and taste.
Good luck or bad luck. Call it what you will but, only through having that CT scan, she could have been walking around for years without knowing she had that tumour still growing until one day something drastic would have happened.
Further MRI "side issues" were also discovered resulting in her having to see a neurologist at the same hospital and being hospitalised for a cerebral angiogram, further procedures, MRI/MRAs and follow-ups. We see him again next month. It's was a very difficult and stressful time for her, particularly at that time also having her mother in full dementia and being very ill. She doesn't complain and has this outlook that the outcome could have been much, much worse.
BTW, I know you have ask before, her mother passed away peacefully in the nursing home some seven weeks ago. Her ashes have now been laid to rest with her beloved husband's. "Together Again"....maybe riding that highway in the sky :)
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Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/29/2015 08:10 PM
:} We call him our 11 kilo of dynamite. A couple of years ago while walking him on a retractable lead through the forest he pounced on a red bellied black snake. Luckily I always carry a snake stick and was able to throw it away but Jack was bitten. I had to carry him home and we rang the vet and rushed him in (30 minute drive). By this time he was unconscious and had his little tongue hanging out. The vet gave him little hope and said that treatment "might" help but it was very costly. We told him to go ahead. For 2 days he was very sick but on the 3rd day he started to get better and now he's fully recovered....although he is now on a very short lead.
He still wants to have a go at anything that walks or crawls. Kangagoos, lizards, kookaburras, cats, dogs...you name it, he can't help himself :)
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Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/29/2015 08:25 PM
G'Day Tom,
Thanks for posting Dan's "live" performances. I really enjoy listening to Dan's two "Unplugged" CDs that a mutual friend of ours kindly sent me a couple of years ago.
You're right about Dan's music. "Driftin'" comes to mind as soon as I read your post. It's playing as I type. I remember saying to Dan how I thought "Coconut Tree", off the same album, would have been such a good America song. Surprisingly he agreed and told me he was very proud of that song.
He has certainly left his footprints on this earth.
I hope all is well with you and yours. Please say G'Day to Catherine and David for me. Take care.
Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/29/2015 11:39 PM
Good Evening Bluey. You and your wife have really been through it recently, haven't you? Sometimes life is just NOT fun, and I can certainly relate to that! The older we get, the less "funner" is seems to be! Being ill is one thing. Receiving treatment or taking medications is another and oftentimes exacerbate the problem. I'm glad your wife's issues weren't worse! I will continue to pray that all goes well and that her senses of smell and taste return.
I am indeed sorry to hear your mother-in-law passed away. However, it's hard to watch a loved one deteriorate, isn't it? No matter how old we are, somehow parents remain fixed in our minds as being invincible and able to rescue us from all problems.
Aren't Jack Russells an Irish breed? It's that Irish temperament, I'm sure of it! I'm glad your "fearless one" pulled through after the snakebite! According to Pikiwedia, the venom is seldom lethal, BUT a small dog? I can understand. On his own, do you think he'd be so aggressive?
I listened to Dan's song, "Coconut Tree." I really like the music, but I couldn't understand the lyrics.
I attended 2 funerals this weekend. Yesterday was tougher; a 53 year old friend who succumbed to breast cancer. It was a very different service and very nice. There were many people in attendance that I knew and I got to meet some new people. Today was a 95 year old ex-neighbor. I've known her since 1959. We shared the same birthday. At the reception, I was able to touch bases with a good many little old lady friends, one of whom invited me over to her house next week. She was my piano teacher! I also chatted with several people near my age that I went to school with. Some of them have really had some severe health issues. We were never friends as kids. But now I find it very easy to speak with them. The health issues have somehow leveled out the playing field.
Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/30/2015 07:26 PM
Hi Bluey. You shared that your wife has had treatment for a benign brain tumor. But I just stumbled across this, as I was surfing the 'net, and I think you might find it interesting. I sure did. Not only are they finding this treatment successful with malignant brain tumors, but also for other kinds of cancer.
BLUEY SUCCESSFULLY POSTED THE LINK, BELOW!!!
Back in the 50's, polio was the scourge of the earth. I attended school with a girl who wore a brace because of polio. In the last 7 years, I've known 8 people who have died from cancer, including 2 in Switzerland. And I've had 2 surgeries for carcinoma - on my eyelid! Turns out it's VERY common. This time I have a clear pathology report, praise God. Between having 11 shots of local anesthetic (between the 2 surgeries), normal recovery and a sadistic surgeon, I've had MORE than ENOUGH! I'm always interested when new treatments are proving successful. Gotta talk to my friend Dr. Hoopes, because he also has worked on a new treatment, had the paper published and now it goes to laboratory experiments. When I get my memory refreshed, I'll share with you.
Edited by shasta on 03/31/2015 11:10 AM
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Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/31/2015 04:57 AM
Thank you Ellen. My wife and I watched the two videos. Glioblastoma tumors kill 12,000 Americans a year. My wife's 1st cousin died from this disease. Melanoma was mentioned. Annually, Australia has the highest reported cases of this disease in the world.
When my wife was admitted into the neurosurgical ward, all 32 beds were occupied.
Apparently this is the norm. Fortunately she only had Stage 1 Meningioma (there are three stages). Of course, at the time of her admission, all she knew was that she had a brain tumor.
It was very frightening time.
Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/31/2015 11:27 AM
Good Morning Bluey! Yes it is a very frightening time, even for what I had. Idiot Girl here kept thinking it was just a sore that was having a hard time healing because of tear ducts. The scars will hopefully remind me to not be so stupid!
I erased my link. Yesterday I knew it didn't work and I figured you'd fix it. Thank you. Don't know why it wouldn't work, do you? I watched all segments. The producers of "60 Minutes" are very much involved in this series and plan on updating it in the fall.
The one thing I don't understand is why doctors insist on doubling the dose when they get such excellent results with a lower dose? My friend Patty was getting into the desperation zone when they put her on a new drug in December. It worked very well, so they doubled her dose. That caused her to gain 50 pounds in water. So they gave her a HUGE dose of water pills, which sent her into diarrhea and vomiting, causing dehydration. That's why she was admitted to the hospital February 26th. Five days later, she was dead. Her blood pressure dropped the day she was admitted. Saline IV wasn't helping and she was getting edema again. The rest is a sad history.
Over 5 years ago, the diagnosis (right on the heels of a mammogram, which showed nothing) was Stage IV breast cancer, estrogen linked. After radiation, double mastectomy, months of chemo and a complete hysterectomy, she was cancer-free for 3.5 years. She SAILED through all her treatments the first time. Everybody was elated, especially the doctors. When it returned, it had metasticized to the brain, bones, lungs and liver. Nothing seemed to work as well and took much more out of her, except radiation. That was still a piece of cake.
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From: 2500 plus Posts is just an illusion.
Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/31/2015 09:53 PM
You had "http:// twice in your link.
We know someone who had double mastectomy years ago. By chance, when she was 44 she found out that she was adopted. Her biological mother and grandmother had died of the disease.
It's just amazing that there isn't a legal obligation in the system that compels any
health/adoption institution to warn adopted persons that they could be at risk.
Thanks again Ellen. Very much appreciated.
Back to Dan's music...
Here's a wonderful cover by Dan of Christopher Cross' "Sailing"
Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 03/31/2015 10:45 PM
Good Evening Bluey! Thank you for pointing out my mischtook. I had a hard time getting it to look right, because of the way the address looked when I highlighted it, and when I first pasted it on AB, I had double the information! So I deleted and went back to try it again. Even the 2nd go-round didn't work, obviously. I knew you'd figure it out.
Adoptions are tricky. I think the laws are more to protect the birth mother than anything else, and that's really unfair to the child. It's a sacrifice on the birth mother's part to give her baby a chance at a good life, if she's unprepared. But it doesn't always work out that way. I've been around some foster kids and the boy I nannied was adopted by his grandfather. In all cases, it's very difficult for the child to NOT feel abandoned and rejected. I don't look like my mother and my facial features are quite different from my father's. So I used to get fearful that perhaps I was adopted and ask my mother from time to time, "Are you SURE I'm yours?" Turns out I'm the spitting image of both my grandmothers!
I just talked with a gal I went to school with. She's 3 years older than me, but in a small town, everybody knows everybody else. Her father died of Alzheimer's, I believe. Mom is still alive and in her late 80's or early 90's, going strong. Older brother died of bone cancer several years ago. This woman has had breast cancer and now she's diagnosed with diabetes, the kind children get! No other cases of diabetes in her family! I think her dad was a WWII vet and I'll bet he was exposed to asbestos.
One of my first cousins married a WWII vet; merchant marines and navy. He battled kidney cancer and esophageal cancer before just giving in to an old body. His first daughter battled uterine cancer (right after the 2nd daughter died of breast cancer) and she had to have her thyroid removed because of a tumor. The boy is in need of a double lung transplant, which will kill him eventually if he gets it. If he doesn't, he's dead anyway. He almost died the beginning of February, as he somehow was disconnected from his oxygen and was unconscious. He was in the hospital the whole month and into March before he could come home. All 3 kids were born with birth defects, and that just doesn't exist on that side of my family! I think the dad was exposed to asbestos in WWII!
I listened to "Sailing." It has a melancholy tone and is quite repetitive. As a song, I can't say I like it. Dan's vocal is rough at the beginning, but I sure enjoyed the guitar work at the beginning and at the end! Love the sound of those strings! I also fantasized that when God creates a new earth, I'm gonna try surfing and sailboarding and probably won't have need of a board either! I won't be afraid of sharks stalking me too! I plan on walking on the ocean bottom, jumping from mountaintop to mountaintop and making friends with all kinds of currently-wild animals, like bears, dolphins, seals and chimpanzees.
Ah, the best of plans..............................................
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From: 2500 plus Posts is just an illusion.
Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"..
Posted on: 04/29/2015 05:33 AM
Hi Ellen,
I just made comment on Dan's blog that I thought the song would have also been a great America track with Dewey & Gerry doing background vocals. It's just a "fan" thing.
Surprisingly Dan sort of agreed although I think it was just to amuse me.
Close your eyes, sit back and just listen to Dan playing his Rickenbacker Slide guitar on "Train Comin'". IMPO, it's his best solo rocker - (off his "Guitar Man 2").
Re: "Cruising Out On An Open Road, "Ventura Highway" On The Radio"
Posted on: 05/01/2015 12:00 AM
Hmm. Really awake this morning, wasn't I? I listened to Dan's "Train Comin'." It is a good rocker. I can't understand all the lyrics. He seems to swallow them from time to time. But don't ask me to close my eyes... I'm visual and I watched that video from stem to stern! Most interesting. Pakistan? India?
The BUBBLE SONG! That's what I will forever call "Woman Tonight," because of that performance. Love the bell bottoms and Gerry's green jacket. He really worked the melody in this video. I like it.