By Gates (Pam) Johnson I am about sick and tired of talking about my stupid health. Long story short, yeah, I have some major health problems. Yeah, it’s been a long hellacious journey. Yeah, it ain’t over yet, but the big stuff is in the rear-view mirror. Now it’s time to focus on the future….
By Gates (Pam) Johnson As you may know if you have read my previous rantings here in The Loop, I have been dealing with a cancer diagnosis and treatments since March. For some weird reason, I decided my feelings and experiences might be good fodder for my monthly musings. People may ask, “Why do you…
By Gates (Pam) Johnson Surgery is in the rear-view mirror. It happened on May 28th, starting at 8:30 in the morning. Of course, I was asleep by then. The trip to the hospital was fine (one thousand thank yous, Sarah). Check in and wait wasn’t bad. Then back to the “staging area”: gown up, install…
By Gates (Pam) Johnson Tomorrow morning at o’dark thirty I will be off to the hospital for my hopefully first and last cancer surgery. Seems like it has been a long journey to get here, but in reality it has been about two months, give or take. Those months have been filled with super highs…
By Gates (Pam) Johnson It’s been a rough few months. In December, I had major back surgery that would hopefully help my foot neuropathy, but would take a year to heal. Okay. I can deal with that. Not fun, but chances are good that life will get better because of the surgery. A couple of…
[Jane–see image accompanying this story; I think it would go well in the print version too] By Gates (Pam) Johnson I have been asked this question about eight million times in the last, I’m going to guess, three decades. Not sure why it is such an interesting topic. Is “Gates” that odd a name that…
It’s Been a Couple of Interesting Months Around the Old Johnson Farm By Pam (“Gates”) Johnson I’ve been slowly going out of my mind with inactivity since my spinal surgery in early December. A couple of friends are also going through some recovery. One had a shoulder replacement, another badly broke his leg. When the…
By Pam (“Gates”) Johnson Almost seven weeks in of staring at the four walls of my front room. My back surgery went well, but I came out of it looking at a couple of months of recuperation. When getting discharged, I was given the option of going to a rehab place or going home. Since…
By Pam “Gates” Johnson Well, I made it to the other side of surgery. About 4 weeks post and to say it has been a challenge is an understatement. Let me walk you through the last few weeks. My surgery was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. December 8th. Had to be at the hospital at 5:30…
By Pam “Gates” Johnson Lucky me. I’ve been having trouble with my stupid feet for a few years. Foot doctor, neurologist, and Joe Blow on the street all told me there is nothing they could do, so just get used to it. Pain and tingling and numbness worsened, and finally my primary care doc said,…