Thursday
we went to a Christmas concert with my sister Judy and her husband Tag. We went out to dinner at Wahoo's Fish Taco before the concert. The food was not as good as I remember it. The original Wahoo on Placentia in Costa Mesa had the very best fish tacos. Back to the concert, we had to stand in line for about an hour before the concert started in order to get good seats. We enjoyed the music and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The emcee was pretty funny. At the end of concert, it snowed from the ceiling and that brought a festive Christmas atmosphere. Perfect end.

December 7 – 13, 2008 (Anaheim, CA USA)

Sunday
Went down to Irvine to see our friend Greg. He is going to work on his pontoon boat to try to get it ready for the Christmas Boat Parade in Newport Beach. He bought this boat several years ago and it has never been in the water. Greg and I popped the cover off the motor to check on a part that he knew he needed. We identified the part that was missing and then checked the spare motor for the same part but found the motors to be too different. I searched the internet for the missing part but had no luck. We ended up going to Costco and shopped. That boat is going to take a lot of hours to get it sea worthy. His back up plan is a parade in Chino Hills that has all the boats go down the street on their trailers. Now that sounds doable.

Monday


We went up to Joel's house in Apple Valley for a turkey dinner. Joel wanted to deep fry a turkey in peanut oil. Jeff, my other son, was supposed to go up with us but he totally forgot about it and made other plans so it was just Sim and I on the 1.5 hour drive to Apple Valley. We got there and Joel was all ready to fry a 15 lb. turkey.

The turkey was good, but Sim said she would not have eaten as much as she did if she had known that the peanut oil was oil that Joel had been using for over a year. It tasted fine to me and none of us got sick so I guess it was OK.



Wednesday
I went to the Kaiser facility on Lakeview to get all the tests done that the Nurse Practitioner ordered for me after she consulted with a Cardiologist. I was instructed not to eat food 4 hours prior to the test today, so we didn't have lunch as we were informed that the test would take only 4 hours. I had the Echo Test, and EKG, then got injected with a radioactive dye, then pictures taken, then another EKG, then a drug induced Stress Echo Test, then more pictures. By 4 p.m. both Sim and I were very hungry, but the test was not yet done. We left the Kaiser at 6:30 p.m. The entire process took over 8 hours. Besides the fact that we were there almost all day, it was freezing in that facility and I just had on short sleeves. I will dress warmer next time. I have an appointment to finally see a Cardiologist next week so he can review all these tests.

December 14 – 20, 2008 (Anaheim, CA USA)
Sim and I drove to Long Beach and had lunch with my ex-boss from my Sanmina-SCI days in San Jose. Vahid is now working and living in Southern California after leaving Sanmina. It was really nice to see him again and get caught up on his life. He seems to really enjoy the change in scenery and work. We had lunch at a very nice Lebanese restaurant on 2nd St. called Open Sesame. We are supposed to get together for dinner one night at Vahid's house before Sim and I take off for Thailand.

Thursday
Today was the day I was waiting for. “seeing a Cardiologist.” I was all prepared with blood test result history going back to 2003. I had all of the test results from past Echo and Stress tests going back to 2005. I had the hospital in Phoenix fax all the test results, from my 2 day stay with them, to the Cardiologist's office so he could review them. I had a copy of my ICD interrogation printout. You can see I was very prepared. So, the first thing the doctor says when he comes in is that he has not had time to review the test results. Not from Phoenix and not from Kaiser. Hah!! the room was completely silent for a minute. I was not prepared to hear such opening statement and didn't know how to respond. I ended up doing more talking than he did. The Cardiologist gave me the results of the Echo & EKG tests I had last week. He looked at me and after a long pause he said my ejection fraction was about 10% - 15%. He said it was hard to believe because I looked way better than a person who has 10% to 15% ejection fraction. I disagreed with the test result and said I was sure mine was at least 25%. If I had 10% ejection fraction, I could probably barely walk. Dah! So, the marathon 8 hours test last week was a waste as it was not reliable? We were at the Cardiologist office about 30 minutes and left with instructions for another test and another consultation. Sim was so frustrated and suggested I file a grievance and perhaps change to a new Cardiologist. I am now going to get a MUGA test, which is supposed to be a more definitive measure of my EF (Ejection Fraction). Then I am supposed to meet with an Electrophysiologist before coming back to meet with the Cardiologist so he can determine whether I need to be on some anti-arrhythmia medication or if I might need an additional pacing lead put in on my ICD implant.

Friday
Tonight we went down to Mission Viejo and had dinner with Dennis and Katherine. They have their house all lit up for Christmas and it looked really nice. Dinner was delicious as usual. Indian chicken Tandoori with spicy green beans. Yummy! Dennis and Katherine gave us a Calendar (created on a MAC) made up with some of the favorite pictures from our trip. A very thoughtful gift.

Saturday
Back to Kaiser again today. This time for a MUGA scan. I have been told that this test is the “Gold Standard” for determining your Ejection Fraction. Your ejection fraction is used to determine your level of heart failure. Normal hearts have an ejection fraction of 55% or better. That means that 55% of the blood in the bottom half of your left ventricle is pumped out with each heart beat. I have had several tests to measure my EF and the results have been from 10%, which means I can barely function, to as high as 45%. I am pretty sure I am a bit better than barely functioning. So we will see when the results of the MUGA are in.

The test was pretty easy. I dressed really warm based on my last visit. We we got there, they were waiting for me, so no wait. They injected me with a radioactive solution, then I waited for 20 minutes so it could attach itself to my red blood cells and work its way to my heart. Then I just laid on the table while the gamma camera took a movie of my heart beating. I will not know my score until I see the Cardiologist again as Kaiser does not post these kinds of test results on my Kaiser website. You can get blood test results but that is about all.

Joel and Jeff came over tonight. We have not seen Jeff since we got back to California so it was nice to see him finally. They are heading off to Las Vegas to spend a few days with friends and relatives there before Christmas, so they came over to see us before they left. We just hung out at brother Bills and spent some time looking up magic tricks on the internet. Can't wait to try out the fireball in the hand trick that we found.

December 21 – 27, 2008 (Anaheim, CA USA)

Sunday




Sim and I drove down to Laguna Beach this evening. We walked the scenic trail at Heisler Park and down on the beach. The sky was clear and the sun was setting and it was a really pretty evening. After spending some time at the beach we drove over to Scott and Yolanda's house for dinner. I worked with Scott back in the 80s at Printronix, a local printer manufacturing company, and we have been friends ever since. Yolanda made like 6 Chinese dishes that were all very good and we ate until we were all stuffed. Going to have dinner with them at least one more time before we head off to Thailand.







Tuesday
Sim had doctor's consultant appointment today. She was actually seeing a Nurse Practitioner. I think it is Kaiser's policy that a patient must see NP before they get to see a Specialist doctor. Sim did try to challenge the Kaiser procedure and requested her PCP to by pass this step, but the end result was not in her favor.

Well, I would say Sim was a well prepared patient. She did a lot of research and prepared one full page of questions. The appointment was 9:30 am and it ended at 11:30 am. So, it took 2 hours long plus she got to talk to a Specialist doctor. I am amazed how Sim made that happen. My doctors' consultant visits have been at most 30 minutes and when I saw PN I didn't get a chance to talk to a specialist doctor. Need to learn from Sim's technique and rules:
Rule #1 Educate yourself with your case and prepare questions
Rule #2 Create a pleasant atmosphere by working your mind
Rule #3 Show your respect and make a Physician feels he is important
Rule #4 Show a Physician you will 100 % cooperate with his/her treatment (if he/she is not a jerk)
Rule #5 Let your Physician know that two way communications work better for you.
Rule #6 Be assertive.

Wednesday
It is Christmas Eve and we are heading over to David and Larp's Mom's house for a Christmas dinner. We had Thanksgiving dinner with them as well so we know it is going to be good. We had a good time with the Wilder family. They opened all their Xmas gifts and everyone seemed to be happy with their presents.

Thursday
Merry Christmas to all our family and friends. Sim and I along with Brother Bill stayed home from Christmas. Sim cooked Cornish game hens and that was our Christmas feast. Greg came over at 5 p.m. after we were done eating. Sim called Greg the day before Christmas and asked if he would like to come over for the game hens. Greg told her “maybe” and Sim told him that was not what she looking for. It should be either a “yes” or a “no”. Then Greg said 60% he would come. Sim took it as a 'no” so, that was the reason we didn't wait for Greg. Anyway we always had a good time with Greg no matter with or without food. Sim likes Greg and enjoys his company although she said she missed about 30% of the conversation because Greg speaks so fast.

Saturday
Sim's friend Tuk came down from LA today and they headed off to Laguna Beach to play. Bill and I stayed home and spent hours and hours playing games on the WII.

December 28 - 31, 2008 (Anaheim, CA USA)
No doctor appointments this week. Whew! Greg called on New Years Eve and said he was not having a party this year so Sim and I just stayed home. We were awake at midnight and listened to the fireworks go off at Disneyland just down the road a ways.

Hope everyone has a great New Year.