Thursday, August 14, 2025 – Day 366

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Good morning, fabulous friends and family!

Yesterday was quiet here, which worked out fine—my caregiver was under the weather and spent most of the day in bed. Hopefully she’s better today… we have social plans, and Cindy’s not about to let me go out alone. I suspect she’s got visions of me trying to navigate sidewalks solo and ending up in a thorny shrub. Ouch!

I was floored (figuratively) by the number of messages about yesterday’s blog post. They were so kind and heartfelt they actually brought tears to my eyes. You guys have a gift for lifting me up and making me feel like the luckiest guy alive. Thanks for being my army. ❤️🙏

Jessica, my friendly neighborhood pulmonary clinician, swung by with more airway gear. We’re starting to look like a pulmonary clinic. This time? A suction machine. Yep, it’s exactly as glamorous as it sounds—basically a shop-vac for phlegm. The canister looks like it could hold a Big Gulp, which makes me wonder… does the human body really produce that much in a day? Guess I’ll find out during my next head cold. (That should be fun.)

On the mobility front, my new 10-foot ramp arrived from Amazon—perfect for getting the behemoth power chair into the house. It’s awkward and heavy, so I called in Tim. No hesitation…he dropped everything and gave me his full attention. Thanks for making yourself available.

Naturally, the “simple ramp install” hit a snag: our sliding screen door made the already narrow entryway even narrower. So Tim made a Home Depot run, came back with lumber, and built up the step so the ramp could line up just right and we could protect the screen door frame from being crushed as I roll over it.

I contributed in my usual fashion—pointing out where tools were and making helpful peanut gallery comments like, “How about doing it this way.” I’m sure Tim would have preferred me to go in the house and read a book. After a couple hours, the ramp was in place, and I was ready for the big debut.

And that’s when the power chair decided to throw a tantrum. Error code: “Motor #2 defect.” Translation: not going anywhere. I jumped on Google, Tim dug through the manual, and we found… nothing. At least I was home when it happened—getting stranded out in public would’ve been a whole different adventure.

On the bright side, no test run means I didn’t find out the hard way whether the ramp’s 800-pound weight limit is accurate. It flexed a little under just our combined walking weight, so a stabilizer is probably in our future.

Now I’m just waiting for the power chair repair guy to swoop in and save the day. Because next time I roll out of here, I’d like to make it more than five feet without my “ride” crapping out. I don’t think my AAA membership will come to my reduce. Although, at 436 pounds it would need a tow.

Since I started writing this morning. Cindy’s up and doing much better. Hooray!

Have a great Thursday.
Love you guys! ❤️