Steve's Spine: April 2013

The Drama is the Dharma
back home and more pics

Update Jan 10:
For some reason, my pain has been gone for almost 3 weeks- since Christmas or so. I'm getting ready to test it by exercising at the gym. Not sure what this means long term.

Update Nov 21:
Got my second round of cortisone shots. So lucky that I got an appointment for the day before Thanksgiving. They told me it would be four weeks. When I called they didn't know who I was. And I trust these people to put needles in my spine.
Dad- my inheritance appears to be the broken down Cadillac, Dad's lawsuits and all the stuff from my mom's family and my grandpa.

Update Nov 8:
So my spinal stenosis has returned. And Kaiser wants more blood work for my anemia which has not resolved. I'm now alone in Norwalk as my buddy I was caring for has left.
Good News: Dad's derelict Cadillac runs and I drove it to the mechanic!

Update Nov 2:
At the venerable age of 91, after a full life of curiosity and invention, Douglas Milton Matthews passed away this morning at 9:30 am in the VA Hospital Long Beach. Doug Matthews Sr Memorial page

Update Oct 31:
Dad is being moved to hospice as his MSSA infection has spread, etc. And he is not expected to recover immune system or blood production. He'll be on pain killers and without any invasion measures
My spinal stenosis seems to be returning, maybe because I have been under stress and moving furniture etc. I go to the doctor tomorrow.

Still Excited I Can walk!
After the Summer of Bedridden Gimp and the Miracle Cortisone Shots- I'm still pretty much better but I am having some small issues. As soon as I was sure I could walk I packed my clunky Dodge Caravan and skedaddled to my dads house north of Long Beach. I had a good job possibility and my dad had just done chemo and I wanted to get the house ready for him to return home, and clean up the messy issues.

I Arrived at My Dads - Sept 29
The most stressful part of coming back down here was getting rid of squatters at my dads house – which was horrible. The house is just completely trashed by my Dad's neglect to start and then add squatters. Lots of things are broken or missing. The one squatter/hoarder, (the neighbors and the police) referred to as creepy guy, was living in blacked out RV in the driveway and was hostile and arrogant and... creepy. Luckily, he punched me in the neck and it was witnessed so I got a TRO and the police finally caught him here. I'm left with an enormous piles of junk that left here which I'm going to sell or trash.

My Buddy
Last Thursday night late I went and got my friend who was a City Councilman up north. He is a real hero of a man, the more I find out about him the more I am amazed. He has been destroyed by political and police corruption (this is a really disturbing story about how corrupt our government is, and yeah- it includes murder). He lost two businesses and four buildings and all his antiques and stuff. He's now homeless except for me -and very depressed. After bringing him here, I realized he was seriously sick – but of course has no insurance. So I just spent 24 hours in LA County Harbor UCLA hospital. I went home and slept, when I got back in the morning, he was still slumped in the ER waiting room. He had been there all night and had not eaten or been able to lie down. It was a brutal and stressful Third World experience, including dirty bathrooms and people lying on gurneys in the hallways. But the people in the ER waiting room were mostly Mexicans and some nicely dressed African-American people who displayed a certain camaraderie, except the few who were suffering as much as my buddy. After this cruel 24 hr initiation, we got into see the doctors. The doctors and staff were great and now he's got medical coverage for year and will be seeing them again on Monday for diagnosis, etc.

Inheritance
My dad has lost all the money made – including 12 houses – this house is in a lawsuit as is one other house. We may try to make deals with the banks. My dad got caught up in multilevel marketing scams and lost the money that way – including my mom's inheritance. A lot of things of value in the house have been stolen by the various lowlife people – especially caretakers – all of whom were basically criminal or mentally ill in some way. Gone are the coin collection, my moms opal collection, all the good power tools- and I believe even kitchen utensils like the Can Opener and lots of other little things. I was here in spring and in June also, things I bought are gone.
My dad's scam buddies are all in their 50s and are all hoarders who filled the 1/3 acre property with junk. I've slowly been cleaning, scraping and fixing things here to make it livable – I'll be a will to live here for at least a year because my dad has no will. : )

Dad
My dad's been in the VA hospital for a few weeks (which is why the squatters were able to move in). My dad totally insists on living – but he's 91 and basically living on blood, he is not eating, not making blood, has leukemia, but when he's awake is pretty lucid. And he is adamant that he's going to get well come home and continue his various schemes, plans and crazy New Agey ideas.

Good: my brother seems to be much more supportive and compassionate – towards me and my dad. But most of my other relatives are disinterested in the family and don't really respond without a lot of effort. So I am selling off everything that I can at the house and all hoarder Junk.

Visiting
I am loathe to drive more than 15 miles ( the Free towing limit on Progressive) from the house because the Dodge Caravan I bought is derelict, it was illegally sold to me I learned. Transmission is slated to die at some random point. I bought it planning to use it to move my junk to Norcal and then abandon it when I got a nice job in San Francisco. It's actually the size of a truck it has a 4 x 8 bed and I can sleep in it or lie down or do yoga – which is awesome when my back hurts. And I'm hoping to get it to live long enough to where I can have a job and make enough money down here. A bum car puts a real damper on living in LA since you have to drive million miles all the time, I also hate traffic.

Much Aloha
xxoo
Steve

Recovery