Author Archives: dmtgat

Let me get right to the chase.  The PET-scan was administered on September 1st; the process took roughly two hours most of which found me either sitting quietly in a chair while the radioactive fluid travelled through my body or in the PET tube.  The actual scan took about 30 minutes.  September 2nd:   Back toContinue reading “Hopeful”

It seemed like months from July 23 until August 4 when we arrived back in Macomb. Upon our return, we pretty much just collapsed–no unpacking or anything else for that matter, we were just glad to get home. Doctors encouraged me to take short walks so for the first week that is precisely what IContinue reading “Table Setting for One”

As my eyes reluctantly view the keyboard, maybe I will wake up from this nightmare before I actually begin to type. Nope, that didn’t work. Every time I tell myself this can’t be happening, I realize it has. What is a person to do? Yes, others have worse stories, much worse, but for right now, atContinue reading ““It’s Been an Unusual Month””

I wrote the following on July 21, 2021 before taking Amtrak to Chicago and Metra to Grayslake.  It was intended to be a bit of closure on recent happenings in my life, but you will soon find out, it was nothing more than light showers before a health hurricane became a part of our newContinue reading “Before the Storm”

She has been “gone” for 52 years but remains vivid in my memory as one of the most extraordinary people to be part of the framework of my life.  I feel so sad that she missed the best part of my life:  marriage to Diane, our kids, rewarding career, and all the rest that comesContinue reading “MOM”

On February 20, 2021, I celebrated my 75th birthday. Goodness, I’m now in the 8th decade of my life in spite of a nasty bout of base of tongue cancer in 2010, a complete shoulder replacement in 2015, and a serious three-week case of Covid-19 in November 2020. I’m the lucky one in my birthContinue reading “I Made It!”

Only a couple of months have passed since I took fingers to keys but it seems like years. There has been post-election drama, the hard to comprehend worsening of COVID deaths and destruction, the muddled vaccine roll out (but let’s be grateful, it is rolling out), the unbelievable chaos at our capitol by anarchists, and a presidential inauguration for starters. As if that is not staggering enough, and clearly it is, add in the celebration of Christmas, one of our holiest days of the year.

My last blog entry was October 5th which now seems like years ago. We are all very tired from what Covid has done to our families and us. In all my recent blog entries, I stressed the need to follow the 3 W’s of Covid-19 precautions: wear a mask, wash your hands, and watch yourContinue reading “We Got IT!”

Diane and I had a difficult night October 5, 2020, absorbing what we witnessed on TV as events unfolded in real time regarding the President’s response after contracting Covid-19. Then this morning, I received an email from former Purdue University Alumni Director, Larry Preo, which included the following editorial in the Washington Post. Ken BeckleyContinue reading “Wake-Up America”