Author Topic: We have to stop meeting this way. (Read 3970 times)

Larry Cunningham · « **on:** November 28, 2010, 11:36:47 PM »

Last August I went to hospital for 44 days, finally escaping on October 2. Now here I am back again, I've been in a week tomorrow.

I'm back at the Advanced Care Hospital of Southern New Mexico again, same staph infection problem. As before I had to get more surgery on my left foot, to "clean up" some bone ends. This time I had an internal abscess area on the top of the foot, where 100 cc of pus was extracted. It's been painful.

I've been feeding on IVs of Vencomicin, and now Zosyn and continue to do so. This stuff really screws the digestion and keeps me sick at my stomach much of the time, and it's pretty depressing - time just crawls by. It's a little better now with my laptop again. Naturally, I can't get stinking Windows 7 to quite do what I want. I tried to install a student version of AutoCAD 2006, all sealed and legit, paid for. Of course that wouldn't work.. This is a beautiful laptop, if I can get it to run my software.

For now I'd settle for my home email working from here, but apparently this is unreasonable and I'll probably just set up a freebie gmail or similar and PM my friends in the meantime. At least I can surf the internet and look at your model airplanes.

No idea how long I'll be here or what the final outcome will be. Diabetes has been well controlled for months, but that doesn't seem to be enough.

You guys take good care of yourselves.

Best regards,

L.

"I have a natural swagger." -Kevin Bacon

Leester · « **Reply #1 on:** November 29, 2010, 04:12:14 AM »

Larry: Sorry to hear that your back in the joint, I hope the screws treat you well

Maybe they can get you fixed right this time, hope your stay is short. I know it must be a pain (no pun intended) not being home, I know it would drive me crazy. Hang in there

Warren Wagner · « **Reply #2 on:** November 29, 2010, 08:01:17 AM »

Larry,

I'm really sorry that you have to experience so many health issues....you certainly have more than your share. It does tend to *tarnish* the "Golden Years", doesn't it. When I complain to my doctor about the extent of my health issues, he says "You just have to make the best of the situation." Don't know if that philosophy will give you any comfort or not, but it's something to keep in mind.

Maybe it NOT a bad thing that you are struggling with "Windows 7" as that will give you a challenge and something to concentrate on during your stay in the hospital. And because it will take much longer than any stay in the hospital a MS OS, I don't think you will run out of challenges to work on.

Now, about running "AutoCAD 2006"....you are probably already aware of the "Compatibility" program within Windows, but maybe just as a reminder, here is a quote from Vista's Help file (not sure what Win7 might offer):

"Make older programs run in this version of Windows

Most programs written for Windows XP also work in this version of Windows, but some older programs might run poorly or not at all. If a program written for an earlier version of Windows doesn't run correctly, use the Program Compatibility Wizard to change the compatibility settings for the program. To change settings for a program manually, use the individual program's Compatibility tab.

If changing the settings does not fix the problem, go to the program manufacturer's website to see if there is an update for the program."

You now have my email address if there is anything I can do for you over the Internet, or if you just want to chat, send me a message.

Best of luck, and hope you are back on your feet and doing some modeling soon.

Cheers.

Warren Wagner

Paul Taylor · « **Reply #3 on:** November 29, 2010, 08:02:45 AM »

Larry,
Sorry to hear you are laid up again. Maybe they will get you patched up PDQ.

At least you have us to keep you away from the nurses desk.

Serge_Krauss · « **Reply #4 on:** November 29, 2010, 09:25:11 AM »

Larry-

This is just an awful lot for anyone to deal with, but you have shown great risilience and character. I surely hope you get all things - body, computer, software - working right again. Aside from being a great friend at a distance, you have certainly provided much to challenge the imagination with your CAD drawings, clever designs, and instructional articles. 'bet everyone would also love to see another of your exquisitely built stunters too. I'm looking forward to more of your creative input and insights!

Hang in there!

Serge

Randy Powell · « **Reply #5 on:** November 29, 2010, 09:46:06 AM »

Larry,

Sorry to hear you're in the hospital again. And I understand Win7 issues. Man, my wife's laptop is a pain. High powered but dealing with an operating system that tells you what you can and can't do based on MS Big Brother is a pain.

I recently inherited a laptop from my son. It's a fairly nice HP Pavilion. The hard drive died on it. Not knowing any better, I went directly to the hard drive manufacturer's web site and bought a new drive for it. Big mistake. Not HP certified and so, WinVista (the original operating system) wouldn't recognize it. Tried to install WinXP (with sata drivers slipstreamed in) and I could get it running that way, but of course none of the stuff worked: no video driver, no card drivers, etc. Had to track down drivers from manufacturers based on chip sets. Never really got it working right because HP and MS don't want to be able to to that (retrograde to WinXP). I even tried a Win7 install, but since the hard drive was not HP certified (direct from Toshiba and identical to the original 300gig drive), it refused to install. The kid gave up and gave the laptop to me.

Pretty easy in the end: I just installed Fedora 14. It installed without issues and everything works fine. I was even able to install Oracle VirtualBox and installed Windows 7 in that and it runs fine (or as fine as Win7 runs, anyway) as does pretty much everything else I wanted including a student version of Solidworks installed in the VBox.

Man, I get tried of companies like HP and MS or Apple for that matter intent on telling me what I can and can't do with hardware I have purchased.

Heal up and don't let Swindows get you down.

Tom Niebuhr · « **Reply #6 on:** November 29, 2010, 03:28:06 PM »

Larry,
Sorry to hear that you are back in that place. But you really gotta stay out of that place.

RogerGreene · « **Reply #7 on:** November 29, 2010, 05:48:24 PM »

Hi Larry,

Sorry to hear your in the hospital. About the AutoCAD issue I am using Acad 2004 on Windos XP Pro 2002 Service Pack 3 with no problems. I am not a computer guy but a CAD guy so AutoCAD should run on your PC. I also use the free version of IMSI's DoubleCAD XP at http://www.doublecad.com/. See if it will work on your PC. It does have a command line that you can type in your commands same as AutoCAD.

Roger

Elwyn Aud · « **Reply #8 on:** November 29, 2010, 07:30:50 PM »

Hate to hear you're back in the hospital. I hope they can get things fixed up and have you back home a lot quicker this time.

Jerry Leuty · « **Reply #9 on:** November 29, 2010, 08:19:47 PM »

Larry, I have read your stuff in S/News but do not know you personally. It seems you are suffering from serious infections. Let me explain. My late wife was a serious diabetic for 25 years before she succumb to it. Here is what I have learned from being her care giver for the last few years of her life. First we all need good, rich oxygenated blood flowing through our veins. For diabetics and older arteries this can be a problem and eventually be debilitating. Now how do we get this great blood that we so desperately need? For diabetics, the lower extremities of our bodies get the least amount of blood flow. Without it there is no healing to take place in our feet. It will not matter how much antibiotics are taken or IV'd. The answer seems to be in Hiperbarics. It is what they use to bring fresh oxygen to smoke inhalation victims and deep sea divers that get the bends. There is a pressurized tank that you will enter. You will breath pure oxygen for 20 minutes and then regular air for 10 more. This goes on for 2 hours a day for 30 to 60 days depending on what one may need. The pressure forces the oxygen into the blood streams and down to the feet and legs and finger tips. Check your toes and fingers. If there is no hair growing there then there is no blood getting to them. Also those toes and fingers will appear abnormal in color with a yellowish tint to otherwise a sickly white flesh. Speak with your Podiatrist about getting into Hiperbaric treatments. We use to have a chamber here in Fort Worth, Texas but that hospital has been torn down. I do not know where one is now in the DFW area. Check in your state and get into some treatments before something has to be cut off...................Jerry

Larry Cunningham · « **Reply #10 on:** November 29, 2010, 08:59:29 PM »

Quote from: RogerGreene on November 29, 2010, 05:48:24 PM

Hi Larry,

Sorry to hear your in the hospital. About the AutoCAD issue I am using Acad 2004 on Windos XP Pro 2002 Service Pack 3 with no problems. I am not a computer guy but a CAD guy so AutoCAD should run on your PC. I also use the free version of IMSI's DoubleCAD XP at http://www.doublecad.com/. See if it will work on your PC. It does have a command line that you can type in your commands same as AutoCAD.

Roger

Hi Roger,

On my PC, I've been running AutoCAD in several versions through Windows XP Pro without any issues.
The issue with me seems to be Windows 7.. (and not just with AutoCAD), ;->

Thanks for your info, I'll check it out.

L.

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." -Mark Twain

Larry Cunningham · « **Reply #11 on:** November 29, 2010, 09:05:14 PM »

Quote from: Jerry Leuty on November 29, 2010, 08:19:47 PM

Larry, I have read your stuff in S/News but do not know you personally. It seems you are suffering from serious infections. Let me explain. My late wife was a serious diabetic for 25 years before she succumb to it. Here is what I have learned from being her care giver for the last few years of her life. First we all need good, rich oxygenated blood flowing through our veins. For diabetics and older arteries this can be a problem and eventually be debilitating. Now how do we get this great blood that we so desperately need? For diabetics, the lower extremities of our bodies get the least amount of blood flow. Without it there is no healing to take place in our feet. It will not matter how much antibiotics are taken or IV'd. The answer seems to be in Hiperbarics. It is what they use to bring fresh oxygen to smoke inhalation victims and deep sea divers that get the bends. There is a pressurized tank that you will enter. You will breath pure oxygen for 20 minutes and then regular air for 10 more. This goes on for 2 hours a day for 30 to 60 days depending on what one may need. The pressure forces the oxygen into the blood streams and down to the feet and legs and finger tips. Check your toes and fingers. If there is no hair growing there then there is no blood getting to them. Also those toes and fingers will appear abnormal in color with a yellowish tint to otherwise a sickly white flesh. Speak with your Podiatrist about getting into Hiperbaric treatments. We use to have a chamber here in Fort Worth, Texas but that hospital has been torn down. I do not know where one is now in the DFW area. Check in your state and get into some treatments before something has to be cut off...................Jerry

Jerry,

I know what you say is exactly true. We diabetics get our thousands of miles of tiny blood capillaries damaged which starts the whole circulatory problem. I'll check this out with my doctor.

Best regards,

L.

"If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer." -Yogi Berra

john e. holliday · « **Reply #12 on:** November 30, 2010, 04:43:55 PM »

Larry, I hope your doctor can get a fix for you. After meeting you at VSC and finding out you are not as vicious as I thought, Have looked for you at each VSC since. Take care of yourself.

Randy Powell · « **Reply #13 on:** November 30, 2010, 05:20:37 PM »

No, he's only partially vicious.

Larry Cunningham · « **Reply #14 on:** November 30, 2010, 06:05:30 PM »

Grrrr....

Met both Doc and Randy a while back at VSC. Two very nice guys..

Missed meeting any meanies there (or any meet for that matter).

I now have a hole in the top of my left foot big enough to put a thumb in.. Wound vacuum device Y'ed off to wounds on both feet..

Can now taste the Zyvox from IVs. Attractive nurses.

Life is good.

L.

"By trying we can easily endure adversity. Another man's, I mean." -Mark Twain

Larry Cunningham · « **Reply #15 on:** November 30, 2010, 09:04:13 PM »

Viola!

I must be doing something right. Uninstalled my student version of AutoCAD 2006 and re-installed and it is all working!

Now all I need to do is get some DWG files from home and I should be able to work on them. This entails telling the wife how to find and copy the files to a thumb drive for me, no easy feat.

But I'm again encouraged.

L.

"Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely." -P. J. O'Rourke

Bill Little · « **Reply #16 on:** December 01, 2010, 03:09:30 PM »

HI Cowboy!

Man, I really pray that you will be out and about soon. I am still in the "monitoring" phase of my diabetes, taking Novolog 70/30 shots twice a day along with oral meds. I think I told you that my Granddaughter is now Type 1. She's going very well for a 9 year old.

The best thing is that I am not experiencing any circulation problems, yet. And the regular check ups are going good so far.

Now, what we have to do is get you straightened out (at least as far as the diabetes complications!) and have you back on a circle with a handle in your hand and a pretty plane at the other end. After all, you are only in this for the women and money!

Take care, GET WELL, and continue on the "Cowboy Way"!
Bill

Dalton Hammett · « **Reply #17 on:** December 01, 2010, 03:36:29 PM »

Hello Larry - I don't believe I've had the opportunity to meet you face to face yet but I think we've talked CL before. I want to wish you the very best and a speedy recovery. Several members of my family, including myself, have diabetes so I can relate to what your going through. I see that you are not letting it stop you and that is really great. Keep up the spirit and I look forward to meeting you at one of these flying events in the future.

Dalton Hammett

Larry Cunningham · « **Reply #18 on:** December 01, 2010, 03:46:38 PM »

Thanks for the kind words Bill, and continued success on your management of diabetes. It breaks my heart to see young kids with Type 1, it's a much more difficult disease to manage. Maybe we'll see a cure or vaccine for it in a few years.

With 30% approaching 50% of the general populace obese nowadays, there's a diabetes bomb headed our way in the future. Knowing what I know now, if I could return to 25, I'd do everything in my power to avoid this disease.. Remember, friends, my lifelong purpose has been to serve as a bad example!

I'm still flying stunt in my mind, I've got a swell electric ship now, with a fuel cell that runs off a butane lighter cell. And I consistently break over 500, I'm kicking butt. The gorgeous stunt promo women simply will not leave me alone, they keep trying to kiss me. And people are following me around, writing me down now as well..

Thanks to the huge financial benefits of Stunt (both from my competitive wins and writings), I'm not quite wealthy, but approaching it! Wondering whether to invest in sow bellies or orange derivatives next year - any suggestions?

Life is good. Now I even managed to get my DWG files copied off to a thumb drive and will be able to work some more on my model airplane AutoCAD junk here in the Advanced Care Hospital of Southern New Mexico.

Life is indeed good.

L.

"Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed." -George Burns

Bill Little · « **Reply #19 on:** December 01, 2010, 04:10:02 PM »

Well, Larry, I will think about what to do, investment wise, with your windfall from Stunt. Very few of us ever attain the level of winnings and endorsements that you have been granted. Don't let the women get you holed up! They can be quite dangerous, those stunt groupies!

I can't wait to see the next iteration from "The Cowboy" pertaining to a subject used to scribe the air. I am still planning on a Mo' Best for usage in the next year or two. Gotta use those ST G.51s I get picked on so much about.

Keep "Nurse Cratchet" in line, and get well quick! Gotta move those patterns out of the mind (although it is a great practice technique) and into the air!

Bill

John Sunderland · « **Reply #20 on:** December 02, 2010, 12:48:46 AM »

Hey Larry! Dang it.

Get well please.