Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - Watch-o-the-Day #5

I bought this OE brand watch on eBay a few years ago because I like mechanical watches with complications.  It has analog day, date, month, and second time zone as well as an exposed balance wheel.  Sweet.  Totally manual, no automatic, and it's a pain to wind.

Monday, November 10, 2014 - Watch-o-the-Day #4

This is a really old swiss Rouan Sport mechanical watch.  It has a stopwatch in the purest sense: the top button stopped it and the bottom button started it.  There is no way to reset the second hand to zero.  It has no significant value but it still runs and has a cool retro look to it.  Probably the most interesting thing is the band, a Speidel expandable that has a 1972 calendar in it.  Each year I'd buy a little drop in cartridge that had a scrolling calendar that showed a whole month at a time.

The hand may look a little worse today...  had a bit of an itchfest today.

Sunday, November 9, 2014 - Watch-o-the-Day #3

Seiko quartz diver's watch circa 1990.  I know that because it has a calendar on the back with a small dot punched by the date so I know when to replace the battery ('92).   I wouldn't want to be caught at 200 meters down when the battery dies now would I?  Hahaha!  It has been all the way down to about 10 feet or so.  The really good Seiko diver's are mechanical automatics, but this quartz version is still fairly collectable and may be worth more than I paid for it.  It is in pretty nice shape for it's age.  I wish I was!  While digging through the watch drawer I found an old wedding ring that used to be too big, but fits now.  My hands (and feet) are still pretty puffy and none of the watches I have with a metal band will fit unless I put a link or two back in.  I hope most of my extremities shrink back down to normal soon.  ;-)

Hugs from Texas!

Saturday, November 8, 2014 - Watch-o-the-Day

I regret not taking more pictures to document my progress, so I thought it would be fun to photograph my left hand on a near daily basis, each time wearing one of my watches.  

This one is a very special watch, even though I have never worn it in public and it was only very recently acquired.  It is from Disneyland in 1994 when my ex-wife and I were there with our then 2 year old twin daughters.  On a gift store on Main Street there was an official Disney artist that would custom draw your favorite characters on a drawing board, then electronically shrink the drawing down and mount it in a watch.  Dumbo was (and still is) one of my favorite Disney films of all time and I still can't even think of (let alone watch) the scene where Dumbo's mother is locked up and can only touch Dumbo with her trunk without getting verklempt.  So, we had a Dumbo watch created:

I went through a divorce when the twins were 6, and I have not seen this watch until just recently when my ex-wife gave it to me.

Here's the scene I mentioned:

November 6, 2014 - Watch This!

I am addicted to watches.  I've got a drawer full of them.  Nothing too fancy mind you, just a big assortment including a Tissot chronograph, Bulova skeleton auto, vintage Seiko digitals from the 70's, mechanical Oriental Erotic (NSFW), Nintendo game watches, Abacus (Palm OS), a whole bunch of Walmart $8.88 specials, etc. etc.  No fancy-shmancy Rolexes (okay, a couple fakes) or the like.  My wife tells me I should sell them all and then I could get a fancy-shmancy one (Breitling Navitimer perhaps?) but right now I'm quantity over quality, and if I did sell them I could definitely use the money for something more reasonable, like, say, food and shelter.

The one I am wearing below is my present favorite, a Citizen Eco-Drive radio controlled chronograph that my wife got me a few years back.  Why am I posting this on my TSW blog?  Because I haven't been able to wear a watch for a year and a half and I am wearing one!   Yay!  I am essential over my last flare and am back on my slow uneven rocky road to recovery.  Hands are better as noted, but so is my general disposition.  Feet and ankles are still a problem, but hey, they do look better, and I am not taking any pain or antihistamine medication regularly.  As innefective it has been, I am knocking on wood like crazy right now.

Here's best wishes for speedy recovery to all you TSW Warriors out there and hugs from Texas!

 

October 12, 2014 - Month 16 - Minor Setback

Hands and feet today:

It's a bit discouraging that my hands and feet are so bad after so long.  I'm going through a (hopefully) minor flare.  Itch has returned to my chest and stomach and there's some edema.  I'm still functional however, and my wife and I drove to Lubbock last weekend for the Texas Tech game.  We got caught in a scary hailstorm that made my car look kinda like my feet!

September 12, 2014 - Knock on Wood!

I am now in month 14 since stopping steroids and it’s been a while since I have posted an update. I am very hesitant to post this lest I jinx myself, but being someone that does not believe in the paranormal, I am going to post anyway…

I am better!

The infamous one-year flair was a doozy, but I am improved to a better state than I was before the flair. I am functional! Since my last post:

- We travelled to Oregon for my Mom’s memorial service. It was an awesome celebration of life.

- We celebrated my grandson’s first birthday. Cutest kid in the universe.

- We attended Texas Tech’s first football game of the season to watch my daughter march. I missed all last year. We won!

- We travelled to Washington for my niece’s wedding-in-the woods. It was epic!

- I hosted the Texas Hold’em tourney at my house with co-workers for the first time in a year. I won the first game with 7-2 offsuit!

- I am completely off Ambien. I started getting scary vertigo and decided I’d rather not sleep, but I have been sleeping pretty well without it.

- I am using much less hydroxyzine. That’s the only drug (other than thyroid pills) that I still use.

I still have a ways to go. My skin is better, but still a mess. The itching is still crazy, but before it was turbo crazy. I’d post pictures but I look pretty much like previous pics except the eye poofy thing is gone. I am stunningly handsome again.

My heart and best wishes goes out to all TSW warriors. Hugs from Texas!