Frail Deeds Dancing: September 2020

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

D-Day + 5

Another day down heading toward catheter removal which is what my life is defined by now. I had a few friends reach out to me on social media who take issue with denigration of the whole Foley catheter experience that I’ve been writing about. They thought I was a bit too harsh and that they had welcomed the catheter after procedures of their own for the relief it provided. I can only guess that the experience dulls over time and looking back can make it seem more romantic than actually going through it is. I can’t wait to get rid of this damned thing.

This Morning's Walks Were Back Inside Because of Rain

I loved getting outside yesterday for my walks and had a couple conversations with the neighborhood mafiosos during my treks. My Favorite Panamanian insists on accompanying me on these walks. I’m not sure if she thinks I’ll get lost (the old infantryman in me takes serious umbrage to that) or if I’ll make a break for it. I did mention the presence of the Foley catheter didn’t I? So that wasn’t happening. It turned out to be a series of very nice walks together.

Spirit Day at FBR's Pre-School and She Wore a Brady Jersey!

The nurse suggested solution to shoulder pain from sleeping on my back was a failure. Putting the pillow under my knees just made it harder to get to sleep and when I awoke I had the same shoulder pain as before. My Favorite Panamanian, who has truly distinguished herself over the past few days came up with a solution. The abdominal pain has abated to the point I can now turn a little bit onto my side without getting on top of catheter hose. She then braced a pillow behind me so I wouldn’t slip onto my back once I fell asleep. I got the best sleep since returning home in this position.

Today was Contrast Day Where Nothing Could Match

I’m experiencing what was promised by my friends who had ben through this before me. Each day I feel stronger and there is less pain. The only side show are the bowel movements. The doctor has me on some laxatives to make sure everything got back into working order after the major abdominal intrusion. The problem is that it seems to be working a little too well. The only serious pain I’m experiencing is trying to keep things stopped up until I can make to it to the loo. I know. Too much information. The visiting nurse is stopping by again today so I’ll check with her about stopping the laxatives.

My Princess in Multicolored Sneaks!

I watched the presidential “debate” last night and was embarrassed for my country. There wasn’t a single presidential moment in the entire sad program. Trump had a chance to use the power of his position to disabuse the impression of himself he claims is a product of fake news. Instead he not only validated it he made himself look like an illiterate thug who was placed in a social situation that confused and enraged him. Sad but thoroughly expected.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

D-Day + 4

Although I feel nothing even approaching normal (that could be due to the large tube sticking out of my, well, you know) I do feel significantly better today. My Favorite Panamanian’s idea to take an hour-long nap yesterday helped with being able to stay up late enough that my usual sleeping patterns were honored. It turns out that a body needs rest after major surgery, who knew? I’m still having problems with upper back and shoulder pain from having to sleep in one position. That’s causing me to wake up several times at night and walk for a while to loosen the shoulders back up. I got a call from the urology nurse today to see how I was doing. When I mentioned the shoulder pain she recommended I place a pillow under my knees while sleeping. She said this was a tried and true technique to reduce stress on the shoulders while sleeping on your back. I intend to investigate.

Out on the Road this Morning

I’ve been required to walk for fifteen minutes, six times a day since discharge. I’ve been doing that inside which can get more than a bit tedious. I’ve been wearing shorts and didn’t want to traipse around the neighborhood with a visible bag of urine attached to my leg. Yes, I was concerned about losing serious cool points within the neighborhood. Today I donned some loose sweat pants and my Favorite Panamanian accompanied for my walks around the neighborhood. It’s so much better getting outside. I don’t feel as much like a prisoner as I did when restricted indoors. Of course, tomorrow it’s scheduled to rain all day for the first time in months. My September 2020 just keeps rolling.

I’ve been back at “work” since yesterday and it’s testament as to how physically challenging my new job is that I can do it two days after major surgery. I had a nice conversation with the Cantankerous Friend this morning where we swapped catheter stories based on his experiences with his late dad. I firmly believe the best medicine for my recovery has been the steady beat of friends and family reaching out to contact me. I even got to spend some time in the Man Cave last night but I’m going to have to come up with a new seating arrangement. The couch is just too comfortable and I need more support than it offers. Likewise, I’m only now starting to work on puzzles because leaning forward in a chair is not comfortable yet. I spend a lot of my time reading, go figure. My daughter surprised me with a gift of the book, Dynasty, which chronicles the Patriots rise to the top of the NFL. It is fascinating. Once again, thanks to all my great friends and family for your messages, every single one means a lot.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

Monday, September 28, 2020

D-Day + 3

I hesitate to call it a routine but my Favorite Panamanian and I have settled into dealing with the aftermath of the prostate surgery. As predicted by a couple friends who went through the same procedure, each day is better. There’s still some residual pain but all at tolerable level and I haven’t had to dip into the oxycodone since Saturday, Tylenol is working fine. My wife continues to be the perfect nurse and has lost nothing off her authoritarian argumentative side which has kept me toeing the line in accordance with medical instructions.

This Morning

I was up and abut all day yesterday and made my six fifteen minute walks although that gets pretty tedious walking in a circle around the house. At least I had he NFL Red Zone to keep me company for most of those. The seating in the Man Cave theater is too low presently for comfortable seating with the catheter. We had a visit from a visiting nurse to check up on me and she was very good and answered a lot of the questions both my wife and I had. My appetite is also starting to return which is bad news for the jar full of peanut butter blossom cookies in the kitchen.

BR3 Looks a Little Nervous with her Sister

I went to bed last night at 7pm which is a full 5 hours before I usually do but I was truly exhausted. Predictably I awoke at 1am, wide awake. I’m sleeping with my nurse so she granted permission for some late nigh television which eventually coaxed me back to sleep. We’re going to try an afternoon nap today in hopes of getting me into my usual sleep patterns at night.

FBR in Mildly Goofy Mode

Great Smile

Playing Pac Man on Backyard Video Screen

We awoke this morning and I did indeed feel remarkably better than yesterday. I’d put me at nearly 50% capacity. It’s funny how much the little things everyone takes for granted are missed during times like this. Just getting out of bed requires some gymnastics and God forbid I drop anything on the floor. In other very good news I just got a call from the doctor and the catheter removal is scheduled! It’s still a week away but I can now start an official countdown. I had to provide a block of instruction for my wife this morning on the proper way of putting the rubbish out, that was a sneaky bit of fun.

The best part of the morning though was connecting with my daughter on her birthday. The FBR even allowed us to speak with her mom with only a couple minor interruptions. Before this whole prostate thing descended, we’d planned on traveling to New Jersey for her birthday weekend. She did it up right in our absence as she had a bunch of her lady friends over for a socially distanced party in the back yard where they watched Magic Mike on the huge screen hung on the side of the garage. I’m so proud of her. That little girl in the photo above has grown into a fantastic woman and dominates the roles of mother, wife, businesswoman, writer, and friend. The FBR is so lucky to have this role model as he mom. I love you Heart – happy birthday!

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

Sunday, September 27, 2020

D-Day + 1 & 2

Well that was not half the fun I thought it was going to be. First, I’d like to think again all the people who reached out to me over the past couple days either directly or through Facebook. I wasn’t fully prepared for the outpouring of support and it meant so much. I shouldn’t be surprised as I’m surrounded by the most excellent of friends and family. To update, I’m back home but only operating at about 30% of capacity which will hopefully improve each day.

Heading to Hospital Friday Morning

As promised, I’m going to be sharing my journey through the next few weeks of the aftermath of my prostate removal. The operation itself was almost anti-climactic. I was moved from the pre-op area to a holding area which is where everybody going into surgery is staged. I had a very talkative guy next to me and I learned way too much about his upcoming procedure. This is where I met my surgeon and he said he had assembled his A Team which I guess is a good thing but it immediately brought an image of Mr T rummaging around in my abdomen.

Morale Photos from Granddaughters

Including a Hug

BRS & BR3 Also Got Into the Act

I say anti-climactic because I was really looking forward to seeing the OR and the robotic machine that was doing the delving. The next thing I knew it was 6 hours later and I was talking to the recovery room nurse. I had a number of new tubes coming out of my body but overall I felt really chipper (this would not last). I was able to speak with my Favorite Panamanian who related her conversation with the surgeon. She said the procedure took a little longer because my prostate turned out to be huge. I wasn’t sure what that meant but vowed to bring it up with the doc.

Finally in my Room Post-Op

I ended up being stuck in the recovery room for three more hours because my room wasn’t ready. The nurse said this is an ongoing problem at the hospital and that no one wants to work on Friday. It would be hypocritical of me to comment on that. I eventually got wheeled up to my room and found I only had a semi-private room and my roommate was snoring lustily when I entered. I did not consider this a good sign.

The First Walk

I was finally able to check out condition of my belly. I found one large incision and four smaller ones. They had all been glued shut. There was another tube sewed into my side that was a drain from the surgery site. It was filling up a balloon sized receptacle at my side. I also had the Foley catheter coming out of my nether regions. This is my first ever experience with a catheter and there is nothing to recommend it. I feel blessed that it was put it while I was sound asleep. The size of the tube is a little disconcerting as I didn’t realize I had that kind of capacity. I’m literally stuck with it for ten days.

My Overnight Home

One of the first orders of business was to get me up walking which wasn’t that hard except for maneuvering around all the aforementioned tubes. It was more of a shuffle than a walk but the upside was my wife showed halfway through my stroll and she brought peanut butter blossom cookies! She quizzed the nurse to see if I was truly authorized to eat them even though I had already obtained permission. While my wife was there, we were able to talk with both of my kids and all the granddaughters which was medicinal.

The Real Hero - My Favorite Panamanian

When my wife departed, what followed turned out to be the longest night of my life. I desperately wanted to rest but this was truly elusive. I turned on my TV and lowered the volume so as to not interfere with my roommate. He heard though and shortly thereafter had his own TV on at a really loud volume. This went on until after eleven o’clock even though he was a asleep most of that time (I did mention the snoring right?) Several times over night I just fallen asleep when he started paling a game on his phone at a loud level. Finally, I said, “Dude!” and he put it away. He wasn’t the only, albeit closest, challenge to rest. The nurses came in hourly to take vitals and add bottles to the IV tree. Since my roommate was post op also, he had an IV tree too. Over night when he wasn’t keeping me awake or the nurses weren’t’ prodding, the machines tag teamed us with alarms. One would go off and we called the nurses’ station to get it turned off which they eventually did. About twenty minutes later the other one would cook off, so, again, a really, really long night.

The next morning, I finally saw my doctor. He said my prostate was very large and growing over the bladder which made the operation a little trickier but he was really happy with what he’d seen while in my abdomen. It will take a week for the pathology results back on the structures they pulled out to ensure the cancer had not spread, but at least I have my trusty catheter to keep me company while I wait. I was discharged right before noon and even though it had been only one day, I felt like I’d been at the hospital forever. I was so looking forward to finally getting some rest but it was not to be. I was in true agony for most of the afternoon. I had followed my sister’s advice at the hospital and taken the Oxy for pain when offered. My wife had left for the pharmacy to pick up the prescribed meds but I was having dull pain of gas and an intense pain in my lower belly which turned out to be bladder spasms. I immediately downed the Oxy when my wife came home but that didn’t put even a dent in the pain.

Coming Home Yesterday

I’ve been in some fairly painful experiences in my life including a severely broken ankle on a parachute jump but this was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. My wife, while very sympathetic, said I now knew what women went though during child birth. I told her to stop making me laugh because it hurt when I did. In desperation I sent an email to my surgeon explaining what I was going through. To my immense surprise and relief he called a few minutes later. When I described the pain he quickly identified the bladder spasms as one of the culprits. He also said I would experienced the gas pain because they inflate your stomach with gas during the operation to have more room to work. My daughter had experienced this during an appendectomy and had warned me about it. My only question is why don’t they pump the gas back out when they’re done? The doctor prescribed two other medications and my trooper of a wife headed back to the pharmacy to procure them.

I spent the entire time she was gone walking around the house because that seemed to be the only thing helped, although just a little bit. The pain was coming in waves and actually doubled me over a couple times. I’m usually pretty good at tolerating pain so this had me concerned. A half hour after taking the new medication the bladder spasms abated. If you ever have this procedure make sure the doctor sends you home with this medication. The gas pain paled in comparison to the spasms so I tried lying down again and was soon very asleep.

Reading This Morning

I only had to get up once overnight to walk around a little since I had spent so much time on my back over the last couple days. I went right back to sleep despite the gas pain and woke feeling much better this morning. I was able to shower and change all the various bandages with my live in nurse who has really risen to the occasion. I cannot say enough good tings about my Favorite Panamanian, she is the best. Each day will be a little better now. While I walking though the pain yesterday I fielded a call from my Army buddy who had the same operation last month. He recognized everything I as going through and said it does get better readily after two or three days. They can’t come soon enough

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

Thursday, September 24, 2020

H-Hour Approach-eth

I’ve had a long internal debate about how much to share on Frail Deeds about my prostate cancer diagnosis and the impending laparoscopy with radical prostatectomy and nerve sparing by retropubic approach with robotic assistance. Now that’s a mouthful, in reality think much further south. I don’t think I can get in trouble with HIPAA laws if I choose to self-divulge about my situation, but who knows. What I do know is the important advice I’ve gotten since my diagnosis in the messages I received from a couple friends who’ve been through the same procedure. One is a high school classmate while the other is an Army buddy. Getting their counsel and support meant more than I can say as I faced this unexpected blip on my personal radar.

Literally Wrapped in Family Love with my New Quilt

In light of that, I’ve decided to share what more poetically inclined people would call “my journey” over the next couple weeks in case someone facing the same diagnosis and procedure wants to see what it was like for me. Tomorrow I go under the knife and have to spend at least one day in the hospital. I’m going through the prep phase right now which involves the inevitable Covid test which cam back negative. Today I’m in a colonoscopy kind of prep day. Clear liquid diet with a powerful laxative ingested. I’m told this is in order to create space for the surgeon to work inside my lower abdomen. That being said and considering the personal treasures in that geographic region, I’m going to be semi-religious about following the instructions. My stomach underwent a farewell ceremony yesterday as my wife created some of her peerless peanut butter blossom cookies as well as consuming the odd creamsicle. The grocery store was unfortunately out of whoopie pies but I doubt there was room anyways.

The Haul Last Night But Now I can't
Touch them until Saturday at Earliest :(

The earliest I’ll be back up on Frail Deeds should be Sunday, if all goes well (which is the current plan). I’ll be as honest as I can, without grossing you out, in case some future reader of this blog is also facing prostate cancer. It’s not totally altruistic because I’ve found writing about this situation allows me to laugh at it and myself which is never a bad thing, laughter, of course, being the best medicine. Friends and family have been fantastic about reaching out to me. I had a great conversation this morning with none other than the Cantankerous Friend who once again displayed the heart he tries so heard to camouflage in normal conversations; just a great friend.

Front Yard This Morning

In yet another example, I opened a package that arrived yesterday thinking it was the new computer corporate has been promising me for over a month. It turned out to be something incredibly more poignant. My far-flung cousin in Oregon sent me a handmade quilt she created with instructions to wrap my Favorite Panamanian and I in said quilt in my Man Cave. She also sent a nice card reminding me I was loved and had the support of my fabulous family and friends. This was a pretty awesome medicine in and of itself. I consider myself truly blessed when it comes to cousins. We’d hoped to visit her on our cross country drive this year which the pandemic and the cancer diagnosis put the kibosh on; next year.

Front Door With Granddaughter Pumpkins

My Favorite Panamanian is being extremely supportive (did I mention the cookies!) and the last few days have seemed like the first where I’m actually retired. We ran some errands together on Tuesday and today I was out helping her decorate the front of the house for autumn. We added some more flowers to her vast garden complex as well as the obligatory front step display. She puts pumpkins out there every year but this year added three small pumpkins as well, one for each granddaughter. In less pandemic times we would have them around to decorate each.

FBR As Dancing Queen Last Night

The BRS and BR3 continue to test their parents with some sleep cycle regression techniques. The BRS is obviously concerned about me every time she sees the bandage on my nose and yesterday was trying to give her younger sister a ride around the first floor in her bassinette despite the determined contrary efforts of my son. It was almost too funny to watch. We were later decisively engaged by the FBR in a more than one hour FaceTime call where following dinner she invited us to a dance party which had her abuela gushing with happiness. We were required to dance to the music from Disney’s Tarzan which isn’t my wife’s first choice of dance music but at this point in Pandemia we’ll take what we can get. Talk to you on Sunday, fingers firmly crossed.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

[JP1]

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Nose Piece

My week-long experience with a huge pressure bandage on my nose came to a blessed end this morning. I was also successful in keeping my Favorite Panamanian from painting the damned thing red. I was back at my favorite excavation company, the local dermatologist who removed the superstructure on my probiscis to find out how well his handiwork from last week was healing. The good news was everything looked great, including the skin graft. Not that I would know since I was supine while they scrubbed away the dried blood and put on a much smaller Band-Aid. I have to change that daily but I can at least shower completely tomorrow. The one on the back of my neck was likewise well healed and no longer has to be covered.

BRS as a Fireman Painting the Town Red

I had the heating contractor in today as a follow up to yesterday’s energy assessment. They’ll be able to replace the furnace and hot water heater with a much more efficient model and there are state rebates to be had as well. In addition, the state pays for an upgrade to the attic insulation, more than doubling what I have up there. This may be the People’s Republic of Massachusetts but at least I’m getting some of those taxes back and my house will be much more energy efficient.

Funny Comment from BRS Teacher
ABFA and Son's Phone Techniques Manifesting

My son and the ABFA took possession of their brand new car last evening and the BRS was very excited about it. My son said he couldn’t show us the interior because if he did it would be hell to pay to get the BRS out. Likewise, BR3 was in high voice inside the house and both her parents looked a little tired since she’s experienced a degradation in her heretofore excellent overnight sleeping patterns. Ahh, the joys of parenthood.

The Reduced Nasal Package

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

Monday, September 21, 2020

Green House

The transformation of our house took another step (hopefully) today when I took part in a virtual home energy assessment. This is a free program offered by the state where the assessors come in and look at the house and make recommendations based on what they see in terms of heating, cooling, insulation and electrical use. I’ve had it done before in order to qualify for some rebates when we installed the split air conditioning system four years ago. I’m now thinking about replacing the heating system and needed another assessment. Since this is 2020 they only do them virtually which means I was carrying around my phone linked to a zoom call with a very nice young lady who did the assessment.

Tomorrow my heating company comes in to do an inspection and provide an estimate on putting in a more energy efficient heating and hot water system. It would be nice if we could get one win in 2020, especially in my September. I’ve always believed in taking care of the earth which stems from my youth when I spent a lot of time in the woods camping and with the boy scouts. The Army certainly cured me of my love of camping (the whole no lights or sound thing to remain “tactical) but I’ve retained my belief we need to clean up the environment.

I know this isn’t popular politically with some but we’ve come so far I know it can be done. It’s hard to believe for today generation but I clearly remember walking to 1^st and 2d grade and wondering what color the brook was going to be because an upstream industry would dump chemicals that would turn it bright colors. Again, we’ve have come so far and I don’t want that progress and continuing it to be sacrificed at the altar of political popularism. We’ve only got the one earth we need to take better care of it.

Puzzle Completed

I had a very pandemic weekend, never leaving the homestead. The 1000-piece puzzle was completed in less than two days. It was kind of nostalgic as it was picture of the bus hub in Worcester which was built while I worked there. I received the puzzle as a retirement gift. I also watched a very entertaining football game late into the night. The Pats were out on the wrong coast playing their old buddies, the Seahawks, in Seattle. I didn’t give them much of a chance and even though they lost I was very encouraged by the new quarterback. He spread the ball around a lot more than Sir Thomas the Departed ever did. This is only the second game but this could be a very fun year with the Pats.

So Close

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Time Destroyer

I think I can say with a verifiable amount of certainty that 2020 is dragging by at an unprecedented slow pace. I think life in Pandemia would be a little more tolerable if time passed as quickly as it seemed to before Covid 19 descended on us. As slowly as life was passing before September this month it approaches glacial. I know this is a personal observation based on everything September has in store for me. It could be I’ve got a bandage on my nose that grows in size each day as we try to keep it in place before Tuesday’s scheduled removal. It might be the size of a basketball by then.

FBR Doing a Great Job with her Mask at Pre-School

2020 claimed another icon with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I’ve always admired her despite her appointment by that demon from the lower hells – Bill boy Clinton. It promises to add even more spice to the election season as the Republican Sente will be bombarded with their own comments from 2016 when they tied Obama’s hands when Scalia died in February. Ginsberg will be remembered as one of the true heroes of our times and I know she was trying to hang on until January; well fought.

RIP RBG

My Favorite Son and the ABFA had an interesting Saturday. They’ve been looking to replace the ABFA’s venerable car for the past few weekends. The ABFA’s parents came over to watch the BRS and BR3 while the search continued. The local dealer wouldn’t allow test rides so they went further afield and found the car they wanted. They left after being a thousand dollars apart. Anyone who’s ever bought a car knows how hard the dealer makes it to leave the dealership once they’ve identified you as a viable customer. I talked to my son when he returned home and allowed the BRS to express her concern with my rapidly increasing nose bandage.

The New Car

My Favorite Panamanian came down an hour later and was excited that the ABFA got her new car. We then engaged in an argument about who had the right information. It turned out (as it usually does) that she had it. The dealer called my son after we had talked, agreed to their terms and will deliver the new car on Monday. The ABFA opined that she felt it was fated to happen because she had nicknamed her old car “Heidi” many years ago and that was the name of the salesperson. BR3 gave them a rough night on Friday with a night long fever after her doctor’s appointment which involved the inevitable vaccinations. She has doubled her weight since birth which surprised no one.

Finally, I owe a debt of thanks to the FBR; another common situation. She and I share a love of jigsaw puzzles and I had taken a hiatus lately, saving the new ones for my impending convalescent period. She’s been after me to start one and I let her select one on Friday. I started yesterday and learned she had provided the perfect antidote for the tedious passage of 2020 time. Jigsaw puzzles are absolute assassins of time. I looked up last night and found it was almost midnight when I thought it was closer to nine PM. Granddaughters. The gift that just keeps giving.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

RECURRING CHARACTERS

BR3 - Granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law, formerly known both as MEF – Most Excellent Fiancé & MEG – Most Excellent Girlfriend; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Buddy – AKA the Wonder Pooch – family dog, a black lab – hates squirrels, died in 2017; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting the real thing; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latin friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Excellent Boss – my former direct boss at work; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with demeanor issues