How is Bob Hoover Doing?

Same to you, fella! :-)

Dear Jim Ed and the AIR-COOLED Usenet Group,

I seem to be doing pretty good, cancer-wise. But not too well e-mail wise.

As you might have guessed I've got a few things on my mind, such as Staying Alive ( and I don't mean singing ), but with regard to the Multiple Myeloma -- the particular brand of cancer that is trying to kill me, the physicians who are treating me have told me my blood- chemistry is telling them that the cancer hasn't made any advances in the last eight weeks, which is what they use as a bench-mark for using the term 'Remission,' as in "In some. Sorta." Personally, I haven't scheduled any parties nor filed a permit for a parade but I'm generally pretty happy with the way things are going. Which isn''t all that great, compared to a couple of years ago, but I'm one HELL of a lot better than I was.

I usta weigh about two hundred and fifty pounds... yeah, a lot of that was fat, but there was still enough muscle under it to allow me to pick up a VW engine and put it where I wanted it to go. Most recently, such as after my shower this morning, I weighed 152 and can walk about a thousand feet without falling over. And as far as pumping iron, from 310 I'm down to 20. That's right TWENTY POUNDS... a ten-pound dumbell in each hand, doing two sets of ten reps. That gets me a big pat on the back a Super Smiley and a sincere "Hey, man! You are really doing GOOD!" Seriously; compared to dying... and lifting zero pounds, to the guys who deal with patients who are trying to recover what cancer has taken from them, to have one of their patients lifting twenty pounds is like winning a gold medal at the Olympics. Of course, what it means to guys like me is something less.

But I'm trying.

One of my personal goals was to be able to lift a VW head... about eleven pounds. Okay, been there, did that. But don't tell anyone. The next biggie is flipping a crankshaft around,as when jigging it up to add the rods. And the pistons. After getting everything balanced and documented, so that once I get the left-hand side of the crankcase into the jig, I can mate it with the crank & rods... which by this time now weights significantly MORE than twenty pounds. Don't tell anyone but I've rigged up a crazy little rig that accepts a pair of nylon slings over the flywheel and the dynamo rotor so I can hoist the crankshaft with a pair of pulleys and some light nylon line. Actually, it's a pretty handy rig... if you're a twelve year old girl building her first big-bore stroker. (Which is one reason I haven't posted any pictures of it.)

Building an engine.. a GOOD engine, you assemble it more than once. Normal guy doesn't even think about pulling that crank outta there... being able to do so goes with the territory; if you want a GOOD engine. But what if you can barely lift a mug of coffee without shaking like a... well, like something that shakes coffee all over the place. Bad idea, especially if it's Standard Navy Coffee, with a dash of salt and other secret ingredminents (yeah, I know, but the spelling is part of the joke). The point here is that you DON'T wanna shake all over the place... because if you do, it means you'll have to sponge out anything that gets inside of the crankcase. So that while you're getting the job done, a lot of the thrill has gone out of it.

I think Steve (Bennett) is cutting me a lot of slack, treating me as if I still know what I'm doing when in fact I barely know what *I AM*. But it all counts on twenty. And the engine will tell me.) (Why the 'flywheel'?) In Steve's version of the flywheel-drive, Steve puts the starter's ring-gear on the modified flywheel, with the solenoid-starter atop the center-line of the engine, up on the top. Along with the distributor-body for the Compu-Fire D-IX ignition system. Don't worry about it; it still weighs less and puts out more that most other designs. Once I get it on the engine mount, it will tell us how it goes. (Using a pull-wire to engage the starter saves a couple of pounds over a solenoid... and reduces a couple of parts in the electrical system that can go wrong. Better still, I like to do away with the starter-motor all together; just tune that baby to where she'll start on the first flip.)

So yeah, I'm still here, stubbing my toes on engines under the bench, making little parts; trying to put engines together; making & breaking stuff to see how strong they really are. And yeah, I seem to have a grip on the cancer thing too. Like I said in one of my posts to the blog I've been keeping, if there's any secret to it, it's having a wife that loves you enough to get you to all those appointments on time, and sort out all your pills and make sure you take the proper pills at the proper times, and come to bed instead of staying out in the shop polishing that final fraction of a gram off that connecting rod so that all four are not only equal in weight equal in BALANCE as well.

When you get right down to it, having cancer is more than trying to get well, it's about running a taunt ship, too. But the odd thing is, I think she's right. I find I have fewer things that need doing over when I simply put the tools aside and come on into the house when she says so, rattling a cup full of pills in one hand whilst pointing at the clock in another. The next time I run into that particular chore I won't be bleeding from the eyes hoping my back brace won't cut me in two before I finish that task... It's not just knowing how to do it -- I KNOW that by now ---- hell, I OWN that engine by now! But in the same vein, she owns me in just the same way. So I put down the tools. The cancer is a forever kind of thing, whereas a nine year girl in pig tails can put that engine together by now, and the only thing she has to KNOW is how to wrap-up her pig-tails like Rosey the Riveter.

I wish I could shake the wrinkles out of that email thiny -- I thought I had it licked, back when I bought my own domain name but the truth is, I was just buying a new set of problems.

-Bob Hoover

Your,re right Bob. It is a "forever" type of thing even when it is "cured". Missus and I went through it 7 years ago. Makes you stronger ( in a pyschological sense), makes you value every day, makes you realise what is important and what is not. Hang in there, mate. John

good to hear, Bob... I (personally, of course) think it's very important to "keep on keeping on" as you are trying to do... can help keep you happy...oh, as if you didn't know already, keep that sweet wife of yours happy, her happiness is directly related to yours!(possibly your health to, if you go the wrong way on the happiness!)

You know Bob, I find myself checking your blog and this place regularly to see if there is something new from you to read. I like your style.

I'm 52 years old and have always been a pretty self-sufficient guy, proud of being able to fend for myself. I lift my own stuff, figure out problems by myself. And I'm NOT lost, dammit!

Not long ago, I realized that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but is a gift you give to those around you. Being able to help the people you love is a joy, not a burden.

Yeah, I'm a slow learner.

Max

Dear Max,

Nice to hear from you.

Howzabout being able to help people you not only don't love but that you've never even heard of? :-)

I'm about to finish my morning coffee & pills, then will take off for my morning hike around the place, as soon as I get my back-brace in place. (Now there's a real life-saver) Three trips around and I'll be ready for my morning exercises (Which are getting to be a real PITA, to tell you the truth.)

-Bob

Glad to see that you're still alive and kicking. Keep it up, I know it's a slow process to recovery. You have more people pulling for you than you can imagine.

Chris

miguelito

Jo=E3o

Take it slow, Daddy-O. I don't think many of us can remember when that expression came about. :)

I get up early to swallow eight pills, then try to keep all those spendy drugs down while I dry heave for half an hour, then it's off to the day job. And I'm fine with that.

You are my greater hero every day, Bob. I have a picture of a White Buffalo to remind me that our paths crossed once but we didn't meet.

Anything I can do for you, just let me know.