Month: November 2019

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A Change in Plans

Over the last couple of weeks I was experiencing a shortness of breath and it got so bad that a cardiologist, pulmonologist, infectious disease doctor, and my oncologist all saw me last week.  It looks like nothing serious, ie, no infections, but is just a build-up of fluids around my lungs and heart.  They prescribed lots of diuretics and and looking for improvements very quickly.  I’m definitely better now than a few days ago.

Unfortunately it meant I could not start the bone marrow transplant.  Instead, I’ll get another round of consolidation chemotherapy to keep the cancer at bay, then we’ll start the transplant in three or four weeks.

My family wants my help to get the house ready for after the surgery, so while I was originally going to re-open for a couple of weeks, we’ve decided it’s best to keep closed for now.

Bob

 

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Shutting Down in Preparation for Extended Hospital Stay

In two weeks from today I will be in the hospital for my bone marrow transplant, so will be unable build any products or ship anything for about six weeks from that time.

I appear to be having more lung problems and will end up in the emergency room if the symptoms get any worse, by order of my oncologist.

So, as of now, I will cancel any new orders and refund the funds.

Any order already placed will be processed, and should be shipped this week.  I haven’t been in the workshop for three days now but will try to get the pending orders all packaged and shipped Tuesday, November 19th.  I am still on email and will provide technical support.

Bob

 

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Slowly Getting Orders Shipped

There has been a lot more orders than I was ready to handle, so orders had been backing up.  At this point the number of new orders has slowed down and I’m getting a few orders shipped each day.

An email is sent once I print a shipping label, and so far every order has been mailed the same day as the label was printed.  Once you get your email it will have a tracking number so you can see the shipping status of your order.

Things are hectic here, but progress is being made to get every order out the door as quickly as possible.

A true story about backlogs: In the mid 1980s I was working for a company that seemed to have a never-ending pile of work.  The backlog was getting so deep that requests for new code wouldn’t get processed for many weeks.  In an effort to eliminate the backlog, management decided to have a “Burn the Backlog” effort.  For five weeks all the engineers were asked to work 60+ hour weeks.  The company provided three meals a day from a well known local diner (Ponzio’s, for those familiar with the Cherry Hill area).  We might have gotten a bonus too; don’t remember for sure.  But the coolest part were T-shirts showing a candle with a fire at each end.  I don’t know if it’s just an American expression, but when someone is working a lot, it is said they are burning the candle at both ends.  My T-shirt is in my collection of old work shirts, none of which fit anymore, but they remind me of a lot of fun times.

Bob