recovery Archives • DAVIDPDX

page contents Google

THE BELT: LINKING FITNESS AND WEIGHT LOSS

March 23, 2026 by David Gillaspie

Weight loss questions find new answers every day. Lose faster, lose slower, lose here, not there; just take this pill, this shot, or say these words. To every fat man, there is a solution. I’ll start with my new belt. You know the one.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: diet, drugs, experience, Fat, fat man, fitness, informed source, less, more, recovery, Weight Loss, weight loss drugs, weight loss surgery

ONE NURSE STORY

November 23, 2025 by David Gillaspie

If there’s a typical nurse story, it sounds like this: “I like to help people, and I don’t get grossed out.” A typical nursing patient has a similar story: “I need help, and I am grossed out.” Why are we grossed out about our bodies? I’ll start:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: baby boomer, Baby Boomers, blog, blogger, BOOMER, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, department of education, education, fitness, grossed out, kids, learning, MARRIAGE, married, millennials, North Bend, nurse story, nurses's story, nursing patient, nursing school, one nurse, Oregon, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, recovery, story, treatment, wife, writer, writers, writing

RESISTANCE TRAINING = BETTER LIFE

June 11, 2025 by David Gillaspie

I believe in resistance training for a better life. Call it a core belief for one and all. Does everyone benefit from resistance? Yes they do, but there is resistance out there.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Army, BIG C, cancer, cancer counselor, cancer treatment, chemo, Death, dying, gym, history, life force, lucky day, marching onward, Marines, normal life, peoples march, radiation, recovery, resistance, resistance training, rude boy, shared history, sooner than later, traditional treatment, vitality, women's march, workout

BREAKING STRIDE, LOSING MOMENTUM, PICKING IT UP

September 13, 2024 by David Gillaspie

Breaking stride matters when you’re the lead horse in a harness race. Do that and you’re disqualified. What happens when you breakdown in your regular day to day life? Who notices that? You. Or you should, since everyone else does.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: aging, big job, breakdown, breaking stride, cancer, cancer treatment, chemo, do good stuff, freak, good freak, live alone, losing momentum, old people, radiation, recover, recovery, remember, remembered, virtues, your mission

LIVING LARGE? WHAT’S THE SECRET

August 12, 2024 by David Gillaspie

Living large usually means more than drawing a breath. Most people compare themselves to others for reference. Not me. My large living is no secret:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blogger knows, business, check out, compare, corporate ladder, dad knows, different reality, dress nicer, emergency, family, feelings, go solo, gray flannel suit, guys, happy, isolation, kids, like minded, living large, long distance, lose wight, new man, new woman, normal hours, people who care, reality, recovery, support group, unexpected, wholeheartedly, wives, work at nothing, work life, writer knows

UROLOGY WARD FOR THE BASHFUL

March 24, 2024 by David Gillaspie

Nurse: The urology ward is the last place you want to see in a VA hospital. Blogger: Why is that? Nurse: These are veterans committed to showing big balls and everything that goes along with it. Blogger: Everything that goes along with big balls? Like a tight jockstrap? Nurse: Virility and testosterone. Blogger: I don’t […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: audience, big balls, blame, bleeding, competent, exceptional, hospital, nurse, nurse assistants, penile reconstruction, penis, recovery, testosterone, urological, urology, urology ward, VA, VA hospital, veterans, virility, workable wienie

RECOVERY ROAD POT HOLES AND HUMPS

December 5, 2023 by David Gillaspie

Recovery road is paved with promise and hope. Most of all, it’s paved with compasses to stay on track. Whether recovery involves substance or emotions, staying on track is vital. How does that work?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blog, blogger, boomerpdx, cancer, cancer treatment, covid, David Gillaspie, emotional abuse, emotional recovery, husband, life path, national trauma, pathology, recovery, recovery people, recovery road, reward, substance abuse, substance recovery, trauma, wife, writer, writers, writing

TIMING MATTERS, AND NOW IT’S HIP TIME

August 4, 2022 by David Gillaspie

Timing matters when it comes to personal health Don’t wait too long, or jump too early, just be on time. Call it good luck, serendipity, or negligence, but you’ll know when the time is right to act. But not everyone is on the clock.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: boomerpdx, free, hip replacement, hip surgery, human kindness, medical advice, online darkness, online stranger, pain, pain management, pain tolerance, personal health, recovery, timing, timing matters, twitter

DOCTOR SAWBONES? WHY SAWBONES?

April 18, 2022 by David Gillaspie

What does a Doctor Sawbones do? One thing they do is install that gleaming spike in the top image. It’s a hip bone. The doctor makes it work by sawing the leg bone, working the piece in, and lining the hip bone with a new socket joint. At six days out, the immediate danger has […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: cheerful, competent, disabled, doctor, doctor sawbones, ohsu, Oregon, pain, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, progress, recovery, science, side effects, technology

BOOMER ADDICTION WITH JOE WALSH AND SAMMY HAGAR

November 22, 2021 by David Gillaspie

Boomer addiction and music go hand in hand. The steps were laid out early for boomer teens. If it wasn’t all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, then what was it about? Turn on, tune in, drop out? Cool, man. Which ever path taken, getting good and loaded was a common thread. Then every […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: addiction, Baby Boomers, BOOMER, boomer addiction, boomers, drugs, Joe walsh, recovery, rock and roll, Sammy hagar, sex