Thread: where's hoover?
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Old September 1st 09, 05:46 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Veeduber[_3_]
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Default where's hoover?


Dear Stealth, et al

Your interest is warmly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Multiple Myeloma is treatable form of cancer. Based on periodic
tests of blood and other juices, which the physicians use to adjust my
medication, my treatment has reached the point where I may view the
cancer as a chronic ailment. There is no cure but so long as I
continue with the treatment regime they've laid out, they tell me I
may view the cancer as a chronic ailment, and to get on with my life
as I would after recovering from any other illness. The fact this
particular 'illness' came close to killing me is not mentioned;
recommendations for my recovery are, such as...

After losing nearly a hundred pounds, my weight loss has finally
stopped, leaving me with very little muscle and virtually no fat at
all. Now I must task that remaining muscle with a modest amount of
weight-training but in so far as possible -- in so far as my remaining
strength will allow -- I may get on with my usual work, which is a
bit of a joke in that I usually lifted, carried and positioned engines
and components weighing as much as 200 pounds.

The main tumor site was in my Fifth Lumbar Vertebrae. I say 'main'
because as the name implies, Multiple Myeloma is characterized by
having a multiple number of tumor sites. The main site was dealt with
using radiation but the distributed sites can only be dealt with
chemically -- through the use of medications designed to seek out and
bind to, the tumor cells capable of reproduction. Frequent tests of my
blood and urine tell us if the current mix of chemicals is doing the
job. Should that not be the case the physicians have a number of
other 'search & destroy' chemical they can use.

X-rays of my spine always get a second look because the fifth lumbar
vertebrae simply isn't there, save for a couple of splinters.
Medically, it's something of a marvel; always of interest to a
physician new to my case. But in realistic terms, the lack of any of
your lumbar vertebrae means it is virtually impossible to LIFT
anything weighing more than a tall can of Fosters.

So while the physicians are saying 'Gee Whiz' and 'Lookit that' as
they peer at the latest Exam-O-Gram of my spine, I've been devising
all sorts of Heath Robinson devices which allow me to lift an engine
to work-bench height, to move it onto the work-bench and take it apart
or put it together. I wouldn't be able to do any of these things
without the help of different space-age girdles designed to serve as a
kind of exo-skeleton.

I know there are several homebuilders following my work on the
Internet, so that as I complete a particular procedure I try to
explain what I've done and post that explanation here and to the FlyVW
Group and to the Chuggers Group on Yahoo. Since most of the serious
builders have my current email address ( ) I
usually don't bother to read those Groups, using them only for the
dissemination of information. Indeed, if YOU will read the
Homebuilders group I think you will agree that it has very little to
do with homebuilding nowadays. But it does make a handy distribution
point since it SOUNDS so specific :-)

So I'll be getting back to figuring how to lift a crankshaft using a
bit of twine and a cordless drill. Actually, it's rather interesting,
so long as you remember to wear your steel-toed boots :-)

-R.S.Hoover