Alan C. Fox's Blog, page 3

For the past few weeks while I was in the hospital, my Dad, who would have been 105 on July 14, was in another hospital where he was being treated for a foot infection.

Dad hated being in the hospital. This time it was even harder on him because Cristina, his regular caregiver (who he adored), was on a much needed two-week vacation.  Also, for an obvious reason, I couldn’t visit him.  He was at home when she returned last Monday. That was a good day for Dad, but the next morning he told his n...

I’m a planner, which means that I map out in advance my activities for the coming day, week, or month. I walk into my office in the morning with three or four priorities. Sometimes, of course, one emergency or another will push aside my best-laid plans and surge to the top of the list.

One such emergency was on March 27th, when my (first) cervical spine surgery took place. My recovery seemed to be going well, although afterwards I suffered from far more pain than expected. In fact, I made an...

There are at least two living grandpas in my immediate family and one of them is me.

The other grandpa is my father, who is often known as great-grandpa.

At the moment we are both at the hospital. I am at Cedars Sinai (henceforth “CS”) recovering from my second cervical spine surgery within six weeks.

Dad is at Ronald Regan medical center at UCLA, (henceforth “Ronnie”), recovering from a fairly serious foot infection.  I still harbor a hope of assuming his mantle of great-grandpa at some day...

When I was sixteen I attended summer camp in the mountains near my Los Angeles home. I’ll admit that camping has never been my thing – I’m outdoorsy in theory only.

But it was at that camp I met Gail, my first real girl friend.  She lived on Manning Avenue across town. That meant I had the opportunity to drive my mom’s old Pontiac forty-five minutes each way to pick Gail up for a date.  It’s strange to recall this now, more than sixty years later, because I don’t like to drive any more than n...

My dictionary says “A pragmatist is someone who is pragmatic, that is to say, someone who is practical and focused on reaching a goal.”

I like that definition, but what does it mean in real life?

Take my recent medical problem.  I woke up one morning with the fingers on both of my hands tingling. My fingers had also lost sensitivity.  My immediate goal was to get my hands back to normal.  After several visits to a neurologist, an MRI, and x-rays, I was diagnosed with cervical stenosis. The bo...

When my three oldest children, who are now in their fifties, were between four and seven years old, their mother and I divorced.  This meant that most weekends I took them on an excursion.

One morning, as we drove to an air show, they started using the “F” word.  After fifteen or twenty minutes one of them said, “Dad, we’ve been saying ‘F’.”

“Yes, I noticed.”

“But you haven’t said anything about it.”

“True.  Why should I?  ‘F’ is a word like any other word.”

“Mom gets really upset and won’t l...

I’m at home now, after four nights in the hospital following neck surgery, ten nights in a rehab facility for, well, rehab, and more than a hundred notes and calls wishing me well.  I appreciate your support very much.

What struck me at the rehab facility was that everyone was there to help.  All too often in my business we spend a lot of time engaged in disputes — mostly about payment of rent – and from that perspective the rehab environment was a welcome change.

Meanwhile, I’ve lost a few p...

When I arrived at the California Rehabilitation Institute in Century City late Sunday afternoon, the first thing I noticed was that I could see pine trees from my third floor room. I found that encouraging. A few years ago I had read that patients recover faster in a room with a view of nature.

My wife had chauffeured me from Cedars-Sinai Hospital after my four day stay following cervical spine surgery, which seemed to go quite well. My surgeon left on vacation but kindly called me Sunday eve...

In my last blog I let you know that I was planning to have surgery next month. But last week my surgeon had a cancellation, so my surgery was moved up a bit to Wednesday March 27.  I’m writing this blog the evening before the surgery because I don’t know how well I will be able to write (and type) while I’m recovering.

If you are reading this blog it means that surgery went well and I’m home getting better.  It also means that I’ve written and posted a blog every week since August, 2013 – mor...

For most of my life I have enjoyed excellent health, and I still do.  However, one morning in mid-December I woke up with what was diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands.  Bummer.  All of my fingers tingle and have lost some sensitivity.  This makes both typing and buttoning my shirt more difficult.  As the song goes, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”

With this moment-to-moment reminder that my hands are working less than perfectly, I have designated the months of Ja...