Busy, busy, busy...

Eric Butow

Eric Butow

— 2 min read
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A whole rhubarb pie in a glass pie plate cooling on the kitchen counter.
Writing a book is like building and baking a pie -- a lot of work that's worth it.

The arrival of summer weather has reminded me that I haven't posted on this website in a while. It's been a busy first half of June.

I spent much of the last two weeks writing the first draft of a custom Dummies book for SailPoint, and it's now with my editor and the SailPoint team. The Wiz.io team is reviewing the table of contents for a second custom Dummies book, and I expect to get feedback next Monday (the 15th).

My editor at Wiley has approved a proposal for a new Dummies book for seniors, and she's enthusiastic about it. So, I expect to get a contract in the next two weeks. What's more, I'm working on a new book proposal with Kelly Mirabella for Entrepreneur Press, which is a nice change after waiting months for a new acquisitions editor to come on board.

I also wanted to get the work on those Dummies books done because I had my first follow-up appointment with my neurosurgeon yesterday (June 12) at the new UC Davis Medical Center 48X building in Sacramento. My neurosurgeon is pleased with my healing progress, and the Medtronic rep set up my implanted neurostimulator. The stimulation range is 0 to 10, and I can change the stimulation level in one-point increments.

The Medtronic rep set the level to 5 before I left to see how I'd do, and I stayed at that level into the morning. I noticed a slight drop in my pain, but I suspect that's because I felt a lot of irritating numbness and tingling, especially on my left side. That's no surprise because my left side has been the worst since the shaking and dystonia started in 2011.

On the afternoon of June 13, I charged the neurostimulator today using the large charging device that you put in a drape pocket and hang around your neck. I also tested the communicator and settings app on the Samsung A10e that came with the therapy kit.  The settings definitely work, and I quickly dropped the setting to 1 to let my body recover from a high setting that it's not ready for. It'll take weeks for my body to get used to this.

I'll share some more good news soon. Thanks for reading, enjoy this photo of the annual rhubarb pie my mom made, and have a prosperous third week of June!

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