Category: health

Thursday’s Political Thoughts

I enjoyed the Trump Univision town hall meeting from the other day. Here was a chance for voters to ask questions, and Trump could directly answer them, all unembellished by liberal media, teleprompters, ghosts, or voodoo. Of course, he didn’t dance for them as he did at a recent rally, so you know, they lost from that POV, I guess.

A man asked Trump about Jan. 6 and Trump’s role. Trump replied, “You had hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington. They didn’t come because of me, they came because of the election—they thought the election was a rigged election and that’s why they came.”

“Some of those people went down to the Capital. I said peacefully and patriotically, nothing done wrong at all, nothing done wrong. Action was taken, strong action.”

I like the video pan of the crowd as Trump is answering. Stern-faced, arms crossed, the people listened. When Trump says, “Ashli Babbitt was killed, nobody was killed,” a woman did a double take.

The camera caught it. She was clearly listening to what Trump said and heard the doublespeak inherent in his response.

My other favorite segment of that town hall came when Trump was asked about climate change.

Trump responded with one of his ‘beautiful, rambling weaves’. Yeah, that’s my snark showing through.

I want to highlight how he veers into his standard alphabet cereal answer. “So I always feel that with the climate and I have been a great, I have been an environmentalist. I built many things. I own Doral next door — ”

Point of order: Trump did not build Doral so it has nothing to do with his environmental record when it comes to building things.

But Trump goes on to make you think he did, “I own Doral next door and we did that in a very environment way — “

‘Environment way’? Where did Trump get his great, beautiful degree again?

“I got awards, environmental awards, for the way I built it, for the water, for the way I use the water, the sand, the mixing of the sand and water.”

Trump didn’t get involved with Doral until 2012. Fifty years after it was built. If he won environmental awards for Doral, I can’t find it on the Internet. They seem to exist in much the same way as his healthcare plan: a concept promise of what could be.

Or an outright lie.

Vote blue in 2024.

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Thursday’s Political Thoughts

Met with the beer friends last night. We’re a gang of retirees (one still works) who meet for a brew at a local place (of course) and discuss things. Most are out of the Bureau of Land Management (botanists and biologists) these days, though a retired helicopter designer is among us, along with a doctor, a couple journalists, retired department head of biology for our local university, and software engineers.

Small group last night. Seven participants. Discussion swiveled to the Hanford nuclear waste in Washington. Set up to process weapons grade plutonium, the plant was shut down by 1971. All through its life, dealing with the issue of the radioactive water and chemicals was a problem. Storing it in barrels was the short-term answer. The barrels began leaking. They figured a long-term solution would emerge. Plans evolved, were discarded or failed, etc.

Latest plan is glassification of waste barrels. Targeted to be completed by 2052, costs have multiplied and the project is off to a slow start. The DOE slid the target completion date back to 2069, just two years short of the 100-year anniversary of the plant’s closing. Wit this record, my friends and I have concerns about transporting the nuclear waste through Oregon, which is part of the plan.

After that long run-around, I come to today’s point. Whether nuclear waste, plastics, fossil fuels, DDT, etc, we as a civilization keep coming up with ‘answers’ without really parsing out how to deal with the problems which might come up. Problems are often treated on a “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” approach. Then we skid onto the bridge and begin struggling to find an answer. We’re often lax about it until it’s a crisis.

Now we come to the politics of today. One huge aspect of the Trump led GOP is that they seem to want to continue this as our mode. Kick it down the road. Call it a hoax. Pretend it’s not a problem. See climate change with its attendant extreme events and rising sea waters as an example. Man, those GOP cats will do anything to pretend there’s not a problem. To garner support for that, they’ll dump fake news and misinformation all over the news. Non-existent problems are created. Then they scream it to their base until the base is screaming about it too in true call and response fashion. See ‘woke’, ‘cancel culture’, and ‘immigrants eating pets’ as examples of this.

That’s what bugs me most about this brand of the Republican Party. They want to torture the clock until they can pretend they reside in another time where all was well. Basically, they want to perform and live as if the problems created by kicking the solutions down the road is a feasible governing approach. In an era when packaging plastics are leaching the carcinogens responsible for breast cancer into our food, and mass shootings keep increasing, they think less regulations is the answer. And then, to support the leader capable of leading them backward into the future, Donald Trump, they attempt to ignore or rewrite history, twist ethics and principles, and undermine others’ rights and freedoms. They pretend his adultery and multiple marriages align with their religious values. They’ll turn their heads and look away as he’s tried and convicted in court and hum quietly to themselves as he speaks gibberish and tells lies.

Not only does that render them a sad state as a party, but it renders us ineffective as a nation and will lead to greater and greater disasters. That’s a demonstrated trend. But they, his supporters, have turned off their minds and refuse to see that. This is what deeply frustrates me and many others.

But worse than frustration is the fundamental and serious consequences of their inactivity. If they believe Hurricane Helene was disastrous, they haven’t seen anything yet. We said the same after Katrina. After the disastrous wildfires in the west. After the record high temperatures established again and again and again in this century.

The way the GOP closes its eyes and minds to these issues, they will continue to refuse to see the consequences of their unwillingness to face these problems. Another disaster and another town will be gone.

And we’ll continue suffering from this conveyor belt of disasters and disease until irresponsible members of the GOP are removed from power and influence.

Please, vote blue in 2024.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Footsensitive

The blogging day has a late liftoff. It’s a matter of scheduling.

Today is Thursday, September 26, 2024. Another autumn day, hotter than yesterday but it’s not supposed to scorch us. 70 F now, we expect 82 to show up on the temperature measuring devices before the fat boy sings. The sky is autumn blue, complimentary to the trees’ autumn wear.

I left the house at 7:30 this morning. Destination, Medford. Orthopedic surgeon office. My faithful companion rode shotgun. She and I figured that we’d do other things in Medford after clocking out of the doctor’s office.

I was there for my right ankle. After spraining out on it twice, May and June, MRIs showed a high-grade tear of my longus tendon. Fresh x-rays confirmed the status, along with his examination of my foot and stance. The surgeon’s recommendation: cut the longus tendon end out.

A surprise to me but his reasoning was sound. Longus doesn’t do much and is kind of redundant to the brevis. My brevis, and the rest of my tendons, along with my ligaments, muscles, and bones, look good. My instablity is being triggered as a response to pain in the longus. Basically, I feel pain from its remnants, and react, causing a wobble. So cut it out and the pain is gone. We discussed also tring to replace it with something else, since it’s been ripped away. He recommended the removal and after thinking and discussing, I lean toward having that done. Recovery will mean off the foot for a few weeks, a walking cast, and no driving. Six weeks on and it should be good, and therapy will be pursued for the leg, foot, ankle.

He was complimentary about my state of health, over 68, with only high blood pressure, a condition which has plagued me since my yute.

BTW, doctor and staff impressed me. All were professional, courteous, friendly. No one was condescending. Everything went on time and was methodical and straightforward.

Next steps, check with my PCP for any health showstoppers, and run it past insurance for their approvals. Of course.

Today’s theme music was floof inspired. After my doc appointment, we went to a breakfast trough, did a little shopping and zipped home. Once in the domicile, I did a cursory flyover to find Tucker (pronounced Tuck-ah) and Papi the ginger blade. I figured they were in the backyard, by the back door. That inspired The Neurons to sing “They are back door kitties” to the tune of Foreigner’s “Juke Box” hero from 1982. Within a second of that inspiration, JBH was rocking the morning mental music stream (Trademark rocked).

Had an interesting encounter after parking at Trader Joe’s in Medford. A guy parked his vehicle behind ours and said, “Hey, nice bumper sticker.” That would be my “Vets for Kamala Harris” bumper sticker. He told us he’s out west in Grants Pass often, and it’s wall to wall Trump flags and signs. “Makes me want to gag,” he revealed.

BTW. the ACLU is suing the City of Medford Police Department for allegedly spying on progressive organizations/individuals. “The suit alleges that the southern Oregon police department monitored social media accounts and combed news stories to build files against individuals and groups when they weren’t suspected of any criminal activity.” h/t to OregonLive.com

Stay positive, lean forward and remain strong. Vote blue for the difference it will make. On to write and coffee and all those other elements of my daily existence. Oh, and here’s the music. Just remember to sing “Back door kitty” whenever they sing “Juke box hero.” Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: Fridetermined

Sunshine jumped over the hills and in through the windows, lighting up the trees against a blue sumumn sky. Although we’re ranging through the mid fifties now as the sun’s air kisses the air, we’ll be striking the mid to upper 70s by day’s end.

Cut the grass yesterday. We have one large section of it which is something called clover. Bees were busily jumping from clover to clover so I left that nine square feet uncut so they could do their thing. I’ll cut it once they’re done. Not a big deal to cut the grass, as I use an old mechanical push motor. No gas or electricity needed.

At 6, we headed to the OSF Green Show to see one of our favorite local bands, The Rogue Suspects. The sun was dropping and the tempertures was sifting through the low 70s, providing a wonderful venue for enjoying music. As expect, per usual, they put on an excellent show, featuring songs from the Pointer Sisters, B-52, Journey, Huey Lewis and the News, and other bands and performers out of the last century.

Today The Neurons have “Fix You” by Coldplay going in the morning mental music stream (Trademark broken). Weirdly, I have featured this song twice before, both times in September. Must be a September song, right? Curious, I checked; released in September, 2005.

Papi drew the song into my head this morning. The other night, he was acting listless and uninterested in his food. That’s unusual for the feline known as the ginger blade. Six times out of ten, he comes in and heads right to the food bowls. Three other times, he’ll come over to me for skritches. Once, really less than one time out of ten, he’ll come in due to weather, loud noises, or something else disturbing his force, and head into the bathroom to chill.

This time, he came in and went over to a corner and settled. I took food to him. He sniffed as if interested but passed.

Okay, this is a cat who experienced a life-threatening bout with triaditis before. I informed my wife about my concerns and we made plans to keep him in overnight and keep watching him.

Later that night, he wanted out. No, I told him, not until I see you eating. I checked the food bowls put out for him: untouched.

I fed him the next morning. He showed some interest and ate a little. No vomiting, and he was acting closer to normal. A Churru was given him, and he lapped that up. After drinking water, he came to me and purred. His tail rose a bit, more like his normal self. I made him some kibble slurry — warmish water with kibble. Starting hesitantly, he lapped up most of that.

Anyway, to finish, he’s jaunting around with his tail up today, eating in his normal style, and meowing and purring per usual. Talking to him after he ate all the breakfast provided him, I told, “I’m happy we were able to fix you.” Lo, Der Neurons cranked it up.

Be strong, stay positive, lean forward, and vote blue in 2024. I’m doing the same. Coffee has been warming my innards. Time for the music, with Michael Fox joining them. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: repetigird

Thursday, September 19, 2024, kicked off split between sunshine. One end of the sun was bathed in refreshing warm gold light. The other end was dim, caught in shadows. The situation is slowly changing as the sun lifts over the barriers and heaves into the sky. Which, accidently, sounds like the sun might be puking up there.

58 F here and now, we have blue skies in the main, with some haziness coalescing along the horizons, especially to my west, where the valley flattens out. Yesterday presented us with a gorgeous warm but not overbearing afternoon of sunshine and breezes. Today might duplicate the results, with a high of 79 F being batted around.

Speaking of weather, I’ve been reading about the U.S. healthcare system’s ranking compared to like countries. Yes, that’s a non-sequitar, ain’t it? Few should be surprised that our nation was ranked last, with higher costs, lower levels of service, less access to care, and shorter life spans. I find the comments of Dr. Joseph Betancourt, President of the Common Wealth Fund, relevant.

“This report reveals that our health system is continuing to lag far behind other nations when it comes to meeting our citizens’ basic health care needs. The US spends more on health care than any other country, and Americans are sicker, die younger and struggle to afford essential health care. We spend the most and get the least for our investment.”

“As a primary care doctor, I see the human toll of these shortcomings in our system on a daily basis. I have patients who need medications they can’t afford. I spend time going back and forth with insurance companies who have denied care I know my patients need, and I see older patients who arrive sicker than they should because they’ve spent the majority of their lives uninsured.” 

Reading newspaper, magazine, and online articles, I’ve encountered the story he tells again and again. Worse, the laws and actions the GOP and the right wing are initiating are compounding health issues for women by inserting the state and religious views into the transactions. Neither have a need to be there, and both are detrimental to good health practices. Trump and his concept of a plan would most likely worsen the situation, as he’s for business, against government, and has little empathy for the middle class and below. This fuels our need to vote blue in 2024.

We ordered six more Harris-Walz yard signs last night. These are earmared for friends who are looking for yard signs. One woman said she’s putting on on her fence, facing her Trump-supporting neighbor. All turned down bumper stickers. This is a blue to purple area, with a lot of red inflammation around the edges. My friends stated that they have real concerns about what those MAGAs would do to them or their car; yes, we’ve seen the videos and heard the threats MAGAs like to issue.

Without great surprise, I read of an EPA IG report that said top EPA officials had retaliated against whistle blowers. This was done under the previous administration.

Ah, moving on through the morning. I have Jackson Browne singng “The Pretender” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark calloused). The Neurons brought it up when I was sipping coffee, watching cats wash after they’d eaten, studying the line of the morning sun moving across the backyard. Then the songs’ lines came up, “And when the morning light comes streaming in, we’ll get up and do it again.” Yep, that’s where I stand. Time to do it again.

Be strong, stay positive, test negative, and vote blue in 2024. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Saturday’s Wandering Thoughts

Tl/DR: It’s all about me. I’m a pretty self-centered peckerhead.

I’m still on Facebook. Yes, I know. It’s mostly to track friends who are now far away and keep up with family events. Those are both fading.

Got a friend request from a friend today. I’d met her on Red Room, where I used to post, and we continued our friendship on Green Room before I moved to WordPress.

Problem with the friend request was, we were already FB friends and she, a retired teacher, writer, and grandmother, died several years ago. I deleted the request.

Damn hacks.

WaPo headline: Swift charges against Georgia father mark a cultural shift on school shootings. Yes, but that’s not the cultural shift needed. I am pleased the father is being charged. I hope he is found accountable for his part in this tragedy. Unfortunately, the many politicians responsible for it will not be held accountable.

My wife and I had a conversation as we were running around doing errands on Thursday. I referenced the conversation. She looked blank. She remembered having it but not what it was about. I was also struggling to remember the details. A minute later, the details flooded back into my memory. I shared them with her and we went on. I would say that it was disturbing but this sort of thing has been going on for years. Memory is a tricky thing.

I have a foot issue. I’ve written about this before. My right ankle was sprained in May and again in June, rolling over each time. I eventually had an MRI and discovered a tendon was ruptured. I’ve been wearing various wraps and braces but they were dissatisfying. Something was needed, as the ankle felt unstable. I became incredibly mindful how it was placed and employed.

My wife talked me into getting a Bioskin TriLock brace. Been using it for three days. It’s providing needed stability and is reasonably comfortable. Putting it on properly does need practice and thought.

I’d noticed I was compensating for the injured foot. Other places were beginning to feel stressed and mis-aligned. These were just what was being noticed; imagine what was being damaged and stressed under the radar.

Seeing an ortho surgeon in a few weeks. We’ll see where it goes from there.

Happy Saturday.

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Friday’s Wandering Thoughts

I feel terrific. Yes, I have a mild, unproductive, intermittent cough. My eyes feel little hot. I’m dealing with some congestion. My right foot is swollen. So is my left, but that’s just edema I must deal with. My right ankle is sore and suspect, but I’m adjusting to life like that. Ditto with my bloated feeling.

No, the problem today is that I feel terrific. I have high energy levels. I’m optimistic. So, I want to know from my body, from my physical being, What are you up to? Why do I feel this way.

See, I just don’t trust my body any longer. It gives up on unusual things at surprising moments, like putting on underwear. So when it feels ‘good’ and I’m upbeat, I want to know, What’s going on?

My body is up to something. Setting me up to be less alert so it can take me down.

Because that’s the way my body is these days.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: torn

We’ve popped in on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. Although I’m not a fan of the pop-in, Wednesday has responded graciously and courteously. Note: I haven’t looked at the news yet. There’s probably bad news out there, waiting to ambush me. It can wait a little longer today.

It’s 58 F outside right now under a fully blue sky and a slow rising sun. Today’s high will be 88 F +, so not overly hot, although the heat index will make it feel a little warmer.

Had an MRI on my right foot and ankle yesterday. Gist of the results, no fractures but the peroneus longus tendon has a high-grade tear. No part of the tendon is normal. Much of the tendon appears to be retracted to the level of the calcaneus. No normal-appearing tendon is visualized in the midfoot. The tendon is either completely torn distally or at the level of the cuboid. The tear occurring near the cuboid is favored as there does appear to be some remnant visible distally on series 8, images 12 through 20. A small plantar calcaneal spur.

The Achilles tendon is moderately thickened with increased T2 signal. There is calcification within the distal tendon. No edema or fatty atrophy. No effusions. The contents of the sinus tarsi and tarsal tunnel are unremarkable. No plantar fasciitis. Subcutaneous edema surrounds the ankle. Edema is in Kager’s fat pad.

The findings are along my lines of expectation. Usual fix for a complete tear of the peroneus longus tendon is surgery. We’ll see what happens next.

In what is expected from fate, my right foot and ankle look much better today and feel pretty good. Now it’s my left bothering me. Haven’t sprained it but it’s screaming with aches and complaining with stiffness and swelling. Peachy.

Speaking of peaches, word at the growers market yesterday is that next week is the last for the peaches for the year. They don’t expect to have any more after that. This year’s crop has all the hallmarks that make me love peaches: sweet and juicy.

I remain on the time concept, the essence being that the theme song must have time in its title. The Neurons were on it early, delivering “Doin Time” to the morning mental music stream (Trademark split). First it was the original version by Sublime, put out in 1997. But then they brought up the cover by the sultry Lana Del Rey. So hey, I give you both today.

Stay pos, be strong, I’m having coffee. Don’t forget, vote blue in 2024. Here’s the music. Cheers

2

Thursday’s Wandering Thoughts

I added radish leaves to my breakfast this morning. We bought radishes yesterday at a store. Organic and local, they have the leaves attached. As I was checking out, the cashier told me she’d been told by a Persian guy that eating radish leaves are good for the respiratory system.

So I tried it. Tasted like grass, or wheat grass. I ate lawn grass back when I was a kid. I was curious and wanted to see what cows saw in it. Fortunately, we had little money and didn’t use anything on the lawn.

The radish leaves seemed to have an immediate effect on my airways, as congestion seemed to immediately drop. Could’ve just been a placebo effect, though.

Certainly was interesting to try.

3

The Wife’s Colors Dream

First, I had this dream about sharing my apple pie with a young woman. As she was eating my crust, my wife came along. I went off to talk to her.

My wife and I ended up in what seemed to be a living room. Other family members were vaguely int the area. But my wife came to me and said, “I want you to look at my colors and tell me what you see.”

And I was all, “Huuuhhh?”

Other than being Caucasian as my wife, this dream wife didn’t look at all like RL wife, even though she’d started out as RL wife. Her hair was darker, heavier, and longer, and she had this pale, long, face with bright red lippy.

Second, she was dressed like a goth.

Third, she was holding up some kind of panel in front of her.

I thought the panel was a mirror at first. Then I saw that it reflected with nothing but swirled with images that reminded me of melting steel. I was trying to answer my wife’s request to tell you what colors I was seeing and describe her clothes, skin, and hair. She unleashed a heavy exasperated sigh at me and said, “Not those colors.”

Then I saw the mirror thingy was changing. Yellows and oranges were emerging, along with lesser spots of apple green and pine green. There was also a stretched out blotch of purple that was so dark, it was almost black.

I described these things to her, and then, somehow, I knew the colors had to do with her health, and told her, “I think you can change these colors. Just think of the color that you want to be, and that’ll happen.”

She was doubtful but almost immediately, a soothing fair blue swept across the mirror.

Dream end.

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