Opus 2026-413: Day 2

I got up to the alarm, got the coffee going, powdered my nose, and went out to enjoy the morning on the front porch.  We had an appointment at 8 o’clock, and so I had somewhat of a deadline.  I made breakfast, made sure my wife was awake and we took the journey to the doctor’s office.

They took off the patch, checked me for glaucoma, put some letters up to see if I could read and went over the general routine that I was going to be following.  I was concerned that the letters they put up were not very readable.  I was able to make out the top line, but nothing else.  They only bothered with two lines which should’ve told me something.  When we met the doctor later, he told me that I actually could read better than was expected so that was no big problem.  He said that even at that point, my eyes were good enough that I could legally drive without my glasses.  It didn’t feel that way, but I’ll take his word for it.

They gave me a real fun little kit to take home in a nice little bag.  It was like the gifts at a Mary Kay presentation.  They gave me a pair of sunglasses.  They gave me papers to check off when I use the eye drops and the technician put the first ones in.  They gave me a card to show if I was ever pulled over and not wearing glasses.  We then went over to one of the exam rooms and waited for the doctor show up.

Things are relatively uneventful.  Everything seemed to have gone well.  He got his bright light and scope and looked inside my eye to check out and see if everything was OK and it seemed to please him.  He answered any questions we had.  We were on our way.

Probably the big revelation of the doctors visit was that we were told that instead of taping on the eye cover every night when I slept, I could stop and get an eyepatch for five dollars on the way out and use it for when I slept.  It sounded like a good deal to me and it seemed to work well.

I am now entering that period of adjustment that comes afterwards.  You need to be careful you don’t listen to people’s stories about how it works.  I don’t know how many people told me that they walked out of there and everything was beautiful and clear and wonderful and there were no more issues.  I won’t say I have issues but it’s going to take my eyes a while to adjust.  I have worn glasses every day for 76 years and habits are hard to change.  It is difficult to take off glasses you are not wearing.  I can tell there will be a lot of little things to reprogram.

One of the technicians in preparation told me that they were going to dilate my eyes in a way that I’ve never experienced before.  Instead of going back to normal in a few hours this is going to take days.  I assume most people have had their eyes dilated.  It makes you very sensitive to light and you need sunglasses when you go outside.  What affected me was when trying to read, things were very fuzzy.  There’s something about the dilation and the dealing with light which throws everything out of kilter.  Any light print in a book is almost impossible for me to see.  Screens that have white print on dark backgrounds are easier to read than others.  Sometimes I think I’m making progress; sometimes not so much.

I have lots of old glasses.  I have an assortment of those reading glasses you buy at the drugstore.  I started sifting through everything I had and I only found one that was of any help.  With it, I can read somewhat normally, but again my eyes are still dilated.  I can look in the mirror and see the difference between the eye that was treated and the one that wasn’t.  It’s going to be several days before things settle down.  At that point, I will get serious about going to the drugstore or the dollar store and experimenting with the different reading glasses.

I can read if I really want to, but it’s still not flowing the way I want.  With my Bible applications on my screens I can read the scriptures but the comments and Greek information I need to get something to magnify.

Again no pain.  The eye drops are a nuisance,  but not a problem.  My sleep the second night was pretty much normal for my place in life. On day three.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-411: Day 1

I survived Monday’s cataract surgery.  That was day one.  Although the patch they put over my eye was a bit porous and would keep me from walking into walls, it was pretty much impossible to read or to edit anything that I dictated.  So this is reminiscence.

If you’ve been through this process this may be totally boring to you, but I thought I would share it anyway.  Feel free to chime in any different experiences that you had.  I know from listening to people ahead of time that results may vary although I did not talk to anyone who felt like it did not help.  So I went in with no major concerns.  The nurses also assured me that they had not lost one yet.  Of course, they would say that.

As usual with low-level medical procedures, the hardest part is the preparation and the waiting.  I generally don’t feel hunger in the morning, probably because I’ve tanked up on coffee and it’s killing those urges.  When I’ve gone without food before a colonoscopy, I have no memory of major hunger.  This time for me, it was very different.  I was hungry when I went to bed.  I was hungry when I woke  Up. I was hungry when they wheeled me into the hallway.  But that’s a minor issue.

The hospital clothing is always fun.  Don’t you love those gowns with no back. The surgery center I went to had a very innovative twist on gowns, they tied the knot for your head for you ahead of time so all you had to do was slip it over.  Genius.  Maybe you’ve experienced this before but I have not.  My next challenge was those itty-bitty socks they gave you.  Now you need to picture that the shoes I wear every day are size 17, and it took the nurse only one glance to realize that this was not going to be a positive experience.  Having been down this road before I managed to get them far enough up that they covered my heel.  I wasn’t planning on doing any walking anyway.

They started putting drops in my eyes.  I think they were at least three groupings of four bottles.  While they were distracting me with that, one of the nurses slipped in the IV.  It was a good stick.  Since I used to donate blood on a regular basis and have blood drawn at least twice a year for my regular check ups, I know a good stick when I see one, or don’t feel one.  The anesthesiologist came in and told me that if I felt any anxiety to let him know and he would up the dosage.  I didn’t bother asking him, but my question was if I am unaware of what’s going on how would I feel in any anxiety?  The nurse said it would be about a 30 minute procedure from when I left my cubicle and out of that only 10 minutes would be involved in the actual operation.  The doctor came by.  I had him hold up his hands to see if they were shaky and we got ready to wait.

The surgery itself was rather uneventful.  I am told that in the 10 minutes I got to sleep enough to snore.  At one point I remember telling the doctor I had to cough so he backed off, I coughed, and then we went back to work, so I must’ve been at least somewhat aware part of the time.  He asked me something about the red dot that I was supposed to see.  I told him it was green.  He humored me, but evidently everybody else sees it as read.  I remember them taking off the tape that they had covered my head with and taping on a patch over my eye and then they wheeled me down to a place where they put me in a reclining chair and I sat.

They gave me something to drink and a package of crackers.  My wife came and sat there waiting for them to tell us we could go.  We went out and got in the car.  We drove home.  I spent the rest of the day, taking naps and looking for YouTube videos that I could listen to.

I have experienced at this point no pain.  The first night the patch came off around three in the morning and I taped it back on.  At that point I could see that things seemed a little more clear and others weren’t.  And I went back to bed.

End of day one.  I am sure the excitement will build.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-406: Doctor’s Orders

Cataract Surgery is scheduled for this morning.  I report at 6:30.  It is fairly standard at this point.  Everyone I talk to seems to have been through it.  One of the chores after the surgery is following the instructions of the medical professionals and ignore what they told my wife when she had it done.

Will I be told to not let my head get below my heart nor lift anything heavy?  That seems to be the usual advice, which brings up many questions but we will go with one:  How will the dish washer get emptied?

Have my wife do it.

Hire it done.

Let it sit.

Use my head.  Sit in a chair as I put items on the counter.  Then stand up and put them away, one item at a time if necessary.

It always amazes me what people claim they can not do.

I will soldier on.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-106: Good Role Models

There’s a statement I’ve made to both of my children and I don’t know who else about my wife and I:  “Either one of us is losing it or both are.”  I then usually add to it that if I’m the one who’s losing it then I will probably be the last to know.

How do you respond to this situation?  I don’t know that we’ll all be in it.  My parents were pretty coherent till the end.  On my wife’s side there with some issues.  But something like this doesn’t necessarily follow the DNA.  Sometimes it just happens.

I was asking myself, “If my wife is the one losing it, how should I respond?”  What came to mind is I Corinthians 13:4–5.  It talks about how love is patient and the KJV puts it well by calling that long suffering.  From there you go on to kindness, and the next verse talks about not being provoked and about not keeping a list of wrongs.  Seems like a good plan to me.  Since there’s very little you can do to cure someone the best you can do is be loving.

What if I’m the one?  Same answer.  As far as I am able and coherent I should be living those same verses.  There’s nothing I can do to cure myself and nothing anyone else can do, but I can keep a good attitude.

As far as the good attitude goes, I have a number of great role models at my church.  We have one old guy who every time you would meet him he would tell you had Alzheimer’s and then he would just go merrily on his way having a conversation with you.  Every time he couldn’t remember your name, he would remind you that he has Alzheimer’s.  He was a happy camper.  His wife, of course, worked overtime, but that’s also part of the equation.

There’s another couple, in this case it’s the wife who is having issues.  She doesn’t have any kind of classic dementia that I’ve heard of but it seems like she’s fixated at about four years our age and will not get worse or better.  It’s a joy to watch her husband deal with her in a gentle and kind manner.  It also helps that she seems to be a wonderful person and is aware of her problem and treats us with kindness also.

May your mind be clear and may your loved ones have clear minds.  If that doesn’t work out then may you have the right attitude and live in God’s grace.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-018: The Doctor Is Waiting

I have an appointment as I write.  I am waiting to see my cardiologist.  I’m going because about 10 years ago I allowed them to put in a pacemaker.  A couple years after that I was diagnosed with A-Fib.  So now I am in this endless round of seeing doctors.  Every time I have a procedure that’s any bigger than cleaning my teeth I need to get clearance from the cardiologist before I can advance.

One of the questions I have is, “Was it a big mistake to get the pacemaker?”  It’s a little late to ask the question now.  I should have asked it a long time ago.  For several years, every doctor I saw was telling me I needed a pacemaker.  When they finally got down to seriously testing me it took them a couple months to find anything to justify insurance paying for it.  They kept looking.  Eventually, they found something.  I went ahead with it.  I’m reasonably convinced that one of the reasons that I have been diagnosed with A-Fib is because I have the pacemaker installed.  I have no evidence for that.  It just seems logical to me.

Which brings me to my question of the unnecessary medical procedures that we submit to in our quest for health.  We have a guy at our church who is 84, soon to be 85, and he’s been having some TIAs, I think they’re called.  They put him on a medication which made it almost impossible for him to walk because he was so woozy.  Was it necessary?  Who knows?  So much of what we do on the advice of doctors is just them experimenting.  I remember years ago when one of my doctors was insisting that I needed to go on vitamin D or I was going to die.  OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.  Eventually, I started taking vitamin D at seeming relatively harmless level.  Then I went down the road.  Something else came up and one of the things they said was you can’t take vitamin D when you’re taking this medication.  So I stopped taking vitamin D.  I never heard anymore about it until they started talking about how too much vitamin D was unhealthy.  

Doctors go through phases.  There are fads in medicine.  Do they actually carefully consult the research that’s been done?  Do they look at the size of the base on which the analysis is done?  Do they look at the methods used to see if they are valid?  A lot of questions and I’m afraid the answer to all of them is on the wrong side of the scale.  The guy who I was talking about who is 84 was put on something which was having some serious side effects.  He went and consulted Dr. Google, yes, I see you rolling your eyes, and found that there was another medication that theoretically didn’t have some of the problems with this one.  Next time he saw his doctor, he asked about it so the doctor wrote him out of prescription for that.  That is not the end of the story.  It turns out that the one he got the doctor to write in the prescription for was not covered by insurance and so he’s paying $500 for this.  Did the doctor not prescribe it because he knew it would be expensive?  Did the doctor not prescribe it because he didn’t know about it?  We’ll never know.

So I’m going to have my pacemaker checked, do an EKG, the cardiologist will sit down with a couple papers and pretty much say “See you in six months.”  At least that’s what I assume.  Maybe they’ll find some major problem.  You never know.  Once you’re locked into the system, it’s almost impossible to get out.  I think one of the things that I will do, especially after seeing how doctors responded to the COVID nonsense, is to avoid seeing them unless there’s a genuine emergency and I have no choice.

Sounds like a plan to me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-010: ER Meditations

My wife has been into the ER two or three times in the past month.  None of them gave her much in the way of answers and I’m sure that each one of them cost Medicare over $1000.  Over the past several years, I’ve been in a couple times usually when I am forced to by family members.  It has been, in some ways, a gratifying experience, knowing that we have so many highly trained professionals ready to help people in need.  On the other end, I am reminded that much of what we go to the emergency room for either is unnecessary or could be dealt with in ways that are much less expensive.

The last time I went in, I had a spell, an episode, a strange moment in my life.  If left to myself, I would have walked it off.  Based on the results of going to the ER, the results would have been the same.  The last time I was a bit woozy, a little bit out of contact with reality.  I wasn’t adrift, it was just a matter of not being sure of my balance and things like that.  I was able to make my way across the room use the bathroom and make my way back, but there was just something not right.  The reason I went to the ER was because a family member caught me in one of those woozy moments and of course we had to go check it out.  So we did.

I ended up spending that night in the hospital as they did their tests we started off with an EKG, and of course lots of blood tests.  I saw a physical therapist, and then we moved into the really expensive stuff.  I had a CAT Scan and MRI.  I had an echocardiogram with bubbles.  I think I had every test that they could think of to give me, and since everybody assumed insurance was paying for it, why not?  I must say, they were competent, courteous, kind, and generally if there had been something wrong with me, it would’ve been a worthwhile experience.

The results of all this high cost technology and education?  Nothing.  They found absolutely nothing to concern them. 

Is it a good thing I went in?  I have mixed feelings.  It was a waste of money, but you don’t always know your money is going to be wasted until afterwards.  If they found something serious, it would’ve been a life-changing experience.  If they found something of question, it might’ve been send me home and we’ll see what develops.  Since they found nothing of course it was a waste of money.  But that’s hindsight.  So I’m glad that we did it for that reason and secondly, it reassured me and reinforce my belief that as a general rule, if you are capable of it, walk it off.

A couple months ago I woke up in the middle of the night, hot and sweaty and then chills so I had what I considered chills and fever.  I eventually check my temperature and it was a little bit high.  Did I rush into the ER?  No I went back to sleep.  The next day I was pretty much OK.  In talking to my doctor during a regular appointment a few weeks later, he shrugged and said that’s probably what I should’ve done.  The temperature wasn’t high enough to be critical and I was over it the next day.

Unfortunately, many people don’t seem to have any common sense or any insurance.  They use the ER room as their general practitioner.  Since a lot of of these critical care places will not take insurance it is a matter of cash.  A lot of people can’t afford to go those so the ER has to take them.  One of the reason the ER is quite glad to take them is they get reimbursed at the top dollar no matter what happens and so they love it.  Last time I had a colonoscopy, we did it at the hospital.  The claim was that because I’m on a high blood thinner it was too much of a risk to do it in the clinic.  I think the real reason was that when we did it in the hospital, the doctor and his office got reimbursed fully whereas if we did it in the clinic, they would get a reduced fee.

Our system is broken.  It could be fixed if the people who have the power really wanted to, but it seems like the kickback system works well for them too.

Stay healthy.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-322: Fix It

One of the important discussions that I had with my son when he was growing up involved the difference between “I need” and “I want”.  At times it’s hard to know the difference, but there are some basic characteristics that are just not the same.

A need is something which, if not met, could lead to serious consequences, such as death or massive destruction of property.  I want is something that you have an emotional desire for, and the emotion tends to overcome your rational processes.  That you may need breakfast or you won’t be able to work is probable.  You don’t need Sugar Frosted Flakes.  A need is something you make sacrifices of other important things to achieve.  For instance if it’s winter your children may need shoes.  If you lived in Hawaii, that might not be a real need.  It might just be a want.  If you live in Illinois, it’s definitely a need.  However the latest cool fashion in winter boots is not a need.  It is a want.  You might go without a new coat for yourself in order to get shoes for your children, but you wouldn’t do so just to get them the latest fashion.  Or maybe you would.  Your choice.  Your money.

I’ll take that idea and extend it into the world of government payments.  Let me really meddle and talk about Medicare.  I am on Medicare, so I am qualified to be critical.  I’m basically healthy so some might consider me insensitive.  That may be true but it doesn’t overrule the logic.

Think about the things that Medicare pays for that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  I know one lady who went in and had her eyelids lifted.  Granted, it did not cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but when are droopy eyelids life-threatening?  The question is should Medicare have paid for it?  Or let’s get to something a little more serious such as a new joint of some kind.  If you’re 85 years old, well, let’s change that to 77 since that’s what I am, is it life-threatening to have to hobble around, use a cane, and lean on a walker?  If you were young father, trying to support a family it would be one thing but to be retired and just getting around the house it’s another.  One is life-threatening; one is certainly comfortable, but it doesn’t ruin your future.  Should Medicare pay for it?

Quality of life is a consideration but it is a slippery slope.  An example of that is the issue of abortion.  Most reasonable people are willing to allow abortion to save the life of the mother.  The problem for people advocating abortion is that with modern medicine the mother’s physical life is almost never threatened because of a healthy preganancy. The reason liberals like the argument is that they redefine the term to include “quality of life” not life or death.  Thus if a woman feels she will be depressed if she has the child, that is a quality of life issue and she should be free to kill the baby.  The problem with exceptions is that we tend to think we deserve them but the other guy doesn’t.

There will come a time when we will face that fact that we can’t afford every joint replacement and eye lift.  You might want to schedule your procedure before we reach that point.


homo unius libri

Opus 2025-285: Providential Healthcare

When I was young, I pretty much took my health for granted.  I got sick, sure, we all did.  Colds were a part of life.  There might be physical intrusion, such a splitters, sprains or even broken bones.  You just took it and went with it.

Somewhere, as you grew up, you became aware of such things as personal hygiene, sanitation, not jumping off of high buildings, knowing that motorcycles sometimes fell over with you on them, you know, a general awareness that at least you were mortal.  Eventually, you grew up. Then you were old.

As I look at the lack of trust that has been generally defined by the Covid crisis, I find that my trust for medicine, and the medical profession is at an all time low.  This happens at the time of life when you begin to think you need the doctors more.  We were having a discussion recently on the revelation that President Biden had cancer.  What type of cancer he had is one that every man pretty much has to be aware of and is concerned about.  It is also something that doesn’t just suddenly appear, but slowly grows and develops.  Anyone who has regular physical check ups knows that men are supposed to get a test to see whether they are having problems with their prostate.  You would think it’s a no-brainer, but we are talking about Joe Biden.  With him everything is a no-brainer.

Then someone brought up the fact that doctors are telling men they don’t need to take the test anymore because it’s a slow growing cancer and not something to really worry about when you get to a certain age.  I personally experienced that, not the cancer but the advice.  When I switched from my private insurance to Medicare, I was told that I didn’t need to have the test anymore because it was such a slow, growing cancer.  It would not get me before old aged did.  My question was, “Just how do you know how long I’m going to live?”  I understand it takes about seven years for this to develop.  I was told seven years ago that I didn’t need the test anymore.  Does that mean that they only thought I would live till now and that I should just give up, roll over and play dead?

What most people, who trust their medical professional, don’t understand is that you can still request or demand that they do the test.  If you demand it, they will do it.  If they won’t, find a new doctor.  As you get older, you have to become more and more an advocate of your own health.

Also, as I get older, I realize more frequently that my health is in the hands of God.  It is providential.  I accept the fact that I will not die one day earlier than God allows, nor will I live one day longer than He plans.  No problem.  I’m ready to go.  I’m ready to stay.  Kind of like the apostle Paul,

(Php 1:25-6 KJV)  And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.

I will continue to make use of what is available.  The focus will be on that slice of ailments that a doctor’s advice might give wisdom or which might actually cure something.  I don’t expect to get a lot of instant gratification.  I already have the Greatest Physician.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-273: A Time to Cut

As I write I am sitting in a chair at the skin surgeon.  I just had some skin cancer removed and I got to watch.  You might be one of those who pass out at the sight of blood but I have always found surgery interesting.  In high school a class had a chance to watch some open-heart surgery.  I enjoyed every slice of the blade.

I might as well enjoy it.  I seem to have a tendency toward skin cancer.  This is number 6 and I assume there will be more.

Now we wait.  The method this doctor uses is called Mohs and she explained that means I wait while they analyze the tissue removed to see if they got it all.  If the chair were more comfortable I would take a nap but such is not to be.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-156: The High Cost of Health

Recently I wrote about a trip to the ER.  I’m always reluctant to put myself in that position, and I have been very blessed.  In addition to the sense of helplessness and turning yourself over to someone else to run your life, there is the issue of cost.  I’m not sure I want to know how much this last trip to the ER cost.  MRI, CT scan, EKG, X-rays, echocardiogram, blood tests, the list goes on with just plain old technological processes as I was put through each one of which cost money.

I tried to remember how many people I had dealt with or had dealt with me in this one little two day visit.  I came up with 15 to 20.  And I’m sure I missed a few.  Each one of them had to be paid.  Each one of them had a skill to contribute which means they were trained and experienced.  On the whole I was very pleased.  People seem to be well prepared and highly skilled.  The Night Shift had a few newbies who were being supervised as they actually got to apply their skills, but they all did a good job.

And again I shudder at the cost of such a thing.  It’s no wonder so much is being spent in the medical area.  As far as I know they never found anything.  I can live with that.  To be honest there are some things which medicine will never figure out.  But they gave it the old college try.  It is comforting to know that if I ever had a real problem to be diagnosed that there will be a way to take care of it.

And for those of you that are concerned about all those people that have no medical coverage, I think that I would pretty much have gotten the same treatment if I had no insurance, if I was totally broke.  They might’ve spent more time talking with me about how to pay for it, but I don’t think they would’ve held back on any of things that they felt were necessary.

I am blessed in many ways.  My health overall is good.  I have insurance.  I live in the 21st-century in America.  And I know the Lord, who created the universe, so that if it should happen that I kick the bucket, it will still be a victory.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-131: One of a Pair

We have at least three couples in our small church that struggle with one spouse of diminishing mental capacity.  It may be that I just don’t get out much but it seems to me that in all the couples that I know of one of them is having mental problems and the other one seems to be relatively normal.  We have Alzheimer’s on one side and the other is doing their best to take care of them.  We have another with a condition with a fancy name and her husband works to keep her at home.   You can have dementia matched up with someone who is clearheaded.

It could be there is some chemistry going on.  Another thought is one person is sucking the clarity out of the other.  Maybe the pressure of necessity keeps one sharp.

I often wonder which one has the harder life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-124: A Plunge into the ER Hole

I have been out of contact with the real world or two days.  I woke up, and when I tried to stand up to head to the bathroom, I felt significantly disoriented.  I moved slowly, took care of business and went back to bed to see if I could sleep it off.  An hour later when I thought about getting up to go turn on the coffee, I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  I went back to sleep and eventually my wife realized I was not doing my usual routine and we ended up going to the ER.

In trying to describe the sensation the best analogy that came up was being drunk.  Now, I have never been drunk so I don’t know that that feels like.  I have seen people who can be legally drunk who seem to function normally but I have also seen people who have dipped too far into the cups as they stagger and weave.  Although the evidence seemed to show that I was mentally sharp my body did not want to agree.

Anyway, we went the marathon.  CT scan, chest X-ray, evaluation by occupational therapy, echo-cardiogram with a bubble test, whatever that it, and finally an MRI.  We still have not heard anything from the MRI but nothing else showed any issues.  The final analysis may be vertigo, which seems to be one of those broad terms that covers an array of physical issues but they don’t know what causes it or how to cure it.  At present I am feeling as normal as an old man can feel and assuming that life will resume.

As usual that may or may not include regular posts.  It probably depends on my nap schedule.

Blessings on you and my the ER trips in your life be as uneventful.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-393: Lasts: No Longer a Preppie

I am reaching the point in life where more and more often I am being told that this may be the last time.  It started a couple years ago when I had a doctor tell me that I didn’t need to get the A1c test anymore.  Then I had one tell me that the test of my prostate wasn’t necessary anymore.  Recently, I’ve had family members telling me that I don’t need to keep going in for colonoscopies.  They say that the danger is more real than the reward.  I guess I need to get ready to die.  Fortunately, I am.

It amazes me that all these people seem to know how long I’m going to live.  With the new standards of medicine doctors don’t do half the things they used to do.  They used to palpitate your abdomen, look down your throat, check your reflexes, listen to your heart actually using the stethoscope, have a human check your blood pressure, and if my memory worked better, I could come up with many other things that doctors used to do as standard procedure.  Now they look at their computer screen and probably have the computer highlight the places where the numbers are a bit out of sync and tell me how I’m doing.

I don’t know if you ever got the print-out from your blood work.  It’s pretty self-explanatory, except for some of the jargon that you might not understand.  That could be remedied simply by changing big words to simple words.  For instance one area of reports have to do with your kidney functions.  They could say that instead of using words like renal.  They could say things like bad cholesterol and good cholesterol instead of cute little acronyms like LDL and HDL.  If you look down the columns, you’ll see the numbers that the test gives for each category and somewhere along each line will tell you what is considered the normal range for healthy human beings.  It doesn’t take a medical degree to look at these things.  I don’t need a doctor to tell me if my bad cholesterol is too high.  So why am I sitting in this office?  Maybe because I can’t get the blood work done if an all wise doctor does not send the orders.

Do I have a point or am I just being a grouchy old man? Of course it could be that I am a grouchy old man who has a point.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-291: In Praise of Snake Oil

Recently I had a friend from long ago die.  I never heard the reason.  He was the same age as I am.  He is gone and I am still cooking.  Was it fair?  No.  He was the kind of guy who was always lean and trim.  In his sixties I would not have been surprised if he hiked the John Muir trail in his underwear, in winter.  I, on the other hand, consider taking the stairs instead of the elevator to the second floor a feat deserving lavish praise.

Have you experience this kind of thing?  Whenever I hear that someone has died out of sync, I want to ask THE question:  Did they take the vaccine?  Recently a guy older than me died.  He had a double lung transplant five years ago.  His kidneys were going bad.  Even there I wanted to ask THE question because it was his heart that failed.

The covid foolishness has destroyed my confidence in the medical profession.  If I as a layman could look at the available data and see that this “super virus” was no more dangerous than the seasonal flu, why didn’t the professionals who know how to read the research know this?  I will give them the benefit of the doubt for the first two months but when the evidence of the two cruise ships quarantined in Tokyo harbor came in, it became obvious that they had abandoned their pledge to first, do no harm.  They administered a vaccine that did little for those sick and caused unmeasured damage to the healthy.  It seems like daily we hear of a tragedy involving infants having heart attacks and prime athletes collapsing.  It is not natural.  It is a genuine conspiracy.  

I think back to the vaccines I took through my childhood.  It was a small number compared to what is being pushed today, but seeing how the pharmaceutical industry has sold out the human race in the quest of obscene profits has made me think again.  I have not had a shot since my new born was exposed to hepatitis.  I have never understood why people flock to get flu shots every year.  Still, I thought there was some reason for all this.  Now I am not so sure.

The more I learn about the people who are in charge of the nations health, the more I am willing to take my snake oil remedies, my daughter makes an elderberry elixir, and the simple hand of Providence.  More and more I simply assume God will take me when He is ready and no doctor can keep alive if He decides my time has come.

I can live with that.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-273: Another Non-Physical is over

I just had my annual physical and I continue to feel positive about the doctor that I have. He has a good bedside manner and he seems to know his stuff. The problem that I might have is that he is a doctor of the 20th and 21st century and he does everything by the numbers.

Not only does he do it by the numbers but he doesn’t do any of the traditional things that I was used to. There’s no checking of the abdomen. There’s no checking of the throat.  He does not look in my ears.  Forget tapping your knee with that little hammer.  Everything has come down to blood tests.

Maybe that is enough.  It does not fill me with confidence.  Medicine has become a business based on long list of side effects to keep from getting sued, countless tests to keep from getting sued and lots of paper work.  When I went in this time I asked why all the forms since I filled them out last year.  They said I needed to sign my consent to be treated.  My response was that if I didn’t want to be treated I would not be in the office.  They were not amused.

I am blessed because I am basically healthy.  I don’t know what I will do if I am ever faced with big decisions.  My prayer is that the Lord will take me fast when the time comes.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-179: Gold Ring Still Offered

For some reason I was thinking of the dentist and oral hygiene.  Maybe I was grateful for my last report from the dentist.  Maybe it was the new Oral B electric toothbrush.  Maybe I had a popcorn hull stuck under my gum.  Who knows.

It struck me that there are two major factors involving tooth decay:  Natural processes and personal discipline, things you can’t control and things you can.  At one end you have genetics and the capricious chance that determines how healthy your teeth are.  At the other end there is your discipline at brushing and flossing along with regular trips to the dentist.

There is nothing you can do about one but you can encourage it or discourage.  The other is totally in your lap.  If you live on sweets and never brush you can expect certain results down the road.

How like life.  When I have these kind of thoughts I always look at the pattern and see it duplicated in every day experience.  There is absolutely nothing I could do about my birth:  Parents, location, timing and conditions around me were concepts I could not even comprehend, let alone influence.  Down through life there have been many similar situations.  There have also been many choices I have made that have consequences.  

There was a prayer I have mentioned before about things we can and cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference.  It occurs to me that the clever statement never grows old.  I am past my 70th birthday and I still find that my future depends on the same two factors.  I cannot just give up and say, “What will be, will be.”  I must continue to engage my world and act like it makes a difference.  All of us in the upper years need to realize that the choices we make will influence not just us but our children and grandchildren.  If you have no family, consider your neighbors.

Stay in the race.  Go for the gold ring.  This may be your day.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-109: A Little Creative Thinking, Please

Have you been reading about the crusade for lab produced beef?  I find myself curious about the cost, flavor and nutrition.  Of course I felt that way about sushi, too.  There is also the point that if the industry can get a government mandate they may be able to have a monopoly on the meat industry and I don’t think that will work out well.

My interest in this post goes another direction.  The roasts and steaks that you all love come from muscle.  I know it sounds gross but it is the truth.  I was wondering, if they can clone muscle meat to eat, could they not clone heart muscle for more urgent needs.  And how about things like lungs and a pancreas.  

It would seem that if you grew the heart muscle with cells cloned from the patient you would be able to overcome the rejection that is a normal part of transplants.  It would also deal a potential death blow to organ harvesting.

I emotionally prefer my beef from the hoof but I could get behind replacement parts for those in serious need.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-358: The March of the Nanobots

Some scientists have a vision for nanobots that will course through our bodies attacking cancers and other dangerous invaders.  They have been a part of science fiction for years.

I have good news.  Those nanobots have been around since man left the garden of Eden.  They are called white blood cells.  We also have cells that custom make antibodies to counteract infections.  There are other tools that I can’t remember but they are already on the job.

When you think of the number of nanobots needed to do the same job think of a very fine sand being poured into your blood stream.  I am not sure that they could be made small enough to keep from clogging your arteries.  And then what would happen when people who don’t like you learned to send them a message to start dancing in your right eyeball?

Science loves to speculates and make promises.  Keep in mind that most breakthroughs come as an accident or a side effect.  And most do not come from the research labs.  When we do have the big breakthrough in fusion power it may come from someone’s garage or be a device that was designed to slice salami.

Just as likely it will be a breakthrough in cheap, clean energy that has nothing to do with nuclear at all.

Stick around.  If we survive the deep state it will be an interesting adventure.

homo unius libri

Secular End

Opus 2022-288: Headlines: Sad as Opposed to Tragic

I am not going out trolling for samples of death.  Honestly.  I can’t help but notice them when they come up.  Today one of my early clicks was at the Gateway Pundit.  It tells of a talk show host dropping dead on the air.

This death is sad because he was only 55 years old.  To me that is a young man but it is not totally unexpected for a 55 year old to have a heart attack.  When teens and twenty-somethings die it is a tragedy, even more so with children and infants.  My sympathy to his family, friends and fans.  Everything I read about him was positive.  The world is less today.

What is of interest is that this time there was a statement that he had been vaccinated.  Two companies are mentioned but it is not clear if he had more than one or it was a collective statement of the family.  Did the vaccine make a contribution?  We will probably never know.  All we can really see is that it was part of his health regime.  

Make your own choices and accept the results.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-280: Headlines: Numbers? What Numbers?

Lew Rockwell runs a libertarian site that publishes a variety of articles from the libertarian perspective.  You might check it out to see some different views on issues.  I don’t read everything.  I don’t even come close, but I check it out periodically.  

Recently I saw a headline that got my attention.  It referenced an article suggesting that 20 million people have died so far from the vaccine from Hell that is supposed to protect us from the monster virus.  It is worth a read.  These kind of estimates need to be read with a skeptical but open mind.  The number does not include a large number of categories that should also be tied to the total.

Several things I find disturbing about the reports I keep seeing.  First is the aggregate of deaths and serious physical destruction that seems to be strangely linked to people taking the cure.  Every day I see a new headline about some young, fit person dropping dead or collapsing.   Second, the authorities, be they government, media or your next door neighbor keep lying about what we can see with our own eyes.  They think up new conditions.  By now you have heard of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome and you are aware that children can have strokes.  Third, when they are not lying about the situation the powers that be are ignoring it.

Most of what we as citizens can know is anecdotal.  The pastor at our church remarked on how unusual it was for two people in a small group to come down with the same unusual cancer.  He did not mention the vaccine but I could almost guarantee that both had taken the jab.  Coincidence or cause?  Always keep in mind that correlation does not mean causation.  

Until we can get facts and accurate reports the best thing we can each do is what we feel right about.  For me that is based on a trust in God and His providential provision of an active immune system, super-enhanced by years of teaching middle school and being around two grandchildren.  Add to that all the things your mother should have taught you about washing your hands, flushing and covering your mouth and you are a long way toward being worry free.

But that is up to you.  If you feel that a CDC approved shot is the answer then go for it.  Please make sure it is a reasoned choice and not knee jerk fear.

homo unius libri