ON Cancer, Late-NIght Political TV "Comedy, God in CONTROL, Mortality, Gratitude

 Today I made an earnest attempt to be more physically active with home-based exercise, combining walking, slow running and non-impact 'rock-running designed to increase my heart ratewithout putting strains on my soft leg and feet tisssue...total measured steps for today surpassed 14,000.  Now I'm being involuntarily exposed to TV news and so-called "comedic" late-night shows in which the hosts take potshots at our own depraved "leaders".  I am NOT a Jimmy Kimmel fan, and I've never been one.  And that Stephen Colbert..forget him!  I'd just like to live my life training for better fitness and endurance, and to train my reactions to others during my daily existence whenever processes test the limits to my patience. As a matter of fact, it's not the provocations I pass through that matter so much, but rather my own chosen reactions to them. I watch the local Gainesville-area news and am saddened by the stories about different folks who hurt others with  a kind of violence and abuse indicating that they've lost their minds.And there are the typically ugly mug shots I see                                                                                   slapped across the TV screen..no, they have taken leave of their senses, thoroughly impulsively reactive people that I deeply wish to avoid like the plague.  Well, now we have an ebola outbreak, a new variant of COVID, and the hantavirus scaring the general population.  And cancer is slipping in quite easily among the population, my own body struck with prostate and aggressive brain cancer varieties.  The medical care here provided in the Gainsville area by UF Health is state of the art, and the BOSS is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, running the entire show: I follow my health and medical providers' instructions and am at peace accepting that my physical life is limited by time and that I am in God's loving and powerful hands.  I am deeply grateful for the many wonderful blessings in my life and in those of my loved ones.  So I"m about to head back to the bedroom and briefly agitate our dearly beloved Pewee Daisy...may you all sleep well and enjoy tomorrow to its fullest...

d

colbert

Early Rising, Optimistic About Day to Come

 Here I am on yet another earlier early morning, pre-dawn wakeup...it's 6:33...having run in place on the rug for about 11 minutes so far with a nice mug of hot flavored coffee in my hand.  I'm envisioning some meaningful, purposeful study ahead, particularly about foreign languages.  Melissa wants to begin my next cycle of enhanced TMZ treatments after a pharmacy visit. Then we should get to see Anita and Jim a little before they head on homeward.  Study, interaction, exercise and rest, each in good measure, should all do the trick for me (and us) today as I am more careful about what I eat.  Also, keep Pewee from licking me (like she loves to do) to protect her from the toxic (to her) medicine seeping out through my porous skin.  Oh, and some TV time is in store as well. And since I won't be scratching off any lottery tickets, then it's good fun, never could stand those tv commercials.  Now let's have some "good fun" surfin' them channels. Just don't forget to listen to that great music. How Soon is Now, by the Smiths, has my Song of the Month easily, followed by the metaphysically intense Zebra piece Who's Behind the Door?.  My favorite line from it: How much more do you think you really know about who's behind the door?. Yes. I'm also thinkin about sitting in a comfortable cloth folding chair in the front yard looking casually through one or more Shaum's math guides, checking for patterns to notice. No pressure and it's nap time whenever I choose...

Did Extensive Zone 1 Living Room Exercises Despite Feelings

This morning Melissa drove me down to get another round of radiation treatment for brain cancer.  The procedure itself worked fine, but I seem to be suffering some inflammatory side effects from it.  The doctor prescribed for me steroids to counter possible headaches, and although I don't like headaches or lightheadedness, I'm going along with it with the best hopes possible.  Later I decided to do Zone One exercises while watching a 2022 NYC Marathon virtual run...recorded and posted on The Manor Runs channel...on YouTube.  I credited myself having covered a virtual distance of 7.4 miles.  Add to that the equivalent of .8 miles in FitBit steps, and the total comes to 8.2 miles.  Doing this doesn't make me fatigued, but after just a few minutes I could happily just lean back on our living room couch and let myself slip into unconciousness.  Tomorrow I'd like to continue the activity and cover more miles.  My hope is that this will better prepare me to more effectively run during Saturday morning Parkrun 5Ks.  

Thinking Good Thoughts at End of Week

Today marked the third full week of cancer chemotherapy and radiation treatments, all prescribed by the good physicians at UF Health.  Besides going to them with my sweet Melissa driving, my days and nights are more or less unstructured...unless it's me doing the structuring.  Tomorrow morning they're "forecazzing" heavy fog for Gainesville, with a chance of some rain later on.  Sunday's supposed to be much heavier with the local precipitation, but since I'm planning to stay at home all day that'll be okay for me.  I'm tired of the TV news, be it local or national in scope.  America has become grim (not great) again, and I guess it's all a part of the "master" plan.  TV-20 today devoted much time and effort celebrating their chief meteorologist Mike Potter's retirement...he'll be missed.  I still exercise some, spending time in front of the TV moving to foreign language podcasts and virtual running race videos (I'm going through the 2022 Hartford Half Marathon on Runner's Digest channel.  Still plodding on ahead thinking good thoughts...

Wilmot Botanical Gardens...and Will

 

Our dearly beloved son Will tragically left us for heaven last July...we miss him so much.  He was employed by the University of Florida and worked with their IT section.  In honor of him, they placed a brick bearing his name, alongside others honoring departed UF employees, on the walkway of their beautiful Wilmot Botanical Gardens.  This place, under the management of UF Medicine, is situated just north of their Medical Plaza off Archer Road.  I have been there a bit recently with radiology and physician consults, and Melissa and I gladly took advantage of these visits to stroll and sit here.  It was kind and thoughtful of those at the University of Florida to accord this honor to my son.  Wilmot Botanical Gardens has a number of different-themed gardens within it...Will's memorial brick is accessible through the Japanese Maple Tree Garden...

As I Age, Medical Interactions Increase

For the most part...until the last decade or so...I have lived my life relatively free of doctors, medications, hospitals and "procedures".  Never having suffered a serious enough illness or injury...not even a single broken bone...to be hospitalized other than inguinal hernia surgery in 1973 when I was 17, I tended to avoid anything resembling the medical establishment. After getting married I finally got around to visiting the doctor from time to time, but always breathed a sigh of relief when exiting the office.  But in late 2011, after visiting an after-hours clinic because of a sinus infection, the attending physician detected a heart murmur and strongly recommended I see my regular doctor about it. She in turn had me examined and it was discovered that not only did I have an aortic aneurism, but that I had a serious birth defect: a bicuspid (instead of the normal tricuspid) heart valve that was responsible over the years for the swollen aorta.  From 2012 through 2021 I underwent annual exams with a UF Health specialist surgeon to see if the aneurism had expanded: beyond a specified threshold he would recommend surgery. But the aneurism remained the same size even at the last exam this past April...still my physician decided I needed to undergo the surgery because my valve had a worsening calcium buildup.  On July 15 I underwent open heart surgery to replace the valve and repair the aneurism...successfully done although there was the complication of atrial fibrillation based on my heart's initial reaction to the operation. This was resolved with the Cardioversion procedure just before I was discharged from the hospital.  Recovery lasted several weeks, primarily to allow my sternum, sawed apart to allow access to my heart for the operation, to fuse back together..as well as strengthening my body, especially the upper part.  Still, at this point with me back at work for more than a month and exercising to the point of running at pretty much my pre-operational level (but more slowly), I am now entrenched in the medical system with two cardiologists, a thoracic surgeon, a gastroenterologist, potentially a urologist, and of course my primary physician, their office and examination appointments strung out into the future.  Besides issues related to my heart concerning continuing recovery and maintenance, there are three areas of my health/body unrelated to what I just went through that have to be addressed...groan!  I suppose this sort of thing just naturally happens when one gets to my age (65)...all kinds of screenings are recommended, usually to detect cancer in different parts of the body.  Well, I think I'm long finished with the part of my life when I avoided doctors and hospitals and pretty much freelanced it with my personal health.  The trick now is not to succumb to the temptation to "self-enfeeble" because of doctors' overactive concerns, while at the same time following the gist of their advice and availing myself of their prescriptions and procedures. I have a very strong instinct that a physically active lifestyle, to which I am accustomed, is important to both physical and mental health, regardless of my age, and I don't have any intention of fearfully tiptoeing through the remainder of my life...

Just Finished Reading Pandemic by Robin Cook

In probably not one of my better judgment moments I recently decided to read medical thriller writer Robin Cook's 2018 novel Pandemic...I've never read any of his books before but did see the movie Coma, based on his second published novel.  Pandemic continues his series of the husband/wife medical investigation team of Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery, complete with all the subplots and conflicts involved with their ongoing personal lives...I could have done without a lot of that drama.  Jack is a New York City medical examiner who often flouts the rules and rubs people the wrong way as he bulldozes through his cases.  He's also very touchy as he picks up on and magnifies every slight...real or imagined...he receives from others: not a very sympathetic character I'd want to read more stories about.  But there are some eerie connections between the story's retrovirus causing a mysterious subway death in NYC and the COVID-19 outbreak: a New Jersey-based laboratory owned by a wealthy Chinese entrepreneur is using a special kind of protein to manufacture human tissue that the bodies of transplant patients won't reject...but something goes terribly wrong there.  It sounds to me a lot like what some believe happened in the Wuhan, China laboratory where viruses from bats and other animals were being isolated and studied.  Also, it's revealed that New York had been preparing for pandemics, anticipating a scenario where as many as 500 disease-caused deaths per day would be occurring there during the peak: an underestimate of what really happened two years later with the coronavirus.  Cook is very detailed about describing medical procedures and the science behind genetic engineering, especially...this to me is his strong point as a writer and understandable, he being a physician himself.  But without giving away the book's ending, I am beside myself with perplexity at how the author treated various characters: it seemed he was excusing if not praising the motives and actions of the villains while condemning their targeted victim for whom, although he did bear a certain degree of culpability, I felt a lot of sympathy and respect.  Maybe this wasn't the best Robin Cook novel out there, but I was so bummed out by the protagonist's behavior and the ending that it will probably be a while before I pick up another one...

About the 2020 Presidential Campaign, Even This Early

Within just a week after the 116th U.S. Congress was sworn in following the 2018 midterm elections, it looks as if the 2020 presidential campaign season has already begun...unless of course you recognize that incumbent president Donald Trump already seems to be in a perpetual campaign.  Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has been campaigning through Iowa, site of the first voting event in 2020, the Iowa Caucuses. She's delivered some fiery, passionate speeches and that's good: I like her.  Only problem is that, at this most early stage in the campaign, it sounds as if she's already lost her voice.  And former vice-president Joe Biden just announced that he will soon be revealing whether or not he will be seeking the Democratic nomination for president.  I'm predisposed to supporting ol' Joe, but I fear that he might not have the tenacity to stick it out through a brutal primary campaign season, much less the general election campaign should he garner the nomination...he's always making a major deal about wanting to focus on his family, as if none of the others have their own families.  It's one thing for him to have sat out the primary season in 2008 and only have to campaign in the general elections of that year and 2012 as Barack Obama's running mate...this time around he'll be facing several candidates politically left of him and bent on portraying him as being too moderate.  I'm also keeping a close eye on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's medical trials of late...she's been contending with cancer and, although she said she'd like to stay on the Court another five years, you can't always chart your own future course with accuracy...especially with the kind of medical issues she's been experiencing.  In 2016 when Justice Antonin Scalia passed away during the Democratic Obama administration, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to consider the president's nominee, Merrick Garland, deferring Scalia's replacement to the winner of that year's election...eventually Republican Donald Trump as he picked Neil Gorsuch instead.  Should Ginsburg or anyone else leave the Supreme Court in 2020, will McConnell stick to his stated and already-implemented "principle" and defer that nomination as well to the winner of the 2020 election?  If I were a betting man, I'd wager that he would weasel out of it all with some lame excuse and quickly allow Trump to handpick another conservative to stack the court.  But it's all still a little early, isn't it...

Just Finished Reading We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas

Stephen King is one of the people I follow on Twitter.  Not that I expect anything of special literary value from his often overtly political posts, but I like to keep up with what's on his mind.  From time to time he recommends a book he's just read...I read Garth Risk Hallberg's novel City on Fire after reading such a Tweet.  The other day he promoted another one, Matthew Thomas's 2014 debut novel We Are Not Ourselves...and I promptly checked it out.  Set primarily in New York City, the author's home town, it is a fictional voyage through the life of Eileen Tumulty/Leary from her childhood with her Irish parents into adulthood and her marriage to Ed Leary, a scientist whose values on materialism sharply clash with her longing to become more high society.  A lot of stories I've read try to make the protagonist into a character of virtuosity: one thing I liked a lot about We Are Not Ourselves is the way that the author, while focusing on Eileen's point of view, revealed many flaws in her personality and how her behavior often aggravated relational problems she had with others, most particularly her husband and son.  Ultimately, though, what won this novel over for me was the way it depicted the debilitating and fatal Alzheimer's Disease, from the initial stages of divergent behavior with its accompanying denials and rationalizing, to the final stage of complete incapacity...how sad.  This was a difficult book to get through, but not for any fault of Matthew Thomas and his adroit writing.  He plunged head first into real, often very unlikeable characters as well as dealing with a topic that for many has eclipsed their lives, if not as Alzheimer's patients than as their caretakers...along with a stinging indictment of the American health care system that, even in the era of Obamacare, forces families into bankrupt conditions just to obtain needed government assistance...

If you want to read a story about people who are "real", warts and all, and don't expect the author to sugarcoat your reading experience, then you just might also like We Are Not Ourselves.  As far as I'm concerned, Stephen King is "two for two" with his book recommendations...

Quote of the Week....from Martin Luther King, Jr.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.                                                               ---Martin Luther King, Jr.

When I read this quote by Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is this coming Monday, it struck me as having a profound meaning on different levels.  I'm not sure exactly what he was thinking about when he made this comment, but I can see some its ramifications.  Look at the advance in technology over the past two centuries: a higher standard of living on one hand, but at great cost to the environment on the other.  Or how it seems that progress in science and engineering tends to be applied by the military in its never-ending campaign to be able to wage war in a more deadly fashion.  But there's even more to Dr. King's statement when you consider how society wraps itself around innovations to the point where being deprived of them becomes a matter of social injustice...

We live in an exciting age as we note, in just a few years, how much medicine and information technology have progressed.  I just read a novel set in 1989 where the protagonist is struggling to get to a pay phone to make an important call...only 29 years ago.  Now having a cell phone seems like a necessity rather than a convenience or luxury...we've integrated this innovation into our society to the point where those not possessing one are at a marked disadvantage in their lives.  The same goes for the great advances in medicine, both in its important preventative practices and in diagnosing and treating diverse ailments and injuries.  But this progress carries with it a steep price tag, and the way health care is meted out...at least in this country, even if Obamacare stays in effect...puts those in less favorable economic situations in potentially fatal circumstances should they become seriously ill or injured even when the technology and medicine exist to save them.  And the blessing of the Internet, which almost instantly connects the world with us, has all sorts of problems, including criminal fraud, the enabling of terrorism, international hacking to interfere with elections, and many others.  When I went back to college to take some history courses just 15 years ago, there was the Internet, but the classes were still primarily book-based.  By the time my son entered college six years later, owning a laptop and having Internet access had become absolute requirements.  Those in our society without computers and Internet service are being left behind, not just because these products are intrinsically indispensable, but also because our social institutions are increasingly mandating their use...

When I described "progress", I was discussing technological progress.  But Martin Luther King, Jr. may have also been thinking of progressive social movements as well.  Progress in any form is change, and when change happens, it causes instability.  And that can be very unsettling to many people and cause them to lash back...even when that change is clearly for the better...

Tuesday's List: Ten Leading Causes of Bankruptcy

I was watching the U.S. Senate floor proceedings on C-Span2 this morning when Senator Dick Durbin (D, IL) spoke about the proposed Republican tax reform bill...specifically its provision eliminating deductions for medical expenses.  Durbin pointed out that many households have large accrued medical expenses and need this deduction to keep themselves afloat...he said there were more than 300,000 in his home state of Illinois alone.  This is nothing minor: as the senator stated, medical expenses account for the number one cause of bankruptcies in this country...and it's not even close.  Well, Durbin's speech made me wonder exactly what are the primary causes for bankruptcy, so afterward I did a search and quickly came across Clear Bankruptcy, which seems to be designed to help people in tough financial straits: good for them, I suppose...there are other sites that have similar lists.  On their webpage they listed the top ten causes of bankruptcy, which I've listed below:

1 MEDICAL EXPENSES (42%)
2 JOB LOSS (22%)
3 UNCONTROLLED SPENDING (15%)
4 DIVORCE (8%)
5 UNEXPECTED DISASTER (7%)
6 AVOIDING FORECLOSURE (1.5%)
7 POOR FINANCIAL PLANNING (1.5%)
8 PREVENTING LOSS OF UTILITIES (1%)
9 STUDENT LOANS (1%)
10 PREVENTING REPOSSESSION (1%)

Now I believe that for many of the bankruptcy cases the causes are probably a mixture of different factors coming together for a "perfect financial storm", but it is inarguable that medical expenses present a very big problem for Americans, regardless how well they plan their finances and handle their money. And it's because of our health care system here that, Obamacare notwithstanding, still regards medical treatment more as a privilege than a right.  It is almost academic that as people age their health will decline and more and more serious medical problems will present themselves.  And with the improvement of the medical community's means to handle those problems with often very expensive treatments comes a drastic increase in the costs, which can devastate people's finances, often just as they are either preparing for retirement or already there.  And now one of our political parties apparently wants to aggravate the problem by eliminating medical tax deductions. If this provision of the tax reform bill becomes law, expect that "42%" figure to get higher (other sources already have it as high as 62%)...

Quote of the Week...from Donald Trump

We must have universal health care. Just imagine the improved quality of life for our society as a whole...The Canadian-style, single-payer system...helps Canadians live longer and healthier than Americans...There are fewer medical lawsuits, less loss of labor to sickness, and lower costs to companies paying for the medical care of their employees.                ---Donald Trump

Yes, our current president, who seems to have gone in the diametrically opposite direction from this 2000 quote with his national health care agenda, at one time was strongly in favor of the kind of universal, single-payer health care systems almost all of the world's developed countries use.  He also stated back then that this is the one big issue that he, although mainly conservative, was liberal about.  The above quote of his I took from a reprint in my bi-monthly union magazine of an editorial article written by my union president Mark Dimondstein.  In his article Dimondstein laid out the reasons for the United States to join the rest of the civilized world and deem health care to be a right and not a privilege...and to free its people from the financial bondage and uncertainty imposed by our current health insurance system, be it Obamacare, Trumpcare, or what we had before.  I would make one correction to Trump's earlier stance on this issue: I believe that universal health care should be embraced by conservatives as being compatible with their political philosophy, and here are some points to make in that regard...

1-Businesses would be shed of the red tape and financial burden of providing health insurance.
2-Universal health care encourages job-changing, risk-taking, and entrepreneurialism by those in mid-life and/or with pre-existing conditions...or by those related to such an individual.
3-Deprives liberals of what conservatives often see as "divide and conquer" political strategy by demographic groups.
4-Gives people a greater sense of liberty with their lives...they can invest their money back into the economy.
5-Insurance companies provide no health services but add greatly to the total cost of care as a middleman between provider and patient.

And how does this all get funded? Well, this is where the "modern" conservative, for whom the expression "raise taxes" is anathema, and I part ways: you fund it by raising taxes. The net effect, though, will be to reduce health care expenses, provide universal coverage, and end catastrophic medical events in people's families leading to personal bankruptcy...

As Mark Dimondstein wrote in his article, and our current president implied with his remark 17 years ago, we need as a nation to decide whether health care is a right or a privilege.  If it is the former, then let's get down to business creating a universal health care system modeled after the most successful countries that employ it.  If is the latter, let's go back to the way it was before the Affordable Care Act and let the marketplace freely determine its financing.  The way things are now is an unholy, messed-up mishmash of both approaches, whether you call it Obamacare or Trumpcare...

Weekly Short Story: Successful Operation by Robert Heinlein

Twentieth century science fiction writer Robert Heinlein is probably best known for his novels Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but he also wrote a multitude of short stories.  Being a strong anti-fascist when Hitler and Mussolini had their followers in America before World War II,  Heinlein put his philosophy of liberty into his stories and never wavered from it after the war when he became equally anti-communist.  Successful Operation was one of his earliest works...from 1940...and is also very short, four pages long.  I'm happy to be the proud owner of Off the Main Sequence (SFBC Books, 2005), which is an extensive collection of short stories that tended to be left out of other collections of Heinlein's...this tale started off the book...

Heinlein had Successful Operation first published with a different title, "Heil!", in a pulp fiction magazine under a pseudonym, "Lyle Monroe".  That original title gives a hint about the story, as a racist dictator meant to be Adolf Hitler is in a health crisis with an undesirable solution.  His pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain, is diseased and he will only survive with a transplant.  The only surgeon available who can perform the operation, however, is Doctor Lans, who is implied to be Jewish and is in a concentration camp.  Lans and the Leader meet, and the doctor lays out his conditions for the operation, which include the restoration of his fortunes, passports for his family and himself, and that the operation take place on foreign land away from the Leader's control.  Begrudgingly, the dictator accedes and the operation is set.  The healthy pituitary gland to be transplanted belongs to a fellow inmate of Lans, and the donor agrees that he would rather have a sick pituitary and be free than have a healthy one and be under oppression.  Then the operation takes place and it's a success...only one problem, though, the Leader and the donor have both been secretly whisked back to their country.  And thus is the setup for the predictably outrageous ending for such an abbreviated story...

If our consciousness and identities are based within the strict confines of our own bodies, then where are they located there?  The obvious choice would be the brain...but beyond that it's an open question.  Robert Heinlein takes a deep dive off the board of speculation and comes up with an answer that would easily fit well in a Twilight Zone episode...I wonder whether that might in fact have been done... this story just seems familiar to me, as if I had already experienced it or something very similar before.  And now you can read it through the creative commons license via this link to the Free Speculative Fiction online site: [link]...

Weekly Short Story: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

I first read the amazing 1959 science fiction short story Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, from the collection The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time (Avon Books, 1970).  I tend to agree with this book's grandiose title: it really does contain some of the greatest stories ever.  For his part, Keyes was not an established writer when he produced his masterpiece...but it made an indelible impact anyway.  Probably discovering that he wasn't making much money off the short story, he expanded it into novel form in 1966...that version I haven't read.  As far as I'm concerned, when you're as close to perfect with a story like this, why mess with it?

Charlie Gordon is an intellectually-challenged (I.Q. 68) 37-year old who gets by with his custodial job at a factory.  Two research scientists, Doctors Strauss and Nemur, have a project underway designed to increase intelligence.  Their first subject was a little white mouse named Algernon.  But now they are ready to try their operation out on a human...and Charlie is the willing subject.  Dr. Strauss has suggested to Charlie that he keep a daily written journal about his life and what he is feeling.  And that is exactly what Flowers for Algernon is: Charlie Gordon's written record of his changing intelligence...and consequently his changing worldview, including some eye-opening revelations about the people in his life.  All the while he observes Algernon's progress and records his impressions...

What makes this story so special is the meticulous detail in which the author reveals the feelings and abilities of Charlie at different stages in his journey, as well as the generally flawed nature of some people in general, in particular the cruelty of some toward the mentally disabled and the blind ambition of others without regard to the consequences of their actions.  Once you begin to read this epic tale of inner discovery...and outer disillusionment...you just might find it difficult to put down until you're finished.  One of the best short stories of all time, in any genre of fiction...

Muhammad Ali Passes Away

Muhammad Ali has finally passed away, a shell of his former self, at age 74.  All over the television channel spectrum I'm seeing tributes highlighting his boxing career, focusing on his pivotal fights.  Yet it was those fights of his...61 in all...that ultimately severely damaged his brain and reduced him to the deteriorating state that he had suffered for more than the last thirty years.  "Pugilistic brain damage", I believe, is the term given to describe what happens to a boxer's brain when tears and the resulting scar tissue build up over the course of countless blows to the head...and the resulting cutting off of blood circulation in different areas.  The symptoms are Parkinson's-like and progressive...but Ali's was caused by his sport, unlike the Parkinson's disease afflicting people like Michael J. Fox and Janet Reno.  I read in an Associate Press article printed in the Los Angeles Times in 1987 that there is a fifty percent chance of brain damage occurring to boxers with twenty or more bouts...and Ali had three times that total.  Yet in boxing matches, referees in the ring make what should be medical decisions, based on observing the fighters, as to whether or not they have suffered concussions during the match.  The entire premise of boxing, after all, is to batter the other guy's head and knock him out before he (or, sadly nowadays, she) can do the same to you.  Nevertheless, this barbaric sport is strongly rooted in tradition and is unlikely to be banned.  The variant known as UFC is better, but only because it incorporates wrestling into the competition...which slightly reduces the role of the head blows.  But all of these kinds of "blood" sports serve a lucrative market: bloodthirsty vicarious spectators...

Muhammad Ali would probably never have been famous in his younger years had he not excelled in boxing to such an extent.  Had he not been a boxer, his personality, wit and always interesting opinions might never have been known or heard by much of the world...the temptation here is to claim that he never would have suffered a debilitating brain disease and would still be among us, in full command of his thinking and body.  But I don't think you can treat "time" like that: cutting out one aspect of a person's life in hindsight and thinking that all else would have been the same just doesn't work.  Muhammad Ali was a boxer, and that was an essential part of his life's tapestry, for better or for worse.  May this great man finally rest in peace...

Car Accident and Annual Medical Checkup

It's been a few days since I wrote an article on this blog, but I've been a little preoccupied.  On Monday afternoon, I was driving to work and, while I was stopped at a traffic light, another (larger) car plowed into the back of my car, crumpling up the back of it like an aluminum can.  Fortunately, I had my foot solidly on the brake pedal and my car remained stationary throughout...so I avoided hitting the car in front of me.  And, oh yeah, I also had on my seat belt, a real life saver.  People around me seemed surprised that I was walking around afterwards without a scratch.  Two days later, I'm still not feeling as if I sustained any kind of injury.  I suspect that the driver (also apparently uninjured) who hit me was distracted, because the impact was pretty severe...not like someone who was slowing down for the light but whose brakes couldn't completely stop their car...

Yesterday I spent the whole day at Shands Hospital getting my annual checkup for a chronic condition that was discovered in early 2012 and which, as it turns out,  I had from birth.  The condition hasn't worsened in the three years since that diagnosis, and as such I've been "cleared" again for another year.  I was a little surprised (and dismayed), though, to discover that my weight had creeped up to an unacceptable level.  This in spite of all the running I've been doing.  But then again, of late I have been eating too much, and especially too much of the wrong foods.  It looks as if a "dietary reset" is due for me...

Early Outbreak Convinces Me to Get Flu Shot

Yesterday I decided I had put it off long enough already and got my annual flu shot.  I usually don't get it until a little later in the year, but this year so far quite a few people have already come down with the flu...and my doctor has already told me that, due to a continuing medical condition, I need to get a shot each year.  That's no guarantee that I won't come down with it, though: the last time I caught the flu, a little more than ten years ago, I had gotten a flu shot but to no avail.  Still, the game here is to increase my odds...which also includes being careful to wash my hands often, especially before eating...and otherwise keeping my hands from my face.

You can choose to get all worried and excited about the Ebola virus and the latest news scoops about it. But while that's going on, the flu is quietly spreading through the population, debilitating many and even killing a few in the process.  It is much more of an immediate health threat than Ebola...and it's also something you can take effective action to help prevent for yourself and loved ones...

Mid-Life Medical Field Career Change Options

Yesterday I paid a visit to Santa Fe College here in Gainesville as a part of that institution's outreach to people 50+ years old who may be contemplating mid-life career changes or are possibly looking for something interesting and productive to do after retirement.  The focus was on careers in the medical field for which Santa Fe offered programs, such as nursing, respiratory care, nuclear medicine technology, cardiovascular technology, dental hygiene, and radiography.  I am interested in some of these, especially cardiovascular technology, nuclear medicine technology, and radiography.  These are areas of professional growth that will only be in higher demand as the years pass and the "baby boomers" enter a period in their lives of more prevalent medical care...along with the advances in technology to diagnose and treat them...and with a corresponding increased need for those trained to handed those new technologies. 

My father retired in 1982, at age 56.  He lived another 31 years, which although making  up a pretty decent life span at 87 years, also was marked, after retirement, by a retreat from the world and an ever-increasingly reclusive life within the walls of his house.  I do not ever want to be like that, even though I am reclusive by nature myself.  But I do recognize that I am a human being, and being as such, part of what I am necessitates me being an active, participating part of society, as difficult and painful doing that can be at times.  Continuing after retirement with some meaningful employment that utilizes my God-given abilities is a good way to continue this social involvement.

The academic advisor, Scott Fortnoy, guided those of us attending the workshop/tour around the various classrooms of their programs, pointing out what the jobs demanded from employees as well as important aspects like pay, hours, available of jobs, and the prospects for their growth.  He did a great job with his presentation, and I came away from the experience even more interested in employment in the field of medical technology.  The programs I am interested in are two-year degree programs, and may not be practical for me to pursue until I actually retire from my current job...which may not be until 2017 or even later.  I'll have to further investigate my options, though, and Scott made it clear to us that his office is open for us to visit and get answers to our questions.  I think I'll take him up on that...

Medical Examination Good Results, Running Continues

I just went through some serious medical examinations today, along with a consultation with my physician/specialist/surgeon, concerning a condition I had been diagnosed with since October of 2011, but actually with which I had been afflicted with since birth.  The results of these examinations are that I am continuing in my relatively good health, with no change in instructions for me until the next one, to be scheduled a year from now.  This is very good news!  So the running continues, although lately I have been experiencing some aches in my right foot that I have to continue to monitor.  The funny thing is that I don't experience any problems while running...only when sitting or walking. 

I'm still on a projection to attain 100 miles this month and am only a week away from having run every single day for a whole year.  This is now within sight of attainment.  I just might take a break afterward, though, just to give that foot a better chance of recovery (although I don't exactly believe that running was the cause of the problem)...

10/18, 39 Years Ago and Today

October 18, 1973.  Many of my devoted readers probably weren't even born yet then, but to me it represents a "last time": the last time (as well as the first time) I had surgery performed on me while I was under general anesthesia.  On that day, I had an inguinal hernia repaired and recovered quickly.  I was seventeen then, so surgery wasn't that big a deal to me (although it worried the others in my family).  And, amazingly, through the decades that followed, leading to this very moment, the only invasive medical procedures I've undergone have been in the endoscopy/colonoscopy department.  Not even a broken bone to repair.  That's fortunate, but I'm savvy enough to know that I should just count my blessings and not be so self-assured about the future in this regard.  Actually...

Actually, there's a reasonable chance that, sometime during the next few years, I'll have to have some major corrective surgery done on me regarding a birth defect affecting my circulatory system in a potentially critical way.  But then again, maybe I won't ever need it, who knows.  It all depends on regular CT scans of the area in question, as well as my specialist/physician/surgeon's recommendations.

Oh, by the way, on a rather disconcerting note, it was while I was mostly bedridden at the hospital for my surgery and recovery back in '73 that I came to love listening to Led Zeppelin's oft-played masterpiece Stairway to Heaven on a local rock station (the one on 100.7 if memory serves me correctly). I didn't make the morbid connection between the song and my hospitalization until years later, but it was the first Zep song I truly loved...