Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Very funny! Would never have occurred to me until you brought it up. Wow! What a thought! You know, they killed George Washington but it must've worked--should've worked--in other instances. Grew up in Northern Minnesota. A nearby lake was aptly named Leach Lake. Had nice, warm water and long shallow beach where most lakes were cold, cold spring fed and sharp drop offs sometimes just a few feet off shore. But at Leach Lake you had to pull the buggers off you when you got out. Nasty.

By the way, yours was 1,000th post to this thread. Brought some memories back. Ugh!

Thx!


//Sometimes, Blu, I'm humbled by the things you come up with...

 

A Disappointing Couple Days...

The last couple days have disappointed. It's cold (17 degrees last night), dark early and early. Early at night and early in the morning. Dark. Dark. Dark.

Finally, finally see a space behind maroon Sable parked over at Pete's. He'd said caliper's not frozen, thought run it around block, see if rotor's warped or no. Bring it home if seems okay, leave other for him to finish heater door switch, already paid for. Start Sable up, pedal goes to floor. Has some resistance, but goes to floor.

He's had car just about since I got back from Trip West.

I rattle his cage, "Pete, the darn pedal goes right to the floor!" Pete smiles, "Well, Vic, we don't know what your standards are, maybe you like a soft pedal." That's Pete. Local color and frequently exasperating. Cheap and quick if he gets a round tuit and occasionally does. Lot is almost always full of cars. If you really, really need it, he'll do it today, otherwise... Cold as it is, I'm not too interested in bringing Sable up here and pulling it apart.

Despite 126/80 BP (blood pressure) at American Red Cross on Wednesday before giving blood, has been high since and that's counter to understanding that donation lowers blood volume, and BP, causes your system to manufacture new red blood cells and yada yada.

Maybe something's wrong.

Yesterday (Friday) got prescription for hydrochlorothiazide from local Doc--well, Physician's' Assistant--makes you pee a lot and has dropped my BP. Despite that it was afternoon, started to research natural diuretics and narrowed down on one from Amazon. Decided to order it.

Have Amazon Prime, so could get it Monday or Tuesday at no charge. All the same, ordered and paid $8.99 for next day (that's to arrive today, Saturday). Didn't really expect it. Ordered late afternoon. Did not expect the FedEx home delivery truck, yet there it was today about 11:30 am. Next day.

Can hardly drive 25 plus miles to Bloomington and back for $8.99.

Glad didn't take a 2nd hydrochlorothiazide today. Will try this supplement instead. No one had it in Bloomington anyway.

About the time I started to write this Yard Boss called. First call since been back, did not answer. Texted him back, "Whaddya want, haven't lost 15 pounds yet." He texts back just wants to see how am doing. Don't really want to talk to him. I know that he told Gary the Mechanic that if I came by to help out to tell me he had to leave--now, that's free labor that just helps Gary and Yard Boss nixed it. G-R-R-R.

Supposed to be just between Gary and me and had plenty to trade out with Gary for the help. But Yard Boss told Gary, no. Okay, fine.

I'm not supposed to know.

And I think I'm interested in the closer yard out of Bloomington, outfit runs to military bases and most runs back same day, at most a day out and back. Newer equipment. SUPPOSEDLY no pressure to run more than 1x/week. Maybe less. Better pay.

Texted Yard Boss 'trying to get BP down w/o meds'.

That's all he needs to know.

 

Very funny. Very funny. What would I do without a few pet peeves? By the way, Pete has the maroon Sable in a bay tonight. Doesn't mean he's gonna work on it Monday, lots full of cars.

Are you on percentage, or just so much a load?

 

Ruminating over Steamers in the Dry Sauna

Hm-mph!! Began to wonder if Blu's right--again! Whether my natural tendency to stew and ruminate about this or that is biting me in my BP? Have been wracking my brain trying to figure out what food-wise or supplement-wise or vitamin-wise or... might be the culprit. Um, maybe not.

Figure my BP was pretty high be end of summer and departure for Trip West. Chelation/Plaquex treatments helped sleep apnea a lot and should have helped BP, probably did. Had been dropping back to normal, plus the work in the pool over at the Spencer Y. Not the latter part of this week, though. And has otherwise been kinda, kinda high anyway. Oh, my.

Blu's right, have upped my TTR activity this week (and last). Started some new thread's. Got into a snit with a couple members in one that resulted in thread getting locked. Thread's still drawn views, views oddly still climbing as the thread descends off the first page of 'Experienced Trucker's Advice' because no one can post to it. All in a good cause, right?

With my BP climbing right along with the views perhaps?

Or just staying elevated? Dunno.

If I need BP meds, that's a one-year med card ticket. Ugh!

Have also been in a snit with the Director of the Y this week with emails back and forth. Mine have gotten progressively more sharply worded each round. A couple years back was in our dry sauna, a really big guy came in and without a word, dumped a big jug of water on the heater. Told him I didn't appreciate that. In a bit he gets up with his jug again so told him not to put any more water on the heater. "Well, I'm going to anyway!" he retorts.

The rules don't allow that so as he came back into the sauna, I took his pool-water-filled jug from him, marched it over to the lifeguard and returned to the sauna, where he had actually moved my towel into a corner. There were no words exchanged until he finally departed the sauna, then he pulled the door back open after he had exited to express his anger at his missed steam. Oh, steam away, big guy!

So even though I don't use it much, not much more than 5 minutes or so after my pool wading, maybe 10 minutes now and again, I'm still more than a little touchy about steam-up-the-sauna folks. And it's the same ones who do the pool, skip the shower right by sauna, spend 20 minutes in sauna, and plunge into pool without using the shower right there. Rules against that, too.

Yuppo, maybe Blu's right again!!

 

Theory Killed by a Fact

Nothing I like less. A good theory killed by a fact. My super, duper Amazon diuretic has not helped. Took one capsule yesterday (Saturday), BP seemed down at first, probably from hydrochlorothiazide on Friday. Took 1 capsule this morning. BP was still up. Took capsule number 2 a while later. About the time I was ready to leave for the pool, BP was still up. Drat! Drat!

Cut one of the 25 mg (smallest dose you can buy) hct tablets (hydrochlorothiazide) in half, that's 12.5 mg plus dandelion and all the other herbals in the diuretic from Amazon. Sad because it already had potassium and B6 added, which you lose with other electrolytes when you pee a lot.

Did an hour and quarter in the pool, can only push so hard but the more practice, the more speed, the better the workout, felt good. Took 10 minutes in the sauna. Still steamed up from the steam-folks earlier in the day, I guess. Guy came in, went to leave and almost left the back of his noggin on the edge of the bench when floor mat slipped. Steam descends, gets wet under mat, mat gets slippery. Heat evaporates from floor around mat, not under. Almost fooled him big time. Good recovery, guy.

Not obvious. But. Like a banana peel.

When troubleshooting a network, server or desktop, you try change one thing at a time, observe and test until problem goes away. Apparently there's more to thiazide than diuretic effect, a significant side effect, not the main deal. Oh, well. See how it goes tonight and decide on half tablet or full tomorrow. Much rather take none. That's probably not in the cards right now.

Insults my mostly pill-free past.

When I arrived at the Y was clear out, mildly chilly, mild. By the time I got down to the pool it was snowing a pretty good downfall. We're expecting a couple inches tonight.

If Blu's right--and he usually is--my face is too much in front of this iPad trying to correct errors in the Internet (as Bright One pointed out one day... ).

So! In the effort to troubleshoot this soon-to-be 66-year-old system, I'm going to log out for a few days. 3 - 2 - 1 ... We'll see what happens!

 

Sir James Black

As the nurse started to poke my finger--had told her, "No needles, 'uh-h-kay?!...' I always say 'ouch!' when they're about an inch away--instantly they know I'm pulling their chain--stops them momentarily anyway--this time I added, "You know, we're all just walking future dead people anyway."

Brought her right up, too. "That's a different philosophical viewpoint," she chuckled. Hell, it's just an observation. The Universe rolls us in; the Universe rolls us out.

Apparently one of the possible side effects of hydrochlorothiazide is arrhythmia. That came up in Mexico briefly, too, when I had the Doc that runs the chelation clinic check my BP (blood pressure) and resulted in a meet up with a Mexican gerontologist/cardiologist, who said, "Nope, Victor. No arrhythmia, your heart's just fine. Gonna give you a med and have you track your BP."

Mexico is so different. He had come over from Mexicali to Algodones to meet with me. Cost me $100, never filled his prescription. When arrhythmia came up again today, I was on my cell within 5 minutes to a Terre Haute cardiologist/internist who had been recommended. Let's document this sucker.

Actually, spoke to Kathy, his daughter and receptionist. "Can you be here by 12:30?" Cool, lucky day. Except I have to drive to Terre Haute, not vice versa. Nope, this isn't Mexico, Dorothy.

"Sure," I said, despite that it was 10 to 12 and I was 45 miles away. "Any wiggle room?" After all, the best time to troubleshoot an intermittent, transient problem--doesn't matter whether a car, truck or one of us walking dead--is when it's acting up. Can't fix what ain't broke, right?

"No later than 12:45," she responded.

So hydrochlorothiazide goes bye-bye, enter metoprolol. I hate 'em all. The problem with any prescription is the side effects and even the best practitioners can only regurgitate what they've read. Hydrochlorothiazide is the first line in 'step-up' approach to high BP. Kinda like shotgunning parts where you replace something that likely needs replacing and see if that works.

Metoprolol is a beta blocker. Blocks the messages from your brain to your heart that raises your pulse rate and BP. Invented in 1962 by Scotsman Sir James Black and heralded as one of the significant developments in medicine last century. Got him the nobel prize. Oh, yeah, smooths out arrhythmia.

Turns out this Doc had even entertained the idea of offering chelation, decided against it. His 3 dental implants cost him $3,000 or so each; he winced when told him what mine cost in Algodones. But then, $9,000 to him is probably about to me what mine cost. Maybe. Dunno. Money's money all the same; no one wants to pay too much.

Got an EKG of this arrhythmia that even I can see...

 

Apparently today (Saturday, Nov 22) and tomorrow we have a heat wave, up to 50, maybe more after the lowest fall temps since 1976 when Indiana had a long cold spell from October 25 to November 26, some 33 straight days of unusually cold weather. (Source: http://weatherspark.com/history/30595/1976/Indianapolis-United-States).

All the same, this week's been really, really productive for me, cold weather or no. Got a lot of long-delayed stuff done around here.

In fact, the pads on the bottom of my feet are some tender from the rough bottom, wading in the pool at the Spencer Y so I took yesterday off to give them a rest. Maybe time to give weightless plowing through pool water a pass and spend more time upstairs on the indoor track. Dunno.

Weight-wise, my performance has been so-so. Was down a couple pounds, then up a pound, and up another this morning. Could be mere water weight, shift from fat to muscle (or not), or too long at the trough. Not sure. Don't feel like I've been overeating... well, maybe that great chinese noodle dish from the take out. Um-m-m. Shrimp, pork, veggies, noodles. Just try eating only half of that. Sure, try.

Today's (Nov 22) always something of a bummer for me, carrying echoes of 1963. Yeah, I'm that old. Know exactly where I was standing on a concrete walkway in junior high in California when the announcement came over the campus PA and the promise of an exhilerating, young president broken.