Schleimscheiss - Boot Licker - Anissa!

Awesome photo from CrazedMommy of Anissa of Free Anissa and Hope4peyton.

A few weeks ago, one of my co-workers wrote a bit of a brown-nosing email to a company in Germany.

Thank you ... for the part numbers, descriptions and outline drawing. Several of us here are very refreshed by your response. It will be great to work with your organization again - this comes from many of us here at [my esteemed company].

To which he got a one word response from the CEO of the company:

Schleimscheiss…

Of course we had to look this up and found that it meant "boot licker" in German.  He printed out a sign with the word "Schleimscheiss" on it, took a picture of the sign over his head, and sent it back with the message:

Thanks [esteemed CEO] - I deserve this very much!!

Later, we went to google images of "boot licker" and look who popped up, Anissa!  I saw her on the screen and said, "I know her, it's Anissa!"  My co-workers looked at me in disbelief.  How could I know a person coming up in a random image search?  Sure enough, I proved them right.

As many of you know, Anissa suffered a stroke last November and is making a remarkable recovery.  You can follow her journey at Free Anissa and Hope4peyton.  May is stroke awareness month.  My father experienced two strokes before he passed.  Always always always call 9-1-1 if you have symptoms of a stroke:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

Anissa, we love you!  Hope this post brings a smile to your face.


Asian Invasion photo by Angie (A Whole Lot of Nothing) with Sandy (Momisodes), Anissa (Free Anissa) and myself.

Labyrinthitis - Not for the Brain Paranoid

It will be a long time before I get on this tea cup ride again!

Shortly after I returned from a trip to California last week, I had a very frightening dizzy spell upon waking up. But first my limited history with brain afflictions. First there was my close friend's car accident where she suffered a traumatic brain injury which has taken years (and counting) to recover from. Then there was my dad's strokes, brain cancer and descent into angry paranoia. There was Natasha Richardson. And a friend's experiences with transient ischemic attack (TMI) after his heart surgery.  And finally Anissa's stroke and recovery. The most important thing that I take from these experiences is that your brain is your most vital organ that must be protected at all costs.

So imagine lying awake in bed one morning and then suddenly the room shifting 180° violently from one side to the other, resetting, and then shifting again, all in rapid succession.  I closed my eyes and it seemed to stop.  I opened my eyes again and there it was, my room spinning around me, and I had no control over it.  I was seeing it in my eyes!  I held onto my bed, closed my eyes and wished for it to stop.  I would try opening one eye or the other, and either way, the room violently swam around me.  I closed my eyes for about fifteen minutes, while hyperventilating and sweating, and it finally stopped.

I tried to sit up, but it started all over again.  This time I lied on the other side, desperately clinging to my bed, wishing for it to stop.  I thought I didn't feel the dizzyness when my eyes were closed, but my stomach felt otherwise.  Every time I opened my eyes, they hurt from the spinning.  I couldn't tell whether my eyes were flying around out of my control or what was causing the sense that my bedroom would not stay still. This was not your average off balance sense after having a few too many to drink or the bed tilting when you have a fever. The room was seriously flying around from one side to the other.  If I were standing, I would instantly fall to the floor.  If I were driving, I would have to stomp on the brakes to avoid hitting something.  Finally after about an hour, it stopped enough so I was able to get up.  It was really scary being so out of control, thinking something could be wrong with my brain.

I visited the doctor in the afternoon and learned that I had labyrinthitis, a viral inner ear infection.  She did a bunch of neurological tests to rule out any other cause and also mentioned that it had been going around.  I was immediately put at ease, mostly because I trust her judgement, being a fellow Course 2 (mechanical engineering) MIT grad before changing her career to medicine.  Yes, I pick my doctors on their engineering degrees .  She recommended that I take some meclizine (Bonine) to ease the symptoms, or else just wait out the few days to few weeks it would take to subside.  In the meantime, I was not to drive as two quick head turns could set off the dizzyness.

Today is day two of dizzy Angela.  Yes, I woke up with vertigo again and screamed for someone to bring me some medicine.  This time, I took a more analytical approach when the dizzy spells occurred.  I figured out that my eyes did indeed move around wildly when the room started spinning, and that the dizzyness continued when my eyes were closed.  Unfortunately, the medicine's side effect of drowsiness knocked me out for about five hours of naps today.

Tomorrow will be a no medicine day because all this sleeping is so not Angela.  Hopefully the dizzyness will subside a bit.  The velocity of the room spin has definitely decreased today, so the dizzy spells are more amusing than frightening.  And thankfully, there is nothing wrong with my brain.

Never-Ending Illness, Avelox, Deafness, and Dreams

Image from Infectious Wearables. I thought Giant Microbes were cool (so do my kids), but Infectious Wearables make really cool ties. Who would have thought that mold/fungi could look so beautiful?

But as usual, I digress. Ever since I got back from Walt Disney World, I've been coughing and feeling ill. I wasn't so sick that I missed any work until this month. A week and a half ago, I was hit with a high fever which finally prompted me to see a doctor. Here's the rundown of my illness so far...

• December 5: Cough starts.
• December 6: Flew back from Florida. As expected, my ears clog on the plane and I had an extremely painful descent. Every time that happens, it feels like my ears are bleeding.
• December 11: My ears unclog and I can hear again! Cough continues though.
• December 25: Coughing continues through Christmas. I cancel a trip to visit my mom for the holidays and plan to go during New Years. Instead I blog about coughing and pantyliners.
• December 28: I miss a get together with Doug's family. I was probably fine to go, but Dova had a fever and was vomiting, so I stayed home with her.
• January 1: Fever around 101F, we obviously didn't visit my mom again for this long weekend.
• January 2: Sinuses hurt badly.
• January 4: Fever finally going down on my birthday. I forewent a New Year's party which the rest of my family attended. Instead I filed lots and lots of papers. Apparently, this is what obsessive organizational people do for fun on their birthday.
  
• January 5: Finally took a sick day and fever went away.
• January 10: Fever over 102F and vomiting. This time I really feel like hell, but can't get to the doctor because Doug was out and I didn't want to lug the kids with me to the doctor's office. That night I added an raging ear infection to the mix too.
• January 11: Finally drive myself to the doctor after Doug shoveled the snow after yet another snowstorm. Doctor said there was crackling in my lungs (pneumonia) as well as an ear infection. Got a nice strong prescription of Avelox. Threw up a half hour after my first dose, but luckily the pill made it down into my small intestines already. Chronicled my dreams while on this medication.
• January 12: Took another sick day. Fever was gone, but I was still extremely weak.
• January 19: Course of Avelox is almost over. Cough and fever are finally gone, but my left ear continues to be clogged, somewhat painful and nearly deaf. I ought to call the doctor about it...

So during this time where I managed to get almost every possible ailment, I formulated some theories about the cavities in my head. Not cavities in my teeth, but those darn spaces like ears and sinuses which I seem to have so much trouble with.

Whenever I'm sick and I get on a plane (which unfortunately occurs much more often than I like), I always have trouble during the descent, but not during the ascent. It's as if my Eustachian tubes have check valves in them. They will let pressure out, but not in. So the negative pressure forming behind my ear drums turns into extreme pain. When my ears finally start to unclog a few days later, the tubes finally let air in (pop!) and I can suddenly hear again. During the day, the air slowly escapes through the check valves, building up negative pressure again (and deafness), until I open my mouth wide and pop! I can hear again. When the check valves finally stop the one way air exchange, my ears are finally back to normal. The same goes for the sinuses. When I'm sick, all the openings to my sinuses have check valves that let air out but not in. It is the negative pressure that is so painful. I know this is totally a mechanical engineer's point of view, but I can't help but overanalyze everything around me.

This latest ear infection has lasted nearly ten days and has not had much improvement from the antibiotics. It's only on one side, but I'm constantly shifting myself to hear out of my good ear. I have to sit on the floor to watch TV so that the volume isn't way to loud for the rest of my family. I've had to work at our customer's site and deduce what the heck they are saying. I just want to pop a hole in my eardrum, drain the gunk out and finally equalize the pressure. I can't take the deafness any longer! The pain and irritation goes all down my Eustachian tube. I can even feel the spot where it opens into my throat. Yes, I know, time to visit the doctor again...

In terms of the dreams, I haven't had too many that were way out of the ordinary. I usually have vivid dreams with some anxiety about whatever is going on in my life, turned into an irrational saga. By the second night, I was having anxiety about having interesting enough dreams! So I stopped writing them down. The only dream of note lately was a couple nights ago. I was walking down the streets of Cambridge, MA waiting for the parade for President Obama. He was out in the open on top of a huge float, and I felt that he wasn't being protected enough. Then later, he was walking on the same sidewalk and he passed me and walked into a building. He was within three feet of me! I just held my breath in awe and didn't say anything as he passed. Later I walked into another building and signed up for a writing class. The other students in the class just laughed at me and said that engineers couldn't be writers. I think I'm having anxiety about writing for BlogHer (did I mention that I'm now a contributing editor?) but so far, my posts seem to be doing fine. And oh, to be so close to Barack Obama, the thrill! Too bad, I won't be seeing the real parade tomorrow.

Kids Glasses - The Best Deals

Adam has been wearing glasses since he was five and he has been averaging a pair every six months. The first year, I had vision insurance through work because I knew that Doug, Adam and I would need glasses. We went to Pearle Vision and came away with his first pair, which we purchased extra insurance on. We lectured him on how he needed to take extra good care of these glasses and miraculously, they remained intact until he needed a new prescription the next year. By then, I decided to drop the vision insurance and was hip to inexpensive glasses on the web. We even got the same name brand for less than half the retail price. But these didn't last. And we do everything in our power to repair glasses including using safety wire and super glue. Here's the history of Adam's glasses:

Date	Retailer	Price	Shipping	Total	Result
Feb 06	Pearle - Spongebob	$238	-	$55*	Great, used until new prescription was needed!
Apr 07	39DollarGlasses - Spongebob	$79	$6	$85	Screw fell out, rim broken
Aug 07	Zenni Optical - Titanum blue	$24	$5	$29	Rim broken
Apr 08	39DollarGlasses - Jimmy Neutron	$79	$5	$84	Spring hinge broken
Oct 08	BestPriceGlasses - Generic light blue	$12.50	$3**	$15.50	Perfect!

* Price after insurance coverage
** Shipped with Dova's glasses below

Adam is shown wearing his latest pair of glasses from Best Price Glasses. He picked the light blue color (wasn't our choice), which looks even eerier under a flash. This pair was by far the cheapest pair, and they are actually quite sturdy.



We knew that Dova would be harder on her glasses from this bit of foreshadowing. When we took her when she two-years-old to Pearle Vision to look for Adam's glasses, she managed to break two pairs of glasses right there in the store. Ripped the arms right off the hinges. tearing right through the metal. So when she got her first pair of glasses when she was four, we gave her the same lecture about taking care of them. We were also afraid that she wouldn't wear her glasses, so we bribed her with an expensive pair of Barbie glasses to start with. They have since come down in price on the Internet. I never liked the way these fit her because her eyelashes hit the lenses when they weren't falling down her nose. She had the same "falling down the nose" problem with her second pair of glasses, but this last pair seems to stay up the best.

Date	Retailer	Price	Shipping	Total	Result
Jan 08	TheEyeDoctor - Barbie pink	$134	$8	$142	Twisted hinge, screw fell out, lens kept popping out
Jul 08	Zenni Optical - Titanium purple	$24	$5	$29	Tweaked too many times from being stepped on, plastic on arm broken
Oct 08	BestPriceGlasses - Generic purple	$12.50	$3	$15.50	Perfect!

Dova runs through glasses on average every four months! This is much faster than wearing out shoes. But with Best Price Glasses, they are practically disposable. And so far they have held up better than her other pairs.

Are you wondering if this is a sponsored post? Not at all. I'm eyeing a pair of glasses too, because my spring hinge is broken and only held on crookedly with super glue. I guess the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree...

Edited to add May 5, 2008: Since this post, I got a new pair of glasses for myself with high index lenses and a pair of prescription sunglasses from their sister site Prescription Glasses Online. They are da bomb!

Cough Cough Cough Leak!

Image from CDC.

I had heard that after having a child through vaginal delivery, you increase your chance of "stress incontinence" as you age. When I was young, I had a bladder of steel, so I never thought it would happen to me. But then I delivered a 9 pound 8 ounce baby boy, which definitely did a number on my perineum. Now when I have a bad cough, I have to wear pantyliners to catch the inevitable drops that come out. By the end of the day, I start smelling like the ball pit at IKEA (check the link for a cool video. Mark lived at IKEA for a week and this video shows him jumping into the ball pit during the first night. I'm beginning to think that I wrote this post just to include that link). Supposedly there is a simple 20 minute procedure that can fix this problem. I found this site which describes it, "Urethrocliesis is a vaginal operation for stress incontinence in which the whole length of the urethra is narrowed by two rows of nonabsorbable sutures." Um, no thanks, just pass the Depends.

But enough about leaking, and on to the coughing. Last December, I came down with this nasty illness which took me months to get over. I had a 103°F fever for 11 days, and terrible cough. My stomach muscles were sore from all the coughing. In the end it was defeated by some heavy duty antibiotics (Levaquin) and Advair. I never did get a chest x-ray because the first doctor pissed me off, but my guess was that I had pneumonia. I was so weak afterwards, my leg muscles hurt from having too much bed rest. After the initial illness, I continued to get colds easily for a few months, and then this nasty cough came back in full in March. This time I was hacking up all sorts of colored stuff, so I finally went back to the doctor on Doug's advice (can you tell I am a terrible patient?). I finally got a chest x-ray and a heavier dosage of Advair. Both my husband and son have asthma, but I've never had lung issues. I often kid that they gave me asthma. Miraculously, Advair slowly but surely cleared up the problem. The chest x-ray came back with a terrible diagnosis. Possible emphysema or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Emphysema? That's an old person's smoking disease! I've never been exposed to anything that would cause something like that.

So I went on to see a pulmonary specialist and had a CAT scan and a lung function test performed. By this time, my cough had cleared up. All the tests came back normal. My affliction was chalked up to having a "asthma-like" reaction when I was sick. I hate having alarmist doctors that get you all worried for nothing! I was seriously thinking that I was going to die from emphysema.

Since the last day of our vacation early this month, I've had another one of those colds. No fever, but cough cough cough. I've even resorted to taking cough syrup with codeine (please don't make me take a drug test for work). It's been over three weeks now but I won't go to the doctor until next year to keep my insurance costs down. Adam went to the doctor for a similar cough, and all they did was ask him to take a larger dose of his asthma medication. In the mean time, I've been religiously taking my Advair. And wearing my pantyliners.

11/10/09 Edited to add - For real support for urinary incontinence, check out the Urinary Incontinence Support Group on MDJunction.com.

Autism Revealed

I'm officially one week late for last week's Hump Day Hmm but thankfully, it's hump day again. Last week's Hmm was about society's need to fix what it deems as "broken" children. While traveling, I read a fascinating article titled The Truth About Autism from Wired Magazine. Admittedly, I know very little about autism or Asperger's syndrome and this article really opened my eyes. They featured a video made by Amanda Baggs which shows her normal actions which appear bizarre to the non-autistic: flapping arms, repetitive motions and singing. But then she goes to explain all her actions in extremely articulate terms using a synthesized voice. Here is the video:


She emphasizes that she simply thinks and interacts with her surroundings differently that other people. This doesn't make her any less human, or have less value. With this video and the internet, she has communicated to the non-autistic world how rich her own world truly is, and that we simply cannot understand it. In the Wired article, neuroscientist Thomas Zeffiro said, "If Amanda Baggs had walked into my clinic five years ago, I would have said she was a low-functioning autistic with significant cognitive impairment. And I would have been totally wrong."

In another example, the article cites a paper which says that autistics generally score much higher in intelligence tests using Raven's Progressive Matrices, than the more commonly used Wechsler Intelligence Scale. The Raven test measures non-verbal abstract reasoning skills such as solving patterns or geometric puzzles. The Wechsler test is based more on learned skills such as vocabulary and comprehension. This indicates that many autistics are more intelligent than previously assumed.

Intelligence does not mean that autistic people are normal functioning members of society that just think differently. The fact is that "low-functioning" autistics do need caretakers to help them with everyday tasks. But because they are intelligent beings with genuine feelings, they need to be treated with respect. It's time to stop labeling and disparaging and to start making an effort to understand and embrace their world. Consider this quote from Jim Sinclair:

Autism is not a disease. It does not make people sick, and it does not kill people. There are different opinions about how much suffering and misery autism causes. Some people do suffer a lot from it, while for others the suffering is caused primarily by other people, not by autism.
...
Spend money for autism on special education, vocational rehabilitation, supported living, and community accessibility.
...
Autism may be many things to many people--a way of being, a way of relating, a sense of self, a sharing of culture, a strength, a challenge, a shield or a tool, a gift or an impediment. But one thing autism is not is a disease.

The overwhelming message that I hear from these autistic adults is that it is not a condition that needs fixing from the medical community, it is something that needs support from the community at large.

Thursday Thirteen - Things I learned from my dentist

Disclaimer: These are opinions and stories offered by my dentist. Do your own research before making any decisions.

1. Always brush with a soft or extra soft bristle brush. You clean wood floors with a soft broom and not sandpaper, right?
   
2. Medium and hard toothbrushes should be banned like cigarettes. He thinks that the toothbrush industry keeps making them because of market demand, regardless of the evidence that proves that they damage teeth. The only thing they are good for are cleaning your car wheels.
   
3. Just because the masses think something is popular doesn't mean they are right. This is why Google is bad. (He has a lot of other internet conspiracy theories as well).
   
4. The Philips Sonicare toothbrush was developed by mimicking ultrasonic dental tools that are used by professionals, but they require proper technique that most people don't use. For more on this debate, see my previous post about Sonicare vs. Rotadent.
   
5. Medium/hard and Philips Sonicare toothbrushes take off a thin layer of enamel so your teeth feel smooth afterwards. Teeth are not supposed to be smooth and this means that the teeth are eroding. Eventually the enamel becomes so thin near the gum line that it causes tooth sensitivity that is not reversible.
   
6. Amalgam fillings have a 150 year history where composite have only 30 years. This means amalgam fillings are better because they are time tested.
   
7. The amount of mercury in amalgam fillings have gone down from the days when they were mixed by the dentist in the palms of their hands because they are premixed now.
   
8. The chemicals used in composite filling are still changing and the long term effects have not been established.
   
9. Composite material for fittings are still not ideal as the shrink during the curing process. He places the light on the other side of the tooth to draw the filling in as it shrinks toward the light.
   
10. He was extremely surprised that my company covers 100% for composite fillings and only 30% for amalgam, where it is usually the other way around. Let's not go into the $500+ dental bill I got for the kids last year because they put in amalgam fillings without asking first (another dentist whom we've since left regardless of their cool salt water aquarium).
11. There was a dental office that centered its business on replacing all amalgam fillings with composite ones. They created a sense of panic in people by installing a complex vacuum system to capture the mercury released into the air. Eventually the American Dental Association shut the office down.
    
12. My dentist successfully diagnosed two pregnancies based on the state of a women's gums before they knew.
13. Serious medical conditions such as heart disease and cancer are often linked to gum disease. Sometimes the earliest symptoms appear as a decline in oral health.
    

Stay away from the sick kid!

Silly USB facemask from Gadget Crunch. Do you think it would help?

Stay away from the sick kid being me, that is. I have yet to fully recover from last December's bout of pneumonia. I've gotten better, maybe to 95% or so, but then I get sick again every couple weeks. Not the same illness each time, sometimes a head cold, sometimes a cough, sometimes a slight fever, but now I've finally amassed enough symptoms to warrant another visit to my doctor. I have a cough, I've lost my voice (which some say has to do with how much I yell at the kids), one of my ears hurts and has been blocked for a week, and one of my eyes is totally crusted over. It took me five minutes in the shower this morning for my eye to open up! It appears my immune system is compromised this winter and my body refuses to be completely healthy. I've become that sickly kid at school that nobody wants go near. And this from the girl who regularly goes to the gym (at least before December), has been at a her lowest weight in 16 years, eats fairly well, has low cholesterol, low blood sugar, low blood pressure, and really high bone density. And don't forget about the germ phobia, I'm constantly using hand sanitizer after blowing my nose or being near anyone that even clears their throat. With all those things going for me, I still can't win.

Of course the kids have been no help. Last night after losing my voice, Dova insisted that I still read her stories before bedtime. I told her that Dad could, but that was not acceptable and a tantrum ensued. This occurred after another half-hour long tantrum where she wouldn't wear her pajama pants when it was 63°F in her room. At least she was finally asleep just in time for us to watch our team lose in the last quarter of the Superbowl (yes, I'm originally from NY, but I've shed those teams for the Red Sox and Patriots). This morning she refused to put on her snowsuit before going to school and finally I left for work to get some peace. Thankfully, she was more helpful with Dad and he is around to deal with these things!

Since I really ought to go to bed at a decent hour while I'm sick, my blogging has gone by the wayside. Of course this is aggravated by the fact that our kids have atrocious bedtimes around 10pm. No new pictures for Wordless Wednesday and not even a clever post for Photo Hunters, let alone precious tidbits about the kids. But I do have time to catch up with my blog friends and got this Mwah! from the famous Julie Pippert at Using My Words. I will really try hard to to pipe in on the Hump Day Hmm this week!
Feel free to take it and pass it along if you comment! (yes I'm too sick and lazy to actually tag people).

Doctor Rant

Image from Made in ENGLAND by Gentlemen

I love my primary care physician, she is an MIT graduate in Course 2 (Mechanical Engineering) which means she has perfect credentials (i.e. exactly the same as me). Wait, that doesn't qualify me to be a doctor... Oh yeah, she went medical school as well, details. Anyway, I had been running a high fever since Friday night with some minor coughing. On Monday, I couldn't schedule my usual doctor for urgent care so I ended seeing another doctor in the group and I was not impressed. Today, I had to go back again because I am STILL SICK and got another doctor and what a difference! So much so, I became infuriated thinking about my first experience. The first doctor was a young Indian woman (I have nothing against them in general, just this one). She looked me over extremely quickly, glancing in my ears and throat, listening to my lungs for a millisecond in each spot over my shirt, taking all of 15 seconds to do the entire exam. This is how the conversation went (my thoughts in parens, I was too polite and too sick to speak up). She had a flippant attitude the entire time, like she wasn't impressed with my illness.

Doc 1: Looks like you have the flu.

Me: But I had a flu shot.

Doc 1: When did you get it?

Me: Beginning of November (actually end of October)

Doc 1: It takes 21 days to become effective.

Me: It's been longer than that.

Doc 1: I think it's viral so you don't need antibiotics, you should start feeling better in 3-4 days.

Me: Okay. (What the hell do you mean, anytime I have a barely controllable fever that goes over 103°F for more than three days, I need some freakin' antibiotics!#!!@!#! That's why I came here in the first place!)

Doc 1: Just keep taking your Tylenol and Motrin and alternating them. If every 4 hours doesn't work, try every three hours.

Me: Okay. (Are you trying to overdose me or what? I know the Motrin says do not exceed 6 tablets in 24 hours and the Tylenol says do not exceed 8 tablets in 24 hours. I have those bottles memorized!)

Doc 1: (type type type on a laptop) I'm ordering a blood test and a chest x-ray just in case you have some pneumonia hiding in there. I'm sure they will be fine.

Me: Okay. (If you actually listened to my lungs, you would've heard they were clear. And if you're sure it will be fine why are you ordering an x-ray? To appease me or something?)

Doc 1: (leaving) It's down the hall and down the stairs.

Me: What? Where?

She finally slows down for one second to point out where I need to go. While I was waiting for my x-ray, I told the desk that I decided not to have it. She asked why and I told her because I didn't think I needed it. I got a call later from the nurse saying that my potassium level was slightly low, so eat more bananas, broccoli, etc. What kind of freakin' blood test did she order? Does my not eating in the last three days have anything to do with it?!?! Did you check my cholesterol too?

So six days into this illness, my fever is the same (as I suspected) and the coughing is much worse. Today, I got an appointment with an older Chinese man, one I've seen before and who magically cured me from a two month long illness two years ago with an antibiotic safe for use while nursing. He spent at least four times as long looking me over, listening for a full second in each spot under my shirt, in about three times as many spots. This is how the conversation went:

Doc 2: Well your lungs sound clear, but there still may be something there. Would you like an x-ray?

Me: Not really.

Doc 2: How about this, would you like to try some moderately aggressive antibiotics and see if you improve?

Me: Yes (Hallelujah!)

Doc 2: Would you like some cough medicine with Codeine?

Me: No, I should be fine without that.

Doc 2: I'll just print a paper prescription so if you change your mind you'll have that option. The cough might be with you for a while after your fever goes away.

Doc 2: Do you have any questions?

Me: No. (Will you adopt me?)

What an angel! He took his time, was respectful, asked for my input, and was even humorous during the exam. We even discussed exactly which antibiotic to use as I wanted to avoid another Zithromax disaster. Is that so hard to do in this day and age? I still gotta perfect the right number of days to wait before seeing the doctor to guarantee getting some drugs. Obviously three is too little and six is unbearable. I'll try for five next time.

Thursday Thirteen #24 - Good things about being sick

As I sit here suffering from what I'll dub the "Canadian" flu, it's always good to look at the bright side of things. Today I hit a high temperature of 103.6°F! Woohoo! (Trust me, I was not saying that at the time...) So here's a list of good things about being sick.

1. I get out of work. Yippee!
2. I don't have to tend to the darn kids, hard to do while bedridden. Although that doesn't prevent them from having tantrums on the floor next to my bed.
   
3. I don't have to cook.
4. I can use a laptop in bed.
   
5. I can still blog (deliriously) if my temp is under 102°F.
6. I can eat in bed.
   
7. I don't have to shovel snow.
   
8. I don't have to do any household chores like cleaning and laundry.
9. I'll hopefully lose some weight as my appetite is not very good.
10. I actually get to read the woefully neglected books on my nightstand.
    
11. I get to sleep as long as I want (granted, waking up every hour with fits of coughing or the sweats).
12. I can sleep with a kitty at my feet (always on my side, hmph!).
13. I will eventually get better!
    

Thanks for the well wishes!

Not much better today, although I managed to drive myself to the doctor only to have it dismissed as viral (left both kids with Doug because it is a snow day). The doctor offered a blood test and a chest x-ray but I declined on the x-ray because my cough is not pneumonia-like (not that I've ever had it, but I can tell). She felt that the 100-103°F temperature swings were fine. Let's just say I got less than top notch care from the "attending physician". Dova made a miraculous recovery today so maybe it is viral. Last night I couldn't write my post on The Killing Fields movie because Doug actually wanted to get some sleep, so instead I dreamt deliriously about it all night. Not exactly a restful convalescing topic. That and dreaming about laying out all the cables of my instrument at work and "breathing" through the wires to make sure they were correct. So without further ado, onto The Killing Fields!

Sick again

This is the second time that I've gotten this god awful illness where I run a high fever continually without it ever breaking below 101°F even with medication. If it is over 102, I'm completely incapacitated, and usually have the chills, where I bundle up under four blankets including an electric one, and have a fleece hat pulled down over my head to the tip of my nose and my shirt pulled up above my mouth to stay warm. If it is around 101.5, like it is now, I deliriously try to compose blog posts in my head. I can usually get out of bed, but I feel like I leave hot footprints everywhere I step and I risk getting the chills again. The worst part is the unshaven legs. At first, I didn't put on some sleep pants, so every single hair was sending needles of pain to the other leg. I finally had to fall asleep with one arm between my legs as it was less painful on my arms. The last time I had this illness, I failed to go to the doctor for a week and wrote many a delirious blog post including Mother and Daughter Insomnia. Apparently I am not heeding my own advice not to blog while having a fever. I was prescribed Zithromax which would have been effective, but unfortunately since I have a stomach sensitivity to the similar Erythromycin, the first double dose gave me vomiting and diarrhea for 2 days straight. As if I weren't sick enough! Unfortunately, Dova seems to have the same illness this time, so I not only have to try to take care of myself, but I have to take care of her and her vomiting on top of it. We are both going to doctors tomorrow in a snowstorm. So onward with the delirious blog posting...

Thursday Thirteen #20 - Myths about Breast Cancer

Thirteen common myths and fears about breast cancer.

1. You only get breast cancer if you have a family history. Although having a family history can increase your risk, 80% to 85% of women with breast cancer have no family history of the disease. Even if no one in your family has ever been diagnosed, you should not skip your yearly mammogram starting at age 40.
   
2. I'm too young to worry about breast cancer. The disease is more common in post-menopausal women, but 25% of women with breast cancer are younger than 50. At the same time, you're never too old to get breast cancer. If you feel a lump at any age, have it checked out.
3. If I'm diagnosed with breast cancer, it means I'm going to die. When caught early, up to 98 percent of women survive at least five years. The 10-year survival rate is 85% to 90%.
   
4. If I make it five years as a survivor, my breast cancer won't return. Breast cancer can recur at any time, although it is more likely to happen within the first 5 to 10 years: 75% of women who will get a recurrence see it within 6 years, and 25% recur in the 10 years after that.
   
5. Chemotherapy will make me nauseated and I will be vomiting all the time. In the last 10 years, new drugs have become available that can almost completely control nausea.
6. If I have a breast lump, it's cancer. Some lumps could be cysts or a benign tumors. All lumps should be checked thoroughly.
7. Herbal remedies and dietary supplements can help treat breast cancer. No herbal remedy, dietary supplement or alternative therapy has been scientifically proven to treat breast cancer. Further, doctors do not know how these alternative medicines may interact with established medicines.
8. I eat a healthy diet, which will make me immune to breast cancer. Diet does play a role in cancer development, but not by itself. No one food or vitamin will prevent breast cancer. At the same time, no one food is responsible for causing cancer.
   
9. My mammogram was normal, so I don't have to worry about breast cancer. While mammography does catch the vast majority of breast cancers, it is only one screening tool. Women should also have a breast exam done by their health care provider each year. It's important to get a mammogram every year. Doctors will look at previous years' mammograms to assess changes in the breast over time.
10. If I have a breast biopsy, the surgeon might continue to remove my entire breast. Many years ago, surgeons would remove a suspicious mass, biopsy it on the spot and proceed to mastectomy if it showed signs of cancer. Today, you will sign an informed consent form that explains exactly what procedure will be performed before the biopsy operation.
    
11. If a breast lump is painful, it's not cancer. Although lumps that are painful are generally not cancerous, in some cases they can be. Any lump should be thoroughly checked by a doctor.
12. Radiation therapy is dangerous and will burn my heart, ribs and lungs. Current radiation techniques are safe and effective for treating breast cancer, with few complications. Methods used today minimize exposure to the heart, ribs and lungs.
13. Participating in a clinical trial is good for others but not for me. In all clinical trials, the minimum any woman would receive is standard treatment. In some trials, participants receive a new drug or a new way to use an old drug. In others, patient participation may be as simple as having an extra tube of blood drawn or answering a survey. Studies have shown women who participate in clinical trials do better in the long run than those who do not.
    

Source University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Click me to donate for free!

Thursday Thirteen #19 - Join the Gal to Gal Virtual Walk

Here are some great reasons to join Gal to Gal Virtual Walk to improve the lives of those diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer.

1. It takes only 3 minutes to log onto www.galtogalwalk.org and create your virtual walker to join this journey.
2. Only a $3 minimum donation to join the walk.
3. There is no real walking required!
   
4. There are no sponsors required!
   
5. Their goal is to register 1 million walkers over the month of October to raise funds for Stage IV breast cancer patients through the Gal to Gal Foundation.
6. Celebrities such as Martha Stewart and Lynn Redgrave are already walking.
   
7. On Monday, October 1st (the first day of breast cancer awareness month) we began our journey in Boston in honor of Robin Bloksberg who passed away at 45 after losing her brave battle to Stage IV - leaving behind a wonderful husband and a six year old daughter.
8. Today we are walking in Baltimore MD and will visit 31 cities in total along the way.
   
9. We cross the "finish line" on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in memory of Janis Armstrong - who even during the final months of her life - helped craft the Gal to Gal Foundation's mission statement.
10. For this journey there are no "blue" or "red" states but only "PINK" ones.
11. The fact is, as Carrie Dederich has said - "breast cancer is an equal opportunity destroyer."
12. Also check out Design-her Gals stationery and gift products.
13. Join us and spread the word!
    

Thursday Thirteen #5: Organ Donation

I recently heard about organ donation in the news and wanted to pipe in for this cause.

1. A Dutch television network said that it would broadcast a "reality" show featuring three patients competing for a kidney to be donated by a terminally ill woman, but it turned out to be a hoax to promote awareness of organ donation and the lack of organ donors. It did encourage tens of thousands of people in the Netherlands to sign up.
2. In the United States, the waiting list for organ donation is nearly 97,000 people. Many will die without receiving one. That is one death every 90 minutes.
   
3. Organs that can be donated include: the heart, intestines, kidneys, lungs, liver, pancreas, skin, bone and bone marrow, cornea.
4. Once removed from a body, a kidney has a 72-hour window before it needs to be transplanted into a patient.
5. Organ donations from dead donors far outweigh donations by living ones. Organs that can be donated from living donors include the lung, partial liver or pancreas and the kidney.
6. A 2005 Gallup poll revealed that more than half the population of the United States was willing to donate organs after death. However, fewer than two out of 10 families opt to donate organs of relatives after death. Relatives can still dissent even in the presence of evidence of explicit consent by the potential organ donor.
7. The percentage of individuals in the United States who have granted permission to donate their organs or tissues reached 53 percent in 2005, almost double the 28 percent in 1993.
8. "Presumed consent" has been adopted in France, Spain, Australia, Belgium and Portugal, although no country mandates that organs must be donated.
9. The Spanish transplant system is one of the most successful in the world, but it still can't meet the demand, as 10% of those needing a transplant die waiting for one.
10. There has been a ban for organ trafficking in India since 1994, although the practice continues.
11. This is an excellent site that dispels myths about organ donations.
    
12. I've been an organ donor as long as I've had a driver's license and my family is well aware of my intentions.
    
13. Become an organ donor and tell you family about it! Here is information on how to register to be a donor in your state.

Sources: Wikipedia, Wired, IHT, NIH, HSRA

Keeping my Chiropractic addiction at bay

When I was young, my parents always told me that Chiropractors where just quacks, and not real doctors. I didn't know much about it, so when my work offered a seminar on it as part of their wellness program a year ago, I was curious to learn about it. I was fascinated by their success stories especially of children and babies, as children are not so influenced by psychosomatic therapies. They brought a bunch of contraptions: a double scale to see your side to side weight distribution, a string alignment grid to chart your posture and a temperature measuring device to detect nervous activity imbalances in your neck. All these hard core measurements appealed to my engineering side. They were very persuasive and "scientific" about their use of these instruments, so I signed up for a free diagnosis and consultation for Doug and myself. I don't actually have any issues, some mild neck and back pain, and some numbness in my fingers if my arms are bent for long periods (knitting or driving a car) which I usually attribute to poor circulation.

During our consultation, Doug and I first got to watch a video about how great chiropractic was. During the evaluation, the doctor kept pushing the free x-ray which we both declined. They started doing the hard sell, "we won't be able to fully diagnose the extent of your subluxations." We really had to be firm to refuse them. During the rest of the evaluation, I could see that my charts showed that my results were extremely bad, where Doug's looked pretty much OK. Which makes no sense since Doug has many back problems where I have none in comparison. I started doubting these so called scientific measurements. We also saw brochures touting chiropractic as a cure for all sorts of ailments including asthma, constipation, immunity to colds as well as the usual back pains. After all, everything is controlled by your nervous system and if the nerves are getting frayed by misalignments in the spine, that is obviously the root of all problems. They also pushed their educational classes and seminars on chiropractic. I started to think that this was looking more like a cult, where they brainwash you with all this persuasive material and suck your money away in "treatments".

I had to return for my results the next week and Doug never went back (I guess he already knew better!). The doctor recommended that I have treatments 3 times a week for 6 weeks, then 2 times a week for 6 to 12 weeks, and then 1 time a week for another 6 to 12 weeks. For what? Mild back pain and occasional numbness in my fingers? Hardly seemed necessary since I had managed to live 39 years without treatment. My first adjustment however, was definitely enlightening. My neck was suddenly so loose, I felt like a bobblehead. Could it be that all these years I really had an abnormally stiff neck? It really felt good! I went back a couple more times and then stopped because I had changed insurance plans and it was no longer a $15 copay per visit, but the full $45 or $55 with the new high deductible plan. What a racket! Two minutes of cracking: crack crack crack, $45 please. No wonder they need to brainwash you to keep coming back. How many adjustments can they push through in an hour? What a great money making machine. The other fluff stuff they do with ultrasonic treatments, back rollers, etc. is probably not much more beneficial than a massage chair, but perhaps people feel better about forking over the money when they spend more than the 2 minutes needed for the adjustment.

The feeling of having my neck cracked reminded me of when I used to obsessively crack my knuckles as a kid. I kept wanting to crack them even though I heard that it would lead to arthritis later in life. I finally quit cracking them obsessively (but the urge returns especially if I'm sick), but I definitely ended up with larger than normal knuckles. I can't imagine that cracking your neck on a regular basis won't do the same kind of damage to those bones and ligaments. But I can see getting hooked on the feeling just like cracking knuckles. When I started suspecting that chiropractic was a bit of a cult, I found this interesting website, Chirobase: Your Skeptical Guide to Chiropractic History, Theories, and Practices, about the myths and truths (albeit probably biased) about chiropractic.

My personal experience after my first few adjustments was that I became hooked on the bobblehead feeling. I would dream about going again looking for my fix and trying to avoid x-rays. However, I just couldn't bring myself to pay for more adjustments. About six months later, I had the urge to go back again, but I needed a re-evaluation. Again, without x-rays, my results were even worse than before, but in actuality, I had no complaints except for an occasional stiff neck. My numbness has seemed to subside as well. I had a different doctor perform the adjustment, and he had a gentler touch and technique which I completely fell in love with, and left me wanting more. I went back one more time and then resisted the urge to return. There is a co-worker that uses another practice which only charges $20 per adjustment that I may check out in the future if I ever get the overwhelming urge. But oh this doctor, his hands are simply amazing! Can you tell I have the addiction bad? No need for brainwashing for me. Even writing this post is making me crave it!

Germ paranoia

My father taught me when I was a girl that to avoid germs in public bathrooms, after washing your hands, you took a paper towel to grab the door knob or handle, prop the door open with your foot and then throw the paper towel out in the trash before exiting. Of course, you could only do this if the door/trash were properly situated. At work, I've seen yet another trick. You leave the water running (wasteful), dry your hands and then use another paper towel to turn off the faucet. Two separate people have done this, which I find fascinating, either they learned this trick from one another, or this is something I've never run across in 39 years. I don't think this is so effective because if you turn off the faucet with your wet hands, the new germs you get would probably be scrubbed away when you used the paper towel (I'm hoping). Then again, there are two swinging doors to this bathroom so you can't do the prop the door trick. At least from what I've heard, women are much better about washing their hands after using the toilet than men.

Do You Want to Live Forever?

Do You Want to Live Forever? is a very disturbing article I read in Technology Review online. I had been putting off reading it for months because it was too long (of course now I have a bit of free time at my job). Aubrey de Grey is some wacko that thinks that aging can be solved by "fixing" 7 areas of biology. He believes that everyone wants to live forever and that once that happens, there would be no need to have children. My friend Jim, a fellow alum, who had read the article on his own, put it perfectly, "You can think whatever you want, but don't tell me not to have kids."

Just recently, I finally happened upon the tiny forums link in the corner of the page, which is a posting area for this (or any) particular article. Apparently there are a lot of flames for the author of the article (and some condescending defense from Aubrey himself on p. 7), but I happened to agree with the author completely. It is natural to die. It just goes to show how scary some of these MIT brainiacs are.

Here is the official Aubrey de Grey Responds that he gave in response to the original article. The guy is still lost. Another related editorial by Jason Pontin is on the money as well, but unjustly flamed in the forums. They even asked for his resignation!! I'm not about to put my 2 cents into these fires, but at least I can here!!

Update 10/5/07 - I revisited this post and updated the links after listening to the WNYC Radio Lab's podcast about Mortality. The links in this post were out of date as Technology Review revamped its archives. The forums I mentioned have been integrated as blog comments, although the "unjust flaming" of Jason Pontin have been completely removed (I suppose he is editor after all).