I was devastated to hear about your situation. Glad for you and your family that things worked out in a positive direction.
Since you talked about the need for changing your diet, something's been really nagging me. How many cans/bottles of soda or glasses of fruit juice did you normally drink per day? Artificially sweetened or normal HFCS/Cane Sugar?
During the long overnight sessions (if you don't mind talking about it) what, if anything, kept you awake? (coffee, loud music, candy, corn chips, etc)?
I don't drink soda, except on rare occasions, but I have been drinking cane-sugar-sweetened and straight cranberry juice for several years, to keep kidney stones from forming. I probably averaged 10 ounces a day. That stuff really works. Beyond that, I drink lots of water with some lemon juice squeezed into it. I avoid HFCS, as it makes me feel lousy.
Staying up all night, I just had my lemon water. I didn't have any food to munch on, nor music. I just loved the quiet and contiguous hours of uninterrupted thinking and working.
I think what took me down were four things: too much richness in my diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, and something that came into focus last night, as I did a little Prop2 work in the evening :
I guess because my stamina is now reduced, I really noticed that when I'm working on the computer, I often barely breathe, because I need to be steady to move the mouse around from place to place on two 4k screens in portrait mode. It's like surgery. There are several apps (not to mention Windows) that I work within, and it's quite taxing to always think where I need to point the mouse next and click. So, I barely breathe. I was doing six to ten contiguous hours, just during the night, of sitting and barely breathing. It's kind of like playing a video game, where your concentration and stress are high, and your movement is low. I need to change this, somehow.
Since the hospital upset, I've gotten onto a low-salt diet, and it has been amazing. I don't obsess about food anymore, because there's just not anything compelling to think about. Salt makes food very engaging. Take the salt out and you just eat what you need, no frills. And it tastes fine. My weight has been dropping by 3 pounds a day, probably due mainly to desalination. I feel fine, except for the surgery trauma. I think when you get opened up like that, a lot of fascia are disturbed and your parts aren't all snug as a bug, like they were. There's kind of a loose feeling that will take time to heal. For now, my lust for food is near zero. I'm happy to eat just for the sustenance.
My wife has done the Jenny Craig diet a few times and it really works. You only eat what you get from them and the key to the whole thing seems to be low salt and controlled portions of nutritious food.
If everybody could desalinate, they'd get a whole new perspective on eating. It's hard to agree to do, though, shy of supposing your life is in danger.
I've been drinking kombucha for maybe six weeks and it gives me a good, clean feeling. My friend Bud has even started brewing it in the shop. We ordered an initial SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) and a dozen one-gallon fermentation jars via Amazon. The SCOBY eats a sugared tea mixture, leaving a pleasant liquid behind. There's almost no sugar in the end, and I can't say there's much tea, either. Since the hospital, I still drink this kombucha stuff at the rate of one 17 ounce bottle a day. There's just something pleasant about it.
I like Michael Pollan's ideas about food: Eat mostly fruit and vegetables, mostly fresh, not too much. We keep a little salt around, mostly for recipes that really need it and for guests. Fortunately Minnesota is the home of coops and we have lots of food coops where the buyers know the farms where they get produce, dairy, and meats. One coop even has their own farm now where they get some of their produce.
Chip, As someone that knows what it's like to be in poor health, I wish you a speedy recovery.
Andy, thanks.
Really, my problems aren't that great. And they're of my own making.
I know that you and others on this forum deal with problems that are long-term and for which the prognosis is sometimes not too hopeful. You guys have a much harder roe to hoe and I feel for you.
Chip, I'm glad to hear you are on the mend, that the damage to your heart is not too severe, and that you were monitoring your BP and that your friend Bud tipped you to have it checked out. I am in envy that you got to observe your own angiogram. I suppose I got to see mine, but they used long-term memory blockers so that I wouldn't be able to remember the procedure. Fixes that whole "don't say anything that might upset the patient" thing I suppose. Although I do clearly remember that in the operating theatre they were playing Pink Floyd's "Money" the first time I went under, and since I needed a second procedure (they ran out the safe limit on that dye) the second time they were playing "Learning to Fly." Maybe the memory blockers weren't a bad thing, hmmmmm.
The technology is amazing. I do remember the X-ray image of my own beating heart before they put the "good stuff" in the IV and started the procedure. The resolution and quality was amazing. And of course the "table' you're lying on is this very advanced robotic machine, as is the catheter itself.
A tip: Keep an eye on the entry point for the angiogram. Since you had a bypass you're probably more concerned with the incisions, but my leg turned black and blue (which is amazingly considered normal) from leaking blood. A tub of DMSO gel from the feed store will reduce that a lot. And if you should get what looks like a bulge or hernia near the entry point, have it looked at. There are a few modes for the procedure that plugs the hole in your artery to fail, all of which look similar but one of which is quite dangerous. If you get any bulging they will very carefully ultrasound it to make sure it's not threatening the circulation downstream in your leg.
God speed and be well, Mr. Gracey. We all want to see what you will create next!
'Glad to hear you're bouncing back so quickly, Chip! Having your chest cracked open like that has to have been a major trauma to your body, from which someone a lot older than you might have more trouble recovering.
... but I have been drinking cane-sugar-sweetened and straight cranberry juice for several years, to keep kidney stones from forming. I probably averaged 10 ounces a day. That stuff really works.
Having suffered three of those nasties this year with two ER visits, I'll have to keep that in mind. The remedy I'm currently trying is black cherry juice, which is supposed to bind with uric acid and help it flush from the body instead of accumulating and crystalizing in the kidneys. I have to moderate my intake of purines, which metabolize to uric acid. Unfortunately, brewers' yeast is rich in purines, so I have to limit my consumption of stouts and dark ales. But, above all else, good hydration is the main preventative.
Anyway, I hope your recovery continues on its current trajectory. Just be sure to follow the program; and don't get cocky, assuming you can rush things!
It was interesting to me that after the initial probing, they left the whole sheath in my leg, while I waited several hours for the main surgery. I never noticed a drop of blood, and afterwards that incision healed up really fast. They must have some special materials and shapes to get away with that. The only black and blue areas were minor and they were due to I.V. install mishaps in hospital rooms. I guess I've been really fortunate.
I was getting kidney stones with some regularity up to about 4 years ago. It was an awful discomfort. I remember one time when my tortilla cohort was driving me up to Redding, because I thought maybe that E.R. wouldn't bill me as badly as the local one did: We got 2/3 the way there and I asked him to pull into the rest stop, because I thought maybe it would pass. No such luck. I came out of bathroom, which was elevated from the ground by about three feet, grabbed onto the side rail with both hands, and simultaneously screamed and vomited. After that, I suddenly felt okay. Those things just about kill you when they are passing from your kidney into your bladder. You'd maybe never notice them, otherwise. After I got back into the car, I pressed my fingers into my side where all the pain had been coming from, and it felt like nothing had happened. We kept heading to Redding, but when we got there we just spent some time checking out a supposed local tortilla factory, only to realize that it was long defunct and now must be using some other factory, elsewhere, to private-label its output for them. So much for that "local" producer.
There's this 6'8" friend at church who is a little off, due to head injuries. Because of his benefits, he always winds up living around people with similar troubles. He was telling me that he had a really painful kidney stone once, and one of his roommates snuck up behind him and punched him in the sore kidney. Problem solved, right away. It forced the stone all the way out the kidney, into the bladder. It takes a special person to administer that kind of therapy, though.
I've just been drinking about a cup of cranberry juice a day, since the last episode, and I've had no more troubles. I think my wife gets "Langer's" brand from our local cheap grocery store. It's maybe $3 for a half gallon. Really works.
My first experience with a kidney stone was back in the early '80s. I was playing poker with some friends and noticed some pain that just kept increasing. After excusing myself from the game, I went home and went to bed, hoping the pain would go away. It didn't; it kept getting worse. By 6 a.m. it was unbearable. I walked down to a friend's house and banged on his door, hoping to arouse him to take me to the ER. He thought it was the paperboy coming to collect and didn't answer the door -- until I made such a racket that he had to get up. Went to the ER and got admitted as an inpatient, since they thought it might be appendicitis. That's when I was introduced to the wonders of morphine.
Second one occurred in Kauai. I'd been sent there to install sorting equipment in a papaya plant. The dang thing hit me after I had finished up and just before I was scheduled to make a presentation to the plant's board of directors. That was the most excruciating presentation I've ever had to give! Fortunately, it passed before boarding my flight back to Washington. I can't imagine sitting on a plane for five hours, with seatbelt fastened, practically dying from the pain.
The worst came years later and lasted for three weeks. I truly did want to die then!
But, honestly, I really have no visceral memory of the pain from any of them -- seven all told, three this year -- only a rather more cerebral memory that I was in pain. I think forgetting the sensation of pain is a definitive human survival mechanism. Otherwise, every child would be an only child ... right?
-Phil
P.S. The latest remedy for kidney stones appears to be roller coasters:
Chip, my hospital bill itemized the closure kits. They are indeed a specialty item. Apparently in the bad old days they just sutured the artery and applied pressure until the leaking healed, which it didn't always do without a big mess. Now they have special clamps and adhesives to seal it up instantly. I think my problem with the entry point is that I had two of them, and the second was a bit too close to my hip so that it flexed a lot as I walked. That was the one that formed a hernia and got ultrasounded to make sure it wasn't dangerous.
Can't relate to any of the last several posts except for the paperboy reference. It's a real bitch to collect for a paper route, especially when you're a 14-year-old private contractor who has to pay for the papers he delivers, and ends up subsidizing the education and amusement of half-a-dozen of his clients, month after month. At the risk of getting sued, I gotta say <famous person's name deleted>'s brother was one of the worst offenders.
Chip, its great to hear you up and feisty. Gian and Mark and Teri send their well wishes too.
My own last hospital stay was for a hip replacement. Elective surgery, but the old one gave out and was painfully grinding nerves. The new one has definitely been precious new lease on life.
We just trimmed our tree, recognize this ornament? Do enjoy the Christmas season with your family, and play the children (but not too vigorously!)
I have been interested in regulatory disorders for as long as I remember.
What you've got is probably the result of a stress related regulatory disorder.
I don't think it matters a tinkers damn what you eat or drink.
The question is sort of mute at this point, but were those arteries really blocked?... or were they in spasm?
Either way, the surgeon was in the best position to make a decision and he made it.
I don't have a problem replacing "spasming" coronary arteries... and no-one else should either.
But I think the distinction is important and doctors don't discuss it with civilians.
The pathologist knows. Take him out to dinner, buy him some adult beverages and find out!!!
You know someone who knows someone that can make it happen:)
The formal report won't do you any good... they are there to protect the surgeon(when necessary).
I have been interested in regulatory disorders for as long as I remember.
What you've got is probably the result of a stress related regulatory disorder.
I don't think it matters a tinkers damn what you eat or drink.
The question is sort of mute at this point, but were those arteries really blocked?... or were they in spasm?
Either way, the surgeon was in the best position to make a decision and he made it.
I don't have a problem replacing "spasming" coronary arteries... and no-one else should either.
But I think the distinction is important and doctors don't discuss it with civilians.
The pathologist knows. Take him out to dinner, buy him some adult beverages and find out!!!
You know someone who knows someone that can make it happen:)
The formal report won't do you any good... they are there to protect the surgeon(when necessary).
Best wishes.
Rich
Interesting, Rich.
I have a friend up here who kept calling 911 because he thought he was dying. He had what you described. They finally realized his arteries kept closing, so they used stents to keep them open. He was under stress, pretty much of the sort I am.
The heart surgeon said, though, that my cholesterol was 3x normal, which must have been a very late development, because I had just passed a life insurance health check which involved blood drawing a few months ago.
I'll see the surgeon on Thursday and I'll ask him about this. Hopefully, if there's anything to say, he'll just tell me. I wonder a lot about how people who are heavy lawsuit targets juggle the forces of fear, compassion, and knowledge.
I have to tell you that I'm not paranoid... I base my prejudices on my own first person experiences:)
If it were me, I'd get copies of the path slides and get my favorite pathologists to take a look.
If the slides appeared as reported, I would then send them off to a lab and make sure that my DNA was on those slides.
I actually would do this and wouldn't be surprised by anything.
I am a retired physician and when the chips were down for me... I got lied to by people with the highest credentials in their field.
If I hadn't done my due diligence and listened to my favorite hometown surgeon, I would be dead.
And I have seen the same sort of thing happen to my patients and people close to me.
It isn't as rare as it should be.
If I had spastic arteries, I'd get rid of them. So, that's not an issue even if that turns out to be the case.
You might ask your surgeon if there is ever a connection between kidney stones and heart disease?
You didn't mention the kind of stone, but if there was heavy calcium in the stones... you'd really need to become an
expert on calcium metabolism. You can do it. By the time you are done, you will
be the leading expert... but do you have to do it?
It's all in the path slides. Don't believe anyone.
I have to tell you that I'm not paranoid... I base my prejudices on my own first person experiences:)
If it were me, I'd get copies of the path slides and get my favorite pathologists to take a look.
If the slides appeared as reported, I would then send them off to a lab and make sure that my DNA was on those slides.
I actually would do this and wouldn't be surprised by anything.
I am a retired physician and when the chips were down for me... I got lied to by people with the highest credentials in their field.
If I hadn't done my due diligence and listened to my favorite hometown surgeon, I would be dead.
And I have seen the same sort of thing happen to my patients and people close to me.
It isn't as rare as it should be.
If I had spastic arteries, I'd get rid of them. So, that's not an issue even if that turns out to be the case.
You might ask your surgeon if there is ever a connection between kidney stones and heart disease?
You didn't mention the kind of stone, but if there was heavy calcium in the stones... you'd really need to become an
expert on calcium metabolism. You can do it. By the time you are done, you will
be the leading expert... but do you have to do it?
It's all in the path slides. Don't believe anyone.
Nail the truth.
Do you think they have slides for me? Are these from the lab that kept checking my blood?
In your experience, were the DNA mismatches due to carelessness or to justify something?
I have used my phone to take pictures of the "private" reports I have seen on the monitor vs the ones that they are allowed to print out. Certainly I can say that at times they twist things around perhaps to cover themselves. The more they have to cover, the more they have to twist, although I am sure that internally they know what the real story is (was).
Life took what was available to create a wonderful machinery. We are so proud about being a part of that, we name that part with one of the most simply codes: "I".
I like "Intelligence". As this machine is extremely flexible and can react on unforeseen events and conditions, we never will understand it completly. It' like understanding tachyon code from counting the letters. If you are a "C" programmer you will use 10 % of C every day, the rest will be used by genius's now and then. Our body only uses the rest. So we will never ever understand fully, how it works.
But we see the big picture and one aspect of that is: the brain needs about 1/3 of the calories supplied by the digesting "factory". To bring enough blood to the brain, the distribution must be changed, In history, when stressed and working at full speed, man was in physical danger, ready to run, alert. Now we sit in a chair, have to keep a position over long time, ... Something not foreseen by evolution. But as an individual we can not rely on selection of the proper gens ;-)
So we have to take care of us! And Chip, please, we need you, your inspiration, your power, your driving force. Slow down. Just finish, what you have already, the crowd will make good use of the PII, like we did with the PI, which is not at the end. If someone would invest into a new process, even the P1 will shrink, become cheaper, faster, live as long as the 8051.
You are on the right path. Eat balanced food, do physical exercises, use spare time to rest, not to do the rest. All simple things. This is what your body needs as a supply, the rest will happen.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi
Here in Jefferson County, WA, we're fortunate to have up-to-date, online reporting for everything that affects a patient in the local system. If I get a blood draw and lab work, the unfiltered results of that lab work are available to me online, directly from the lab, without a physician's interpretation. When anything new gets added, I get an email alert to check it out. They even provide graphs of trends if the same tests are given more than once. If I get an xray or CT scan, the radiologist's report gets put there for me to read. If a physician wants to add his comments, he may, and that becomes part of the digital record, too. But, basically, nothing is ever hidden from the patient. I have direct access to everything, and if there's something I don't understand, I can always ask my primary-care physician or specialist.
But being able to provide this level of data does change the dynamic of doctor-patient interaction. About half the time spent in an examination room is watching the doc key observations into a computer terminal -- and sometimes curse the system. But I think it's great to have my entire medical record online and available to myself and to whichever professional is charged with my care at any particular time.
Of course, this assumes that a provider actually reads what's there. Even though my allergies are in the system, I'm constantly barraged with questions about what I'm allergic to. But maybe that's just a reasonable abundance of caution.
Life took what was available to create a wonderful machinery. We are so proud about being a part of that, we name that part with one of the most simply codes: "I".
I like "Intelligence". As this machine is extremely flexible and can react on unforeseen events and conditions, we never will understand it completly. It' like understanding tachyon code from counting the letters. If you are a "C" programmer you will use 10 % of C every day, the rest will be used by genius's now and then. Our body only uses the rest. So we will never ever understand fully, how it works.
But we see the big picture and one aspect of that is: the brain needs about 1/3 of the calories supplied by the digesting "factory". To bring enough blood to the brain, the distribution must be changed, In history, when stressed and working at full speed, man was in physical danger, ready to run, alert. Now we sit in a chair, have to keep a position over long time, ... Something not foreseen by evolution. But as an individual we can not rely on selection of the proper gens ;-)
So we have to take care of us! And Chip, please, we need you, your inspiration, your power, your driving force. Slow down. Just finish, what you have already, the crowd will make good use of the PII, like we did with the PI, which is not at the end. If someone would invest into a new process, even the P1 will shrink, become cheaper, faster, live as long as the 8051.
You are on the right path. Eat balanced food, do physical exercises, use spare time to rest, not to do the rest. All simple things. This is what your body needs as a supply, the rest will happen.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi
I've been trying to think about this sitting-in-a-chair problem we all face. I don't know how to think about it. Thought requires concentration which requires stillness. I'd at least like to figure out a new way to work where holding my breath to position a mouse is not the dominant activity. I think I've been breathing about 1/4 as much as I should have been.
Maybe a convex magnified bubble that's always centered over the cursor would be a solution. The real solution probably involves ditching the mouse, in favor of something more natural, like eye movement tracking.
Here in Jefferson County, WA, we're fortunate to have up-to-date, online reporting for everything that affects a patient in the local system.
-Phil
We have something like that here, too. It's touchy to use, though. It seems like the usefulness of these web-based data viewing/reporting systems is under 50%, due to flakiness at so many levels. Every institution supposes or insists their system works, but it is always tenuous to work with. Maybe my phone can access it, but my PC can't, or vice-versa. Maybe it hangs up on password entry, etc.
Life took what was available to create a wonderful machinery. We are so proud about being a part of that, we name that part with one of the most simply codes: "I".
I like "Intelligence". As this machine is extremely flexible and can react on unforeseen events and conditions, we never will understand it completly. It' like understanding tachyon code from counting the letters. If you are a "C" programmer you will use 10 % of C every day, the rest will be used by genius's now and then. Our body only uses the rest. So we will never ever understand fully, how it works.
But we see the big picture and one aspect of that is: the brain needs about 1/3 of the calories supplied by the digesting "factory". To bring enough blood to the brain, the distribution must be changed, In history, when stressed and working at full speed, man was in physical danger, ready to run, alert. Now we sit in a chair, have to keep a position over long time, ... Something not foreseen by evolution. But as an individual we can not rely on selection of the proper gens ;-)
So we have to take care of us! And Chip, please, we need you, your inspiration, your power, your driving force. Slow down. Just finish, what you have already, the crowd will make good use of the PII, like we did with the PI, which is not at the end. If someone would invest into a new process, even the P1 will shrink, become cheaper, faster, live as long as the 8051.
You are on the right path. Eat balanced food, do physical exercises, use spare time to rest, not to do the rest. All simple things. This is what your body needs as a supply, the rest will happen.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi
I've been trying to think about this sitting-in-a-chair problem we all face. I don't know how to think about it. Thought requires concentration which requires stillness. I'd at least like to figure out a new way to work where holding my breath to position a mouse is not the dominant activity. I think I've been breathing about 1/4 as much as I should have been.
Maybe a convex magnified bubble that's always centered over the cursor would be a solution. The real solution probably involves ditching the mouse, in favor of something more natural, like eye movement tracking.
I know it's great having all of the screen real estate you get with two 4K monitors but maybe that is too high a resolution to work with comfortably. I just bought two 2K 27" monitors and the text is small on those. I can't imaging running at full 4K resolution on 27" monitors. How big are yours?
Life took what was available to create a wonderful machinery. We are so proud about being a part of that, we name that part with one of the most simply codes: "I".
I like "Intelligence". As this machine is extremely flexible and can react on unforeseen events and conditions, we never will understand it completly. It' like understanding tachyon code from counting the letters. If you are a "C" programmer you will use 10 % of C every day, the rest will be used by genius's now and then. Our body only uses the rest. So we will never ever understand fully, how it works.
But we see the big picture and one aspect of that is: the brain needs about 1/3 of the calories supplied by the digesting "factory". To bring enough blood to the brain, the distribution must be changed, In history, when stressed and working at full speed, man was in physical danger, ready to run, alert. Now we sit in a chair, have to keep a position over long time, ... Something not foreseen by evolution. But as an individual we can not rely on selection of the proper gens ;-)
So we have to take care of us! And Chip, please, we need you, your inspiration, your power, your driving force. Slow down. Just finish, what you have already, the crowd will make good use of the PII, like we did with the PI, which is not at the end. If someone would invest into a new process, even the P1 will shrink, become cheaper, faster, live as long as the 8051.
You are on the right path. Eat balanced food, do physical exercises, use spare time to rest, not to do the rest. All simple things. This is what your body needs as a supply, the rest will happen.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi
I've been trying to think about this sitting-in-a-chair problem we all face. I don't know how to think about it. Thought requires concentration which requires stillness. I'd at least like to figure out a new way to work where holding my breath to position a mouse is not the dominant activity. I think I've been breathing about 1/4 as much as I should have been.
Maybe a convex magnified bubble that's always centered over the cursor would be a solution. The real solution probably involves ditching the mouse, in favor of something more natural, like eye movement tracking.
I know it's great having all of the screen real estate you get with two 4K monitors but maybe that is too high a resolution to work with comfortably. I just bought two 2K 27" monitors and the text is small on those. I can't imaging running at full 4K resolution on 27" monitors. How big are yours?
I think they are 28". I really like the sharpness of text, especially on schematic symbols. The only problem is maybe that Windows doesn't scale menu bars well (File Edit ...). I tried to get those bigger, but it had the crude effect of cutting the resolution of everything else in half, defeating the entire purpose. Imagine all your app's menu bars being about 1/6th of a inch tall. I need to slow way down and hold my breathe to click those.
Life took what was available to create a wonderful machinery. We are so proud about being a part of that, we name that part with one of the most simply codes: "I".
I like "Intelligence". As this machine is extremely flexible and can react on unforeseen events and conditions, we never will understand it completly. It' like understanding tachyon code from counting the letters. If you are a "C" programmer you will use 10 % of C every day, the rest will be used by genius's now and then. Our body only uses the rest. So we will never ever understand fully, how it works.
But we see the big picture and one aspect of that is: the brain needs about 1/3 of the calories supplied by the digesting "factory". To bring enough blood to the brain, the distribution must be changed, In history, when stressed and working at full speed, man was in physical danger, ready to run, alert. Now we sit in a chair, have to keep a position over long time, ... Something not foreseen by evolution. But as an individual we can not rely on selection of the proper gens ;-)
So we have to take care of us! And Chip, please, we need you, your inspiration, your power, your driving force. Slow down. Just finish, what you have already, the crowd will make good use of the PII, like we did with the PI, which is not at the end. If someone would invest into a new process, even the P1 will shrink, become cheaper, faster, live as long as the 8051.
You are on the right path. Eat balanced food, do physical exercises, use spare time to rest, not to do the rest. All simple things. This is what your body needs as a supply, the rest will happen.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi
I've been trying to think about this sitting-in-a-chair problem we all face. I don't know how to think about it. Thought requires concentration which requires stillness. I'd at least like to figure out a new way to work where holding my breath to position a mouse is not the dominant activity. I think I've been breathing about 1/4 as much as I should have been.
Maybe a convex magnified bubble that's always centered over the cursor would be a solution. The real solution probably involves ditching the mouse, in favor of something more natural, like eye movement tracking.
Perhaps you should try one of those odd looking ergonomic "chairs" that you kneel on (Swedish invention IIRC). I used one when I was doing a lot of bench work and it was a lot more comfortable than a stool or chair once I got used to it.
And have a liftable table you can stand at for some time, then using a chair. And if you are looking for inspiration, go to a walk, because your inner screen is sufficient do be inspired. But again: slow down. your body is busy to close the wounds, create all the chemistry to absorb material no longer useful and create new tissue. Life is not what we see in movies. I once was hit by a chip jumping from a hammer when I missed the target. I only felt a little impact, didn't see anything, later a droplet of blood came out of the skin, and I lost conciousness. Not because of blood or pain, just because of a shock. Please be careful! Don't hurry!!!
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are, how fragile we are
I've been trying to think about this sitting-in-a-chair problem we all face. I don't know how to think about it.
Some people with chronic back problems use the sit-standing technique, an inclined board or specially modified stool with a shelf for the rear end. It's not quite sitting, and it's not quite standing. There's a reduced amount of weight on your legs, and you're not in a folded position that restricts breathing. Because it's much easier to go from sitting to standing, there's naturally more movement of the body without stretching or straining.
Of course, you need a standing-height desk, but these are common.
The chairs go by names like standing chair, motion seating, or sit-to-stand. They're about $400 to $1000, depending on features. Anyway, something to try out. "Kneeling chairs," which I've used in the past, still places you in a seated position.
Chip, you can get a desk that raises and lowers, and spend at least part of your time standing while working.
I have one at work and it's pretty nice. It can help with circulation and also back issues.
Not sure it will help with your breathing issue, I don't experience what you are describing with mouse positioning requiring me to hold my breath. Perhaps you need to adjust your mouse settings?
Comments
I don't drink soda, except on rare occasions, but I have been drinking cane-sugar-sweetened and straight cranberry juice for several years, to keep kidney stones from forming. I probably averaged 10 ounces a day. That stuff really works. Beyond that, I drink lots of water with some lemon juice squeezed into it. I avoid HFCS, as it makes me feel lousy.
Staying up all night, I just had my lemon water. I didn't have any food to munch on, nor music. I just loved the quiet and contiguous hours of uninterrupted thinking and working.
I think what took me down were four things: too much richness in my diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, and something that came into focus last night, as I did a little Prop2 work in the evening :
I guess because my stamina is now reduced, I really noticed that when I'm working on the computer, I often barely breathe, because I need to be steady to move the mouse around from place to place on two 4k screens in portrait mode. It's like surgery. There are several apps (not to mention Windows) that I work within, and it's quite taxing to always think where I need to point the mouse next and click. So, I barely breathe. I was doing six to ten contiguous hours, just during the night, of sitting and barely breathing. It's kind of like playing a video game, where your concentration and stress are high, and your movement is low. I need to change this, somehow.
Since the hospital upset, I've gotten onto a low-salt diet, and it has been amazing. I don't obsess about food anymore, because there's just not anything compelling to think about. Salt makes food very engaging. Take the salt out and you just eat what you need, no frills. And it tastes fine. My weight has been dropping by 3 pounds a day, probably due mainly to desalination. I feel fine, except for the surgery trauma. I think when you get opened up like that, a lot of fascia are disturbed and your parts aren't all snug as a bug, like they were. There's kind of a loose feeling that will take time to heal. For now, my lust for food is near zero. I'm happy to eat just for the sustenance.
My wife has done the Jenny Craig diet a few times and it really works. You only eat what you get from them and the key to the whole thing seems to be low salt and controlled portions of nutritious food.
If everybody could desalinate, they'd get a whole new perspective on eating. It's hard to agree to do, though, shy of supposing your life is in danger.
I've been drinking kombucha for maybe six weeks and it gives me a good, clean feeling. My friend Bud has even started brewing it in the shop. We ordered an initial SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) and a dozen one-gallon fermentation jars via Amazon. The SCOBY eats a sugared tea mixture, leaving a pleasant liquid behind. There's almost no sugar in the end, and I can't say there's much tea, either. Since the hospital, I still drink this kombucha stuff at the rate of one 17 ounce bottle a day. There's just something pleasant about it.
Andy, thanks.
Really, my problems aren't that great. And they're of my own making.
I know that you and others on this forum deal with problems that are long-term and for which the prognosis is sometimes not too hopeful. You guys have a much harder roe to hoe and I feel for you.
The technology is amazing. I do remember the X-ray image of my own beating heart before they put the "good stuff" in the IV and started the procedure. The resolution and quality was amazing. And of course the "table' you're lying on is this very advanced robotic machine, as is the catheter itself.
A tip: Keep an eye on the entry point for the angiogram. Since you had a bypass you're probably more concerned with the incisions, but my leg turned black and blue (which is amazingly considered normal) from leaking blood. A tub of DMSO gel from the feed store will reduce that a lot. And if you should get what looks like a bulge or hernia near the entry point, have it looked at. There are a few modes for the procedure that plugs the hole in your artery to fail, all of which look similar but one of which is quite dangerous. If you get any bulging they will very carefully ultrasound it to make sure it's not threatening the circulation downstream in your leg.
God speed and be well, Mr. Gracey. We all want to see what you will create next!
Having suffered three of those nasties this year with two ER visits, I'll have to keep that in mind. The remedy I'm currently trying is black cherry juice, which is supposed to bind with uric acid and help it flush from the body instead of accumulating and crystalizing in the kidneys. I have to moderate my intake of purines, which metabolize to uric acid. Unfortunately, brewers' yeast is rich in purines, so I have to limit my consumption of stouts and dark ales.
Anyway, I hope your recovery continues on its current trajectory. Just be sure to follow the program; and don't get cocky, assuming you can rush things!
-Phil
===Jac
It was interesting to me that after the initial probing, they left the whole sheath in my leg, while I waited several hours for the main surgery. I never noticed a drop of blood, and afterwards that incision healed up really fast. They must have some special materials and shapes to get away with that. The only black and blue areas were minor and they were due to I.V. install mishaps in hospital rooms. I guess I've been really fortunate.
I was getting kidney stones with some regularity up to about 4 years ago. It was an awful discomfort. I remember one time when my tortilla cohort was driving me up to Redding, because I thought maybe that E.R. wouldn't bill me as badly as the local one did: We got 2/3 the way there and I asked him to pull into the rest stop, because I thought maybe it would pass. No such luck. I came out of bathroom, which was elevated from the ground by about three feet, grabbed onto the side rail with both hands, and simultaneously screamed and vomited. After that, I suddenly felt okay. Those things just about kill you when they are passing from your kidney into your bladder. You'd maybe never notice them, otherwise. After I got back into the car, I pressed my fingers into my side where all the pain had been coming from, and it felt like nothing had happened. We kept heading to Redding, but when we got there we just spent some time checking out a supposed local tortilla factory, only to realize that it was long defunct and now must be using some other factory, elsewhere, to private-label its output for them. So much for that "local" producer.
There's this 6'8" friend at church who is a little off, due to head injuries. Because of his benefits, he always winds up living around people with similar troubles. He was telling me that he had a really painful kidney stone once, and one of his roommates snuck up behind him and punched him in the sore kidney. Problem solved, right away. It forced the stone all the way out the kidney, into the bladder. It takes a special person to administer that kind of therapy, though.
I've just been drinking about a cup of cranberry juice a day, since the last episode, and I've had no more troubles. I think my wife gets "Langer's" brand from our local cheap grocery store. It's maybe $3 for a half gallon. Really works.
My first experience with a kidney stone was back in the early '80s. I was playing poker with some friends and noticed some pain that just kept increasing. After excusing myself from the game, I went home and went to bed, hoping the pain would go away. It didn't; it kept getting worse. By 6 a.m. it was unbearable. I walked down to a friend's house and banged on his door, hoping to arouse him to take me to the ER. He thought it was the paperboy coming to collect and didn't answer the door -- until I made such a racket that he had to get up. Went to the ER and got admitted as an inpatient, since they thought it might be appendicitis. That's when I was introduced to the wonders of morphine.
Second one occurred in Kauai. I'd been sent there to install sorting equipment in a papaya plant. The dang thing hit me after I had finished up and just before I was scheduled to make a presentation to the plant's board of directors. That was the most excruciating presentation I've ever had to give! Fortunately, it passed before boarding my flight back to Washington. I can't imagine sitting on a plane for five hours, with seatbelt fastened, practically dying from the pain.
The worst came years later and lasted for three weeks. I truly did want to die then!
But, honestly, I really have no visceral memory of the pain from any of them -- seven all told, three this year -- only a rather more cerebral memory that I was in pain. I think forgetting the sensation of pain is a definitive human survival mechanism. Otherwise, every child would be an only child ... right?
-Phil
P.S. The latest remedy for kidney stones appears to be roller coasters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/science/roller-coaster-kidney-stones.html
My own last hospital stay was for a hip replacement. Elective surgery, but the old one gave out and was painfully grinding nerves. The new one has definitely been precious new lease on life.
We just trimmed our tree, recognize this ornament? Do enjoy the Christmas season with your family, and play the children (but not too vigorously!)
I have been interested in regulatory disorders for as long as I remember.
What you've got is probably the result of a stress related regulatory disorder.
I don't think it matters a tinkers damn what you eat or drink.
The question is sort of mute at this point, but were those arteries really blocked?... or were they in spasm?
Either way, the surgeon was in the best position to make a decision and he made it.
I don't have a problem replacing "spasming" coronary arteries... and no-one else should either.
But I think the distinction is important and doctors don't discuss it with civilians.
The pathologist knows. Take him out to dinner, buy him some adult beverages and find out!!!
You know someone who knows someone that can make it happen:)
The formal report won't do you any good... they are there to protect the surgeon(when necessary).
Best wishes.
Rich
Interesting, Rich.
I have a friend up here who kept calling 911 because he thought he was dying. He had what you described. They finally realized his arteries kept closing, so they used stents to keep them open. He was under stress, pretty much of the sort I am.
The heart surgeon said, though, that my cholesterol was 3x normal, which must have been a very late development, because I had just passed a life insurance health check which involved blood drawing a few months ago.
I'll see the surgeon on Thursday and I'll ask him about this. Hopefully, if there's anything to say, he'll just tell me. I wonder a lot about how people who are heavy lawsuit targets juggle the forces of fear, compassion, and knowledge.
I have to tell you that I'm not paranoid... I base my prejudices on my own first person experiences:)
If it were me, I'd get copies of the path slides and get my favorite pathologists to take a look.
If the slides appeared as reported, I would then send them off to a lab and make sure that my DNA was on those slides.
I actually would do this and wouldn't be surprised by anything.
I am a retired physician and when the chips were down for me... I got lied to by people with the highest credentials in their field.
If I hadn't done my due diligence and listened to my favorite hometown surgeon, I would be dead.
And I have seen the same sort of thing happen to my patients and people close to me.
It isn't as rare as it should be.
If I had spastic arteries, I'd get rid of them. So, that's not an issue even if that turns out to be the case.
You might ask your surgeon if there is ever a connection between kidney stones and heart disease?
You didn't mention the kind of stone, but if there was heavy calcium in the stones... you'd really need to become an
expert on calcium metabolism. You can do it. By the time you are done, you will
be the leading expert... but do you have to do it?
It's all in the path slides. Don't believe anyone.
Nail the truth.
Do you think they have slides for me? Are these from the lab that kept checking my blood?
In your experience, were the DNA mismatches due to carelessness or to justify something?
I like "Intelligence". As this machine is extremely flexible and can react on unforeseen events and conditions, we never will understand it completly. It' like understanding tachyon code from counting the letters. If you are a "C" programmer you will use 10 % of C every day, the rest will be used by genius's now and then. Our body only uses the rest. So we will never ever understand fully, how it works.
But we see the big picture and one aspect of that is: the brain needs about 1/3 of the calories supplied by the digesting "factory". To bring enough blood to the brain, the distribution must be changed, In history, when stressed and working at full speed, man was in physical danger, ready to run, alert. Now we sit in a chair, have to keep a position over long time, ... Something not foreseen by evolution. But as an individual we can not rely on selection of the proper gens ;-)
So we have to take care of us! And Chip, please, we need you, your inspiration, your power, your driving force. Slow down. Just finish, what you have already, the crowd will make good use of the PII, like we did with the PI, which is not at the end. If someone would invest into a new process, even the P1 will shrink, become cheaper, faster, live as long as the 8051.
You are on the right path. Eat balanced food, do physical exercises, use spare time to rest, not to do the rest. All simple things. This is what your body needs as a supply, the rest will happen.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi
But being able to provide this level of data does change the dynamic of doctor-patient interaction. About half the time spent in an examination room is watching the doc key observations into a computer terminal -- and sometimes curse the system. But I think it's great to have my entire medical record online and available to myself and to whichever professional is charged with my care at any particular time.
Of course, this assumes that a provider actually reads what's there. Even though my allergies are in the system, I'm constantly barraged with questions about what I'm allergic to. But maybe that's just a reasonable abundance of caution.
-Phil
I've been trying to think about this sitting-in-a-chair problem we all face. I don't know how to think about it. Thought requires concentration which requires stillness. I'd at least like to figure out a new way to work where holding my breath to position a mouse is not the dominant activity. I think I've been breathing about 1/4 as much as I should have been.
Maybe a convex magnified bubble that's always centered over the cursor would be a solution. The real solution probably involves ditching the mouse, in favor of something more natural, like eye movement tracking.
We have something like that here, too. It's touchy to use, though. It seems like the usefulness of these web-based data viewing/reporting systems is under 50%, due to flakiness at so many levels. Every institution supposes or insists their system works, but it is always tenuous to work with. Maybe my phone can access it, but my PC can't, or vice-versa. Maybe it hangs up on password entry, etc.
I think they are 28". I really like the sharpness of text, especially on schematic symbols. The only problem is maybe that Windows doesn't scale menu bars well (File Edit ...). I tried to get those bigger, but it had the crude effect of cutting the resolution of everything else in half, defeating the entire purpose. Imagine all your app's menu bars being about 1/6th of a inch tall. I need to slow way down and hold my breathe to click those.
Perhaps you should try one of those odd looking ergonomic "chairs" that you kneel on (Swedish invention IIRC). I used one when I was doing a lot of bench work and it was a lot more comfortable than a stool or chair once I got used to it.
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are, how fragile we are
Some people with chronic back problems use the sit-standing technique, an inclined board or specially modified stool with a shelf for the rear end. It's not quite sitting, and it's not quite standing. There's a reduced amount of weight on your legs, and you're not in a folded position that restricts breathing. Because it's much easier to go from sitting to standing, there's naturally more movement of the body without stretching or straining.
Of course, you need a standing-height desk, but these are common.
The chairs go by names like standing chair, motion seating, or sit-to-stand. They're about $400 to $1000, depending on features. Anyway, something to try out. "Kneeling chairs," which I've used in the past, still places you in a seated position.
I have one at work and it's pretty nice. It can help with circulation and also back issues.
Not sure it will help with your breathing issue, I don't experience what you are describing with mouse positioning requiring me to hold my breath. Perhaps you need to adjust your mouse settings?