Friday, December 28, 2007
Electronic monitoring of motorists will soon expand dramatically as states including Arizona, Michigan, Vermont and Washington begin to use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in drivers' licenses. These electronic chips broadcast the identity of any card holder to any chip-reading sensor within a minimum of thirty feet. The US Department of Homeland Security is promoting the tracking projects as part of its Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.
"Multiple cards can be read at a distance and simultaneously with vicinity RFID technology, allowing an entire car full of people to be processed at once," a DHS fact sheet on the Passport Card technology explained.
Um... processed? FYI: Nothing on the official Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative site mentions their domestic plans. Why bother? DHS Motto: Treat 'em like the cattle they are.
Posted 5:18 PM by whatley (0) comments
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Thursday, December 27, 2007
Had my third dialysis at the facility today. It's only a few miles from here. You have to take whatever regular time slot you're assigned, no if's and's or but's, and mine is Tues/Thur/Sat - 12:30-4:30, though if somebody with an earlier slot cancels they call the night before and I usually opt go early and get it over with.
Even after all the dialysis in the hospital there's still a ways to go to get me back to normal. Sometimes I feel pretty good, sometimes not. The chemo drug is starting to show some side effects too. I just noticed yesterday that my whiskers are growing more slowly, or maybe not at all now, and suddenly remembered that that was the first thing I'd noticed way back in the early '90s in my other brush with modern pharmacology. I was on more types and much heavier doses then. Got bald, got sick. Hope that shit doesn't happen with this one.
Good days, bad days. Just like real life.
Kidney quote of the day:
"Pretty much everyone I've seen here who qualified got a kidney after about a five to seven year wait."
~ said to me by a Nurse Practitioner in charge of two facilities in Lorain County. Got my attention you bet.
Posted 9:55 PM by whatley (1) comments
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Friday, December 21, 2007
Hey Group
I've been checking in all week for updates on Russ and completely forgot that I could actually post myself.
The big news from New England is the arrival of Owen Pierce Gutierrez last Wednesday, December 12, at Mt Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, MA weighing in at 9lbs 12oz, 21 inches long.
The first picture is his mom, Ryan, on the way out the door. The grinning idiot in the blue scrubs is Josh. All are happy and healthy and home as of Sunday.
Posted 5:20 PM by A. O. (2) comments
Comments:
Post a Comment- I am so happy for all of you, especially Uncle Duffy. We are grandchildless and it's looking fairly much like it will stay that way. If in fact within 5 years we are still in the same position may we adopt yours or at least share?
I'm home. Thanks for all the good thoughts. If you're interested here's the Wikipedia entry on Goodpasture's Syndrome. I'm pretty much typical for everything it says.
Posted 4:33 PM by whatley (6) comments
Comments:
- P.S. I created an address of hosp@7393.org as a bounce from my regular address (a long story) and never meant it to be used as itself. Anyway, I'm gonna delete it so, if somehow we did start using it together, you'll want to delete it as well.
- Wear a mask when you go out, to keep others from infesting you, and so nobody will recognize you when you pull the heist. Glad you are back in the world.
- The reference to increased incidence of syndactyly was interesting news to me. It was not clear if this was an associated feature present from birth or developed as the sydrome presents itself. Did I miss your webbed fingers and/or toes?
- Welcome home Russ. We are all pulling (or was that pushing) for you. Stay warm and out of germy places (so mine is definitely out) and try to eat good wholesome food. You know all that right?
- I assumed that the medical reference to syndactyly was a synecdochial reference to the somatic entire, metonymychially speaking.
Post a Comment- Glad to hear you're home and I will keep a good a thought for you. Anything you need that I can provide .... it's yours. (sent an email requesting an invite .. new user ... shhhhhhhhhhh it's a secret).
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Russ' latest checkout is now slated for Friday or Saturday. I'm still on call for transport.
When I talked to Russ last night, he said that Katko is now also at EMH (fifth floor), having undergone surgery for an abdominal abscess.
I will be having that tooth out in a couple of hours, this being the second dentist visited. The first one didn't like the way I edited the informed consent documents you have to sign before treatment, and ejected me from his office. The second one took one look last week and told me that I needed general anesthetic before he could "dissect the tooth" out of my jaw.
Merry Xmas.
Posted 8:03 AM by Andy (4) comments
Comments:
- Good for you, I think your dentists reaction to your attentiveness to the form was an indicator of the type of practitioner he is (namely one you don't need).
I thank you for your diligent attention to Russ, I am not clost enough to help out very much but remember I am only an hour away.
Truthfully I remember the name Katko but can't quite place him. I looked at the picture gallery and I just don't think I knew him.
Keep us posted on "the fang".
- Newly fangless and gap-jawed. 24 hours of ice pack and soup plus antibiotic. I got the tooth from the dentist. My tooth and I had our 50th anniversary together a few years ago and have become very close. If it was in one piece, I would mount it on a chain and wear it. Interesting to see the inner workings of a tooth. I would prefer to be like a mammoth, and grow six sets of replacement teeth over a lifetime. One of the benefits of stem cell research could be tooth regrowth to replace those lost to accident, wear or decay.
Post a Comment- Minature ultrasound device stimulates tooth regrowth. But only the pulp and dentin, not the enamel. And there have to be existing roots to do the job, according to the article.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Leading the curve
My post of 12/4/07 that talked about the Sleipner natural gas field off of Norway was ahead of the newsmakers. This afternoon, NPR's All Things Considered had a segment on Sleipner's carbon dioxide reinjection as a means of carbon storage to protect the environment. "Norway Buries Its CO2 Under the Sea." Nice to know we are on top of things around here. Either that, or someone at NPR is slumming for newsworthy content.
Posted 11:09 PM by Andy (0) comments
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Sunday, December 16, 2007
I Just read "Variable Star" by Robert A. Heinlein (RAH). Just another science fiction book, right? Sort of. It was written 51 years after it was conceived, and 18 years after the author died. Lest images of poltergeists dance in your heads, the ghost co-writer was actually Spider Robinson. After RAH's death in 1988, and Virginia Heinlein's death in 2003, an incomplete and unpublished book outline was discovered among RAH's files. Spider Robinson was tasked by the estate to write the book suggested by Heinlein's 1955 notes. Published in 2006, "Variable Star" contains not only the sympathetic characterizations that made Heinlein's novels so easy to walk into, but also the odd quirks and twists of Spider Robinson's people and plots. Robinson paints strong-opinioned and often disrespectful souls who laugh and emit egregious puns and make rude noises at the universe. The novel examines a future humankind's first toddling steps toward maturation, opening with the narrow life of an impoverished college student who falls in love and wants to get married, if only he had enough money to support a family. He discovers a secret about his intended, and stunned, runs away. With each step and plot twist, the view keeps expanding, while keeping the camera on our protagonist as he struggles and grows. The pages end with a like struggle for both physical and psychological survival by the human race. The outcome remains uncertain, depending entirely on the potentials of human ingenuity and effort.
Heinlein's characters are both sophisticated and naive in many ways. Robinson's characterizations in the "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" series likewise eschew the darker side of human nature in favor of optimism and hope. There is plenty of conflict and tension in both Heinlein and Robinson works, but the reader is not left hopeless. Altogether a healthy trend and an anodyne against newspaper headlines and television infomercialism.
The book is worth reading both for entertainment and for its optimistic outlook. It is Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels with interstellar flight thrown in for good measure. Reading it rewards the time invested.
Posted 8:06 PM by Andy (1) comments
Comments:
Post a Comment- Cool, I'll check it out.
I've thought (more than a few times) about adding a "recommended reading" page to the ol' RBT. I'd love to give, and especially get, a heads up on something I'd otherwise not have stumbled on myself.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Is there an update for Russ?
Posted 1:34 PM by Linda (Schott) Isner (3) comments
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Post a Comment- Russ' last plasma replacement should be Thursday. After that, it will be dialysis on an outpatient basis, he says. Thursday discharge at the earliest, pending other results, doctor instructions or changes to the routine. I will be on standby to spring him on Thursday and get him back to his house.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Is anyone out there interested in natural health? I know that Tim and Mark are but I don't want to bore the rest of you with something that you have not interest in.
Since we have always been "political" I have some real mind-blowing info about how the government controls (tried) vaccinations and also how we actually have solutions to many of the problems (health related) but that big business is so meshed in the mix that it would be way too "harmful" to expose it all.
Any interest????
Linda
Posted 12:04 PM by Linda (Schott) Isner (4) comments
Comments:
- I think that so many of us have been burned by past histrionic publicity from both camps (medicine vs homeopathy) that healthy skepticism is the norm. But, as the Vulcan saying goes: "Even Nixon went to China."
The environment we have fomented is inescapable, and human contamination is endemic, whether on the peak of Everest or at the bottom of the Mariannes Trench.
The long-term goal is to reduce the rate of change to a level at which the biosphere can adjust without killing most life. The short-term goal is to keep personal decrepitude at bay. To that end, information, rather than religious diatribe, is the best for informed choice.
We could lose tons of weight, and exercise every day for years only to lose internal organ function to an autoimmune attack. I believe that the seeds of our malaise have been sowed decades before, and cannot be reversed at whim. Our society made choices, and we are reaping the harvest.
Scientifically, we have identified compounds, chemicals, amino acids and proteins in our bodies, but don't have a farthing's notion of the overall good, bad or ugly .
Past generations worked much harder physically, suffered hurts and died early without any medical care. Some would say we still don't have any medical care, but only reactionary patching. But "developed" nations are living longer, infant mortality is much lower, and pain and suffering can be ameliorated somewhat even if a lawyer isn't consulted. Perhaps soap and clean water was the most recent revolution that helped.
I know that I need to know more about the nutrient content of available foods. It does no good to recommend a healthy diet that includes fresh sliced peaches and bananas if it is in February and the cost of shipping from Australia or Ecuador has raised the price to haute-cuisine levels.
What can we eat, locally available in ice-bound Ohio, that fulfills the daily vitamin and mineral need (without additional capsules, supplements or potions)? In the meantime, I will chew on this salicylate-laced willow bark to alleviate my tension headache.
- Tension headache or liver overload (most headaches are caused by stress and toxic livers). Yes willow bark is wonderful as is feverfew. Good choice.
Post a Comment- Liver overload? Other than alcohol intake and high-fat diets, and a blood test that shows the presence of liver enzymes, or other symptoms (like jaundice) that show incipient liver failure, how does one identify liver overload?
Friday, December 07, 2007
On a lighter note, the Hooligans, the band that doesn't know the meaning of retire, as well as many other words simple and complex, are getting their guitars out of hock again, setting up the music stands, cleaning their bifocals on spent tissue, squinting into the light, waiting for a key, wondering where the sound man's got to ("thanks, Rocky!") and wotthehell wotthehell they're here, might as well sing. At the Creekside in Avon, Wednesday, December 26, starting somewhere around 7:00 and going until 10, 11, or so, hey! y'all come.
Posted 2:35 PM by ralph (1) comments
Comments:
Post a Comment- toujours gai archie toujours gai when are you rehearsing and do you want a dropin from the old days boss theres a dance left in the old dam yet
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Russ W. hasn't been feeling too well of late and now finds himself in the hospital with kidneys that just aren't working. The doctors aren't yet sure what's what but have run tests, done a biopsy and are trying to figure it out. Russ is doing dialysis, seems like once a day so far. Anyone in the area who might want to pop in, he's in the CCU, Bed 2. He's got a phone at hand, the number is 440-329-7500 for the switchboard and they'll take it from there. It has to be routed through the CCU, I guess. All good cheer, best wishes, etc. welcome.
Posted 12:13 PM by ralph (5) comments
Comments:
- I'll stop in later today. My dad was admitted yesterday with a blood clot in one leg. I am having a tooth dug out this afternoon. This is the winter of our discontent.
- I visited Russ. The medicos will be trying a chemo treatment series, a speculative outside long shot at best. Best guess they have right now is that he has experienced a form of autoimmune attack that destroyed kidney function. A renal specialist who happened to be in the hospital when Russ was admitted said that he had only read about this, but had never seen it before. Once the condition is deemed chronic, Medicare/Medicade should pick up the tab for three dialysis treatments per week.
- Diagnosis confirmed. An autoimmune attack shocked kidneys and destroyed cell function (supposedly within three days of onset). Unlike other kidney problems which show immediate symptoms that permit rapid treatment (like kidney stones, or drinking radiator fluid), autoimmune attack symptoms are subtle and masked, not reaching crisis proportions until after the damage is done. But in Russ' case, biopsy analysis showed less cell scarring than anticipated (about 50%). Statistically, that moves the odds of improvement after treatment (6 to 8 weeks later) from "nearly zero" to "a bit of a chance." Cases with less than 40% loss of kidney function have precedents where the patient recovered some function after treatment. Russ is at about 2% function, but only about 50% of sampled cells show permanent scarring.
In the meantime, there is dialysis and daily total replacement of blood plasma (5 quarts) for the next few days.
I do not have the chemotherapy details, but there will be immunosuppression affects. Russ is in a single-patient room to try and reduce exposure to others' bacteria and viruses. So no kissing and hugging for a while.
Katko took a laptop computer to Russ, and there is a open Wifi connection from the 8th floor, but most access to public sites, and to proxy sites, is blocked. He cannot get to the RBT to post, but he can access email. He was able to set up an address that will let him communicate. Send to hosp@7393.org
- Received an email from Russ this morning in which he shared that the diagnostic name is Goodpasture's Syndrome. Pretty rare with a wide range of prognosis depending on the amount of involvement. Respiratory involvement is common and often the preceding symptom. Remember his pneumonia several months ago? Google if you are curious. The typical treatment is steroids and dialysis and possibly transplant. Kidney transplants are pretty common these days but it is still no bed of roses. Immunosuppressants and steroids do funny things to you. Bloating, susceptibility to infection as well as glucose intolerance leading to diabetes type symptoms. The plasma replacement is not typical but part of the treatment that a woman in Japan received with good results.
He may not be able to have flowers or produce in his room so nix on FTD or the oranges from Florida.
EMH has ecards that you can order up. Check the web site. They are pretty insipid but you can add a personal note to balance that.
Post a Comment- Talked with Russ this AM (it's only been 30 years). He sounded well despite his situation. What a trooper. I would like to visit him but feel that a card would be better at this time.
Linda
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Carbon dioxide well injection is an ongoing experiment.
A gasification plant in Beulah, North Dakota produces methane from local coal. The byproducts include carbon dioxide, which is piped North to the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan where, since 1999, it has been injected to push more oil to the production wellheads.
Another ongoing experiment is taking place in the Sleipner field in the North Sea, about 250 km (155 mi) west of Stavanger, Norway which produces natural gas and condensate (light oil) from the Heimdal sandstones, which are about 2,500 m (8,200 ft) below sea level. The natural gas there contains 9% CO2. Maximum salable concentrations are under 2.5%. The Norwegian government imposes a carbon tax equivalent to about $50 per ton of CO2 released into the atmosphere. To avoid paying this tax, and as a test of alternative technology, all of the CO2 extracted since 1996, when gas production started at Sleipner, has been pumped back underground.
Monitoring the integrity of the storage field is critical. A technique known as "4-D" or time-lapse seismic technology can watch the migration of underground reservoirs. A September, 2001 article examines four production fields. Scroll down to the Sleipner Field section for information on the CO2 injection there, which began in 1996.
(FYI: Here is an example of 3-D seismic imaging from Australia.)
Posted 11:51 AM by Andy (0) comments
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Monday, December 03, 2007
Carbon sequestration is the focus of research by "big coal" and governments around the world. By adding another treatment stage to the effluent stream, carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide gas) produced in combustion may be chilled and liquefied, then pumped into underground strata for storage.
"But," critics ask, "what if it leaks?"
Carbon sequestration (storage) has several advantages: 1) It is technically possible in the lab and simulation, 2) It can gain (through lobbying) government support and funding, and 3) Carbon dioxide is not a scary horror-movie mutagen (like nuclear waste) in the minds of the public.
Carbon sequestration has several disadvantages: 1) It is not yet commercially or technically feasible in the real world, 2) No one knows how much it will add to your and my electric and tax bills, and 3) Carbon storage puts off until tomorrow the problem of additional carbon loose in the earth.
A demonstration power plant project called "FutureGen" is being funded by the US Government and the Coal industry. The political battle over the site has distilled down to choices of sites in either Texas or Illinois. Illinois' advantages include geological sandstone judged suitable for a "gasifer" deposit of carbon dioxide, and access to coal supplies. The Texas Gulf coast has suitable stacked sand-shale layers, but extensive past oil and gas drilling in the area may provide unintended leakage paths. A good article from the University of Texas at Austin is titled "Area of Review: How large is large enough for carbon storage?" The Area of Review (AOR) is the monitor scope considered when evaluating environmental impact potential for injection wells. The article discusses potential leakage paths that may apply to any site, be it in Texas or Illinois. The Houston Chronicle has a short look at the four towns (two in Illinois, two in Texas) vying for the FutureGen site.
Posted 8:19 AM by Andy (0) comments
Comments:
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