7/25/2020
3 Doctors, 2 Frogs, and a Hurricane
Aloha Everybody
Last Saturday I saw my retina specialist and indeed had to have an injection – the edema had come back bigly. However, it had been 2 ½ months since my last injection, so it shows the new drug (Eylea) really does work well for me. We followed the special prep procedure (very little numbing solution, only at the injection site) and I didn’t have any problems at all with the injection itself. My acuity snapped back within a couple of days (well, to it’s former 20/60, anyway), so I think things are about as good as I can hope for.
Speaking of doctors, I also “saw” my internist on Monday. This was a video visit to go over my routine blood work, which was all good. It worked pretty well, but of course there was no poke- and-prod to look for other issues. He is still seeing patients in person if they really need it or can’t do the tech visit, but for the current Covid crisis this seemed like a good solution. Of course, I to had get my blood sucked at the lab in person, which poses some risk. I read him my home bp numbers and mentioned it had been going up since April. Rather than point to the obvious association with stress, the pandemic, Trump, and general world disintegration, he thinks it’s due to the fact that as we get older the kidneys can’t get rid of sodium as well. So I’m now trying a diuretic in addition to my regular bp medication. Oh boy, another pill to pop.
On Wednesday Karen went for her yearly skin check with our dermatologist. This was of course in person and very up-close-and-personal. The procedure is that you wait in your car until they text you, then masked up you go in for your appointment. Risky but in Karen’s case probably worth it. No problems to report, so it was a good visit.
I finally caught the coqui frog that had moved into our front garden. Amazing how loud something that small can be (the size of a quarter) and how hard they can be to find. Then a few nights later I caught another one down below our house in the lower garden that I think had just moved in from our neighbors lot. Definitely on a roll! Only a few hundred to go! Our wet weather has been ideal for them and I’m certain they have been reproducing like crazy. Remember, these were accidentally imported from Puerto Rico, and they have no natural predators here.
Just to add to all of the other chaos these days, tomorrow hurricane Douglas will be moving through. In our specific location this will likely prove to be more or less a non-event. These storms approach from the east and usually pass south of islands. The troublesome ones, though, take a gradual turn north and hit the windward side of the islands. We, of course, have two 13k mountains (aka volcanoes) that give us a lot of protection. Hilo, though, can get really smashed. Another track is a bit more strange, which is that a hurricane passes south of our island but close enough to be influenced by Mauna Loa. This causes a sharp northward turn that can bring a hurricane up along our leeward coast on its way to whack Kaua’i. Douglass won’t do that, and instead is aiming for the windward coasts of the northern islands. At this moment the predicted track will take it north of our island but may cause problems for Maui, Oahu, and especially Kaua’i. The good news is that the further north it goes, the cooler water will sap its strength. Interesting, eh?
Ok, it’s nice at the moment so we’re off on our usual Saturday morning routine. Carpe diem!
Stay safe, sane and healthy.
7 comments:
Welcome to old age. Sounds like you two are in good hands, though. Sandy and I have stayed well here in the tundra. Got an email from Larry Leitner yesterday. His heart is functioning well after a pace maker was implanted. He's now rehabbing after rotator cuff surgery. He'll probably head to a psychiatrist's couch soon enough. That's the end of my feeble attempt at humor. One last note: Do you remember John Spanke? Larry reported that he passed away recently. Geez, now our former grad students are dying. Stay safe and well, Ray
Thanks for giving me rationalizations for my high blood pressure. I need all the excuses I can muster. "General world disintegration"- do you really think so? As an astute world traveler, you just might know. Frog hunting, eh? I read that frog legs are cleaned, breaded with flour, and boiled in melted butter. This dish is served immediately with garlic-parsley sauce. Is that what you do? Lastly, is "bigly" a Hawaiian word?
It is a new world for doctor visits. I visited my dermatologist and went through the same procedure as Karen. Stan had a video visit with his sleep doctor but will actually have an in person visit with his cardiologist next month.
We have been enjoying our local wildlife as entertainment, everything from chipmunks to groundhogs and in between deer large and small, bunnies, skunks, raccoons, an array of birds including our local vultures and hawks. This keeps us focused on something besides Covid isolation and politics.
I hope Daniel passes you by and missed the other islands as well. We just have the heat to avoid and enjoy our AC when it is 85 plus outside with a heat index or 5 to 10 degrees higher.
Oops. I hope Douglas (not Daniel) misses you.
Hoppy -- my estimate of world disintegration is based on the dwindling selection here in Kona of decent beer from other places.
Frogs legs are good, but these guys are so small it would be like eating peas.
Bigly is a word used only by stable geniuses.
Thanks for the comments. Send beer.
I think if we all took our cues from the medical folks these days re" interaction with people we could get this Covid-19 under control. My doc saw me via FaceTime and then had me shot in a drive-by (new context for drive by shooting!). I'm supposed to have my teeth cleaned. Not sure that's worth doing. I feel no pain, no need to go. I am trying to be more diligent than ever. The up close and personal is more than I want to engage in. I'm still thinking about this one. My cardio guy appt. comes up soon too. Don't know if he really needs to see me in person. I'll ask. Take care w the storms out there. We are hoping to duck the fires!
We took our cat to the vet the other day—they took him (in his carrier) in from the parking lot and then contacted us by phone to let us know when they were going to bring him back out. Keeps the inter-human contact to a minimum. Cat didn’t seem to like it any more or less than usual.
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