Fire Prep, Med Titration,Travel Plans

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

8/17/24

 

Aloha  Ohana -- 

Life lurches on here.  It was a fairly quiet week.  Probably the two biggest events were getting my teeth cleaned on Wednesday and working out at the gym on Thursday.  The workout this week was definitely a notch up from last time, and I managed to get back to my previous machine settings.  Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with lunch at one of our favorite seaside restaurants in town, one that we haven't been to in quite a while. I attribute my improved energy level to cutting back a little on my heart rate medication.  This is supposed to lower your heart rate to ease the burden of Afib, but my initial dose was overdoing it and turning me into a zombie.  By the way, I'm not sure I made it clear that I feel absolutely no symptoms from Afib itself-- no pounding or fluttering in my chest, no light-hotheadedness, no pain at all. I only know I'm still in Afib because my little home monitoring device tells me so.

 

Our weather has turned drier.  We're still getting some afternoon and evening showers, but the total rainfall has dropped off.  In fact, island-wide the rainfall has been far short of normal, and this is prompting

Fire in Paradise

concerns about wildfires of the sort that devastated  parts of Maui last year. The county has been creating fire breaks around large wooded and grassy areas inland of town, and along major roads.  Homeowners are being advised to push back flammable vegetation from their houses. In addition, the electric company has established several zones where power might be preemptively cut off to prevent downed wires from starting fires, as they did on Maui.  All of these actions give the impression that they would protect us from a Maui-type event, but I'm not so sure they would.  First, our town is situated very similarly to Lahaina -- a seaside tinderbox with lots of grassy areas inland and upslope, Normally onshore winds prevail during the day both here and on Maui, but the day of the Maui fire they were blowing down slope and toward the ocean, a very unusual pattern.  This meant that that escape routes away from the shore went directly into the path of the fires.  The same could happen here, and due to poor urban planning  there are only four evacuation routes in a five-mile stretch along our coast. The fire breaks and electric cut-off zones might slow things a bit, which might give people time to escape, but it still might be a tragically chaotic situation.  The climatic conditions that led to the Maui tragedy are also becoming more common, yet another legacy of climate change.  

In more happy news, we made our final payment for our November trip to Cambodia and Thailand.  I know, you're probably questioning the wisdom of exotic travel with my current health concerns.  But after carefully thinking about it, we've decided to go ahead despite the risks,  Or rather, we believe the risks are worth it for this special experience.

 

Next week we will be spending a few days on Oahu for  Karen to have cataract surgery, and again the following week when she has it done on the other eye.  She could have had this done on our island, but the surgeon on Oahu is very highly recommended by several friends, and it will give us a chance to get away for a couple of days.

 

Ok, that's all the geezer talk for now  Hang in there, stay cool, and give thanks for sanity and integrity -- they really do exist.

 

Olympic Workout,Medical Molasses,Golf"ish"

Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

8/10/24

 

Aloha  Folks --

 

Inspired by those incredible Olympic athletes, on Sunday Karen and I made it to the gym for a very light workout.  It went ok -- no coronary collapses -- but our muscles reminded us of the effort for several days.

C'est Tres Belle!!

Speaking of the Olympics, we've been watching some of the events that we never knew existed, like Speed Climbing and Mixed Team Triathlon.  The triathlon includes a swim in the Seine -- something that would seem to me to require a very fierce competitive drive in order to overcome the reports of questionable water quality in what historically has been an open sewer.  We've also watched some of the more standard events, like gymnastics, and saw some incredible performances -- like those of Simone Biles, who has to go down in history as one of the greatest gymnasts of all times, with an inspiring personality to go along with her athletic abilities.

My medical saga continued this week.  My meds have kicked in and lowered my heart rate nicely, but they are making me want to sleep all the time.  I'm hoping this effect will get better over time, and it does seem better today.  My blood pressure is also back to acceptable levels.  All in all I think things are improving.  However, I'm swimming in molasses as far as getting a consult with a cardiologist.  It has taken two attempts to get the referral faxed from my primary doctor, and the first available appointment was for September 10.  Unfortunately, we will be in Ohio at that time, so I have an appointment for the day after we return, on the 20th. I got some interesting news on Saturday when I saw my ophthalmologist.  He didn't think there was a problem taking a blood thinner with my retina vein condition, and he said it might even head off future vein occlusions because they are caused by small clots that block the blood vessels in the retina.  Sounds good to me. He also attributed my recent acuity problems to Covid, which is documented to sometimes affect vision.  He thinks this should go away with time -- again, just...be...patient.  Easy to say and hard to do.  Finally, my visit to the dermatologist was mostly good news, but she did shave off a keratosishalitosis from my elbow for a biopsy.

 

In a final burst of energy this week we went to Makalei and did some putting and some practice drives.  After all, what could be better for your heart than trying to make a little ball go into a hole in the ground?  Amazingly, I managed to hit the ball a number of times and even sink a few putts.  The reward for this effort was a  heart-friendly lunch at Taco Bell.

Ok, off to market and to our beach breakfast picnic.  Stay cool --- both physically and mentally -- if you can.

Musical Doctors, Cool Air & Warm Water, Pele Snoozes Again

Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

8/3/24

 

Aloha  Guys --

 

It was a pretty quiet week here.  I feel mostly ok but I don't have much energy and I take frequent (and long) naps. Some of this is likely due to my body's reaction to the new drugs I'm taking for my AFib and  I

Geezer Popcorn

hope it's only temporary.  I've been monitoring my bp, heart rate and heart rhythm to check on their effects (my geezerware collection now includes several new gadgets to assist with this physical preoccupation) .  After my birthday surprise adventure in Canada my pressure was way up and so was my heart rate. The  bp has dropped considerably and my heart rate is coming down slowly.  My heart's rhythm is still is still a random walk through cardio-land. This is not uncommon and many people live just fine with it.  It may be possible to get my heart back to a normal pattern, but in most cases drugs are required to keep it from misbehaving again. I've decided to consult with a cardiologist rather than rely on my internist for my treatment plan.  For one thing, I think he missed the possible complication I might have from taking blood thinners and having retina bleeding issues at the same time. I contacted a highly recommended cardiologist in town but he requires a referral from your primary physician before seeing you.  I had an appointment yesterday with my internist to get this, and hopefully I'll get scheduled with the cardiologist soon.

Speaking of doctors, today I will see somebody at the retina clinic to check on my current state and to consult about the blood thinner issue.  Then on Tuesday I have a routine dermatologist exam, and on Wednesday I have a follow up exam with my optometrist to assess my current prescription.  If I get in to see a cardiologist that will make a record of five physicians in one week. Happy Birthday, Dick!!!!!

There is, fortunately, some good news this week, too.  First, the ac in my new Subaru seems to be working just fine after getting charged up with refrigerant right before we left for Canada.  On Monday I'll have the dealer check the current level to see if it has lost any.  If it hasn't then the problem seems to be solved. If it has, then they should be able to tell where it is leaking from the dye they put into the refrigerant.  Also in good news, our pool solar heating system has been working well despite cloudy afternoons, and the temperature has been pleasant without having to cover it at night.  Finally, it looks like Pele has taken a snooze rather than belching lava, as seemed like she might a couple of weeks ago.  The magma has stopped surging underneath the summit -- for the time being.  There is no doubt there will be another eruption, but it doesn't look like it is imminent.

 

Ok, that's my entry in the Geezer Competitive Complaining Olympics.  Off to market and the beach.  Carpe diem.

 

A-Fib Club, Escape from Canada, Pele Perks Up

Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

7/25/24

 

Aloha  Everybody --

 

Well, just two days after my 80th birthday train trip in Canada, I joined the not-so-exclusive A-Fib Club.

We were starting to take a hike in Jasper National Park when I felt light-headed and passed out,  I recovered enough to get back to town, but later in the Jasper ER I did it again.  An EKG showed I was in A-Fib -- an extreme form of heart arrhythmia. I was also dehydrated and had contracted Covid a few days earlier, plus something triggered a weird allergic reaction in which my tongue swelled up and my hands and feet itched.  Sound like fun, eh? Both the allergic reaction and Covid symptoms passed quickly, but the A-Fib is still with me -- a surprise birthday present I'd rather not have received.

 

We cut our trip short after a few days in nearby Banff -- a stunningly beautiful place overrun with summertime tourists and unfortunately grey and hazy from wildfires in the area. It was also very hot -- 95d one of the days we were there. We realized that continuing to Utah was out of the question, given the even greater heat there, plus my ticker issues. We managed to cancel our arrangements and fly back to Kona directly from Calgary through Denver.  You may have seen the news about the wildfires in Canada, which just a few days after we were in Jasper burned though the town and caused evacuation of the National Park.  The ER where I received treatment just 10 days ago is possibly gone now.We definitely made the right decision to leave.

On Thursday I saw my doctor and another EKG confirmed my problem.  I'll spare you the details (of which many of you are probably personally aware), but I'm now on four additional drugs to control the A-Fib and prevent a stroke -- a blood thinner. a heart rate regulator, a diuretic, and a potassium supplement (the last two hopefully will be temporary once my BP is lowered to a safe level).  

All in all I'd say this hasn't been the best birthday I've had, but it wasn't all a lost cause.  We loved the several days we stayed in Vancouver.  It is a beautiful city with great architecture, art, transportation system, food, and excellent beer.  Also, my train adventure through the Canadian Rockies was just what I wanted, including having dinner as the scenery rolled by and sleeping in our own comfortable compartment. Oh, and I should add that even though both of us got Covid, the symptoms were milder than an ordinary cold and only lasted a few days, something we attribute at least in part to our recent booster shots.

Returning home may not have insulated us from nature's current global fury.  Kilauea activity has just recently taken a significant jump.Volcanologists have detected swarms of  hundreds of small earthquakes near the summit that have come in several pulses.  This is an indication that magma is welling up and recharging the system to the point that there may be an eruption soon.  However, the magma has moved from the summit caldera to a fault region just south and east, so an eruption right at the summit is less likely now.  Of course, the recent activity might also stop once the reservoir beneath the summit is drained.  Time to sing a lullaby for Pele ...

Ok, that's it for now.  Off to market and our beach breakfast picnic.  Carpe diem!

 

Guest, Fireworks, More Travel Plans

Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

7/6/24

 

Aloha  Folks  -- 

Happy 4th of July!  We spent most of ours whacking a golf ball and feeding the course peacocks atMakalei.  For the first time in quite a while we did all 18 holes -- aspirationally, that is.  On a few holes

Kona's Little Big Bang

we cut the frustration short, but otherwise it was an enjoyable outing. We wanted to get in as much as we could because we'll be gone on our Canada/Utah trip coming up and won't play until we return.  Doing all 18 was rather tiring (remember, this represents A LOT of strokes for us duffers) but the effort gave us a sense of accomplishment. After dinner we made a quick trip down to the waterfront for the town fireworks display -- all 7 minutes of it.  Though very short, the display was surprisingly good, with a few giant ones that filled to sky above Kailua Bay.  This was certainly a low-effort outing.  It took about 10 minutes to drive to the Lowe's parking lot above town, then we managed to avoid any heavy traffic returning home after the show.  Round trip was about 30 minutes!

Earlier in the week we had a short visit from our friend from France, the expat we visited last year who moved to Nimes after the 2016 election,  She only stayed a couple of nights, but it was great showing her around a little bit.  We first met her when we crossed paths on our tour of Bhutan.  Like us, she had a guide and driver, and was going to areas less frequented by tourists.  The limited infrastructure of the country meant that we followed the same route and sometimes wound up in the same hotels.  She's an avid independent traveler, an approach to travel we definitely share.  We've stayed in touch all these years and it was great fun to compare travel notes from adventures since we met in Bhutan.

 

Speaking of travel, we are continuing to make arrangements for upcoming trips.  It probably sounds like a lot of planning because for various reasons we've found ourselves making plans for three trips at once --usually the planning is much more spread out. Our Thailand/Cambodia trip in November is nearly done.  We have decided to stay in a coastal resort area called Khao Lak, about an hour north of Phuket. Just off the coast there are a couple of National Underwater Parks that have highly rated snorkeling and diving. We've booked a hotel in Khao Lak and we'll soon book one in Bangkok for a few days upon arriving in Thailand.  Still left to do are the flights from Bangkok to Phuket, and from there to Phnom Penh and finally our international flights between here and SE Asia. Whew!  We're also going to be making our yearly quick trip to Ohio to visit friends in September, with a stopover for a few days in Colorado on the way back. This one doesn't require quite as much planning, but it needs to be done soon.

 

Ok, that's about it.  This may be the last missive for a while, depending on how busy we are during our trip. In the meantime, carpe diem and resist the gaslighting attempts all around us these days.........

Warm Water, "AA" Golf, Pigs & Mangos

Nte: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

6/29/24

 

Aloha  Guys  -- 

I wrote last week that our solar pool panel replacement had fallen through the cracks and the person who was supposed to finish the job didn't get the word until late in the week.  As promised, he and a helper showed up Saturday morning about 7:45 and by 10 am we had warm water flowing into the pool for the first time in several weeks.  Of course, it was bright and sunny right up until then, then promptly clouded over for the rest of the day. We still got some heat gain, though, and in the next few days the temperature of the pool increased by 2-3 degrees, definitely into the geezer comfort zone.  Yay! This long-term project has finally been finished!

 

Another thing that got resolved this week was my driver's license renewal.  On Tuesday when I got my injection I told my retina guy that I was worried about the eye exam.  He determined that I was qualified to drive as long as I wear my glasses and filled out a form for the DMV saying that.  Bingo -- 4 more years and maybe by then I'll be improved enough that it won't be an issue.

 

On Wednesday I played golf with Karen and our golf buddy. My goal in playing golf is enjoy it and not to take it too seriously. Lately, though, I've been getting frustrated when I don't do well, a sure sign of taking it too seriously. I just want to enjoy the outing and hit the ball well enough to appreciate the accomplishment. This time I played "Aspirational Golf."  If I liked my shot I'd play it from where it landed.  If I didn't like it I would apply an "Aspirational Adjustment," which involves repositioning the ball to where you think it should have gone. You probably recognize this as being in the same spirit as "Kon-a-Lago" rules, which I've described before.  AA Golf definitely reduces frustration, though it makes score-keeping kind of an exercise in wishful thinking.  I figure that's ok, though, given that our culture no longer seems to care much about reality.

My final tidbit of the week is about the mangos we've been enjoying from our neighbor's tree. Turns out

Somebody Say Mangos?

we're not the only ones who are enjoying them -- birds, mongoose, rats, and particularly the feral pigs in the area, have also.  The pigs aren't native, of course.  They were first introduced to the islands by the Polynesians who brought a domesticated variety with them for food.  Much later wild boar were brought in by Europeans and American settlers to hunt for sport and for food.  Without any natural enemies except humans to keep their population in check, feral decedents of the first pigs have become a real environmental problem. Our house borders an undeveloped strip of land that is home to probably dozens of them.  It's a pig paradise with plenty of wooded cover and easy access to tasty and nutritious food, especially macadamia nuts, avocados and mangos that drop either from trees in the strip or, as in this case, from somebody's yard that is accessible from the strip.  My neighbor makes absolutely no attempt to harvest the mangos, so they are easily available when they drop.  We've seen as many as 15 pigs in several groups chowing down, sometimes with loud disagreement over whose mango is whose.  There is one pig that we see regularly that is very interesting.  It is always in the company of the same feral chicken --- they seem to be buddies, and may have been together since last year, when we spotted a young pig and a chicken that seemed to be hanging out together.  Kind of cute,  By the way, I'm giving that area a wide birth at night when I'm coqui hunting -- I really don't want to tangle with a wild boar. Wishful thinking might not be enough to keep me from getting turned into a pile of bloody pulp.

Ok, that's it for now.  Stay well, safe, and sane.

vAX Whack, Travel Plans, Mango Mania

Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

6/22/24

 

Aloha Folks --

 

Shortly after sending last week's missive, Karen and I had our Covid booster vaccinations. We generally get our shots at the Safeway Pharmacy because it's convenient and we get a 10% shopping discount coupon. The shot itself was so painless that at the time I wondered if the pharmacist had done it correctly.  NOT TO WORRY!  By that evening my body was in full Intruder Alert Mode as my immune system sent out the security forces to do battle.  Sore arm, aching joints, muscle pain, blahs. Since this was a vaccine and not the real thing, the good guys were guaranteed to win, and in the process they have made anti-body preparations that should be effective if I contract the real disease.  By the way, Covid (the latest strain) is still on the uptick here, though not in numbers that are alarming yet. For people who had been previously vaccinated and/or had Covid before, the symptoms are usually unpleasant but not too bad.  On Monday at my rescheduled haircut, my barber reported the same thing.  We were both masked, by the way. My worst symptoms abated in about 12 hours, but the whole next day I was not a happy camper, and for the next few days I felt out of sorts.  No reqrets, though, and my strong reaction means my geezer immune system is still working pretty well.

 

After a few more iterations of our Cambodia itinerary we put down a deposit this week on that portion of our SE Asia November trip.  As you recall, our plan is to spend about a week in Thailand first, mainly in the southern islands, then fly to Phnom Penh  to begin our personalized tour.  We haven't decided yet which island in Thailand we'll visit, but it will definitely not be one of the several where we've stayed before.  The main itinerary of activities there will be eating, snorkeling and getting massages.  The Cambodia part will be far more adventurous and active, but we've designed it to allow for a fair amount of leisure time, too.  We begin in Phnom Pehn for several days, then travel overland to the far north, visiting lesser-known temple complexes that should have far fewer tourists than Angkor Wat. At one of these temples we've arranged to stay just outside the complex in a luxury tent for one night, and tour part of it by torch-light. We'll then spend several days in Siem Reap and of course tour the Angkor complex, one of the most tourist-clogged  sites in the world. Our tour, though, has been designed to avoid the crowds as much as possible by spreading it out over several days, visiting temples before most people arrive or after they've left, and traveling between sites along less well-traveled routes, for example by e-bikes along jungle paths.  We'll also stay a couple of nights in a colonial-era town a few hours from Siem Reap called Battambang before flying down to the Cardamon Mountains in the south for 3 nights in a tented camp inside a national park. We'll finish the trip with a couple of nights in a southern town called Kom Pot, noted for its nearby pepper plantations.  This itinerary is fairly pricey but we think it's good value for the money, and it certainly fulfills the bucket-list requirement.

All week long we've been harvesting mangos from our neighbor's tree that projects over the property line.

Thanks, Neighbor!

This year it is almost touching the roof above our bedroom lanai, and we've been able to reach a lot of the mangos by either leaning over a little, or by using our pool cleaner net with its long handle. There are many varieties of mango that are grown here and ripen at different times.  These are Hayden mangos and this variety is one of our favorites.  The weather this year has produced a bumper crop and we're trying to take advantage of the bounty -- including giving quite a few away to friends, freezing some, and even making mango chutney -- in addition to having mango every morning at breakfast.  After the mangos are all gone we'll have the branches cut back to the property line so that the tree doesn't become a nuisance.  No worries -- mango trees are very vigorous and in a couple of years it will be back.

The saga of our roof solar system may finally be about over.  Recall that everything is in place and ready to go except for one fitting that needs to be repaired.  Yesterday was three weeks (!) in that state.  I contacted the company last week and asked when it would be finished.  The answer was sometime this week.  Well, by yesterday it still was in limbo, but I got a call yesterday morning saying someone would be there Saturday morning, along with an apology because nobody had told the guy to work it in during the week. He was quite upset that the job hadn't been finished and that nobody had told him about it (he was on vacation the week before).  So we're holding our breath this morning to see if it actually gets done.  Geez!

Ok, that's it for this week.  As I scan the news of climate woes, wars, political bs, and the general lack of civility and consideration these days, there's a saying that comes to mind that is in the spirit of an unpleasant  carnival or amusement park ride (I don't remember the source):  "Stop the world, I want to get off....."

Take care. Stay cool (both physically and mentally).