Staying the Course -- 08/19/2019

[Superbob]

Beach vacationers no doubt hated it, but I relished the continual soaking rainstorms we had last Saturday. They were refreshing, and our cedar trees, which had been battling some sort of teensy, drought-related spider mite a few months ago, really perked up. It was almost as though they were cheering as each heavy cloudburst washed over them, and the winds gave them a good shaking. Today we're back to scorching sun and high humidity-- "real-free" up around 100F, no refreshing showers.

I don't have anything exciting to start the week with, but thought I would get it started nonetheless, knowing that we have lots of folks with diverse interests here who will weigh in. I have had a manic Monday (such as glitches with both computers) but not going to bore you all with details.

My DW's getting into op-prep and she's been after me to buy new underwear. I've been trying to tell her, honey they don't let you wear undies in the hospital; they want to see all of you, all the time. But actually if they ship me off to rehab for a week or so afterwards, up there 200 miles from home, guess I will be able to use some regular clothes, so, yeah honey, you're right as always, we'll buy underwear.

So on that note, have a great week, Coursers!

Cheers,
SUPERBOB
❣

 

[Duffey]

New underwear for rehab? As Ross use to say, this post is useless without pictures!!!You could be our September valve replacement pin-up, Superbob!

 

[Superbob]

New underwear for rehab? As Ross use to say, this post is useless without pictures!!!You could be our September valve replacement pin-up, Superbob!

Speedos + fresh, raw zipper scar. Sure to cause acid indigestion.

 

[Duffey]

Speedos + fresh, raw zipper scar. Sure to cause acid indigestion.

Now, now! Speaking for myself . . . I will be happy to see you parading around in any type of attire, sporting any stage of surgical incision, post-op. Forget the acid indigestion; a sudden welling of relief and deep affection is more like it.

 

[Duffey]

I have felt better this week, and I attribute it to my new vitamin D consumption. I seem more energetic, and I am having fewer muscle aches. Does anyone know if this is possible only 10 days after starting a daily dose of 3000 units?

 

[Superbob]

I have felt better this week, and I attribute it to my new vitamin D consumption. I seem more energetic, and I am having fewer muscle aches. Does anyone know if this is possible only 10 days after starting a daily dose of 3000 units?

Duffey, I am not one of the Vitamin D experts. Did you have your doctor test your "D" level and then get a prescription or OTC recommendation? Or are you going with a standard, not-too-high level?

 

[Duffey]

Our PCP ordered the test last year, and I was low. He put me on a high (50,00 units I think) weekly course of treatment for a month. I was suppose to go back so a follow up test could be run, but I didn’t and promptly forgot all about vitamin D. The interesting thing is that one of our sons, who runs outside, 4-5 miles every other day, was tested and he too is deficient. He always wears sun screen, and apparently it is doing an awesome job of providing UV protection but also stopping his body’s production of vitamin D (that’s not a totally accurate statement but pretty close for this layman’s understanding). If you do any reading on the subject, it has become a fairly common problem. Several weeks ago @Paleowoman posted a very informative video that does a terrific job of explaining the issue. There are recommendations for the amount of supplemental vitamin D one can take and should take. That recommendation is what I’m following.

 

[rich01]

Still scheduled for stents Sept 9 and TAVR on Sept 23, with one big difference. Since FDA approved TAVR for low risk patients, Medtronics has canceled all pending TAVRs in the trial, so Medicare will be paying for my TAVR.

The more I sweat, the better I feel. I've been working in the yard about 4-5 hours a day during the hottest part of the day. and feel great. It's when I am cooped up inside the house for a day or 2 I seem to start having symptoms. All I can think of is maybe my blood vessels are more relaxed from being in the sun.

 

[Protimenow]

rich01 - maybe it's not your blood vessels relaxing -- perhaps it's tht you're moving more blood, and you're getting better oxygenation to your tissues. (So says a person who spends almost all his time at his desk, in a dark room)

 

[Paleowoman]

That’s good to hear you’re feeling better @Duffey I’ve no idea if your 3,000 IUs per day for ten days can make such a difference, but if you were extremely low it may be the reason. Have you also had some sunshine this week too ? Keep at it as it can take quite a while to get your level of D up to optimal. Is your son going to leave off the sunscreen for 15 minutes or so when he runs or take supplemental D ?

We’ve had our builders back today to correct the mistake they made when they first fitted the roofing on our conservatory. It took an officious letter from us quoting consumer law for them to do this, but, all’s well that ends well I hope - roofing was making very loud noises when it expands and contracts with temperature fluctuations due to them putting some rubber gaskets in the wrong place….fingers crossed there will be no more problems.

Listening to the cricket here on the radio - Australia versus England. Australia doing really well !

 

[skeptic49]

Love the undies discussion. Hello from Belgrade, Serbia, where it is 90 degrees! We enjoyed Warsaw, Krakow, and Budapest. But the diet went out the window and the lbs started accumulating thanks to those delicious Polish pierogies. I'm going to have a lot of work to do to shed the extra baggage when we get home. For those interested there are photos and descriptions of the trip on our blog
http://hardtoport.blogspot.com

 

[Protimenow]

I think that the absolute avoidance of sunshine, in order to reduce the risk of skin cancer is wrong. When this species first developed, we didn't have sunscreen. We probably didn't wear much clothing. There was a lot more exposure to the sun than most of us get today.

The more sun we get, the more we can tolerate. (It's harder to burn if you already have a tan). For people with dark complexions, the problem is probably even less (I don't have data to confirm this).

Have they done long term studies to see what effect suncreens may have on the skin? Could long term use of THESE products be bad for the skin?

The body creates its own Vitamin D if it's allowed to actually receive rays from the sun. That's how it's supposed to work.

I just don't understand this absolute avoidance of sunlight.

Another thing that gets me is sheer terror at the thought that an asbestos fiber might be inhaled. I studied this, briefly, as a grad student in Epidemiology. Yes, crocidolite (one of the fibers in Asbestos and talc) was associated with mesothelioma (a very nasty respiratory cancer), but just a few fibers were not implicated in causing this cancer. (Recently, a lot has been written about body powders and ovarian cancers - so the fiber, in fairly large quantities, definitely has an association to cancers -- but I doubt that a fiber or two would do much to a body).

For that matter, the Kent cigarette's 'Micronite' filter 'cooled' the smoke by passing it through asbestos fibers. Although ANY cigarette is associated with lung cancer, I doubt that an abnormally higher number of Kent smokers were diagnosed than were those of people who smoked other brands.

I just don't quite understand the enormous amount of caution when asbestos is found.

Sorry - this was originally about Sunscreen - no replies are necessary.

 

[Duffey]

Paleowoman, I was out in the sun over the weekend. I wore a hat to shade my face but I did get exposure on my legs and arms. I am happy to hear that you’ve got the roofing issue resolved. I’m sure that it has been stressful. We had damage to our house after a huge pine fell on the roof last October. Our insurance covered the damage but the process was nerve racking. @skeptic49, I think swapping pounds for pierogis is a fair trade! I enjoyed the blog entries very much. Thank you for sharing. @Protimenow, you should check out the video Paleowoman posted the link to a few weeks back. It substantiates much of what you posted concerning sunscreen.

 

[Protimenow]

Thanks, Duffey. When I get a chance, I will. There were a few links posted in the last few weeks that I want to click on.