Long Road Ahead

 

My trip to the Dartmouth Medical Center did not turn out as well as I’d hoped. My meeting with the surgeon was disappointing. I had hoped that a quick surgery could have fixed my issue. As it turns out the surgeon thought I’d be stuck with an open weeping wound that would be prone to infection.

Long story short I’m now waiting for appointments with other experts.

Long story even shorter: this is going to take some time.

Once again I’m in a waiting period for the next steps.

On the bright side, the huge lump is not cancer, so that’s good. Cancer among firefighters is a common issue so I’m counting my blessings.

-Sixbears

Weight loss

I’m a big fat guy. There is no denying it. Weight is something I struggled with most of my life. The thing that really pushed me over the edge is when I was prescribed high doses prednisone. In three months I gained about 80 pounds. 

My most recent weight gain was during the pandemic. Then I was troubled with repeated leg infections that limited the amount of exercise I could get. Lack of exercise combined with eating out of boredom is not a good combination.

In spite of my size my blood pressure and sugar levels are good. That’s probably mostly good genetics but I’m getting older so the weight is harder to handle. 

With that in mind I decided to do something about my weight. The local weight loss clinic had a pile of paperwork to fill out before they’d even consider you as a patient. They accepted me but never got around to scheduling appointments. In the mean time I decided I didn’t want what they were offering. 

Their big go to solution is bariatric surgery. I don’t want to go that route as it’s a pretty invasion procedure. 

The next big tool in the weight clinic tool box are the new weight loss drugs. They can help people lose a lot of weight. Three things have steered me away from that approach. The first is cost: those drugs aren’t cheap. The second is potential side effects. The third is that necessity of being on the drugs for the rest of one’s life. Those who get off the drugs generally gain all the weight back. 

One guy I know who’s on the medication said he lost 27 pounds so far. He also has constant diarrhea and vomiting. That doesn’t sound like any fun at all. 

The weight loss clinic appears to be a poor choice for me. However, I still have to lose weight. With that in mind I’ve set up my own weight loss program. A lot of is is understanding the psychology of why I over eat. That’s been a journey. The second bit is eating less and getting more exercise: boring, I know. Every week only a little weight comes off, but so far it’s added up to 39 pounds, so it’s working. 

-Sixbears

Medical Science

The Texas hospital Ebola screw up showed us how badly modern medicine can malfunction. Hopefully the rest of the country will take a good hard look at their infection procedures and make the necessary changes.

The medical system screwed up, and they should know better. That being said, there's an awful lot that medical science does really well.

Think of all the people you know. How many of them would have died in earlier times? Perhaps they got an infection that was easily cleared up with antibiotics. In the bad old days those simple little infections were often deadly.

How about those who've had surgeries? Appendix burst? Cardiac bypass? How about all those who've been in bad accidents and were saved with good EMS care and advanced medical treatment? Doctors are pretty at traumatic injuries.

Childbirth? Personally I think natural childbirth is wonderful -as long as there is a fully equipped and staffed hospital in spitting distance. Childbirth was a huge killer.

Vaccines. I've had some issues with vaccines. I think some are more likely to cause problems than the disease they are supposed to treat. Perhaps they give way too many vaccines at once. In spite of a few misgivings with a few current practices, in general vaccines have been a life saver. One word: Polio. At one time everybody either knew someone who had it or maybe had it themselves. We've forgotten how devastating it was. The same could be said for many other diseases now rare.

My lovely wife just got treated for a painful eye injury. In the bad old days there wasn't much that could have been done. Maybe it would have gotten better on its own, maybe not. In more recent years they developed a treatment that required antibiotic drops 4 times a day for at least 5 weeks. Now they put a clear contact lens band aid on it and it's mostly better overnight. Progress.

Some things modern medicine does really well. Other things respond just as well or better to home remedies. Know the difference. Don't forgo the gifts of medical science because those who practice it are flawed humans.

-Sixbears