Latest health specs.

CAT scan

The CAT scan was done without contrast. There does not appear to be a return of cancer!

Interestingly examination of the spine finds the disc between L5-S1 in degraded. Not that it ‘is’, but that it confirms why I have back pain there.


Blood chemistry

Nothing really ground breaking. Creatinine is now at 1.75, still high compared to a person in perfect health, but greatly lower than my high at 2.15 .

My GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATE (GFR) is 46, which puts me at Chronic Kidney Disease stage 3a. To put that in perspective, the typical average for a healthy man in their 70’s would be 75, so I’m far below a person who is decades older.

When I questioned my Nephrologist about dialysis and fistula installation she cautioned me that we should not even be talking about that. So long as my hypertension is kept under control I should loose only approximately ½% off my GFR each year. So 45.77, then 45.54, then 45.31 etcetera. Given typical lifespans of US males I’m not likely to need to worry about it.

Since I have limited kidney function my vitamin D is also very low and I’m now on a supplement to bring that back into spec. I also have secondary hyperparathyroidism which is related to the low D and the Chronic Kidney Disease. Given time my nephrologist expects to get the thyroid under control.

You know, I heard the band Toto (Miss The Rains Down In Africa*) on an Oldies station this week.


*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQbiNvZqaY


Really, Toto is Oldies now? Soon 25% of my iTunes library will be 'Oldies' I listened to as a kid, let alone the songs I listen to that predate my birth.




*sigh*




Now I know why my feet hurt so often, I'm supposedly getting old.

Youtube

For some reason I find the analytics on youtube fascinating.

I don’t have a busy youtube channel, I upload stuff in bursts with weeks or months in between new content. Unsurprisingly I don’t have a ton of traffic either, I don’t have edgy, shocking clickbait videos. I have railroad stuff, and time-lapse stuff and the obligatory cat video.

https://www.youtube.com/user/mathuetax

Solar powered cat time lapse, full video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGTGxFtlRcw for instance has been looked at 3000+ times since I posted it in 2008.

United States 46%
United Kingdom 7.4%
Canada 5.5%
France 3.9%
Germany 3.8%
Netherlands 3.0%
Italy 2.7%
Brazil 2.6%
Australia 1.9%

I remember ages ago when I used to track where traffic came from on my website http://www.illiop.org. The breakdown doesn’t look much different today other than Brazil being in there. My viewers are much more diverse though gender wise today, 59% male, 41% female. It’s that way for all ages* other than 13-17 age range, where it’s 9% male, 91% female.

What also surprised me was the mobile viewership.

Windows 38%
iOS 23%
Macintosh 20%
Android 14%
Other 0.6%
Linux 0.8%

I had expected Android to be higher, but this is hardly a scientific set of numbers, it may simply be that Android users don’t find my videos of as much interest.

Anyway, probably a boring post to many, but I figured I’d share anyway.


*Google tracks 13 to 65 years old.

The latest

Met with the Dr. again today. (And I didn't fall and trip and BLEED in the Dr. parking lot like last time! See journal "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Foru.. Er Doctor")

The left kidney was indeed cancerous. The scale they rate them at from 1 to 4, four being the most aggressive, I had a three. The cancer was entirely encapsulated in the kidney, and the surrounding body fat came up completely negative. So, that means Chemo isn't indicated. YAY!

Creatine is actually lower than during the hospital stay, 2.15 as of last Thursday (July 28th) when the blood was drawn. This means the remaining kidney is doing a good job by itself despite not operating at typical efficiency. Most blood makeup is within normal perimeters otherwise.

My nephrologist had ordered the kidney get a really full biopsy and chemical tests, it's currently in UCSF's hands. The reason is that they want to know exactly why my kidney/s are working below par, this makes short and long term treatment easier and more successful.

Next CAT scan will be three months from now.

So, decent news all around really.

Well, I've been super good about watching my incisions, making sure I don't stress them, keeping them clean. The whole nine yards.

Then today I had an appointment with the surgeon to make sure everything was going well.

I exit my vehicle, in the centre of the parking lot is a 7" curb with a bit of landscaping, I proceed to trip, landing on my right knee and right hand. A branch from a bush pushed right on top of the incision. I get up and immediately look at my shirt, yep, there's already a 1" diameter blood stain right above my main incision.

Seriously?!?!?! You have got to be kidding me!!!!

So I gather up what I dropped, brush off my right hand and pants leg and walk into my doctor.

Ok, there's a LINE to check in. My shirt is growing more crimson, one woman in the waiting room spots me and has rather horrified look on her face. I grab some Kleenex's from the check-in desk and pat myself, the blood stain is now some 4" and growing, check-in is crawling. After waiting in line for some 6 minutes I get to the desk, say when my appointment is and announce I tripped and fell in the parking lot and that "I'M BLEEDING!"

The young lady behind the desk gets REALLY big eyes!

I'm shuffled right to an exam room and the surgeon that had performed my nephrectomy comes in about 3 minutes later.

Thankfully I didn't tear any muscle, I'm ok.

Well I'm back at home now, with a shaved Care Bear tummy and a weird 5"+ long tummy 'symbol' (incision) made out of stitches.

I'm sore, fatigued, and huge due to constipation from the narcotics I was on.

My left kidney is gone, removed in the whole instead of the original partial nephrectomy.

My numbers for Creatinine thankfully are looking very good, so the possibility of dialysis looks to be remote.

Now I just have to heal.

I have the general anaesthesia malady of altered taste and smell, so currently many foods/drinks don't taste right at ALL! This will subside over the following weeks. Some foods taste ok, some are repellent. Sugar, garlic, strawberry (fruit juices), chocolate, eggs, onions, olives taste fine. Meats in the whole smell rancid and unappealing, colas taste terrible.

Urethral catheterisation, ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!

Why is the storage shed glowing?

How deep are the soap suds supposed to be in the laundry room?

What voltage is the cats water dish?

Oh please, those bodies were never found!

Should ground beef be black?

Does it hurt the car to mix up diesel and gasoline?

As some of my followers know I've been dealing with chronic high blood pressure for a while now. In an attempt to find a possible reason my Doctor had a series of CAT scans done, specifically my kidneys on the hunch that my renal arteries might be restricted.

Well, it turns out that was a possibly lucky hunch as it led to the discovery that I have a mass (2" diametre) on my left kidney. The Urology specialist has diagnosed it as a likely CANCEROUS mass, so that kidney has to be removed. It appears it was caught early and has not spread to places like my lungs or elsewhere.

Soon, in the next 80 days or so I'm going to be going in for laparoscopic kidney removal which will knock me out of posting here for a bit. Update: Additional treatment for my blood pressure has been started with good results (122/78 when I got home on 5-26-2016 and checked it. 6-3-2016 The fun of telling family has been done now).

Prognosis is for - -

Since I've not posted much in the way of photography in the last year I don't expect it'll make much difference here, but I figured I'd give the heads up.

Awesome news MST3K fans of "Track of the MoonBeast"

I know a few fans have wondered what a proper recording of Frank Larrabee's California Lady sounds like.

Some 4 years ago Youtube user Mike Wolfer snagged an EP record of SIX songs by Frank Larrabee, one of which was "California Lady". At the time he could only put a digital recorder up to his stereo speakers, it was pretty poor sounding.

That was, until today, when he posted the full Extended Play Album. It's not bad, a bit of turntable rumble and dust pops but still it's the best known digital copy of the music.

So, just in case you've ever wanted to hear a RECORD of California Lady, here it is. Its production is a touch different, one item being the addition of a fiddle.

Enjoy and spread it around to other MST3K fans!

https://youtu.be/_0cW6rZSruo?t=602

I took up learning to read my palm.


It’s pretty handy.


I’m currently up to chapter 5


It’s not too bad except for all the footnotes


I’m constantly having to take off my shoes.

Dr. Who

A few who follow me know I’m a longtime fan of Dr. Who, coming in with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. We’ve finally gotten caught up on all most current of the Peter Capaldi episodes, and indeed the whole of the ‘New Era’ of Dr. Who.

We have now taken up the task of starting from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton to Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker to Peter Davison to Colin Baker to Sylvester McCoy and ending with Paul McGann. It’s a long winding road, fraught with missing episodes and even whole missing arcs.

Currently we just bid goodbye to Peter Davidson and the slog now has entered the Colin Baker era.

(I missed Nyssa once she left mid Davidson. The character pushed my buttons being just over 5 ft tall, short torso, long legs and nice figure. . . . . Sorry, I digress.)

My mouldy memory isn’t kind to Colin, and watching these again hasn’t mellowed those memories. I’m perhaps more prepared today to forgive his awful characterisation of the Dr, owing to John Nathan-Turners predilections. Peri as the companion doesn’t help, being even more whiney than Tegan Jovanka had been.

The series was in free-falll at the time, John Nathan-Turner had managed to tick off what writers were willing to work with him and the script quality was slipping even farther. Wardrobe was messy, props became even sillier.

It was during this time I stopped watching Dr. Who, popping my head in to see a promising McCoy before cancelation/hiatus.

Years later when FOX tried to relaunch Dr. Who; complete with CHiPs style motorcycle chase; I turned off the TV in DISGUST, certain I’d never watch Dr. Who again.

Anyway, Colin, good heavens it’s bad, so bad…. :/

Farewell Mr. Bowie, it's hard to fathom how much you influenced what I've listened to over the decades.

Have a pleasant final journey.

It’s November again. Those of us who grew up in the lands and US states that surround the Great Lakes some know the season is a rough time. I’ve only seen one of the Great Lakes, and that was in summer. In Grade School we got a good dose of the lore and legend of the Great Lakes. Being I lived in Minnesota at the time, the Iron Range, taconite and mining were taught about from the first days as a student.

In November tenth 1975 a massive storm ripped through Lake Superior. The lake was angry, hitting the Edmund Fitzgerald and Arthur M. Anderson with seas their captains had never seen in their entire careers on the Great Lakes.

Modern computer simulations have found mean wave height of over 25 feet by 8:00 p.m. The simulation of the storm also showed one in 100 waves reaching 36ft & one out of every 1,000 reaching 46ft. Since the Fitz’s loaded freeboard was just under 12ft you can see that the ship was regularly being overtopped by waves.

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank mysteriously, vanishing from the SS Arthur M. Anderson’s radar 10 minutes after 7pm on November 10th. All were lost. It eventually was found 530 feet below the surface broken in two.

This November 10th; The Edmund Fitzgerald Annual Memorial Ceremony 7PM Central. The bell will be rung 29 times for each one lost in the wreck.

https://youtu.be/9vST6hVRj2A?list=RDMMLo-EmtXbFRg

A somewhat interesting side note, the SS Arthur M. Anderson is still in active operation today! It’s location as of writing this is N45° 14'26.91 W 086° 49'59.48

I find it interesting, at least to myself that I can feel fall coming, even though where I live today doesn't really have a 'fall', nor fall colours.

It seems entirely based on my perception of sun angle, which considering I live much farther south than I did when this perception was first formed in me I find it a touch remarkable.

I have the urge to make soup, hot cocoa, build a fire in the fireplace yet the thermometer got to 88℉ today.

If I still lived in Minnesota I'd have the fall colours, the smell of morning frost, wood smoke, overcast and grey skies, fall jackets. (I don't seem to rely on the physical calendar much, often being unaware of just what week or day it is.)

Yet minus all those signs I grew up with I still perceive it is 'time'.

I'm hoping to have a little bit of a treat later today on youtube for the railfans who watch me.

Two plus decades ago I was producing a small rail fan video series called 'The Video Railfan'.

I didn't sell many copies, but it was still fun to make. I used various cameras, Standard VHS Hitachi, a SVHS Hitachi and the SVHS GY-X2BU JVC http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/.....l_id=MDL100104

Anyway, last week I came across a SVHS to DVD dubbing deck at the local thrift store for $4.99, so I've started to dub these tapes to DVD.

This time around it's video from Twin Cities winter 1992-1993, CNW, CPRail, BN and a short bit from my Lionel HO scale Railscope of the barely started 'Minnekeeta Branchline' pike I was building at the time. Milwaukee Road 1970-1975, grimy, broken and bankrupt.

So, look of this footage some time today!

https://www.youtube.com/user/mathuetax

Somehow, as the decades flow onward into the darkness this song seems to fit my mind all to well.

After spending a unproductive day, and a melancholy evening listening to Scopitone Film reels I cranked up iTunes and scrolled through the cruft of music to find this buried. iTunes says I've played it 24 times, but that's just on this machine. Heavens knows how many times the LP and then CD have been played

Anyway, STYX - Man in the Wilderness


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBRoQ91W1rk

Another year has passed me by
Still I look a myself and cry
What kind of man have I become?
All of the years I've spent in search of myself
And I'm still in the dark
'Cause I can't seem to find the light alone

Sometimes I feel like a man in the wilderness
I'm a lonely soldier off to war
Sent away to die, never quite knowing why
Sometimes it makes no sense at all

Ten Thousand people look my way
But they can't see the way that I feel
Nobody even cares to try
I spend my life and sell my soul on the road
And I'm still in the dark
'Cause I can't seem to find the light alone

Sometimes I feel like a man in the wilderness
I'm a lonely sailor lost at sea
Drifting with the tide
Never quite knowing why
Sometimes it makes no sense at all

(I'm alive)
Looking for love I'm a man with emotion
(And my heart's on fire)
I'm dying of thirst in the middle of the ocean
I'm alive!

Tommy Shaw, STYX


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBRoQ91W1rk

In Minnesota, 1971, Jack Baker and Michael McConnell decided to wed and actually got a license.

Minnesota would become my home in 1975, a state I still think of as home, even though I've been gone from there since the mid 1990's (I think of many states as home really, I've lived in a few places.)

Amazing, as a nation, it's been a very long haul.



I expect there will be quite a time at the Stonewall Inn tonight (6-26-2015) in NYC, dunno if it'll be lit up quite like the US White House in D.C. or Freedom Tower (on 6-28-15) in NYC.

The Imitation Game

Loved the movie, though it was a somber, perhaps even depressing flick to see on Valentines day.

Benedict Cumberbatch did a nice job.

It seems many in the theatre didn't know much about Alan Turing, because there were dozens of gasps at the movies conclusion, and this in the San Fran area!

Like typical 'historical dramas' it takes many factual liberties, so it isn't a detailed history lesson by any means. The real people, events differed from real life, are sometimes nearly the oposite..

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblo.....n-alan-turing/

Look for a 1992 BBC programme called "The Strange Life and Death of Dr. Turing" or CODEBREAKER for a more accurate picture on Turing.

I think I'm gong to have to get the Soundtrack, it sounds like it has some inspiration from Samuel Barber.

Velocity, mass and energy . . . and a human thumb.


4” x 1” ¼” thick polycarbonate sheet weights about 18.52 grams depending on one or two factors which will change it by hundredths of a gram.

An object caught and flung from our spinning table saw blade clocks in at just around 97mph, assuming all energy is instilled into the object. Odds are it’s closer to 80mph or so.

Described polycarbonate fragment launches from the blade and impacts my left THUMB (Thumbnail and first joint) and does a glance at the pinky.

I’m sure someone watching me knows the right bit of math to figure out what the sum of energy imparted to my thumb was.

It’s been a week and darn it my thumb is still rather painful, at least the colour is more normal now. The Pollicis Longus tendon is sore as is the flesh over the Distal Phalange and Proximal Phalange. Thank heavens it wasn’t my right hand.

Those who know me in person on FA know I'm pretty hopeless when a bear is involved. I read 'A Bear Called Paddington' a very long time ago, and barely (HEH :-D ) remember the book.

Anyway . . . .

So, it probably goes without saying I sniffled my way through watching 'Paddington' this evening. My Roo next to me, who treated me to the movie said he thought he was going to have to take me outside the theatre since I was often loosing my composure.

I loved it, and it put me in such a lovely mood.

Moods And Writing


I was looking at what I’d written in my journals here, specially the one of December 24th 2014.

I am not a prolific writer. I wrote more when I was younger, but rarely do much today.

What struck me on my last journal is that it doesn’t sound like me, or I should probably say it reads differently than I would write at just this present moment.

I knew even in my 20’s that my moods radically changed how I wrote.

Anything I write when I’m feeling down seems deeper, more effusive and imaginative. my ‘pen’ paints with the words better, giving a better visualisations to the reader.

Rarely today do I feel as down as I did between 16 and 30 years old, or for as long of periods. Pretty much all of my ‘characters’ were created in that time span save for Wildfire, which is a contemporary creation of the past 3 years. Odd as it might sound, I find my creativity was far better when I was in a deep funk. The characters/places were crutches to try and stay above water mentally and thus were fairly deep, involved and comforting beings/worlds.

So….

Anyone else here found that dark moods result in better writing??

The feelings of Christmas.

This time of year mixes emotions for me.

Ones of good, warm feelings, ones of chilled despondency and frustration.

On one paw, I have years of retail and service industry work behind me. I spent a year working for Target once, ONCE; some of which crossed Christmas. That season nearly destroyed the ‘Christmas Spirit’ as it is coined for me. Customers (guests) were abusive, condescending, rude, destructive, combative and a host of other ill-mannered words. In fact, in this season of good cheer and good will toward all I’ve not seen as much as one might think would be due. Add to that a good streak of cynicism this time of year seems downright bleak at times..


This is not to say there aren’t those about me who counteract theses things, without whom my mind would suffer. The caring of those lift me.


On the other paw I have bountiful, copious memories of the season when I was younger. The blowing snow, the cold, the scent of snow (yes there’s a smell to snow!), salt, cold car exhaust, red C9 Christmas tree lights - hot enough to give you burns. The live tree, shovelling, my awesome runner sled "Inlé II" AND the music, Andre Kostelanetz and The Ray Conniff Singers playing on the 1960’s era Coronado console stereo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0_YmqQQOow

The smell of wood smoke, candles, cookies. When these memories come to mind I can BEARly (heh) keep my composure and my eyes well up with tears.


One of these days I’m hoping Christmas will be more like those good memories, and they won’t seem so distant.

Farewell Eegah, The Solarite and Jaws!

This video was the subject of my very first journal on FA, and since I came across it again just drifting through youtube I figured I'd bring it up again. I get a giggle every time I think about it while on SL as a pony.

This was mid to late 1960's, probably after the Hollywood A Go Go performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GuEBqs-xCY

I'm not totally clear on when this 1960's gem was filmed (the music tempo is quite a bit quicker than the LP record release of the song), nor am I certain the Gazzarri Dancers are in the faux horse tail bikinis. This film footage was used in a special kind of Juke Box called a Scopitone which carried 16mm film and audio. I suspect the footage was exclusive to Scopitone as it seems a touch racy for 1960's TV.

Anyway, have a good long drink of 1960's pop Americana.

For those of you who follow me with an interest in railroad/railways I have something for you to watch.

If you've not seen this show from several years ago I suspect anyone who has a soft spot for saving locomotives will enjoy it.

Anyway, these locomotives served out their life in Africa and were built by several builders both pre WWII and post WWI

This program chronicles the saving and eventual return of one of the post war version back to Scotland where it was erected. (Several have been preserved, one, "Janine" #3046 is operational!)

This episode has a delightful song that accompanies the the show and it would not be near as powerful of a program without the music.

This youtube is just a sample as it's a one hour show. Click the YouTube in the right corner to see a larger version.




Just the music, a little bit better audio quality




The lyrics if anyone has interest.


Saved from the torches of the breaker's yard
Thirty years of service under African guard
Restored and oiled for one last ride
Six thousand miles to take in its stride

[ Chorus ]:
This is the train from Bloemfontein
Mighty workhorse of the African plain
This is the train from Bloemfontein
Off to Scotland, home again

Into the valley of a thousand peaks
Twisting and turning, the mountain class creaks
Icy wind bites, but no blazing coal
This arduous journey is taking its toll

[ Chorus ]:

Forty days and nights in the open sea
Out on a passage, spanning oceans, three
Stormy waters brew around the treacherous cape
Will the precious cargo safely escape?

[ Chorus ]:

For old time's sake, a final parade
Under shadows of spires, and collonades
Conquered the ocean and the open road
It's the end of the line for this majestic load

[ Chorus ]: x2