A Day Off to Golf!

The Brave Astronaut is taking the day off tomorrow to golf in the annual St. Ambrose Men's Club Golf Tournament.  This will be the first time all year that I have swung a golf club as I have been suffering from a pinched nerve in my neck since the end of March.  I have been through a variety of treatments, including seeing my chiropractor regularly (whose playing in the tournament with me today, which may be a good thing), an orthopedist, physical therapy, and most recently acupuncture (I had a treatment just today - to be ready for tomorrow).

I have had back pain since 1985, when, as a Senior in High School, I broke my leg.  As a result, I started to walk differently and threw out my back.  After the initial examination, it was determined that I don't have a fully developed L5 vertebrae (I know, you're jealous).

So here's a list of "21 Struggles People With Back Pain Know to be True."  Here's hoping that I can get through 18 holes tomorrow.

1. You’re on a first name basis with your chiropractor - well, I am.
2. You know what good posture is, but can’t make yourself use it regularly
3. Heated back pads are a lifesaver
4. The icy-warm of tingle of pain cream is such a relief … 
5. … But you can’t stand the way it smells.
6. Your medicine cabinet is like a who’s who of painkillers and muscle relaxers.
7. And you’ve gone on a “trip” or gotten queasy when you’ve taken them on an empty stomach.
8. Kinesio tape has become an art form to you, but damn if it doesn’t itch after a couple of days.
9. Electrotherapy makes you look and feel like a cyborg.
10. You have found out the hard way that massages can be anything but relaxing.
11. You’ve had a head rush from spinal decompression exercises.
12. After a while you can pretty much read your own x-ray.
13. You’ve tried every type of stretch. Flexibility can help relieve pain.
14. You’ve even tried less traditional methods to get more flexible.
15. Over time you’ve learned to embrace your back brace.
16. MRI machines always make you feel claustrophobic.
17. You know firsthand that the hardest part about falling down is getting back up.
18. You even tried alternative treatments, in spite of how painful they look.
19. You get strange looks at work when sitting in a pain-free position.
20. You wouldn’t even dream of picking up something heavy off the ground.
21. After icing your back daily, an ice bucket challenge looks like child’s play.

I'm Still Here, Barely

I just realized that I hadn't posted last week's recipe (it was still in draft form) and also realized that I didn't have one in the hopper for last night.

Well, I've been sick.  I felt it coming on over the weekend and it really gained steam on Monday.  The problem was (and is) that Mrs. BA is in New York overnight on a work trip and I'm alone with the boys.  Luckily I have the best friends and neighbors a Brave Astronaut could ask for.

Today, we got LBA off to school and Mrs. BA took SoBA to school before heading off for her train.  Tonight, my good neighbor (for whom last week / this week's Butterscotch Pudding recipe is destined) called me and asked if there was anything he could do.  He picked up LBA from school at the end of the day.

The MtJ family, coming off their own bouts of illness, picked up SoBA and brought him home.  They have also volunteered to help out again tomorrow.

What I don't understand is I got a flu shot.  I don't think I have the flu.  But I really would like to feel better again someday.

Allergic Reactions

Tomorrow, LBA will see a new allergist.  We learned when he was just about 18 months old that he was allergic to peanuts.  I may have let him have a piece of my english muffin that had some peanut butter on it.  The tiniest morsel made it into his mouth and suddenly he was wheezing and flushed.  Off to the emergency room we went.  So he was indeed allergic to peanuts. When we went to the allergist is was also determined that he was also allergic to pistachios.  His allergies are slight - he can be around the nuts, he just can't eat them.  He knows this and knows to ask about things before he eats them.

To my knowledge, I have only one allergy - it's to penicillin.  As an infant, I was given penicillin and broke out in a roseola rash.  The family doctor decided it was easier to just declare I was allergic to penicillin and I haven't had it since then.

I read somewhere a while back about the "explosion" of childhood allergies and how it might have come from the exponential rise of anti-bacterial soaps and lotions.  It is believed that we are washing off some of the "good" bacterias that help us to fight off reactions to items that are introduced into our bodies.

Mrs. BA and I are hopeful that LBA grows out of his allergies (it appears that SoBA is not allergic to anything).  Let's see what the allergist says tomorrow.

This Brave Astronaut has all of his Fingernails, Thank You

Of course, you all know that I am drawn to space stories. Here's three for you to look through.

The first is sort of evidence as to why I don't think this Brave Astronaut will be heading into orbit anytime soon. According to Time Magazine, who got it from National Geographic, it evidently can make your fingernails fall off, among other bad things. A tendency to motion sickness also? Well, duh.

If you would like to brush up on your "Fundamentals of Space Travel," head over to ThinkQuest and read up.

Secondly, of course, growing up, the mnemonic that we all learned to remember the order of the planets was:

• My (Mercury)
• Very (Venus)
• Educated (Earth)
• Mother (Mars)
• Just (Jupiter)
  
• Served (Saturn)
• Us (Uranus)
• Nine (Neptune)
• Pies (Pluto)

Of course when Neptune switched places with Pluto, making the furthest planet, it became "Pizza Nicely" but that's neither here nor there. For now, it seems that Pluto has been kicked out of the planetary club. Membership Card revoked. Secret Handshake changed.

American youth is not taking this sitting down. It gives me hope for the future when I see that children have taken pen (and pencil and crayon) in hand to lash out at the powers that be to demand that Pluto be given its planetary status back.

• First link from kottke, who includes a letter from "Will," who offers a picture of what Pluto looks likes so the scientists can make a model and put it back.
  

• PBS listed more "hate mail" in its Pluto files. Emerson asked why the scientists were making the other planets cry.
  

Finally, I had intended to make this list a bigger post, with links to the music, but you folks all know how to do that. Go read the list from (kottke)and then listen to some of your favorite tunes that were used to wake the astronauts on space flights. Evidently, according to NASA, the first recording used were the lyrics to "Hello, Dolly" sent to the crew of Gemini 6 in 1965. Enjoy.

Working the Internets

A neighbor and good friend is having brain surgery tomorrow. I am putting the word out through this blog to ask all my friends and readers to take a moment and keep "Coach Jim" in your thoughts tomorrow. Last month, Jim was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which will be removed tomorrow.

Jim has remarked of his situation tomorrow:

Tomorrow is the surgery. I am strong and confident.

I feel strong because I have an amazing family and amazing friends. I am overwhelmed and humbled by all of the cards, messages, phone calls, emails, and wall posts I have received. I want to map where all the prayers will be coming from tomorrow from all over the world.

So let's add to Jim and his family's queue of good wishes, positive thoughts, and prayers. Many thanks.

She is Not Alone

There is an interesting medical condition in which individuals lose their ability to smell, in many cases due to some sort of head trauma. It's called anosmia. Really. Like amnesia, but it's your nose which has no memory. There's even a foundation that helps to advance the issue. It is evidently an affliction that affects many people.

In December, the New York Times profiled a woman who suffers from it. She had moved to New York and was unable to smell the aromas (good) and odors (bad) of the city that never sleeps. In 2006, she had been hit by a car and the olfactory neurons in her brain that control the ability to smell had been damaged. Then her sense of smell began to return. Her body had decided that she needed her ability to smell - especially the smell of freshly baked bagels coming from a New York bagel shop on a Sunday morning. It is noteworthy the woman being profiled was once a chef and food writer. The story in the Times was picked up by a blogger in New York who also suffers from anosmia.

I have to say, I would miss my sense of smell terribly. As a life-long allergy sufferer, I have gone days with a stuffed nose and the inability to smell things. But there is something about waking up to the smell of coffee (or bacon!) or the aromas coming out the kitchen at a holiday that I would miss tremendously if that sense was lost.

How about you? What sense could you not live without?

Why Me?

I feel like crap. About ten days ago, my tongue started to feel funny. It felt like it was coated in wallpaper paste. The next day, while at work, I couldn't figure out why my left contact lens wouldn't stay on my eye. It kept drying out and falling off my eye. That afternoon, I was sitting with NJM and OSG, when they both realized that my left eye was not blinking with my right one. There was a noticeable droop to my face and when I would smile, only the right side of my face went up. OSG knew what it was right away, as he had it a few years ago - Bell's Palsy. I called the doctor and went over to see him right away. He confirmed [Dr.] OSG's diagnosis and put me on steroids and anti-viral medication to deal with my affliction.

I stayed home from work the next day, which was last Friday, and tried to do as little as possible. Other than the left side of my face being inoperative, I felt OK. So I didn't do a lot that day except sit around and watch TV. I passed an uneventful weekend and called the doctor on Monday to make a follow up appointment. I asked when I would see any improvement. He told me that he had seen me early on and that it might get worse before it gets better. Oh joy. This would be when the depression and exhaustion started to set it. And the beginnings of a chest cold. I guess the anti-virals I was on didn't deal with the common cold.

Yesterday, my wife [who I love enormously!] let me sleep in, while she got up with the boys. I didn't get out of bed until 11. We then went off to her sister's for a party with her family. Something I may have referred to on my Facebook status update as "enforced family fun." In my defense, this was a term coined by Mrs. BA's father and I was just using it. I was very much looking forward to the party despite my condition. I even accepted a few good natured needles, in response to my wearing an eye patch (as I can't close my left eye), I got a few ARRs from people.

After a wonderful dinner, we moved onto birthday cake. An ice cream cake - one of my favorites. About halfway through my second piece I bit down and crrunnch! Well that's odd I thought to myself, this is ice cream cake - but there are chocolate chips in it, maybe one was just really frozen. I reached into my mouth and pulled out - wait for it . . .

A piece of one of my teeth. I had just been to the dentist on Wednesday. Wednesday! (Parenthetically, the highlight of the week came after the dentist when I went to play nine holes of golf - in the rain, unable to wear my contacts, glasses fogging up, but damn it I was going to play - and managed to shoot my best round 9-hole score ever!) So I cracked a tooth, of course on the right side - not the side that's already numb, no, why be that lucky. So is another root canal in my future or just a crown. Wait until tomorrow kids. I'll keep you posted. But now, I really feel like crawling back into my bed, but then again, there's always something to do to keep me from some more slumber.

What I Did With My Summer Vacation

C'mon now, we all had to do it. Those bored and burned out teachers made us write that essay at least once in our school careers, yes? And I would be remiss if I didn't catch you up on the events of last week at the beach. Besides, there's nothing worth watching on TV tonight, right?

We left for the beach on Tuesday evening, getting there in a nice easy manner. We had a quick dinner and then went down and played in the surf. LBA greatly enjoyed that part of the day. Wednesday we got up and headed down to the beach in the morning to play in the water some more. The weather was very cooperative and we had a great time splashing, building sand castles (which were quickly dismantled by LBA). For dinner that evening, we headed to an Ocean City landmark with some friends. I have to say the White Pizza was outstanding. But don't bother with the calamari appetizer. Wednesday evening, I went to bed with a bit of a sore throat, but thought nothing of it.

On Thursday, I woke up not feeling any better and when heading out to buy the morning paper, picked up a thermometer, where I learned that my fever was pushing 102 degrees. Guess I was sick. I probably should have headed to urgent care at that point, but instead opted for talking to a nurse on the phone, who walked me through a series of diagnoses over the phone, scaring me into thinking that I might have Scarlet Fever or Meningitis. Oh goody.

By Friday, I was no better and sent the BA family off to play with friends, while I rested in the morning. I felt a little better in the afternoon and we all headed up to Rehoboth Beach, for Thrasher's Fries, soft serve, and arcade games. The soft serve was probably the best as it made the razor blades in my throat easier to swallow. The time had come to seek medical help. Evidently people get sick a lot at the beach, for you can come across an urgent care center every few blocks in Ocean City. I finally chose this one. There was little suspense or surprise when they discovered that I had come down with a raging case of strep throat.

The doctor decided to treat with steroids (including a shot in the butt to get me started) and anti-biotics, as is the best way to attack strep. However, when the doctor noticed my wrists and the healing patches of poison ivy still evident, she upped the doses of steroids, for evidently, if you introduce steroids to a body coming off a case of poison ivy, the poison ivy can come back even worse. So I'm on steroids for three weeks. There go the Olympic time trials. I also scored some pain killers (yeah, baby) and something known as viscous lidocaine, to help numb my throat. While it may seem like a lot of pharmaceuticals, it helped me to salvage the last two days of my vacation, which was really the only important thing.

In addition to my own health woes, Mrs. BA had her own issues on vacation. On the above mentioned trip to Rehoboth, we parked the car at a metered space ($.25 for 10 minutes!) and Mrs. BA emptied her wallet of quarters so we could park. in the confusion of then getting LBA out of the car, her wallet was inadvertently left on the roof of the car. Needless to say, it is no longer in our possession. We had had to go through and cancel credit cards and she's in the market for a new wallet, if you are looking for a gift for her. And does anyone want to go to DMV for her?

And now, in closing a few statistics:

• Number of "Summer" days (Memorial Day - Labor Day): 99

• Blog posts this summer (since Memorial Day, May 26): 73
• Number of president posts and recipes posted over the summer: 14 and 15, respectively
• Number of posts containing the tag, "summer" (I need to work on my tagging): 2
• Number of "memes" posted: 6
• Number of quizzes posted: 3
• Number of obituary posts this summer: 3 (Harvey Korman, George Carlin, and my cat Minnie)
  
• Number of iPod shuffle lists: 2

• Number of parties and events held or attended this summer: 8 (A baby shower, the Ford's Theater Gala, Red Dawn Movie Night, the Annapolis Rotary Crab Feast, the Fourth of July festivities in Annapolis, a picnic for LBA's daycare class, Little OSG's first birthday, and another toddler birthday party)
• Number of baseball games attended this summer: 6?
• Number of football games attended this summer: 1 (Go Giants tonight!)
• Number of movies attended this summer: 2 (Indiana Jones and Get Smart)
• Number of beach vacations taken: 2 (June and the most recent strep vacation)
  
• Number of rounds of golf played this summer: 1.5 (oh, how sad)

• Number of work days this summer: 68
• Number days taken off this summer (including sick leave): 10.5
• Number of dentist appointments this summer: 3
• Number of eye doctor appointments this summer: 3
• Number of doctor visits this summer: 1 scheduled, 1 urgent care

Salmon and Bacon

It's President's Day (or as the Office of Personnel Management knows it, Washington's Birthday (I know, don't get me started). But what it means is that I have the day off. I started my day at the dentist (the regular one) and he has determined that I need to go back and see the endodontist as Tooth No. 19 is acting up again. I am off to the chiropractor this afternoon so I can be well-adjusted for my return back to work tomorrow (how well adjusted will always remain to be seen). C in DC has tagged me with a meme, which I will get to after the weekly recipe and presidential homage.

So this week's recipe. Sure, I know those two look bad, together like that. Salmon recipes have appeared here before. And I have had bacon-wrapped scallops (this is but one of many recipes) so I am willing to try this one.

Bacon-Wrapped Broiled Salmon

• 3 to 4 tablespoons grainy mustard
• 1 to 2 tablespoon minced dill, plus a few sprigs for garnish (optional)
• Kosher or sea salt
• 1 tablespoon slightly crushed pink peppercorns
• 4 6-ounce boneless, skinless salmon fillets, preferably at least 3/4 inch thick, pin bones removed
• 4 slices streaky (fatty) bacon
  

Position an oven rack 4 to 5 inches from the broiling element; preheat the broiler. Have ready a broiler pan with a rack and 4 long metal skewers.

Combine the mustard, dill, salt and pink peppercorns in a small bowl, mixing well. Spread in equal amounts on the top (rounded) sides of the salmon fillets, pressing the mixture down slightly into the fish. Lay a slice of bacon across each fillet (fold into a V shape, if using center-cut fillets) and tuck the ends neatly underneath. Thread a skewer through the center of each fillet to secure the edges of the bacon. Place the fillets bacon side down on the broiler pan and broil for 4 minutes, until the salmon looks opaque, then use a spatula to carefully turn them over (leaving the skewers in place) and broil for 3 to 4 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove the skewers and serve immediately.

Recipe Source: Adapted from Villas's "The Bacon Cookbook" (Wiley, 2007).

To Dream the Impossible Dream

I have a number of posts ready to roll out the gates, but I had a disturbing dream last night. Normally, my sleep is uninterrupted by dreams, or at least I don't normally remember them. It must be the meds the dentist put me on. Here's last night's dream. And yes, I know I'm weird. But what do you think?

I am in the water under a large bridge (I think it's the Throgs Neck Bridge). There's a storm coming and I have climbed up onto the metal ladder to try and reach the roadway far above. There is a young boy with me (who might be me at a younger age). He has been in the water a long time, having drifted in Long Island Sound attached to something (it wasn't clear).

The dream "camera" shifts and I see that the current Governor of Maryland has organized a search for me and the boy. I realize that being on a metal ladder underneath a bridge during a thunderstorm is not the place to be, so the boy and I jump back into the water and swim for shore.

Yes it rained heavily here last night and my acute lack of sleep made me feel like I was walking in water most of the afternoon.

What is that about?

This Better Not Affect My Turkey Eating

I learned a few things today. One, I am no longer in college, when I could pull all-nighters with abandon and make it through the daylight hours without nodding off. Two, I hate tooth number 19.

That is the tooth I had root canal in approximately a month ago. This was after having a root canal performed on it nearly four years ago. The past two evenings / early mornings, I have woken up at 4:00am in pain (coming from tooth number 19 - that's a molar on the lower left part of your mouth, if you're playing along at home). Yesterday morning, I managed to grab a handful of Advil and got back to sleep for a few more hours.

This morning, I again woke up in pain, and the Advil did not work so good. So I got up, did some work at home and then headed off to work, getting there about 7:00am. I was not the only one surprised to see me at the office that early.

So I called the doctor of destruction (aka the dentist who did the root canal last month) and got an appointment to see her this afternoon. So off I went. She did some filing of the tooth to cut down on the bite and prescribed some anti-biotics and an anti-inflammatory. I am supposed to see her again in February.

Goody, soft food for dinner tonight! And presumably going to be early. By mid-afternoon, I felt like I was walking through water. It's a funny feeling. I definitely should not be operating heavy machinery in this condition.

I Have A Cold, Again.

With the return of the wintry weather to the DC area, my head is all congested and I can't seem to shake my latest case of the sniffles. Yesterday's Washington Post Health section offered some timely information, "Anatomy of a Sneeze."

Here's a nice tidbit of information . . . a sneeze can send 2,000 to 5,000 bacteria-filled droplets into the air at 70 to 100 mph.

But what I found interesting in the article is the history of "Gesundheit."

• The Romans said "Jupiter preserve you" or "Salve," which meant "good health to you."
• The Greeks wished each other "long life."
• Pope Gregory the Great coined the phrase "God Bless You" during a bubonic plague epidemic in the 6th Century.
• "Gesundheit" comes from Germany and means "health."

As well, the superstitions associated with the sneeze. "Ancient superstitions held the sneeze to be dangerous. Some believed it caused the soul to escape the body through the nose. Saying "bless you" would stop the devil from claiming the person's freed soul. Others believed the opposite: that evil spirits used the sneeze to enter a person's body. There was also the misconception that the heart momentarily stops during a sneeze (it doesn't), and that saying "bless you" was a way of welcoming the person back to life.

Well thanks to all who bless me when I sneeze.

Diabetes Walk for America

Last Saturday, I participated in the Diabetes Walk America here in Washington, DC. I decided to take part largely because my mother suffered from Diabetes for the last 25 years of her life. A colleague at work had a poster about the walk on her wall and I made the decision this was something I could do for my mother, and myself.

Last Saturday was cold here in the DC area. I headed down on the subway to meet at the starting area in advance of a 9:00am start time. With my decision to participate in this walks came a commitment to raise money in the fight against Diabetes. I contacted friends and family asking for support, not expecting to raise a lot of money. I was floored by the support that I received. By the time of the walk, I had raised more than $1000.

During the walk, I walked alone along the route, which wound around the US Capitol. It was only a short distance (3K) and I completed the walk in a little less than 45 minutes. I spent that time thinking about my mother and making a silent commitment to myself to make sure that I do everything I can to beat Diabetes.

While a cure may be many years off, the fight goes on and it is a personal one for me and one that affects millions of people across the country.

Thank you to all my supporters, I am extremely grateful and blessed to have had you walking along with me last Saturday.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Well dear reader, I'm back from the precipice. Wednesday evening I came home with a fever and flu-like symptoms. By Saturday and no signs of improvement, it was time to seek professional help. Off to an urgent care facility (places my father, who used to work in the pharmaceutical industry, refers to as a "Doc in a Box") where it was determined that I had managed to severely dehydrate myself. Three liters of saline later, I was sent home feeling somewhat better. By today, Monday, I had taken myself to another doctor (my newly assigned Primary Care Physician - but more on that later) for the as yet unstoppable fever and congestion that I was suffering from. I seem to have turned the corner and might live for a while.

I will be the first one to admit that I am a lousy patient (most men are). However, over the weekend I was too sick to even be a problem patient. It got me thinking about being sick growing up. In school, I was, what my mother called, a mollygrubber. My mother and the school nurse were on a first name basis. Years later, my mother admitted to conversations she had with the school nurse where the nurse gave the lowdown to my mother and my mother told the nurse to let me lie down for an hour or so and then send me back to class. Probably all I wanted anyway.

There were several occasions when I scored the big win, getting to stay home from school. First, the set up. I got to move from my bedroom to the den sofa (hello, home from school and no TV, I don't think so). Then of, course, clear the coffee table of only the essentials:

• The cable box (back in the stone age, cable television on Long Island actually came with a cable box (about the size of a cigar box), where you depressed the buttons for the channels you wanted to watch). The box was connected to another box on the television, BY A WIRE!
• The TV Guide for planning the day's watching.
• A box of tissues - my usual complaints involved my nose A tray for food to be brought to me by my loving mother
• A drink - orange juice, ginger ale, maybe a coke, but always in a glass, and yes there has to be a flexible straw (so you don't have to exert yourself to drink)

Bring my pillow from my bedroom and a good blanket and settle in. Maybe if you were particularly unlucky, school work might arrive, but usually, is meant morning game shows:

• Wheel of Fortune - remember when contestants actually bought things?
• Password Card Sharks and, of course -
• The Price is Right

Afternoons brought soaps and, hey, I'll admit it. I used to watch. My mother was a CBS gal, starting with the starting off with Search for Tomorrow, then the Young and the Restless, followed by As the World Turns. At three o'clock, it was Guiding Light and the endless feuds between the Bauers, the Marlers, and the Spauldings. There are times when I come across one of these and I swear I can tell you exactly what is happening. It's because the characters were doing (or not doing) the same thing ten years ago or that time never changes on soap operas. There is even an affliction known as SORAS, or Soap Opera Rapid Aging System, where a character is sent away and returns a few years later, but the character is now fifteen years older.

4:00 and the soaps over, my mother would usually head off to start on dinner and I was returned to my own television choices. That usually meant a couple of choices. CBS was fond of the detective genre showing such classics as The Rockford Files or Barnaby Jones (loved Buddy Ebsen). One could usually find an episode of CHiPS, or in later years, Magnum, PI.

Being sick is never fun, but somehow, being sick in your own place makes it just a little bit better. There was at least one point over this past weekend, when I managed to find myself on the living room couch with a glass of ginger ale in my hands, plastic straw to my lips. Right then, there was hope.

Walking for my Health

In February, I lost my mother. She had suffered from diabetes for a long time. As the disease attacked her body, she suffered from blood clots in her legs, leading to a partial amputation of her left leg. She went on kidney dialysis as her kidneys failed her. At the end, she was faced with another operation to remove her other leg, and she made a decision to stop dialysis, with the understanding that it would lead to the end of her life. Within a week of her stopping dialysis, she was gone.

I hate diabetes. It's a horrible disease. In my opinion, there is no disease that is so invasive and attacks so many systems. I am overweight and am surely susceptible to getting diabetes. I should be taking better care of myself, eating better, and getting more exercise. But I will work on that, I promise.

I have made a decision to walk for my mother in the America's Walk for Diabetes. The event I will be participating in will take place on November 4, here in Washington, DC. I sent out an email solicitation to friends and family, asking for support in the walk. I am so moved by the support that I have received and can't believe that I have raised more than $600 already.

There is a cure out there somewhere and this is one step toward finding that cure. Under the links section is a link to my personal page for America's Walk for Diabetes. Every little bit helps. If you would like to sponsor me, please do so. I would be forever grateful. Thank YOU!