Judie went for a ride yesterday, out and about so to speak. She did not venture out of the car, her car. I did the driving. We went all the way to Walgreen's to pick her prescription. On the way back we cruised through the neighborhood.
Lo and Behold we ran up upon a couple of her friends walking. So we stopped and she had a grand time talking to them. One had just returned from Christchurch, NZ and was carousing about that they just been in that cathedral that took a beating. Glad they had seen it and glad that they were never going back again. It seems that it is a 14 hour flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane, AU. That was very onerous for them.
They did enjoy the cruise from Australia over to New Zealand and back. And they were mesmerized by the thermal activity in New Zealand. Pretty, yet dangerous.
Another step to getting better. She is really getting tired of living in one room even though it has TV, computer and comfortable chairs. It is the limitations that restrain you that is so hard to take.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Hanging In There . . .
We are hanging in there regarding Judie's radioactive treatment. She has taken up residence in the den. Literally living in her Lazy Boy chair. She is really doing well considering the limitations placed upon her. No outside traffic, she can not go to Sonic for a Coke or the grocery store (which she hates anyway). We have to stay apart until the Isotope goes though at least one half life.
The half life is 8 days. She took 20 millicuries. So at the end of 8 days it will be down to 10 millicuries depending on how much her body retains. We can assume all of it is retained but who knows. Any rate she had a bad day with upset stomach but that could be the treatment or it could be Montezuma's Revenge. She was better yesterday.
Time is marching on, nothing can stop that but it is time after all. And it seems to drag when you are constrained as she is. Me, I bounce in and out of the garage working on Radio Control airplanes and running food errands. I bring her a Sonic Coke every now and then - that helps a little bit. I don't press her and she seems to really appreciate that.
Gotta go feed the birds.
The half life is 8 days. She took 20 millicuries. So at the end of 8 days it will be down to 10 millicuries depending on how much her body retains. We can assume all of it is retained but who knows. Any rate she had a bad day with upset stomach but that could be the treatment or it could be Montezuma's Revenge. She was better yesterday.
Time is marching on, nothing can stop that but it is time after all. And it seems to drag when you are constrained as she is. Me, I bounce in and out of the garage working on Radio Control airplanes and running food errands. I bring her a Sonic Coke every now and then - that helps a little bit. I don't press her and she seems to really appreciate that.
Gotta go feed the birds.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
"Its Begun"
Judie's treatment for Graves Disease has begun. We are isolated within the same house. We must stay apart due to the radio active Isotope of Iodine she took. The Thyroid Gland will collect up the Iodine from her entire system, and of course most if not all of it will be radio active.
The congregation of the Iodine in one spot kills off the Thyroid Gland. It is a slow treatment but other than being apart it is painless. It takes up to six months for it the kill off the Thyroid Gland.
She took a dose of 20 millicuries (That would be 20MCi). It has a half life of 8 days. So at the end of the week plus a day, it will be halved. And eight days later halved again. She generally becomes safe after eight days but even safer after a total of 16 days. They will let her out of the house at the end of 10 or so days. As well all know nothing is perfect so 20 millicuries maybe a bit more or a bit less of Iodine, who really knows? So time is important element in the overall treatment. Right now, no visitors!
The congregation of the Iodine in one spot kills off the Thyroid Gland. It is a slow treatment but other than being apart it is painless. It takes up to six months for it the kill off the Thyroid Gland.
She took a dose of 20 millicuries (That would be 20MCi). It has a half life of 8 days. So at the end of the week plus a day, it will be halved. And eight days later halved again. She generally becomes safe after eight days but even safer after a total of 16 days. They will let her out of the house at the end of 10 or so days. As well all know nothing is perfect so 20 millicuries maybe a bit more or a bit less of Iodine, who really knows? So time is important element in the overall treatment. Right now, no visitors!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Just Checking . . .
I have been checking on ebenefits.va.gov and have seen little or no progress regarding my new claim with the VA. So I moved on the a Veterans Benefit Forum run by veterans not the government.
I learned that since the Secretary of VA determined that there were three new presumptive disabilities regarding Agent Orange that the VA has been swamped with claim actions. There was a court decision sometime ago and is now referred to as the Nehmer Stipulation. It makes the VA go back in time to check records, etc. regarding Agent Orange claims and determined that there were disabilities related to Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam (and curiously to Korea War too). I was a wash in the stuff exposed on the flight line in both DaNang and Bien Hoa. In the case of DaNang my roommate was a "Ranch Hand" pilot. Ranch Hand was the code name for the fellows that sprayed Agent Orange all over View Nam (and probably areas of Laos and Cambodia too).
Most of tour time in Viet Nam was at Bien Hoa Air Base which was adjacent to the "Iron Triangle." The Iron Triangle was an area of swamp, etc, part of the Mekong River delta zone of many square miles in size and infested with Viet Cong. So a lot of Agent Orange was sprayed there and I am sure a lot of it waifed over good old Bien Hoa where I lived for a year.
At any rate my Diabetes Type II is considered a Combat Related disability. And it has spawned other problems - cataracts and Neuropathy in both feet and left hand. These things will only get worse with time and of course Diabetes Type II is a life limiting disease with no known cure. So I just get to live with it. Maybe they will even award a Purple Heart in retrospect - not.
My combined service related and combat related disabilities have almost reached
100%. They are at 90%. The VA has a complicated rate table to make these determinations. So in fact I have 170% in total disabilities but when aggregated on the VA rate table it comes out to 90%. This table has been in existence since WW-1 and has historical roots all the way back to the Civil War. So it is a tried and true process, at least one that will not change anytime soon.
I made the mistake (well maybe not a mistake) and made a request to be determined as "unemployable." Age of course was not a consideration in such of a new rating. But the VA had a panel of doctors evaluated me in Sept of 2010 in regard to employablitiy. There was an Ophthalmologist, a Orthopedic Surgeon and a GP, each doing his on thing so to speak. The eye doctor said that my cataracts were a 1 on scale of 1 to 4, the Orthopedic Surgeon noted that my knees were popping and cracking, and recommended I stop walking as an exercise (I did not stop, I need to exercise regarding Diabetes and potential heart disease), and the GP did a number of BP tests (and I provided him with a list of my current medications) and other agility tests and the usual thumping and listening thing.
And I began the wait. Takes a while for things to percolate through the VA. About mid December I checked in with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), my on scene representatives. I am by the way a life member of the DAV. You know the DAV, they are Red Poppy people. At any rate I get a email from then saying they were doing a look see at Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD).
That is a new disability and it is another Agent Orange thing. Scared the crap out of me. I did the Internet search and found out that IHD was another name for Coronary Artery Disease. Ah ha - Cholesterol, etal, has risen its head. I have been treated for elements of CAD for years. Take blood pressure medication, two medications for Cholesterol and one for heart rate - that is four medications for CAD. So in the terms of the VA I have at least one MET for IHD. That on their basic table for IHD is a rate of 10% for the disability.
Could that drive my total disabilities to 100%? Perhaps. But the rub is that since the Secretary has added these three new disabilities to Agent Orange, there have been almost 90,000 cases to adjudicate in the Texas Department alone. Looks like I am in the middle of all of that hoopla. A veterans run forum, that is by us veterans and not the Government Veterans Administration, they indicate the VA can address about 1,500 to 2,300 cases per week. You do the math. I could be the middle of the summer before I get an answer. And they do it by date of application, so mine is September 15, 2010.
And what is worse is the bad weather shut them down. They lost a week of work time and probably gained as many new cases to evaluate/adjudicate. Its gonna be a long time this go round. On the other hand, since I made claims about high Chlorestorol way back in 1989, they may have to compensate to that date. That would be a nice piece of change and is totally tax free (state and federal).
As Hermine said in Harry Potter, "And now we wait."
I learned that since the Secretary of VA determined that there were three new presumptive disabilities regarding Agent Orange that the VA has been swamped with claim actions. There was a court decision sometime ago and is now referred to as the Nehmer Stipulation. It makes the VA go back in time to check records, etc. regarding Agent Orange claims and determined that there were disabilities related to Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam (and curiously to Korea War too). I was a wash in the stuff exposed on the flight line in both DaNang and Bien Hoa. In the case of DaNang my roommate was a "Ranch Hand" pilot. Ranch Hand was the code name for the fellows that sprayed Agent Orange all over View Nam (and probably areas of Laos and Cambodia too).
Most of tour time in Viet Nam was at Bien Hoa Air Base which was adjacent to the "Iron Triangle." The Iron Triangle was an area of swamp, etc, part of the Mekong River delta zone of many square miles in size and infested with Viet Cong. So a lot of Agent Orange was sprayed there and I am sure a lot of it waifed over good old Bien Hoa where I lived for a year.
At any rate my Diabetes Type II is considered a Combat Related disability. And it has spawned other problems - cataracts and Neuropathy in both feet and left hand. These things will only get worse with time and of course Diabetes Type II is a life limiting disease with no known cure. So I just get to live with it. Maybe they will even award a Purple Heart in retrospect - not.
My combined service related and combat related disabilities have almost reached
100%. They are at 90%. The VA has a complicated rate table to make these determinations. So in fact I have 170% in total disabilities but when aggregated on the VA rate table it comes out to 90%. This table has been in existence since WW-1 and has historical roots all the way back to the Civil War. So it is a tried and true process, at least one that will not change anytime soon.
I made the mistake (well maybe not a mistake) and made a request to be determined as "unemployable." Age of course was not a consideration in such of a new rating. But the VA had a panel of doctors evaluated me in Sept of 2010 in regard to employablitiy. There was an Ophthalmologist, a Orthopedic Surgeon and a GP, each doing his on thing so to speak. The eye doctor said that my cataracts were a 1 on scale of 1 to 4, the Orthopedic Surgeon noted that my knees were popping and cracking, and recommended I stop walking as an exercise (I did not stop, I need to exercise regarding Diabetes and potential heart disease), and the GP did a number of BP tests (and I provided him with a list of my current medications) and other agility tests and the usual thumping and listening thing.
And I began the wait. Takes a while for things to percolate through the VA. About mid December I checked in with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), my on scene representatives. I am by the way a life member of the DAV. You know the DAV, they are Red Poppy people. At any rate I get a email from then saying they were doing a look see at Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD).
That is a new disability and it is another Agent Orange thing. Scared the crap out of me. I did the Internet search and found out that IHD was another name for Coronary Artery Disease. Ah ha - Cholesterol, etal, has risen its head. I have been treated for elements of CAD for years. Take blood pressure medication, two medications for Cholesterol and one for heart rate - that is four medications for CAD. So in the terms of the VA I have at least one MET for IHD. That on their basic table for IHD is a rate of 10% for the disability.
Could that drive my total disabilities to 100%? Perhaps. But the rub is that since the Secretary has added these three new disabilities to Agent Orange, there have been almost 90,000 cases to adjudicate in the Texas Department alone. Looks like I am in the middle of all of that hoopla. A veterans run forum, that is by us veterans and not the Government Veterans Administration, they indicate the VA can address about 1,500 to 2,300 cases per week. You do the math. I could be the middle of the summer before I get an answer. And they do it by date of application, so mine is September 15, 2010.
And what is worse is the bad weather shut them down. They lost a week of work time and probably gained as many new cases to evaluate/adjudicate. Its gonna be a long time this go round. On the other hand, since I made claims about high Chlorestorol way back in 1989, they may have to compensate to that date. That would be a nice piece of change and is totally tax free (state and federal).
As Hermine said in Harry Potter, "And now we wait."
Friday, February 11, 2011
This To Has Passed . . .
This to has passed. Yesterday it was 14.1 degrees at the early AM on our electronic reporting weather doda. It sends a signal from outside to inside and is displayed on Judie's desk. It is pretty reliable until the sun hits it and it heats up. But once back into the shadows reverts to its accurate reporting.
By noon yesterday the cold snap was broken, the winds were still up a bit and it was sort of brutal outside. By late afternoon, it was well above freezing at a toasty warm 37 degrees. And that meant more of the remaining ice/snow/sleet disappeared into the soil. Really the snow and sleet went away early due to the solar heating but the ice remained in spots here and there out of the direct sun light.
Today we will hear the gutters ringing with the remaining melt off water. What melted yesterday froze last night in nice slick spots. But that too will go away today. The temperature will be well above freezing day and night.
By tomorrow it is predicted that we will see 70 degrees F. And that will be most welcome.
But once again, good old "Global Warming" shows it was a colossal scam while we were shivering in out homes. The great inventor of the Internet, Al Gore, has had his reputation further tarnished. That fat fellow is living in humongous houses and flitting around in a jet, and tells us to conserve and stop making green house gases. He is excess green house gas in and of himself. Sure glad he was not elected to be President of the US.
Well, duh! What do you think trees and grasses need to convert to Oxygen, well it is carbon dioxide - the culprit green house gas so hated by Al Gore and his cronies. The meeting in Europe fell apart and the world recognized the silliness of it all. And if we did not have carbon dioxide we would be living on a big chunk of ice. Let nature take its course!
Hope everyone warms up.
By noon yesterday the cold snap was broken, the winds were still up a bit and it was sort of brutal outside. By late afternoon, it was well above freezing at a toasty warm 37 degrees. And that meant more of the remaining ice/snow/sleet disappeared into the soil. Really the snow and sleet went away early due to the solar heating but the ice remained in spots here and there out of the direct sun light.
Today we will hear the gutters ringing with the remaining melt off water. What melted yesterday froze last night in nice slick spots. But that too will go away today. The temperature will be well above freezing day and night.
By tomorrow it is predicted that we will see 70 degrees F. And that will be most welcome.
But once again, good old "Global Warming" shows it was a colossal scam while we were shivering in out homes. The great inventor of the Internet, Al Gore, has had his reputation further tarnished. That fat fellow is living in humongous houses and flitting around in a jet, and tells us to conserve and stop making green house gases. He is excess green house gas in and of himself. Sure glad he was not elected to be President of the US.
Well, duh! What do you think trees and grasses need to convert to Oxygen, well it is carbon dioxide - the culprit green house gas so hated by Al Gore and his cronies. The meeting in Europe fell apart and the world recognized the silliness of it all. And if we did not have carbon dioxide we would be living on a big chunk of ice. Let nature take its course!
Hope everyone warms up.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Ho Humm . . .
Yes, that was the Super Bowl. Good in spots, sometimes great but otherwise just another football game.
Gloria Aguilera's rendition of the National Anthem was a sorry thing. Not only poorly done, screwed up lyrics to boot. Don't they audition those people before they turn them loose on the world? And while nice, I did not understand the America the Beautiful rendition before the National Anthem. It was sort of like, "Huh?"
I did not see the Sweet Pea stuff and I guess I did not miss anything.
I hope none of those people got paid anything to do their acts. They were sorry performers.
And even worse, the football players themselves. Such egos! Some held their right hands over their hearts during the America the Beautiful song, and totally ignored the National Anthem. Others were doing warm ups, jumping around and otherwise ignoring the National Anthem. Some did not seem to know what to do when.
The Commissioner needs to come down on those people. Its about respect people, respect for our troops overseas and at war. Respect for our nation and its heros past and present. These idiots can not see beyond their on egos. What a bunch of losers.
Gloria Aguilera's rendition of the National Anthem was a sorry thing. Not only poorly done, screwed up lyrics to boot. Don't they audition those people before they turn them loose on the world? And while nice, I did not understand the America the Beautiful rendition before the National Anthem. It was sort of like, "Huh?"
I did not see the Sweet Pea stuff and I guess I did not miss anything.
I hope none of those people got paid anything to do their acts. They were sorry performers.
And even worse, the football players themselves. Such egos! Some held their right hands over their hearts during the America the Beautiful song, and totally ignored the National Anthem. Others were doing warm ups, jumping around and otherwise ignoring the National Anthem. Some did not seem to know what to do when.
The Commissioner needs to come down on those people. Its about respect people, respect for our troops overseas and at war. Respect for our nation and its heros past and present. These idiots can not see beyond their on egos. What a bunch of losers.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Ka - Boom . . .
Ka-boom, well at least I think it went ka-boom. After two days of less than 20 degrees F, I had a can of Diet Coke exploded in my Mountaineer.
I went out to go to the Post Office to mail stuff, the mail to go out had been building up and we kept missing the mail lady. And I had a bit of cabin fever too. So out to the vehicle I went.
I pulled open the driver's door. Yes, the handle worked, but the door was slightly frozen to the frame. So it took a little bit of effort to get the door open.
When I had the driver's door open, I saw this brown colored fluffy ice all over my seat and the other passenger seat. Then I looked up and it was all over the head liner. So I swept off the seats so I could sit without it melting and getting me wet.
I got a lot of Coke out but much was still stuck to the headliner.
About half way to the PO, I noticed it was melting and being absorbed by the headliner.
Later I discovered the Coke can. The entire top was blown off. The pop top seal did not go, the seal around the entire top gave up the ghost.
Well there you have it, do not leave unopened Coke cans in your car outside in severee cold weather. Oh yes, the Mountaineer started right of way and the drive, while slow and careful, was uneventful.
Now up to 30 degrees today (Friday - Feb 4, 2011). Quite balmy, yes?
I went out to go to the Post Office to mail stuff, the mail to go out had been building up and we kept missing the mail lady. And I had a bit of cabin fever too. So out to the vehicle I went.
I pulled open the driver's door. Yes, the handle worked, but the door was slightly frozen to the frame. So it took a little bit of effort to get the door open.
When I had the driver's door open, I saw this brown colored fluffy ice all over my seat and the other passenger seat. Then I looked up and it was all over the head liner. So I swept off the seats so I could sit without it melting and getting me wet.
I got a lot of Coke out but much was still stuck to the headliner.
About half way to the PO, I noticed it was melting and being absorbed by the headliner.
Later I discovered the Coke can. The entire top was blown off. The pop top seal did not go, the seal around the entire top gave up the ghost.
Well there you have it, do not leave unopened Coke cans in your car outside in severee cold weather. Oh yes, the Mountaineer started right of way and the drive, while slow and careful, was uneventful.
Now up to 30 degrees today (Friday - Feb 4, 2011). Quite balmy, yes?
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