Walking again

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This morning, Ivetta and I went walking in Frick Park. This is the first time I've been there since last fall; many things have changed. One section along the Homewood Trail was shockingly bare and disturbing looking. Frick Park is a steep valley with wooded hillsides with minimal management, primarily keeping trails cleared and walkable, so this huge dug up area was a terrible surprise. I later found out it was cleared of diseased oak trees in hopes of keeping the disease from spreading.

My usual walk in Frick Park covers about three miles. I made it a little shorter this time, about 2.5 miles, and was pleased to find I was able to climb the hill (downhill in, uphill out) with less trouble than before. However, I found the walk exhausting and took a long nap after I got home. 

Pictures tomorrow.


Back home and OK

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Yesterday was procedure day, or should I say one of the longer days of my life. My instructions were to arrive at 5:30 AM., meaning I had to get up at 4:30 AM. I've hardly had half a night's sleep at that point. Robin picked me up at 5:15. It was very quiet; a few misguided birds were singing; a few cars were on the road; someone was jogging and another person walking. Along with time I was given instructions about where to park, which elevator to take, then where to go. A nurse in the elevator didn't have to ask where we were going–knew everything. Who else gets there at that ungodly hour.

They took about 45 minutes to "prep" me, meaning asking lots of questions. Then I saw Robin, very briefly, as they rode me down a long corridor on a gurney. I felt very disoriented. They hadn't given me anything mind altering; it was just the size of the hospital and my inability to figure out where I was. That feeling remained with me until I left this morning when I was finally able to see what part of the hospital I was in.

The real prepping began after I got to the cath lab; also a bit disorienting. Dino, wearing what looked like hunting/camouflage clothing but was really lead padding to protect him from the x-rays they would take, talked to me, shaved my groin (good thing I no longer have any shame), told me when each part of the procedure would take place. They gave me some kind of sedative, although I was not asleep, nor was there any pain. I don't remember much; just lights going on and off. There were four monitors to the side of the table. Were they examining the x-rays? I don't know.

When I returned to the room I slept, most of the rest of the morning and afternoon. I knew they had found something and put in the stent. During the procedure they spoke about the balloon. That's used to put the stent in place. Sometime during the day I learned my left anterior descending branch (LAD) was 90% blocked. Whether that accounts for my tiredness remains to be seen.

I was awake most of the evening. About 8pm, I was blessed with a roommate who spent the entire night sleeping (as much as you can in a hospital) with the TV on and flickering. I slept in spite of it. I'm home now, feeling good. They don't want me to be alone tonight so Robin will pick me up and I'll stay there. Tomorrow I'm told I can do anything I want.

Women’s Health and the Environment

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Pittsburgh is fortunate to have retained the presence of many of the movers and shakers who, a century ago, made the city one of the wealthiest in the country. One of the most interesting, and influential, is Teresa Heinz (Kerry) who brought us the Women's Health and the Environment conference I was privileged to attend. Reports on National Public Radio talked about the presence of Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the EPA, Regina Benjamin, the U. S. Surgeon General and, of course, Teresa Heinz's talk about her personal battle with breast cancer. All of the them were interesting: Jackson, because it is the first time I have heard anyone from the EPA sound like they wanted to protect us or the environment; Heinz and Benjamin because both spoke very personally about their own experiences. The website promises to show videos of the presentations; I hope they will include all of Teresa Heinz's talk.

But the conference was much more than these three women. We spent the day at the convention center. While I have trouble sitting for long stretches, I found all of the presentations touched me, personally. I had no wish to leave. I wish you could have been with me; I think  this was a very important event. When we arrived at the convention center, instead of the usual shopping bag and tables of literature, we were given flash drives filled with pdfs, to take home with us: information about the presenting organizations and speakers.

The focus of the conference was the number of manmade, probably toxic, chemicals we now have in our bodies. Even newborns have been found with 200 plus chemicals passed from the mother through the placenta. We don't know the effect of these chemicals but strongly suspect they are the cause of many cancers, asthma, autism, ADHD/ADD, obesity, diabetes, on and on. Many of the worst of these chemicals are found in the air and in ordinary things we have in our homes: children's toys like rubber ducks, canned food, packaged food, toothpaste, deodorants, receipts (those things you get when you use your charge card; chemicals enter the body through the skin), meat, chicken, cosmetics, personal care products like shampoo and body wash; the list goes on and on. Start here for more info; I'll put up a page of resources and links very soon.

Sooo tired

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Last night, about 8:30, I gave up and got ready for bed. I never do this. I slept until 7 this morning, more than 10 hours in bed. I had a busy day, yesterday, but it wasn't that bad. This is one reason I'm willing to have the cath, as they call it. I want my energy back. The doctor wouldn't promise me anything, he's very cautious about what he says, but I keep hoping.

I'm still having issues with my Adobe software, but nothing that keeps me from working. I sent them an email–hope to get an answer soon. I really don't want to call again. I probably spent 3 hours on the phone with them on two calls. I'm sure they have a support document that would help me. I found one, but it's not entirely clear. In the meantime I can live without Acrobat 8 Pro. I'm still working on the Japanese Garden book.

Cardiologist again

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For many years I largely ignored the state of my health. Yes, I went for checkups. No, there was never any concern. Them days are gone forever. I was supposed to go to the cardiologist at the beginning of May for another pacemaker check, a stress echo test and whatever. They were supposed to call me with an appointment for the test. This week, since I hadn't heard from them for a couple of months, I called and suddenly found myself with an appointment for all of it this morning.

My pacemaker is doing fine. My afib is much decreased (I knew that). The stress test was abnormal, for the second time with this doctor and another time with the previous doctor. So he recommended I go in for a catheterization and possibly the insertion of a stent. I'm not too unhappy about this, although I think I'm really allergic to doctors and hospitals. But I've been very unusually tired lately. I hope, if they find I need a stent, it will help. I'm scheduled for a week and a half from now. In the meantime, I have to take more blood tests, stop the coumadin, start taking Plavix and get mentally prepared. I'll keep you posted.

BTW, my Adobe fix didn't work. I called last night and spoke to someone in India who gave me a similar but slightly different fix. It didn't work either. I'll try again tonight. This is really annoying.

Classes and programs

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Except for one next Monday, most of my Osher classes have finished, leaving me with an empty calendar. After my haircut this morning I went to Club One to the tai chi class that I haven't appeared for at least a year. Most of the faces were new; I don't know what happened to the old guard. Class was very slow, everything done slowly in one place not moving feet and not my idea of a good thing. After the hour class I spent some time on a bike then off to Trader Joe's, in the next building, for calories to make up for the calories I expended. Actually, I wish it worked that way. I'm sure I bought many more calories than I worked off.

After I finished my taxes Sunday I tried to go back to work on my garden book. My layout program, Adobe Indesign insisted I needed a serial number. It hasn't asked for that since I first installed it. Also found that Illustrator wouldn't open (same number), but Photoshop seemed OK. After a tedious online chat that would have gone a lot faster if the guy on the other end had bothered to read my first chat message, I was told to call for help.

The phone call didn't go a lot better. The recorded voice said there would be a long wait and if I wanted, they would call me back within 19 to 28 minutes. I thought that was nice and waited, meanwhile doing some online research. I found an Adobe document about uninstalling the programs and went to work. About an hour and a half later they called back, only to put me on hold. By this time I had finished the uninstall. I waited until they cut me off, I suppose accidentally, and then reinstalled the programs. They are all working fine today; so much for customer service. I just wish I knew why this happened.

Playing catchup

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I apologize for the hiatus and promise I'll try to do better. Mostly it was laziness; to a small extent it was income tax. I got so little money last year I get a refund from the feds and only owe the state a very small amount. I use an online service called TaxSlayer. It's very easy and I was finished within a couple of hours. It would be even easier if I was more organized. I was waiting for one form that never came and the other envelopes got shuffled into a pile with lots of other stuff. By the time I found out I didn't need the missing form, the required ones were out of sight and out of mind. Then, of course, I had to find last year's tax, also out of sight and out of mind. It's a great relief to have it all out of the way.

So I'll tell you what I didn't write about: first, the Seders in New Jersey and New York. We were with friends in NJ. The hostess is from Israel, her family originally coming from Iraq. It was a little different from our usual ritual and very interesting. Our kids were still in Chicago–no holiday from college, but the two sons of the host family were there, along with one girl friend. This is very much a family holiday–these friends are just like family. Our New York Seder was with Steve's family on Long Island, again a little different and very nice.

I had my yearly mammogram last week, no results yet. I wasn't going to do it this year, based on someone's (a government health service)  recommendation of every two years for women over 75. After Alice's experience, I decided to go ahead with the test. I should have a result tomorrow or Tuesday.

The snow is finally gone, the weather has been mostly wonderful, although not while I was in NYC. There I got wet and froze–didn't have proper clothing with me.

I bought the camera but have had it only two days. I promise a report in about two more days.

Here is the tulip tree welcoming spring.

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One last bit of snow. This picture was taken on March 25 after many days of 70 and 80 degrees. The snowpile was created when they shoveled the snow off of the top of the building (parking garage at CMU). Originally it was almost as tall as the building.

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It's finally gone.

New York, New York

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Rainy Monday in New York City. I can't decide where to go that would make it worth a possible drenching, having at times been very wet in New York rains. I wanted to go down to Chinatown and buy some probably arcane Chinese spices. When I was in Shanghai at that tea tasting ceremony I bought a wonderful, herbal concoction. I saved a little bit in hopes of finding someone who could tell me what was in it. Of course, I forgot to bring it with me. Maybe I'll just go down and buy a selection of sticks and bark. I know there are also tiny rose buds and jujubes.

Today and tomorrow are my last days here. Wednesday morning I drive back with Robin and Steve. Rain is in the forecast all three days.

Besides camera shopping, I've been to Kalustyan, a wonderful place for exotic, imported foods, spices, candies, etc. I could have spent hours there, but I had one more stop on Friday: Japan Society to see a beautiful show of Kuniyoshi woodblock prints. Very satisfying. On Saturday, Renee and I went to the Asia Society and then a movie. Yesterday I went to the Rubin Museum with Phyllis. Two featured exhibits were about death: Remember That You Will Die, and Bardo: The Tibetan Art of the Afterlife. The idea of Remember That You Will Die rather bothers me in the abstract, but the exhibit itself was not troubling; I could only distantly relate to it.

Talking about cameras

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Finally decided on my next camera. I love the convenience of my old Sony, but I've never been pleased with the pictures–not enough tonal range. I've been doing research and decided that what I needed was a camera that would give me raw files. I know the real answer is to get a DSLR, but I also know I don't want to carry several pounds of camera with me all the time. There are only a few point and shoot models that meet my requirements and some of them are heavier than I want. Yesterday I went to B & H Photo and held three of them in my hands. Reading the specs didn't do it for me.

B & H is on Ninth Avenue and 34th Street. I think it covers a full New York block on two floors. It is owned and run by Orthodox Jews and mostly has Orthodox Jews working there; lots of them. The place is well organized, but tends to be kind of a zoo; crowds of people. Yesterday morning wasn't too bad. I was able to speak to two different sales people without any waiting. The first young man immediately told me he didn't know anything about point and shoot cameras; I was in the wrong place. That was very nice. Too often I've had sales people give me a totally made up line figuring I wouldn't know better.

The second man showed me four cameras that would meet my needs. I promptly rejected one–too big–and spent time looking at the other three. I liked the smallest one best. Haven't bought anything yet. I'm still in research mode, but I'll probably get the Canon S90. Anyone know anything about it?