kengr

It all started a few weeks back when a friend gave me a couple of "surplus" laptops They were part of a bunch that had been retired by a company he does tech support for.

Anyway, one had a virgin (re)install of Win 10 on it, and I played around a bit. It was designed to hook up to a docking station which had some nice extra. And they were cheap on e-bay. So I bought one. And when it arrived, I hooked it up to the monitors and keyboard/mouse on the kitchen table I use as a workbench.

This meant fayanora and I could resume our long lapsed weekly TV nights. We are way behand (watching shows from 2021 now) but we are making a dent in the backlog. Good thing because space was getting aa bit tight on the server.

( Read more... )

What with Inferno season starting (only half joking) we should all make a point to check all our meds, and medical supplies to find out what their safe storage temp range is.

As an example, my covid test kits say 36F to 86F. Which means I need to keep them in the living room so the air conditioner can keep them from "spoling".

I once had a med that had to be kept under 80-something, but was also labelled "do not refrigerate". Made me want to scream at the manufacturer as that was when I didn't have an air conditioner.

In Union county, Oregon, they went from 22 Covid-19 cases last week to 224 this week. this in a rural, low population area.

It appears that the increase is mostly due to *one* church there. Even though the county was in phase 1, which means no large gatherings they had a service with several hundred people in attendance. There was a video of it up on their website (which has since vanished, but people saved copies)

Said video shows nothing remotely resembling social distancing. Doesn't show any masks either.

I'm sure they felt they were exercising their rights. Freedom of religion (which hasn't actually been restricted), freedom of assembly (which *has* been restricted and quite *legally* restricted)

What they actually did was exercise their right to be stupid. And exercise the *non*-right of endangering other people.

Oh yeah, about that freedom of religion bit. It'd only be a restriction on that if church gatherings were restricted aand other types weren't.

Since *all* gathering above a certain size are restricted there is *no* religious component to the restrictions.

the protests that it is infringing their freedom of religion are just another case of people thinking that their religion (almost always Christianity in the US) is somehow "special" and deserves to be exempt from the rules.

Sorry doesn't work that way.

And I trust the jump in cases demonstrates the idiocy of "god will protect us".

We've got free will. And that means god *has* to let us suffer the consequences of making bad choices.

But cautiously, Spent too much time in bed when I got zonked by that vaccination, and that turned into a self-sustaining loop (lying in be reading)

I knew It was a problem because of the way I felt when I headed to Albertson's (the literally next door grocery store).

But Today when I did the monthly Winco run with Fay, I discovered it was a lot worse than I thought. Had to rest several times in the course of a block. And my heart rate when I got to the subway I was meeting her at was 145 and my O2 sat was 80. Took forever to get close to normal.

Walking thru Winco required stopping and leaning on the cart several times.

And when I finally got home, it took me an hour and a half to go from the bus stop (726 feet from the apartments according to Tri-met), make the several trips up the stairs with the groceries, and get it all put away. Lots of sitting and resting in there.

Given that I had several "gray-out" moments while shopping, I think I need to dig out the blood pressure cuff and check that, not just the pulse/O2 sat that I'm checking with the pulse oximeter.

To start out with, I'm gonna be sure to go up and down the stairs at least a couple times a day. And work up to more walking. This is ridiculous.

Wednesday morning, I was awaken abruptly by my right calf trying to kill me.

Ok, not really, but that's what the cramp felt like. Ouch.

Fortunately my current bed frame has a convenient 2x4 to jam my foot up against to fight cramps. So I got it somewhat under control and it faded.

Mind you, even now there's a slight twinge of soreness. But it's not even annoying.

Thursday while getting out of bed I figured out *why* my cramps tend to come as I'm waking up. I sleep on my side, so as I roll over to my back and on to the other side, I point my toes (so they are out of the way for the roll).

That pointing involves contracting the calf muscle, which triggers the cramp (note that jamming your foot up against something and pushing it to keep the muscle stretched is what works best to shorten and "minimize" the cramp, so this makes sense)

Ok, good to know but not likely to be a lot of help as it's something your body does pretty much automatically. And being half asleep means you're unlike to remember to be careful in time.

Tonight my leg attacked me again. Apparent my old Croc flip-flops have worn down enough that they no longer give as much support to my heel. This means that my heel is now *lower* than my toes. Which stretches the Achilles tendon. And after a few hours the tendon reacts by informing you that it doesn't *like* being stretched that much that often.

Oh well, they need replacing anyway and they have lasted for many years.

Last night I laid down in bed to do some reading and maybe take a nap.

A short time later, I had a painful ache in my gut and it felt like I was going to need the toilet *bad*.

I also started sweating like crazy.

Tried to get out of bad but got incredibly dizzy before I was halfway to sitting up.

Fortunately I has able to reach my phone and texted Fay. Turned out she wasn't home. After a few texts back and forth, she dropped what she was doing and headed home. Fortunately, she has a key to my apartment (for this sort of thing as well as other things)

Anyway, when she got here, she dragged over some stuff for me from elsewhere in the apartment. First check was my temperature. No fever. Ooo-kay.

Then I tried to check my blood sugar. And I do mean *tried*. It turns out to be next to impossible to do a proper "stick" while laying down on your side. Had to get fay to help me sit up before I could get it done right.

I'd expected it to be a hypoglycemic episode, but nope.Blood sugar was high, not low. WTF?

( possible TMI )

Last night (well early this morning if you want to get technical) I was doing the usual bit. Check my blood sugar, and inject insulin as needed.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was (for once) low enough I didn't need any insulin-R. (116 mg/dL)

So I did the usual nightly injection of Insulin-N since I was going to go to bed soon. I know I used the N, because I keep the vials in distinctly different containers, and the R is clear, while the N is milky. I also distinctly remember rolling the vial to mix it (N settles if you don't mix it gently).

The injection went the same as usual. But a while later I was starting to sweat a lot. I figured it was just the fact I'd turned off the fan in the living room window. So I laid down on the bed, hooked up the CPAP and tried to get to sleep.

But I was *still* sweating like a stuck pig. and I realized my heart was pounding. I grabbed the pulse oximeter that I had on the night stand and check. O2 saturation was ok, but my pulse was over 100. WTF?

I suspected i was having a hypoglycemic episode. So I put the oximeter on its lanyard around my neck and clipped my cell phone to it (I do *not* intend to ever be one of those folks who falls down and can't get to the phone, thank very much!). Then I carefully got up (for once I was thank for the crowded state of the room, lots of things to brace myself with).

Just sitting up made me dizzy. Yep hypoglycemia was looking likely. Bleah. Got over to the computer, sat down and grabbed to glucometer. The reading was 39. WTF!

Definitely not good, I worked my way to the fridge and grabbed to bottle of orange juice and got back to the chair. I poured myself a glass and drank it. Then another. (real fruit juice is a recommended way to get your blood sugar up fast).

I could have used the emergency glucose tabs or even some hard candy I keep just in case, but I figured I needed the fluids.

I texted Fay to let her know I was having trouble and to get help if I didn't check back with her soon. It's nice having a friend only a few apartments away. She texted back o ask how long and I told her 30 minutes (it's not like I was going to *die* in that much time, but if I wasn't able to respond, I'd definitely need help.

( mildly gross bit )

A recheck of my blood sugar had it up to 130 so that was good. I finished off the bottle of juice, let Fay know my blood sugar was back to normal and made a PB&J sandwich to have something that'd give some longer term carbs.

This is my second (third?) instance of hypoglycemia. At least it confirms what I suspected from previous bouts. Sweating like hell is *definitely* one of my warning signs. This is the first time it was so sudden though.

Previous instances were a case of wake up not feeling great and discover I had it.

I'm just really puzzled by this episode. I mean even if I'd accidentally injected into a vein the insulin-N should have done anything *that* fast, should it? Oh well another question to run past the doc next visit.

And now, breakfast!

I was in the final stages of cleaning things up for the inspection today when I suddenly realized that I was *way* too tired, dizzier than I should have been (I was hanging off the side of my bed, head down so I could get at some things with the handheld vacuum) and that I was sweating like there was no tomorrow,

Given that I was right in front of a fan, and the room temp was definitely into the "cool" range for me, something was obviously wrong.

All I wanted to was lie down and sleep. But I needed to get the cleaning done.

So I staggered over to the chair at the computer (bracing myself on various things along the way). I dug out the glucometer and did a test. 31.

Eep! 70 is when you are supposed to start worrying.

So I managed to grab a glass and carefully stagger over to the fridge (again making sure I had one hand on something at all times). I grabbed the bottle of cranberry juice cocktail and went back to the chair. After a couple of 8 oz glasses, I checked again. 103, so I ate a couple of things for some slower release carbs and some protien.

Half hour later it was up to 121 and I very carefully went back to work.

My best guess is that I somehow screwed up the Insuli-N injection, though I'm not sure how. And the exercise probably didn't help.

In any case, I'll be done in a few minutes (mostly waiting for the kitchen floor to dry) and then crash out. I'll still get a minimum of 2 hours sleep, and if I'm lucky, three of four.. If they start at the other end of the complex I'll be in great shape. If not, I'll just crash pout again after they check my apartment.

Wghile the bad reaction will make a nice excuse for having some things undone, I'd really rather have not had it.

The *only* good thing about it is that now I know what hypoglycemia feels like.

Had a doctor's appointment for a diabetes checkup. It was at 6:15.

Of course, the day *after* I make it, they announce they are having a pizxza party at the apartments from 4-6.

I managed to get a little of the pizza before I left for the appointment.

I decided to use my bike becausde I could leave a lot later (on the bike, it takes about 30 minutes. On the bus it takes 90).

Unlike the forecasts earlier in the week, it wasn't cloudy *or raining. So I half melted on the way. also, as usual, going from working on the bike in the hot air to sitting around in the air conditioned waiting room meant I was *covered* in sweat. Bleah.

Appointment went ok. I have new doctor. It's a guy this time, but he seems nice. got thru the checkup ok, and I even remembered to bring up the two other things I wanted to ask about.

First was getting back on zoloft. My depression has sort of snuck up on me again, and I'd been blaming some of the extra sleeping and lack of interest in stuff on the heat. But I finally decided I should get back on zoloft to see if it'd help like it did before.

No problem with that. The prescription might even be ready now, but I'll go check tomorrow.

The other issue is that over the last few years I've been making an increasing number of typos. Used to be I'd make maybe 1 typo in a few paragraphs. These days, sometimes I'll have several in the same *sentence*.

For now looks like it'll be "see in the zoloft makes a diff, then look into things further if thatisn't the problem.

Definitely gotta ride the bike more often.

stats

distance: 6.92 miles
max speed: 16.3 mph
moving time 54:46
moving average" 7.6 mph

Okay, as Imentioned, Tuesday I went to the Multnomah County clinicto drop off my full sharps container and pick up a new one. I got the new one, but was informed they no longer took them.

I was told (and a *large* poster next to me also said) that I could take the full container to any fire station.

Well, I looked up fire stations and found one that was only about a mile and a half away. A nice ride for this early in the season.

So I get there. And get informed tthat there's been a recent policy change and *they* aren't supposed to take them either. (They let me do it this once, thankfully)

So after I post this I'm calling the clinic to let them know and ask where exactly I am supposed to take them *now*?

I don't expect to get much of an answer, so my *next* stop will likely be emailing a local TV station.Especially since they recently did a bunch of stories about used needles being dumped on riverside property that eventually turned out to be owned by the city or county. And they took the better part of a week to clean it up. And a week later, there were just as many needles.

So I'd say these policy changes are a reasonable followup story, yes?


I took a couple side trips on the way home, so I got some extra mileage. Speed is low because I had to walk the bike back up the hill.


bike stats
distance: 4.91 miles
moving time 55min 27 sec
max speed 12.3 mph
moving average: 5.3 mph