13:09 – Barbara just headed over to her mom’s apartment. Sankie isn’t doing well at all–physically or mentally–and hasn’t been since about the first of the year. She’s in her mid-80’s and suffers from some dementia, which makes it difficult to figure out what’s going on. At first, Barbara thought it was just the after-Christmas letdown. She’s taken her mom to the doctor two or three times this year, and every time the doctor has told her there’s nothing to worry about. I think the doctor is wrong.
One of the staff from Creekside Retirment Village called this morning. Sankie had apparently pulled her emergency cord. The staff member told Barbara that Sankie wasn’t doing well at all, and asked about calling 911. Barbara told her not to. She called Frances and they discussed what to do. They’re trying to avoid getting back to the drop-everything-and-rush-over-to-mom’s-place thing, so they decided that since Frances was planning to go over there this afternoon that that would suffice. A little while ago, as we were building kits, Barbara announced she was worried about Sankie and was going to head over to see her.
My guess is that Sankie has a UTI yet again. UTIs are extremely common in women. The incidence rate is something like 10% annually even in young women, and in elderly women it’s much higher. And in elderly women a UTI is often physically asymptomatic, leaving only increased confusion, dementia, and other mental symptoms as indications. I was surprised that the doctor chose not to do a urine culture on any of Sankie’s visits. I suggested to Barbara and Frances that the next time their mom sees the doctor, if he’s not willing to put her on antibiotics prophylactically, they should ask him to prescribe a large supply of co-amoxiclav, SMZ/TMP, or whatever he routinely prescribes for her for UTIs. That way, at the first sign of a possible UTI, Barbara or Frances can start their mom on the antibiotic and keep her on it for 10 days or whatever.
Good luck to Barbara! It is tough getting old! I’m 53 and dreading the years to come. My vision lately has been giving me fits with early cataracts and a dozen floaters in my right eye, making it useless for close-in work.
Both of my parents are alive but Dad is fighting a carcinoma on his right leg. My parents live 110 miles away and I am the closest.
My wife spent last Sunday with my mom in the ER for a UTI. I am surprised it took this long for her to have one. We’re having trouble explaining to my mom that adult disposable undergarments are disposable. Before she developed dementia, my mother worked for the IRS as an auditor, and went on to practice law. Now she’s just stubborn.
Went and looked at a US $599K one story 4,058 ft2 house today for grins. Amazing what more than a half million dollars will buy you:
http://www.trendmakerhomes.com/newhomes/sienna_plantation/051-0221#.UtMqlbQ-Y8s
My vision lately has been giving me fits with early cataracts and a dozen floaters in my right eye, making it useless for close-in work.
Get the cataracts fixed as soon as you can. The results are remarkable. Clarity, color are all improved. You have a rigid lens that will not focus but when you get above 50 that is generally the case with biological lenses. They can also correct your vision (I chose distance correction) when they replace the lenses. I now drive easily and watch movies and TV without glasses using eyes that originally could not read a book further than 3 inches from my nose.
If the floaters really bother you you can have the fluid in the eye replaced thus removing the floaters. The trick to getting the procedure (vitrectomy) is convincing your insurance company the the vitreous fluid is gelling and pulling on your retina increasing the risk of a torn retina. Again, the results are remarkable.
Both procedures are painless, no discomfort, short recovery consisting of covering the eye and resting for a day. A few drops in the eyes for a week.
Biggest pain is getting the bill.
Is there a consensus here on Amazon Prime?
@Lynn: I dunno about that house. I’ve never understood the drive to these huge McMansions. When we last visited the US, I dropped by a cousin’s house probably also about 4000ft2. He gave us the tour and discovered that the dog thought one of the rooms was a place to poop. The house was so large that lots of space was rarely used, which was why they hadn’t noticed.
Our house in Switzerland is also about that size, but half of it is given over to our business. Even so we have rooms we don’t often use. I like doing house maintenance, but keeping up with a building this size (and the garden to go with it) is frankly a substantial load – there’s always something that needs done.
Heck, I remember the last house I lived in with my parents – back before McMansion days – was around 2000ft2, and had both an informal living area and a formal one. The formal one was never used – had to remain pristine in case of visitors, but any visitors were always led past it to the place we really lived. If the room had vanished, it would never have been missed.
We’re making tentative plans for the house we will build, when we sell the business in a few years. We bought the original “Not so big house” book years ago, and very much like the philisophy: Every space should be used, many should be double-purposed. We’re planning a max of 1500ft2, not counting the garage and a project room in the basement. Cozy, every space regularly used – even the guest bedroom will serve some double-purpose, possibly being the library.
@Ray: The results sound great, but the process sounds scary as hell: having knives near the eyes. I have some of the “floater” problems that Lynn mentions, but I can still work with a good pair of glasses. It’ll have to get really bad before I let somebody take a knife to my eyes.
On the subject of the joys of age, I’m in the process of getting a dental implant. I lost a tooth over the summer (it split right down the middle, for no obvious reason), and the dentist said it’s better to replace it right away, before the bone decides it isn’t needed anymore and disappears. Why-oh-why don’t bodies regenerate themselves?
It’s a sign of a loving, omnipotent God, Brad.
My new place is a bit over 2000 sq ft and cost about $722k. I don’t know how you guys can build such large houses so cheaply, nor why.
I had a root canal 5-10 years ago, wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Took six visits to complete.
What are the construction standards like down under? In the US, it’s all so-called 2x4s and dry wall. The 2x4s get ever thinner – last I remember they were 1-5/8 x 3-1/2, and ever more widely spaced. There’s reason that tornadoes and hurricanes leave nothing standing.
I had a root canal two years ago. It took one visit to complete. Ok, four if you count the two visits in the last month, and the one next Monday for the crown.
If Barbara and I end up building when we finally relocate, I’m leaning toward either rammed earth or double-row concrete block with an earth layer between.
I’m afraid I don’t know Brad. Some homes are made of double brick (bricks, air cavity, bricks) on outside walls, single brick walls between rooms. Less substantial houses, such as my current one in Canberra are single brick on the outside and fibro between rooms.
My elder nephew is a structural engineer, and my younger nephew is the son in law of a retired builder, so I’ll see if they can give me a bit more info. We don’t generally have sufficiently wild weather to cause structural damage. What I fear most in the new place is bushfires and fallen trees. Gum trees tend to lose branches or even fall right over if the wind is strong enough, and my new places has some very substantial ones nearby.
Also, Adelaide is the termite capital of Australia (my parents place had them at least twice, my sister’s at least once, my elder nephew’s at least once – his three year old daughter could *hear* them sending Morse code like signals – and my new place has had them at least once.)
Large houses: I’m with Brad, small is better. Less to clean! One budding architect I know thinks 650 sq ft is what each person needs for living space, so two people = 1300 sq ft, three = 2000 sq ft. About the size of those homes Brad and I grew up in. BTW 2×4 are now 1.5″x3.5″. I have a shed in my backyard that is built with real, actual 2″x4″ 2x4s. Just like SteveF’s loving and omnipresent God wanted them to be. Looks like old growth pine, too. Most new homes in BC are being framed with 2×6 walls, to pack in the insulation.
Floaters: I’ve got those, including one that looks like the bouncing ball on Karaoke videos except it’s on two lines down from when I’m reading, and an inch to the right. It was real distracting reading a “real” book, but doesn’t bother me on my Kindle Fire, I presume due to the back-lighting.
Root Canals: I had three in one go, once. I told the dentist after the first one, when he suggested that I come back two more times, “either do all three or never see me again, for if I get out of this chair I won’t stop running for days”. I “would” wish them on my worst enemy. What’s the point of having a worst enemy if you can’t at least torture them?
If the floaters really bother you you can have the fluid in the eye replaced thus removing the floaters. The trick to getting the procedure (vitrectomy) is convincing your insurance company the the vitreous fluid is gelling and pulling on your retina increasing the risk of a torn retina.
The “big” floater in my right eye is directly in front of the lens and has been there about a year and a half now. Most floaters are 15 degrees off the line of sight according to him. My right eye is correctable to 20/200 on a good day and 20/400 on a bad day. You don’t want to know what my night vision is like.
I am talking with an eye surgeon who does about 10 to 20 cataracts a day. He maintains that he must do the cataract replacement first before the vitrectomy, otherwise the different fluid will make it difficult to do the lens replacement. BTW, it takes the eye 10 years to recover from the vitrectomy as all of the eye viscous fluid is replaced with saline. They deflate the eye then re-inflate it. Makes me a little nervous, that.
Most new homes in BC are being framed with 2×6 walls, to pack in the insulation.
If I ever build a house, I will do this. Here in the USA, only “wet” walls (walls with plumbing in them) are built with 2×6’s as a standard.
My problem with a house is that I need isolation space for my 26 year old disabled daughter. My study is right next to her bedroom and I cannot do anything loud in there. We are contemplating building a game room on back of the house or finding / building a new home.
Also, Adelaide is the termite capital of Australia (my parents place had them at least twice, my sister’s at least once, my elder nephew’s at least once – his three year old daughter could *hear* them sending Morse code like signals – and my new place has had them at least once.)
Houston is the termite capital of North America. I have had them swarming in a house before (that was disgusting with several thousand of them flying around the place).
I’d have guessed Florida to be the US termite capital. I remember in college a guy from Florida telling me that he’d once spotted one of their termites carrying away an 8-foot 2×4 to have as a snack.
I think there’s economies of scale when determining how large a house has to be. Since I’m single I need more space than my share if there were four of us. My current one is 1520 sq ft: huge in 1985 but crammed with junk ’till about six months ago. I’ve chucked a huge amount away, and moving to a circa 2000 sq ft place in Adelaide. The challenge now is not to fill that one with junk.
I did think of buying an apartment or duplex, and am thinking now that that might have been better.
“I remember in college a guy from Florida telling me that he’d once spotted one of their termites carrying away an 8-foot 2×4 to have as a snack.”
While I was inspecting the place in Adelaide I noticed a species of ant that I’d never seen before. The pest inspector said that if one of those bit me I’d *really* know it. It’s only a few km from where I grew up, but it was new to me. It did look big, mean and nasty…
Is Amazon Prime worth it—anybody? Anyone have it? Are you going to keep it?
Florida is the State termite capital of North America. The entire state! Houston is just so big (and getting bigger rapidly) that nothing compares.
I’ve chucked a huge amount away, and moving to a circa 2000 sq ft place in Adelaide. The challenge now is not to fill that one with junk.
We did not throw away enough crap when we moved last year and are paying the price now.
As OFD used to say, be Ruthless!
re: Amazon Prime
I’d say it depends on your priorities. A lot of people have it for the “free” two-day shipping. I’d never have it just for that, because I buy enough stuff that it’s never a problem to get to the $50 needed for free standard shipping, and I’m never in much of a hurry.
But now that they’ve made their video streaming usable we’re happy to pay $79/year for that and treat the two-day shipping as a nice extra. I suspect most people look at it the other way around.
Yes Lynn, I remember you complaining about the fembots accompanying you as you took the bins down to the street, whining and complaining the whole way and then bringing the stuff back to the house.
Don’t be ruthless. Be sneaky!
Nothing in the house is junk unless it in my closet or near my desk. The entire garage is a waste. (the opinions expressed are definitely not my own)
I had Amazon Prime and really liked the free two day shipping. The only reason I cancelled it is that we already have Netflix streaming, and since I cancelled the credit card with the Amazon rewards, we don’t buy as much from them. I cancelled the credit card because I’d see something that looked cool on Amazon and it would show up here two days later.
If it weren’t for the familiarity of the Netflix UI to the less technical members of the family, I’d have cancelled Netflix and kept Amazon Prime. Also with Netflix, I’m sure that our toddler can’t use it to view content that costs money. Don’t laugh. I made the mistake of giving her an old keyboard to play with. She promptly plugged it into a front mounted USB port on the PC I was using at the time and started pounding on the keys.
Yes Lynn, I remember you complaining about the fembots accompanying you as you took the bins down to the street, whining and complaining the whole way and then bringing the stuff back to the house.
Oh no, I just took stuff out to the trash. They went out later and investigated after they noticed the multitudinous sacks. And then they pilfered. So I was a little sneaky.
Re disposing of trash: far be it for me to suggest throwing the fembots on the trash heap…
Re Amazon Prime: Definitely worth it for us. My wife and daughter watch videos quite a lot and I’ll watch maybe an hour a month on average. The free shipping is a nice bonus because we often don’t buy that much at a time*, and by the time we’ve accumulated a $50 purchase the sale price is gone.
* I think I’ve mentioned it before here but it bears repeating: my wife makes a decent income and mine is quite good, but between the mortgage, the taxes, and tuition for three kids, we’re stone broke most of the time. By contrast, my brother makes a little more than my wife does but he’s got money for hobbies such as building and racing cars. The difference is that he doesn’t have a wife and kids. Men, the lesson is clear: if you want to have money, don’t get married. Don’t have kids. Don’t have a long-term girlfriend.
The difference is that he doesn’t have a wife and kids. Men, the lesson is clear: if you want to have money, don’t get married. Don’t have kids. Don’t have a long-term girlfriend.
I’ve got to disagree. Just don’t have kids. Kids are incredibly expensive until you die. Then they get to sort through all your crap XXXX stuff XXXXX precious items. Revenge!
Of course, most women want to have kids. Repeatably, which is totally amazing to me. Kind of like the guy who smashes his thumb with a hammer and then does it again in a month to prove that it really hurt that badly. I usually wait a year or so.
OK, I’ve got to admit. Our friends three rows in front of us were passing their three year old granddaughter around during church yesterday and I thought that was cool. So, don’t have kids, have grandkids so you can give them back to the parents when wet, crying, etc. Don’t ask me how to accomplish this.
I have an acquaintance who married a widowed mother. He went from childless bachelor to grandfather with one “I do”.
They deflate the eye then re-inflate it. Makes me a little nervous, that.
No, never did that. The put three devices in the eye, three small holes. One hole is for a small light, one hole is for the tube that breaks up the vitreous fluid and sucks it out, the third is to replace the lost vitreous with fluid. The eye never deflated and the pressure is maintained by the equipment. Deflating the eye would be a disaster in the making for tearing retinas.
I had the vitrectomy done before the cataract surgery. One of the side effects of a vitrectromy is cataracts. Not a big deal as as I already had cataracts in progress.
There are no “knives” involved and the small openings heal without sutures. I was just given a covering for the eye, sent home for the day. Some antibiotic drops and some steroid drops for the eye. No discomfort.
One eye did hemorrhage. Looked like hell as the whites were black and purple. Could not see a thing the next day except blobs of lights. Scared the shit out of me. The DR said it happens but it will clear up and everything was fine. I did not believed him but he was correct. After a couple of weeks the vision was pretty good and got better over time. About a month later all was normal. But it was never uncomfortable.
Oh, and getting to watch is no big deal. You have an IV and are on some drugs to calm you down. They can almost instantly put you under. They did that for one eye when the retina needed to be lasered. Last words I heard were “prep the laser” and “put him under.” Woke up in recovery.
Do you need glasses/contact lenses for anything Ray?
No, never did that. The put three devices in the eye, three small holes. One hole is for a small light, one hole is for the tube that breaks up the vitreous fluid and sucks it out, the third is to replace the lost vitreous with fluid. The eye never deflated and the pressure is maintained by the equipment. Deflating the eye would be a disaster in the making for tearing retinas.
I did not know that! He implied that it was a total fluid removal then a fluid replacement. I do plan on changing from -6 diopters of correction in my right eye to distance vision. I am hoping that they will do the left eye to make them matchup. I would love to just have to wear cheater glasses since I have been wearing glasses since I was 5 or 6.
And no, I am not watching the surgery! I have a friend who watches his colonoscopy and gave a me a step by step on his polyp removal. No way!
SteveF wrote:
“Men, the lesson is clear: if you want to have money, don’t get married. Don’t have kids. Don’t have a long-term girlfriend.”
My ambition in life is to marry a beautiful young nubile rich female dentist.
Oh, sorry, there was a redundancy there.
My ambition in life is to marry a beautiful young nubile female dentist.
“I have a friend who watches his colonoscopy”
I have a friend who photoshopped a gerbil skeleton into his colonoscopy pictures.
Lynn wrote:
“I do plan on changing from -6 diopters of correction in my right eye to distance vision. I am hoping that they will do the left eye to make them matchup. I would love to just have to wear cheater glasses since I have been wearing glasses since I was 5 or 6.”
I’ve never really understood what the figures on my glasses prescription mean. My readings in May 2011 were:
R -6.00 SPH -3.75 CYL 20 (or -20?)
L -6.00 SPH —– CYL —
When I was 15 the whole of Year 10 was screened. Most kids got a few seconds, I had 5-10 minutes. I was given some exercises to do, didn’t do them, and by the next year couldn’t read the blackboard consistently, even though I was in the front row. This year is the 40th anniversary. I’m giving some thought to what Ray has had done, and also trying contact lenses again, after a 20 year break.
Do you need glasses/contact lenses for anything Ray?
Reading glasses for closeup. Would have needed them anyway with 63 year old visual orbs. So no big deal.
I would love to just have to wear cheater glasses since I have been wearing glasses since I was 5 or 6.
I wore glasses since I was seven. About the same correction as you. Cataract surgery will solve that problem as they put corrective lenses in when they replace your old lenses. Lens technology is really quite remarkable.
When I had one eye done with cataract surgery the results were so striking I wanted the other eye done as soon as I could. To say the results in the increase in my visual clarity was stunning does not adequately describe the results.
He implied that it was a total fluid removal then a fluid replacement.
That would severely damage an eye with all manner of retina problems. The pressure in the eye has to be maintained so the eye retains it’s shape. While material is being removed what is lost is being replaced by saline. It is pretty cool to see the tip of the suction device moving around and pulling the material out.
All the hundreds of floaters are gone. I currently have no floaters at all in my visual field. I used to have many. That also contributed to the clarity in my vision.
The whole process started because a blood vessel ruptured in my eye. I had thousands of tiny specks that were actually microscopic blood drops. Happened on a Friday night and did not see the doctor until Monday. He chewed me out and said I should have called him that night for emergency procedures. His advice, whenever anything changes suddenly in your vision contact the eye doctor immediately regardless of the time of day as it is a valid emergency event.
My left eye is just -4.25 diopters, it is markedly better. It only has two floaters compared to twelve in the right eye.
R -6.00 SPH -3.75 CYL 20 (or -20?)
L -6.00 SPH —– CYL —
Miles, I am not an optician. However, you have a heck of a astigmatism??? in that right eye:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astigmatism_%28eye%29
Thanks everybody for the info on Prime. The price increase put me on the fence, but actually, I am in the odd posistion of wanting it for the quick delivery. Tiny Town is becoming remote in more ways than one. My options for buying stuff are getting more limited as time goes on. For instance, I have flourescent tubes under the kitchen cabinets, and neither Walmart nor Ace carries them—nor will they order them for me. This is happening more and more with more and more items. There are special batteries in some of my video equipment that I used to be able to get at Radio Shack, but no more. These things are completely unavailable without my driving at least 30 minutes.
So, I am figuring the Prime delivery would be cheaper than my driving great distances to get these things. Recently, I have needed some items rather urgently, so have not been able to let the shopping cart accumulate until I can get free shipping—which I have found to be quite slow (usually close to a week, and it always seems to end up being delivered on a day I am not home).
I will try Prime and see how it goes. Since I seldom to never watch movies or TV, Prime is not much of an incentive in that area, but quick delivery on stuff I could get in a matter of minutes if I lived in a Real Town, is proably worth it to me at present.
Hi Ray, thanks for the advice and stories about the eye surgeries. I have way better feelings about the vitrectomy now.
Re cataracts and implants, here is another view. I have had an accommodating implant in my right eye for about nine months and am pretty happy. There are several types of presbyopia correcting lenses, but they fall into either multi-focal fixed lenses or true accommodating lenses that tie into the ciliary muscle. A doc needs to evaluate individual eyes and patient expectations to get a good match, but it is possible to see from infinity to about half a meter in good focus. In the US, many insurance plans (oops, it is after January 1, so that includes the ACA, whatever effect that might have) don’t pay for these, but the extra cost is worth it, IMO.
Do a lot of reading, though. Some people are unhappy with the result. While implanted lenses can now be changed more easily than in the very recent past, this is not to be taken lightly.
Be warned. During my research, I discovered that I may be in a definite minority. Brief history: I almost got through high school before I needed any correction. Then, my right eye went myopic (nearsighted) quickly, and I was very frustrated with my vision. The left eye also went myopic, but less so than the right. This was frustrating, because I am quite right-eye dominant. Glasses helped, but they added other complications. After about five years, I tried the then-popular PMMA rigid contact lenses, and was instantly back to what I had experienced before: excellent vision with good peripheral vision, and great comfort. That lasted for over twenty years.
In the early 1990s, as a preparation for Radial Keratotomy, I got a pair of contacts that gave me monovision. This corrects the dominant eye to infinity, and the other one to about 20 inches. Adapting took longer than typical, but eventually my brain adjusted, and I could see continuously from about 12 inches to infinity without glasses. If you are considering monovision, PLEASE research it carefully, but for me it was wonderful. I had that prescription put into my R-K surgery.
So, here we are another twenty years or so forward, and I developed a central cataract in my right eye. This made daytime distance vision terrible (about 20/40) but night vision remained sharp and clear. Once again, not the usual cataract effect. I have an excellent optometrist, who recommended an excellent ophthalmologist for the surgery, and he recommended a B&L Crystalens. PLEASE research this carefully, but again for me it was and continues to be wonderful. I am now 68, and have good vision from about 18 inches to infinity without glasses.
It is possible to achieve monovision with fixed focus implants, but this is not popular because it doesn’t seem to work very well in many patients. I don’t know why. Perhaps there is little experience with it.
This little story is just the tip of the iceberg, but illustrates a point. If you want excellent vision at advanced age (I’m not what I consider advanced, but will be in a few decades,) it can be done. Do a LOT of reading. Consult with some docs until you get one who can satisfy you. This will take time and some money, but the result is worth it. We are in a big and increasing demographic. Every day, new techniques and products are being developed to counter the effects of aging.
Since I spend 8 to 12 hours per day in front of a PC, I am not considering monovision. My driving problem is the dadgum floater, almost 1/8 inch in diameter (plus the tail), that is in the dead center of the eye. To see anything in my right eye, I have to peer around the floater. Plus, the constant fuzziness of the right eye does not allow my left eye to focus properly on the computer screen causing enormous eyestrain (it is weird, I know).
I have early cataracts in both eyes with them still correctable to 20/15 in the left and 20/25 in the right. Without the floater. With the floater in the right obscuring my vision, I am 20/400 in that eye.
My eye surgeon says cataract first, then the floater removal. That and I am considering having heart ablation surgery again, my insurance company (BCBS) is going to love me lots over the next six months.
I did read up on the cryzalens. Sounds neat but you have to squint to read. I would be squinting all day!
I have only insignificant floaters.
I don’t squint with my Crystalens, but it does take a few minutes to get to infinity after an hour of close work. Sure a small price for not having to carry readers.
Floaters are a nuisance, but dang, am I glad I don’t have a show-stopper like Lynn has. What a pain that must be. Mine are just light shadows that move around randomly – irritating but ignorable.