10:55 – Barbara’s doing extremely well; Colin, not so well. He has the squirties. He had a large accident last night, fortunately on the hardwood floor. He did pester but we ignored him, thinking he was just acting strangely as he so often does.
After she saw my post yesterday, Barbara pointed out that she did not mention groceries. She was talking about milk. Since we have four cases of non-fat dry milk stored, along with two or three cases of evaporated milk, we didn’t really need milk, either.
Powdered milk was a staple when we went camping as a family in our Starcraft pop-up camper in the 1980s. I never drank it by itself, but I poured it over cereal and didn’t mind it at all. We also drank a lot of Tang on those camping trips.
He has the squirties. He had a large accident last night, fortunately on the hardwood floor.
Yuck. How do you get the liquid poo out of the wood cracks between the boards?
The floor is coated/sealed with polyurethane.
Ah. My hardwoods do not have a total sealing. They are individually sealed as a part of the manufacturing process. They were factory distressed so we cannot tell when we scrape them.
And yes, my dog upchucked on them last week. I contemplated getting a knife between the planks to do a somewhat complete cleaning but blew it off.
I have not drunk powdered milk in 40 years. I wonder if they make powdered soy milk? Having food allergies can definitely crimp one’s prepping.
In the olde days, installing hardwood floors was a bit of an art, not unlike plastering. Each plank came with tongue and groove and had to be hammered or levered into place befor the next could be added. The better you did that, the less squeaking and water resistance. I used to have an old book describing that technique, as well as plastering and fixing double-hung windows, etc. Wish I hadn’t lost it.
New hardwood planks are quite a bit different from the old hardwood planks. The planks used in my home are about a 1/4″ of the wood (veneer) on top of a 1/4″ of plywood. This is called engineered hardwood. And it does have a tongue and groove on the planks but does not require sanding and sealing after installation. I’ve got it in about 1,000 ft2 of my home.
http://learn.builddirect.com/flooring/hardwood-flooring/the-basics-hardwood-flooring/how-hardwood-flooring-made/
As usual, Paul Thurrott does a very good job of explaining MS related stuff. Here is his notes on the newest Windows 10 Technical Preview:
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/617/microsoft-releases-windows-10-technical-preview-2-get-now
Looks like MS is bringing back Clippy, renamed as Miranda. One hopes that a MS person did not watch the Firefly Serenity movie.
We had actual hardwood installed. The big problem with the fake veneer stuff is that you can only refinish it once or twice because it’s so thin.
The engineered hardwood was installed in the house when we bought it two years ago. Much nicer than laminate. I hope to never refinish it as the surface already looks like somebody dragged a piano across it. I like it that way. You can see the flooring in several pictures at:
http://www.har.com/homevalue/2007-Starlite-Field-Dr-Sugar-Land-TX-77479-3325-M77484442.htm
Gee, we have hardwood floors here, too. Constructed in…oh…1830 or so…nice exposed beams in the living room now that we tore out the crappy pasteboard ceiling tiles, but we’re replacing those with beaded wood panels soon.
This was a beautiful old house until some ass-hat owners between the 1960s and 1970s, most likely, nutzed it up with junky paneling but didn’t bother upgrading the damn windows or insulation in this climate. We are doing all of that as we can afford it and it will be a gorgeous old house again by the end of this year.
Question for Mr. Ray or any other:
When you had your LASIK, did you opt for “mono vision”. I’m tentatively scheduled for my LASIK next Thursday and wanted any input.
Thanks.
Mum just called and said that she and Dad went to a rather good movie today about Alan Turing breaking the German Enigma machine during WWII:
http://theimitationgamemovie.com/
James Patterson gave it a solid A:
http://jamespatterson.com/moviePicksArchives.php?ymd=15.0108#1
I shall see if the wife can be persuaded to go tomorrow.
When you had your LASIK, did you opt for “mono vision”
Yes, distance correction. I can tolerate reading glasses but I wanted to be glasses free when I am driving (and can use regular sunglasses) and when on the boat or water skiing. It seems to me that distance correction is better as when you get old you need reading glasses anyway.
One thing to consider. Have your eyes checked for cataracts. If you have cataracts starting you will eventually need surgery. That surgery is just as good, if not better, than Lasik. And since is a surgical procedure the cost is covered by insurance. Lasik being an elective procedure is not covered.
Thanks, Mr. Ray.
Monday is thorough pre-op including check for cataract development. 24 month 0% financing. They have a new way to “map” the retina with 300 distinct “dots” to get the best correction factors for the laser. Exam pre-op and prep is hours. 1 minute per eye under the laser.
Mrs. OFD has some potentially serious eye issues; cataracts in one, pressure in both, and some of it related to her Graves’ Disease. She is terrified of losing her sight. I am pushing her to get it looked at ASAP, even if we have to pay a bunch of cash up front, but then the other day she bought another horse. Great therapy and wants to get back in shape, etc., but man, sometimes I feel like I’m beating my head against concrete here and whistling in the wind and pissing up a rope, etc., etc.
I have myopia and astigmatism and have worn specs since I was nine, and don’t mind them in the least and cannot wear contacts. I’ve got bifocals now, well, for the past fifteen years, actually, invented by g-times-grandfather one B. Franklin.
Mrs. OFD just picked up her latest work colleague at the airport; this chick is coming in from Kalifornia and has never seen snow and said she won’t mind the cold here so long as it doesn’t get any colder than the inside of her refrigerator. Mrs. OFD and I had quite a laugh over that one. Then they’re off to a week in beeyooteeful Concord, NH, capital of the Granite State, where the temp will likely not be much warmer than here, currently 28, tee-shirt weather, but will slide back on down to below zero by Sunday night and Monday, not counting the chill factuh!
And my oh my, “a few snow flurries are possible,” yippeeee! BFD. We don’t even consider any of this until the snowfall is a foot or more.
And since is a surgical procedure the cost is covered by insurance.
His Lasik may cost less than lens replacement depending on his insurance. I am going to have floater surgery soon in my right eye. My cost will $4,000 or so since our new Obolacare deductible is $3,000. Plus 20% of the total amount.
I have been told that I will need cataract surgery in that eye within six months after the floater surgery but then I will just have to pay 20% of the $9,000 total cost. If performed in 2015.
I love Obolacare. Our deductible was $500 just four years ago. And our insurance cost was 2/3rds of what we are paying now.
You might consider adding a few cartons of UHT sterilized milk to your stocks. (Parmalat was the first to introduce UHT milk, I believe, but others have introduced similar products.)
It has a room temperature shelf life of 6-9 months and has a better taste then reconstituted powdered milk.
Wife here will probably need both cataract and floater surgery at some point soon. Yes, we also love ObolaCARE and look forward to not only paying for our own chit, but also everyone else’s per usual, and only wish we could pay even MORE in punitive and confiscatory taxes.
I gotta tamp down the simmering bitterness and rage over stuff like this; it’s been a real struggle dealing with it since the wars and then they do this to us.
I need to watch something funny soon; just now coming to Episode 21 of “The Blacklist,” Holy crap, how many episodes ARE there in the first season???
Anyone recommend a good comedy off Netflix? Gotta pass the OFD Laugh Test, pat. pending.
I have been told that I will need cataract surgery in that eye within six months after the floater surgery
One of the side effects of vitrectomy is cataracts. That is indeed what happened to me. I had Lasik about 5 years prior and was immensely pleased with the results. Then a blood vessel ruptured in one eye. That required the vitrectomy to get rid of the clots. Actually fairly trivial. What was not trivial was the lasering of the retina. Each hit of the laser was like a little hammer in your head. For the second eye I was knocked out for the lasering. You are awake for the vitrectomy.
Doctor also said that vitreous fluid tends to gel as you get older and pulls on the retina. It is really a serious problem in extreme near sighted people as I was. So replacing the vitreous fluid and lasering the retina before it becomes a problem is highly recommended in very near sighted persons. Wait and you may lose part of your sight. Have it done early and the prognosis is extremely good.
When I had cataract surgery I was told that it is more difficult to determine the implant needed once you have had lasik. That was true in one eye as I had to have the implant replaced. Given a choice, had I known about the cataract surgery and the results, I would have skipped lasik.
I cannot stress how really trivial all these procedures are. No discomfort or pain (except lasering) and the results obtained are simply remarkable. Once you have one eye done you want the other eye done immediately. What I also cannot stress enough is to follow the doctor orders to the letter. I skipped a few steroid drops and I suffered for a few days.
When it is all done the results are of the HPFM variety. (Hocus, Pocus, Fucking Magic).
We shall see how it goes up here and a report posted accordingly; the big hurdle is getting wife to the docs for consultation; something always seems to “come up” to derail it. I’m good so fah with my bifocals.
Thanks to Mr. Ray and others for the info/intel.
You were talking about eyes, so shouldn’t that have been “Hocus Focus, Fucking Magic”?
Just looking for the first time today, and noticed the question about monovision. To clarify, monovision is a technique where the nondominant eye is corrected for near vision. The dominant eye is corrected for distance. This allows good vision at near and far without glasses. It takes the brain anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to adapt to this, and the result is really good for about 99% of the patients. I have had it since 1991, and love the results.
Monovision can be tried with contact lenses, but not with glasses. I would suggest delaying LASIK and trying it out – just in case you don’t like it. OTOH, LASIK can be redone at any time in the future, so you could have the near eye corrected for distance in the rare instance you don’t like monovision. People who don’t seem to like monovision are those with excellent vision to start; the usual example is aging pilots who don’t need any distance prescription, but can’t see the instruments. The rest of us mortals seem a little less critical, and do very well. However, I can’t stress enough that YMMV, so trying it is well advised.
As we age, there are other compromises in vision. In just one example, elective cataract surgery is now being done on younger people (before age 40,) and there are some new techniques that can give near and far vision with implanted lenses. If you are interested, be sure to consult an ophthalmologist who has a lot of experience. Your outcome is heavily dependent on this. It is also dependent on your desire to have good vision without glasses, because you will have to make some effort to adapt. These “lifestyle” lenses are almost never covered by insurance, but prices vary, and are becoming more affordable.
Finally, there are some even newer techniques that are not yet approved in the US. There is an accommodating flexible lens that mimics the natural lens. It is used in Europe and shows great promise, but who knows how long before our FDA will approve it?
I have barely scratched the surface. If you are serious, you should do a LOT of reading. This will take time. Then, you should consult a professional (a good optometrist can be a very good advisor) who can assess your situation and make suitable recommendations. Or, you can just get distance correction in both eyes and have to carry reading glasses around for those times when you want to read a menu. Not my idea of a good solution.
I think what MrAtoz means, is the technique where they set one eye for near vision and one eye for distance. I considered Lasik for a while, and decided against the monovision.
I don’t know how other people’s eyes are, but mine have a very restricted focus range. With monovision, one eye would have had good vision for a range of (say) 30cm-40cm, the other one would have had good distance vision. Everything in between (like computer screens) would have been blurry – sounded like a horrible compromise, to me. Distance correction with glasses for the close stuff seemed like a much better option.
Another consideration: They gave me a sheet showing exactly how they intended to physically alter the lenses. Because of my strong astigmatism, I would have been left with only about 1/4 of the thickness of my natural lense around much of the edge. This didn’t seem like a great idea – rub my eye too hard and rip the lense.
I see very well with glasses, and currently have the – what do you call them in english? – the continuous-focus ones that are reading at the bottom, distance at the top, and the center is just right for computer work. The Lasik center provided me with contact lenses to simulate the final results, and I saw no where near as well as with my glasses. So I decided against the whole procedure.
brad, I agree with you, and point out that vision is sufficiently complex that it deserves careful decisions. In your case, going with glasses is certainly a conservative approach, and works for you. LASIK is also not the answer for everybody. You might consider having your astigmatism corrected if you ever have cataract surgery. Recent advances in implants make this a good option, and your corneas will still be untouched. As for focus range, there are multi focal and accommodating implants to consider. By the time you might need cataract surgery, the state of the art will have advanced enough that any discussion today will be moot.
As for contact lenses, I wore rigid PMMA lenses for over 20 years, and had excellent vision, better than with glasses. I didn’t need glasses until my late teens, and never really adapted to them. For me, switching to contact lenses was a wonderful experience: I could see great, and didn’t have the issues I had with glasses. Toward the end of my contact lens experience, I switched to rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses. These were less comfortable, and my vision was not as good, all part of the compromise to improve eye health by having better oxygen permeation. I never wore soft contact lenses, but vision with them is even poorer than the RGPs. Nowadays, most contacts are picked from a matrix of ready-made lenses, and the prescription does not match the patient’s eyes as well as in the old days. The upside is that the patient can walk out with new lenses instead of having to wait a week or two for custom-made lenses. The downside is that vision is not as good for many people, especially those with astigmatism. I repeat that vision is a complex system.
As for LASIK, it is the correction of choice, and most people tolerate it well. Vision for those needing modest correction can be excellent. Still, it has downsides which you can read about. Another, older, technique is PRK, which can yield better results, but which takes time to reach stability. I only point this out because we are all individuals. Some of us do well with LASIK, and others with PRK. Still others need different techniques. That’s why I always recommend study and consultation to determine the best approach. We only have one set of eyes.
You were talking about eyes, so shouldn’t that have been “Hocus Focus, Fucking Magic”?
No, because once you have had cataract surgery the focus is fixed. Although after awhile, and with the correct glasses (progressive), you really don’t notice.
LASIK can be redone at any time in the future
Maybe not. It depends on the thickness of the cornea. I could not have LASIK done again after I first had it done.
ho knows how long before our FDA will approve it?
A long time. At least until the FDA, along with the doctors, can figure out how to maximize the profit potential. LASIK costing $3500 is a ripoff for 2 minutes under a machine that does most of the work. At most LASIK should cost $500. However, the manufacturer of the machine charges several hundreds of dollars for each procedure, a commission so to speak.
a good optometrist can be a very good advisor
Uh, no. You need to speak with an ophthalmologist, a real eye doctor.
I would have been left with only about 1/4 of the thickness of my natural lense around much of the edge
That is what happened to me. My cornea is now to thin to tolerate LASIK again. My vision was 20/400 before the procedure. The thinness has not proven to be a problem.
Thanks to everybody on the LASIK input.
I’ve been looking at this for a couple of years and real close for a month. I’ve even read some of the “LASIK crippled me for life” blogs. Almost all posts to those are anonymous and lean more toward existing conditions the doctor should have found that LASIK exacerbated. Very few posts for 2013 on.
I’m “seeing” lol the docs at Wellish Vision Institute for the procedure. My corneas measured, each, a little over 600 microns which gives me a little room for a second procedure. I see the ophthalmologist on Monday for a thorough checkup. The more I read on the “mono vision” procedure, the more I think I won’t go that route. These days I’m spending more time at the computer and hobby electronics which need close up work. Plus reading a couple of hours a night. I can tolerate reading glasses for that. The electronics usually require specs anyway with the SMD components.
After the Monday checkup, I’ll post my decision. Thursday is still tentative for the procedure.
Again, thanks for the input.
ATOZ
A buncha ballsy muthas on this board. I can’t stand anything put into my eyes and anyone fiddling with them, contacts and these various procedures are a no-go unless they put me clean out. I’ll just have to manage with my Ben Franklin bifocals for the duration.
Mrs. OFD is a different story and evidently has zero problem shoving things into her eyes.
Beeyooteeful sunny day with blue skies, temps in the mid-20s and no precip at all on our weather liars’ horizon. Send us some of dat rain, Mr. Lynn; it’ll turn to snow as it arrives and we can go snowshoeing in the pahk.
Now a second Linux gig opens up; they’ll have to beg me to work for them, all these muthas, and the packages would have to be grand; otherwise I got my own plans now, buh-bye, c-ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.
I can’t stand anything put into my eyes and anyone fiddling with them
For the LASIK they give some pills to calm you down. I did not notice a difference in my demeanor but my wife did.
The the vitrectomy they put three holes in your eye, one to break up the vitreous fluid, one to replace the vitreous fluid with saline and the last is a small light so they can see. You get to watch it all as the guts are being taken out of your eye. You are on an IV drip to which they can quickly add stuff if needed. In my case, on the right eye, they used the IV to knock me out for the lasering of the retina and I am glad they did.
Another item for the vitrectomy. They have to deaden the eye and that involves getting to the nerve in back of the eye. They start the IV, then knock you out so they can deaden the eye. I guess it is rather painful. Then they wake you up for the actual procedure. Why they don’t keep you under the entire time I guess has to to do with anesthesia is hard on the body and they want as little as possible.
For the cataract there is just one small slit. You get to watch the lens being removed and the new one inserted. You are awake through the whole process. It does not take long, probably less than 10 minutes.
What is amazing about all of this is that you do not require stitches. They eye apparently closes the openings quickly and they are sealed by the time you leave the office.
I’ve even read some of the “LASIK crippled me for life” blogs.
I asked about those when I had my eyes done. Far and away the biggest risk is infection. That is usually the result of the the equipment not being cleaned. Going to shady places is the biggest cause. The second biggest problem is not following the doctors instructions to the letter. Keep the eye covered for at least 24 hours. Many are excited to see the results and open the eye. Bad idea.
Well that pretty much put the kibosh on any ideas I might have once had about doing anything with my eyes, thanks!
Bifocals for me, baby, till the end!
My own priority is for badly overdue dental work and I hate dentists and will be telling them to put me out and just do everything that needs to be done in one fell swoop during a full day or a couple of half-days.
I should also get my hammer toe fixed someday but since buying wide shoes I don’t notice it much anymore. I have a hammer little finger, too, won’t straighten out. All this chit happened in the last few years, can’t wait for the rest to start falling apart.
Going to shady places is the biggest cause.
lol On the way home from the market today, I saw a big Vegas sign “LASIK, $395 an eye”. That’s probably the amount it should cost, but I’m not even going to look the clinic up. Probably in Pahrump at the Bunny Ranch. Get LASIK and a blowjob at the same time.
” Get LASIK and a blowjob at the same time.”
…and thus skip the anesthesia.
I should also get my hammer toe fixed someday but since buying wide shoes I don’t notice it much anymore.
Why and how to get it fixed? I’ve got two hammer toes and two permanently broken toes. When they hurt, I just tape them together. They tell me when the weather is changing. The broken toes are retreating back to my foot (the joints have dissolved) and look very strange. Not much they can do about them though. Cost me and my insurance company $125 to find out about taping them together.
The above commentary reinforces the fact that we are all individuals, and different things work better for each of us.
Those horror stories, while probably true, affect a very small percentage of the patients. I am more concerned about small errors in the resulting correction. These small errors can be corrected in a variety of ways if needed, so don’t believe that glasses are the only solution.
I admit my eyes are a little out of the ordinary. I didn’t have good luck with glasses. My eye coordination was not very good, so I had to play sports without the glasses. Eventually that was impossible because I couldn’t see well enough to play. First to go was baseball, and then basketball. Didn’t matter much, because I was mediocre at baseball (but loved it) and worse at basketball. After college, I got my first contact lenses, and started playing softball. My eye coordination problems were gone, but I was even worse at softball than baseball. Didn’t keep me from enjoying it, though.
One minor quibble: optometrists concentrate on vision and correction, while ophthalmologists concentrate on surgery and eye physical health. Many larger firms employ both working as teams. I would never want an optometrist to operate on me, but have had much better experiences with them for glasses and contacts. There are always exceptions.
I ran track and played football with glasses, these ugly black plastic frames with “safety lenses” and a strap around the back of my head. And goggles in shop class. Also had glasses in the USAF and USAR and was awarded the Expert Marksmanship Ribbon four years in row. And a counter-sniper in Kalifornia for NORAD. Eyes not good enough, though, for either the U.S. Customs, Border Patrol or Maffachufetts State Police, despite perfect scores on their exams, clean record, veteran status, etc. But if you joined any of those organizations with perfect vision and then later your eyes got bad? No problem, glasses and contacts OK then. Another reason to love the bureaucracy.
“Why and how to get it fixed? I’ve got two hammer toes and two permanently broken toes. When they hurt, I just tape them together.”
I’ve got the one hammer toe on the same foot as the bunion; the wrong shoes and it makes walking nearly impossible. So a kid at the shoe store clued me a few months ago; I’d been wearing the narrowest shoes I could find for decades ’cause that was my size, 11A. Nope. He had me try on wider shoes and bingo, no more pain.
If I want my bunion fixed, they’d shave off the bone somewhat there. For the hammer toe they’d break it and then insert a steel rod. I guess I can live with it and forget having that stuff done now. I’d like to straighten out my finger, though, but I suspect the same deal: break it and put a steel rod in there. Previous minor surgery on my left ring finger and the anesthetic administered via two huge needles into my left palm convinced me that here was a surefire way to interrogate prisoners and get them to sing like canaries. So I guess I can live with this, too.
Bah. If I had any imperfections, I wouldn’t go with kludges like y’all are talking about. Go cyborg, baby! Pluck out your bad eye and put in a cybernetic eye, with three octaves of response and a built-in 10 kW laser. Toes bothering you? Take off the foot and replace it with a steel velociraptor foot. The possibilities are endless.
But if you joined any of those organizations with perfect vision and then later your eyes got bad? No problem, glasses and contacts OK then.
Same for military pilots. I believe the AF has now fully authorized LASIK and such for pilots already in. I read a study stating high g forces didn’t affect LASIK “flaps”.
I think Army helicopter pilots still get to suck ass on LASIK. The only real high g maneuver in a helo is the one into the ground.
“The possibilities are endless.”
True, that, nowadays. Except in certain cases. Brought home to us at the last couple of “‘Nam combat vet” group meetings. We always felt bad seeing guys with missing limbs, eyes, burns, etc., and didn’t feel like we had jack-shit to bitch about. Come to find out, they do not envy us; they say their stuff can be adapted to, fixed, moved beyond, etc., and it’s all visible and people know what’s happened to them. They say they would not like to be in our shoes. This came as a huge surprise to some of us. Them boyz tell us our shit is forever and nobody fucking knows just by looking at us.
So comforting.
In any case, this allows some of us to not feel as bad about accepting help. And that more enlightened attitudes are being shown as to the varieties and crippling pain involved with mental health in returning combat troops. Maybe General Patton was wrong after all to slap that soldier in the hospital. And maybe the Army was wrong in those wars to bring guys to the rear for a week or two, give them three hots and a cot, tell them they were A-OK and then send them right the fuck back into the shitstorm.
Nobody, except for maybe some spec ops personnel, can wade through horrific combat situations and come out on the other side A-OK. It just wouldn’t be natural.
But other than that, yeah, if they take off my foot, I’ll get one of them velociraptor blades and learn wicked pissah martial arts or sumthin.
Previous minor surgery on my left ring finger and the anesthetic administered via two huge needles into my left palm convinced me that here was a surefire way to interrogate prisoners and get them to sing like canaries
I think the term is wuss.
Bah. If I had any imperfections
If that stuff were available now I would be replacing parts right and left even if the parts were still good. Sort of like taking out a perfectly good V-6 and replacing it with a V-10, because you can.
I’m still holding out for the brain implant that’ll give me high-speed interface to hardware. Then the possibilities will truly be endless. Keep your original eyes, but wear a hundred synthetic “eyes” all over your body and switch views between them. And that’s just the start.
“I think the term is wuss.”
When they stuck the first needle into my left palm, just below my fingers, I took it like a real he-man and figured, OK, that was it, I can take that. Then they did it again in a different spot nearby. I said to myself, ‘shit, I hope that’s it, because a few more of them and I’ll be singing like a canary in here, what do they wanna know?’
Hands and feet have a shit-load of nerves and bones and tendons and are hyper-sensitive to pain for some weird biological/anthropological reason.
I wouldn’t be replacing any parts; I’ll go out with what I came in with, all other things being equal and I don’t lose anything between now and then. Even if neat stuff becomes available. Ain’t nothing different on me that wasn’t the case with most peeps during the time of, say, one Dr. B. Franklin.
Hands and feet have a shit-load of nerves
Indeed. That is why paper cuts hurt so bad.
I used to be a wuss. But after so many eye procedures, knocked out for colon probe, several times for a back procedure, I guess I got used to it, sort of. I still wuss out during dental procedures.
Yeah, dental stuff I wanna be out cold. I was worked on by AF dentists back in the day, possibly just learning their trade on real live guinea pigs. Removed a couple of teeth by tightening a band around them until they cracked and then picking out the pieces one by one, while being real stingy on the local anesthetic. Or the needle going up into the gum under my nose; that was special.
I cracked a tooth down to the root late last year. That didn’t hurt much, but getting it out did. My Dentist couldn’t save it since the crack went all the way into the root like a diamond. I think it’s tooth #5 just past the eye tooth. Needle up the gum under the nose. Tears ran for that one. He had to put his foot on the chair to get it out. CAD/CAM for the bridge. I might get an implant later so I look better in the coffin. I want the mortician to put a hideous grin on me to discourage grave robbers. I’m saving gold to have a sold gold coffin made.
I was worked on by AF dentists back in the day, possibly just learning their trade on real live guinea pigs.
Had my wisdom teeth removed by USAF dentists. Procedure took 3 hours as they did all four at the same time. Deadened my entire mouth. A couple of the teeth the gum had to be cut, the tooth drilled, then inserted something to crack it into pieces and the pieces pulled out. Towards the end I was really beginning to feel the pain. Asked for more Novocaine and was told by regulations they could not give me any more. The last tooth and the resulting stitches were in extreme discomfort to point of tears rolling down my face. The dentist apologized and said if it was his decision there would have been a couple more syringes administered but his hands were tied by regulations.
They did give me some low dose morphine pills for pain after it was all over. I went back to my barracks room after getting something to eat and took one of the pills per the directions. I passed out for 18 hours and woke up in a daze. I flushed the rest of the pills and relied on Aspirin for the next few days. Ate a lot of soft food and the mess hall was actually quite accommodating in getting me food items that I did not have to chew.
Two days later I got orders for the Philippines. Short notice orders. Departure in three hours from when I received the orders. Had to get my overseas shots, about six of them, all at once. Again not something recommended. So I sat for 13 hours on plane from Hawaii to the Philippines with my mouth aching and my arms aching. Wonderful trip over.
“So I sat for 13 hours on plane from Hawaii to the Philippines with my mouth aching and my arms aching.”
I did the plane trip, with a couple of stops, from Thailand to Kalifornia and kicked heroin cold-turkey on the ride. That was fun. I reckon about 21-23 hours in-flight, total. What I always dug were the Army MPs standing at the terminal exit doors in Hawaii, so none of us could skate away prior to our arrivals in SEA.
“I might get an implant later so I look better in the coffin. I want the mortician to put a hideous grin on me to discourage grave robbers. I’m saving gold to have a sold gold coffin made.”
Very nice, MrAtoz. Methinks grave robbers have the requisite mentality to not care about your hideous grin and they’ll just winch up that gold coffin and yank any remaining gold teeth. My own plan is to be so riddled with small arms fire and explosions as to not get an open coffin at any wake or funeral capers. And no embalming, either; a shroud and a plain pine coffin, to be dumped six feet down in some semi-abandoned forest boneyard. The slate headstone will of course feature the winged skull and the appropriate Latin epitaph:
Canite tuba, angelis et surgens ex mortuis innumerabilibus infinita animarum.