Pull Tight

Going to catch up on some reading this summer at beach or by the pool.  The following are on my short list of books to read this summer.  Has anyone read these?  What are you reading? MOONWALKING WITH EINSTEIN  By Joshua Foer THE BIG SHORT  by Michael Lewis INCOGNITO   by  David Eagleman

Feel lucky to still have my Dad.  Couldn't ask for a better father.  Attached is something I wrote on Dad's birthday a few years ago.  Worth mentioning that Dad turns 85 today.  Happy birthday and happy father's day.

"Doctor, can you write a note for my wife telling her you did not see my head in there" Got the results of my colonoscopy today, all negative.  A reminder to all that colon cancer is pretty common and fairly easy to treat if caught early.  If you are over 50 and haven't had one, go.  The prep is the worst part, but it is not as bad as some would have you believe.  For the actual procedure you are given a drug that puts you to sleep and gives you a short term amnesia.  You won't remember anything and if you happen to be one of my drug causality friends from the 60s or 70s you will enjoy the trip. If you are one of the few that absolutely are not going to get a colonoscopy, there is blood test that will be of some benefit.  Methylated Septin 9 (ColoVantage)  is  70% sensitive for colorectal cancer detection at a specificity of 89%.  Your physician may not know of this test as it is new, so be sure to tell him or her the name. ...

At age 21, a couple of weeks before beginning Medical Technology school, a recriprocating blade, similar to this, went through my left thumb almost to the first joint. It was split through. Was helping install a new blade with another farm hand. Didn't know how many pieces of thmb I would see when I removed my now ruined gloves. Learned to perform phlebotomy without the use of this thumb. Healed pretty well, only a slight numbness on one side. I don't recommend this way of cutting your fingers.

"I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world" - George Washington Old farm tractors are fascinating to me, but this guy is obsessed.  Somewhere near Paris Texas is this collection of farm tractors mostly from the 40s and 50s.  I could have spent as much time walking around this collection in Paris, TX as an art lover might spend at the Louvre in Paris, France. Tractors from a time of mostly small family farms.  Just imagine the stories they could tell.  Look at just one of the tractors and think about it coming off a factory assembly line in Minnesota or Wisconsin.  Then shipped to a small town farm equipment dealer by truck or train. Purchased by a farmer on a small farm and maybe driven home from town down a dusty gravel road.   Think what one day might have been.  The farmer trying to get his land plowed and prepared for spring planting while the soil moisture is just right.  The farm wife bring...

Most mornings Nancy and I start our day with steel cut oatmeal.  If you haven't tried it, it is much tastier than the regular rolled oats usually eaten.  Takes about 30 minutes to cook, so its got to be started as you brew your morning coffee.  Last week I was at my favorite heath food store buying in bulk.  As I approached the bin, another man about my age was filling a large bag with the oats and mumbling to himself.  Only caught this part "...probably get hit by truck anyway..."   Definitely a  bacon and eggs guy.

"You use that thing for everything except wiping you butt"  my wife's remark to me about my use of a Palm PDA a few years ago. The combination of my recent medical treatment and getting older has resulted in quite a few more trips to the can.  With my travel this means using a great number of public restrooms.  The number of guys using cellphones in restrooms is amazing. Talking all the time, texting standing at urinals and who knows what behind the doors of the stalls.  Most of us at least wash our hands before leaving, but what about all of those smart phones.  Next time your battery is dead and someone offers you their phone, think about where that phone has been.