Your tax dollars at work
Posted on December 30, 2004
I was messing around over at the USGS website, looking at info about the Indian Ocean (Sumatran) earthquake, and I found out you can look at seismograms online. I went to some of the sites and found some wild stuff for Christmas day. You’ll have to scroll down, but take a look at Hawaii, Alaska (talk about off the chart – holy shit), California, Yellowstone National Park, and Alabama. There is another page for data from Japan, but it is a Perl script where you have to plugin the data you want to see. Down in the lower half of the page, click on “Selected Window” and enter December 26, 2004 (Since they are on the other side of the International Dateline).
Some quick notes
Posted on December 30, 2004
Never let it be said that I don’t have a macabre sense of humor. A funny caption from a picture I saw at the BBC – “A woman sits beside the front of a hotel in Phuket, Thailand, apparently untroubled by the car wedged into the wall beside her.”
On a more serious note, I guess, if you were looking for a business to get into, try tsunami detection devices. Among the many media reports of the devastation, there has also been talk about the lack of any of these devices in the Indian Ocean, and the now apparent necessity for them. I even read a report talking about placing some in the Mediterranian Sea, because it is also seismically active and has had the occassional tsunami. Generally, the only places that have had many tsunamis are in and around the Pacific ring-of-fire, which has been setup with tsunami detection devices since the 40′s and 50′s. From what I understand, tsunamis are very rare in the Indiana Ocean. I think the last time they may have had such a signifcant tsunami was back when Krakatoa erupted in 1883 – 120 years ago. I could be wrong… I’m not a seismologist, or vulcanologist, or anything like that, but I don’t think we can blame the governments for failing to protect against what they percieved to be a minimal threat.
However, the damage is done, and people are frightened. I’m sure many countries in the Indian Ocean, and in the Mediterranean Sea will start to setup tsunami warning systems and I suppose it is also possible that this might scare people in other areas to want them as well. I mean anybody who has seen the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” knows what happens to New York City ;-)
—-
Well, I guess I can correct myself. I did some more research at the NOAA website, and it turns out they have a huge database of earthquakes and tsunamis from around the world for centuries worth of data. I did a check of the ones they had listed for the Atlantic Oceans and the Caribbean Sea for the past 200 years and it gave me this. I also included the Indian Ocean in there to see what it had. Strangely, I didn’t see Krakatoa in there, which happened in 1883.
Unfathomable
Posted on December 29, 2004
In January 1991, when Operation Desert Shield turned into Opeartion Desert Storm (thus becoming the first Gulf War), I was glued to the TV, watching the skies of Baghdad light up on CNN. In the past few years, I have shunned the TV and turned to the Internet in my search of entertainment and information. Over the past few days, while I have been nursing my sore mouth, I have been glued to several news and information sites regarding coverage of the Asian tsunami disaster.
It’s hard to put into words what I am feeling. While there have been disasters in the past that have caused widespread loss of life, I think this is/will be the worst natural disaster of modern times. As I write this, the death toll is over 60,000 people and is estimated to rise to well over 100,000. I don’t think the series of hurricanes from this past summer caused quite as much devastation.
After September 11, 2001, the world mourned as we did, and the countries of the world gave what they could, so we could overcome the tragedy of that day. Now, some of those countries face devastation on a far greater scale and it is time for our nation to give back. It is gratifying to see that so many countries (including my own) are giving money, supplies, and personnel to help these nations recover from their incredible losses.
When I think about the similarities of 9/11 and the current crisis, I think about the people. In 2001, there was probably some guy in Indonesia, watching TV and seeing the calamity of that day. He didn’t know anyone in the US. He didn’t have any family there, but he could understand the loss of life. He could understand the pain as families worried over loved ones who would never come home. He never made much money, but he could understand sorrow and graciousness. He did what he could by saying prayers for the people who lost their lives, and that their families would find the strength to go on. He said a prayer of thanks that his life, while never luxurious, was at least free of such devastation. He had a roof over his head, a family to love, and food to eat.
Now, at the close of 2003, it is I who am saying the prayers for him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anyone who lives over there, but I understand loss of life. I understand that he and his family are suffering tremendously. I have been saying prayers of hope and also of gratitude. This Christmas, I recieved some money as gifts, so I bought a new pair of shoes for work and bought some DVD’s. It seems kind of shallow, but tomorrow, I think I’ll walk over to the local Red Cross (a few blocks away) and write a check for the relief efforts. In the grand scheme of things it might not seem like much, but added to the donations of millions of others it might do some good.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have suffered in this tragedy.
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Spirit of Christmas
Posted on December 24, 2004
I just read an article over at CNN that, for me, truly epitomizes the Spirit of Christmas. Sometimes, I think people concentrate too much on believing in Christ, that they forget the importance of what he taught. The message is what is important. The messenger is secondary, but if you truly believe Jesus was the Son of God, doesn’t it make it that much more important to listen to what He is saying and put the lessons into practice?
Urban Tundra
Posted on December 23, 2004
It was actually a good idea to go out today. I know when I had my teeth out in boot camp, I was given bed rest. Bed rest in the military means you are ordered to stay in bed whether you want to or not (excepting for eating and going to the bathrooms). Ths time around, I can pretty much do what I want. There are three CVS drugstores in my area, and a couple of grocery stores. While the grocery stores had some first aid supplies, I figured they wouldn’t have the gauze sponges I was looking for, and while the CVS stores have food, I figured they wouldn’t have a good selection of “soft foods.” This left me with the option of accepting limited choices or going to two stores. I opted to go to two stores.
I headed downtown and went to the CVS near the corner of Ohio and Meridian. I did some checking in their food section and the only things I saw that would qualify as “soft food” were pudding and soup, with limited selections of each. I left that area of the store empty handed, but went to the first aid section and got 10 packets 3″ x 3″ gauze sponges. It didn’t dawn on me until I got home that I probably could have gone with only half as many, since each packets contains two gauze sponges.
Leaving CVS, iheaded towards O’Malia’s (a grocery store), but on the way I passed by the library. Seeing that they were open, I decided to get a few books to read over the break. The library district is renovating the main Central Library (and has been for a year or so), and while it is being worked on, they set up the Interim Central Library, which is the one I went in today. The interim location is site of the former Indiana State Museum (now in a nicer location near the White River), which is smaller than the original Central Library. Walking inside shows it is intended to be temporary. Most of the displays, bookshelves, and computer terminals seem like an afterthought. Not that they are, it’s just the building wasn’t intended to be a library, so everything looks a bit out of place. Still, like most libraries, it is just fun to go in and wander the stacks at random. It’s amazing what some people will write books about. I checked out three books then wandered/trudged a block to O’Malia’s.
I grabbed a cart then hit the ATM for some cash. Once I had money, I started looking for “soft foods.” First thing I got was a huge box of instant potatoes, since I had finished the box I had at home last night. Note: parmesan cheese is a tasty addition to instant potatoes. I saw they were having a sale on Progresso soups (2 for $3), so I got four cans of that. I also saw that they were having a sale of pudding snack packs, so I got a bunch of them as well. Wandering over to the dairy area, I got a quart of Egg Nog and a huge thing of strawberry yogurt. I wandered to different parts of the store, but I didn’t see anything else that would qualify as “soft food.” I did think about getting some ice cream, but I opted to to get any. Whether it is a “soft food” is debatable, and I wanted food that required little, if any chewing.
Overall, the day was beautiful. The sun was shining, and after a few blocks of trudging through the snow, I started to get hot. I unzipped my down jacket to cool off. The snow had drifted in most places, so it is hard to tell exactly how much snow fell, but I would still guess about 6 inches. I lucked out and about half of the sidewalks I encountered were actually shovelled. In areas where they weren’t shovelled, it was easier to walk in the street, so that’s what I did. While the streets were plowed, they didn’t do a great job of it so the snow in the streets was more packed than anything. It was no problem for me, but for the drivers, it can be tough, especially when trying to stop at a light, or make a turn. I even saw a four wheel drive truck fishtailing around a corner.
The pain seems to be getting better. At 4:00 pm, which was the soonest I was able to take the next Vicodin, I wasn’t feeling any pain. I took it anyway, but I think the next time, I might try to hold off until 5 hours. Of course, since I took the Vicodin, I am beginning to feel a bit drowsy, So I guess I’ll go take a nap.
Pain = Alarm
Posted on December 23, 2004
Pain makes a great alarm clock. I took a Vicodin at midnight last night and went to bed. Now, the instructions for the Vicodin are to take one tablet every 4 – 6 hours for pain. Sure enough, during the night I begin to feel pain. It slowly started to wake me up. I looked over at my clock radio and it read a few minutes past 4:00 am. I crawled out of bed and trudged my way to the bathroom. I pop a Vicodin and take a leak. I go back to bed and go to sleep. A few hours later, pain comes once again, but this time it is only 7:30 am. I have to wait. I fill the hot water bottle, then sit down here to write. According to my watch, I have five more minutes.
We got a lot of snow overnight. From looking out my window, I would guess about six inches. The plows have gone by and left huge piles of snow next to people’s cars. Heh. I don’t think they have snow routes here, like they do in Colorado. Much as I would like to avoid it, I’m going to have to go out today. I’ve used all of the gauze sponges that the doctor gave me and since I finished off the instant potatoes last night, I’m also out of “soft foods”. I do have some gauze, but not gauze sponges. What I have are these non-stick pads that are good for bike wrecks, but wouldn’t be so good for sticking in my mouth. I suppose I could leave the wound uncovered, but I have a feeling that if I did that, I would end up aggravating it with my tongue.
I’ll also have to get something to eat. The CVS also has some food items, so I hope they carry instant potatoes and/or pudding. Since most stores will be closed for a day or two this weekend, I should probably get enough to last until Sunday. Hopefully, I will be on more solid food before then, but I better plan for the worst and hope for the best.
The Vicodin is starting to take effect. The strange thing is I don’t feel drowsy. I don’t know how powerful the hydrocodone is, but it doesn’t appear to make me feel sleepy. Of course, it could also be because I just had a good night’s sleep. Anyway, I guess I better get some clothes on and head out into the snow. At least the snowing stopped. I just have to make my way over unshoveled sidewalks. The people of Indianapolis (and probably Indiana) don’t know to handle snow. If we get a dusting, they get in accidents and tie up traffic for miles. They use salt on the roads instead of sand or a salt/sand mix. And from my point of view, I rarely – if ever – come across shovelled sidewalks. In Colorado, that would get you a ticket. Here… I don’t know. Maybe they don’t care about potential lawsuits from people who slip and fall and break their hips (or whatever).
Oh well. Time to go.
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What I did on my Christmas Vacation
Posted on December 22, 2004
I had a tooth pulled today, in a semi-emergency case. The tooth itself has a long and interesting history, which I will get to in a moment. The only other time I can recall getting teeth pulled was when I was going through Navy boot camp in Orlando. I only had two wisdom teeth (both in the upper jaw), and while I was apprehensive, it went a lot quicker than I imagined it would. Granted, they had me pretty doped up, but I swear they had both teeth out in 5 – 10 minutes. It took longer for the local anesthesia and sedation to take effect than it did for them to pull them. After I got them pulled they had me wait around for awhile, and gave me a bottle ibuprofen and chit for one day of bed rest. Guys who had four wisdom teeth taken out, were given Tylenol III with codeine and a chit for two days of bed rest. I don’t remember any major pain from the extractions, just some mild aching and some awkwardness while eating.
Anyway, the problem with this tooth starts over 20 years ago when I was in my teens. One day, I was eating some cocktail peanuts from a can, and all of sudden I felt one of my teeth break. I carefully pulled out the offending peanut, and it looked normal. It wasn’t a rock or anything. Next, I felt around with my tongue, and sure enough, one of the teeth is loose. It wasn’t completely loose. Some of it was still held fast in the jaw, but I could move part of it with my tongue and wiggle it around. It was still in the jaw, but there was no doubt that it was going to come out. I went to the apartment and told my mother what happened, even though I think she was dubious about the peanut story. Soon enough, I end up at the dentist, who takes care of the problem. Unsophisticated youth that I was, I just assumed he used a filling to fix it. Now that I am older, I figure he used a partial crown (if there is such a thing).
Fast forward to Christmastime 2001. I was eating a homemade chocolate chip cookie with walnuts and I felt a tooth break… sort of. I carfully empty the contents of my mouth and see something black in there. I thought that was odd, so I used my tongue to check the teeth and sure enough there was a hole in one of the teeth. I very carefully finished the cookie, taking care to avoid the walnuts. However, it was sort of futile, becuase over the next few days, I ended up with some more chunks of the dental material, and even some pieces of the tooth. The strange thing was that there wasn’t any pain. At the time I had signed up for insurance, but it wasn’t set to take effect until New Years 2002. I went to the drugstore and got some Temparin, which is a temporary filling material designed to last for a day or two until you can get to a dentist. I carefully read the directions and applied the Temparin to the tooth, while I made some mental notes to get it checked out after the New Year. I was kind of worried, but since it wasn’t painful, I kept my fingers crossed. Back at work after the holidays, I got busy and put off going to the dentist. The Temparin wore out after a few weeks and I reapplied it. Still busy at work, I keep putting off going to get it checked out. The Temparin wears out again, but this time, I don’t reapply it to see what would happen. I eat carefully for a few days, sticking to soft foods, but over the period of a few weeks, I begin to enjoy everything that I had before. Still no pain. Although I knew I should get it checked out, sine I was eating normally and not having any pain, I didn’t see any problem in waiting… which is what I did.
Fast forward to Christmastime 2004. Over the past few months, I would get an occassional ache in my jaw. Nothing serious. It would last for awhile and go away. Didn’t even need to break out the Tylenol. It would just come and go with on its own. Over the Thanksgiving break, the pain made a few more appearances, but this time it stayed a little longer. The pain was a little more intense. Maybe it was because it was hanging around longer, but I had to take a couple of Tylenol to make it go away. That seemed to work. After the break, the pain made a few more appearances, but it was more of the annoying comes-and-goes type, which didn’t require any medication. Last Friday, I started on my two week Christmas vacation from work. That evening, the toothache makes another appearance. I wait awhile to figure out if it will need something to settle it down. The pain wasn’t bad, but it lasted for hours, which was kind of annoying. I ended up taking some Tylenol to deaden the pain. The next day, the pain makes several appearances with each episode being longer and on the borderline between mere annoyance and “ouch.” I figure I’ll stick it out until the end of the break and then really see a dentist. On the following day (Sunday) it was painful, and I did take some Tylenol to help the pain, but the plan was to stick it out until the end of break. That evening, the pain was kind of bad, so I took a couple of Nyquil liquicaps to help me get to sleep. I’m not one of those people who runs to the medicine cabinet at the first sign of pain. I usually follow the idea that if you ignore it (keep busy by doing something else), it will go away. While that rule-of-thumb doesn’t work in all situations, it helps with minor aches and pains. I had great faith in the Nyquil ever since I used it to help me get to sleep when I had a case of shingles along the right side of my torso. When I kept tossing and turning on Sunday night due to pain, I knew it was something serious.
Monday, I am in near agony. I take some Tylenol and look at the instructions, which were to take two tablets every six hours as needed for pain. The problem was, the Tylenol only seemed to work for two hours. I find the Temparin in the medicine cabinet and apply it to the tooth. The Temparin is supposed to be a “Pain-Relief” formula, so I prayed for the best. It didn’t work as well as I expected. The pain was still there, but it was a dull roar. I looked through the medicine cabinet and found some Dayquil liquicaps. I look at the box and see it contains acetaminophen (the same stuff as Tylenol). I weigh the odds of an accidental overdose, versus getting relief now. I take a couple of the caplets and the pain subsides. I even got it into a certain pattern. Take two Tylenol. Tylenol wears off in two hours, so take two Dayquil. Dayquil wears off in four hours, so take two Tylenol. And so on. It was Monday evening I decided I couldn’t stand two weeks of agony, so I went online and checked out the webpage for the IU Dental School. I saw that they had an emergency clinic, and they gave the hours and phone number for the clinic. The next morning I call the telephone number and there is a recording that says all of the appointments for the day are full and to call at 9:00pm to make an appointment for the next day. I was like, what the fuck? I hang on until I reach a live person, who more or less confirms what the message said, and she told me to call back at 9:00 that evening. I spend Tuesday going through the Tylenol-Dayquil-Tylenol-Dayquil routine until 9:00 hits. I give them a call and spend over 20 minutes on hold before getting a live person. At the moment, I was enjoying a lull in the pain, but I knew it would come back, so I exercised some patience. I give the lady the information she needed, and she gave me an appointment for 1:00 Wednesday… which was earlier today.
I woke up this morning and took a shower. I started on the Tylenol-Dayquil regimen and noticed that when it was time for my appointment I would be overdue for some pain medication. I decided to chance it and hope that they got me in quick. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a couple of chicken tenders before for a late breakfast. I left my apartment at noon and walked over to Methodist Hospital and took the People Mover train to the IU campus, where the clinic was. I arrived about 12:30 and started filling out the paperwork. I sat in the waiting area for about 15 – 20 minutes before they took me back. They took my blood pressure and took an x-ray. In a few minutes I was in a treatment room. I actually waited in this room for 30-40 minutes before a dentist came in. It was all business.
He told me the various risks (swelling, pain, risk of bleeding, risk of infection – though he said I already had one underneath the tooth) and had me sign an Informed Consent. I signed and he gave me a local anesthetic then left the room for a few minutes. He came back and gave me another injection (I assume it was a nerve block). He leaned the chair back a bit and started in on my tooth when I stopped him. I was feeling lightheaded. He leaned the chair back further, but for some reason I had an impulse to sit up, which I did. I know the idea for leaning back was to get blood into my brain, but I have also been suffering from a chest cold (as if having the tooth problem wasn’t enough) and I felt as if the leaning back was making it more dificult to breathe. The doctors and nurses were cool about it. They had me hold a moist washcloth up to my forehead, then hooked me up with some oxygen. I took deep breaths, and after a few minutes, I felt good enough to lean back. They had a real emergency come up from the ER, so it took another 15 – 20 minutes before the doctor came back. By that time, I was good to go. I wasn’t sedated, but the memories from boot camp came back. I felt pressure and tugging and pulling, and it was done. It seemed to take a little longer than it did in boot camp, but it was still pretty quick. The doc shoved some gauze in my mouth and asked if I had any problems taking Vicodin. I said I had never taken it before, so I didn’t know… at least I said it as well as a could with a numb mouth stuffed with gauze. He had me rest there for abotu 15 – 20 minutes before coming back and letting me go. He gave me three gauze pads, some instructions for post extraction, and a prescription for Vicodin.
Leaving the clinic, I was feeling pretty good. Half of my face was numb and I had bits of gauz hanging out of my mouth, but I was coherent and felt pretty normal. I took the People Mover back to Methodist and then went to a nearby CVS to get the prescription filled. For some reason, the insurance wasn’t accepting the prescription, but it turns out that the script was cheap anyway. Ten bucks for 16 tablets. I paid cash and went on my way.
I got home and switched out the gauze like the dentist said, then I sat down at the computer and started my normal routine. I actually started writing this article hours ago, but I hit the wrong key and WordPress lost it. This time I am doing it in a text editor, so I can copy-and-paste it later. Anyway, I felt a dull ache at the back of the jaw, which I fugured was due to having all that gauze in my mouth. Most of the face was still numb, so I ignored it. That was a mistake. fter a few minutes, I notice the pain isn’t going away. My face was still numb, but I knew the numbneww would wear off. Then I realized why he gave me the prescription for Vicodin. I went to the bathroom and read the instructions and warnings. One tablet every four to six hours for pain. I take a tablet but it was a bit too late. The pain is intense. I grab a cold pack and put it to my jaw and wait for the Vicodin to kick in. Thirty minutes later it still isn’t working. I suck it up as best as I can, but after an hour, I knew I needed something else. I go online and try to see if there any adverse reaction between Vicodin and Tylenol. One site has you put in a list of the meds you are taking and it searches for any problems. Since it didn’t find any, I took two Tylenol and sucked it up until they kicked in. They seemed to take a bit of an edge off of the pain, but it was still there. The cold pack wasn’t doing anything, so I took a hot bath and placed a hot washcloth to my cheek, which helped immediately. The pain was still there, but the heat seemed to dissipate it a little… make it more tolerable.
After the bath, I went online to find the PDR info for Vicodin. I thought Vicodin was just hyrdocodone, but I found out it was a little bit of hyrdocodone and a lot of acetaminophen. Basically it was just a modern version of Tylenol 3. It would also explain the warning on the bottle regarding taking too much acetaminophen. I did some calculations and figured I had taken 1.5 grams of acetaminophen in an hour and a half. The toxic dose is 10 grams, so I figured I would be okay. The PDR info also said the recommended doseage was one or two tablets every four to six hours for pain. So I probably could have taken two Vicodin. Anyway, I sat down in the bean bag chair with a hot water bottle as a pillow and suffered while trying to rest. I kept and eye on the clock and at 8:00 pm I took another Vicodin. This was about the three hour mark, but I was a little pissed at how little it helped my pain. I thought that Vicodin was supposed to be some powerful medication, but I was still in serious pain. I took the pill, not expecting it to work any better that the first one and I refilled the hot water bottle with steaming hot water. I laid back dwon in the bean bag chair for a while, then get up and check out the news websites. I kept the hot water bottle to my face and was lamenting that it wasn’t very hot anymore. I took it away from my face and… all of a sudden I notice I am not in any pain. It was still there very slightly, but it was to the point where I didn’t need the hot water bottle. Cool. Maybe the Vicodin does work, but the pain was just so intense that it couldn’t affect it early on.
According to the clock on my computer, I have 15 minutes before I can take another Vicodin. I can feel some slight pain, so I will probably take it a few minutes early.
I am getting hungry, and the only thing I have had to eat since the dentist was a can of pudding. The instructions recommend soft food, and to stay away from hot or spicy for a while. That doesn’t leave me too much except for mashed potatoes and maybe some soup.
Thus ends the adventure.
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