A Happy New Year to everyone!!!
… and a resolution that I will resume posting once more on a more frequent basis….
A few weeks back, I went to a specialist to address my ongoing battle with gout. For months, the situation was that I was hobbled by gout of varying severity that it was preventing me from doing the things I like doing especially my photography. Nearly everywhere I went, I had to take a cane with me to walk, albeit with some struggle. Taking painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs only worked in part. At one time, the gout was so severe that my family doctor mistook it for a potentially fatal situation of deep vein thrombosis that caused me to end up in the emergency room at the hospital. Followup visits with an Orthopedic surgeon wit MRI scans were inconclusive as regards to my gout.
So I went to a rheumologist who examined me, looked at my charts from the hospital and made the declaration that my gout is now chronic and will have to managed for the rest of my life. My uric acid levels were just too high and needed to be under the minimum level which gout manifests itself.
Now, I have tried the standard medication for gout control which is Allopurinol but my experience with it has been less than favorable. Taking the medication regularly always left me in a fatigued state and contributed to a lack of concentration which is critical for the sort of work I do. So the specialist put me on a new medication, Uloric which may have less side effects for me. So giving me first a regimen of steriods to take down the swelling I was experiencing so that I could start to walk again unencumbered, I was to start on a gradual program of taking Uloric.
It has been 4 weeks now since I have been on the new medication and I am feeling fine now. I can walk comfortably and I can reasonably eat a variety of foods now, not just the ones that do not increase my uric acid levels. But I have to accept the reality that I will need to be on this medication for years to come if I want to avoid future gout attacks
But I should not have to rely on medication alone. A strong contributor to my gout attacks is the fact that I am way overweight. Now, I did get the side effect benefit of this recent prolonged attack of gout in that I lost 20 pounds, primarily because I was afraid to eat nothing but carbohydrates to avoid intensifying the attacks. But I need to do more. If I get to an ideal weight of 180-190 pounds, that will lower the chances for future attacks and perhaps lead to a reduction in the dosage of Uloric in future (at $180/month, the medication is not cheap).
So I have to know what to eat in the future as I diet so to reduce weight but not encourage a return of the gout.
The key trigger to gout is when you consume a lot of purines (a form of amino acid) from food. Some foods are higher in purines than others notably organ meats. They are metabolised by several enzymes, including xanthine oxidase, into uric acid which if gets to a high level can crystalise in the tissues near joints giving you gout.
There are certain food recommended to eat and others to avoid:
Low purine diet :
To lower uric acid:
- cherries have been shown to reduce uric acid
- strawberries or blueberries (and other dark red/blue berries) are also reputed to be beneficial
- celery extracts (celery or celery seed either in capsule form or as a tea) is believed by many to reduce uric acid levels (although these are also diuretics).
- limit food high in protein such as meat, fish, poultry, or tofu to 8 ounces a day. Avoid entirely during a flare up.
Food to avoid high in purines, that is, high in DNA:
- sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, brains, or other offal meats
- sardines
- anchovies
- scallops, Prawns and Crabs
- alcohol, especially beer because brewer’s yeasts are very rich in purine (alcohol may also reduce the rate of uric acid excretion).
- meat extracts, consommés, and gravies
To use moderately:
- Vegetables: asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms and green peas
- Lentils, dried peas and beans
- Beef, pork, poultry, fish and seafood
- Oatmeal, wheat bran and wheat germ
- diet sodas (these act as diuretics in many people, causing uric acid to concentrate in the blood which can then easily precipitate)
To avoid dehydration:
- Drink plenty of liquids, especially water, to dilute and assist excretion of urates;
- Use sparingly diuretic foods or medicines like aspirin, vitamin C, tea and alcohol.
So any diet I will have to undertake to lose weight will need to factor these foods in mind.
One thing I do have to watch out for is rapid weight reduction. Lose weight too fast and it creates a high uric acid situation again. Remember, I lost 20 pounds in a fairly rpaid fashion which no doubt prolonged and intensified my recent gout attack. I do have time to lose weight gradually.
In many ways, it is like living life as a diabetic. For people with moderate cases of diabetes , you could take medication to control your blood sugar level but keeping a steady weight and watching your diet can provide the same benefit without medication. It’s just a bit harder to do than just popping a pill.
So this is my life now as a chronic gout sufferer. It is not where I want to be in life but I have to make the best of this situation and lead a normal life which is quote possible now with this new medication and some effort on my part to maintain a more healthier lifestyle.
Here are a few Jeff Foxworthy jokes about Canadians, forwarded to me by my sister. You would be a bit surprised on several of these actually strike close to the truth about us.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from
September through May,
You may live in Canada .
If someone in a Home Depot store
Offers you assistance and they don’t work there,
You may live in Canada .
If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
You may live in Canada .
If you’ve had a lengthy telephone conversation
With someone who dialed a wrong number,
You may live in Canada .
If ‘Vacation’ means going anywhere
South of Detroit for the weekend,
You may live in Canada .
If you measure distance in hours,
You may live in Canada ..
If you know several people
Who have hit a deer more than once,
You may live in Canada .
If you have switched from ‘heat’ to ‘A/C’
In the same day and back again,
You may live in Canada .
If you can drive 90 km/hr through 2 feet of snow
During a raging blizzard without flinching,
You may live in Canada .
If you install security lights on your house and garage,
But leave both unlocked,
You may live in Canada .
If you carry jumpers in your car
And your wife knows how to use them,
You may live in Canada .
If you design your kid’s Halloween costume
To fit over a snowsuit,
You may live in Canada .
If the speed limit on the highway is 80 km —
You’re going 90 and everybody is passing you,
You may live in Canada .
If driving is better in the winter
Because the potholes are filled with snow,
You may live in Canada .
If you know all 4 seasons:
Almost winter, winter, still winter,
And road construction,
You may live in Canada .
If you have more miles
On your snow blower than your car,
You may live in Canada .
If you find 2 degrees F, ‘a little chilly’,
You may live in Canada .
If you actually understand these jokes,
And forward them to all
Your Canadian friends,
You definitely live in Canada.
Sometimes we wonder if we are somewhat cursed as a family. Whenever our life seems to just become a bit better, disaster strikes us at the most inopportune time. We strive to overcome these setbacks and eventually we do but it takes a lot out of us and we wonder how further ahead in life we would be if these things do not happen.
Friday Evening
So it was on a Friday evening just three days before Andrea was due to enter the hospital to give birth to Patrick and I was sitting down in the living room reading my paper while Andrea took a bath upstairs. A few minutes later, Madeleine came downstairs to wish me good night but she greeted me with not a smile but an expression of horror. I could not understand what she was trying to say bu then she grabbed me by the arm to show me what she saw.
Turning the corner to the hallway between the foyer and the living room, I saw what she saw and what she walked through. Before us was a deep and spreading pool of raw sewage that was coming from the downstairs half bathroom. Our toilet had seemingly exploded.
I knew there was no time to waste so I went to the garage to get the shop vac to start sucking up the sewage. I must have sucked up 40-60 gallons of sewage and depositing it outside. The affected area was large and everywhere.
After getting the immediate situation under control, I put in a call to the local Roto Rooter to send someone out. My thought was that the whole problem was a clogged drain and when Andrea drained her bath, the water had nowhere to go but out of the downstairs toilet. So a quick run with the drainage snake to break up the clog would take care of the cause of the problem is not the aftermath.
So the plumber came out, checked that the clog was not on the city line thus was on my property. We went down to the basement garage to where the clean out valve was located. We positioned garbage cans around the valve to catch the outflow of sewage when the valve was released and believe me, it was a lot of sewage that came out. Pushing the cans out of the way, the plumber looked down the pipe and did not like what he saw.
He did not see a clog or obstruction down the pipe. What he did see was that the pipe had broken clear off from the outside pipe to the city line. Dirt from the ground above had settled into the area where the pipe should have outflowed and this was the obstruction that blocked the flow.
The plumber told me that the problem was outside of his means to fix and that I would need a specialist plumber to fix the problem. He said that if the problem required to dig up the pipe with a backhoe, the expense could run into the thousands of dollars. In any event, I could not use the plumbing in the house except for emergencies until the problem was fixed.
So here was my problem. I had no plumbing. My wife was supposed to go to the hospital in three days. I had to travel to South Carolina the next day to pick up Andrea’s mother to bring back to Winston-Salem.
Saturday morning
Despite the events of the night before, I decided I need a good rest to take on the day. My first call of the day was to my insurance company to put in the claim. They mentioned to me that they had on retainer, companies that specialised in disaster recovery such as home flooding. Then I put in a call to a friend of the family who is a contractor for some advice on dealing with this situation. He did give some advice but then also volunteered to come over to give Andrea some assistance on this matter while I was on the road.
With plans in motion, I set out for South Carolina. I did not want to do the road trip with so much to do at home but Andrea wanted her mother to be with her for the birth.
So our friend came over and started the process of removing carpet and vinyl flooring. A little later, the disaster recovery team continued the process as well as bringing in dryer to start removing the moisture in the plywood flooring and spraying all surfaces with anti-bacterial agents. The dryers were to be in the house all weekend and they were incredibly noisy. As well, it was advised to Andrea that since she was pregrant, it was not advisable to be in the home during this time. As we had no plumbing in any event, we knew we had to go to a hotel that night.
Saturday Evening
Like I mentioned before, we seemed to be afflicted with more than our share of bad luck. Looking for a hotel room proved more of an ordeal than we imagined because this was the weekend that the Furniture market was taking place in High Point and consequently, hotel rooms all over the Triad were booked solid. Mind you, I was still on the road when all of this was happening. I kept in touch with Andrea on the day’s progress via cellphone so I could not help her in figuring out where to find a hotel. She had to use the old fashioned Yellow Pages. Eventually, she was able to find a room on the North Side of town so I had to gather all of the family together including Andrea’s mother, luggage and other accessories when I arrived back in Winston late that night. It was about 9:30 that evening that I was able to settle down and relax.
So it was a most trying 24 hours that we experienced in our lives. But it was only the start of things for us.
It has been a long time since I wrote any of my Daily Notes. So what would I have written during my prolonged absence?
Wake Forest Football took a major hit this year. That 5 game losing streak with games lost by the closest of margins did not do justice to the performance that Riley Skinner has put in for the past 4 years taking the team to 3 bowl games including the Orange Bowl in his freshman year. He has put in records that will take years to break. So it has been disappointing. Part of the problem was the loss of so many seniors from last year on defence. That defence made the difference in so many games over the years and proven to be irreplaceable in many ways. But that is life in college football. A constant turnover of players year in, year out but it is the programs and traditions that keep several schools competitive year every year. Wake is not there yet and next year will bring many unknowns especially at quarterback. But the team has something to look back on as it builds for the future.
The neighbourhood coffee shop, Confluence Coffee closed shop after 15 months in business. Continual losses made the shop a drain on the resources of the church that was maintaining it. It’s a pity for it was a good place to go but then again I never went there frequently like many others and that is what lead it to its demise.
Downtown Winston-Salem has been quiet of late regarding new developments but it looks like some new things will be happening on Trade Street at Seventh with a new restaurant. But it seems that with each new entry in the local market, someone else leaves like the Camel City Cafe at the Stevens Center.
On politics, alot of things are happening. Health care seems to be slowly moving forward. Whether it becomes a reality before the New Year depends on the political will of the Democratic Senators. It can happen if they remained united.
As one war winds down, another starts to heat up. There is no doubt that President Obama will be making a firm commitment to the war Afghanistan. The question is what exit strategy will be employed. There can not be a blank cheque here.
I missed not taking autumn photos this year along with the Ballonfest. Missed out on other events as well. Will have to pick it up next year. Xmas parade coming up this weekend, though.
One more year and Madeleine will be in kindergarten. She is growing up fast.
Been a few months since downgrading my cable television to the bare minimum. Not really missing much other than the HD quality. Been renting from Netflix to make up some of the difference. I have plenty to catch up on especially as I have not been to the theater at all in months.
I think this has been the wettest autumn I have ever seen here in Winston since I moved here in 2002.
… and that is all I wrote.