Progress Report

Ok people, here's my progress (re everything):

1. Got my foot surgery done on Friday & am recoop'ing fine. Many thanks to all (drs nurses, staff) who made the thing go as smoothly, comfortably and painless as possible. Honorable mention to Rachel, the RN who did my IV insertion - the insertion was pain-free, expertly done and the resulting mark is tiny. It's an art. Loved the efficiency of the whole process (surgery, from prep to finish), prep info calls & reminders, the warmed blankets provided before & during the procedure and the hot tea in post-op.

Further thanks to all who have called, emailed, Facebooked good wishes for my recovery.

Number one thanks to my DH Jeff who shepherded me home, has been great moral support & ordered pizza for lunch yesterday (he'd get that last one). Super luv!

2. I'm starting chapter 25 in my Accounting book. After that, only one more chapter!

3. I'm on p162 of Kingmakers, a book club selection that is rather challenging - Middle East history with all the dizzying number of players involved. I march on.

4. Was contacted by an Accounting placement firm earlier this week (after they saw my resume on Monster.com - yeah!) & had a chance to meet with them. This is a hopeful development. Also, it was nice to be contacted by an actual human being, instead of an auto-generated email response. Wish me luck that something comes up.

5. I'm in a very good mood. Not really a novel development, but helps immeasurable with my energy levels.

That's all for now folks.

Marching on

Well, I finished Milagro Beanfield War. Wahoo! I'm in the middle of chapter 21 in Accounting. And my tan is coming along very nicely.

On a less bright note, I got another rejection from the Feds regarding a job I'd be perfect at. Mewl. My unemployment benefits are about to run out, so I'm hoping I can extend them...

I'm finally taking care of an old problem in one of my toe joints. Unfortunately, it'll require (minor) surgery. Whatever, this has been going on for years, mostly because my Internal Medicine kept telling me it was nothing (eg, tendonitis). The podiatrist's xrays spoke volumes - it's an obvious bone spur that's been causing so much discomfort.

That is all for now.

A very old disease

This morning's WaPo Health section carried a very interesting article about leprosy AKA Hansen's Disease. This article resonated with me because back in the early 80s, when on post with my family in Mexico City, our Mexican maid, Suzie, was diagnosed with it. It came as a shock that this biblical disease was still around. Indeed it is, and the U.S. has the world's best center for research and treatment in the world, the National Hansen's Disease Clinical Center in Baton Rouge, LA. Some fun facts about this disease:

- 95% of the world's population is thought to be immune to it
- it is actually a neurological disease that comes from a bacteria
- humans and armadillos are the only known animals to contract this disease
- it is not that contagious, but
- it is not known definitively how it is spread

Read the whole article here and more about the disease here.

What happened to Suzie, you ask? Well, we took her for treatment and arranged with a friend to have that treatment continued after we left post. Now, the friend was trustworthy and sympathetic, but unfortunately, Suzie was surrounded by friends and relatives who were superstitious and believed in the "treatments" of the local witch doctors, called curanderos. I don't know what evenually happened to her, but hope that she finished the legitimate medical treatment and did not resort to those purveyors spurious "medicines."

Book Review: Predator

Predator, by Patricia Cornwell, will not disappoint Scarpetta fans: it is chock-full of her regular characters with all their attendant idiosyncrasies (neuroses) and conflicts. And, of course, there are the deranged scumbags that keep the good guys on their toes until the last word.

In this story, there’s a convicted serial killer who’s participating in a neurological study, run by Benton Wesley, who reveals some details of an unsolved case. Is he telling the truth or fabricating details of a crime to toy with the forensic psychologist? Then there’s the mysterious woman whom Lucy encounters in a bar. What’s her story? The unexplained disappearance of two women and their young charges rounds out this compelling forensic mystery.

I’m a long-time Cornwell fan and although I always enjoy her stories, this was an especially good one. The tensions between Dr. Scarpetta and her cohorts are wonderfully aggravating as they all try – with plenty of distraction - to get to the bottom of the mystery. On a personal note, the segments that discuss firearms examination and ballistics were especially interesting because I had just had instruction on these areas in class. Regardless, I think anyone who enjoys the Scarpetta storylines will thoroughly enjoy Predator.

Revolting.

I read a truly appalling article in WaPo yesterday morning about how even though the rate of abortion is generally decreasing in this country, use of RU-486 is on the rise. What’s really disturbing is that women seem to be keenly well-read about this pill, but utterly clueless or callous (probably a bit of both) about pills that prevent the pregnancy – or anything else that prevents pregnancy for that matter. Why bother, after all – you’re progressive! Just kill the offending thing – it’s easier than ever and private! What’s also offensive are some of the comments of practitioners concerning the “normalizing of abortion” and how RU-486 feels more "natural" to the user. What?!

All I can say is for shame! This isn’t modernity or power or whatever euphemisms abortionistas embrace – it’s backward and sad. Read the whole article here.

Book Reviews Galore, Part 2

Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues, by Frank Ryan, MD. The book details various epidemics and outbreaks, the known or proposed vectors thereof and efforts of healthcare authorities (local, federal-CDC, and worldwide-WHO) to stop the spread and treat the victims. The topic is right down my alley, but I must say, this was 2/3 of a good book. I enjoyed the epidemiological discussions & the sleuthing aspect of them. I liked the discussion of co-evolution of species – namely that of some diseases and their hosts – to explain micro-outbreaks (e.g., Ebola) in other species and why some species don’t appear to be affected. Also, explaining why some germ hasn’t wiped out our species yet. What I didn’t like was Dr. Ryan’s P.C. treatment of HIV/AIDS and his goofy descriptions of the epidemiological players (researchers, physicians, etc.) – really gaack. He could have cut down the length of the text some too – at times he just went on and on with the tracking down of a virus in nauseating detail, and I just wanted him to come the punchline. I think Dr. Ryan was trying too hard to make the subject matter accessible for the layman, and it wasn’t altogether necessary. That said, for anyone who enjoys reading virus-hunter type stuff, it’s an interesting read.

I read Prey, by Michael Crichton, right after Virus X, and oddly enough, had an interesting connection to X. I’ll get to that. Prey is essentially one of those race to the finish, running out of time to save whomever type books. It’s about a very next-level artificial intelligence experiment and how it got away from its creators. The connection to Virus X was that in discussing the development of behavior in this artificial intelligence, the book made reference to co-evolution and viruses – how cool is that? Also it discussed “emergent behavior” in a programmed entity (or entities) that might follow anticipated activities, but might just surprise the heck out of you. I found it both a good page-turner, metro-appropriate entertainment, yet I learned a few things too.

For a very different read, try The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. It’s a bittersweet story of a teenage girl in the civil rights-era South, trying to deal with the mysterious circumstances surrounding her mother’s death. It also deals with personal (as opposed to prescribed) and very interesting interpretations of religion and faith. It also involves a wonderful assortment of characters who this girl encounters on her path to understanding…stuff.

Blowing My Cover – My Life As A CIA Spy, by Lindsay Moran, was a quick, cheap ($6.50) read that we discussed at Book Club (B/C). It details Ms. Moran’s initial attraction to, training for, and ultimate disillusionment with The Company. The author comes across, I’m sorry to say, as a naïve, Peace Corps flaky (redundant?) lefty, who for some reason feels compelled to join the CIA. Well, she believes herself drawn to lying and travel, so she must be perfect for intelligence work! All that said, her observations of the dysfunctional and in various ways outdated (Cold War, anyone?) agency do ring true to someone acquainted with such bureaucracies.

In our B/C, we’ve read a bunch of books that deal with Islam in various aspects and countries. The last one we read was a novel called The Swallows of Kabul, by Yasmina Khadra (a pseudonym – the author is an Algerian army officer). Can I just mention how glad I am to be an American, especially seeing as how I’m a woman? Ok, just thought I’d bring that up. The story is set in Taliban-tormented Kabul. No one is having a good time. Khadra brings it home that life is so depressing and ghastly, so soul-sucking under this regime, that no one in his right mind would volunteer for this “life.” The book involves the lives of several characters – male and female – and how they overlap and intersect. Yes, this book is depressing, but well-written and well-paced, so that you finish it quickly, discuss it with your free compatriots & toast that freedom immediately.

Another in this genre, if you will, is Minaret, by Leila Aboulela (hope I haven’t already reviewed this book here), which we also read for Book Club. It’s about a well-off Sudanese woman who immigrates with her family to Great Britain after a change in government involves the execution of her father. This young woman is university educated, speaks fluent English and very capable, has a mom and relatives who are also educated, and very liberal by Moslem standards, but…that’s really where the story begins. I really enjoyed this book and as a B/C selection is really a stronger choice than Swallows of Kabul. In fact, this last Friday evening, the book came up at dinner with a fellow B/C member and friend – months after we discussed it at B/C – and we had a really good secondary discussion about it. Indicating to both of us, that this was a really good book because it had so many layers and elements to pick apart, if you will. Read it with your own B/C or with a friend and see if it doesn’t provoke some quality discussion and reaction to the characters.

Whew! Ok, that’s it for my book reviews today, but…I’m currently reading Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci’s The Force of Reason. Review to come! Hizzah!

Technorati topics: Book Reviews, Islam, Diseases

Ignorant 3rd world hookers reject HIV meds

Again, we (as in, the US) are portrayed as Evil Empire, exploiting the Noble Poor. Prostitutes in Cambodia reject trials of tenofovir, an AIDS coctail drug with promise in fending off HIV infection if taken (by pill) daily. They organize and march against the trials, which are withdrawn and researchers thrown out of the country. Never mind that this drug has been thru testing and is currently being used to treat AIDS patients in this country. But these esteemed and well-read sex professionals (read: sparked up by such winners as ACT UP and other outside activist groups), don't wish to be used as lab animals. Uh-huh. Read the whole article and see support for just letting the 3rd world implode with disease and stupidity.

Book Review: Corpse...

Corpse – Nature, Forensics and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death, by Jessica Snyder Sachs, explains the various methods – some of which are brand new and still developing – by which one can ascertain time of death. The methods involve a variety of fields – from entomology to botany and Ms. Sachs gives us a fascinating look not only at the processes by which each field contributes this knowledge, but also those individuals who first developed – and in some cases, continue to refine - those processes.

This is not a dry (no pun intended) read at all, nor is it inaccessible for non-scientists. I really enjoyed reading about those scientists (some of whom are real characters) who had these ideas and their own specialty, and used both to define aspects of the postmortem scene to elucidate the interval after death. Why am I interested in this you ask (if you’re just tuning in to Ergonomic Zester)? Because in little over a month, I start my studies in forensics and find it illustrative to read about the personalities attracted to such work. Furthermore, it was helpful to learn about how different fields contributed a better understanding of what happens after death and how that translates into a time interval…and how that knowledge may help you catch and prosecute the bad guy (or gal). This book definitely has a high Ick Factor, so if you’re squeamish, don’t bother. But, if you’re at all curious and can put your “Ew!” on hold, it’s worth a read.

Community Comes Through

There’s a poignant story in the Post today about a tragic automobile accident that critically injured a woman, Elizabeth Marchman, and killed her young son and pre-born daughter. The loss to her and her family is heart-wrenching, but there is an uplifting aspect of this story. The retired firefighters who pulled her from her burning car and 128 other community members all turned up to donate blood for her. Not only that, but neighbors have established a fund to help cover Mrs. Marchman’s medical bills and burial costs for her two lost children.

It’s hard to be cynical when reading a story like this. Her community rallied – took action – to provide tangible and needed help in this time of crisis. Some of the donors waited two hours to give blood. Shows there is some good in this world. Read the full story here.

E Coli Double Feature

Just finished reading Toxin, a novel about a dangerous E. coli infection, by Robin Cook.  I enjoyed it because it involves medical drama.  You might want to read this together with a non-fiction "exposé" about the fast food industry, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser.  Interesting to read the fictional account of slaughterhouse operations and then compare it to the non-fiction description.  Scary.  Yet, still, I happily eat meat.  Go figure.

Another (related) book I just finished which was really intriguing was The Medical Detectives, by Berton Roueché, kindly given to me by a colleague, after noting my interest in such things.  It's a collection of accounts of investigations, from the 1940s thru the 1980s, of all sorts of mysterious ailments and their resolutions (or not...).  VERY interesting.  My question is:   how have treatments, diagnoses, methodology, technology changed/improved the chances of resolution since then, and how?