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| Der Bloggermeister von Rhode Island OAFS Photo |
What with the reminder of my White House visit ever in the forefront of my thoughts, and the mention of old Bismarck (here), I just had to drag out the helmet. It was a short step ...
What? Why is the White House visit ever in the forefront of my thoughts? Ah ha, glad you asked.
The night of the 27th of December was a miserable rainy and windy day. A bit on the cool side as well. Now take that along with me wearing a heavier coat than I really needed (or wanted, but The Missus Herself insisted, Befehl sind Befehl ...) and the fact that the EEOB and the White House had the heat set to approximately the surface of Mercury (the side facing the sun) and I was alternately sweating and shivering. On the way home I didn't wear my coat as the car was deemed "warm enough."
One should also note that my two grandsons in Maryland (a 3 year old and an 11 month old) both attend pre-kindergarten and day care. In my experience those environments have the capability to generate the sorts of viruses that killed off the Martians in War of the Worlds. And in fact they do.
Finnegan was sniffling upon our arrival and was battling an ear infection, Roberto seemed to be the very picture of health, though I swear the boy has the constitution of a 19th Century mountain man. But he can also be what we in the family call "an outbreak monkey." He doesn't get sick but everyone around him does.
So I woke up Thursday morning of the 28th instant with messed up sinuses which grew progressively worse as the weekend approached. I had visions of me doing a William Henry Harrison.
The drive home on the 2nd of January (all 405 miles of it) was tolerable. I was pumped full of Dayquil (not the other, that one puts me on my not inconsiderable derriere) so the nose wasn't running and I could breathe tolerably well.
Now you might recall that we drove back on Tuesday and I had the rest of the week off. Wednesday I pretty much assumed a vegetative state, sucking down Dayquil and Nyquil at reasonable intervals. Had to get up early on Thursday to get a crown. No, no, no, I wasn't appointed to some royal office, a dental crown. I broke a tooth in mid-December, sheered right off when I bit into something I shouldn't have bitten into. But hey, it didn't hurt.
But Wednesday night was a trial. My sinuses were not clearing when I laid down, they were fine if I sat up. Which made sleeping rather difficult. I think I logged a very restless six hours before I said the heck with it and got up at 0500.
The crown was a very quick affair (oddly enough my regular dentist's first name is Thomas, get it?) though I was not in the books. They had screwed up the schedule and given my appointment to someone else, who had cancelled that morning. Good chap, but my doc was already working on someone so I had to go with one of the two younger dentists, he did a superb job.
Then I went home to stagger around the house all day, threatening by turns to take a nap, but I don't like napping, it's a personal failure of mine. So it's been a tiring day.
But I wasn't too tired to write a blog post.
So I've got that going for me ...
Alles Gute für 2024 dem Bloggermeister!
ReplyDeleteJawohl!
DeleteAh.......the picklehaube is the crowning touch (see what I did there?). Know what it's like with blocked sinuses disturbing the sleep pattern, good luck there Sarge.
ReplyDeleteLast night was better. The improvement is slow, but encouraging.
DeleteUgh!! Daycare-itis!! Nothing is more contagious, or can make those of us over 50ish feel worse!! Like the plague...only worse. Told my grandson he was a petri dish...his response "Grammy, I not a tree dish...I most 5!!! Not til June there bud, not just yet. No kisses, just hugs, 'kay?"
ReplyDeleteSympathies extended...and, just a suggestion--check to be sure it isn't the big C...if ya find it quick enough and get ahold of your primary MD type, they can give ya something that helps reduce the severity, but only if ya get in sooner rather than later...though there is plenty of flu and RSV running around this year as well...soup/hot fluids/lots of oranges all help too.
Suz
Big C is cancer, covid is, at best, little tiny C. I've had it, felt far different from what I have now. This is your basic head full of cotton which slides down into the chest then must be hacked up and out. Not as bad as the flu (I've had that as well, twice), bit heavier than a simple head cold. Had this before, many times. Rest and fluids, fortunately I don't have to go back to work until the 8th.
DeleteKids playing with kids has been part of the human race's survival since there was a human race, just to spread the germs if nothing else.
DeleteI hate being sick... hang in there and good luck!
And the kids love to share those germs.
DeleteKids playing with kids has also been part of the human race's end-of-times at this location since there was a human race.
DeleteDisease vectors are a fun thing to track, especially in history. Usually requires going to a graveyard and noticing clusters of dead children.
I so love the post WWII medical world.
Much healthier in general.
DeleteThe mustache & helmet do go together rather well....
ReplyDeleteThey do, don't they?
DeleteA touch of wax on the ends wouldn’t go amiss.
DeleteNot long enough yet, but I have thought about it.
DeleteDaycare and similar facilities are, in my opinion, petri dishes invented by aliens to test their biological weapons on humanity. The most vile that has been concocted is what we call "the common cold." Not bad enough to throw billions, or even millions, of dollars at to find The Cure, but enough to make people subpar for a week or two. (for an Analog to that, see "Nasty, Brutish, and.... by H. Turtledove).
ReplyDeleteIf the powers that be would focus on viruses in general and not charge headlong at the latest variant, I think we'd be further along in finding a cure. And keep the Gorram pharmaceutical companies out of it, they're there to make money, nothing else.
DeleteI think the covid thing was/is a "follow the money" deal.
DeleteI wouldn't disagree.
DeleteThat is a fantastic picture, Sarge! I look foward to updates as the moustache develops.
ReplyDeleteAs I have gotten older, sinus infections have become a regular Winter event for me. No matter what I do, they seem to linger for months.
Hoping you feel better soon (And a Martian No Prize for making a post even while feeling out of it)!
I seem to be coming out of the funk, just need to take it easy, heck, I might even take a nap!
DeleteI am not going to lie: with my unexpected job hiatus, I have been taking more naps (with A The Cat). Pretty empowering stuff.
DeleteI don't mind the concept of sleep, not at all. It's just using the time to nap when I could be doing something else that bothers me.
DeleteIn my life these days when my body wants to take a nap, it does .... unless I do something about it.
DeleteIf I stop moving I might nap.
Deletenaps are wasted on the young
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed.
DeleteThe "Hat" looks good on you Sarge, Very Werner Klemperer-esque. I'm sure it drives the women-folk wild.
ReplyDeleteJust sayin'.
juvat
Wild? Well, that's one way to put it.
DeleteReally. All you need is a violin and a Luftwaffe overcoat...
DeleteI have an Army overcoat somewhere ... (No violin though.)
DeleteTerrified of dental work. It's complicated, problem fixed but the terror remains.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young I developed an abject fear of dentists. Mostly because the dentist wasn't that good, best as I can recall. But as time has advanced and dental procedures along with that, the fear is almost non-existent now. Heck, even root canals aren't as fearsome if you have the right dentist. Mine is very, very good.
DeleteI found that light (very) nitrous decidedly helps (reduces) the anxiety and produces a far faster checkbook response when making the next appt on the way out
DeleteThat would help!
DeleteI vividly remember trips to our old dentist in a small town. Novocain syringe and needle like a veterinarian would use. And the old-style slow speed dental drill with drive cables going every direction. My vision would blur from the vibration. Along with a smell like burning chicken feathers from the overheated tooth.
DeleteOh yeah, "good" times.
DeleteI've gotten so used to the dentist's chair that only the Novocain shot and deep drilling wakes me up. Seriously, get me a dentist chair and one of those leaded X-ray blankets and... I could sleep, really sleep, hard sleep.
DeleteFor some strange reason that ability to sleep while drilling, grinding and other things freaks dentists out, even when I warn them.
Now that is a useful skill!
DeleteQuite an affair at the dentist's office, no?
ReplyDeleteWife and I are at the point, due to too much work done and other issues, of just getting, if it's a molar or premolar, the bastard tooth yanked. Setting ourselves up for some bridgework in the future, but there's not much one can do with crumbling infrastructure except, well, demolish and build anew.
As to fear of dentists, full braces with headgear and rubber bands will kind of get you over it. Like being afraid of shots but having to take allergy shots for 5 years, it's like the allergy shots are the allergy shots for a shot allergy.
Kids? Loved it (NOT) when one of the jerks at work would bring their active disease vector in to the office so the 'parent' could clock in and then go to the snot-doc on company time. Inevitably I would drag something home with me to Mrs. Andrew. Got to the point that I'd basically close the garage door, strip down, jump in the shower and cleanse body and soul and then go greet Mrs. Andrew. I swear, if I ever build a custom house, a Decontamination Room between garage and rest of house is a must.
one of the greatest things about being a dentist in the prehistoric era (before gloves, masks, face shields, usw and yes! we scrubbed the skin off our hands between patients) was that being exposed to everything (and yes! I mean everything including cougars who grabbed me by the testicles saying "We're not going to hurt each other, are we Doc?") I never came down with anything (never sick a day in my life) nor did my wife nor any of my three kids no matter what was going around school.
Deletebefore yanking a posterior, please re-consider - unless there is a vertical fracture. If yanking is an absolute necessity, please look into titanium implants (zirconium implants IMHO haven't been around long enough for a decent analysis (vide Vitredent implants) - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5455450/) as opposed to bridgework; there are, however, certain medical situations that militate against a bony implant.
DeleteThe Grey one has my email should you wish to continue the discussion.
Now what other blog is going to provide quality dental advice like The Chant?
DeleteMan, we've got it all.
Crusty Old TV Tech here. Ah yes, dental implants. $3000 later (crummy company dental insurance), I have one too. Oral soigen (say it like Curly) pulled yon toofus whilst I was lolling about from the stuff he pumped in me, then 1 month later, a visit to see how it was going...then 2 months later, packing the site with dead guy bone dust and drugs, to grow new bones in the old rootholes...then 6 months later, drill baby drill (gutschtoff again) on the now grown bone, insert a Helicoil and protector stud...3 months later, FINALLY, pull the protector stud, and go see regular dentist for a threaded crown glue-in. And in the meantime, two other normal crowns with yon regular tooth yanker. I would recommend dental implants only for those who have no other option (including leaving a Dogpatch blank spot in your bite!), they are a royal pain in the mouth and budget IMHO.
DeleteSarge, you should use that pic with Pickelhalbe on the blog masthead, it is very appropos!
Those implants are not cheap. The Missus Herself has few. A unpleasant procedure, but she's happy with them.
DeleteWife has dry mouth so any actual tooth thingy is going to be iffy at most. Including expensive implants and bone grafts and such. Me? The tooth is dead when the root dies. The upper exposed sections are generally bad due to way too much garbage happening. So yanking and dentures for both of us are probably the thing.
DeleteHave had two dentists not recommend implants for either of us.
Dry mouth can lead to dental problems. DAMHIK
DeleteI feel that grandchildren should have their own Hazmat code. The eight year old isn't too bad but the four younger ones seem to generate any bug going. Last year they gave us Norovirus, which was nice, and some form of vague cough/chest infection/virus that seems never ending, I've had it since late summer. It's not enough to knock you out but you're operating at about 60-70% capacity. Only now am I feeling better.
ReplyDeleteAs my family doctor son says 'there's a lot of it about'.
Retired
Yes, they seem to absorb whatever virus is floating about and bring it home. Their Mom has had a nagging ear/nose/throat thing going on for a while as well. I'll give this bug a few more days to relent, then I'll go to the doc and be told, 'there's a lot of it about'.
DeleteSigh ...
Nice post for "nothing to post."
ReplyDeleteNow, if you have a stahlhelm (you DO have a stahlhelm, right?), a photo in that instead of the pickelhaube might convince some there is a resemblance to a U.S. Army Air Corps Sergeant John Banner, AKA SGT SChultze. But, I know nothing, NOTHING!
JB
I have three stahlhelms, a Model 1916, an M35, and an M42. The markings on two of those are politically incorrect (to say the least).
DeleteI will confess to attending a Halloween party in high school dressed as Sgt. Schulz. My build back then required some padding, these days, none would be required.
Interesting thing about Schultze is that he carries a Krag-Jorgenssen rifle. Which some people says because the show was lazy. Except that Germany captured lots of KJs and issued them to rear-area troops, like guards at Luftwaffe Stalags...
DeleteThe Germans didn't throw away any reasonably useful weapon. Front line troops got the better gear.
DeleteI am glad you are on the mend!
ReplyDelete👍
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