"The future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground. "

PRESIDENT OBAMA,
calling on the U.S. and Russia to overcome Cold War mistrust and reduce nuclear arsenals, in his commencement speech before graduates of Moscow's New Economic School


I guess they didn't teach history at Columbia.

Gods Of Medicine

These are the two doctors who dissected me. Like I said, I had the best of the best, and owe them my sincerest gratitude.
Link
Link

When I look over their resumes and see that these two, who are just a few years older than I, have accomplished and contributed so much in their time, I can't help but to ask myself "What the hell have you been doing?"

The mind boggles.

You Ready for This?

I've had conversations with a few other bloggers concerning the wisdom of posting pictures of myself on this page.

It's been my standard policy to avoid doing that for a few reasons, some personal, others not so much.

And since I hesitate to display myself in that manner, I also extend the same policy toward the others, and is why I decided against posting pictures from last May's trip to the Twin Cities, and the festivities therewith. But it was tempting, I tell ya.

Well, I think it's time for a change.
Within the next day or two, I'll be posting not a picture, but a video. Of me.
Full frontal, face to the camera, exposed, nothing to hide, in explicit detail.

First, I have to figure out how to get the damn video from the disc onto the screen.

Stay tuned.

Taking It To The Bank

The Bank of Mexican Food in Temecula is the site of a former bank from the early 20th century. Built in 1913, or there abouts, of solid concrete, 18" thick walls, possessing all the charm of something really,really old by California standards, it is also the site of the first bank robbery in Riverside County.

This place has some more recent history as well, being the site of a fist fight between patrons that resulted in death a couple years ago. I guess that's what happens what beered-up assholes decide the off duty cop is a easy target.

For years I've heard of the great('best in town' say some) Mexican food served here, but since I avoid crowds and rowdy bar patrons, I never bothered to venture in for a bite.
Curiosity won the day today, so I gave this place a fair shot.

Walking through the door, seeing several empty tables, and still having to wait a few minutes to be seated got the whole experience off to a less than favorable start.
Longer still was the wait before somebody saw fit to bring me a menu.

Three times they tried to foist upon me a bowl of chips and salsa (which I have no use for). Hey, how 'bout a menu?
Finally, I got a menu.
A fast look, then I folded up the menu and pushed it aside.
Several more minutes before somebody came around to take my order: three chile rellenos, a la carte.
Still no drink, because nobody yet offered me one. No glass of water,either.Finally, an offer, and then several minutes later, a Diet Coke.
Yeah....

The wait time from order to food arrival wasn't bad. At least they got that part down. But still no flatware. I had to wait for that,too.

Enough flogging of the staff. To their credit, whenever someone did happen across my table, they seemed genuinely happy to see me. Maybe they were just surprised.

Time to trash the food.

Chile relleno generally have an enchilada-type sauce poured over them. Not here.
It looked more like a chunky stew of chopped tomatoes, onions, bell pepper and some ground up black flakes of indiscernible origin. This chunky stew of glop came out of can. It was obvious. And tasted like it.

Beneath the manufactured glop, somewhere, were my chile relleno. I had to dig for them.
The egg batter coating had a fluffy, soufle-like, baked texture. Not the fried texture, with just a whisp of crispy around the edges, that is typical.
The cheese was bland and flat, with a texture of plasticity, as opposed to the slight stringiness one would expect from freshly melted cheese.

I strongly suspect these rellenos were previously frozen, as opposed to freshly made.
And then maybe reheated in a microwave, before somebody opened the can and poured chunky tomato-vegetable stew over them?

Overall: bland. The sauce should compliment the relleno, but in this case it just overpowered it. And not even in a good way. Shock and Aweful, cantina style.

Next time, I'll go to Rosa's Cantina across the street. It's much better. And I can safely say that without ever having been to Rosa's Cantina before.

Update

Cricopharyngeal Paralysis is what my primary diagnosis is, limiting my ability to swallow. Nice to know they actually have a name for it.

Today was another follow up with my surgeon, and this time I had him write it down for me. Trying to remember a term like "Cricopharyngeal Paralysis" is not among my stronger abilities.

Briefly: the cricopharyngeus is a muscle in the lower throat; the doorway between the larynx and the esophagus through which all things must pass if they are to make it into the stomach.

The larygeal paralysis has been mostly dealt with. It's likely about as good as it's going to get without the right vagul nerve (which controls the right side)present and functioning. Therapy, so far, has taken me to the point where the left side has strengthened enough to make swallowing possible.
It will never be as it once was, but I've already accepted that certain things will be altered forever, so any further improvement is just additional blessings to be grateful for. And things could have turned out much worse, so you'll hear no complaining from me.

Also, forever gone, is usage of my right vocal cord. This will remain permanantly paralyzed, and leads to most of my aspiration problems as the passageway into my lungs remains slightly ajar. The doctor has a remaining trick up his sleeve to help solve the aspiration issues and improve the speech abilities, but that's another posting.

There is a solution for the cricopharyngeus that we are currently discussing. We could continue with the therapy, hoping to strengthen the muscle further. Basically, this means strengthening the left side to overcompensate for the non-functioning right side. (All issues are on the right side, due to the missing vagul nerve.)
OR
A dialation procedure. This would consist of shoving progressively larger tubes down my throat, past the cricopharyngeus, in order to stretch the muscle. This would allow me to swallow bites of food larger than a teaspoon, or drink more than a sip of water at time.

I've tend to take the view that the body is designed in a certain way for very specific reasons. The dialation would leave my throat open, causing potential concerns later on. Also, with the muscle weakened/stretched, stomach contents may not be so likely to stay in their proper place while bending over or doing physical activity. I've dealt enough with that for three months after the surgery when I had to make sure not to move around too often.
Back then, it didn't take much for something to pour out, triggering the gag reflex, and emptying everything I had in me. I was throwing up every day,leaving me sick inside and unable to keep anything down for several hours afterward.
(and further explains why I didn't post much for two months).
It was the big contributing factor to the malnutrition that caused my body to whither away, the infections, and a couple bouts of pneumonia.

I told the doctor I was in no hurry to try the dialation. I wanted to give things a chance to function properly before we start making further alterations. He agreed, and wants to see me again in three months.
In the meantime, he's released me to return to work the first week of August. He wants me to stay out as long as possible due the nutritional and hydration requirements of my line of work.
Considering the progress made just in the past month, I think I should be good to go by then. Besides, the disability benefits will run out at that time, and I got bills to pay and a mortgage to make.

Here are a couple of links that can illustrate better, and briefly, that of which I am speaking.
Link
Video

Had lunch with my daughter this afternoon. She took me to a Chinese-style Ramen house in Irvine called Ajisen Ramen.
They are an international chain, with locations throughout China, Taiwan, Japan and the USofA.

Nice, very clean and casual place, staffed with a harem of young asian babes who put the 'oo' in cute.

(clickie biggie)


I ordered the Ajisan Ramen, the house standard bowl, with sliced pork, boiled egg, shredded cabbage and various green floaters.

Decent ramen, with a meaty-flavored pork broth that clings to the palate, served warm, but not the scalding temperature that is usually a hallmark of great ramen.

The soup was, as I said, decent, not that great, and I've had better at some most mom & pop ramen houses nearer to where I grew up. And these guys are rather chintzie with the meat and portion sizes.
Not that the meat mattered much. Unable to choke it down, I passed it over to the daughter, who commented approvingly on it's tenderness and flavor.

If I go back, it'll be to gawk at the wait staff, not for the food.

Around Town

This oughtta convince 'em.







(clickie biggie)