Now you see it . . .

now you don't. Four drops of a homeopathic brew based on some testing the homeopath did using a MORA machine that I cannot adequately explain but is supposed to identify toxic things in your body and the brew helps detoxify - clear drops, 4 taken 3 times a day - they disappear when placed in water, but that may be because the brew is clear???My racing heart has been calm since leaving the hospital - now I have to get sticks (with a needle) to draw blood, twice a week, to measure coagulation factor - used to determine dosage of the warfaran I am on - currently 3.5 mg. I feel pretty good - get tired a little more easily and have had to reduce weight lifting from 1,500 to 1,000 kilos ten times (just kidding). It may be that my eyes and mind are a little clearer, as I bribed someone to tell me - my face a little more flushed (could that be the booze?) - but in general I think I am a better motor functioning me than I was, say six months ago. I see by the old thermometer on the internet wall that at this moment, right around 2 am there, that the temperature in Topeka is 32 Farenheit. Yesterday I visited the local French goods grocery store - yummy sour dough bread and lovely frozen croissants that when thawed overenight grow to about double the original size and become even a little larger when baked. Some good, gooey, stinky cheese, too. And a spice mixture to coat steaks - we cook them on the barbie (barby??), bar-b (??) - a New Zealand tradition (the meat, with the spices, that is, not the spices alone). Some possibly interesting facts - our system of blood vessels - arteries, veins and capillaries - is over 60,000 miles long. The heart beats about 100,000 times a day, nearer 1,000,000 when mine was galloping. Well, probably not that many. In a 70 year lifetime the average human heart beats more than 2.5 million times - wonder what the outlier range is? Perhaps you know of other interesting heart facts. Our bathroom remodel proceeds - now have a tub and vanity in place, with no fixtures, a fine working shower, and a start on waterproofing which must preceed painting. I am having the joy of peeling wall paper in our separate toilet room - it has grown to ten times bigger than the original size and I should be finished by 2014, if I keep at it - slow and steady wins the race. Emily and Joseph have each been chosen by their respective schools to be one of their representatives in somewhat different activities - emily part of a problem solving event in nearby Cambridge, Joseph at his school where he and some of his mates will interact with like-aged youngsters from out of town, I think. Well, hope all of you good readers are in good health and that life is treating you well. More later. Manford

Manford learns about fibrillation

So, doc, I was in the cold,cold ocean water off Waihi Beach for about 30 minutes,in my new wet suit, and there was a breeze and I started shivering and couldn't stop, and then we walked back to the camp Emily and other kids and I and other parents were staying and it seemed to take much more effort than getting there, and I lay down and checked my pulse and boy was it going - (sung to the tune of up on the rooftop click, click, click - up goes the heart rate, tick, tick, tick, let's bring it down, but not to quick) - zooming in at around 140 - 150 beats/minute. So I caged a ride home (about two hours) and went to hospital, where I was warmly greeted by caring (really), nice ER staff, they did an EKG, had to wait a while for a cardiology resident (learned later that as the evening went on there was a 6 hour wait in the ER for less pressing cases), then transferred to an observation unit until next day, then saw a big kahuna cardiologist around 10 am, then transferred to the cardiology unit annex, where I roomed with five other guys until my discharge yesterday, Sunday, after getting medication by mouth and from shots in the belly (subcutaneous, so not too painful), the old racing heart slowed down, while the old blood pressure went down to 80's over 60's, but they thought I was well enough to come home and be looked after by my doc whose office is nearby. The ward experience was interesting - felt a little like a prisoner, but had entertainment through books and mags brought by Carrie, and from listening to the kiwi guys who were there ahead of me and whom I left behind - with more serious heart concerns - one was a farmer, another a car salesman, another from India whose home was in Fiji and is a heavy equipment operator, and some unknown job guys, all good story tellers and many pithy comments re the current NZ elections and USA ones with apparently universal approval of Obama. Food was plentiful and tasteful. Staff very nice. Beds moderately comfortable. From time a hospital house cat wandered in from outside. Had a shower Saturday (last Wed am ) which may have made others glad - made me feel and smell better. Strangely enough I never had any discomfort or any other symptom - too brain damaged already, I guess - just a fast, and somewhat intermittent, heart rate. Well, I am happily at home now, observing the bathroom remodel we are getting done that should be finished by 2010 or thereabouts. All new fixtures,shower, vanity, stool, walls and ceilings, will be much nicer than our old moldy one. Take care of yourselves and try not to fibrillate very often - the cost of my stay is covered by socialized medicine here, but could be a big expense in the USA, I suspect. Med costs pretty much covered too. Wish you were here. Manford

Manford learns about wetsuits (a little)

Emily and many of her classmates are going on a camping trip this week, and Manford is going along as one of several parents who are going to be supervising groups of five of these children. As part of this trip there will be beach time, and if the weather is good and the seas calm, children will be allowed to enter the water, and parents will form a curved line to keep the children from straying. Given that the water is still pretty cool, the school recommended that parents bring a wetsuit. So off I goes, looking for one. I settle on a short-sleeve, short leg model. Says I to the clerk, I guess I will need a Large - says he - no, a medium should be fine. So I try one on, and this, folks, is not an easy task. First you put your own legs, one at a time, in the correct whole for legs, after several futile attmepts with at least one foot tending to go into the arm holes. When finally you get the leg thing straightened out you then have to PULL, PULL, PULL the suit up the legs until it is well up the thighs, and make sure it is tight in the crotch, for if you do not pull it up really, really good you will not be able to get the suit over your shoulders. So I worked at it, uhhgh, uhhgh, uhhgh, and then the helpful store person asks how I am doing, and I stand there with it half on, and try and try to get it over my shoulders, with my arms sticking out, but I need help, for it is not going on so good, so he helps, and finally the arms and legs and shoulder portions are actually pretty good - I can't breathe and it is choking me but he says it needs to be tight to work, so I guess that is the way it will feel. Getting out of the suit is a hell of a lot easier than in - you just peel it down, kind of like a banana skin, pulling on a cord attached to the zipper to start things off, then undo the velcro tabs that hold the neck closed, keep peeling, and finally it is off. Ooops, what to wear under the wetsuit. Most web ites related to this question recommend some Speedo like thing - so tomorrow Manford goes out to buy a bikini bottom sort of thing - but I do not think I will pose for pictures in it, as I do not want to cause people of faint, pass out, run screaming away from me, etc. Carrie laughs about this - I do to. I am definitely thinner now - can wear a 36 inch waist pant (that is what the stores call them here - I guess two pant would make one pants?) and weight somewhere around 180. I was pleased today (this is a topic change) to be told by my doctor that I looked great, much better than a year ago - maybe there really is something to the notion of me having mercury poisioning and not having it now since all the amalgam in my mouth has been removed and I am on a detox with some homeopathic drops. Well, I will stop for now - I managed to disappear some stuff I had typed in, so will quit while I am ahead. Thanks for all your thoughts and time. Manford