Medical Notes
POTUS
The Hur report released by AG Merrick Garland just might be the first shot in the battle to replace Joe Biden. Lloyd Austin is the Secretary of Defense, while Garland commands the offensive troops. General Garland is the only indispensable cabinet member. He investigates and/or indicts every potential threat to Biden or support to Trump. As such, he is almost immune from blowback from the puppet master, Jill Biden. Her outing came as collateral damage to the ongoing charade.
I sent an e-mail to my sanity-checker yesterday. He’s a retired emergency medicine physician in his eighties (yes, there are people older than I am, just not many). Sorry about the use of medical jargon.
It's not Biden's memory lapses. When I was first diagnosed with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, my neurologist ran me through a series of orientation questions. I'd first encountered them when I had a CVA at the age of thirty and have gone through them every time I've had a TIA, CVA, MI or seizure since then. These focused on memory. I've since learned that if you're looking for senile dementia, there are far better ways than focusing on very short-term memory.
It's an assessment of affect, stiffness, anger, gait, protesting too much, word choice and the dozen other visible clues that this patient is suffering from senile dementia. That, not losing any number of memories, is the basis for my conclusion. I'm currently entering the early stages of non-Alzheimer's dementia as a result of the natural processes of the hydrocephalus. I can perceive the first two symptoms - worsening expressive aphasia and an abnormal gait. I have that in common with our President. There's nothing to be done about it. All I can do is pray that whatever God's will, it will be better than I deserve.
Secretary Austin
Today’s announcement from the Defense Department that the Secretary of Defense would undergo a non-surgical procedure involving anesthesia is a non-event. I’ve had perhaps a dozen of them. The bladder is accessed via the urethra using a cystoscope, and the urologist roots around looking for signs of cancer. If he finds one, he cuts it out using a miniature scalpel; this is called a Trans Urethral Resection of a Bladder Tumor, or TURBT. It is routine. I switched urologists at one point, going to a different hospital, and I trust my current surgeon completely. He recommended every nine months and I agreed. His recommendation was based on an encyclopedic knowledge of the alternatives. I’m not a good candidate for surgery.
The first such procedure my wife was in the room. She concluded that it was brutal, and I didn’t disagree. Subsequent ones have been performed under a light anesthesia, which I prefer. I expect most men to agree with me.
Well, Bill, it's been two years of our delightful cordiality via the interwebs, and from my perspective you ain't lost no snap.
Of course I don't see what you and Linda must endure and the stress and frustration and everything else. Just want to let you know--as if you didn't know it perfectly well--that your friendship brings me such pleasure and I am grateful for every post you're able to put out, and there's lots more I won't get so mushy as to say. But you can guess it.
Every day is a blessing. We just get up and do the day.
When we have had enough we just keep doing that anyway.
My daddy lived to 99.5 and he was doing superb before he got about 5 covid jabs over two years.
Near the end, he had a lot of trouble breathing and we went to the hospital and he told me he wanted to die now. I hugged him and told him he was the very best daddy anyone could ever have. I told him I would remember him and our advventures every day. I adored him, just like I did my mom.
Keep going Bob. you are loved greatly