A New Adventure

Well, I'm calling this a new adventure, but it actually started some months ago and perhaps several years ago. But it is and will be an adventure - a journey into the semi-known, albeit better understood now than in the past, realms of the brain.

The impetus for the journey surely started at least several years ago and perhaps decades ago. Who knows? It started when something started to "grow" somewhere near the left temporal lobe of my brain, or [this is part of the journey - to find out the details of exactly where] possibly near the left temporal lobe but also near the base of the frontal lobe. I am sure I will learn much more about these places as time goes by. In fact, little did I know that "The Education of Wade Austin" would take such a turn when I started this blog. Such is life and a life learner.

Speed forward to a time I do recall and the beginning of recognizing that something was not quite right because I was having instances of memory loss. Lois remembers these episodes far better than I do because I was not always cognizant of the "episodes" at the time they occurred except as she would afterward explain or describe them to me.

Rather than sequence them now (I like writing, but I hate to take time out to get the details in sequence when I'm on a roll!), I'll simply describe several that have happened in the last four months (June 2011 until now - September 27, 2011). One instance was early morning and I had been reading or writing in the den. When I heard Lois up, I came in for another cup of coffee and greeted her with a good morning kiss. I got my coffee, returned to the den, but came back out in five minutes to refresh the coffee and again greeted her with a good morning kiss. She thought that was nice, but let me know I had already done it once a few minutes before (which I did not recall).

On yet another occasion we came home from shopping and there was a message on the phone. I checked the message and put the phone down, but then a few minutes later I said, "I have to check the messages on the phone," and checked it again. When I did the same thing a third time Lois told me that I had just checked it two times, but again, I had no recollection of having done so.

Other experiences, more frequent in recent months, have been the occurrence of déjà vu sensations and/or an aura of a smell that isn't real. The smell is usually somewhat like hot roofing tar and as a result it triggers a memory of smelling the same thing as a boy walking home from school and smelling the same kind of smell. Once, at the beginning of a management team meeting where we live, I suddenly experienced a déjà vu feeling accompanied by a sense of fear and the smell too. I had to excuse myself and did so by leaving the table and explaining the sensation to the group once I returned. This meeting was near the beginning of August.

I had gone to see the doctor after one of the earlier experiences and he had order basic blood tests and took notes. The blood tests came back normal except for slightly elevated cholesterol, so we didn't worry much. Then I had a memory loss experience near the end of August, the weekend of August 26, 27 and 28, when we went camping at a state park near Coos Bay, Oregon. On Saturday morning, the 27th, we went into town with my son Nathan and his in-laws to get some brakes repaired on their car. While there we decided to get some breakfast, but before breakfast Nathan and I started a conversation about computer technology. {I only remember it based on the accounts of others.) Our conversation was interrupted when some of us went to McDonald's for breakfast and some went to a local bakery type of restaurant. When we finished breakfast the car still wasn't ready and Nathan attempted to resume our conversation and my response was "What are you talking about?" That apparently freaked out Nathan and he asked his mother "What's up with dad?" She told him she would explain later, which she apparently did, but I vaguely recall having a conversation and not the details.

When we returned to camp Lois and I had to move our truck camper to a different spot across from where we had spent the night. We lifted the jacks and I moved the truck and camper, but just after doing so I said to Lois, "We have to move the camper." She told me that I had just moved the camper, but I insisted that no, we had to move the camper. She pointed out that we had been in the other spot and recognition set in that we had indeed been there, but I had no recollection of moving the camper. Nor did I remember adjusting one of the tie downs because I asked Lois, "Did you move that tie down?" She had to tell me that I had done it before moving the truck.

There were no more episodes on that trip, but it was an impetus to see the doctor once again. So when we returned I made an appointment after Labor Day to see the doctor. Based on the accounts of what had been happening he decided to order an MRI, so on September 12 I did have an MRI without contrast (a special dye) and the images revealed "something". So, to get a better look, the doctor ordered another MRI, this time with contrast. The results revealed a 9mm something. According to the radiologist it is in the left temporal lobe and would account for the sensations I have been having. My doctor, Dr. Audrey Williams, felt it warranted a referral to a neurosurgeon, and so I made an appointment for today with Dr. Samuel Hughes.

Dr. Hughes wanted to know why I came to see him, even after seeing the MRI images. Lois explained the episodes leading up to today. Then Dr. Hughes explained why a surgeon did not necessarily have to be the next referral and why he, even though a surgeon, would not rush to cut. The spot could be a lot of things. It could be one of a couple kinds of aneurysms or perhaps, more generally, some sort of vascular problem. It could be a tumor. It did not necessarily have to be in the left temporal lobe. It could be in the frontal lobe or in the area between the frontal lobe and the temporal lobe. In any case, it is deep. It could be malignant or benign. It could be totally within the neuro spinal column (NSC) or it could be a tumor from somewhere else in the body - another cancer elsewhere. Therefore, many tests are warranted to rule out cancer elsewhere in the body and a consultation with a neurologist would help to rule out, or in, MS or epilepsy.

Wow! Sounds like a great case!

Wine

Part of my education, this late in life, is to learn what wines I enjoy most as well as learn to discriminate the nuances of wine so that I can describe a wine's flavor and its impact on my palate. Recently I had my first experience at wine tasting while returning from our trip to Alaska. We were almost home, on the Washington side of the Columbia river at Maryhill and proceeding west along Washington State highway #14. We stopped at a small winery, Cascade Cliffs, and indulged in my first ever wine tasting experience at a winery. All I can say is, "It was great." The winery was small enough that the manager (not the owner) described the 5 wines available that day for tasting. I very much enjoyed experiencing varieties I would otherwise not have tried and one in particular caught my fancy, and the price was right, so I bought it.
We also stopped at Maryhill winery and I tried their wine tasting varieties. They were generous in their samples, but I wasn't nearly as impressed with the wines as I was with Cascade Cliffs, yet Maryhill is a larger winery and much more well known.
Tonight for dinner I opened a Chianti from Italy - Gabbiano Chianti Classico 2007 - that I bought on sale at Safeway. Normally 8.99 a bottle, Safeway had a 30% off sale, so I took the opportunity to buy 12 bottles of various varieties. The Chianti is a keeper. It was great with the grass feed beef steak we had for dinner, but I think the "spiciness" of this somewhat dry wine would be awesome with pasta or pizza. I'll look for this wine again!
Isn't education fun!

A Great Quote - A Greater Idea

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
–Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader (1929-1968)

For some reason I have not often read the quotes on Michael Josephson's weekly email reminders of his commentaries, but I did today and the above quote was there. I noticed my son giving money to a homeless man the other day. That was good I thought. I fear that the political acrimony in this country is making the Jericho Road worse - not better. It is possible that the tensions here and abroad are not worse than in previous times, but they seem worse to me. Maybe I have just forgotten the 60s - or maybe I was tuned out and oblivious. I just know that lately, as I have tried to understand the national debates on foreign and domestic policies of the USA, I more and more find myself concluding that I either have to get involved or tune out. But if educated minds, the likes of Paul Krugman, Megan McCardle, and Will Short, to name but a few journalists, can't agree about how to make a better road, not to mention [if I give them the benefit of doubt] the well meaning politicians, whatever their ideology, then what could I possibly contribute?

Maybe I'm happier being a "good Samaritan" and not a road changer - not to say that the two are mutually exclusive - but the latter seems hopelessly fruitless.

Another quote on today's email was:
The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling.
–Lucretius, Roman poet, philosopher (c. 99-55 BC)

Maybe the "good Samaritan" acts do more in the long run to make a better road.

Another Day - Another Tree Down

Well, Ben doesn't let any grass grown under his feet. If you aren't up and working when he walks out, the tree will already be down. Thankfully, I heard his chainsaw fire up, so hurried to put my shoes on and rush outside to watch. This time the tree was about 80 feet tall [by our estimation, the maximum height]and we decided to fell it TOWARD B1 which is the Bieniaks unit. TRUST!

So, Ben first cut a wedge out of the B-Bldg. side of the tree about two fee from the base. Then he started to cut straight towards the wedge cut. Now, normally, the tree would just eventually bend into the wedge cut and fall square with the wedge cut. But today there was an east wind blowing directly against the direction of the fall. So, felling the tree is more complicated. Behind the saw blade he hammers in small wedges that force the tree "forward." Then he cuts a little more and then hammers in some more small wedges. Eventually the tree falls. Awesome! Whap - a thunderous whap - it hits the ground.

It was about 8 feet taller than we though, with a perfect small "Christmas Tree" at the top, except flat on one side. We allowed for about 15 feet from the front of B1's porch. So, we missed the porch as it turned out by about 5 feet. Whew! The artist did it again!

We also pruned several fruit trees, badly in need of pruning. We rented a chipper that turns branches up to 6" thick into wood chips. It has been a lot of work over 2 days, but the branches and leaves are now in a huge wood chip pile and we have tons of wood stacked everywhere for anyone that needs it. A lot of it needs splitting. The maple and the fruit wood will ultimately be great for fireplaces.

An Unlikely Artist

Yesterday we felled 2 trees on the BSRC property in spaces most people would look at, shake their heads and say, "Your're nuts if you try." One of the trees was a maple tree with 4 trunks, each big enough to be a tree in its own right and all over 70 feet tall.

Ben Thompson, our friend and a logger by trade from the time he was a boy, studied the trees and determined that he could fell them. Skeptical, but trusting his judgement [because after all he is the expert] I watched as he artfully felled the trees along lines that he missed, if he missed at all, by less than twelve inches. Some of the trees leaned 90 degrees opposite to the direction of the fall. He climbed up 40 feet or more [mind you, he is not a school boy, but a 50 year old man], tied on a rope to be used "just as a precaution" and keep the tree from swaying in the wind before it fell correctly. But the direction of the fall ultimately depended and in fact happened by the skillful cuts that Ben made.

I never thought about calling a logger an artist, but Ben, you are an artist.

Income Tax

Last night's segment about income tax on CBS's 60 Minutes was well done and provocative. It confirmed my own ignorant bias towards progressive income taxes and renewed my hope that sanity may yet prevail in our economy and in our government. The two are inextricably linked of course.

Washington State's referendum on instituting and income tax (currently there is no state income tax in Washington) was used as a focal point of discussion, together with an interview of David Stockman, President Reagan's budget director. See it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7009217n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Leslie Stahl says, "Think your taxes are too high? David Stockman thinks they're not high enough. And he's a Republican who once helped engineer the largest tax cut in history. Ronald Reagan's former budget director tells Lesley Stahl why he's changed his tune on taxes. " She goes on to interview Stockman, Bill Gates Sr. and Washington's governor. She also interviews opposing individuals.

Everything I have read to date point towards the benefits of "taxing the rich" [or eliminating the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans], but the naysayers continue to state that higher taxes on the "rich" would hurt business. I don't get the connection. I can understand how some businesses might benefit from being in a state that has no income tax because they can retain employees that want to work in a no income tax state, but on the Federal level I don't see any viable arguments.

I do understand that an increased revenue stream tempts Congress to spend, spend, spend, but economists such as Paul Krugman argue that spending, targeted at stimulating the economy, is essential in the near term for digging out of this recession and that history proves such is the case. I have to believe he is smarter on the issue than I am even though I know equally smart people disagree with him. If Krugman is correct, then the problem is not taxes in the near term, but how to control spending in the long term. Many entitlement programs need to be brought under control and probably our standard of living as a whole will decline. But if things are not brought under control our standard of living will definitely decline with perhaps worse consequences both in duration and in severity. I am thinking in particular of the crime and political upheavals and wars that have accompanied global economic depressions.

NaNoWriMo

I started my novel this morning. I have been anticipating this event for several months now. Usually November ends up being overwhelmed with assorted activities and responsibilities, virtually prohibiting allocating enough time to participate. However, this year I decided that I wasn't as busy as usual and that I would try to keep it that way in order to have more time to write. There will still be a trip to Tehachapi for Thanksgiving, and between now and then there are days of work, including felling trees with the help of Ben Thompson, but with fidelity to some early morning writing and late evening writing [as needed] I think I can do it.

Today I completed 1675 words and may yet devote some time to writing more. The novel is historical fiction, set in pre-Civil War through early post-Civil War times. The heroine is based on a real person of whom I know very little, but believe she was educated, independent and liberal thinking for her time. She was an abolitionist and woman suffragist and a cousin to Harriet [Beecher] Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher. She was a Union sympathizer married to a southern man and trapped in the Confederate south, but in the area of Knoxville, TN recognized as a hotbed of Union sentiment because of many human ties to families in New England.

How does she cope when her husband's sentiments turn to support of the Confederacy and how does their relationship change? Does her loyalty to the Union cause(s) trump her love and devotion for her husband? When her husband is tried for war crimes after the war, what, if any, role did she play in the death of his victim and in his capture, and how will their own personal "civil war" resolve itself?

I don't know the answers or how it will end, but I have embarked on the journey.