Scattered Thoughts . . .

I really hate having to collimate any telescope which is just one reason why I prefer refractor telescopes.  I have a few refractor telescopes at different focal lengths, however, I do have one Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope that does require occasional collimation.  It doesn't require collimation nearly as often as a typical Newtonian reflector telescope but it does require it occasionally.   I have the tools and the skills to collimate any telescope but having to align mirrors just to view the sky simply grates on my nerves.  I feel like it is a waste of precious time.  I have other telescopes that are ready to go at a moment's notice but I have one telescope that requires time and effort to simply view the sky...  so, I find that having to spend time and effort collimating this scope is frustrating.  It is much easier and satisfying to just grab one of my refractor telescopes to view the sky without any other pre-requisites.  Collimation is the act of aligning mirrors in an

A s I wrote in a previous blog entry, we had cancelled our plans for this past weekend and decided to do something in Waterbury that would be far less taxing on my body.  Unfortunately, it turns out that I couldn't even do that. We previously cancelled our plans for going out of town for an annual train show.  This is a very big event that requires many miles of walking each day.  It is crowded.  It is often hot in each of the four large buildings.  I knew my health was not ready for that.  Actually, I still didn't trust my health enough to simply ride in a car for three hours to get to the show.  A few days before the event, we cancelled our plans and decided to stay home. Another concern with going out of town was there is still a good chance that I might struggle with anaphylaxis while we are on the road traveling.  Then, we would need to find a hospital very quickly.  The risk was too high so we cancelled the out of town plans.  Our grandson, Lukey, had two hockey games her

M y oncologist scheduled a few more appointments for me over the past couple of days.   I'm now scheduled to head up to the hospital on March 8th.  We'll head to the lab first for some bloodwork and then we head to Oncology for the bone marrow biopsy procedure.  I have some extra medications to take a couple of hours before the procedure too but that has already been discussed with a plan in place and medications already on hand.   A few weeks later, I have a video visit with my oncologist to discuss which direction to go with this.  She did point out, however, that if we find any serious incidental findings in the bone marrow biopsy then we would meet much sooner.  She actually mentioned that multiple times when we last spoke which is probably a hint that she suspects something else could be amiss.   My primary care doctor also set me up for a FITS Colon Screening test in late February.  That is so simple that it is not even worth mentioning.  The most problematic part of that

W e had some pretty consistent furnace problems a few days ago.  We had to call in a service technician after-hours and then he had to return with the more parts the following day.   We're still experiencing a very intermittent problem though that is causing the ignition to kick on again while running.  We have another visit scheduled as soon as possible which isn't until next Thursday.  They are scheduling a week out!   My theory is that it sounds like the burner runs out of fuel for a split second and the ignition kicks on (we hear it click on)...  then burning starts again and the ignition kicks off (we hear a dull thump and another click).  This all happens in a split second.  So, maybe there are some small scattered air bubbles getting in the line intermittently?  Or a partially sooty photocell?  Or, is it possible that the oil control ignition is faulty?  The service technician had to replace our pump along with a couple of other things but replacing the pump required ble

Yesterday, for the most part, was a better day, healthwise, than I've had in a long while.  I still did have problems at one point last night but, overall, it was my best health day since before my hospital visit.   I had another relatively short and mild episode of breathing difficulty last night.  I was cooking dinner and had some breathing issues.  I definitely can't take the heat in the kitchen!  I do need to prepare meals though so I try to minimize my health problems by leaving the kitchen while I'm cooking.  I return a couple of minutes later to check on the meal, then leave again to the living room where it is cooler.  Regardless, I still ended up having some breathing issues last night...  again. I took some extra medications again before heading the bed and I think that helped.  I didn't have any breathing problems after that.  Another plus was that the medication I took makes me drowsy so I ended up sleeping through the night.  Actually, I slept for about 11

My night through the night was quite lousy last night.  We went to bed at around 10pm but I was not sleepy just yet which, I assume, was due to all the steroids in my body at this point.  Sheila fell asleep quickly but I stayed up and read for a while. I was still needing to get up to use the bathroom every hour too.  I think this was due to all the extra antihistamines I have been taking daily for the past week as well as because of all the extra water I had been drinking throughout the day.  These short bathroom trips were clearly cutting into my sleep too. Then, at 2am, I had some minor difficulties breathing.  It resolved itself within about ten minutes but that was a sign that I clearly am still seesawing back toward anaphylaxis.  It is happening much less frequently now and the severity is much less now too but that seesawing is still occurring it seems.   It is sort of like a swinging pendulum...   Early on, this pendulum was swing quickly and swinging high toward significant pr

This evening was the last dose of my steroid therapy.  We're hoping this short term therapy will be enough to help me recover from the severe systemic mastocytosis anaphylactic episode I had last week and has been plaguing me on and off for the past week. The headaches which are perhaps the most common side effect of Prednisone started yesterday for me.  I had a headache all through the night last night and today the headache has been worse.  Needless to say, I'm glad that tonight was my last dose.   On the positive side, I am feeling a little more stable this evening.  I don't think I've had any breathing problems since last night...  so...  that would be the first 24 hour period without a seesawing back toward an anaphylactic low.  So, that is definitely good news.   I suspect the headaches will linger for a couple or few days and taper off slowly.  Headaches can be prevalent in systemic mastocytosis too but I'm hoping my headaches are due to the Prednisone since

I 'm still recovering from my hospital visit a week ago and I'm still feeling lousy but I am feeling just barely well enough to also be a bit bored.   This morning, I decided to pull out a small telescope, a few eyepieces and a camera to shoot a few photos through our living room window.  I needed something different to do that wouldn't wear me down completely.  I would have preferred to look at something in the sky but we very rarely see anything but clouds in the sky here between November and March so I'm stuck viewing terrestial objects rather than astronomical objects.  _________________________________________________________________ First, an update on my health...  On the positive side, I am feeling slightly better with each passing day since starting on the steroid therapy so that is good.  I am still feeling lousy though.  I'm still seesawing toward anaphylaxis with breathing difficulties occasionally and then recovering an hour or so later.  This seesawing

T his morning, Sheila and I headed into town for an appointment with my primary care doctor.  I was feeling pretty lousy but the drive is a short one so it didn't take too much out of me.  I definitely did not want to go though.  At this point, I'm pretty sick and tired of medical problems being front and center in my life so having another medical appointment did not thrill me in the least. When my doctor came into the examining room, Sheila and I were both surprised to learn that she had already discussed my case with my oncologist before we arrived this morning!  She knew things that I had discussed with my oncologist last night and it was obvious they talked about changing some of my medications.  This sort of effective communication is great but it is also a stark reminder that my health problems are serious.   The other sign of the seriousness of my health is that my oncologist worked on my case Monday afternoon and into Monday evening.  She was still contacting me and my

A fter my ambulance ride to the Emergency Department at the University of Vermont Medical Center on Friday night, my Oncologist feels it is time for some additional proactive medical treatment and even some additional tests.   My rather violent mast cell episode which included multiple episodes of anaphylaxis on Friday night and the long amount of time it is taking for my body to stabilize again is a bit concerning.  Also, considering that my blood counts have been elevating farther and farther out of normal over the past few years, it is time to take a look at my bone marrow again and run a few very specific tests in addition to the usual cell counts and cell morphology assessments.   We discussed a bunch of stuff starting with what might have triggered this life-threatening episode as well as the episode itself.  These kinds of episodes are hard to describe accurately but probably the most accurate single descriptive word I can think of is " violent ".   These unique system