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The tag paragraph on yesterday's entry was to remind me I had a pre-op appointment this morning. I had to do something to get it in there so I wouldn't forget. Despite that, I didn't get much sleep because I don't have an alarm clock to wake me in time to keep the 8:30 appointment.
It's an hour away. I practically stayed up all night to make sure I got there on time and kept the appointment. I don't want nothing getting in the way of them fixing my left eye to match the right one.
The next appointment I have at the VA Hospital if for the surgery itself. It's gonna happen at 7 a.m. on Friday next. That's mighty early for my brother to get up to drive me over there. I have to have a driver or they won't perform the procedure. All I have to do is show up on time, and the operation will go straight from there. After that I won't actually need a driver all though I have three follow-up appointments after the surgery.
I just realized that my surgery appointment is the same day I have my regular appointment at the Durham VA arthritis clinic. I reckon I got confused because of the way I wrote my reminder down on my bulleting board. I took a Sharpie and wrote the date down in large letters on the letter I get from the VA.
Instead of spelling the month, day, and year as I usually do, I wrote down the numbers 8-5, and then thought the day was the 8th instead of the 5th. I gotta remember to cancel the arthritis appointment and get another one. I'm definitely getting the cataract operation on the 5th, but I gotta remember to call to cancel during the next week.
Remembering all these dates and numbers is not so easy as I get older. I seem to be doing alright so far. I have to. There is no one else to do it for me. I can't depend on somebody else when there is nobody else. All my ex-wives and children are eagerly anticipating the call that I've committed suicide. All my siblings and children have their own families. I'm running as fast as I can.
A few minutes ago I watched a YouTube video on cataract surgery. The video demonstrated an example of two types of surgery. The first one was the one-stitch procedure, which is what I was led to believe was gonna happen, but probably didn't. The second one was a procedure that employs a larger cut, and requires a goodly number of stitches to close up.
The second method is called an extra capsular extraction if you wanna look it up. I'm pretty sure that's what's gonna happen. The extra stitches the second method uses do suggest that the stitches could be used to pull the astigmatism into a less distorted angle. I don't know the truth about any of this. I like to impulsively guess wots gonna happen next. It's something to do...
Since I was in the big town of Fayettenam I decided to shop around a little after I finished my pre-op appointment. It's not really an exciting, anticipatory thing to do. Living on the cheap means that I'm probably not going to actually buy much when I shop. It must be obvious to lots of the shop employees that I'm a browser that probably won't make a purchase.
More often than I'm proud of I do buy stuff impulsively. Particularly kitchen gadgets. I need a bigger kitchen in order to have all my gadgets within view and readily available. I could cook with my tools like a mechanic repairs cars. His tools need to be within reach without him having to think about them.
It would end up being a big waste of money. There is no consistency in my diet. It's still that way, but I'm getting better. It's better because I finally understand what a diet is for. Basically, it's to feed my gut bacteria in a way that helps the friendly ones, and discourages the unfriendly ones. Hah! Like I would know....
Kefir is fermented, pre-digested milk. The reason it gets that way is due to bacteria. A matrix of bacterial materials whose excrement is to die for. It appears desirable that the beneficial gut bacteria prevail in the war of the gods. I seem to have concluded that if you nourish the beneficial gut bacteria they will do what's needed to discourage the unfriendly bacteria like e-coli.
If what I've summarized from my ultra-casual research runs true, probiotics is more about the richness of the prebiotics that feed them than the results obtained forthwith. I could be wrong. It's too good to be true. But, that's what I'm thinking.
One of the reasons (and a major one) for thinking the way I do resolves from my reading about how the positive gut bacteria cling to the walls of the intestines, and do what they do as what we eat passes through. It may not be relevant.
When I make kefir with whole milk and a teaspoon of milk kefir grains, however, some of the self-propagating baby grains stick to the sides of the quart canning jar I use to let the mother culture do what it is self-designed to do. I take this as proof positive gut bacteria clings to the walls of the GI tract.
I could be wrong. It looks that way to me. It's not a weak bond to the inside glass wall of the canning jar either. I can put a mason jor I used to make kefir into a washing pan filled with hot soapy water and let it soak. You'd think that between the dish-washing liquid and the hot water that some of the baby grains would fall off the glass sides. They don't. I'm speculating that once these baby matrix cluster attach themselves to the walls of the GI tract they won't budge until, by hook or by crook, they croak.
The bacteria cultures used to make kefir out of milk (and other products) are self-propagating. As they consume the lactose in milk they multiply. They have babies. The babies are all self-propagating too. As long as you feed the matrixes they keep making clones of themselves, apparently forever. Why would a human do this? To eat their shit. Their shit is ambrosia and nectar to humans. Gods, of course, have the real top-shelf good shit.
I didn't really do much shopping. I went to the health food store I use and bought some chocolate covered, sweetened ginger chunks. Tasty. I'm addicted. I also bought some red miso. It lasts me a long time. I still have a fair amount of the last pint carton I bought there. To me, miso is strong. A little bit goes a long way, but I lust for that little bit sometimes. I don't remember how I learned to like this stuff. Did I mention that miso is tasty?
Broiled fish is a big hit with me. I cook it with miso. I buy frozen salmon because fresh isn't really fresh by the time it arrives here. Can you spell r-e-f-r-o-z-e-n? I deal with frozen fish all the time, but refrozen is over the top for me. What's wrong with this picture?
I've taken to browning one side of the rectangular frozen hash-brown potatoes, and the turning them over and put the frozen salmon on top of the previously frozen potatoes to bake above the grease and the frying pan and all the catastrophes that situation represents to me.
About the time I figure the reverse side of the hash browns is cooked, I cut off the burner so I can walk away. I leave the lid on to save the heat, and take a hike. It took a while to realize that the stuff in the skillet still cooks for a good long time after I turn off the burner. Burning up a few frying pans and nearly my house cured that.
The salmon is usually fairly dry, and tough when I get through. It falls apart with only a slight push with the fork tines, but the juiciness of it has gone the way of all good things. I suspect it being frozen has a lot to do with it, but in essence I'm not a very good cook.
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