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A Double Shot of Content
Jan. 27th, 2012 09:44 amSince I didn't post yesterday, here's a double-sized post:
Health, here in The Future (tm)
I've been having leg cramps for several days. They seemed to be confined to the muscle and responding to heat, but my doctor wanted me to come in and get checked for blood clots. Now, I know that the definitive test for this is ultrasound, and when I had an ultrasound for my gall bladder, I had to go to a hospital.
Not any more. My doctor's office went with paperless records, so they cleaned out the old record room and put in an ultrasound machine. The machine was ten feet from the examining room. They shot both legs, and I came back clean (which was not a surprise to me).
Don't get me wrong - it was nice to be sure. I also asked the doc how I could tell the difference between muscle cramps and blood clots. He said, "you can't." Apparently, they've had people with more pain then me not have clots and less pain have them. I suspect that, with modern technology, we're finding clots that years ago we'd never know about and may not have treated (or needed to treat).
A Sampler Platter of Link Salad
A pair of links for your viewing pleasure:
1) A set of pictures from inside the wreck of the Costa Concordia. I think the technical term is "a mess" and talk about dangerous diving conditions.
2) The heartbreaking story of Kathleen Irene Ashburnham Newton, a Victorian woman-wronged / beauty who killed herself at age 28.
Health, here in The Future (tm)
I've been having leg cramps for several days. They seemed to be confined to the muscle and responding to heat, but my doctor wanted me to come in and get checked for blood clots. Now, I know that the definitive test for this is ultrasound, and when I had an ultrasound for my gall bladder, I had to go to a hospital.
Not any more. My doctor's office went with paperless records, so they cleaned out the old record room and put in an ultrasound machine. The machine was ten feet from the examining room. They shot both legs, and I came back clean (which was not a surprise to me).
Don't get me wrong - it was nice to be sure. I also asked the doc how I could tell the difference between muscle cramps and blood clots. He said, "you can't." Apparently, they've had people with more pain then me not have clots and less pain have them. I suspect that, with modern technology, we're finding clots that years ago we'd never know about and may not have treated (or needed to treat).
A Sampler Platter of Link Salad
A pair of links for your viewing pleasure:
1) A set of pictures from inside the wreck of the Costa Concordia. I think the technical term is "a mess" and talk about dangerous diving conditions.
2) The heartbreaking story of Kathleen Irene Ashburnham Newton, a Victorian woman-wronged / beauty who killed herself at age 28.