Monday, Monday...
Hmmm, it looks like my quest to go sailing three days in a row is going to crash today. After donating a small piece of my body to medical science earlier this afternoon and leaving the surgeon's office slightly lighter (minus a pesky old tumor) than we I entered an hour or so earlier, I was hoping to convalesce on the nearest sailable lake, but I didn't set that up soon enough, sad to say. Oh well -- at least I got to crew on a couple of little sailing safaris with skipper Carol Anne on Saturday and Sunday and look forward to more tomorrow evening, if the summer monsoon doesn't rain on our parade up at Heron Lake. (Sunday we got to take a reporter and her daughter out for their first-ever sail. We were able to sail out and back without having to use the silly old motor, and gave our guests some nice sailing excitement before threatening, stormy weather chased us back.) And, I set up a new exercise program -- by ordering a truckload of gravel to be delivered to the cabin, to be used to re-surface the driveway and parking areas, cover pathways, cover the area where we park boat trailers, etc.
Lake conditions... well, I hope you have a dry sense of humor, because the state of New Mexico is getting rather drying, losing its stored lake water at about a rate of 1% a day. The good news is that maybe, just maybe, the summer afternoon "monsoon" rains have begun. Let's hope so!
Heron Lake:
7143.27 feet elevation, 192,575 acre feet. Down 1/3 inch and 121 acre feet in 72 hours (As of this morning). Spring runoff is over; the Azotea Tunnel has only about 11 cubic feet per second of water (10 to 20 cfs during a 72-hours) and Willow Creek 10 cfs (9 to 16 cfs).
Elephant Butte Lake: 4314.56 elev., 231,011 acre feet, down 15.6 inches and 10,229 a.f. in 72 hours. Water is flowing out at 2,040 cfs, but in at only about 100-plus cfs.
El Vado: 80,637 a.f., down 3,222 a.f. in 72 hours.
Abiquiu: 153,976 a.f., down 3,217 a.f.
Cochiti: 49,311 a.f., up 237 a.f.
posted by Pat @ 6/26/2006 05:24:00 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I wish to clarify a bit ... that mention of "a pesky old tumor."
A bit more than two years ago, after Pat broke his wrist, he wore a sling. At that point, a big lump developed in his shoulder, where the weight of the sling rested. The doctors at that point said that the swelling was temporary, and it would go away when the pressure of the sling went away.
Long after the wrist was healed, the lump continued to exist. Throughout this whole adventure, Pat's employer changed health-care providers several times, so we couldn't get any sort of consistent care.
Since the lump was continuing to cause Pat discomfort, a few months ago he went to the primary-care doctor that he was assigned under the employer's then-current HMO. That doctor called the swelling a "cyst" and said it wasn't medically important -- essentially, it was a softball-sized acne pimple, just a swelling of pus and oil that would eventually go away. Never mind that it had existed for two years -- it didn't need medical attention, according to this doctor.
Then we got another change of insurance, and Pat was cut off from one doctor, but he could go back to a doctor that he'd had before and liked. That doctor said the swelling was NOT a cyst -- it was a "fleshy growth." It was certainly not something that could be cured by draining off fluid. That doctor scheduled Pat for an appointment with a surgeon.
Monday, Pat went to the surgeon's office. The mass was almost too big -- any larger, and the surgeon would have operated in a hospital rather than the outpatient clinic. It was at this point that the mass got called a "tumor." The surgeon assured him that it is almost certainly benign. But still, the lab is going to be doing biopsies to make sure that there isn't any cancer.
Yeah, "swelling," "cyst," "fleshy growth," "tumor," what next?
And if Pat's employer keeps switching health plans, thereby switching doctors, how is he to get consistent care? At least he has good care now, and for that I am thankful.
update from the lake and Strasia compound........Dino and Zorro repaired the mast on Black Swan yesterday....with inner and iuter sleeve, hpoefully mast will go back up on saturday and sailing for the Team Constellation will resume.......just of note there was no alcohol or girls present dispelling all rumors that Dino drinks too much and Zorro is hedonistic and a womanizor
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