Coffee 2-15-14

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Sun. Feb. 16, 2014 10:38 pm

We've got the best folks on the planet here on this forum. 8-)

Hats off to y'all! :cheers:

I'm just daydreaming about owning a dozer after reading Greg's post. :D That would be great for smoothing out my land here! Could make that swamp disappear too ........ ah, but then there'd be that much more to mow.


 
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Post by KLook » Sun. Feb. 16, 2014 10:39 pm

Neither had any clue how bad there son's eyes were
When our sons were in grade school, it was suggested by the teacher that we check their eyes. They (the boys) didnt seem to think much about it. When they were tested, it was so bad the ophthalmologist thought they had made a mistake or the boys were intentionally doing poorly to get glasses. :o But after getting their new glasses, we were driving home and one of them said, " Oh cool, I can see the raindrops hitting the windshield!" :shock: Felt real neglectful that day.
It is a great thing you are doing Yanche, keep up the good work.

Kevin

 
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Rick 386
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Post by Rick 386 » Sun. Feb. 16, 2014 10:42 pm

Yanche,

Does this look familiar ??
Note2_05-27-13 002.jpg
.JPG | 101.7KB | Note2_05-27-13 002.jpg
Local group asked me to paint this for them and apply the decals. I was glad to do it for such a worthwhile cause. It was put at the main intersection in town.

I did receive a real nice letter of appreciation from them.

Smitty,

Several years ago, I came home from work on a Friday with my ankle in a cast. I got weak ankles dating back to H.S. football. Overtread it again and chipped the bone, hence the cast. When I got home, the brother in law was there. Asked what had happened and asked if I could put pressure on my heal. I asked why and he said "because tomorrow we are building a pond. I got a small loader for you and I'll be driving the big Komatsu. I also had some pain pills so off we went. He always had track loaders around. And the keys were always in them.

Somehow I relived my childhood sandbox dreams using his work equipment........ Good times...... Too bad he moved away and took the toys with him. :mad:

Rick
Last edited by Rick 386 on Sun. Feb. 16, 2014 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Sun. Feb. 16, 2014 10:48 pm

Nice work on that one Rick! Showpiece! 8-)

I've seen hotrods at car shows with nothing close to that good of a paint job. :D

 
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Rick 386
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Post by Rick 386 » Sun. Feb. 16, 2014 10:59 pm

Thanks John.

That's just using cheap acrylic enamel with a hardener for longevity.

Had to do a good job due to its location but ?I was taught well by my father. Nobody cares about how long the prep takes, just what it looks like after the paint is applied.

I was taught if you don't take the time to do it right the first time, how the hell are you going to have time to re do it ?? And the paint is too expensive for re do's.......

Rick

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Sun. Feb. 16, 2014 11:03 pm

Yep - that's for sure! I almost *censored* when my buddy told me the price for a PINT of paint to do my '74 RD350. Insanity ...

He has the same work ethic. My bike still looks mint after 4 years. 8-)

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Mon. Feb. 17, 2014 1:35 am

If you are going to do it...
Do it right the first time...
And some overkill never hurts...
Built a deck at the 'rents house...
Got all the permits back in the '90s it was not that bad...
Building inspector was being a dick...
Wanted the deck a higher live load than code...
There had been a bunch of deck collapses recently...
Our deck was only 16" off the ground not 16'...
So we doubled his number...
Did not want it to 'bounce' anyway...
He still wanted proof that it met his higher live load rating...
My engineer friend showed him the math...
He asked us why...
We said why not...
Don't like the bouncy wood decks others had... ;)


 
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Freddy
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Post by Freddy » Mon. Feb. 17, 2014 5:33 am

Rick 386 wrote:I was taught if you don't take the time to do it right the first time, how the hell are you going to have time to re do it ??
I was taught a little different..... "If there's not time to do it right, there's always time to do it over".

Either way just shows that it pays to do it right the first time. That Lion's mailbox looks great!

Yanche, that eye screening device sounds cool. Basically, it tells if a child's vision has problems with just "a photograph"? That's very cool. Sorry about the prostate. I'm looking down that same road. I guess most guys will at some point. For now my numbers are OK and a finger finds no problems. How did it come that you had a biopsy ordered? Part of me wants to have one, part of me doesn't.

 
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Feb. 17, 2014 7:26 am

Been getting my prostate checked every year since I was 62--yep, enlarged but CPC (or whatever) numbers are always good. I'm just glad there's a lot of trees local & I got no problem pullin over & peeing behind one at any given time. :clap: toothy Freddy, early diagnosis is a sure fix--don't be bashful--I have a feeling you already have heard that from Marty ;)

 
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Cap
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Post by Cap » Mon. Feb. 17, 2014 7:52 pm

Great hearing from you Yanche. Sounds like good work you are doing there. :) Stay well!
Yanche wrote:Cap, Yanche is still here. Just been busy with other things. Took a detour from the fun stuff after I had a prostate cancer biopsy. Feel much better now. My other big interest is my Lions Club. The charitable 501(c)(3) foundation I created for them just purchased a new children's vision screening camera. A high tech camera that takes a IR scan of the child's eyes. We typically screen 30-50, 3 to 5 year old kids at a day care facility.

 
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Yanche
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Post by Yanche » Mon. Feb. 17, 2014 9:53 pm

Freddy wrote:Sorry about the prostate. I'm looking down that same road. I guess most guys will at some point. For now my numbers are OK and a finger finds no problems. How did it come that you had a biopsy ordered? Part of me wants to have one, part of me doesn't.
I had a needle biopsy done because my PSA levels continued to rise from 4.0 to 5.0 (ng/ml) over a period of five years. All men should have a PSA test annually over an certain age (about 60 +/-). The needle biopsy is a test that takes a sample of the prostate in several places, usually 10. Then these samples are evaluated by an experienced lab technician looking at the size and shape of the cells. What is seen determines your Gleason score, a measure of how bad your cancer is. Your biopsy sample slides should be evaluated by two different labs. The score is somewhat subjective and the lab with the most experience gives more accurate results. In my case one of the labs was at Hopkins, rated #1 in prostate cancer treatment. My Gleason score was 6.0, i.e. a low grade cancer.

It's kind of a scary result because it's borderline between no treatment and surgery or radiation treatment. After much self education and consulting with the experts at Hopkins and other teaching hospitals I chose to do nothing. Prostate cancer can be slow growing and the treatments often greatly reduce your quality of life. I did also have a 3 Tesla Prostate MRI to establish a baseline. This is a non-invasive test that shows a high resolution image of the prostate. I even have my image data and can view it in 3D on my computer. Still learning to understand what I see.

Invaluable in my education was Medscape.com You need to join; there are several levels of profession profile when you join. This determines what level of information you receive. On the advice of my doctor I joined as a medical student. This gives me the same access as if I were a MD. Much more technical and challenging to understand. But more close to the truth.

The bottom line is most men will get prostate cancer unless they die at an early age. The more you learn about it now will determine how you change your lifestyle to hopefully avoid it and assist you in making an informed choice about what to do if you have it. You can not leave the choice to your doctor, they often have a conflict of interest in what they recommend.

 
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Feb. 17, 2014 10:06 pm

Ahhh, that's it PSA. Thanx Y--One thing I've noticed about those Med sites for the normal person is that it has created a society of hypochondriacs--just an old farmers observations:(

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Mon. Feb. 17, 2014 10:13 pm

Hi Fred - I'm Smitty, and I have mesothelioma. toothy

 
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Post by LsFarm » Mon. Feb. 17, 2014 10:34 pm

My experience with prostate cancer:
My PSA started to rise at age 50, up a point or so from the last 5 years, I get a full physical every year, blood work etc..
So I was referred to an Urologist. Had an ultrasound, and needle biopsy. all negative.
Each year for the following 6 years my PSA had again gone up, and was now around 8 or 8.5.. pretty high.
And again, a needle biopsy. Still negative..

All along I had ZERO urology issues. I slept through the night, I could fly from NYC to SFO, a 6 hour flight and not need to use the restroom. My prostate was not enlarged, no lumps, NOTHING..
But I had a sky-high PSA.

The next year the PSA was just under 10. it was 9,8 or so. The urologist said he wanted to do a 'saturation biopsy'. Which instead of 8 needle pokes, they would take 20-24 needle samples.. The urologist said 'for my comfort' I would be put under a mild anesthesia.
I looked at him and said: I think that the anesthesia is more for your protection, than my comfort'.. He asked what I meant:
My reply was that as painful and private the needle pokes are, that about the time he would attempt to take the 10th or 12th needle sample, the patient would be up off the table swinging!! ready to punch the doc in the nose !! :mad:
He laughed, and admitted he hadn't thought of it that way.. :lol:

So with 22 samples, that I never felt, :) they STILL found nothing, .

The next year, PSA 11.5.. And another Saturation Biopsy. and again nothing,
But the Urologist was getting concerned, even though I had ZERO symptoms, a PSA that high is indicating something.
I went on a long regime of antibiotics, to rule out a low grade infection.. then another PSA blood test, and the PSA was up over 12. !!
So six months after the last biopsy, another one. and the results were that a few, very isolated 'different' cells were noted. NOT cancer cells, just slightly different prostate cells.

And six months later, PSA still around 12. By this time I would go to a local clinic and get a blood test every month, the results sent to the Urologist. We'd talk, and reafirm the plan to keep monitoring.

So in the fall of that year I had another Saturation Biopsy, and it came back positive. 3/6ths of the segments had cancer, two were around 75%, one about 50%.
My Gleason score was 6, and the other lab said 6.5. there are 'OK' 6 scores, and there are 'not-so-OK' scores of 6.. I can't remember the scoring protocol, but it was just on the more agressive side of 'OK'.

So I shopped around to get more opinions. First I checked out the surgical record of my Urologist of 8+ years, and found out that I should RUN, not walk away from that doc.. And then, from both my FAA medical examiner, and two other medical professionals, one name came up.. So I went to see him.

He was very enlightening. told me many things that I hadn't found out from other sources, and from him, decided that radiation treatments made sense.

So after the radiation treatments, and some other unrelated health issues, I'm assured that the prostate cancer is gone. but prostate cancer can reoccur in different parts of the body, but its slow growing, and like Yanche said, most men get prostate cancer, but usually die from something else.

So, as Yanche recommended, track your PSA, get some education, but don't sweat it..
Colon cancer is MUCH more of an issue for all of us, and grows and spreads FAST.

Stay healthy !!

Greg L

 
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Post by Freddy » Tue. Feb. 18, 2014 2:31 am

Yanche wrote: your doctor, they often have a conflict of interest in what they recommend.
You got that right! My Dr "doesn't believe" in PSA tests. "They give too many false results". Yaaa, well, Doc, Until a better test comes along, this Fred will be getting a PSA each year. So, each year I have to remind her. Sheesh! She's got short fingers too. But....she's better than the last Dr I had!

Greg & Yanche....thanks for the info.
freetown fred wrote: I got no problem pullin over & peeing behind one at any given time.
And that folks is why I can never move to New York. I'm afraid I'd pull over to pee behind a tree & find it already occupied. I can't make it through a movie! Strangely, during the day I can go 5 or 6 hours without pee'n, but at night I'm up every 2 or 3 hours.


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