Oct. 15, 2002 - 20:51 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

In Search Of

Just thought it might show something nice in the paper today. I didn't expect big headlines, bad news gets such things but once in while news of something good leaks out.

I see that my favorite method of doing most any packing job and a permanent repair for many things, good ol' duct tape,(not duck tape as I see advertised wrongly) has pretty well qualified as being part of medical practise now. Seems like researchers have found that using duct tape on warts is more effective and less painful than the freezing by liquid nitrogen. However it involves quite a bit of time - maybe two months, the process being the wearing of duct tape over the wart for six days, removing the tape soak the affected part in water and then scraping the area with a pumice stone or emery board. The tape would be reapplied the next morning and repeated for up to two months or less if the wart disappeared. Better for most of us who don't have time or the money for medical treatment. In my life I have had one wart. It has been so long ago that I can't remember which hand's little finger had a wart. It grew from a small thing to one quite large. It was on a level that a ring is on my other fingers. It got so big that my clumsy fingers were always knocking it against something and making it bleed. I had been making regular stops by my doctor's office (before HMO) and getting my wart treated with something, I think it was an acid. After each treatment the wart would shrink a bit, then my job changed and I couldn't get to his office in time after work and consequently the wart grew to its original size again. There was hurt involved in that method too. I have also had keratoses removed from my forehead with liquid nitrogen in much the same way that warts are treated. There is a soreness involved and the area seems to be in a delicate condition for an amount of time. Warts like other things have their own mysterious ways. About the time that I could get the darned thing under treatment again it had disappeared. From huge to nothing, huh ?

I saw another thing that could be good. There was a small study made that indicated redheaded people require more anesthesia than folk with hair of other colors to be effectively anesthetized. Patients have reported not being under and relating things that went on during surgery that showed they weren't put deep enough down for years and had little attention paid them. Finally comes validation. It does say that this will undergo further study. Hah, if someone says rain falls down, it don't mean a thing 'til a huge study is done on it. Don't ever believe a layman ya' know.

I have long noted that the effect of medicine on Heather is such that half doses of pain medication serve her quite well. Also other meds seem to show that their effect is greater on her and that side effects show up oftener on her if normal doses are taken. I think that the fact each person is unique it indicates that different folks will be affected differently. Up 'til today about the only criteria was body weight and sometimes age in dosage calculations.

Archaeologists find intact Incan tomb at Machu Picchu, Peru. It is one of the best found at that location. Good news ? Sure -- it helps when things are uncovered that help in the study of past civilizations.

More good news amongst the bad. A Colorado man who was in the area of the blast in Bali was fortunately on the second level of the building where the blast occurred, escaped injury except for the loss of hearing in one ear. Didn't say in the article but it might not be permanent. The apparatus is damaged for sure, what degree of recovery is possible is yet in the air. But still he was able to call his Mom before it hit local news.

in Denver we had a flood in 1965 while Heather was working in California our kids were with her during their summer vacation. I sat on a hilltop and watched it spread in the area we lived, not quite reaching our home. I was able to get a ham radio operator to get a message to her that I was okay as well as was the house. She was a bit puzzled until a co-worker told her about the flood. Another case of good news outracing the bad.

There is good news, but it has to be searched for and sometimes one has to read between the lines to find it. But, similar to Diogenes, I took a wittle lamp and emulated him - only it was good news I was In Search Of . . . . . . . .

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