It's just a short trip, maybe 9 days, and we're not even leaving the lovely state of Florida. The original plan was a couple days in Collier Seminole SP with some friends, and then a few more at Flamingo in Everglades NP. Then Sharon got antsy, and found a site available at Oscar Shearer SP the day before, and then we decided to head out another day earlier than that to see White Springs and the Suwannee River.
The Suwannee is out of its banks. The Okefenokee Swamp is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys rivers, and it has gotten a lot of rain the past few months, and so the rivers are high. Normally the height in White Springs is around 55', and now it's just under 80'. We drove over on Saturday, taking US-90 for a change (instead of I-10), making the drive over a little more interesting. We got on I-10 for the drive through Osceola NF, a more scenic drive than through Lake City.
Our first stop was Falling Creek SP, for a look at the falls. The tannic water was running strong, where normally at this time of year its often just a trickle. But the height of the water wasn't dramatic or anything.
As we drove into White Springs, though, the Suwannee was another story. Our Gar Pond trail runs beside the road into town, and those woods were completely submerged under several feet of water. The river itself was close to the underside of the railroad bridge. We stopped at Suwannee Bicycle Association headquarters and caught up with Tony, SBA's president. Then we parked Ernie at the house of some other friends who are doing some beautiful work on their new (for them) house. Howard and Joy have done an amazing job, turning a run down cottage into a warm and comfortable home. Sweat equity never looked so good.
While they worked, we took out bikes out for a tour of the town and river. Our pictures from our tour are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/bYrJvvkRk9bB3i3h6. There is a good chance that the river won't recede in January (or even February), putting SBA's 50 mile off-road bike event (IDIDARIDE) in doubt. Its not called IDIDASWIM, and bottom brackets and axle bearings don't like being underwater for long.
After our ride we drove Ernie back to headquarters, where we parked out front for the evening. We had dinner with Howard and Joy and enjoyed the comfort of HQ before they headed back to their house, and we retired to our comfy bed.
We woke and used HQ to heat up some breakfast and coffee, but not long enough to let the fog burn off. I wanted to take the slow road to our next stop, and it was going to be over 5 hours to our next stop along back roads, so we left White Springs with the lights on.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Ablation for pain relief
So I am 6' 8" tall, or was until I started shrinking with age. Being pretty much of a klutz has not been kind to my back. Over the years I've developed some crazy random pain in my legs and hips and lower back.
In February of 2016, after too much tests and insurance headaches, Dr. Justin Spooner performed a Radio Frequency Ablation on my lower back, relieving my daily pains completely. It was dramatic, and it was wonderful.
(Side note: I went through the procedure's approval process twice. One of the questions you always get at pain clinics is, How much is your pain, on a scale of 1 to 10? With no defining terms, and having experienced some intense pain over my life, I rated my pain at 4 to 5 the first time around, and my insurance company (Aetna, FWIW) rejected paying for any relief. I tried to find out what they considered the numbers meant, but they simply replied that 5 wasn't high enough. So I started all over again, asserting my pain was 6 and 7, and the procedure was finally approved.)
In Spring of this year, 2018, I started to feel pain coming back to my legs and hips. As we traveled my pain returned, and we returned from our travels a bit early so I could start the process again.
This time my insurance and my Primary Care Physician sent me to Coastal Spine and Pain. They have a Beaches office that is close enough to bike to. Dr. Lee Irwin understood quickly where I was coming from, and got permission for a test epidural, just like I'd had twice before. but this time it didn't provide the short term (days) relief we expected. I went for a bike ride the day after the procedure, and had to cut it short, after 10 miles, due to intense pain in my right thigh. Sigh. But Dr. Irwin wasn't deterred, and did another epidural which was more successful.
The subsequent ablation has greatly enhanced my life. I still have some issues with my hips, and a bit of pain along my sciatica on my right thigh. But 90% of the pain that was always there is gone! I can sleep, I don't wake up in the middle of the night from pain, I can go for long walks or bike rides and only suffer from sore muscles, not random pains. It's silly that I've learned the difference between pain, but tired muscles are distinctly different from nerve pain. And I'm happy to suffer from tired muscles.
Coastal Pain also has a Physical Therapy component, and they were helpful reminding me of the exercises I was taught two years ago, along with a few more. And the exercise helps to keep the pain at bay.
One of the nice things I learned at Coastal Spine was a set of definitions of pain! There is a Makowitz Pain Scale! The definitions are
0. Pain Free
1. Very Minor Annoyance
2. Minor Annoyance
3. Annoying / Distracting
4. Can ignore if really involved in another activity
5. Can not be ignored for more than 30 minutes
6. Can not be ignored for any length of time; Can still work and participate in social activities.
7. Difficult to concentrate; Interferes with sleep; Still functions with effort.
8. Physical activity severely limited; Con read/converse with effort; Nausea and dizziness set in as factors of pain.
9. Unable to speak; Crying / moaning in pain; Uncontrollable near delirium.
10. Unconscious; Passed out due to pain.
In February of 2016, after too much tests and insurance headaches, Dr. Justin Spooner performed a Radio Frequency Ablation on my lower back, relieving my daily pains completely. It was dramatic, and it was wonderful.
(Side note: I went through the procedure's approval process twice. One of the questions you always get at pain clinics is, How much is your pain, on a scale of 1 to 10? With no defining terms, and having experienced some intense pain over my life, I rated my pain at 4 to 5 the first time around, and my insurance company (Aetna, FWIW) rejected paying for any relief. I tried to find out what they considered the numbers meant, but they simply replied that 5 wasn't high enough. So I started all over again, asserting my pain was 6 and 7, and the procedure was finally approved.)
In Spring of this year, 2018, I started to feel pain coming back to my legs and hips. As we traveled my pain returned, and we returned from our travels a bit early so I could start the process again.
This time my insurance and my Primary Care Physician sent me to Coastal Spine and Pain. They have a Beaches office that is close enough to bike to. Dr. Lee Irwin understood quickly where I was coming from, and got permission for a test epidural, just like I'd had twice before. but this time it didn't provide the short term (days) relief we expected. I went for a bike ride the day after the procedure, and had to cut it short, after 10 miles, due to intense pain in my right thigh. Sigh. But Dr. Irwin wasn't deterred, and did another epidural which was more successful.
The subsequent ablation has greatly enhanced my life. I still have some issues with my hips, and a bit of pain along my sciatica on my right thigh. But 90% of the pain that was always there is gone! I can sleep, I don't wake up in the middle of the night from pain, I can go for long walks or bike rides and only suffer from sore muscles, not random pains. It's silly that I've learned the difference between pain, but tired muscles are distinctly different from nerve pain. And I'm happy to suffer from tired muscles.
Coastal Pain also has a Physical Therapy component, and they were helpful reminding me of the exercises I was taught two years ago, along with a few more. And the exercise helps to keep the pain at bay.
One of the nice things I learned at Coastal Spine was a set of definitions of pain! There is a Makowitz Pain Scale! The definitions are
0. Pain Free
1. Very Minor Annoyance
2. Minor Annoyance
3. Annoying / Distracting
4. Can ignore if really involved in another activity
5. Can not be ignored for more than 30 minutes
6. Can not be ignored for any length of time; Can still work and participate in social activities.
7. Difficult to concentrate; Interferes with sleep; Still functions with effort.
8. Physical activity severely limited; Con read/converse with effort; Nausea and dizziness set in as factors of pain.
9. Unable to speak; Crying / moaning in pain; Uncontrollable near delirium.
10. Unconscious; Passed out due to pain.
Alternator power
With our new pair of LiFePO4 batteries we expect to use our newfound glut of electrons more while we travel. We'll be able to use the Instant Pot for meals, and the coffeemaker. We even bought an electric blanket for those cooler nights.
But will all our new uses, we thought it would be prudent to make sure we will be able to keep the batteries topped off. Our 160w solar panel does a great job, but not so much in bad weather. So we now have a charge coming from the Sprinter alternator.
Mercedes has a lovely little junction box under the driver's seat. It has three posts, each with a different usage. They each serve a different access to the vehicle's main power source. One gives power all the time, even when the vehicle is off. An example usage for that line is to power a step that comes out when the door opens to make getting in and out easier. The second terminal is for power during ignition, and the third terminal is after ignition is complete and the engine is running.
So the connection is simple in theory: run a line from the house battery under the van to the front seat, then connect it to the third terminal post. And make sure that the power only goes from the terminal back to the house battery, so add a fancy switch to keep the systems separate.
I am a pretty cautious guy, and really don't want to break anything that Mercedes Benz created. So I asked Todd Blackwood, the brilliant owner of Beaches Electric. Todd has been our go-to guy for electrical work on our house, and he has always done impressively quality work. I figured it was worth having Todd look at my plan and make sure that I didn't miss anything. My back also wasn't really wanting me to climb under the van for the wiring.
So Todd came over and did the work with me watching and helping with the odd tool or wire. He made sure that the proper wire sizes were used, and reviewed the documentation I found online. He attached the Battery Doctor securely under the seat and made all the connections in the proper order.
The proof in the pudding was a drive out to White Springs for SBA's Secret Santa weekend. The house batteries stayed full on the drive, and the ARB stayed cold. Yippee!
But will all our new uses, we thought it would be prudent to make sure we will be able to keep the batteries topped off. Our 160w solar panel does a great job, but not so much in bad weather. So we now have a charge coming from the Sprinter alternator.
Mercedes has a lovely little junction box under the driver's seat. It has three posts, each with a different usage. They each serve a different access to the vehicle's main power source. One gives power all the time, even when the vehicle is off. An example usage for that line is to power a step that comes out when the door opens to make getting in and out easier. The second terminal is for power during ignition, and the third terminal is after ignition is complete and the engine is running.
So the connection is simple in theory: run a line from the house battery under the van to the front seat, then connect it to the third terminal post. And make sure that the power only goes from the terminal back to the house battery, so add a fancy switch to keep the systems separate.
I am a pretty cautious guy, and really don't want to break anything that Mercedes Benz created. So I asked Todd Blackwood, the brilliant owner of Beaches Electric. Todd has been our go-to guy for electrical work on our house, and he has always done impressively quality work. I figured it was worth having Todd look at my plan and make sure that I didn't miss anything. My back also wasn't really wanting me to climb under the van for the wiring.
So Todd came over and did the work with me watching and helping with the odd tool or wire. He made sure that the proper wire sizes were used, and reviewed the documentation I found online. He attached the Battery Doctor securely under the seat and made all the connections in the proper order.
The proof in the pudding was a drive out to White Springs for SBA's Secret Santa weekend. The house batteries stayed full on the drive, and the ARB stayed cold. Yippee!
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