My back surgery...

[Jeff_O]

Hey, on this prostate stuff, I was in Scotland a couple of years ago and having some plumbing problems so I went to see a urologist when I got back.
Before that, I had been getting care from the VA, and that had turned to shi#e during Covid, but nothing had bothered me so life was good.
So right at the end of 2021/start of 2022, my guy told me not to make plans for the end of the year. Things were pretty bad downstairs, and my prostate cancer was just itching to kill me.
South Florida has no end of esteemed treatment centers - U of Miami, the Cleveland Clinic, Boca Raton MC, so I contacted the Mayo Clinic for an appointment. I didn’t know they had a branch in Jacksonville….I was preparing to fly to Rochester, MN, but Jax was only 300 miles away right up I95.
They took me right in and determined that the prostate cancer had not metastasized.
I never had chemo or surgery - just 20 hours of radiation and a bunch of meds.
The only side effects were hot flashes which REALLY SUCK and a massive weight gain from steroids which I am now trimming off.
If it had metastasized, the doctors had a treatment plan for that as well.
At some point, we just moved up here to Jax and sold the Boca house.
The Mayo also installed a new titanium right knee since that had been bothering me for years.
So something’s going to kill me, but it’s pretty likely that it’s not going to be prostate cancer. I actually went to a funeral this morning for my 61yo neighbor who took six months to die from complications of a spider bite last February.
I just was not tough enough to not fight this damn thing with everything at my disposal.
Wookie, good luck with your journey.

Sorry to hear about your friend and the complications from a spider bite. I have to mention that I found that I am allergic to penicillin and cephalosporins antibiotics for treating what was probably a spider bite.

I had been using a drysuit many years ago that had both power and manual inflator with corrugated tube to inlet by chest on the drysuit.

When I came up from free diving/snorkeling and needed to get some air in the suit very quickly at the surface, I got some water blown in through the tube besides my breath.

In with the water and my breath, there was something that dislodged in the tube I expect. It stung me on my chest.

If it was a spider from when the suit was stored or something in the salt water, I am not sure. It left scar tissue under the skin and now years later if it needs to be removed, I would do it, but rather no surgery if not needed.

I already have cubital tunnel surgery for nerve pain in one hand and do want to have two surgeries healing concurrently.

Moral of the account, use something to verify the tube as described is clear. There are not many suits fitted with this arrangement. Even so I may take intermediate pressure from a regulator and blow inside a suit before getting into it, just in case.

 

[ofg-1]

Yes, I did get answers, and while not the ones I was hoping for, I can, er "live" with them. However, I would love to find a diving pulmonologist or even cardiologist in the G-ville area. My current doctors are frank about their lack of knowledge when it comes to how this affects my diving. I certainly appreciate their ability to acknowledge that they lack certain knowledge.

I would suggest Doug Ebersole in Lakeland, yeah I know its a few hours south of you. If you can get Andy Pitkin on the phone, he may know someone closer, I think he is still at Shands.

 

[The Chairman]

I would suggest Doug Ebersole in Lakeland, yeah I know its a few hours south of you. If you can get Andy Pitkin on the phone, he may know someone closer, I think he is still at Shands.

Shands is where I had my back surgery. What kind of doc is Pitkin?

I would suggest Doug Ebersole in Lakeland,

Doug is a trusted friend, but I prefer to be closer. I'm just glad I don't have heart disease.

 

[The Chairman]

Wekevia

Wekiva is Mayacan for "Clear Issue", or a spring. Wekiwa means "Clear Flow" or river. I always wondered why the two different spellings until a Scout steeped in their lore told me. The Mayacas were hunter gatherers along the St Johns River basin, and were infamous for building many of the shell mounds in Florida. Most of the islands in Puzzle Lake are such burial mounds.

​

 

[dmaziuk]

Wekiva is Mayacan for "Clear Issue", or a spring. Wekiwa means "Clear Flow" or river. I always wondered why the two different spellings ...

Because a lot of Native sounds don't transliterate into ASCII. So much so, that some of them don't even try and just use numbers for sounds. If interested, look up e.g. Ojibwe writing systems on wikipedia

 

[The Chairman]

Because a lot of Native sounds don't transliterate into ASCII.

It's a common question I ran into while living in that area. "Which is correct?" The answer depended on whether you were referring to the spring or the river. Most rivers in Florida are black water, filled with tannins and some sediment. The water looks red when viewed from below. There are maybe a dozen or so spring fed rivers that are absolutely clear. Certainly less than 20.

One of those rivers is the Itchetucknee, and for the fifth straight day, I found myself swimming in its head spring. I woke up a bit on the late side, so I arrived just a bit before 9am. The regular crowd was already in as well as a few newcomers. Well, they were new to me. Instead of doing 2 5-minute kicks on the steps, I just did one 10-minute stretch. I also spent 10 minutes of breaststroke, with no kicking, working out the arms. A bit over ten more minutes was devoted to stretching, floating, and chillaxing. Funny thing, is that while there was plenty of activity when I got there, I was the last one out. It looks so peaceful.

To keep up with things, both the pulmonologist and the hematologist have now cleared me to swim my heart out. The former and I talked yesterday, and again, he's cleared me for diving to recreational levels. He's actually talked with a "diving doctor" he knew from Duke. I forgot to ask who that was. I will, the next time I see him. I have reached out to a personal friend and physician. I don't want to push this, but I'm more than ready to splash, even if only to fifteen/twenty feet. Again, I'm showing absolutely no symptoms of PE. No shortness of breath, no dizziness, no decreased balance, no scintillating lights, no nothing. My stamina and fitness, as well as my flexibility are all increasing at a good pace.

 

[ofg-1]

Shands is where I had my back surgery. What kind of doc is Pitkin?

Andrew D Pitkin » Department of Anesthesiology » College of Medicine » University of Florida

He may know someone close that can help you.

 

[The Chairman]

After much consternation and a talk with a great friend and physician, I decided to chance it and went for a dive in the Ball Room at Ginnie Springs yesterday. His opening line was "Doctors are paid to worry..." Still, I kept it shallow, only hitting a depth of 35 ft. I dove with one of LP120s, couldn't find my Atomic Regs, so I had to cannibalize one of my side-mount regs. Assembling all the gear took some effort. Most, but not all was in the trailer, so that was cool. Stacy was trying out a She-Pee, which was quite successful, so it took her time to don her drysuit. I was ready just to walk in.

It was a Saturday, so it was crowded and there was lots of Hispanic music in the air. I would say at least half of the peeps at the spring were Hispanic. The steps down to the spring, while sporting my BC/Tank was crowded. Tons of floats of all sizes were headed down or already in the water. The river is up, and I was worried if this would exacerbate donning my fins. Nope, I was able to do that easily by myself. It took a long, long time to get my mask clear. I use my tongue, and I bet I spent 10 minutes or more before I got it to be clear.

I entered the ballroom with only one light and used it sparingly. Stacy is headed to Tulum in a couple of weeks to learn side-mount from Nat from "Under the Jungle", aka "Mighty Mouse". She's an awesome guide and instructor. Anyway, Stacy has almost finished Cavern, so she took time to practice some skills. She ran a fairly flawless line to the big rope. I played the dutiful second, providing light as tied in. I also did so on the way out, taking up slack in the line as needed.

I was nice to be trim and neutral and my breathing felt normal throughout the dive. I did experience some queasiness and seemed to burp incessantly. I wasn't dizzy, and I've felt this before from time to time before. I ended the dive after a half hour, took a really long safety stop, and an even longer surface stop. Getting up the stairs was difficult. The right leg could only follow. I almost fell going down off of the boardwalk and after walking about 20 feet, I actually lost my balance and fell, tank and all. Ouch. I have a bruised knee, a mortally damaged ego, and am pretty achy. No real damage though and plenty of people rushed over to not only help me up, but to carry my gear to the car. I was able to get up on my own though, which was good. I swam again in the head spring at Itchetucknee today. The cool water felt good on my aches, and I worked out some soreness.

 

[DandyDon]

mask clear. I use my tongue

I can't visualize that.

 

[tursiops]

I can't visualize that.

I don't want to visualize that....