I turned 50 a few months back and went to the doctor because I turned 50 and, apparently, there is a *LOT* of stuff that goes along with that.
For one thing, that’s when you can get a shot for shingles. My dad had shingles way back when and I have a handful of other loved ones who have had it more recently and they all tell me that it’s absolutely *AWFUL*. I tried to sign up for the shot when I saw that the shot was available in the grocery store but I was a mere 48 years old and they told me “nope, sorry… gotta be 50”.
And I was surprised because that was the first time I ever experienced being told that I was too young for something in, like, a *LONG* time.
Anyway, when I went in for my 50,000 mile tune-up, they told me that, hurray, I could get the shingles shot. Lemme tell ya: the shingles shot took *ALL* the gas out of my tank. The covid shot made me feel hungover the next day but this was like I had energy to do *NOTHING*. I just sat in the chair thinking “maybe I could play a game?” and not playing a game because I didn’t have the energy. “Maybe I should take a nap?” but I didn’t have the energy. Finally around 4PM the next day, I got the gumption to goof off.
Note to self: schedule day off for day after 2nd dose of shingles shot.
Well, the other thing that the doctor told me at my 50,000 mile tune-up is that I need to go in for an oil change. “I’ve never had my oil changed”, I told the doc. “Really?” she asked. “They changed the rules so that you get oil changes at 45,000 miles now.”
In any case, this weekend is the last weekend before I go in for my oil change. The rules say that a few days before the event, you have to start changing your diet (no red or purple drinks, no more oatmeal) and the day before you get to drink a bottle of Rislone Cat Complete Fuel, Exhaust and Emissions System Cleaner and take the car up to monument full speed and back down and then you should be ready for your oil change.
A bunch of people told me that I could just do the Cologuard test and I guess that’s true but it doesn’t check for other stuff. So I just told them “I did that but I forgot to mail the box.”
So this weekend is the last weekend where I will be allowed high-fiber foods and such. So steel-cut oats are on the menu. Maybe some drinks that are somewhere between red and purple. And, of course, the usual litany of chores and errands.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is Maribou feeding a tiger at the zoo. I wanted to call it “the lady and the tiger” but she said “don’t call it that, that’s weird.”)
(I said “It’d make me feel weird,” but.)
Also my plan for the weekend is basically to sit around enjoying how I got to hang out for 40 minutes right near a tiger today. And feed it dead things and watch it be happy and friendly about me doing so.Report
Wait is Joe Exotic out of prison?Report
No no, this was at the zoo. All legit, no dubious assholes.Report
It’s been a very busy week of grading and also writing lecture material for the spring, so I need some fun this weekend. This is my one “go and do shopping” weekend of the season. I do this every year, partly because at this point in the semester I just need to get out of town for a day, but also, because I need to remind myself why I complete my Christmas shopping very early/do a lot of stuff mail order.
Part of it is to just see the goofy Christmas stuff some stores sell. My calling it goofy does not mean I won’t buy any of it; often Target has some decorations that are fun.
There are some things I need but I also just need to get out and be somewhere that it not this town. Next week is right before finals, then after that I am (YES, the looming RR strike seems to have been averted) traveling to my mom’s for Christmas.
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At some point I need to do the “oil change” you referred to; I had scheduled one back in 2019 but then my father’s death and its aftermath meant I had to cancel, and then of course the pandemic happened. I have “promised” my doctor I will do it this coming summer but…..I just dislike the whole idea, the nasty prep, the being under anesthetic, the having to FIND someone willing to drive me to and from the medical place (which is an hour’s round trip from here).
I also need to get the shingles shots; my plan was to do that this past summer but after telling my doctor about the rather strong immune reaction I had to covid booster two, she told it was best to wait some months before putting my immune system through the stress of a vaccine that a lot of people find difficult. So that’s also a future thng for me. (I probably also need to get the pneumococcal pneumonia one; I’m a little young for it still but now I see they’re recommending it for younger people with asthma, so I don’t know)Report
I can’t recommend Cologard more highly. There’s no history in my family so my doctor is fine with it.Report
I have an honest to God date tonight. We’re going for pizza and then to a jazz club. Wish me luck!
Going to see The Menu with my daughter tomorrow, then dinner with some old friends Saturday.Report
OMG! GOOD LUCK!Report
I’ve been out of the dating market for over 30 years, but one of these days my wife will come to her senses and I’ll have to jump back in. Good luck,.Report
If you don’t come back we will avenge your death.Report
Sounds like a great plan for a date! Good luck my man!Report
Buried the lede… which pizza place?
I assume you made her pick as discernment #1?Report
She definitely picked. It was Robert’s in Streeterville, and the pizza was great.
The jazz was provided by this guy: https://thaddeustukes.com/Report
Looks like a fun spot… if I were in Cincinnati. 🙂
Hope y’all had a good time.Report
hope it goes well, man, you deserve some fun and happinessReport
Thank you so much! It did go well and date #2 will be talked about in the next installment.Report
I hear you about the shingles shot and the low-grade anxiety of “welp that’s my age bracket now.”
I think I mentioned when we were hanging in D.C. about my vanity concerning my head hair. Well, I got some pretty bad hat hair the other day and after I took the hat off and looked in the mirror there was a whole lot more bright, shiny scalp visible than the maximum amount that could coexist with my ego. I almost said out loud “Dad, what are you doing here? Go home!”
So now it’s time to reconsider my previous decision of “Who needs Rogaine? I’ll just power through it with grace and acceptance” because ugh is my scalp bright and shiny and awfully, terribly, horrifyingly, visible.Report
Bald is in. Some could even call it “sexy”.Report
I’ve told my children that if I ever start something that looks like a comb-over, they should just take me out back and shoot me.Report
Yep, my forehead has been getting a bit larger these past few years as well.Report
My (large) primary care provider says that an annual sample-and-test is as good as the oil change for early detection, unless you’ve got a family history. And based on my experience, it’s a whole lot less unpleasant. Not that the procedure itself is unpleasant, because they have terrific drug cocktails to give you these days, but the prep is.Report
Well, now that I know, I’ll mail the box next time.
But I felt that the first one should be old school. In honor to my ancestors.Report
“My son, you have come of age and so now it is time to honor your ancestors by allowing the people in this building to knock you out and shove a camera up your bum.”
“No, this is NOT ‘just like your frat in college!”Report
Another long-running (19 years!) blog I read and occasionally comment on had an unpleasant experience earlier this fall. Their hosting service moved stuff to a new data center and it went… badly. The site was unavailable much of the time for three weeks. As it turns out, they run old software the hosting site barely supports any more — new customers are referred to a different subsidiary running different software.
On the assumption that a total wipe-out was at least conceivable, I looked into how much of the content could be “scraped” from the Wayback Machine. Most of it, as things turned out, if it came to that. Since the provider got their act together eventually — although the export database feature is still not working — I undertook scraping as much of the contents as was available from the public-facing side. A bunch of scripting later, I have almost 8,800 posts (all the way back to the first) and a bit over 500,000 comments on my hard disk. Formatted in one of the import formats most blogging software can read, 400MB uncompressed. Compressed to less than half that and a copy tucked away in the cloud. Some of the current writers all use the master account with bylines as part of the content. I even managed to recover the correct author information for most of them. Separately, almost 1,000 image files.
Even got things set up so I can scrape updates every week or two. As of this weekend, I’m declaring that I’m in incremental mode. At least until TPTB decide to move to another service.Report
Dude. I now owe you a case of growlers.Report
Well, this is timely. I got my 2nd shot this afternoon. The day after my first shot wasn’t great, but it wasn’t nearly as bas for me as the day after the J&J poke.
I’ll let you know how my Saturday goes.Report
Please do! My worst booster shot was comparable to a hangover from unfamilar liquor. “I can’t believe I ate the worm!”, my body was saying even as I was trying to say “no, it was only a couple of glasses of wine!”Report
Yeah, the J&J was the sickest I’ve been in years. I never got a booster and don’t plan to.
This morning was like a very slight hangover and felt completely fine by the afternoon. My arm is sore but not as bad as the first shingles shot (had a big welt for a week and a throbbing pain that felt like I had dead arm from pitching too many innings). I think I should be in the clear outside of the localized soreness.
But definitely best to get it when you don’t have to do anything the next day just to be on the safe side.Report
#1 was a piece of cake. #2 wiped me out the next day.Report
Just got booster #2 (all Moderna) and have had a confirmed case of the actual virus. Booster #2 took a long time for side effects, like 14 hours. They were unpleasant, but mainly a runny nose and shivering in a bed that I consciously knew to be toasty warm. Next day, no problems at all.Report
I got Moderna for my boosters and just this last doctor’s visit, she told me “we want people to mix it up with Pfizer now” and I’m like “NOW YOU TELL ME”.
We were making jokes about the “Arnold Pharma” back when and now it’s the preferred way to do it.Report
We got our bivalent booster last week. Our previous four were all Moderna, but Pfizer this time because of convenience. Neither of us had side effects other than usual injection site soreness. Both of us remarked that the injection itself was more painful than any of the Moderna shots. Don’t know if that was needle size, or if the nurse was particularly unskillful.Report
I got my shingles shot earlier this year and, as per usual, I got nothing but a wee bit of arm soreness out of the deal. I recall being disappointed that the COVID shots didn’t knock me on my ass as I was looking forward to burning some sick time.
The regimen my doctor put me through pre-colonoscopy was awful. Aside from the dietary restrictions, the colon cleaner I had to drink had me running (literally) to the bathroom every 10-15 minutes for a half day. The instructions explained that I needed to keep this up “until discharge is clear.” I hit that point after drinking only half of the cleaner, so I stopped (I stopped drinking; my body, however, continued). Despite this, I was still lightly chided by the nurse for not finishing.
I was pleased to be given a clean bill of health, such that I don’t have to worry about going through that again for 10 years.Report
A few years ago I had what was apparently the world’s mildest case of shingles: a rash weird enough that I went to the doctor to have it checked out, or I wouldn’t even know I’d had it. After that, I got the vaccine (because shingles can recur), and yes, it’s as debilitating as JB related. But shingles can be horrific: a rogue virus loose in your body that could damage any of your organs, so if you’re at risk and eligible, get the vax.Report
I mentioned previously that I got Shingles #2 and Moderna Booster in one go and the pharmacist was like, ‘Dude, you sure?’
I felt it.
The oil change was no big deal… I mean, it made for a wasted evening and all that. But the event itself? Other than the usual medical hurry-up/wait aspect, don’t remember a thing. Well, I remember thinking ‘I wonder how long it takes for the anesthetic to knock me out… I’ll look a the clock and start counting: O…ne. Out. That was some serious shit in that syringe.Report