No Second Chances With Fentanyl

I was in Colorado in May, and my daughter in law Deborah, had just had a serious talk with my oldest grandchild, Lennon, about fentanyl.  I'm not sure what precipitated the conversation, but at 12 years of age, it's probably the right time to have the conversation.  The bottom line of the conversation was to never, never, never, take any pill from anyone!  They may say it's an aspirin and it's not.  They may not even know what it really is.  It could be fentanyl, the deadly drug that killed more than 80,000 people in 2021 and is on course to kill more this year.  It's not marijuana.  Fentanyl is deadly.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, approved for treating severe pain, typically advanced cancer pain.  It is 50-100 times more potent than morphine.  It is prescribed in the form of transdermal patches or lozenges, and can be diverted for misuse and abuse in the United States.

Most overdoses of fentanyl  in the U.S. are linked to illegally made fentanyl.  It is sold through illegal drug market for its heroin-like effect.  It is often mixed with heroin and/or cocaine, with or without the user's knowledge.

What can be done?  Talk to your children, as Deborah has done, at an early age, and talk to them often.  Make them realize that there are no second chances as there might be with other drugs.  Expand the distribution and use of naloxone and overdose prevention education.  Intervene early with individuals at highest risk for overdose. 

Bottom line, talk to young children.  Know who your kids are hanging out with.  Communication and education can hopefully keep our youth out of harm's way.

Remembering An Old Friend

 Fran Raboff died a few weeks ago.  She would have turned 100 in December.  She was my mom's first friend in Los Angeles, over 75 years ago, and as a result of their friendship, she was someone I knew and admired my whole life.

When my parents first moved to Los Angeles in 1946, they met Fran and Albert Raboff.  The two women hit it off, so when it came time to purchase a house and my parents didn't know much about Los Angeles neighborhoods, they decided to buy Fran and Albert's neighborhood.  What a great move.  They will lifelong friends, and our families did everything together.

I was reminiscing with Ellen (the oldest daughter, just a few months younger than myself) about her mom.  Fran was a woman who did it all. She was a  painter, a sculptor, a ceramist, a gourmet cook, a teacher, a writer. a friend.  I have so many memories of our times together, but here are just a few.

Every Thanksgiving, we would go to the Raboff's.  They had a large family, and since we were almost family, we were included.  We had a feast like you wouldn't believe!  To this day I remember one dish Fran made every year that I absolutely loved.  It was a stewed fruit compote with chestnuts.  I loved it so, but in all these years, I have never tried to make it.

When my son David was a little boy, we lived about six blocks from Fran and Albert.  David learned to love Fran as I did.  She called her "The cookie lady."  Several times a week we would walk to her house for  short visit, and of course, for cookies!  We all loved the time together.

In the 1980's, Fran and her cooking friend Eleanor, began teaching cooking classes at night at a local high school.  I enlisted a few of my friends to join the class, and we went every week for years.  It was one of the most enjoyable classes ever.  I learned so much, in fact, Fran may have been the influence that got me cooking! 

Fran was a beloved woman.  She will be missed.  She had a long, productive, mostly happy and healthy life.  I guess that's all anyone could want.

Do You Know About Only Fans?

 I didn't know anything about Only Fans, until one morning I listened to a podcast from The Daily, a New York Times podcast, that I listen to frequently while walking Pepper.  Of course I had never heard of it.  I'm not their audience as either subscriber or creator of content.

Only Fans is an online platform where people pay for content.  The content might be pictures, videos, live streaming, or communication.  Only Fans was created in 2016 by Tim Stokley, in London, and is now worth over $1 billion.  It's use exploded during the pandemic, when people were out of work and looking for new sources of income and when people, their customers, were bored and lonely.

A good looking model type woman, could be from anywhere in the world, wants to promote herself.  She signs up with Only Fans, and boom, she's in business.  There are people who will write her content and manage her website.  She is responsible for the photos and videos she shows her customers.  Each customer pays a monthly fee to communicate with her, and she may receive tips from the customers if they especially like a photo she sends.

The texting with customers is done by people other than the woman promoting herself on  Only Fans.  A young person will handle texts for the young models, and older person will handle the more mature women.  I didn't know this, but there is apparently a big difference in the way young people text (their punctuation, use of emojis, etc.) and older people, but I'll explore that at a later date.  Everyone gets a piece of the models money.  However, there are many working for Only Fans making huge amounts of money.  There are numerous celebrities on Only Fans.  Bella Thorne (No, I don't know who she is, but people in their 20's probably do) made over $1 million in 24 hours.  

Only Fans is selling more than just erotic pictures.  (porn is strictly taboo).  They are selling relationships to lonely consumers that feel these men or women are actually interested in them.  120 million people use Only Fans.  They're paying to have a look at a pretty girl, and feel like they know her.  I've never been to the site, never will, but I'm glad I know what it is now.  The site was mentioned in a song by Beyonce and Jimmy Fallon mentioned it in a joke one night.  Now at least I know what they're talking about.

Mosaics Add Beauty To Encinitas

 High school students, college students, and independent artists are responsible for helping to beautify Encinitas.  The project began several years ago, and now 53- 3foot by 5foot tiles are permanently install in the underpass at Santa Fe Road.  (the underpass is under the 5 freeway).  A group of us visited the site a few weeks ago, and I was impressed.

Some mosaics are done by a single individual, others by a family or a group of friends.  They're so different, but all are interesting.  A common theme is the beach, the environment and all the things we love about Encinitas.  

The mosaic installations are on both the north and south walls of the underpass.  If you want to see all of them and enjoy a very short walk, it should take about 45 minutes to see them all.  There is a website online that tells a little about each mosaic.

When you get off the freeway at Santa Fe Rd, go directly across the street to the Vons and Rite Aid shopping center.  Park your car there.  I hope some of you get a chance to go see the mosaics.  There's no rush, as the installations are permanent.  Outdoor art, mosaics, sculpture and murals, add some much to a city.  It's the latest craze.  Public installations are everywhere, in every city.  It's a good way to give unknown artists a chance to show what they can do.  

Save Our Monarchs

You may have noticed the many organizations working to save the monarch butterfly.  They are in serious danger.  Since 1992, their numbers are down 90%.  During this time, the milkweed plant, their sole source of food, is also down 90%.  The reason for this is that the habitat where the milkweed formerly grew has been removed through development, or the use of insecticides has killed the plants and the butterflies too!

In Ocean Hills (Oceanside, California), a secure habitat for butterflies has been established.  There is plenty of milkweed for the monarchs to feast on, and plenty of area for the butterflies to breed.  I was recently talking to one organizer of the program who told me has she has become a "mother" to the butterflies.  

Recently one of her butterflies emerged from its chrysalis, a process called eclosion.  At this point the butterflies open their wings, and just hang out for a few hours, while their wings dry, before flying off.  Well, my friend noticed after several hours that this particular butterfly was not moving.  He was flapping his wings, to no avail.  On further inspection, and after checking U-Tube to see how the butterfly emerges and what happens next, she noticed a thin string of silk like thread.  She simply clipped the piece of silk, and the butterfly was able to flap his wings.  She knew it was a male monarch, by the black dots on each hind leg.  In about two hours (poor thing was exhausted from struggling to break away from the silk thread), he flew off, and my friend felt like a proud mom.

Another act she performed to save a chrysalis who was hanging out at the base of a plant, a very unsafe place to be.  Again, with the information she obtained from a U-tube video, she clipped off the thread holding the chrysalis in place, used dental floss to attach a holder for the chrysalis, and moved him to a safer location.  Another life saved.  Hopefully the efforts of the many groups working to restore the number of monarchs will be successful.  Plant milkweed in your yard to attract and feed these beauties!

 

History of Medicine

 I read the book Empire of the Scapel recently.  As far back as 2600 B.C. the Egyptian Imhotep described the diagnosis and treatment of 200 diseases.  For the next several thousand years, medicine progressed, but slowly.  The first known anatomy book was written by Diocles in 300 B.C.  Hippocrates was born in 460 B.C.  So began the scientific study of medicine.  Hundreds of years elapsed between major scientific achievements.

In 910 Persian physician Rhazes identifies smallpox.  The first smallpox inoculations weren't until 1701!  One of the great achievements in science was the discovery of the anesthetic properties  of nitrous oxide.  This was in 1846, and it changed medicine, in a good way.  Surgeries could finally be done without terrible pain and suffering to the patient.  Soon after, Louis Pasteur identifies germs as the cause of disease.  In 1879 the first vaccine for cholera was developed.  Many other vaccines were discovered in the late 19th century, including vaccines for anthrax, rabies (both developed by Louis Pasteur), tetanus and diptheria, and typhoid fever.  

It wasn't until 1928 that penicillin was developed by Alexander Fleming.  This was a landmark development, as now patients could both go through surgery without any extreme discomfort, and not worry about infection, as they had in the past.  But it is the second half of the 20th century and the 21st century where progress in medicine moved at lightning speed.

Vaccines were developed for all the childhood diseases during the 1970's.  The first heart transplant was in 1970, and CAT scans were invented in 1975. Hip replacements and knee replacements are relatively new surgeries.  I was surprised by how much progress has been made in the past 125 years compared to thousands of prior years.  What is even more mind boggling is what is on the horizon for medicine.  Things are changing so fast it will be hard to keep up.  Robotics, AI, Novel drug for Type 2 diabetes,  implanted electrodes for paralysis.  Many of the new therapies are less invasive than regular surgery.  

In other words, medicine has made great advancements over the past few thousand years, but the best is yet to come.  It will be coming soon to a hospital near you.

We Are Creatures of Habit

 I was having dinner with friends Fran (my Saturday walking partner) and Jim (her husband) a few weeks ago.  He had barbequed some burnt ends and corn on the cob.  If you don't know what burnt ends are, you should.  They are the ends of a brisket, cut into small pieces, barbequed and served with barbeque sauce.  
Anyway, it was a delicious meal.

About half way through the meal, Jim turns to me and says, "Do you always eat your corn like that?"  I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but he was referring to the fact that I ate it in a circular motion.  Ate one part, then turned the corn and ate all around the cob before moving to the next section.  He said he ate his like a typewriter!  I never noticed that before, but yes, he went all the way across the cob before rotating and starting on the next row.

This observation got me thinking.  We are such creatures of habit.  There are so many things that we do exactly the same, all the time.  Here are a few "creatures of habit" actions that I thought of.  I always put the same pant leg  (or underwear) on first (right), always put my shoes on, right foot first.  When I eat a plate of food, I always take a little of everything , like a bite of chicken, then veggies and then potatoes.  I know others that eat in a specific order, first the potatoes, then the meat, then the veggies.  When I visit friends that I know well, I usually sit in the same chair every time I visit.  I remember the lunch room at school when I was teaching.  Everyone sat in the same place everyday for years!  

I could go on, but you get the idea.  Examine your routines and you will find you too are a creature of habit.  I've heard it's good for the brain to mix it up, so I try to that.  Things like brushing your hair with your non dominant hand, or eating with your non dominant hand are hard.  It's easy to get into a habit, but hard to break one, not that any of these habits are of any consequence, but it's fun to discover that we have so many, and they are hard to change.

Next time I eat corn on the cob I will try to eat it "typewriter style."

Diabetes In Dogs

 There's a cute little Bichon that Pepper and I see most mornings on our walk.  A few months ago, the dog showed up with a sensor on her chest.  I asked what it was, and found out it's a glucose monitor.  The dog has diabetes. 

As in humans, with diabetes, the glucose-insulin connection isn't working as it should.  In dogs, diabetes occurs in two forms.

1.  Insulin-deficiency diabetes.  This is when the dog's body isn't producing enough insulin.  The pancreas is not functioning properly, and the dog needs daily shots to replace the missing insulin.

2.  Insulin-resistance diabetes.  This is when the body isn't utilizing the insulin as it should, so glucose isn't being pulled out of the body.  This creates obese dogs.

The damage done by not treating diabetes in dogs is similar to that done by not treating diabetes in humans.  Organs are damaged, especially kidneys, eyes, heart, blood vessels or nerves.

How do you know if your dog has diabetes?  Excessive thirst, increased urination, weight loss and increased appetite.  As diabetes becomes more advance, loss of appetite, lack of energy, depression and vomiting may occur.  Left untreated, diabetes will lead to cataracts (ultimately blindness), enlarged liver, urinary tract infections, seizures and kidney failure.  

If your dog's appetite, water consumption or general attitude change, you may want to have a vet check him out.  Early detection can lead to many good years of life.  My son's dog developed diabetes at around 8 years of age.  He was a big dog, and with early detection and daily insulin shots, he lived another 3 years.

My neighbor's dog with glucose monitor is doing very well.  The monitor is synched with the owner's phone, so he knows what his dog's glucose level is at all times and can medicate him appropriately.  With proper diet and exercise and his glucose monitor, he should live many healthy years.

Franz Mesmer: A Memorable Character in History

 I recently read  a book called Empire of the Scaple.  It's about the history of surgery, dating back thousands of years.  When the book got up to the 18th century, the name Franz Mesmer was mentioned.  Mesmer was a German born doctor whose father wanted him to become a Catholic priest, but instead became both a lawyer and a doctor.  His thesis was that his body contained an abundance of  magnetic fluid, which he could pass on to his patients.  From Mesmer's point of view, his patients were sick because they lacked magnetic fluid or had blockages in their magnetic fluid circulation.

 Mesmer was an impressive and authoritative figure and it was determined that those patients that got better did so because of the power of suggestion.  In 1779 Franz Mesmer published a book in French in which he described the 27 principles of animal magnetism.  Mesmer had failed as a scientist by misinterpreting hypnosis as a magnetic field. 

Franz Mesmer is one of the few people in history whose name has become a verb.  What prompted me to find out more about Mesmer, was his name.  I was sure it had to do with "mesmerize" and it did!!  When you are mesmerized by  something it is similar to hypnosis, so I assumed since Mesmer was the first to articulate this psuedo science thesis, his name became a verb, to describe hypnosis.  

Do You Suffer From FOMO?

Are you a social butterfly who feels the need to attend every party, luncheon, meeting and card game?  If you are, you may have FOMO, or fear of missing out.  Many people, old and young, feel the need to attend every gathering with every group.  It's exhausting just to think about.

I don't know about you, but as I have gotten older I still love to socialize, but not just all the time!  Whereas I used to go non stop from morning till night, I don't do that anymore.  I need my afternoon nap, or at the very least, a 30 minute rest some time during the day,

Why do some people feel they need to go to everything?  A psychologist would surely have some answers to that question.  I try to find balance in life.  It feels better for me.  I am happy to be invited to many things, but I don't feel the need to attend everything.  I hope I'm not attending events just to say I was there.  I have become more selective as I've aged.  FOMO could make you anxious and stressed.  Sometimes it's just too much.  Let's all slow down a bit, relax, and stop and smell the roses. 

Tough Gun Laws Do Work: Look At California

 In ways that have tended to be underreported, California has significantly lowered gun deaths in the past 25 years.  People look at our state and say we have so many deaths from guns, but what they don't mention is that we have more than 40 million people living here.  Of course we are going to have more deaths than Nevada or Ohio.  

Over the past 25 years (except for the pandemic years) our rate of firearm violence has trended downward, while rates in the rest of the country have gone up.  California's rate of firearm mortality is among the nation's lowest, with 8.5 gun deaths per 100,000 population, compared with 13.7 per 100,000 nationally and 14.2 per 100,000 in Texas.  Californians are about 25% less likely to die in mass shootings compared with residents in other states.

Why?  We have stricter gun laws.  Over time, California has evaluated policies one at a time, and added laws a little at a time.  California has done a lot to prevent high risk people from purchasing firearms.  We've broadened the criteria for keeping guns out of the hands of people who pose a danger to themselves or others.  If you're convicted of a violent misdemeanor in California, you can't have a gun for the next 10 years.  In most states, it must be a felony to prevent someone from owning a gun.

California requires background checks, and we enforce the policies.  In the early 1990's, Saturday night specials were almost entirely manufactured around Los Angeles.  The state imposed standards for design and safety, which drove most of the companies out of town or out of business.  The state is constantly trying to keep up with the gun industry, which is always trying to get around laws.  Right now trained agents are trying to deal with unregulated ghost guns.

Don't tell me that stricter laws don't work.  They do, and statistics prove it.  Lower prevalence of gun ownership also leads to less deaths.  Rates of gun ownership are lower in California.  About 15-18% of people own guns.  Nationwide it is 25-30% of people who own guns.  Let's get something passed!!!

We Don't Hear About Every Shooting

 It's tragic when a gunman kills innocent men, women and children, whether it's at a school, supermarket, or nightclub.  But do we have any idea how prevalent gun violence is?

When a white supremacist gunman murdered 10 people at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York last month, the store became just the latest retailer to experience a deadly mass shooting. In recent years, mass shootings have also occurred at King Soopers in Boulder, Colorado, a Weis Markets in Eaton Township, Pennsylvania, and a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. But even beyond these high-profile mass shootings, supermarkets have long been the target of gun violence, according to exclusive data from gun-control advocacy group Guns Down America. By analyzing media reports, the group found that nearly 500 incidents involving firearms have happened in large grocery chains in the past two years.

The media focuses on mass shootings, but there are many more gun related incidents that involve guns.  The gunman may be restrained by bystanders before he is able to inflict carnage on the people around him.  500 incidents involving firearms in two years?  That's almost one everyday!!!

This can't be the new normal.  There's nothing normal about it.  Children and adults will begin to be fearful every time they step outside.  Please vote to elect people who believe in background checks, getting rid of assault rifles, and raising the age of gun ownership.

When my kids were young, I used to ask the parents of the children they were visiting if they had alcohol accessible to the kids, and if they had a pool, was it secured with a fence.  I used to embarass my kids by doing that, but isn't that our responsibility as parents?  If I had young children today I would be asking a different question of parents.  Do you own guns, are they in the house, and are they locked up?  I think that's a critical question to ask.

What's Your Number?

 After the horrific massacre of children and adults in Uvalde, Texas last month, and the response of lawmakers who want to protect the second amendment, I wonder, what's your number?  What number of people need to be killed in a senseless mass massacre to make you stand up and say, "Enough is enough?"

Standing up and saying enough is enough is a start, but it is NOT enough.  We must take to the streets, get rid of the fear of the NRA, and do something meaningful.

The simplest and quickest  thing to do is to vote out elected officials at the state and local level who resist any type of change in gun laws.  It's just a matter of identifying those congressmen, senators and other elected officials that continue to spout the republican mantra.  The only way to protect yourself from a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun.  It's simply NOT true.  Look at the statistics.  

I'm not interested in taking away an American's right to go hunting or even to own a handgun for protection.  I am against 18 year old high school dropouts being allowed to purchase weapons of war, guns that are only manufactured for one reason, to kill massive amounts of people quickly, and purchase 1600 rounds of artillery.  If you believe this is ok, we have different values, and I fear common ground will be hard to find.

Background checks, getting rid of ghost guns, getting rid of weapons of war, these are common sense ways to reduce gun violence.  I keep coming back to the simplest solution.  Get rid of the politicians who don't want to do this.  A majority of Americans believe in most of the above mentioned controls on guns, so let's do it.  You have plenty of time to find out how to vote in November.  Don't vote for anyone at any level who isn't for reforming gun laws.

400 million guns (that we know about) are floating around the U.S.  More guns mean more gun deaths.  It's real simple. Vote out people who don't want stricter gun laws.  Week after week, month after month, year after, we can't grieve over senseless loss of life.  We have to act, and getting rid of politicians who do nothing is the best way to start. 

Terms of Identity

 I was at Moonlight Theatre a few weeks ago, to see their spectacular production of Memphis.  I was so impressed with the quality of the singing, dancing and overall production.  I was reading the program, and I noticed many of the credits called people more than one pronoun.  A man might have been called "he and they,"  Or someone could be called "she and it,"  I'm confused.

I started to research what this all means and I ended up learning more about "terms of identity."  These are terms used to describe yourself, such as "assigned at birth" refers to what sex you were at birth.  Here are some of the other terms

FTM (female to male transgender)

MTF

Cisgender- someone who does not identify as transgender

Gender queer or non binary- people whose gender identity falls outside the binary categories of man or woman.

There are a number of surgical procedures that people are using today to become FTM or MTF.  Some of them include the following:  HRT (hormone replacement therapy), breast augmentations, chest masculinization (chest augmentation), facial feminization, surgical facial masculine surgery, metordioplasty, penile construction.

I have to say I consider myself open minded, but I am puzzled by gender changes, especially in young people, who I feel are not yet ready to make life changing decisions.  I began this blog to talk about the various pronouns people use to describe themselves, but I will leave that for another day.

It's all new to me.  I don't want to disrespect someone by calling them the wrong thing, so I will research more and find out what is the appropriate way to address a FTM, MTF or gender queer non binary person.