The picture and the story of the missed blog really do go together.
That's myself, and my dad, Mel. above.
My hat purchased at the Specialty Shop at Strong, a tiny little shop that seemed to mostly sell breast feeding supplies in the lobby of the University of Rochester Medical Center. I'm not sure why this little shop is separate from the larger gift shop, but as we walked by on our way out of the hospital, I spotted a hat in the window that looked very much like my favorite winter hat. Turns out they had several and the little shop was run by a friend who was at our wedding many years ago! The small assortment of men's hats ???? For guys doing chemo. We always hear about the women and their wigs, scarves, hats, etc, but it turns out men have the same things to adjust to! Anyway, I got a new brown hat, and Dad, on a lark, wore my old gray hat home... picture taken with a timer outside our neighborhood diner!
Why were we at the hospital? Dad was getting an electronystagmogram (ENG) which measures involuntary rapid eye movement. And why an ENG? Dad has suffered with vertigo for years. Lest you think vertigo is that queasy feeling you get as you look over the edge of a bridge, as a medical problem it is a lot worse. The feeling is similar, but a lot worse, and you can't just step back from the edge to make it go away. Recently Dad's vertigo has gotten worse and more frequent, so we have been consulting various folks looking for a cure. The ENG is a test that tells the people who know - something about what may be causing the problem. Below you can see Dad in the goggles they put on him, and the picture of his eyes on the computer. The little box on top of the goggles holds two video cameras that show the computer his eyes from straight ahead..... note the little 45 degree one-way mirrors on the front of the goggles. Then they do various things that simulate conditions that might cause vertigo, and measure the involuntary movements of the eyes. The computer measures and graphs the eye movements, and somehow this tells them something but we don't know what yet!
That's myself, and my dad, Mel. above.
My hat purchased at the Specialty Shop at Strong, a tiny little shop that seemed to mostly sell breast feeding supplies in the lobby of the University of Rochester Medical Center. I'm not sure why this little shop is separate from the larger gift shop, but as we walked by on our way out of the hospital, I spotted a hat in the window that looked very much like my favorite winter hat. Turns out they had several and the little shop was run by a friend who was at our wedding many years ago! The small assortment of men's hats ???? For guys doing chemo. We always hear about the women and their wigs, scarves, hats, etc, but it turns out men have the same things to adjust to! Anyway, I got a new brown hat, and Dad, on a lark, wore my old gray hat home... picture taken with a timer outside our neighborhood diner!
Why were we at the hospital? Dad was getting an electronystagmogram (ENG) which measures involuntary rapid eye movement. And why an ENG? Dad has suffered with vertigo for years. Lest you think vertigo is that queasy feeling you get as you look over the edge of a bridge, as a medical problem it is a lot worse. The feeling is similar, but a lot worse, and you can't just step back from the edge to make it go away. Recently Dad's vertigo has gotten worse and more frequent, so we have been consulting various folks looking for a cure. The ENG is a test that tells the people who know - something about what may be causing the problem. Below you can see Dad in the goggles they put on him, and the picture of his eyes on the computer. The little box on top of the goggles holds two video cameras that show the computer his eyes from straight ahead..... note the little 45 degree one-way mirrors on the front of the goggles. Then they do various things that simulate conditions that might cause vertigo, and measure the involuntary movements of the eyes. The computer measures and graphs the eye movements, and somehow this tells them something but we don't know what yet!
Anyway, thus the trip to the hospital, thus the hat, and thus the missed blog entry, because Dad had one of his worst vertigo attacks yet, or at least the longest, a couple of days later. I went over to Mom and Dad's place about 5am yesterday, to help, and did not leave until about 1 pm today. Maybe I'll figure out how to blog from my new smart phone (so far I'm lucky to have a phone call go smoothly!). I know I can do Facebook entries - but I missed doing my blog thing yesterday. Maybe the pressure is off now, or maybe I'll try for another run of daily blogs.... I really do enjoy doing this!
I am pleased that this my 813th blog!
I am pleased that this my 813th blog!
2 comments:
Hey! try the voice recognition software for blogging!
I found something that might work, but so far I can't figure out how to put pictures on the blog from the phone. I guess pictures to FB is easy - haven't tried that yet.
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