Yo, Normal Risk Fifty-year-olds

HI.  Are you a normal risk 50 or soon-to-be?  Did your doctor say to you last year, “Yeah, you might want to think about scheduling that screening colonoscopy.”?  The American Cancer Society upped the anal ante last year and decided to recommend starting routine screening at 45.  We’d blown through the high deductible on our health insurance so I’m like, fun, let’s do this in 2018.

The Prep.  Ace was traumatized by the prep to the point that he breaks out in hives whenever anyone so much as whispers, “Gatorade…”  I hate putting petroleum byproducts into my body anyhow and  I’d heard rumors that a person could use coconut water as the vehicle for the medication cesspool heretofore known as “Satan’s Wrath.”

I bought an experimental bottle of coconut water at Target.  I rejected the fancy foo foo expensive refrigerated version and opted for the budget shelf-stable box.  I called the GI clinic to make sure this substitution was copacetic.  The nurse said, nope.  I asked why.  She said coconut water doesn’t have the necessary nutrients to keep a person hydrated during the cleanse.  Sounded like a copout to me.

I sat down with a bottle of Gatorade and a jug of budget coconut water and pounded out the math.  Turns out coconut water has plenty of everything including a TON of potassium.  Potassium isn’t one of those eat-as-much-as-you-want substances.  Too much potassium can literally make your heart stop.  The Big E was like, “Wouldn’t it be funny if you died because you wouldn’t drink the Gatorade?” and I’m like, no, that wouldn’t be funny at all.  I chatted with a renal doc b/c the kidneys are responsible for dealing with electrolyte balance.  Is it okay to chug gallons of coconut water, the equivalent of a bajillion milliequivalents of potassium?  She said, well, there have been reports of blahblahblah and at that point I went back to Target, returned the three other bottles of coconut water, and bought me some infant Pedialyte (with no artificial whatevers).

If you’re still interested in the coconut water, perhaps just as a refreshing beverage, let me offer you my own personal recipe so you don’t have to spend the cash:

Ingredients: 1 goat, 1 garden hose (try to schedule your colonoscopy May-Oct to avoid frozen pipes), bucket

Directions: Procure one full-sized goat.  Set goat on water-permeable surface such as grass.  Hold goat’s left front hoof over bucket.  Procure one assistant.  Well, you really should’ve procured one assistant at the start of this mess.  Ask assistant to spray the goat’s left front hoof over the bucket.  If water begins to run clear, switch to a different hoof.  Return goat.  Take “coconut water” back inside and proceed with colon cleanse directions.

I’m delighted to report that the Pedialyte cleanse went just fine.  My best advice to you is PLAN TO DO NOTHING because you’ll be #MostlyPooping.  I selected a woman gastroenterologist (whose dad taught me pharmacology at the U), kissed Ace goodbye in the waiting room, lay on my left side, thought “Hm, it would’ve been nice if the nurse anesthetist had mentioned she was about to dose me with…  woah, that feels weird.”  And next thing I knew, I was lying in the recovery area.  I smiled at Ace and said, “Hi Adam!”

Colon = normal.  Good luck y’all.  Call if you want to complain about the prep.   xoxo.

Musical Moment

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Don’t Let Marie Kondo Bury Us Alive

I volunteer at Old School by Steeple People, a non-profit thrift store at 1901 Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.  Ever since Tidying Up with Marie Kondo aired on Netflix, we’ve been swamped with donations.  Mostly clothing.  We’re anticipating a surge in book donations as people work through KonMari’s preferred order of tidying: clothing, books, papers, komono (misc), sentimental items.

Thank you.  Donations are our lifeblood.  We sort, tag, price, display, sell.  Then we donate all of our profits to local charitable organizations.

But here’s the deal.  We have to sell stuff in order to generate revenue.  So you’re gonna have to commit to the other side of the KonMari equation: get yourself some gently used joy!  You ditched your chipped, faded pasta bowl b/c it brought you no joy?  Awesome!  We have MANY suitable bowl-like joyful objects.  Personally, by the time January rolls around, none of my sweaters brings me any joy whatsoever.  I took myself to my favorite thrift store (that would be Old School) and purchased a lovely burnished bronze cashmere/silk cardigan for $6.  It brings me joy.  And warmth.  My moose-child is growing at a remarkable rate.  He outgrew his puffy feather coat.  I perused Old School and found several options that wouldn’t appeal to a teenager.  So I visited our colleagues at ARC’s Value Village.  Pro-tip: scan both the men’s and women’s departments if you’re looking for a specific item.  I found a perfect men’s puffy coat tucked into the women’s section.

Amazon might bring you exactly what you think you want within 48 hours of your insistent demand.  Immediate gratification isn’t synonymous with Kondo’s “joy.”  To assess whether an item brings joy, you must hold it in your hands and sometimes even talk to it.  A thrift store is the perfect environment in which to anthropomorphize.  No one will bat an eye if you stand in the book section with Nicholas Sparks’ Nights in Rodanthe, wondering aloud, “Do you bring me joy?”

So, by all means pile all your crap on your bed.  Pick up each item.  Determine what sparks joy.  Go in order, please.  Marie has her reasons.  We’re happy to donate the proceeds from the sale of your pristine vintage olive green fondue pot to worthy charities.

But for goodness sake, get into our store and make a purchase or two, preferably a clothing purchase.  Or books.  Or komono.  Man, do we have a lot of komono.  I guarantee, we can find at least one item that sparks joy just for you.

Get thee to a thrift store!

 

Old School by Steeple People (Sat/Sun 12-6; Wed-Fri 11-5; closed Mon/Tues)

1901 Nicollet Ave S

Minneapolis, MN  55403

612 871-8305

https://www.facebook.com/OldSchoolBySteeplePeople/

Instagram @oldschoolthrifty

 

Musical Moment  (swears alert)

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

If Sh!# Were Red…

A lovely story about McDonald’s and fecal material circulated on my Facebook feed a week ago.  Apparently, a researcher with London Metropolitan University swabbed the ordering touchscreens of eight McDonald’s in London and Birmingham.  The research team grew a whole host of bacteria, including a boatload of normal gut flora.  In other words, bacteria that live in our gastrointestinal tracts and help us maintain digestive and immune system functions, come out in our poop.  If we don’t wash our hands sufficiently, we transfer these organisms to objects.  Like McDonald’s touchscreens.

This isn’t news.  This isn’t specific to McDonald’s.  Although I’d like to say “never eat at McDonald’s,” my reasons have nothing to do with their living touchscreens.  If I swabbed your cellphone, I guarantee I’d be able to grow gut bacteria from it.

One of the finest quotes I acquired during my medical school training is: “If shit were red, the world would be pink.”

Let that one sink in.  And then go wash your hands.

For folks with functioning immune systems, the microbial smearage is, in general, no big deal.  Heaven forbid, if we forget to wash our hands before snarfing down our Big Mac and fries, at best our immune systems attack any bacteria they don’t like and we get the usual post-McD’s three days of nausea and diarrhea due to the excessive load of saturated fat.  (What?  That doesn’t happen to you?)  At worst, we contract norovirus (the researchers evidently weren’t interested in viral cultures) and miss a couple days of life/work/school due to the “stomach flu.”

For folks with non-intact immune systems (for example, people living with diabetes or HIV disease, and rheumatology patients on disease-modifying drugs), this “study” doesn’t add much except STRESS!  Wash your hands, people.  Wash after you go to the bathroom.  (and use a paper towel to turn off the water or open the door if you’re out in public)  Wash before you eat.  Wash before you touch your face.

The quotes in the article are terrible and misleading.  I don’t fault the researcher.  Missing information includes whether the cultured Staph aureus was antibiotic resistant or antibiotic sensitive.

The takeaway message is WASH YOUR HANDS not McDONALD’S IS A TEEMING CESSPOOL.  Although, it is.  But so is the grocery store and the bus and the bank and your kitchen sink.

 

Musical Moment

image = Shutterstock illustration ID 1042543318

 

 

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Beauty of Unavailability or A Love Letter to My Flip Phone

Ace, the Big E, and I travelled Up North for Thanksgiving.  Between us, we schlepped along two flip phones with only one charger (oops), an iPad with charger, and my laptop.  The boys ran around in the woods, unearthing deer skeletons and chopping down buckthorn.  They might’ve taken Ace’s phone along, powered off b/c of the no-charger situation.  I drove into town, about fifteen minutes away, to check on the in-laws.

I managed to visit three thrift stores and Mills Fleet Farm (twice) on Black Friday.  Black Friday in a town of 14K looks very different from Black Friday in the Twin Cities.  It was AWESOME.  One of the thrift stores randomly decided in the middle of my visit to make all clothing $1.50 except winter coats.  Okay, I can roll with that.  Ace got a real nice pair of Dickies overalls.  The Big E got some athletic pants that will fit him in a few months.  I left my phone in the car while I shopped.  I don’t have caller ID.  Or texting capability.  And I haven’t set up the message box.

I didn’t hear from my boys for six hours.  I called from Mills Fleet Farm to ask clarifying questions around an item they had requested.  Oh, btw, the Big E said, we tried to call you a bunch of times.  The beavers undermined part of the driveway and it collapsed.  Pop tried to cut down a tree with his knife and he stabbed his hand so I blasted the treetrunk with a shotgun then we stuck the tree in the hole in the driveway.

If I had answered the phone when they called the first time, things would not have gone well.  Pop stabbed his hand?  Is he still bleeding?  Does he need stitches?  You used a shotgun to do WHAT???  Are your toes still on your feet?  ACK!

This is the beauty of unavailability.  By the time we talked, Ace’s hand was bandaged (he requested Coban “self-adherent wrap” from Mills – it’s super cheap in the veterinary section), the tree stuck jauntily in the sinkhole, and I could proceed with my errands with a minimum of stress or anxiety.

(I recall one occasion Up North when I’m glad I had a charged phone at hand.  Ace called to announce that there was smoke coming out of the hood of the truck and seemed entirely too cavalier about the whole thing, but that is a #SoThisHappened story for another time…)

Up North, there is no internet.  We have electricity with baseboard heaters but no running water this time of year.  There is an outhouse perched on the edge of the woods.  (Remind me to tell you the Murder in the Outhouse story sometime.)  Ace, the Big E, and I gather at the table over our microwaved venison chili and stare at each other, talking with our mouths full, arguing, laughing.  No one surreptitiously checks their phone under the table.  No one reaches for their back pocket, Pavlovian, in response to a subtle “ding.”

The Big E is lobbying hard for a smart phone.  He saved his money and bought himself an iPad a couple years ago.  When we’re at home, he texts.  If I confiscate the iPad as a consequence for nefarious deeds done, the Big E complains bitterly that I’ve thrust him into a state of complete social isolation.  Pick up the phone, I say.  Nobody does that anymore, he replies.

Pop and I need to do more research, I say.  I’m putting him off.  He thinks that I think that smartphones cause depression, promote a false sense of community, fuel disagreements, and prevent people from engaging in an authentic manner.

The location of my flip phone is currently unknown.  If you want to talk to me, call my landline.  I don’t text.  I don’t have caller ID on the landline either.  You can try to surprise me, but my voice recognition is pretty good.  Hope to talk to you soon.  Call me once the bleeding stops.

 

Musical Moment

Posted in Blog | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Llama Llama Raparama

In the spirit of the season, I’m going to share the love.  With you.

Anna Dewdney was an American author/illustrator.  She wrote the first Llama Llama book (Llama Llama Red Pajama) in 2005.  Her Llama books address a wide range of childhood joys and concerns, including getting-along-with-others, grumpiness-with-parents, and necessity-of-sharing.  Unfortunately, Ms. Dewdney passed away in 2016 from a brain tumor.  Her work lives on in the hearts of millions of children.  And adults.  LLRP has been stuck in my head for A LONG TIME (like worse than “Call Me Maybe” which I’m thinking really should’ve been “Call Me, Maybe”).  Hence, the sharing.

Llama is now available in book(s), stuffies, television, and clothing.

Here’s LLRP read by the author, read by an unidentified high-pitched voice person, and in sing-along form.

Monday confessions: the sing-along left me cold.

LLRP isn’t a foo-foo song, it’s a RAP.  J  Cruz of The Cruz Show (Power 106 LA) had the brilliant idea of inviting rappers to rap this book and the results are sheer perfection.

Please enjoy renditions by:

Kid Ink (killed it)

Warm Brew (wholesome and heartwarming)

Camila Cabello (perfect)

DJ Khaled (my least favorite)

Ludacris (#oldschool)

Lil Yachty (autotune fun over OutKast’s “Ms. Jackson”)

Ayo & Teo (nice interplay between A & T)

Desiigner (hard-hitting Llama)

Migos (Llama starts at 14:00, swear alert)

Remy Ma (swears, major swears)

Jeezy (he has kind of a hard time getting into it)

GoldLink (sweary and oedipal)

and here’s Miguel reading Llama Llama Holiday Drama (lovely and mellamdic)

D.R.A.M. performs my favorite version and I’ll include it as today’s Musical Moment.

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Open Enrollment

Every year.  Rigamarole.  Changes to all the plans.

Yes, of course I’m grateful to have insurance at all.  Yes, I am.

This year, I dutifully filled out the online “Alex” assistant thing that’s supposed to estimate costs and decide upon our most thrifty plan.  I fed it all sorts of scenarios involving inpatient surgeries, “specialty” prescriptions, and double-digit visits to primary care.  Alex suggests all three plans at various points.  Sooo not helpful.  No one expects their emergency appendectomy.

I expressed my disgruntled state to Ace and added that I planned to just sign up for the exact same thing we had last year.  He balked.  How can we sign up for a plan without thoroughly researching all our available options?

Ha ha ha ha ahahahahhahhahahahahaahah.

He picked up the phone and dialed “customer service.”  Ace spent the first ten minutes calmly requesting clarification of terminology including “in-network,” “out-of-network,” “tier one,” and “tier two.”  He then asked AT LEAST SEVEN TIMES for a comprehensive list of providers for the three plans assuming a 50-mile radius from our home.  Ace, quite logically, explained that we can’t possibly be expected to sign up for something without knowing exactly what we’re getting.

Customer Service Agent X (CSAX) repeatedly asked, “Well, what doctor do you want to see?”  We don’t know!!!!  We can’t predict the acute onset trigeminal neuralgia or the slipped capital femoral epiphysis or the laterally displaced humeral fracture or the ruptured ovarian cyst.  Ace wanted the whole @#$%^& list and CSAX didn’t have it.

Ace: What?  You mean we’re six weeks away from 2019 and you don’t know your contracted providers?  I don’t believe that for a second.

CSAX: What doctor do you want to see?

ACE: I STILL DON’T KNOW.

CSAX: I can email you the list from 2018.

Twenty-two minutes and sixteen seconds later (I checked), Ace hung up.  He looked at me and burst into laughter, the falsetto, high-pitched type of laughter bordering on hysteria.  “Halfway through, [CSAX] just started to sound despondent.”  We laughed hard.

“You have to trust me,” I said, and jumped on the computer.  I signed us right up for the same garbage as last year.

The system is broken.  Seriously.

 

Musical Moment

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Who’s the Fairest?

I belong to a closed Facebook group of women physicians.  It’s a supportive lot, discussing family issues, doc/patient situations, empty-nesting, aging parents, teen angst etc.

Today, I got sucked into a thread all about anti-aging skin care.  I’m inclined to take any medical advice dished out by these women seriously, ‘cuz they’re all docs, y’know.  The thread went on FOREVER and I read every last bit of it.  I took notes.  Yes, I did.

GRASS is the takeaway message.  Growth Factors (peptides) Retinoids Antioxidants (vitamin C) Specialty stuff (hyaluronic acid, glycolic acid) from your favorite fancy brands and Sunscreen.  I might rearrange the mnemonic to be SGRAS.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and the  fountain of youth is filled with sunscreen, folks.

There was also talk of botox and fillers and chemical peels and dermabrasion and lightening cream for age spots.  One woman performs a six-step process morning and night.

At the end of it I was seriously bummed out.  Would a group of male doctors ever engage in this discussion?  Is our cultural aversion to “aging” so intense that this group of highly educated women will pour money and time into products, ablutions, and procedures designed to keep them looking young.  Fresh.  Relevant.

Last time I checked, the alternative to aging was death.  Can we re-define beauty to include not only gray silver hair, but some wrinkles as well?  (So says the woman who asked her photographer to airbrush out the prominent frowny lines between her eyebrows.  Note the smooth expanse of forehead on my blog photo.  That was in 2011.  Time has passed.)

I’ve ordered up some hyaluronic acid.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Musical Moment

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Go, Thief!

Dear Thief:

You waltzed into our fenced yard in the dead of night, tromped over and around the nice obstacle course of gardening materials that I left in your path, opened the back door of the garage, and made off with three bikes.  Two of them were vintage Bianchis.  I’m frankly astonished that you made it into the garage without falling into the three-foot pit The Big E dug.  Congratulations!

The day before you purloined our property, I was standing in the driveway, surveying the nightmare that is our garage, and a White man drove by in a White truck and looked me over with a scowl – like full-on assessment – looked me over and scanned the garage, too.  I thought it was weird at the time.  (I should pay more attention when I think things are weird.)  He, or should I say you, slowly drove on down the alley.  Did I get your license plate?  Nope.

You’re right.  We didn’t need those bikes.  And it’s nice that you didn’t try to take the bike hanging above Ace’s newish Subaru.  Downright considerate of you.  That could’ve been a royal mess.

We have a pretty big per-occurrence deductible on our insurance, so that’s the end of the bike story.

Here’s the deal: you forgot some stuff.

1) There’s a real sweet ping-pong table in the garage.  Don’t know how you missed it.  A couple sheets of plywood with handpainted lines.  It would look awesome in the back of your truck.

2) The pile of wooden skis.  Dude, they were right by the door.  I just don’t know how you could walk away.

3) Boxes of chairs.  Yes, boxes of chairs.  All broken down and ready for rehabilitation.  Seriously, how can you pass up this money-making venture?  Ace would never have to know – it could be our little secret…

4) Piles of debris waiting to go to the thrift store.  I recently helped a friend clean out his hoarding mother’s apartment.  We have plenty of office supplies, books, and umbrellas.  Maybe you need an umbrella for your nocturnal adventures?  Post-it notes?  Beanie Babies?

5) Shingles.  Are you planning any home improvement projects with the funds secured from the sale of our bikes?  We have a ton of shingles.  Probably a literal ton.

6) Oh, and rocks.  I always have rocks and I’m happy to share.

Let me know, man.  We can schedule a time for pickup in your pickup.

Sincerely,

Anne, Homeowner

 

Musical Moment 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , | Leave a comment

In which I am interviewed…

Many months ago, my friend Christina said, “Hey – how about if I interview you for my podcast series.”  Christina is smart, blunt, steadfast, and pragmatic in her role as the Corporate Rebel Coach.  Of course I agreed.

Here is the interview.  In it, we discuss our cultural obsession with WORK.  I talk about my decision to leave clinical practice and how I navigate the “What do you do?” conversation.  The interview runs about 30 minutes.  Let me know what you think, eh?

 

Musical Moment

 

 

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Woodchuck

We’re expecting!

Several years ago, I witnessed the untimely demise of a lovely woodchuck in Northwestern MN.  Naturally, I pulled over to 1) make sure she was dead 2) scoop her up.  To read the story in its entirety, see http://annelippin.com/blog/2014/09/01/labor-day-weekend/.

I delivered the (frozen) specimen to my taxidermist, Royce, of Willow Taxidermy (https://www.willowtaxidermy.com).  And then I got mixed up in a remodeling project and the resurrection of a thrift store.  Long story short, a couple years passed.  I finally emailed Royce.  “Hey, you still have that woodchuck in the freezer?”

Yes, he did.  I’m delighted to report that Charlotte will join our family just as soon as I can get up to Rock Creek.

1527188732034

Charlotte

 

Musical Moment

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment