I've been using a knee walker for the last couple of weeks. For the first time, I took public trans­porta­tion by myself to attend Papers We Love tonight. I rolled myself from 1st Ave S & Washington up to the Pioneer Square station, took the Light Rail one stop north to the University Street station at 3rd & Seneca, then rolled down the hill to 2nd & Spring. It's a trip I wouldn't have thought about twice if I were walking nor­mal­ly—and I probably would have walked the entire way rather than take the Light Rail only one short stop.

It's a different matter on a knee scooter. I …continue.

I had a mole excised from my lower calf three weeks ago, after a biopsy found that it was “abnormal”. The biopsy on the excised remainder came back clean. I went back to the surgeon's office during the week to have the stitches removed. It turns out that the stitches were dis­solv­able, but I hadn't peeled back the wrapping to take a look. I was given the all-clear to resume exercising and for the rest of the week, I cycled to the office. Today was my first run: a 3-mile course to the Seward Park Caffè Vita. The scar didn't bother me, but I had to stop and walk a …continue.

I had a mole excised today.

I have a few moles on my body, mostly on my legs. My doctor has disliked the look of some of my moles for years. After my most recent annual physical, I went to see a der­ma­tol­o­gist a month ago. There was only one mole that she wanted to treat, low on my left calf. She took a biopsy, using a tiny little saw to peel the top layer off after the area had been numbed with a local anesthetic.

The results came back a week later. The mole was “abnormal” but not cancerous. It was rec­om­mend­ed that the rest be removed. The skin is tight …continue.

In an interview with MSNBC Friday, 2016 Democratic pres­i­den­tial candidate Hillary Clinton said that Ronald and Nancy Reagan helped start a national con­ver­sa­tion about HIV/AIDS. This is not exactly a bald-faced lie, but it is a gross mis­un­der­stand­ing of history and a mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the true gov­ern­men­tal neglect during the AIDS epidemic that killed millions worldwide.

—Mathew Rodriguez, mic.com

As I wrote on Facebook earlier today:

I'm really surprised by this. I expected Hillary Clinton to know better. It's one thing not to speak ill of the dead at their funeral. It's quite another to make such a profoundly wrong assertion. The Reagan White House's negligence and homophobia was directly re­spon­si­ble for the growth …continue.

I came across Spoon Theory today:

The basic idea is that [the chron­i­cal­ly ill] have a limited number of spoons available for the day and each action will cost a given number of them – the more demanding the task, the more spoons would be required. The phrase "running low on spoons" can be a useful way of com­mu­ni­cat­ing the need for rest

—Emily Band

I see this sometime with Emma: her various illnesses and sen­si­tiv­i­ties catch up with her and she has little capacity to get things done for a few days. At other times, such as today, she has quite a reasonable amount of energy or “spoons”.

I enjoy good …continue.

Reading Why the Eyewear Industry Is An Incredible Rip-Off reminds me that I need to get some new glasses. I had my eyes tested last month and there is a small change in the pre­scrip­tion. I've had my current glasses for about six years.

From ages 12 to 44, I needed only distance lenses for my myopia, but then in the space of just a few months, I developed the classic problem of middle age: it became hard for me to read. I got a pair of glasses with pro­gres­sive lenses. I was used to having fairly clear peripheral vision and I had to learn to turn my head rather …continue.

Dyshidro­sis (/dɪs.haɪˈdroʊ.sɨs/, also known as "acute vesicu­lob­ul­lous hand eczema," "cheiropom­pholyx," "dyshidrot­ic eczema," "pompholyx," and "podopom­pholyx") is a skin condition that is char­ac­ter­ized by small blisters on the hands or feet.

    — Wikipedia

I've oc­ca­sion­al­ly had little blisters appear on my fingers and palms in hot weather in the past. These vesicles are filled with clear liquid, annoying and a little bit sore, and they sting when my hands are soaked in water.

In August, they came back and they were larger and more swollen than ever before. My doctor diagnosed a case of dyshidrot­ic eczema and prescribed clobetasol propionate ointment. The eczema promptly cleared up, but …continue.

In Football, dog­fight­ing, and brain damage, Malcolm Gladwell writes of the rather startling findings concerning brain damage that American foot­ballers sustain over their careers.

The constant butting of heads leads to an enormously high rate of chronic traumatic en­cephalopa­thy (C.T.E.), which has symptoms like Alzheimer's. It's not just the con­cus­sions that cause it, but all the sub­con­cus­sive contact. It's almost as dangerous to one's long-term health as boxing.

I grew up hating rugby and trans­ferred that hatred to American football. I have no time for the game, which I find violent and repellent, nor for the jock culture that surrounds it.

Regardless of my feelings about football, Gladwell's article (as so many New …continue.

Today, I did something that I've never done before. I visited my US Senators' offices, with a handful of others, to help stiffen their spines on healthcare reform.

It started by accident last night when Mira mentioned on Facebook that she was going to visit Rep. Jim McDermott, Sen. Maria Cantwell, and Sen. Patty Murray's Seattle offices today to talk to them about the “public option”.

McDermott and Murray were already supporters of the public health insurance option. Cantwell's position was murkier and she came out in favor of some kind of lame “co-op” compromise earlier this week. Mira and her friends had no difficulty in setting up meetings with …continue.

Paging through the New York Times a couple of weeks ago, I spotted the obituary for Tsai-Fan Yu, the physician who developed effective treatments for gout, including al­lop­uri­nol and colchicine.

I take al­lop­uri­nol every day, topping up with colchicine when I feel gouty, so I owe her a great debt of gratitude.

I blogged before about my gout. (Indeed, this is why I put up the mega repost yesterday of my old EraBlog posts, to make my gout post available before writing this one.)

Nothing has changed, for better or for worse, regarding my gout. I take al­lop­uri­nol every day and expect to do so for the rest of my life, unless …continue.