Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Southern Oregon Coast I
On those days when I get to do cases in Gold Beach, I’m unequivocally happy with my profession. It’s a beautiful drive (photos below), made better by the driver’s tendency to blare Gogol Bordello at cochlea-splitting volume. Gold Beach is a lovely little coastal city with a top notch new/used bookstore. The hospital staff always make me feel welcome, and they take great care of my patients. So — what’s not to love?
I ran out of memory on my camera, unfortunately, and missed what would have been a heartwarming photo op. As I passed through Brookings on my way home, there were two competing political demonstrations: an anti-war group on one corner, and a collection of flag-waving “support our troops” characters on the opposite corner. The anti-war group had the flag-wavers outnumbered 10:1. Yay! And this is one of the more Republican areas of Oregon.
Below the fold: what I did to day, in pictures.
First, here’s what I did today to pay the mortgage. Before:
and after:
It’s a skin cyst (epidermal inclusion cyst). Not bad, if I do say so myself, and I do.
Gold Beach is on the Rogue River (steelhead heaven, for you fisherfolk) and has an old WPA bridge. Here’s the view to the north.
Heading south, you’ll pass Turtle Rock. Imagine a turtle coming up out of the sand, diving towards the sky, and maybe you’ll see the likeness:
Not far south of town, some lunatic must have decided that global warming was a myth. In any case, the developer never heard of high tide.
The first major turnout is for Cape Sebastian. Here’s the view to the south.
And now you’re looking at Cape Sebastian from the distance.
The next major point of interest, a place we always visit with our guests: Arch Rock. Looking south from Arch Rock:
And that’s when I ran out of memory. Just as well; the sky became overcast and Arch Rock was tres gloomy. So I scanned in one of my old summertime photos of the rock:
Aquamarine seas beat gray seas every time, I think.
Next time I make the trip, I’ll take a few more pictures further south. The northern journey (from Gold Beach to Port Orford) is also quite pretty.
See you this evening, hopefully!
D.
speaking of ears (and not of gorgeous views) our second-to-last-to-jump-on-the-bandwagon pediatricians have at last joined the “no antibiotics unless absolutely necessary” parade.
The school nurse called me about Tommy-salami on Friday. Ear hurts, looks red and puffy, call the doctor, said the nurse (she’s the last one on the bandwagon). I picked up the boy from the school and called.
For the first time in the long history of boys’ earstuff, they didn’t automatically schedule an appt. They wanted to know if he had a fever, if he was eating and sleeping well. No to most of ’em? Stay home and quit yer bitchin’
My husband the microbac-dude was delighted. Of course he wasn’t the one at home with whiney boy. But, okay, kid’s doing okay with pain killers and decongestants so far. [Is it true tylenol doesn’t lower the temp? I was arguing how do we know if he’s gonna develop a fever if he’s on painkillers.]
Anyway, it’s a big, long way from the days when we pumped our oldest with maintenance antibiotics when his ear just had fluid in it. (I hated that. Thought it was stoooopid overuse of drugs. The ENT said do it and quit yer bitchin. Kid ended up with tubes anyway. 11 months old. Still gives me the snivelling sniffs to recall him being put under. Ugh. Too much like the dogs/cats I’ve held while they were euthanized)
Umm, yeah, so it’s a boring story.
Well. I’m off to write some more sex.
It takes forever for practitioners to get the message. They’ve been doing it this way (minimal antibiotics) in Europe for years, you know, and getting away with it. Bottom line, antibiotics are reserved either for (A)children of nitwitted, irresponsible parents, or (B) children with worsening symptoms.
Here’s my clinical opinion on tylenol vs. ibuprofen:
Tylenol/acetaminophen: best for lowering fever, poor for pain relief
Motrin/ibuprofen: much better for pain relief, not bad for lowering fever — though not as good as Tylenol.
Any other questions?
I love the Oregon/California coast. My family drove it about 5 times over Spring Break from Grade 5 to Grade 12. It’s a trip I very much want to take with Dean.
WOW! Gorgeous wonderful pictures! Thanks for the virtual trip.
Hey, can you fix the bags under my eyes? They look about as bad as that cyst.
ha! no questions, dr. Just a good neener neener at my Dr. [PhD] knowitall husband, who said that tylenol was rotten at lowering temps.
I’m not sure about that European point you made. Just three days ago my French friend was moaning about how hard it is to get docs to give out antibiotics here. How’s that for
hardanecdotal evidence?and I’d bug you with the live blogging but my computer is sucking big wads of shit tonight. I hate it.
Here’s my clinical opinion on tylenol vs. ibuprofen
And ibuprofen is far less likely to shut your kidneys and liver down for good.
Of course, our perspective is somewhat skewed: my father-in-law is a (research) nephrologist and as a psychologist, my wife has had to deal with a number of teenage girls who were facing a long, lingering, and certain death by slow organ failure because they tried a not-too-serious suicide attempt by Tylenol.
On a much cheerier note, that is some purty scenery.
I hate antibiotics, they make me feel worse than the bugs that are making me sick. I’ve not had them since I was 19 and ended up with a tonsil the size of a large black marble – oh the joys of Marlboro abuse.
I’ve been lucky that my kids had a Dr who thought ABs should only be used in emergencies. Sassy has only had them once in her 7 years, despite having the disgusting problem of snot running out of her ears while she slept. Shorty has never needed them, even though I’ve caught her eating the kitchen sponge a couple times – yuk!
I like your pictures; is it safe to swim under the arch? Because I would love to!
I’m just so paranoid about asthma flare-ups, I want the antibiotics to kill anything that isn’t viral.
Lovely pics. I love scenery like that. Love that area of the country too.
Sorry I missed live blogging, I was out at 7pm. Getting up at 5am is too much. Although last night was not much better. With DH out of town, the dogs are spooked and restless. They’re not sure they can trust me to feed them.
Silly dogs. Mommy always gives them more food when Daddy’s not home. 🙂
M
Love those pictures… Love them! I’m so envious. *sigh*
BTW, thanks for last night, Doug. 😉
I cannot believe they built those homes there!!
Of course anything is possible (look at the 700 square foot “home” they are selling in London…no electricity, and they are asking 300,000).
The scenery is gorgeous; the pictures tell me why it’s so great to live up there.
Beautiful job on the surgery!!
SxK: remember to come visit. (That goes for the rest of you, too.)
CD: that’s a much different sort of operation. And if I did ’em, I’d say yes; but I stick to reconstructive rather than cosmetic surgery.
Kate: in Europe, for many years they’ve been sparing in the use of antibiotics for ear infections, while US docs have been ultraliberal with antibiotics. Trouble is, the stats don’t support overuse of antibiotics for this problem. Quite the opposite.
PS: all very true. Thanks for making that point.
Lyvvie: I wouldn’t! You should see the waves crash through that hole. NOT safe.
DM: take good care of yourself 🙂
Kris: so it was good for you, too? I aim to please. It’s a point of honor.
Sis: we have a few homes like that closer to us. I’ve seen seawater pooling on their lawns on at least one occasion.
As for ridiculous homes, my friend Stan told me about a case where a Silicon Valley family sold their garage for something like $200K – $300K. Amazing.
Oooh, pretty. Gotta say, though, I like the gray pix better than the colorful one. Maybe that’s because gray is how it’s looked here for… oh… months.
Wow – just gorgeous. Though do hope you, uh, at least pulled over while taking those…
Love that WPA bridge, too. In fact, that’s it – I’m coming over. I like cereal for breakfast and you can remove the cysts on my scalp while you’re at it, too, mmmkay?
BTW – they do that kind of stupid shoreline building on any beach on this coast, too. I just love it when people do that, then get flooded out and want state and federal money to rebuild, just so they can get flooded out again.
I will have to check this live blogging out. It is beginning to sound teh sex-ay.
P.S. – sorry, but I have to chime in on the antibiotics thing. I’ve been prone to ear infections since I was a kid and still get them maybe once a year or so. Consequently, I know exactly when one is coming on and more often than not I ask a doctor to start me on a course of antibiotics immediately. Why? Because anti-inflammatories and general cold care rarely work for me. I’ve slipped past a full-blown, painful ear infection without ABs maybe a couple of times, but usually it progresses to blistered, bursting eardrums, pain, fever and being out of work for days – and that’s when it doesn’t spread to the middle ear and give me vertigo.
So, phooey and pshaw on you, ya damn hippies! ;o)
DN, you and Ma are welcome any time.
Antibiotics definitely have their place when it comes to ear infections. The point is that a global recommendation for antibiotics for ALL kids with otitis media — this is overkill, unnecessary.
Do I prescribe antibiotics for ear infections? Frequently, but not for every kid. (Bear in mind, kids who are sent to me often have had SEVERAL infections before they ever see me.)
Oh, Doug… If only you knew how homesick these pictures are making me. The coast of Southern Oregon looks remarkably like the coast of Northern BC, where I lived for a few years.
Throw in some totem poles and I think you could make me cry.