Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Damn it.
Paul Newman has died at age 83.
Some people were meant to be immortal; Newman was one of these. What a mensch he was. From CNN:
He stumped for liberal causes, including Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential candidacy, and earned a spot on Richard Nixon’s enemies list — “the highest single honor I’ve ever received,” he said.
In 1982, Newman and his friend A.E. Hotchner founded Newman’s Own, a food company that produced food ranging from pasta sauces to salad dressing to chocolate chip cookies.
“The embarrassing thing is that the salad dressing is outgrossing my films,” Newman once wryly noted.
To date, the company — which donates all profits to charities such as Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang camps — has given away more than $200 million. Newman established the camp to benefit gravely ill children.
“He saw the camps as places where kids could escape the fear, pain and isolation of their conditions, kick back and raise a little hell,” Forrester said.
Today, there are 11 Hole in the Wall Gang camps around the world, with additional programs in Africa and Vietnam. Some 135,000 children have attended the camps — free of charge.
True, he leaves a dual legacy, both in his films and his charitable work. But I wish he could have stuck around another twenty years.
D.
the news that he’d died was the first thing i saw when i logged on this afternoon, and man am i ever bummed. a mensch indeed.
i have a question for you dr. walnuts. if i have a case of bacterial parotitis and was prescribed augmentin (875 mg bid), about how long should i expect to take it? i read somewhere (reputable of course!) that i could be taking it for a month? does this sound right?
i’ve thus far responded very well to treatment and haven’t had any of the nasty possible side effects from the augmentin, but the idea of taking an antibiotic like this one for that long kinda gives me the willies.
Great post, and AMEN!
Hi Sis.
jOoLz: Yippee! A chance to pontificate.
1. Augmentin is my first choice for bacterial parotitis. I complement your doctor on his choice of bug juice. I usually treat for ten to fourteen days. One month would be most unusual.
2. To reduce the chance of diarrhea and yeast infection, take your antibiotic twelve hours apart, take it with food, and eat some yogurt every day.
3. Think of parotitis as a plumbing problem. You need to flush the system. Drink LOTS of liquids, and do things that will stimulate salivary flow throughout the day (suck on sour candies, that sort of thing). Massage the gland three times or more per day. Use warm packs if the gland is tender.
4. Signs that things are getting worse: pretty obvious, really. Increased swelling, redness of the overlying skin, a tense feeling to the overlying skin, heat (the gland feels hot to the touch), increased pain, fever, chills. Call your doc if any of these start happening.
5. If all goes well, you should feel significantly better by day 3.
Best of luck to you.
i’ll give you another chance to pontificate, if you’re so desperate for them…the white spotted and swollen tonsils i currently sport are not strep A. the nurselady sent a new culture off for more tests. whatever could it be? i have no other symptoms, no soreness, no fever, no fatigue. she also gave me a benadryl-maalox concoction to reduce the swelling, but forgot to tell me how often to gargle. it’s gross. bleh. apparently it rocks though. and i just bought some sea salt to gargle with too. whoopee.
and yeah, RIP paul. saw that in someone’s Fb status this morning, and was like, NO WAY. 🙁
ty for the advice! i’ve been taking it 12 hrs apart, and eating 2 cups of yogurt a day. starting to get sick of just yogurt and i’m thinking about tzatziki. i wonder if the lemon juice will kill the bugs though.
i went to the doc on wed. things are much less swole up now than then (the thing is visibly shrinking. yay!). i will try the warm compress thing and the massage. the liquids won’t be a prob, since i’ve been trying to drink a lot because my mouth tastes pretty raunchy. one thing i forgot to mention in my first comment is that my right ear had felt pretty congested before i went to the doc and i’ve noticed that’s gone away too. could my messed up parotid have had anything to do with that?
you rool!
Shaina: if they’ve had you on antibiotics for a while and THEN you developed those white spots, think thrush (yeast infection) and ask your doc about this possibility. Otherwise, it’s probably some non-strep bacterial infection . . . most likely nothing to freak out over.
jOoLz: the ear discomfort was probably referred pain from the parotid. That’s my best guess 🙂
Paul Newman seemed like a really sweet guy and it’s sad that he’s gone now. There aren’t enough people like him in Hollywood or in the world that care to make a difference in the lives of less fortunate people.