Well I wondered if Don Smith and I could make a difference with our posts on the Digitek recall. We knew that if we could help even one person out there it would be well worthwhile. Well just look what it did to my daily statistics on visits to my blogsite! Wow! I have a rather quiet site since I don’t get enough time to post regulary to it. I’m sure Don’s will be through the roof! So Amazing! Don? We done good!
I just learned today that a Class #1 recall has been issued on my Digitek heart medication! (Class I Recalls by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are the most severe type of FDA recall. In a Class-I recall there is a potential for serious injury or death!!!).
Do you know how I found out? I got a bill from my mail order pharmacy with my Digitek order marked CANCELED. Before I could place a call to find out why, I actually received an order in the mail. When I opened it I discovered it wasn’t Digitek but had somehow been changed to Digoxin. I was very surprised when I noticed I was NOT being charged for this order. I called the mail order pharmacy and discovered Digitek had been pulled from the market due to a manufacturing error which DOUBLED it’s normal strength! I also found out that knowledge of this was public since April 25th! That’s 11 extra days I’ve been overdosing! Evidently the manufacturing error started sometime in early January! OMG!
I’ve been talking to my wife about the possibility I was developing an ulcer. I’ve been sick to my stomach lately with all the normal results expected from that. If I do manage to keep down a meal, it’s always at a cost. I’ve been fatigued to the point of falling asleep and not being aware it’s happened. I’ve noticed my vision sometimes blurs or even has a yellow tint to it (thought contacts were somehow responsible). Sometimes I see halo’s around images (thought it was related to 60’s experiments 
). Mostly I just felt nauseated. My thoughts continued to focus on a possible ulcer.
Well it wasn’t an ulcer!!! I had/HAVE Digitalis Toxicity!
Digitek is a registered trademark of Actavis Totowa (formerly Amide Pharmaceutical, Inc.) for their digoxin tablets. The drug is distributed by Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., under a “Bertek” label and by UDL Laboratories, Inc. under a “UDL” label.
You can read about their recall right here. Comments are welcome!
|
New Seed Crystal |
Growing |
To the right is recent results from my crystal projects. The top row (left) shows a young “seed crystal” plucked from the Mother cluster (below), and you can see new growth (top right) of that same seed crystal. The bottom images show progressive growth of the mother crystal from her early “buds” to fully formed/developed crystals. I electronically blue filtered the last image to show off all the classic lines, shapes, and definition of classic crystals. In reality the mother crystals are still semi-transparent. Feel free to “click” and explore! |
  
Manny, Moe & Jack |
Turns Blue! |
 |
I’ve been giving some thought to attempting to do a Pysanky Egg art project. I was recently watching public television when they did a small documentary on this ancient form of art. I was immediately intrigued. Of course I would never be able to approach the quality of those who have done this all their lives, but I would like to give it a try. The process starts with a clean, white, chicken egg (yolk and all - a real egg). You lightly draw a simple pattern with pencil on the egg shell that you want to remain white. (See the white pattern in the image on the left?). Next you cover your simple pattern with a coating of bees wax. (This will prevent that section of the egg from absorbing dye when it is later dipped). The tool you use to “write” on the egg with wax is called a Kistka (see below) which is basically a small metal funnel attached to a dowel that drips molten wax. |
Once protected with wax, the egg is dipped into a dye bath. Pysanky eggs that will go on display use a dye that is more brilliant and glossy then could be achieved with regular food coloring.
The egg above only uses one color (plus the natural white of the chicken egg). But many beautiful Pysanky eggs use multiple colorings. At each stage, each new color is again protected with wax and the egg is dyed again.
The next stage involves holding the wax covered egg next to a flame. As the wax melts, it is gently wiped off exposing the color it was protecting.
The final stage involves two tiny pin holes on each end of the egg. The yolk can be blown out leaving only the decorated shell.
If I do attempt this, I will keep you posted with additional information, links, and of course pictures of my attempt.
Also check out Hilo Verde’s pysanky art.
|
Meet Emily!!! |
|
|
|
I was visiting my local Dry Cleaner when I spotted Emily’s mother. The mother was a fine looking specimen and I just knew she wouldn’t mind allowing me to adopt Emily. I brought Emily home and eased her into a nice fresh glass of water. Emily put out some nice roots for me and has since gotten a new home. And you can finally see her new home by clicking on the image below:  |
You can see how my crystal project is growing… uh I mean going. I’ve added a new image!!! Check it out here.
| Where I Work - Gift of Life Donor Program (GLDP) | |||
 |
 |
To the left you will see various scenes from where I work. You can click on any one of them to see a full screen image with more information. In summary we have:
|
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
While I’m working on a draft that will talk about my cancer story, I thought I’d give you something to read. I give you… “Fun with Crystals”.
 |
FUN GROWING CRYSTALS
I’ve recently developed an interest in growing crystals. I felt the best way to do this would be to start with growing sugar crystals because I already had everything I needed. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m the curious type. I’m always wondering about how things work and why they do the things they do. One morning I woke up and discovered I was suddenly curious about crystal formation. I wanted to try my hand at growing them. The image on the left is after one day’s growth and I’d expect larger crystals to grow given time. |
|
|
The trick to creating crystals is a super saturated sugar/water solution containing higher concentrations of dissolved sugar than water. The exact ratio is an important factor for success. As water evaporates from the super saturated solution, the concentration of sugar to water will naturally increase. Some sugar molecules will have to come out of suspension (fall out) and will return to a solid particle form. This should happen slowly. As particles continue to “fall out” of suspension, they will be attracted to one another and may even attach. If enough of them stack up in layers, they will form a kind of”protocrystal” or “pre-crystal”. As more particles fall out they will be strongly attracted to the protocrystal and will attach to it. This is how crystals grow. NEW… |
||
I’m a 6′4″ 300 pound 52 year old married man and miraculous survivor of a hematological (blood based) cancer. The cancer pretty much destroyed my left hip and upper left femur. As a result, I needed three major operations that eventually led to a total hip replacement. I’ve been married to a severely disabled (muscular dystrophy) woman for 32 years. I am Senior Software Developer (medical systems) for Gift of Life Donor Program (GLDP). My hobbies include music, art, origami, digital graphics and animation, reading, and cats. I have two cats at the moment, Sarah Jane, and Scamp. Sarah is a Korat kitty and Scamp was born with only three legs. more…
|
Do you think you know what Organ and Tissue donation is about? Press the "Save Simon Game" button to see. Educational!
|
|
MSNBC Headlines
