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2021 Farm Log

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Hopalong:
Unbelievable that antibiotics aren't on offer for B.
I'm really sorry.

I hope herbs can help, even in a subtle way. Ashwaghanda's amazed me.
Not a "believer" in one form over another but if something is evidence-based and works, then it's convincing for me.

B is lucky his mountain woman values old and new knowledge. That's a wide mind.

Tangent: M just told me there's a new season of Outlander.

hugs
Hops

sKePTiKal:
Yeah, Outlander season 6 probably won't be released until 2022 due to filming delays and covid protocols.

Antibiotics are clearly faster & more effective than even the strongest herbal substitutes. But when you're denied them, you do what you can with what you can get. He says it's helping; but his oral doxycyline Rx is going to run out this week. The herbs by themselves will barely touch this infection; but they work well to boost the effectiveness of the antibiotic. The three I got for him, are specifically to tackle staph infections.

Mouse - one of his surgeries, he was infected at the hospital with a drug-resistant staph infection. But he was active military up until August; he has gotten all his retirement paperwork - EXCEPT for the VA ID card. He has submitted paperwork for that 3 times - because everything has to be "just so", and one time it was rejected because he forgot to include his middle initial, while initialling a certain section and when he checked on it last week - the 6 month long processing was blamed on Covid, and no ETA on when he could expect to receive it either. That simple card means he's cleared to seek treatment elsewhere - and doesn't require VA approval for it either. You would think they'd try to save money by getting him well sooner (the infection has gone on at least a couple years) or letting him go from their system. It sure doesn't look that way.

That whole system is such a mess, I think it took me a year and a half to understand it well enough to explain what was going on and I'm still not 100% sure I know how it works; or why it's NOT working in any rational form.

UPDATE:

Well, I wrote the above too soon. B has an appt for Friday for another spinal flouroscope (looking for pockets of infection near his spinal cage) and also with infectious disease to draw/test serous fluid looking for infection. These tests are required by VA, prior to approcing the picc line for IV antibiotics. Even though he had the same a month ago - and there is no change, except worsening since then.

Meh:
Hum, I'm probably not much help.

The only thing that comes to my mind is pro-biotics. The war of bacteria. Probiotics seem to help my bladder irritations from too much coffee.

Also sorry about this but I used to use probiotics when I had rare yeast infections when I was younger. It works, sorta slowly but it does work. That is all I can think of for non-hard core meds.

There are so many strains of probiotics. I have a Nordic Naturals brand but it only has one kind of "good" bacteria in there.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-finds-probiotic-bacillus-eliminates-staphylococcus-bacteria

"Very few clinical data were found on the interactions between probiotics and MRSA, but the few identified clinical cases pointed to the feasibility of elimination or reduction of MRSA colonisation with probiotic use."  "As summarised below, many strains of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria isolated from a variety of sources inhibited the growth of S. aureus and clinical isolates of MRSA in vitro. The most active strains were Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Propionibacterium acnes, Lactobacillus paracasei, L. acidophilus, L. casei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactococcus lactis. Their effects were mediated both by direct cell competitive exclusion as well as production of acids or bacteriocin-like inhibitors. L. acidophilus also inhibited S. aureus biofilm formation and lipase production." 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24071026/

Probiotics and a low sugar diet is all I can think of. When I don't eat sugar for a couple months my skin gets clearer, the bacteria seem to like sugar.

Hopalong:
I was given milk kefir grains by a local biologist and followed her instructions. Easy! Kept it going for quite a while and really enjoyed multiplying them. It was delicious. My favorite version was just to add a tablespoon of maple syrup....drool.

Only quit because of calories, but I'm tempted to start again. So much yummier than over-sweet store versions with their thickeners. It's so much more powerful than yoghurt and a great way to take in a wide varity of probiotics w/o pills.

I wonder if home-brewed kefir might help B with the infection? No idea...so glad to hear there's some progress on the VA front, btw!

hugs
Hops

sKePTiKal:
Thanks for that suggestion Mouse! I'll look into it more. You might be on to something here. Yeah, sugar is one of the modern evils, huh? I never did get everything baked for Christmas that I had on my list. I just got tired of it.

We ended up getting about 10 inches of snow. And now it's blowing & drifing - and it'll be warm enough to make icicles off the gutters. I may have to put in some time shoveling. Hol slid off the driveway the other night and put Helga into a tree, on the curve down to the hut. No one hurt - her or Knuckles - but both were frozen snowballs after walking the rest of the way to the hut. It will be awhile before we can deal with that. Looks like mostly sheetmetal damage; maybe radiator; battery. Even when it's dry, no one drives over 20 mph on the driveway. Just not feasible, altho I've gotten the ranger up to 25 sometimes.

In yesterday's mail, I got the power bill that is due - yesterday. (Already pd online; but now I have to go check.) Heard VA's senators are inquiring into the matter; I know it's affecting the whole country - people complaining online about this.

Last year at this time, we dealt with winter - and the first warnings about the virus, which no one knew anything about at that time. We were already OVER it; and this year, it's beginning to show up in signs of frayed wild hairs & acting out & doom/gloom... and the usual escapism. Both Hol & I are trying to fight it - everyone's looking for something to do. S is keeping up with the firewood needs; she hasn't been using her furnace - hasn't needed it - to conserve propane for the power backup. S has also become the "Bobcat Master" - pulling trees out of the piles, from when they cleared for the hut and plowing snow.

But the other thing we've noticed - is the concept of "saving" little tasks to do later, in an attempt to spread work out over the unknown continuing stretch of time we're trying to fill. Hol's been painting baseboard, etc a little at a time. I'm catching up with all kinds of house organization stuff.

Along the same lines, I think out of sheer boredom, and in our own ways - Hol & I are working on how we've attached ourselves to negativity - kinda the opposite of "rose colored glasses" we tend to view things: interpersonal interactions or the lack thereof, emotions, and even our ability to tackle certain ongoing projects around here... from such a "bleh" place... that we're falling into that "this is normal" perception. Both of us are trying to find ways NOT to do that. She's investigating gym equipment; I'm just trying to finish up so many project loose ends - things I started or got supplies for, but for one reason or another - got interrupted, detoured, and never finished.

And we BOTH realize that we need this kind conversation - actual people talking back & forth with each other over a range of topics - which simply doesn't happen much online. People throw out a statement, or a meme which is generally pre-verbal ideas... hope for "likes" as a substitute for connection... and don't talk TO or WITH other people. It bothers me more sometimes, than others and it's bothering me now.

Back when people wrote letters, the BEST ones were the ones that were like sitting right there talking to the person. I've been writing B letters sporadically. He keeps the latest one in his wallet.  :D

I guess I'll remind Hol about the wool she needs to felt for blankets today. Both colors have been "resting" for a week now.

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