Steve in Mass

Not even close. I always would fillet them, the fillets almost pop off the bones. Then into seafood breader and pan fried, one of my favorite fish.

Nevermind the digs, I see Egg Drop Soup!

I was told not to do any overhead arm movements for 6 weeks. Biggest thing with fishing is the casting. One of the times I was restricted was in the spring, so I just went to a bridge and dropped straight down for flounder and such. And of course, depends what side they put the device on, Usually they go opposite your dominate hand. So if the incision and wires are on the opposite side of your casting arm, you likely don't even need the 6 weeks. The time I was restricted was in the early spring for a replacement/upgrade and they had to go on my right side as the extra wires would not fit down the artery on the left side with the existing wires. More on that later.

As for longevity, when you can, buy whole spices and grind them yourself as needed. Whole spices will last at least 3 times longer than pre-ground. Herbs, well, not so much, but typical herbs usually get used pretty quickly anyway.

Life after the pacemaker insertion: Some of this may vary from provider to provider. I have my care at Tuft's Medical Center. About a week after they put in the pacemaker, they will have you come back to remove the stitches (or just do a wound check in the case of dissolubles). The will also likely do a device check. To do this they put what looks like a computer mouse over the device for a minute just so the computer can find and identify the unit. They then run various tests via the computer to check the voltages, battery life, wire conductivity and such. At times they may speed up or slow down the paced heartbeat to perform certain tests, so you may feel a bit dizzy for a few seconds. They will then send you on your way. You will likely receive a tele-transmission unit to bring home with you. This device will actually seek out your pace maker and send a function report to the hospital at pre-determinded intervals. At first, that may be monthly. Currently, after 10+ years, I am at quarterly. Back in 1997 when I first got it, you had to be home to receive a call on a land line, you would then put the phone into a cradle (like an old fashioned dial up computer modem), push a button when they tell you to, and it sends a transmission. You would then place a magnet over the pacemaker and do the same for the "magnet test." But with the newer pacemakers, all of that has gone away. Now the unit they give you works over a dedicated cell phone signal and you needn't do anything (after the first time) except be in the room within "X" feet of the transmission device. When the call comes thru, the unit "finds" you and your pacemaker, and automatically does the rest. Generally they schedule it for 2 AM, so normal people are asleep and never even know it happens. Currently I have to go in to the hospital once a year so they can "interrogate" the device in person. At first they may have you do this more often, likely every 6 months. My first device that I got back in 1997, they said the battery would last 8-10 years. (This length is dependent on the voltage/amperage and frequency of pacing) and they were pretty spot on as it was nearly 9 years to the day when the battery started to die. I am not sure, but since battery technology since then has likely improved, the life of the devices may be longer now. They can tell from the transmissions what is left on the battery, and you have plenty of time (like 3-4 weeks) to get in to have it replaced. Unfortunately, when it comes time for replacement, they just replace the entire device which obviously means they cut you again. Usually, so long as there are no issues with the wires, they simply pop out the old one and insert the new one, using the same wires to your heart, so replacement is a bit less involved than the initial placement. And normally, unless some complications arise, this would be on an out patient basis. Other than that, as I said previously, you pretty much won't even be aware you have a pacemaker in your day to day life. They will give you some cards to put in your wallet to identify the device model number, and to show the TSA should it set off the metal detector at the airport (my original one never did, they one I have now may as it is bigger, having an ICD and some ventricle synchronization abilities, but more on that later.) Next time - MY experiences with having the device(s) replaced......of course, my experience were kind of out of the ordinary because of my valve issues, but........ Oh, one thing I forgot to mention - once the pacemaker has been inserted, that will preclude you from ever having an MRI, as the magnetic field in the MRI would wreck havoc on the pacemaker.... There are also some dental work devices that can't be used, not sure exactly what, but I remember once when I had a root canal done there was a certain device they sometimes used that couldn't be with the pacemaker. Although with the improved shielding of the newer pacemakers, that may no longer be the case, as I think that was just being overly cautious on the dentist's part in the first place.

Latest Maps: Snow up to 1" thru 1 AM Monday. Higher amounts have nearly non-extent probability in the Toms River area: Ice up to .01" Thru 6 AM Monday. If I go to the next highest amount (0.1"), the probability is less than 5%.

Same site I used for the above does ice as well....give me a few.........

Yes

This is 6 AM Sunday, probability for >1" of snow. Probabilities for mare than that go down. You are pretty much snowless, Ben.......at least with the latest forecast.

Yup......routinely you see ribeye, porterhouse, T-Bone, and strip on sale for $5.99 or so in the super. Saw some beautiful top sirloin steaks (what used to be called "Shell Steaks" years ago in north Jersey) at Big Y this AM for about $5/lb. Had I not already bought a roast beef for Saturday, I would have grabbed some.

Unfortunately, Jeff got the short end of the stick with some unproven rumors. I have all his cookbooks and watched him religiously. His ability to marry food with history and culture were beyond reproach. Quite a bit of the things I make routinely now were drawn from his recipes with my adaptations applied. For pure entertainment, Justin Wilson..... Funny how none of his classic shows are picked up by any of the network or cable stations........

Once implanted, you won't even know it is there unless you run your hand over your chest where it sits. So, let's start the story. Back in November 1997, the company I worked for had a booth at the Chem Show in NYC. I was there for 2-3 days helping out in our booth. Problem was, I kept getting dizzy/lightheaded for short (10 second or so) spells from time to time, sometimes clustered together, other times hours between. Had no idea what was going on, but I tried to ignore it, although one night I stayed at the hotel instead of going to dinner with my colleagues. After the show, I had already planned on fishing down in Seaside Park NJ, so I went, as with fudging expense reports, the 3 days down there was more or less free to me, and my stubbornness wouldn't let me miss out on that. During that time, the dizzy spells continued, but I tried to blow them off. Funny part is that the morning after I arrived at IBML, I caught my biggest bass to date, 48" and 36 pounds. The adrenaline there had me not dizzy for a few hours. Upon returning home on Sunday, I called me cardiologist at Tufts......since I had a congenital heart valve issue, I had already been going to Tufts for quite a few years. Monday they put a Holter monitor on me, and Wednesday after reading it, they told me I had AV block and would need a pace-maker. I was absolutely terrified, as I had never had any type of surgery before other than a few stitches for cuts here and there. They wanted me to come in right away, but since it was the day before Thanksgiving, I told them I have had this for a week, holding off one more day to spend T-Day with my family wasn't gonna kill me (though they kinda disagreed). But we left it that I would check in to Tufts on Thursday night after dinner. My Mom and Donna took me into Boston on Thanksgiving night. Friday morning they took me into the pacemaker lab and prepped me. You have to remember that back then, anesthesia was far behind what they can do now, so they just kinda sedated me a bit, but I was fully aware thru the entire thing. They used a local........and the worst part of the entire ordeal was that for whatever reason the local anesthesia, unlike Novocaine in Dentistry, burns like hell when they inject it. Other than that, the sensations were just, well, weird, as although the area was numb, I could feel them swabbing away the blood, and poking and prodding in the incision. They fed a couple wires thru the artery into my atrium and ventricle, and Munther (the electrophysiologist) asked me what I was feeling when I kinda winced a bit. I told him "It feels like someone is shoving a wire thru my artery into my heart, which is exactly what you are doing!" He chuckled and got on with it. I was watching the entire procedure on the video screen they used to guide them. It took, I dunno, perhaps 90 minutes once they actually cut me until they sowed me up. Back to the ward, and I was released the next day. Usually, the entire thing, even back then, is an outpatient procedure, but with my other issues, they wanted to watch me overnight. All in all, it rally wasn't that bad, and in 20 years, they have come a long way, so things are even easier, so don't let my story get you nervous. Anesthesiology has came to the point that they can put you just barely under and bring you out at will, so likely you won't even know what happened. Life afterward is pretty much same as usual, thought you will fell better. You can shower for about a week until the stitches come out (or the staples dissolve), and they will restrict your arm movement a bit on the side the put the device (like no casting and such for 6 weeks), and afterward they don;t want you doing vigorous overhead movements with that arm (They don't want the wires to stretch or kink). They will give you guidelines about avoiding strong magnets, large electric motors, and things that have lots of vibration, but in 20 years, I only once had it be an issue when I had an electric drill running, and the angle had it right up against my chest against where the device was. I just got dizzy for a second, realized what was happening, re-positioned the tool, and everything was fine. But other than that, you won't know it is there. Gotta run, but will have more later on ongoing care, replacement down the road, and such...............

That was on PBS for a long time, and was usually pretty good.

Before I bought my house on Oak Street in 1992, I lived in the lower level of a two family house on Chestnut right behind Ahern from 1990-1992. Today was just routine. Will get back to you later with the story and experience of the original topic, as I am at work and have stuff to do.

I have had one since 1997. I can post more later, as ironically, I have an appt. at Tufts in about an hour and have to run, but let me know what you want to know. Bottom line, generally no big deal, and they have come a long way even since 1997. I am on my 3rd one.