Palo Alto VA Hospital
Since some of you (especially my siblings and relatives) may be wondering why I'm at the PA VA Hospital, here's a brief summary. My appointment was with a pulmonologist named Dr. Mueen Ghani, whose parents are almost certainly natives of India. I've taken the 3 antibiotics prescribed for both TB and mycobacterium avium for 24+ months and there has been modest improvement in the CT Scans of my lungs a few month ago as compared with one 1.5 years earlier.
But until I provide sputum samples [doc-speak for phlegm] on 3 consecutive days, it's impossible to declare the my MA has been conquered. Driving to either this hospital or to the Monterey Clinic on the former Ft Ord was an expensive proposition using my 87 Mazda, which got 34mpg for all but the last 2 months of the 10+ years I owned it. And my Ford F-250 only gets 12.5mph with its 3000-pound payload.
But when Dr Ghani checked with his supervisor and told him I'd resume traveling early next year Dr Holty suggested that Dr Ghani perform a bronchoscopy under his supervision to obtain sputum samles for testing. Both explained the risks, but my only question was whether there had ever been a fatality while a PA VA Hosp doc was performing that procedure. There had not.
When I countered that colonoscopies involved more than a few fatalities, Dr Ghani replied that the south end of one's GI track is not straight as is the top or north end; and colon contains much more bacteria than does one's throat.
The procedure took less than the 30-60 minutes noted in the first poop sheet I received. While in the Recovery Room I wolfed down all of he chipped ice, jello, salt-less saltine & honey graham crackers provided. So they told me to get dressed and move to another room with a large bathroom containing a shower.
Ate the lunch, which wasn't bad -- especially the turkey loaf. Afterward I used the bathroom to drain my my radiator. Began coughing & coughed up some blood -- but that was on their after-procedure poop sheet & not a cause for worry unless it was more than 2 tablespoons. However, my right lung, which formerly had a cavity which has now disappeared, hurt. And I was short of breath. The nurse who came to pick up my nearly empty lunch tray put me back on the lung and pulse monitor and told her supervisor of my problems.
After the Recovery Room Supervisor talked with me and with the the pulmonary department we compromised on my going to the ER; instead I walked to the pharmacy to picks up some meds but agreed that I'd go to the ER if my rt lung began to hurt more.
It did not and I'm back in my camper, where I have slept better than inside our former home at 135 Van Ness in Santa Cruz. Yes, even before I had sore lung, one of the nurses said the Pulmonary Unit wanted me to check in with them before I drive off of the hospital grounds. While I have "cut out" from commercial hospitals such as Fresno Community and Dominican Hospitals, I had no intention of driving back to SC tonight since it takes 24 hours for the effects of medications which might impair my judgment to wear off.
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Also, I want to return to the Palo Alto Library to look up an obit for the wife of J. Gilbert Smith, younger brother of former SCHS math teacher (geometry & trig), Harlan C. Smith, who likely told Alpheus of a 3-room rental during WWII offered by former RE agent Fred Garrison. [As I've said previously, my late father bought that house from Fred's widow, Hattie Garrison, in Nov 1954.]
Here's Julian Gilbert Smith's obituary.
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Julian Gilbert SMITH
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Obituary
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Wednesday 25 May 1966 Palo Alto Times, p. 7
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Sold Land to City
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Orchardist J.G. Smith Dies
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Funeral Services will be held Thursday for J. Gilbert Smith, the long-time Los Altos orchardist who sold the city its present Civic Center site.
Mr. Smith, 89, died Monday in a Mountain View rest home after several years of failing health.
He had lived for 65 years in the house he built at 41 San Antonio Road, adjoining the Civic Center. He had worked his trees up to about four years ago when his health began to fail.
In 1954 he and his wife, Margaret, sold nine of their 15 acres to the city for $115,000 for the present Civic Center, which includes City Hall, the police station, youth center, and library.
The city since has acquired all the property except for a 1 3/4 acre homesite.
Mr. Smith moved to California from his native Oregon at the age of 18. After a year's study at Stanford University he became a carpenter, working mainly in Palo Alto and Los Altos.
His wife said he was always pround that none of the houses he built was damaged by the great 1906 earthquake which toppled many other buildings. Most of his houses are still standing in downtown Palo Alto, she said.
Mr. Smith bought five acres on San Antonio in 1904, planted apricot trees and built his house. Through the years the couple acquired additional land.
He had been a member of the Foothills Congregational Church in Los Altos.
He also leaves a brother, Harlan C. Smith, a [former] Santa Cruz High School teacher[, and was predeceased by a sister, Elinor Smith, who taught nature study at Carmel High School.]
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Los Altos chapel of Spangler Mortuary, San Antonio Road at Lyell Street.
Private interment will be at Alta Mesa Cemetery, Palo Alto.
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Here a link to Harlan's obit on the World Connect Van Ness Neighbors site, which is all-text.
Fri 17 Dec 10: PA VA Hosp - Palo Alto Library - Santa Cruz - McAlpine Lake & Park.
