Running Bear's October 2025 Coffee Shop

[TLOC]

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and a chilly (for us) 58°. Expecting 90° later on. Nothing changed in the forecast except they are now predicting rain for next Saturday...a long way off at that.

The minor irritations from Thursday carried over to yesterday. In the end, I had to make three calls to the doctor's office and two to the pharmacy regarding the prescription that I originally called in on Wednesday. They finally communicated correctly around 2:00 and I was able to drive to town to get it. I have posted before regarding the incompetency of my PCP's office staff and they really proved it this week. In other medical news, the electrocardiologist that I saw last week, has enough information from the heart monitor that I have been wearing, to schedule something called an ablation for the second week of December. It's taken since June for the right doctor to diagnose the cause of my atrial flutter, and the stamina issues related to it. It is a supposedly painless day procedure. While I am not looking forward to another medical procedure, if it works then I'll be quite pleased. I really want to get back to walking a mile a day instead of just 1/4-1/3 mile.

Today will start with the dishwasher and then other tasks from my list. I should probably use the weedeater on the north side of the house now that I have wound up two reels of trimmer line.

I didn't have much time out in the train shed yesterday, since I was dealing with the pharmacy much of the afternoon. Instead of working on either of the two current projects, I just ran some trains on the lower level since all of my upper level passing sidings have trains parked on them from the staging yard.


John - Too bad about the cat. I am a cat person myself, although we have now eliminated all dependent animals and humans from our lives.

Everybody have a great Saturday. Stay safe.

 

[migalyto]

Good morning all!

Happy Saturday!

Currently 57F heading up to a high of around 70F. A little warmer than the last couple of days.

Not much going on today. I probably will mow today. Hopefully its the second to last time this season.
I will run over it one more time after this when the majority of the leaves come down. So far not many
have fallen yet.

Have a safe day everyone!

 

[truckdad]

It's taken since June for the right doctor to diagnose the cause of my atrial flutter, and the stamina issues related to it. It is a supposedly painless day procedure.

Is Atrial Flutter common? After 3 hours in the ER last August, the docs told my missus she had an Atrial Flutter episode. It was the third and longest lasting over an hour. It took another 2 weeks to get the "Zio patch" which stayed on for 2 weeks. Its been 2 weeks since it was mailed off to the analyst and we have heard nothing. We cancelled our trip to New England, not wanting to be away from home without knowing what causes it. It must not be that serious but the erratic heartbeat concerns me. Still waiting.......Willie Let me know if they tell you what causes it..

 

[migalyto]

Good afternoon everyone!

Coffee Shop is kind of slow today. Hope Mel and the girls make enough to cover gas money. Everyone must be
out enjoying the fine weather.

Lawn is mowed, laundry is done, and so is the weekly grocery shopping.

Time to head to the basement to play with trains before the wife finds something else for me to do.

Have a great rest of your Saturday!

 

[Bruette]

ablation

I had to look that up.

Heart ablation (catheter ablation) has become a fairly common and well‑established procedure in modern cardiology.

How Common​

• It’s performed tens of thousands of times each year in the U.S. alone.
• It’s considered a standard treatment for certain arrhythmias (irregular heart rhythms), especially when medications don’t work or cause side effects.
• The most frequent use is for atrial fibrillation (AFib), but it’s also done for atrial flutter, supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), and some cases of ventricular tachycardia.

Why It’s Popular​

• Minimally invasive: Done through catheters threaded into the heart via blood vessels — no open‑heart surgery.
• High success rates:
  
  • SVT ablation: ~90–95% success.
  • AFib ablation: ~60–80% success (sometimes requires repeat procedures).
• Low complication risk: Major complications are rare.

Recovery​

• Most patients go home the same day or after one night in the hospital.
• Return to normal activities usually within a week.

Bottom line: Heart ablation is now a routine, widely performed procedure for rhythm problems. It’s not usually the first treatment tried, but when medications fail, it’s a common next step.

Sounds perfect and easy as pie! We will keep praying for you both, as always!

 

[Bruette]

Coffee Shop is kind of slow today.

I've been watching baseball. It takes a long time to watch a 15-inning game, twice! But it was worth every second!

Hope Mel and the girls make enough to cover gas money. Everyone must be
out enjoying the fine weather.

I never buy anything, but I always leave cash on the table to cover the cost of cleaning up my mess. I'll take care of them today. People can say a lot about me, but they can't say I'm stingy with tips!

 

[migalyto]

Some Saturday afternoon humor!

 

[ctclibby]

Good Morning All. Clear and a chilly (for us) 58°. Expecting 90° later on. Nothing changed in the forecast except they are now predicting rain for next Saturday...a long way off at that.

The minor irritations from Thursday carried over to yesterday. In the end, I had to make three calls to the doctor's office and two to the pharmacy regarding the prescription that I originally called in on Wednesday. They finally communicated correctly around 2:00 and I was able to drive to town to get it. I have posted before regarding the incompetency of my PCP's office staff and they really proved it this week. In other medical news, the electrocardiologist that I saw last week, has enough information from the heart monitor that I have been wearing, to schedule something called an ablation for the second week of December. It's taken since June for the right doctor to diagnose the cause of my atrial flutter, and the stamina issues related to it. It is a supposedly painless day procedure. While I am not looking forward to another medical procedure, if it works then I'll be quite pleased. I really want to get back to walking a mile a day instead of just 1/4-1/3 mile.

Today will start with the dishwasher and then other tasks from my list. I should probably use the weedeater on the north side of the house now that I have wound up two reels of trimmer line.

I didn't have much time out in the train shed yesterday, since I was dealing with the pharmacy much of the afternoon. Instead of working on either of the two current projects, I just ran some trains on the lower level since all of my upper level passing sidings have trains parked on them from the staging yard.


John - Too bad about the cat. I am a cat person myself, although we have now eliminated all dependent animals and humans from our lives.

Everybody have a great Saturday. Stay safe.

Willie: An ablation is a procedure that blocks the electrical signals in the heart. In this case, sounds like the upper chamber(s) are out of sync with the lower chamber(s). They will go in with a catheter and put energy ( shock ) at a specific location to create scar tissue that blocks the electrical signal. Heart rewires and creates a new path for the signal which to me is the magical part. Supposed to work for Afib too. Since you have until December for the procedure, how about making sure you are over hydrated for the next few weeks and see what gives. That was 90% of my last problem. Caused low BP, no stamina, dizzy and generally not feeling good. Now days, I try and stay over hydrated. Ya, pee time is anytime but the heart is doing its thing as it was designed.

L8r

 

[truckdad]

Willie: An ablation is a procedure that blocks the electrical signals in the heart. In this case, sounds like the upper chamber(s) are out of sync with the lower chamber(s). They will go in with a catheter and put energy ( shock ) at a specific location to create scar tissue that blocks the electrical signal. Heart rewires and creates a new path for the signal which to me is the magical part. Supposed to work for Afib too. Since you have until December for the procedure, how about making sure you are over hydrated for the next few weeks and see what gives. That was 90% of my last problem. Caused low BP, no stamina, dizzy and generally not feeling good. Now days, I try and stay over hydrated. Ya, pee time is anytime but the heart is doing its thing as it was designed.

L8r

This is pretty much consistent with what I’ve been reading. Thanks

 

[Bruette]

SS United States update: She is still expected to be sunk in late 2025 about 20 NM south of Destin-Fort Walton Beach.
- All fuel has been removed from all 120 tanks aboard the ship. Extensive cleaning continues on those tanks to meet inspection standards.
- Top four decks have been fully remediated and are ready for inspection.
- All portholes and windows have been removed.
- 70% of the wiring has been removed.
- Funnels, radar mast, propeller and other large topside items were removed in August.
#ssunitedstate

 

[Texas Hobo]

View attachment 243584
View attachment 243585
SS United States update: She is still expected to be sunk in late 2025 about 20 NM south of Destin-Fort Walton Beach.
- All fuel has been removed from all 120 tanks aboard the ship. Extensive cleaning continues on those tanks to meet inspection standards.
- Top four decks have been fully remediated and are ready for inspection.
- All portholes and windows have been removed.
- 70% of the wiring has been removed.
- Funnels, radar mast, propeller and other large topside items were removed in August.
#ssunitedstate

I remember her when she was all clean and shiny.

 

[santafewillie]

Is Atrial Flutter common? After 3 hours in the ER last August, the docs told my missus she had an Atrial Flutter episode. It was the third and longest lasting over an hour. It took another 2 weeks to get the "Zio patch" which stayed on for 2 weeks. Its been 2 weeks since it was mailed off to the analyst and we have heard nothing. We cancelled our trip to New England, not wanting to be away from home without knowing what causes it. It must not be that serious but the erratic heartbeat concerns me. Still waiting.......Willie Let me know if they tell you what causes it..

I don't know just how common it is. In my case, I was in the hospital for 2 days while they ran all kinds of tests. I had had one episode on a Friday evening and a second the following night and decided to get it checked out. If it hadn't been a weekend, the stay would have been shorter. All came back normal; stress test, 2-EKG's, heart echo, and some other test that I no longer remember the name of. In the end, they sent me home saying that no one knew what caused it, but they all acknowledged that atrial flutter was what it was. At the time of admittance, my BP was 174/107 with a pulse of 143. Subsequent visits to my cardiologist (who was also on duty at the hospital on the Sunday) and also to my primary care physician yielded no further information, but my cardiologist's NP recommended that I see the electrocardiologist. After listening to me and looking at all of the information, he surmised what needed to be done, but first fitted me with a heart monitor to wear for 4 weeks to either confirm or rule out what he thought. BTW, he is the very best doctor that I have ever seen as far as time spent with me, ease of understanding his information and general overall attitude. I had had a couple more episodes since my hospitalization but chose to ride them out instead of going through the same old ordeal at the emergency room/hospital again.
The most frustrating thing since June, was not knowing what caused it. Prior to the episode I was on 3 BP medications, Hypertension runs in my family. After leaving the hospital, I was prescribed 7 of them! One of them included a medication that is supposed to regulate heartbeat. Didn't really do any good overall and the NP took me off one of them since I was basically in a vegetative state for 4 weeks. That helped me regain some semblance of normal life but still didn't take out the inconsistent BP readings. After another month, my PCP prescribed a different diuretic which has helped immensely, but I still had another flutter episode while waiting for my appointment with the electro guy. Had one since getting the monitor 10 days ago which led to the surgery appointment after the monitoring company notified him of the episode.
I am now getting more consistent BP readings, however they seem too low for me. They're running in the 110/60 range when I had a 135/78 range for the last 15 years. I even had one readinig last week of 88/48, but that may have been a faulty reading because an hour later it was back to 107/58. I may be under-hydrated as Todd pointed out, but I have just upped my intake of beer which I had actually reduced for a while.
I haven't had as much energy/stamina as I am used to and I truly feel that my lethargic state is more due to too many medications than to something really physically wrong, although this procedure is supposed to help with that as well. These medications were prescribed by 4 different physicians, and other than the one that the NP had me drop, several other dosages were revised upwards!
OK, enough of my medical history, but it may help others who may be going through the same thing. Medicine is "practice" as they say. I just wish that it could be practiced on someone other than me; but I am hopeful that the upcoming procedure can fix a lot. I can cancel after visiting with that doctor in about 4 weeks from now between now and the scheduled procedure if the rest of the 4 week monitoring shows anything different.
I'm late to the train shed.

 

[Bruette]

Is Atrial Flutter common?

Atrial flutter is not as common as atrial fibrillation (AFib), but it’s still a well‑recognized heart rhythm disorder.

• Atrial fibrillation is by far the most common sustained arrhythmia.
• Atrial flutter occurs less often, but the two are closely related — in fact, many people with atrial flutter will also develop AFib at some point.
• Roughly 1 in 10 patients with AFib also experience atrial flutter, and about half of people with atrial flutter develop AFib within three years.

Key Points​

• Mechanism: Flutter is caused by a “re‑entry circuit” in the atrium, making the upper chambers beat very fast (250–350 beats per minute), but in a more organized pattern than AFib.
• Symptoms: Can range from none at all to palpitations, fatigue, shortness of breath, or chest discomfort.
• Risks: Like AFib, atrial flutter increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and other complications if untreated.

Bottom Line​

• Atrial flutter is less common than AFib, but it’s still a significant arrhythmia.
• It often coexists with AFib, and doctors treat it with similar strategies: medications, cardioversion, or catheter ablation.

 

[Bruette]

By LINDSEY BAHR

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of “Annie Hall,” “The Godfather” films and “Father of the Bride,” whose quirky, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most singular actors of a generation, has died. She was 79.

People Magazine reported Saturday that she died in California with loved ones, citing a family spokesperson. No other details were immediately available, and representatives for Keaton did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.

 

[Bruette]

I'm hoping for another epic battle tonight! That I can watch in the morning.

Cubs @ Milwaukee 8:08 PM EDT - National Broadcasts TV: TBS & HBO Max, Rado: ESPN Radio

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/cubs-vs-brewers/2025/10/11/813046/preview

 

[migalyto]

By LINDSEY BAHR

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of “Annie Hall,” “The Godfather” films and “Father of the Bride,” whose quirky, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most singular actors of a generation, has died. She was 79.

People Magazine reported Saturday that she died in California with loved ones, citing a family spokesperson. No other details were immediately available, and representatives for Keaton did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.

So Sad!

We have lost some big ones in 2025!

 

[Bruette]

So Sad!

One of the hardest parts of getting old is all the people we lose along the way.

 

[chadbag]

My dad was diagnosed with Atrial Fibulation and ended up with a pacemaker.

He later passed on from cancer which started as prostate cancer but slowly migrated.

 

[Boris]

I’ll leave it to you ball fan to discuss and explain the significance of that name, and why it fits so well with Banana Ball.

I saw them play once back in the 1950s. Negro League Traveling team...sort of the Harlem Globetrotters of Baseball. Banana Ball is similar concept with a little WWE thrown in. Pure entertainment. The Indianapolis Clowns of old, the Globetrotters, and the Bananas players are all skilled in what they do. Henry Arron started with the Clowns, so did Satchel Paige.