August 2005 Archives

I've had three nights with my new mandibular repositioning device, with mixed reviews so far.

The first night was Tuesday. It took a few minutes to get comfortable with the thing in my mouth, but I slept well once I fell asleep. Carole reported that I did not snore, but my breathing was noticeable. There may have been some low-level whistling involved...

On Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling especially well-rested, and the rest of the day went quite well.

It was a little easier to get to sleep on Wednesday night, and I slept through the night. However, on Thursday morning I had a sensation in my right eye similar to a pre-migraine, but it never progressed during the day. I did not feel nearly as well-rested as I had the previous morning.

When I woke up this morning, I again felt the pre-migraine sensation, but no actual pain. I did not feel well-rested, and have felt somewhat tired throughout the day.

Here's a picture of a driver's hitch, similar to a trucker's hitch and just as easy to untie, but even more secure. After tightening, secure the end with two half hitches.

I'm still not certain about the effectiveness of the treatments recommended by the neurologists I've been seeing for my migraines.

Dr. Wogenson ran a bunch of expensive tests, and upped my Neurontin dose from 2-3 per day to 6 per day, but otherwise had little impact on my headaches. His response to my complaints about the side-effects of the Neurontin was that I needed to give my system more time to adapt to the medicine. At an appointment about four months in, I brought in a list of alternative treatments to review with him, including acupuncture. When I told him that Carole had mentioned that I occasionally stop breathing for short periods of time during sleep, and that my reading had indicated this might be related to my migraines, he agreed immediately and referred me to Dr. Shubin, a sleep-disorder specialist in the same practice. I'm not quite sure why I was the one that had to bring it to his attention - he's the neurologist, right?

Dr. Shubin seems like a nice enough guy, but there's three things that bother me about him: 1) his "bedside manner" leaves a lot to be desired; 2) it takes a minimum of six weeks lead time to get an appointment with him; 3) like with Wogenson, it's almost always 35 to 75 minutes after my scheduled appointment time before I'm called back to the treatment rooms. This last one drives me buggy, to the point that I left an appointment scheduled for last week with Shubin's RN Gail when I was still waiting after 30 minutes and had somewhere else to be. I have complete respect for the training and sacrifice they made to become health care professionals, but the only way to indicate that it's unacceptable to make people wait so long is to leave.

Anyway, after waiting six weeks for Shubin to have an opening, I went to see him. He did a perfunctory poke-and-prod neurological exam, and referred me to the Sleep Center at Huntington for a sleep study.

Six weeks after the first appointment, I went back to see Shubin. He said the sleep study had shown some problems that would be best treated with a mandibular repositioning device. (Many people with breathing-related sleep disorders use a CPAP device to maintain a certain level of pressure in their airways, but my results pointed in a different direction.) He referred me to a dentist that specializes in treating sleep disorders. I also told him I had weaned myself off the Neurontin, and he prescribed Topamax as a replacement.

In researching Topamax, I found a lot of info that made me very reluctant to begin taking it. My big problems with Neurontin were the general feeling of fuzzy disconnection in my brain, along with occasional episodes of cognitive failure - not being able to come up with the word you're searching for, that kind of thing. Except for the increase in migraine episodes, I was feeling much better since stopping the Neurontin. My research on Topamax indicated that a lot of people had similar, if not worse, cognitive impact than Neurontin. Things like the taste of foods changing, village idiot syndrome - not things I wanted to experience. I decided not to begin the Topamax.

I visited the sleep disorder dentist, Dr. Contino, in mid-July. He was very nice and professional, explaining the process and answering my questions. He took a mold of my mouth, and said he hoped to have the device back from the lab before I left on my trip to BC.

The device didn't make it to Dr. Contino until the middle of last week. I picked it up this morning at 8:30am (sharp!). It will definitely take some getting used to, but in theory it's supposed to improve my sleep, which in turn will improve my headaches, energy levels, and all kinds of other good things.

After leaving Dr. Contino's, I headed over for my make-up appointment with Nurse Gail at Dr. Shubin's. We went over everything - the new dental appliance, why I'm not taking the Topamax that Shubin prescribed, etc. In the end, we (I) decided to see how things work with the dental appliance, and will continue to wait on new prevention medications. I mentioned that the Imitrex works well in treating my headaches, but almost always makes me so fatigued that I go to bed around 9:30pm or 10:00pm on days I take it (and often the following day as well). She gave me four samples of Relpax, an Imitrex competitor, to see if it's side-effects might be less harsh.

I rode my motorcycle to northern Washington for WFO-4, the fourth annual Western FJR Owners meeting, in early August, 2005. Afterwards, I met up with Carole and our friends Cindy and Ernie Peters in Victoria, BC for a few days, then I rode home down the coast. A great trip.

I brought High Fidelity to watch during the donation. The scene where they beat up Tim Robbins (as Ian) always busts me up.

Falco and Helena travel to Greece to check up on Aulus and look into deaths among a group of travellers seeing the sites.

Salinas to home, via Paso Robles and I-5. 312 miles.

Chose 101-46-5 for quick way home instead of longer coast route. Arrived home around 3:30pm.

Eureka to Salinas - 421 slow miles. Good fun. Lots of traffic north of SF who would not pull out for any reason. Wind on the GG bridge. Surfers at Pacifica. Santa Cruz. Watsonville. Salinas. In-n-Out.

From Amazon's review: It's the detective as folk hero, solving crimes through an innate, self-possessed wisdom that, combined with an understanding of human nature, invariably penetrates into the heart of a puzzle.

Yachats to Eureka. 292 miles.

Relaxed at the hotel at Yachats. Watched an interesting show on CSPAN with a Dr. Sutter discussing recent history in US-China relations. Walked on the grass above the beach. Barely made the 10:00am checkout time.

Saw my first 5P in Crescent City. Saw a herd of elk grazing in the front yard of a cute house in Klamath.

Lots of dull, touristy, dumpy towns with ridiculously low speed limits slowed the drive considerably. The roads, towwns, even the beaches were better once I hit California.

Eureka is a dump - the Motel 6 even more so. My reservation showed up as cancelled, and they were turning people away, but I got a room - probably the worst one in the place, but at least it was non-smoking.

Victoria to Yachats, OR. 395 miles.

Left for Washington. Almost didn't get on the 10:30 ferry. Lots of trees. Astoria. Yachats.

Girls had tea. Ernie and I walked around downtown. Ernie grew up in Lakewood and Bellflower, helping with the livestock and vegetable gardens. Bought a book and a christmas gift for my dad at Munro's. Hobby store, cool Z scale train sets at outrageous prices. Roger's chocolates.

It took me about four months to finish this book - not because it was bad, but because it is so well written. Let me explain.

Life has been hectic - Carole, migraines, work, life - and it's been hard to find the time to do the reading I love so much. I picked this book up long ago, and read about a third of the way in over a few days before life reared it's ugly head. Since then, I read a couple of chapters, but really didn't make a lot of progress. When it was time to pack for my BC motorcycle trip, I kept this in my tank bag, anticipating that I'd have time to read.

The only way it's possible to read a book on such a schedule is if the book is very well written. Lawton's books are full of deeply formed characters and memorable plots, which made it not only possible but actually almost enjoyable to read it over an extended period of time.

Butterfly Museum. Butchart Garden.

Left Skagit Valley for Victoria. Anacortes Ferry - running late due to early morning fog. Stops at Orcas Island and Friday Harbor. Ride from Sydney to hotel uneventful. Dinner with Cyndy and Ernie. Great to see Carole.

Ride to Mt. Baker. 170 miles.

I woke up early with a headache, which removed any possibility of riding the long loop to the Grand Coulee Dam. I grabbed some grub from the continental breakfast bar and hung in my room reading for a while.

After the problems getting the shuffle loaded and seeing a bunch of XM radios mounted on FJR's, I decided to take the plunge. I tracked down a Best Buy in Bellingham, and paid the $49 for a Roady2, then hit a local Lowe's for some parts to kludge up an install.

I filled up at a Chevron next to the Lowes, and headed out to Mt. Baker. Much of the road was newly laid, but there were a few hairy sections where the crews had ground down the old surface but hadn't yet put down the new one. I saw a lot of riders - mostly FJRs - on the way up and down the mountain.

Afterwards, I had a late lunch of fish and chips at a Red Robin back in Bellingham. The tar snakes on the downhill driveway almost put me down.

I chilled in my room until it was time for the group photo (see below). Dinner was a nice buffet in one of the big meeting halls of the hotel - prime rib, salmon (which I don't care for), the works. The group I sat with was very cool - Renius and I bought each other diet cokes. I won a nice Yamaha jacket in the raffle, but it's too small. I think I'll donate it to the WFO-5 raffle pool.

Tumwater, WA to Bow, WA. 148 miles.

Gassed up at a Shell station near the motel at 9:31am. US-101 was fun, with small pockets of slow traffic. Almost "lost" it on a left-hand sweeper when a big rig ran wide.

Met FJR pilot Renius Owen on the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry and rode to hotel with him.

Lost $20 in the all-smoking casino waiting for my room to open up. Out back, chatted with Marshall about his XM Roady2, and with a bunch of other pilots about their bikes.

Shuttle bus took us to the WFO barbeque across the street. Good food, chats with Bugnatr and others about MotoGP. Talked to a guy with accident damage.

Redding, CA to Tumwater, WA with detour to Klamath Falls, OR. 530 miles.

After a breakfast of five lorna doones, I left the Motel 6 in north Redding around 8:55am, heading north on the I-5 through Lake Shasta and over the mountain pass. I stopped for gas at a Shell station in Weed at 9:50am.

While planning the trip, I had two routes for today - one stayed on the I-5, and the other took US-97 north through Klamath Falls. After the long slog on the 5 yesterday, I decided to take the alternate, which only added five miles to the day's trip. I'd been through Ashland, Medford, and Grants Pass a few years ago, and didn't think I'd miss anything by skipping them today.

The scenery on the 97 was interesting. I stayed on the 97 through Klamath Falls and Chemult (just past the Crater Lake cutoff), and west northwest on SR-57 to Eugene, which had some nice twisties and interesting views. Other than standing next to the bike for short periods at a railroad crossing in Dorris (at the CA-OR border), and at construction stops in Klamath Falls and Oakridge, I made no stops from Weed to Eugene - a 240 mile tank-full of gas. IBR here I come!

I stopped for lunch at Elmer's in Eugene - a nice Twohey's like place on the main drag. I had a Club Sandwich and read a little, then got gas at a 76 station at 2:40pm.

I stopped in Vancouver, WA at 5:25pm for water, and called my sister at work to moan about the heat and traffic in Portland - 97°, terrible traffic (and no lane splitting - altough I was tempted). She appreciated the call, and was properly sympathetic to my plight.

I made good time, and pulled into the Motel 6 in Tumwater WA around 6:00pm with an almost empty tank. I walked to a nearby Subway for a sandwich.

Home to Redding. 557 miles.

The day did not start out perfectly.

I was ready to leave, all packed up, the bike had been warmed up, I was in my gear, ready to hit the road a little before 10:00am - not as early as I had hoped, but still pretty early.

An my shuffle was dead. The thought of no music for the entire trip left me cold. Luckily, I had brought my external USB drive home from work for other reasons, so all my files were at least available. The downside was that the laptop has only USB 1.1, so transfers would be super slow.

I installed iTunes on the laptop, re-initialized the shuffle, and did a few other things to make it possible to move music to the iPod. I set the shuffle to 50/50 music vs. files, to cut the upload time in half. I also forced in four episodes of the Six Shooter - 30 minutes of listening for 3mb of space. Still, it was 11:30am before I actually hit the road.

Once I hit the central valley, it was hot. Very hot. Thankfully I had decided to bring my Camelbak, and was able to keep well hyrdrated. I stopped for gas in Buttonwillow, and dug out my Sahara Vest for its maiden voyage. I really helped beat the 110° heat, and I wore it the rest of the day.

I stopped in Santa Nella for gas and a water refill, and splurged on dinner at the Ruby Tuesdays in Woodland, just north and west of Sacramento. Steak and shrimp, with brocolli steamed just right, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert. The bugs became thick after Stockton, and remained a messy annoyance the rest of the day.

The last gas stop was Willows. When I got to Redding, my maps directed me to the wrong Motel 6 - my reservation was at the one four miles further up the road. I checked in shortly after 10:00pm, glad for the air conditioning. At 10:45pm, the fire alarm went off intermittenly for 25 minutes, but otherwise the stay was normal.

I'm leaving for WFO-4 in Bow, WA (60 miles north of Seattle) on Wednesday - assuming my bike is ready.

I needed 8000 mile service and new tires before starting the long ride to British Columbia. Calling around, it turned out I could save about 40% - almost $350 - by riding the bike out to Chaparral in San Bernardino instead of one of the local shopes. The service guy said to be at the gate when they opened at 8:00am on Saturday morning. I left the house at 6:55am, and was third in line when I pulled in at 7:45am after stopping to fill up the gas tank.

Assuming it would take all day, I hoofed the mile-and-a-half up to the Metrolink station, and rode the train back to El Monte. On the ride, I got a call recommending a brake fluid flush and refill, which I readily agreed to. Justin picked me up with a list of errands to run. I got a call while we were at Petco picking up dog food - everything was done, BUT the ABS indicator light would not go out. They were going to keep working on it.

Later on Saturday, I got another call. The ABS light was still on, and they wanted me to leave it until Monday for a grade A mechanic to look it over. I had two choices: a) pick it up as-is, and ride to BC with a weird ABS problem; or b) leave it with the shop, delaying final prep for the trip. Choice (b), the lesser of two evils, seemed the logical choice.

I called in at 11:15am this morning, and they said the A mechanic would look at it before 1:00pm. They called at 12:48pm with more painful news: the mechanic checked it all out, and could not find a problem. They wanted me to leave it until tomorrow, when the shop foreman and the original Saturday mechanic would be back in to work to consult with the new A mechanic.

I called them back to okay the extra stay, but let them know that I had to have the bike, fixed and ready to roll, by Tuesday afternoon. Even that would mess up my plans to hit the road early Wednesday morning, since there's an hour or so of work I need to finish on the bike before leaving.

None of my contingency plans are worth dwelling on just yet. I need some luck on this one.