Winter

Hand Foot and Mouth is No Joke (And Adults Can Get It)

February 16, 2016 by n.taylor 17 Comments

This might be a little outside the realm of normal conversation but I assure you that what you see here will freak you out.

Background

Hand Foot and Mouth disease (HFMD) is a Coxsackievirus that was discovered in 1948/1949 and named after Coxsackie, New York where the first fecal specimens of the virus were discovered. It is common in children and rarely poses a threat to them or crosses the blood/brain barrier. It can be transmitted via saliva, feces, and the blister fluids. On Sunday I took my daughter to a birthday party at a children’s museum where, unbeknownst to me, there happened to be a teeming cauldron of Coxsackievirus A16. My daughter started showing symptoms on Wednesday and by Thursday had significant blistering all over her body. I was unaffected until Friday at roughly 10:30 AM.

Friday

10:30 I start to feel uncomfortable, I know something is coming on. I finish work a little early and at 3:30 come home to take a nap, which is out of character for me. By 5pm I’m running a 102 fever and feel as though I have the flu. I feel like eating Chinese food which is the last meal I will eat for almost a week.

Saturday 00:30 Hours

I have slept probably a total of 1 hour since 9 pm. My fever maxes out near 103 throughout the night. The fever comes on and breaks 4 different times, by 0400 I’m praying for daylight to come. I finally fall asleep around 0530 and wake up at 0700.

I go to work at 1000 where I’m fatigued, and have aches and pains. Around this time I start to notice a very scratchy throat and wish that I had eaten breakfast. I come back home at noon where I’m able to take two naps during the afternoon. Throughout the day my fever never exceeds 100 and for the most part is a non issue. By dinner my throat is so sore I can do nothing other than eat soup and drink warm tea. My daughter has fully recovered by this point.

Sunday

This is where the real fun begins. I sleep pretty well without a fever, but the pain in my throat is relentless. Physically I feel fine and do some things around the house thinking that aside from my sore throat I was in the clear. At 1600 I look at my hands and notice the first faint signs of HFMD.

Monday

Game on. I am up throughout the night as the blisters become worse and start to itch. I spend 3 hours in the middle of the night researching HFMD and possible treatments. Some say adults can’t get HFMD, everyone else says there are no treatments, I then find this. It wasn’t the most robust study but at this point I don’t care. Within hours I find a doctor to reluctantly write me a script for Acyclovir. By noon my blisters have progressed to what I considered at the time to be DEFCON 1. I have scabbing around my nostrils that peels, bleeds, scabs and repeats every couple of hours. I apply Crisco to keep the wound moist. I acquire the Acyclovir by mid-afternoon and immediately start the recommended dosage.

Tuesday

Dear God have mercy on my soul. My nose condition is unbearable, I’m constantly applying Crisco to keep it moist (Vaseline causes significantly more scabbing). My throat is still so sore I am not eating solid foods or drinking anything other than warm tea. My wife makes me some soft scrambled eggs that I am able to eat with significant discomfort. My blistering becomes more intense throughout the day and my feet are the more painful than any other day so far, making it laborious to walk around.

Tuesday Evening

By this point Acyclovir has been in my system for 24 hours, the earliest timeframe mentioned in studies for positive effects to be seen. I take my 3rd oatmeal bath of the day and notice some changes in the blistering. By 1900 hours my hands have changed from the above images (taken roughly 1300 hours) to these. Some of the white blistering seems to have dissipated and blistering in general appears to be starting to undergo resolution. I’ll save everyone the photographs of my ugly unshaven face but yes, the nasal blisters are still very much a part of my discomfort.

Wednesday

I awoke and felt stronger than I had in days though my throat was still sore. My rash marks are becoming slightly more faint by this point (at least I think so) and I’m hoping this will be my last day with breakfast tea for a while. Fingers crossed.

By mid afternoon there is no question that I am on the path to recovery. My throat is starting to become more bearable, I even consumed tap water with minimal discomfort which made hydrating myself much easier than it had been for days. I arrive home from work and know that I can swallow food again. My hands are looking even less disgusting but only by a small degree…I’m told.

I ate mac ‘n cheese for dinner, it was wonderful. I even added the 2T butter for the “richer flavor” as described on the box. Afterwards I felt so good I went to Dairy Queen where even the extreme cold of ice cream couldn’t bother my throat and I washed it down with my evening Acyclovir. At this point I’m unstoppable.

Thursday

The virus is going to lose this battle. The blisters are resorbing, my throat is improving daily, though its progress is much slower than I would hope. I don’t feel a need to continue the updates but will take photos if and when I lose my finger/toenails. I’ve heard that can happen up to a month after the infection subsides and so I wait, full of apprehension, as one would imagine.

Note: By April 1 I still had residual blotching on my hands and my feet were still peeling from the autoimmune reaction I was having to the antibodies. I have started to lose one of my fingernails, the nail near the cuticle is beginning to peel and while painless, it looks pretty nasty.

Death of a 2 Stroke

January 26, 2016 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

After an unfortunate snowmobiling situation last week I had the opportunity to tear apart the snowmobile and learn a little bit about 2 stroke engines, and also what caused this one to fail.

The top end shown below shows both cylinder skirts, you can see the cylinder skirt on the left is missing a substantial piece of the actual skirt.

Blown Skirt

Furthermore you can see that the good cylinder skirt actually has damage that would have caused that engine to fail at some point in the near future as well. Look closely and you can see the fractures starting to run through the metal.

Damaged Skirt

So now that you see that the skirt was broken off you can imagine what that did to the piston on the fatal stroke that that piece of skirt was between it and the cylinder walls… Imagine no more, here is what that looks like. The top of the piston is mangled, it looks like it was dragged behind a truck.

Bad Piston

For reference here is the other piston that looks like it is in pretty good shape.

Clean Piston

The final piece of the puzzle is the dome, which is pictured below. You can see in this picture that the dome on the right has some metal shavings on it and has some discoloration, presumably from debris of the cylinder skirt and the piston destroying whatever was in its way.

Cylinder Domes

With Man Camp 2016 just a few short months away it was important he get back on the hill as soon as possible. Which is why I helped talk him into this machine. Good choice…

2016 Axys

Who Dat El Niño

January 17, 2016 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

The strongest El Nino since 1997/1998 has already had a pronounced effect on the weather in the south. With temperatures colder than normal and large storm systems bringing rain to the area many of the guides are praying for mercy. Running to warmer states in the gulf and begging their clients to go out on a warmer day. While we heard their desperate screams I find it hard to sympathize with someone who thinks that 49 degrees is cold, hell, that is balmy.

Before we get into all of that nonsense we are in Louisiana, and food comes first. The most important meal of the day has always been breakfast, and that is where we start. Beignets offer all the nutrition you need to get your day started off right.

Café Du Monde

After a balanced breakfast meal we set off in our skiffs, battling some dreary conditions that first day. Redfish were few and far between and those we did see often saw us before we stumbled upon them. The Biloxi Marsh holds some monsters however, and you don’t always need a lot of opportunities, you just need the right one…

The 38 Pounder

No fishing day in Louisiana is complete without some authentic food. Shrimp and grits have been a southern staple for decades, and is a dish that can be used to compare one restaurant to another. We dined at a small establishment in Chalmette where we were told the best shrimp and grits in Louisiana is served. While I haven’t had enough shrimp and grits to say for sure it is the best, it certainly was the best that I had ever had.

Shrimp & Grits

Better weather manifested itself the next day which made our guides much happier. The clouds lifted and we had visibility for miles which helped us snipe a few Redfish off the casting decks of the skiff. Redfish stand little chance when they are caught out in the flats on a bright day. Unlike a Carp, few things really spook the Redfish, which makes it a great target for my below average angling prowess.

Rocky with 34 Pounds

Scouring the Marsh

A Cigar to Finish the Day

Arguably one of the greatest things to come from the south is the Muffaletta sandwich. If you are unfamiliar, it generally consists of a loaf of bread with salami, mozzarella, ham, provolone, and the olive spread; consisting of carrots, cauliflower, olives, oil, and spices. True to form for the area, the sandwich comes in one size, damn huge.

Muffaletta Sandwich

Even with the incessant rains that El Niño has brought to southern Louisiana the fish were still around, albeit in smaller numbers. The winds and rain have made the water more off color than is normal, further reducing the shots you might come across any given day. The locals tolerance for the unusual weather was rather pathetic, but coming from the rockies perhaps we were just well conditioned to cold weather angling. With a vast area in which to fish and a season that spans fall and winter there is a lot to like. Who dat El Niño???

Who Dat?