Nautical Plumbing, Pencils, Appliance Upgrade.

DOT-8

Nautical Glossary :"Going on the hill" slang for a haul out, or removing a boat from the water and placing it on land, or in a dry dock to perform work below the waterline.

0800 hrs .
 I went  " On the Hill" at medically speaking today for a surgical procedure. The vaunted Surgeons of Duke will not unsheathe their scalpels unless the platelets.are >50  It is a manifestation of the injunction to "first, do no harm".  So we had to get my platelets up to 50. One  bag one got me to 44, second bag to 51.!     Of course it seems a waste because by Friday or Saturday these platelets will be toast, victims of the mustard gas derivative in the chemo but at least the margins around my shiny new implant will have a chance to start to scab over and heal before then.

Today's  soundtrack is a treat !  Lambert,Hendricks and Ross with their definitive interpretation of Horace Silver's  Doodlin' Song, Circa 1960.

Hear it below the fold.






Soundtrack   Anne Ross sure can belt it out.

Bonus Track-the Original Jazz Messenger's Version

Doodlin'

The procedure: remove my through hull

and put in a sea chest.

Or in non-nautical parlance
Remove my implanted power port

and implant a Hickman Triple Lumen Catheter, also called a  trifusion catheter.

Now I can get three flavors of juice at the same time! And this sea chest is for blood draws too, so I won't be getting jabbed 100 times in the next 100 days.  Bigger Diameter too, and the fluid being transfused need not be restricted by a 22 gauge needle. And there are three tubes.   Like Bar Straws, or Coffee Swizzle Sticks. 

The tube down stream of the Y  fitting  is  12 French, expressed 12 FR  = to 4 mm dia,  or .158 " dia.   .
Yet another example the vestiges from day when French Medicine was at its pinnacle.

How big is 12 FR you ask?

Think Pencils

Photo (L-R): Leads in 0.2mm, 0.3mm, 0.4mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm, 0.9mm, 1.18mm, 1.3mm, 1.4mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 3.15mm, 3.8mm, and 5.6mm diameters .

Pencil Leads are measured in diameter, expressed in mm.Note: picture not to scale but the range is from the  finest mechanical pencil  to the largest. An generic pencil is somewhere in the middle.  To get an idea of relative sizes, a 22 gauge needle is fifth from left and the catheter tube is third from the right. 

While we are on the subject of pencils, I would be remiss were I not to mention 

 The Mirado Black Warrior  

You can (read review of the Mirado Black Warrior  )

 Made in USA.  A superior pencil prized by boatbuilders, carpenters, poets, illustrators, singer-songwriters  and the medical profession  The warrior is for any of you who are still "Pushing a Pencil" , whether  for work, play or therapy. Be it a crossword puzzle or just "doodlin'", choose the Warrior.

So in Catheters and in Pencils,

1600 hrs.came to in the recovery room with my new triple Hick in place.
Long day, but now the plumbing is done.

Tomorrow: The Clinical Trial, and Randomization.


Cap'n Chris Siegel
Beaufort NC

Dream Large
Steer Small
Keep your powder dry,
And Carry On!

http://capnsmarrowblog.blogspot.com/