Friday, March 1, 2024

In the meantime.....

 the fish are disappearing...... Yesterday my curiosity got to me and I went on line to watch The Alaska Board of Fisheries ( BOF ) meeting as they do every three years to set management plans to supposedly maintain healthy fisheries for the use of the people.  It's an amazingly open to the public process where proposals are considered for all and any groups or individuals who submit them .....and it's agonizingly dysfunctional . When I stopped in on the meeting the days of public testimony were over and  the BOF was hearing from anybody that had anything new to say. Well, it was ugly Howard ! I thought I was in a time warp. The same ol same ol people telling the same ol same ol story of what's best for them and not the Salmon. 

When I served on the Governors transition teams there was talk of creating a full time paid professional fish board .  When the BOF got caught vote trading in the early 80's there was talk of creating a full time professional fish board . When, well dare I say, no I won't , but when certain individuals were appointed to the BOF through the years the obvious advocacy and conflicted interest of these people cried out for reform . It hasn't happened ....

Everyone knows the Kenai King Salmon are failing. Now they argue over dozens of dead fish when they used to argue and fight over thousands. It's been well over ten years that rules have changed to try and get more Kings to spawn. Closures , no opportunity, spawning goals and sonar counts going down and down...and yet...they want to and expect to keep fishing. So it's this simple : the same people who helped set the plans  that ain't solved the problem continue to be the ones whose counsel is collected to fix the problem. They cocktail after meeting hours, they're on first name basis, the BOF understands their language because they're ALL commercial users , the coyotes are in charge of the hen house...and always have been.  

It's should be obvious that this traditional BOF system only works for abundant and flourishing fisheries, which the State is running out of. SO, rather than another plan maybe we should be revising the planning process itself. In fact , I'm pretty certain of that .  So here's one of the lists that you know I like, suggestions to fix the fixers . Fish like this hen that Mike caught are the deal, we gotta keep them...
1. The Alaska Native community must always have a seat or seats on the 7 member BOF.  

2. All BOF and especially BOF Advisory Board members can only serve one two terms and a review of their performance should be done before the 2nd term.

3. The BOF will not appoint ' committees ' during meetings . Why ? because the same ol, same ol , people end up on the committees.

4. Public input through testimony will be given once. I don't care who you are or who you think you are , you get to speak once . If advocacy groups ' stack ' their members testimony and it appears as a presentation to the BOF it will not be allowed. 

5. BOF members during the deliberation phase of the meeting will not dine or drink with meeting attendees.

6. BOF members will not vote on any fisheries issues in any fishery that they hold permits or business licenses in or that their families do. They are also excluded from speaking to any proposals that they or their families have an interest in, both in public and in private.

7.   The BOF when taking testimony will give extra attention and time to young people.

8.  Some how Common sense must be applied...these tenets should be incorporated always just as allocation criteria is applied before deciding who gets what and why.

      A. All mixed stock fisheries will be managed for sustainability of the least numerical of the stocks.

     B. Over escapement does not exist . There is no such thing as to many fish.

     C. When there are no fish there will be no fishing.

     D. All fisheries will be managed with the goal of targeted harvest only. There is NO acceptable 
          by - catch . 

     E.  The most important fish is still the one that ends up on Alaskan's table. And, the only time who  
           came first matters is when talking of the Native / Village communities who should always  have                 a preference. 
 

        F.  Trust the math. Keep it simple . Make it  understandable .  

       G.  Good Luck...

Saturday, February 24, 2024

And the winner is .....

What a relief !  I mean if you gotta have a problem with your blood this one is waaaaay better than a lot of them.  I really don't know what it means for my future and I won't until I meet with the Hematologist again next week. I supposee it could be blood thinners for the duration or some kind of management strategy . I've had so much blood work done that it's the weirdest feeling of freedom or as my brother called it ' serendipity '....not only do I now know what I have but I also know what I don't have. My blood work by and large has returned to normal, my PSA is good, my lipid panel is good, I don't have any inflammation in my blood that signals bad things . so, mystery solved...I think I'm even going to be able to get my neck problem fixed with surgery this spring. Decompression / fusion : next order of business. And for all my guide friends, I'd bet dollars to donuts the cervical problem came from thousands of hours of rocking around in a boat telling stories, laughing, chasing the pesca and of course making a bit of $$$. And it was all worth it !  

Factor V Leiden

Main Results

An inherited blood-clotting disorder due to a change in of the blood's factor V protein.
Factor V Leiden (FAK-tur five LIDE-n) increases the chance of having clumps of blood, known as clots. This can be life-threatening. Women with the disorder risk developing blood clots during pregnancy or when taking the hormone estrogen.
Most people never develop symptoms. The first indication of the disorder may be a blood clot. Some clots do no damage and disappear on their own. Others can be life-threatening depending on what part of the body is affected.
Treatment may include blood-thinning medicines. Other precautions, including keeping the legs moving and wearing compression stockings, can reduce the risk of having blood clots.
Very common
More than 3 million US cases per year
Treatment can help, but this condition can't be cured
Requires a medical diagnosis
Lab tests or imaging always required
Chronic: can last for years or be lifelong

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Whats a little blood ?

Well I've become quite the veteran of needles and blood draws. I used to be manically afraid of needles but the pandemic and now my seemingly weekly blood draws I've kinda learned a self hypnosis kind of thing that I just submit myself to it knowing that it's all important and going to help. The other day I finally got to see the Hematologist and it was no surprise when the phlebotomist looked at the blood draw order and said ' oh my, 11 vials , " that's a lot ".

So now with my Eliquis blood thinner at work the edema in my leg is looking so much better . I'm wearing a compression sock all day and trying to get my 10,000 steps in which wouldn't be so hard if it would just quir snowing here and warm up a bit. They tell me that the danger phase of the DVT is over and now of course now the 42 dollar question is why is my blood clotting like that so we can keep it from happening again . I've now given blood three times and at each one most of my elevated levels are returning or trying to return to normal. Apparently my particular DVT was trophy sized so the trauma to the body is taking longer to subside....For instance my hemoglobin level on Jan 23 at Urgent care was 13.3 and now it is at 14.5 which is close to the bottom of the normal range of 14.8 . The hemoglobin is one of the markers for anemia which has been making me so tired....it seems to be getting better. So with 11 veils of blood the many tests seem to be normalizing , I'm still waiting to see the ones that were sent to Slat Lake City . Then we see the Hematologist again on March 6th and we'll get the Pro's version of what is going on....and more blood work I'd guess. Here's a pic of a portion of a panel that shows some indicators in the green but also my mchc and rdw variations doing exactly that . Both of those have something to do with the percentage of bigger red cells as opposed to regular sized healthy sized ones... and that's just about as much fish guide / amateur biology any of us need.

The really good news is that all the DVT mystery aside I got the call yesterday from The spine guy here Montana and I've been accepted on referral .   I should be able to get my much needed Decompression and Fusion surgery on my worn out neck . My Hematologist said that by late April it would be safe to vacation my blood thinners long enough to have successful surgery.....and for that I''m soooo happy.

So that's the sit rep, the skinny , the ballad of ageing ...my life....How's about a song ? 



Monday, January 29, 2024

Life should be that easy

But it ain't...However it does look like I'm going to make my promised Mile 14 deadline of at least two a month.  Since my News Years post of promise and rejuvenation it's been a slog, a horrible painful ordeal . So I guess those of you that could tire of this kind of post and I'll just say that I'm posting this for two reason...one is that it's all I've done, I have nothing else to write about . Two, if this helps anybody in anyway with their own health assessments or maybe Mexico health strategies then it's some of the good that I always say must come from bad.

Having seen the good, the bad and the ugly of Mexican health care through the years MP and I discussed the ' code red ' situation many times. We came to this : if something huge was happening to either of us we would only go to a Mazatlan hospital unless one of the two of us could not get on an airplane. Of course we've had to have treatment here but our strategy however right or wrong was to exit stage left. We've seen to many friends languish in the hospital, charged ungodly amount and held hostage to their credit cards, come down with infections....die...

So, a good three weeks ago I awoke with a stiffness in my left knee like I've never had, I could barely walk. Being an active guy I always have some soreness and of course my neck just keeps getting worse and worse. The leg was somewhat red and I ran a low grade temp for a week or so and the swelling and the pain behind my knee seemed to be better. Of course I at first thought it was a blood clot but it didn't fit the extraordinary calf swelling and calf pain that would signal a Deep Vein Thrombosis, a DVT . In fact I kinda got it in my mind that it was related to my neck issues and maybe that damn osteoarthritis that is taking over my life was now invading my knee.  

But Sunday morning a week ago I woke up with severe pain throughout my leg and groin then turning on the light it was obvious my ankle and entire leg was swollen. We were convinced that indeed it was a blood clot . Code red . We call Alaska Airlines get me outa here number and a wonderful woman named Christy in Boise  Idaho says how about tomorrow , in less than 24 hours  .  The flight to LAX was horrible. My neck was actually bothering me the most and once I sat next to the wall in the MZT airport and supported my head against it helped, MP got me boarded first. Once we got through customs and we were relieved to be back in the USA, what ever happened from then on out I new we could deal with. I can't say enough for Alaska Airlines, on the plane or in the terminal they took care of me. In the Board Room we found a high back chair for my neck that I could also elevate my feet. So all be it a little late flight later we went on to Seattle and spent the night. As we waited for our Helena flight the next day I called my Primary Physician and was told ' don't come here, go Straight to St. Peters urgent care when you land, which we did. 

Angela Axmann got me right in....Blood work that came back asap and then an ultrasound imaging shows an unusually large DVT from the knee to the foot. Serious. 30 to 40 % of these DVT's have a piece of clot break free and cause an embolism. Of the 30  to 40% that this happen to 25% have instant death....don't get anymore serious than that . So, it's off to the Pharmacy for the the very best blood thinner named Eliquis. Then I'm told what to do and what not to do and especially told what to watch for and when to immediately get to the emergency room. Luckily I have not had any complications . MP and I woke up on Saturday to great relief in that the swelling and redness were obviously looking better. As I type I'm exactly one week out from flying into  Helena . Tomorrow I get a follow up Dr. check, I feel better and feel like I'm hopefully over the danger and ready to see what this means for the rest of my life. 
So here's a few takeaways :
1. MPeasy is an amazing person...got me here and soooo much more.
2. Tom and Angel, everyone should have friends like them.
3. Alaska Airlines...we try to be loyal to these guys , they're the best.
4. St. Peters Health...in less than two hours had a plan and knew the problem, we even had a few laughs.
5. Compression socks.
6. Stupidity....seems we collide with that in this ole life. I always say you can't worry about what DIDN'T happen, but , you'd be a class 5 dummy if you didn't learn from it.
        A. Never have a massage with  DVT, it can cut loose a blood clot.
        B. don't fly with a DVT, it can cut loose a blood clot.
        C. reading and researching the Internet doesn't make you a doctor.
        D. Have trust.
        E. AND this is a big one that I continuously ignore, because ? well ? #5 , If something is bothering you at age 70 it generally won't just go away, it will and it does get  worse, maybe dangerously worse.
        F. You can have several things wrong with you all at the same time .
        G.  You got a good life, take care of it .
 


 

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

see ya around 2023

 

2023.....whooh....had just about enough of that one . And so it goes, you get THE phone call a couple to many times . You get the first round of no nonsense - can't get around it pain you've ever had . You get disappointed  by people . Depression sits in and all the songs you've relied on for 50 years to help you feel better don't . You miss people and places . You wonder why and why and why.....and then you know what, the year is over and we work on renewal . The best part of your melon steps up to let you know the obvious , nothings forever and looking back is a fool's errand. So we make a plan knowing full well that the first casualty in every battle is the battle plan . But it helps your renewal to know you've got a plan and just maybe, just maybe, it'll all be better, maybe even just fade away.

And along the way it's like fresh air, you know people love you but you've known that for so long you just kinda forgot what it means, how it works , how it helps and walla, that's renewal . It's a call that arrives at exactly the right time. It's a simple ' how ya doing ' ? It's a I got second cousin in Wikashebee that went through that, want me to call him ' ?. It's even just give him room , confident that he's a smart guy who will figure it out . So here's some love, it's a wink .

So there we are, how I've been feeling. I might be the oldest guy ever to have a mid life crisis . With this post I'm wiping it clean. I just wanted my tribe to know that I wasn't dodging work, I wasn't out of adventure or maybe that I was done.....it was just that I' always wanted Mile 14 to be nothing but fun and for just a while there I was out of it, used it up....I love to write and will continue, just needed some of that fresh air .

He's the old school
and he won't say .
When he's hurting 
he'll just hide away.
Till it's over 
and tears are dry.
He's the old school 
and you can't see him cry.
Thanks to John Hiatt


Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Snook 6, Jeff 2

 It's kinda funny in that when I'm fishing around here and especially over in the Gold Zone people will ask me if we really catch fish right in the middle of town.  I usually respond that the fish don't know that they're in a city, in fact some of the best structure is in town and some of the best fish I've caught or seen caught were in town.....But there's something about the chase when you're alone the beach and can look north and south and see just your fishing team members.

Me, Kiki and Carlos where headed for the 3rd point and decided to stop at point #1 and see how the fishing is in the rocks, it's been slow everywhere so we felt like why go so far if's not going to be very good. It's a bit cool as we tie our leaders in the dark by head lamp and I'm the first to the water and am thinking that those really good days start off first thing in the morning, if you're going to really hit them you  usually hit right off the bat....mmmm.....well I used up a large amount of my casting allotment before the sun came up but I was rewarded with this view of Cerritos with the sun just a glimmering off the huge Peninsula building....I felt good.
We threw for a couple hours and were surprised not to catch a Snapper on the rocks when the commercial guys showed up and wouldn't ya know pulled there net from around the rocks we were casting to . Same old story, first thing they teach you in guide school is take the money, the second thing is don't fish behind a gill net. But I was impressed with these guys boat skills. Being a skiff driver myself I got about half nervous for them as the boat is not only close to bottoming out but it's also sp close to the rocks that any little screw up and the boat is wrecked....maybe it wasn't their boat I don't know....they've done it a million times so it becomes routine, very impressive .
My neck condition has kinda changed so I needed to rest come mid morning. I find a nice shade tree and watch as Kiki throws and Carlos walks away to the south to search. Perseverance pays off and Kiki gets a nice little Cocanaco for supper. He cleans and we share the shade and talk story....great morning, thank you guys.
Somebody planted a little beach art for us....ahhh the creative mind at work.
I used to ride my bike out to oceanica to fish but I kept having flat tires, in fact I had two one morning and stopping to fix them on the fly was just to strange . I mentioned this to a guy at the Bike shop in Helena and he said you need the inner tube liners which I bought and installed and STILL had flat tires. I guess these guys have something to do with that, a pretty knarly plant.
And the title of this post tells the story. I've now hooked 6 or 7 Robalo and all but two earned their freedom . The darn things will pick up your bait right on the shore and you just don't get that good ' wait for the pull ' hook set...then the next wave picks ol slimey up and leaves him high and dry on the beach. And then because he hasn't been played out he thrashes and thrashes around until you see the hooks fly out and then before your 70 year old legs can get you there the next wave grabs him and walla....free at last, the one two days ago weighed 10 kilo or so . I've had that happen 4 times now. So, fighting an incredible run of bad moe-joe I decided to build some good karma and let this one swim off after Curt snapped the pic. Oh, and this one took the teaser and not the Mirrolure that was pulling it, pretty cool.
I'm playing music this weekend and I'll try to get MPeasy to shoot a video, maybe a Christmas song for you all . 







Monday, December 4, 2023

They call it fishing not catching

 and I should be used to that.  Commercial fishing it was called a water haul , my friend Chick once famously said ' we fished  today and they were unaware of it '. So, the fact of the matter is that it's the slowest ever I've seen it on the beach but the good news is that my neck is slowly but sure;y allowing me to wander the beach and do what I love...fish, meet people , talk story ya know. so I feel good enough I've gone from an hour onto close to two if I feel like it and the other day I threw my big rod for a couple hours and went fairly pain free through it. So if you ladies at St. Petes Re Hab see this, thank  you so much, I'm doing the exercises and stretches and here's the results.

My first Robalo of the season. It's about the fourth one I've had on the hook and the darn things just keep escaping. I had one that bit right at the beach and he just didn't have the hook so it came apart with the first jump and head shake....man it's exciting when that happens. Then just a few hours ago I had one hit at the end of my cast and I set right on time and hard , and yup, he jumped so I could clearly see him and the Mirrolure came flying . The pic below is of the sand carbs that are so thick you hook them just pulling your lure through the sand. The snappers love these guys so they should be everywhere the ' cochita's ' are....and maybe they are and don't need what we fishermen are trying to feed them.
The other morning we had to leave the house so Lorena could clean for us so we jumped the green bus and had breakfeast at Mr. Lionso's on Cerritos point. We walked out to the panga fleet to see how the  experts were doing and with  true Jethronian timing watched Jose unload the largest Lobster catch I've ever seen. For the peso equivalent of about 25 bucks I got three gorgeous mid sized lobsters....it was a push but me and MP but we ate it all in one setting , the key to that deal is we ate just Langosta, no pesky ol salad or veggies....maybe a little wine of course. 
After years of Pandemic cancellations The Marathon of the Pacific was back on Sunday. It's one of our favorite things to walk into the Gold Zone as the runners head towards our house. There's lots of energy and cheering and just simple goodwill going around. This years marathon was a bit watered down, no world class Kenyans and we saw no Banda which is one of my favorite things but its on and that was good enough foe us....Here's team Comacho rooting on their guys and typical athletes....the last pic is the leader with about 10 KM more to go.


So we're into the flow of Mexico now that we're a month in....It feels comfortable and I'm a lucky guy to have found this lifestyle and have the health to do it. The last 3 months have been a struggle for me with physical therapy and some heart wrenching  sadness that happens to people in our age group....and although I feel like I've aged 5 years in 3 months I push forward, have to, that's all there is. I've not complained with the everyday pain and MP notices both my resolve as well as when I hurt. The other night I played songs for the building and it was a struggle. I was feeling it when I started and when the set was over so was I....it's kinda changed and that's a good thing I'd say as a tingling itch kind of thing in your face and head and around your ear is easier than spasms that stop you in your tracks...