Prognosis is a massively deviated septum - one more sinus infection like that and the Dr. will be chasing me down for surgery. but not yet.

Oy, Sox. I'm thinking that when I get back on Kaiser, I'll go see the ENT, and there's a good chance I'll be there with you--I've spent way too many days in the last few years doped up on Claritin or Aleve-D.

Speaking of which, there's apparently a drive to make all sudafed prescription-only, not just something you need to get from a pharmacist. Oregon did it, and it killed the meth industry in the state. But argh!

Prognosis is a massively deviated septum - one more sinus infection like that and the Dr. will be chasing me down for surgery. but not yet.

My stepdad, who has had killer sinus problems his whole life, had surgery after Christmas for a deviated septum, and he is *stunned* at how much it helped him.

So there's some anecdata for you.

My dad had his sinuses "cleaned out", as he put it, and now he can breathe again. OTOH, he lost his sense of smell(!), which is a bit of a problem, as he's the primary cook in the house...

Why is my father Skyping me at 9:15 on a work morning? I mean, if something big were wrong, he'd call, right? I have seven million things on my plate because I'm only working a half day, and I honestly can't take the call.

Unrelatedly, lunch is a pain sometimes because of the whole gluten-free thing -- a sandwich is just so easy. And there is good GF bread, but it's really expensive, so I save it for grilled cheese at home and occasional toast.

But I gotta say, wrapping a slice of turkey around a slice of avocado? SO DAMN GOOD. Bread would just dilute the tastiness.

How deviated does a septum have to be to screw up your sinuses?

I have a deviated septum from being punched in the face at a high school dance.

I spend a lot of time bashing corporations, and criticizing libertarians. But one reason have fewer neighborhoods is quite simple: we outlawed them.

For example: a lot of zoning is residential only or business only - huge swaths where you can't build a mixed residential/retail mix. There are also subtler things - parking and setback requirements lower density. Lower density makes mixed use less desirable. (If building retail in a residential neighborhood does not give you access to a significant built-in market, then as a developer you are better off building your next retail project in a retail area.) Also a lot of suburbs have explicit density rules - no more than x homes per acre.

There are other reasons, destruction of streetcars, massive subsidies of automobiles, but rules that are extremely unfriendly to mixed use are a big part of what happened.

Of course there's been a big movement back towards towards urban density in recent years. Funny watching the green movement embracing high-rise towers, when they're exactly the kind of thing environmentalists used to fight against. But it's a way more efficient use of resources. And city planners are actively trying to shrink Detroit's footprint to make it function. Same thing happened in New Orleans after the hurricane.

And there are still no grocery stores in many parts of the city. It seems like if there were more, smaller, stores that people could get to, there would be more jobs. But I think they might have to be subsidized for awhile to work.

There are some big foundations working on this very thing -- Kellogg and Robert Wood Johnson especially.

How deviated does a septum have to be to screw up your sinuses?

The doc asked if he could show the images to the rest of the staff as an extreme example?

My stepdad, who has had killer sinus problems his whole life, had surgery after Christmas for a deviated septum, and he is *stunned* at how much it helped him.

I'm suspicious I will feel the same way, after they catch me (and they will have to run very, very fast). but for now, I'm going to try to take care of it by not letting things get so bad, or bad at all.

Oy, Sox. I'm thinking that when I get back on Kaiser, I'll go see the ENT, and there's a good chance I'll be there with you--I've spent way too many days in the last few years doped up on Claritin or Aleve-D.

I hope you get some relief soon, Consuela. I know I didn't realize until about a month on the kill-it-with-fire-meds exactly how much pressure and pain I'd been experiencing*, suddenly there'd be days where it was gone, and I felt so much better. It still comes and goes, especially with the weather, and the doc said it was nearly cleared up, but not quite. I have to go back in 2 months, but the guy is my hero, so it's ok.

(*my pain levels, especially around my face, are completely questionable, thx to the migraine icepick effect. If it's not blinding, or if it just creeps up on me, I'm a complete idiot about it.)