For the first time since early November, my right nostril is free and clear and I can breathe a little bit. Just in time for me to go to the ENT tomorrow and have her tell me nothing is wrong.
So maybe this isn’t that big of a deal for you. I guess we needed an open thread, anyway.
schrodinger's cat
Good for you! Now you know what would be a big deal for all of us, a Tunch pic or better yet a live action TunchCam! it has been a while since we have had one of those.
joe from Lowell
No big deal?
John, I absolutely hang on your nostril.
Which makes me…
makes me…
uh…
your top pick?
Curly
Pictures or it didn’t happen.
maye
You win – for worst sinus infection on record.
Xboxershorts
Damn Joe, let go of that nostril hair, do you know how much that freakin hurts?
Lolis
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/12/5/925567/-The-Blackwaterdog-that-barked-wrong
from GOS … Glenn Greenwald directly compares an Obama supporter’s blog to something a Hitler propagandist would have published.
Frank
And since you’re a natural klutz… It’s snowing outside so make sure you don’t slip and fall and break shoulder/nose. Well at least you know the surgeons and physical therapists to fix you when it happens again.
Ross Hershberger
Healthy people just don’t typically get chronic infections long term for no reason. I’m guessing there’s something environmental contributing.
Not that I’m pointing any fingers, you understand.
dr. luba
Don’t you know the best way to cure anything curable is to make an appointment with a special-ist? That was always my experience with sinus infections. And the CT scan was completely negative…….
Totally OT: Did you know that more than 50 Nobel Prizes have been won by federal employees (current or former)? Five myths about federal employees is worth a read.
(Edited to evade moderation…..damn those boner pills)
Amir_Khalid
In my local mall (Suria KLCC, in the podium block of the Petronas Towers), the fancy international-brand clothing stores are all featuring winter clothing: thick tweed jackets, overcoats, scarves, etc. We’re in the tropics. It hasn’t snowed around these parts since the last Ice Age, and the way things are going climate-wise that might have been the last one. Who the hell wears winter clothing around here?
@John Cole: Your nostril hairs may need trimming.
SIA
What did the trick?
And @joe from Lowell: NICE.
cat48
@Lolis:
Who knew you weren’t allowed to have a blog with pictures of Obama on it?? Obnoxious that someone has to pick on Blackwaterdog. What’s that about?
MattR
@Lolis: Having “read” much of blackwater dog’s stuff at GOS I would say the comparision is incredibly insensitive, but not inaccurate.
Maody
quick brown fox jumped …
happy packers day. free teh nostrils!
Olivia
Seriously, about your sinus problem. I had a 6 month sinus infection and took everything available to get rid of it and nothing worked. The ENT wanted to do surgery but I didn’t want sharp instruments that close to my brain. I went to a nutritional healer (I know, I know) and I followed his diet and the infection was gone in 5 days. It was tough but the result was worth it.
joe from Lowell
@MattR:
It’s beyond insensitive, it’s a deliberate Nazi smear.
Who hasn’t seen iconographic photography of FDR, or of Kennedy, or of Reagan, or Clinton, or George W. Bush? Supporters and allies of American political leaders have been using photography for 70 years. Why compare Blackwaterdog (who isn’t actually a photographer, just someone who compiled others’ photographs) to Reifenstahl, rather than to someone who is a better analogue, like Pierre Salinger?
I think we all know the answer to that. “You know who else built highways?” “You know who else was a vegetarian?” “You know who else talked about healthy food?” When you compare something that is common across the political spectrum to the Nazis, you’re doing it because you want to smear someone as being a Nazi, or a like a Nazi.
What a flaming asshole. I don’t understand why anybody reads that hack.
Kryptik
Yikes, dude. Good news, but man, a month like that? I get driven crazy at about the 24 hour mark, and by weeks end I go stir crazy. Sterner stuff than I, sir.
ruemara
@MattR:
She’s one of the few that actually posts links to stuff that’s positive, so, in her defense, fuck you and fuck greenwald too.
different church-lady
It’s a big deal to me! Seven years ago I had a flu that turned into an upper respiratory infection. Five years later my sinuses still hadn’t returned to normal. The doctors I saw were pretty useless. I finally did my own diagnosis and realized I had a chronic sinus infection.
Oddly, one of the official symptoms is “malaise”, which I had always thought was more of an emotion than a medical condition.
At any rate, I took the “simple” measures and started to feel like my old self very quickly.
Nowadays I frequently wonder if the people you think are moody and stupid are simply people who can’t breathe well.
different church-lady
@MattR: It’s only accurate by negative two orders of magnitude. Kinda in the same way an elephant and a mouse have some DNA in common.
I mean, really… she’s got more in common with a Twilight fan than a Nazi.
EJ
I take it that’s your favorite nostril?
4jkb4ia
I am glad to hear about John’s nostril.
I thought Balloon Juice as a collective might enjoy If Only Laws Were Like Sausages which got stuck on page 3 of Week in Review.
I am scared to understand why Greenwald has decided to target blackwaterdog. Anyone who has read even one of blackwaterdog’s diaries knows that the person is slobberingly positive about Obama. If you have healthy skepticism you don’t need Glenn Greenwald to crush this particular insect.
MattR
@different church-lady:
Bullshit. She is clearly more than just a fan. She is trying to influence others with the imagery she posts by focusing completely on Obama’s positives and ignoring his negatives. (EDIT: Geez. I did not realize this looks like I am saying BWD is similar to a Nazi. That is not what I mean. I was objecting to the idea that she was just a fan, ala Twilight)
Phyllis
Watching the original ‘Holiday Affair’ on TCM. The SO has headed off to St Louis for a business trip and I have the place to myself until Wednesday evening. Now for the most important decision of the day-Pinot Noir or Sam Adams Winter Lager?
You Don't Say
@Lolis: Greenwald is the king of hyperbole. I hate hyperbole.
You Don't Say
Is Steelers’ Harrison being targeted by NFL?
Ripley
Boogers and Greenwald, together again!
Hal
You could easily say the same thing about Howard Dean supporters or Hillary Clinton supporters. Everyone has their idol. Every DKOS poster who reams Obama follows it up with their own fantasy candidate, and I guarantee you, if Feingold or Grayson were somehow President and “betrayed” their supporters, you would see BWD type posts all over Kos.
Why should anyone , especially on GG level, care about one poster with one specific opinion of the President? It just seems petty to focus on her, and to use the Riefenstahl comparison is amazingly offensive.
licensed to kill time
@You Don’t Say:
We do, however, love Hyperbole and a Half!
Highly recommended for a mental health break from politics.
joe from Lowell
@Hal:
Back in my Reason Hit & Run days in 2008, I once stumbled into a thread about how Obama supporters were engaging in over-the-top idol worship.
I replied with, “Why? Did they buy him a blimp?”
Man, like throwing a brick at a hornet’s nest, that was.
asiangrrlMN
NFL Open Thread, please, Cole.
Damn it. First play I see–Favre pick. Against the Bills. AAAAARGH!
You Don't Say
@licensed to kill time: Oh, yes, Hyperbole and a Half is brilliant.
Corner Stone
@You Don’t Say:
I hate hyperbole more than anyone has ever hated anything!
jaywillie
@MattR: So posting pictures from news outlets, posting links from news outlet, and having a wordpress blog with positive commentary is comparable to Leni friggin’ Riefenstahl’s Nazi propaganda films, like Triumph of the Will??? That’s an accurate comparison in your world?
And you take offense at the notion that she is trying to influence people’s opinions??? Heaven forbid! Aren’t the 24/7 non-stop Obama bashers trying to influence opinion? But that’s okay, right, because it re-affirms your perspective? If it doesn’t re-affirm your perspective/viewpoint it must be on the level of Nazi propaganda, I guess. But somehow people who do nothing but unleash an endless stream of vitriolic bashing aren’t?
Look, I have my criticism of the administration, as do a lot of people who support him, but I can balance it. The folks on the left defending Greenwald’s absurd, over-the-top, despicable comparison need to step back from the ledge. I know those folks like to refer to themselves as the entire left of political thought in this country and as the entire base of the Dem party (despite what polls show to the contrary) but you really need to step back from the ledge. Unless your goal is to reveal yourself as the hysterical, lunatic left (no better than the lunatic right), in which case, by all means, proceed.
Jewish Steel
Bears & Lions.
Trap game or tarp game?
asiangrrlMN
@asiangrrlMN: Favre pick/sack. Sigh. TJ in. Longball bomb. YAY! Sack. Boo. NFL Open Thread!
I love hyperbole with the passion of a thousand suns.
Fumble, Vikes recover! Antoine Winfield. Yum. Jerome Boger (ref). Double yum.
@Jewish Steel: Go, Lions!
ETA: Incomplete forward pass. Never mind.
Jewish Steel
I hyperbolate like Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed combined.
Lolis
@MattR:
I don’t buy it. Blackwaterdog links to positive actions the administration has taken besides showing pictures of the president. Her premise is simply that he doesn’t get enough credit for all the good he has done. I agree with that wholeheartedly, despite many issues I have with the administration. If her focusing on the positive makes her a propagandist, what about those who refuse to highlight or acknowledge anything good the administration has done? Would you consider Jane Hamsher a propagandist then?
Glenn Greenwald is a well-educated lawyer who knows the power of words. I think his analogy goes way beyond insensitive. I trust in Greenwald’s intelligence enough not to believe it was accidental.
yoodow
You mean to say that you were a mouth-breather all that time?
asiangrrlMN
@Hal: I agree with your analysis. If GG had said she was a fan of his or loyal to a fault or whatnot, I would have shrugged and said, “Yeah, and point?” But because that wouldn’t be news or interesting or controversial, he goes straight for the Nazi reference. It’s way out of line. With all the incessant Obama-bashing that occurs, I tend to dig in and talk only of his positives to make a counterpoint, even though I don’t think he’s only done good things, so I can understand the impulse.
TJ just threw a pick-six. Sigh.
asiangrrlMN
TOUCHDOWN, Sidney Rice! Amazing catch. Simply amazing.
Fumble, recovery by the Vikes!
@Jewish Steel: Yum yum yum. Ed Hochuli. And, sigh. Oh well. Favre is out of the game, so I am content. I second the NFL Open Thread call.
Jewish Steel
@asiangrrlMN:
Sry, friend. Bears are rollin’.
Ed Hochuli sighting! Man, he was just poured into that shirt.
NFL open thread, anyone?
JPL
Since John forgot the official Sunday Football open thread, I’ll mention that I’m cheering for Carolina this afternoon. I really want Cam Newton to be drafted by Buffalo. The cold weather is so much fun.
asiangrrlMN
Woooooot! 14-7, Vikes.
@JPL: You hate Cam Newton that much?
Nicole
I’m glad your nose is doing better, John. Sinus infections suck. I had one that derailed the first half of my honeymoon. :(. It put so much pressure on my teeth I thought I had cavities.
Speaking of hyperboleandahalf, today we have to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!
And await the season finale of Walking Dead…
hal
Sigh. The 2012 Primaries are going to be so much fun, I just can’t wait. \sarcasm/
I was reading Frank Rich’s column yesterday and the comments that followed, and over and over, all this talk of primarying Obama. One of the posters had three top choices, Elizabeth Warren, Dean (natch) and um, Elliot Spitzer.
This just highlights my great fear of another Republican administration. Who else, other than Hillary, can win a general election? It’s hard for me to take any talk of Primarying Obama seriously because people keep picking fantasy candidates.
I love Elizabeth Warren, but I really don’t think she would make a great President. So who else is there? Every name that keeps coming up is someone who lost in the last election (Grayson, Feingold) resigned in disgrace (Spitzer), ran in the past and never even came close (Nader, Kucinich) or in all likelihood, would never in a million years run (Warren, Krugman etc.)
Obama needs to listen to, and respond to, the criticism; because I truly believe Liberal/Progressive/Moderate Dems will never get the country in the right direction under any other possible candidate. I get that Obama has certain beliefs; in the role of Congress, in the use of Executive Orders, but at this point I think it’s time to go with the will of the people who elected him.
Not just for the immediate future, to keep Palin or any other Republican out of the WH, but for the future of this country. I’m still oddly optimistic, but I hope Obama gets the message soon.
S. cerevisiae
Jared Allen has come to play today, and god how we’ve missed Sidney Rice. The Vikes have some jump today despite the early mistakes.
You Don't Say
I hate all those Miller Lite commercials in which a female bartender makes fun of some dorky make customer. I wouldn’t mind if the women were funny, but they’re just snide. And the targets of their scorn are just stupid. I don’t identify with either which is an advertising mistake.
asiangrrlMN
@S. cerevisiae: And, I’m glad TJ gets a chance to play so we can see what he has.
Touchdown, AP! 21-7.
@You Don’t Say: Welcome to the world of watching sports as a female. I hate all the commercials. (Disclaimer: I hate all commercials, anyway. I just hate sports ones even more).
Yutsano
@hal:
Note that all three have one glaring feature in common. I am getting the feeling more and more this is not by accident.
@asiangrrlMN: Seachickens at home. At least I know not to head into the city today.
licensed to kill time
@Nicole:
You know a site is good when just thinking about it makes you laugh. That’s become a catchphrase in our house:
::::look of dismay::: ” I have to clean ALL the things?”
Suck It Up!
@MattR:
We don’t live in North Korea. We all have access to anything there is to know about Obama, good and bad. She is not a threat to anyone and she doesn’t lie and manipulate the facts to support her opinion of the president. its pretty disturbing that her blog/diaries bothers anyone.
Admiral_Komack
@Lolis:
Fuck Glenn Greenwald.
Carry on.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: NOT BLACK. Meet me up in the NFL Open thread, m’kay?
@Suck It Up!: That’s an even better synthesis of what’s in my mind. Thanks.
S. cerevisiae
@asiangrrlMN: He is managing the game well after that early pick, and they are letting him throw. That jump pass of his always makes me nervous, however. I think the Vikes draft a QB next year (if there IS a next year) and there are some good ones.
But please not Locker – he does NOT impress me with his decision making.
AnnaN
Sorry you are still feeling so awful. And that I was so smarmy at being wrong about you not flushing the sinuses.
I went through this three years ago and I was miserable. Over the counter and prescription meds didn’t help at all. I think I finally beat it by taking 3K mg of Vitamin C per day, getting a lot more sleep, keeping well-hydrated, taking Counter-Attack (http://www.rainbowlight.com/Categories.aspx?Category=627c3de8-0e1b-4e76-84da-db4310a07f51) and drinking a large mug every night before bed of Yogi’s Cold Season Tea.
I cleared up in one week of the above regimen after two different antibiotics, and every single antihistamine I could find over the course of three months. I like to believe it helped, but I don’t know – the virus might have just gotten tired of kicking my ass and moved on to more interesting prey. (Gankers and sinus infections are really similar).
Suck It Up!
@hal:
Stop taking these people seriously. They are naive and not interested in actually winning. They don’t have the discipline or the stamina to keep fighting so they turn to a fantasy world where a “true progressive” is president and getting single payer will be “easy as pie”.
What’s funny is that these lists never include a minority. Well, Elizabeth Warren is a woman so technically she’s a minority but even there she is one of 2-3 women that consistently makes the list. I never see an Hispanic or an African American.
Glenn
John, good luck with your long suffering schnozzola.
Quick story: Life long sufferer of “sinus infections.” Antibiotics provided merely marginal placebo-like relief. Went to see ENT at UPMC’s ENT clinic. She went ‘up my nose with a rubber hose’ w/ attached video camera. I got to watch! Live! Oookie! She discovered that I had hypertrophic nasal turbinates, not an infection. Prescribed steroidal nasal spray to reduce hypertrophy. No problems since.
I had never heard of nasal turbinates before, I doubt many have. But if your situation doesn’t improve by itself or your ENT prescribes yet another course of useless anti-life do yourself a favor and visit UPMC, quick. They were great, the video feed was ‘interesting’ and I got better really fast.
Thanks for all your hard work, brother. Balloon Juice is my favorite blog. BTW, I live SW PA. We’re practically neighbors! And I have two canine-dogs and a feline-cat! And I also, too, have a nose!
fraught
Ironic that it’s the right nostril that’s free.
We must work toward freedom for all nostrils!
sparky
crap. i hate it when no one else is around to defend GG.
fortunately, in this case it’s pretty easy, as the critics here have fallen into a hole that they could have easily avoided.
in other words, you played yourselves.
Nicole
@licensed to kill time: It’s a catchphrase in ours, too. God, that’s a funny line.
Unfortunately, I’m not a neat person to begin with, and the five-month-old doesn’t seem to care if he lives in an episode of Hoarders, as long as he’s being carried around, so that makes cleaning harder. Fortunately, he’s finally asleep to the melodic sounds of early 1980’s pop, courtesy of Pandora. For as long as that lasts, anyway. I put him to sleep to this channel once, and then Simple Minds “(Don’t You) Forget About Me” started and the lead singer’s, “Hey, hey, hey, hey!” startled the kid awake. I felt bad for his terror, though I was laughing too hard to be of much solace for a bit there.
Angry Black Lady
my sinuses used to be murderation, but acupuncture fixed it. i get this herbal nasal spray (it says “miao ling bi shuang” on the label) that is all herbs and 100% natural and non-addictive (if you use afrin or something similar for more than a couple weeks, you get addicted and can’t breathe without it. (happened to me when i lived in nyc.) anyway, the herbal spray is the best stuff on earth. when i run out, i get horribly congested. as soon as i hit acupuncture and get needles in my face and re-up on the spray, it’s amazing — i feel like i’m breating through areas of my face that i didn’t know existed.
if there’s an acupuncturist in your area, you should give it a try.
Angry Black Lady
@licensed to kill time: in my house, it’s usually “i’m going to drink ALL THE WHISKY.”
Michael D.
I am having my second surgery in the new year to correct a deviation and to remove polyps. Sinus surgery sucks – but not NEARLY as much as it did 10-15 years ago. My sister had to have her nose packed. Thankfully, I never did.
Gustopher
Three things:
1. Nasal rinse. Does wonders for modest sinus problems, and decent things for major sinus problems.
2. If you can delay sinus surgery without major discomfort, do it. The techniques get better all the time. If you must have it, just be glad you didn’t need it 10 years ago, or even 5.
3. Tunch is trying to kill you.
SectarianSofa
@Gustopher:
I’ve done the sinus irrigation thing for a long time. When that stopped working well enough, my ENT had me start putting medication into the saline. That didn’t work well enough, so she’s put me on a super-nebulizer with the medication in it ( http://www.sinusdynamics.com ) . Only been a couple of weeks, but so far so good. We’ll see. Somewhat of a pain in the ass (at least with 2x a day), but I had sinus surgery already a few years ago, and my ENT has tried the nebulized medication gizmo with a couple of other refractory patients with success. She’s a good surgeon, but she seems very intent on retaining that as a last option, which is nice.
SectarianSofa
Every time I see my ENT, she scopes my nose. (Er, ‘scopes’ using some kind of endoscope, which I never thought of getting a more accurate name for.) Apparently this counts as minor surgery and causes problems with some insurers. Fortunately I’ve been lucky there. Otherwise, I highly recommend it. Better than getting a CT scan twice a year.
SectarianSofa
@Michael D.:
It wasn’t so much that the packing was a problem. It just that when you are unpacked, they rip that shit out of the inside of your head. In my case, this involved a very disturbing hard yanking via forceps for waaay too long. I could see the bandage half-hanging out with the forceps attached, and I don’t remember for sure, but I swear the doc was pulling with both hands, bracing himself on the furniture and pulling with all his strength. All the while, it felt like being stung by a wasp in some remote and not-quite-identifiable inner-head location, which hurt nevertheless. And for whatever reason, I got to bleed a whole lot afterward. Not enough clotting going on or something. I was pretty sure I was going to die. Eventually they sprayed enough secret mystery science spray into my head to get it stop funneling blood backward into my stomach. Good, because puking blood is not the way to go.
I love sinuses!
SectarianSofa
@Angry Black Lady:
I almost but never quite tried that. Pretty sure the secret herb mix is just lead mixed with melamine, which scares me. Still, that the needle-prodding works is encouraging.