Tuesday, August 25th, 2015

I got up once at 4am and had difficulty getting back to sleep, again at 7am to take my prostate biopsy tablet (have to continue for another week) and had trouble getting back to sleep, finally waking/getting up at 8:50.

Leonardo showed up at 9:30 to fix the leaks in the roof.  As far as I can tell he just moves the tiles around.

Regarding yesterday’s procedure, this is what I learned from Wikipedia:

Ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy

The procedure may be performed transrectally, through the urethra or through the perineum. The most common method of prostate biopsy as of 2014 was transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate (TRUS) biopsy.^[3]
Extended biopsy schemes take 12-14 cores from the prostate gland through a thin needle in a systematic fashion from different regions of the prostate.^[4]
Antibiotics are usually prescribed to minimize the risk of infection. An enema may also be prescribed for the morning of the procedure. In the transrectal procedure, an ultrasound probe is inserted into the rectum to help guide the biopsy needles. A local anesthetic is then administered into the tissue around the prostate. A spring-loaded prostate tissue biopsy needle is then inserted into the prostate, making a clicking sound. If local anesthetic is satisfactory, discomfort is minimal.
The tissue samples are then examined under a microscope to determine whether cancer cells are present, and to evaluate the microscopic features (or Gleason score) of any cancer found. Gleason score, PSA, and digital rectal examination together determine clinical risk, which then dictates treatment options.

Yesterday we ran out of dog food so I gave Laura 20mil to buy some today after school.  I gave each of the terriers 2 dog biscuits to hold them over.  Peter was elsewhere at the time and when he finally came back I tried to get him inside to isolate him from the others so I could give him his 2 dog biscuits.  But Tony wouldn’t allow him inside and there was a fight, instigated by Tony, until Teresa poured water on top of him.  I finally got Peter inside and gave him his dog biscuits.

Teresa received a phone call, probably from Olga, and she told me something about “change, Olga, tomorrow and Envigado”.  So I guess we’re going to Envigado tomorrow for something.

I took a nap from noon to 1:15.

It started raining at 2:10 and when I went out back to retrieve mby towel Leonardo was cleaning leaves out from between the roofing tiles.  Soon he was inside having a Tinto, the traditional Colombian cup of coffee.  The rain stopped 15 minutes later and Teresa went with him down the hill, I believe to fix the water pipes.  She had bought some connectors weeks ago.  It started raining again at 2:55.  It stopped 10 minutes later.  She came in at 3:10 looking for the insect spray.  I told her she should always keep it in the same place.  She has a habit of moving things around like the cell phone, etc.

When they came back about 4pm I noticed Leonardo was scratching his arms all over.  He went back to work on the water tubing.  He finished at 4:45 and we can now use the toilet again.  I think it was an outflow pipe that he fixed.  Teresa paid him 80mil for his efforts.

Teresa showed me all the bites on her legs from bring in the garden – maybe I should call it what it really is – the jungle.

I reordered the bunsen burner gas igniter to be sent to my son.

I watched A Beautiful Mind (8.2).

I understand tomorrow we’ll be leaving early, meeting Olga at Carbón de Leña in Envigado, I’ll print and fax some documents and then we’ll go somewhere in Itagui to submit my lab samples. And she tells me she wants to leave at 6:45 in the morning, but I have no idea why so early.  Something about it’s hard to catch a bus.

I started watching A Clockwork Orange (8.4) but I stopped after the first 7 minutes.  I have recollections about this being a very violent film where a gang is bullying a family and the beginning didn’t improve on that impression.  Despite its high rating I guess this will be one movie I’ll never see from start to finish.

I started watching A Knight’s Tale (6.9).

I set the alarm for 5:30am, took my sleeping pills at 10pm and went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: Run to me.