January 2022

MAN VERSUS MACHINE

I like machines. Occasionally, usually on the couch, I envision an idyllic future, like the one in The Jetsons, where a robot rolls over to me with a martini. In the timeless classic by Flight of the Concords, the song Robots, set in “the distant future, the year 2000”, it is Man vs. Robot. The song is so good I’m rooting for the robots! And who could forget Short Circuit, the 1986 film starring Steve Guttenberg alongside a delightful robot, Number 5? The picture also gave us the hit single Who’s Johnny, by El Debarge. Okay, fine. Most people forgot that film but I did not! #neverforget!

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Bobby G Markham

Bobby G Markham passed away December 16, 2021, at the age of 90. Bobby was born to Albert and Mable Markham on October 16, 1931, on a farm in south-eastern Kansas. He was the fifth of six children in the family

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Some medicines can make blood sugar control harder

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have been prediabetic for around 13 years and had been able to keep it that way though diet and exercise -- no medications for it. But the real issue now is that I have developed congstive heart failure, which probably sounds worse than it really is. However, the medications I have been given for it (Lasix, spironolactone, carvedilol) from my cardiologist and finasteride for prostate issues have totally ruined my glucose numbers. I used to see around 100 in the mornings. I almost never got to the 120s. Now after a couple months on those drugs I am seeing closer to 150 in the morning. After meals the numbers are running nearly 100 points higher than without them. My doctor tried to get me a drug, but that was so expensive as a copay that I had to tell the drugstore I couldn’t afford that, which I can’t. When I google what to do when your glucose is affected by medication, I get all kinds of sites, but none really seem to have an alternative to the regimen I am now having to take. So, to fix one issue, I fear the diabetes I have worked so hard to contain is going to become a serious problem. What do I do? -- L.H.

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