WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
A Random Act of (Very Loud) Kindness
byVanderleunonFebruary 19, 2020
Of late I’ve been searching for ways to save money AND alleviate the creeping numbness of my feet following the onset of what is softly known as “peripheral neuropathy,” a kind way of saying that lots of nerves in your feet have deteriorated and now report “fake news” to the brain. One of my methods is to get into strenuous walking and try to get up to 10,000 steps a day under the “use it or lose it” program. I’m currently at 3,000 steps and am upping the ante daily. I don’t know if this will work but with this affliction one is ready to try anything.
Be that as it may, I’ve learned to incorporate the steps into steps taken while shopping. Today I was at a local mall and towards the end was still about 500 steps short. I decided to walk them off in the local working man’s food store, Grocery Outlet “Welcome to Bargain Bliss”. After all, following last week’s Miracle of the Nickel Brautwurst, I never know what I may find that will help me in my budget. With my trusty pedometer counting up to 500 I roamed about the aisles “saving” money by getting a few things I didn’t really need.
I’d taken a turn into the last aisle before checking out when I noticed something called Suckerpunch Pickles, and since I am a sucker for pickles I pulled a jar off the shelf. As I did a big black leather wad fell off the top of the jar and onto the floor.
Looking down I saw it was a wallet. A big fat wallet. The kind of trifold man’s wallet that when folded is still about 3 inches fat jammed with all the necessities of the owner’s life. It was packed full of credit cards, memo cards, business cards, and a driver’s license. In the currency fold was a stack of bills about half an inch thick. It was a SERIOUS wallet. It was the kind of serious wallet that, had I lost it, I would have been backhoeing the shelves, the store, and the parking lot tarmac to find it. Any good man would know the trauma of losing such an object and seek, immediately, to locate the owner.
I took the wallet, went to the front of the store and alerted a cashier. “This is someone’s wallet and you need to announce it right away in case” (glancing at driver’s license) “N____ L___ P_______ is still in the store.” There was, at this point, a bit of delay in making the announcement and I was watching men leave the store by the second. Something needed to be done.
[Interlude: In my youth, I took several university-level courses in rhetoric and public speaking and developed certain vocal techniques that center on the concept of “projection.” As a result, I can, if I want to, turn my voice into a human loudspeaker.]
I reached into my odd skill set and then spoke:
“N____ L___ P_______ your wallet is at the front of the store! DO NOT GO HOME WITHOUT IT!
I may have cranked my internal volume knob to eleven as several cashiers shushingly assured me that I didn’t have to shout. I replied that in this case, I had to do all I could to return it to the owner. I wasn’t just going to leave it to the staff to put in the manager’s safe with a half-inch of cash in it.
Then, from far back in the store came, “I’m here. I’m here.” And there he was. Short and elderly and haggard and rumpled and sweating but with a look of supreme relief on his face.
I forked over the wallet and he thanked me. He thanked me profusely as I would have — and as any man would have to have been rescued — from that dire situation.
“You might want to go someplace right now and xerox every credit card and other important cards in that fatso right away. If it happens again you’ll at least have all the numbers in another place.”
I’d learned that the hard way when I’d mistakenly left my wallet in a Brooklyn gas station back in 1999.
He allowed how xeroxing was a good idea. I didn’t suggest that he put his wallet on a diet. Maybe he’d think of that himself.
It’s always better to give than to receive. I found an iPhone in the west end of Vancouver just before Christmas and the look of relief and happiness on the face of the young lady outside the apartment door when the elevator door opened and I held her phone up for her to see was at least as thrilling to me.
Walter SobchakFebruary 19, 2020, 3:21 PM
Dear Van der Leun:
I too am an old white man who has developed peripheral neuropathy. I spent a lot of quality time with my doctors who finally reached the conclusion that they do not know why it happened, but that there was nothing that could be done about it.
I have found that wearing compression socks full time (about 20 hours a day), putting good quality custom orthotics in my shoes, lacing the shoes tightly, and keeping them on my feet even when I am at home indoors, does help make it a bit less annoying.
My shoes are New Balance “Comfort Walkers” (MK706BK2). They usually have to be ordered from the New Balance company by your New Balance dealer, because they are not usually stocked in stores. They are very popular with Postal Workers because they are very comfortable and they do not have a logo on them. The Post Office rules say postmen should not wear anything with a non USPS logo on it. New Balance used to call them “Postal Walkers”, but some notorious incidents gave the adjective postal a bad odor.
The socks are:
Travelsox TSS6000 The Original Patented Graduated Compression Performance Travel & Dress Socks With DryStat OTC Pairs –https://www.amazon.com/Travelsox-Original-Graduated-Compression-Performance/dp/B000UQZB8K/
and
Travelsox Flight Travel Socks OTC Patented Graduated Compression, TS1000 –https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Z9X244/
They have the inestimable advantage of not looking like Nurse Ratched’s socks.
I will gladly share other thoughts on this subject if you ping me offline.
KJB: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. .. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
You added to your heavenly stash this day.
I’ve found a few wallets, but never ones with any cash or credit cards inside. Mostly I’ve found them kayaking downstream from the highway bridge in Hanover, and some purses. Some keys other stuff in the purses. All of them ripped off out of cars parked in the local mall and tossed when the bridge was reached after clearing out the valuables.
The Desk Sargent always seemed a little annoyed to see me (usually wet and muddy) walk in and plop down the sodden leather.
Lance de BoyleFebruary 19, 2020, 4:20 PM
Left a stack of cards on the roof of my car as I prepared for a walk. [dumb ass]
Drove away later and they all blew off. [cause and effect, dumb ass]
Danged if people didn’t show up at my door with most of the cards that had been all over the streets.
The good people of Wrightsville Beach, NC., where half-nekkid coeds reveal The Lord’s Excellent Aesthetics.
“I’m especially pleased with my idea for hooters in front instead of in back, as suggested by that idiot Lucifer.” http://surfchex.com
ghostsniperFebruary 19, 2020, 5:32 PM
Heed. Not exactly wallet stuff but certainly wallet content. Sort of.
Couple weeks ago on a Sat my bank texted me and asked if I made a $17.92 purchase at a convenience store in India. Click here, if I did. Click over here if I did not. I clicked over here and laid the phone down. 1 minute later it rang and I answered. It was a bank employee telling my debit card number was being fraudulently used so they shut it down and I could no longer use it. On a weekend.
I only use my debit card at 4 places, all of them very large companies that everyone has heard of, so how could this happen? By the way, the same thing happened about 2 years ago. I was told about a system called “random generator” and it appears my debit card number was cued. Again.
See, it’s become custom for merchants to NOT require a PIN number if the amount of the purchase is less than $40. So, people can just fabricate numbers and try them out with under $40 purchases. On Monday I went to the bank and got a new debit card and then later went to amazon and changed my payment method.
After the first time this happened 2 years ago I changed my ways and started carrying cash for local purchases for the most part. As it appears use and exposure has little to do with the debit card fraud I may just get rid of it all together and just cease doing bidnit with amazon. I don’t really want to do that because of the convenience of getting 40lb bags of Iams dog and cat foods delivered to the door for free but, as Dylan said, the times they are a changing….perhaps faster than I am comfortable with. I’ve had 2 warnings now, what do I need, a bullet to the head, before I get the message?
Walter SobchakFebruary 19, 2020, 6:56 PM
Dear Van der Leun:
I too am an old white man who has developed peripheral neuropathy. I spent a lot of quality time with my doctors who finally reached the conclusion that they do not know why it happened, but that there was nothing that could be done about it.
I have found that wearing compression socks full time (about 20 hours a day), putting good quality custom orthotics in my shoes, lacing the shoes tightly, and keeping them on my feet even when I am at home indoors, does help make it a bit less annoying.
My shoes are New Balance “Comfort Walkers” (MK706BK2). They usually have to be ordered from the New Balance company by your New Balance dealer, because they are not usually stocked in stores. They are very popular with Postal Workers because they are very comfortable and they do not have a logo on them. The Post Office rules say postmen should not wear anything with a non USPS logo on it. New Balance used to call them “Postal Walkers”, but some notorious incidents gave the adjective postal a bad odor.
The socks are:
Travelsox TSS6000 The Original Patented Graduated Compression Performance Travel & Dress Socks With DryStat OTC Pairs –https://www.amazon.com/Travelsox-Original-Graduated-Compression-Performance/dp/B000UQZB8K/
and
Travelsox Flight Travel Socks OTC Patented Graduated Compression, TS1000 –https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Z9X244/
They have the inestimable advantage of not looking like Nurse Ratched’s socks.
I will gladly share other thoughts on this subject if you ping me offline.
Walter SobchakFebruary 19, 2020, 11:59 PM
Van der Leun:
Sorry for the double post there. Feel free to delete one or both.
JoeDaddyFebruary 20, 2020, 3:43 AM
I ain’t no Dr.., but I know NUTRITION. Peripheral neuropathy is a symptom of long term nutrient deficiency. Better check out Ben Fuchs, Robert Scott Bell, David Brownstein, Joel Wallach and other professionals to arrest the creep of the neuropathy. Take care. MAGNESIUM!
Snakepit KansasFebruary 20, 2020, 4:39 AM
Walter double posted! Welcome to the club!
Annie RoseFebruary 20, 2020, 5:13 AM
I have developed peripheral neuropathy in my feet. Mine is related to my metatarsals. I would recommend a checkup by your doctor and a podiatrist…and a good pair of supportive walking shoes. My orthotics have made a real difference. Good on you for being a Good Samaritan.
My debit card was used at a Dollar Store in Charlotte NC, for 580 bucks. I thought to myself, What would 580 bucks get you at the Dollar Store? I immediately said, Hmmmm. 580 things. I don’t use my debit card much anymore.
lpdbwFebruary 20, 2020, 5:48 AM
My dear VDL,
If the cause of your neuropathy is Type II Diabetes, as it often is, please attend to your nutrition as JoeDaddy asks. Just don’t follow the advice he points to, based on starches and coming from anti-vaxxers. (Based on a cursory google of those names. Pardon me if I was misled).
Diabetes is an insulin-related disorder, and eating plants and beans and sugars and starches is no help to you at all.
I am sad, angered and disappointed to know that many people I admire and respect are going to die too young because they listen to vegans and doctors, and don’t eat a natural human diet, high in meat and low in carbs. Ancel Keys may have done more to damage the health of Americans than any other group or individual in history.
Neuropathy may not be reversible, but stopping all sugar and starch in your diet may arrest the progression, and remove the need for constant monitoring and supplemental insulin injections.
Alternative names you might want to look at are Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Eric Westman, and Gary Taubes. Meatrx.com is a one new website focused on restoring health by returning to a largely meat diet.
In a just world, people who used government power to push bad food would be punished. In this world, they are rewarded.
I hate to sound as strident as a vegan, but there are people in this world I would hate to lose. You’re one of them.
Sincerely,
lp
Nobody AtallFebruary 20, 2020, 6:42 AM
Re Amazon payment: buy Amazon gift cards with cash from the local chain grocery or wally or wherever gift cards are sold (seems like everywhere around here). Load into your Amazon account, commence shopping. An extra step, to be sure, but exposure remains limited.
LP.. My father had diabetes, I remember him checking his feet every morning. Because of him I gave up using sugar completely and so far so good. Also carbs when I got to the point that I knew I had to lose weight, dropped 35 pounds in six months. But saying goodbye to beer was tough.
ATM cars are for the ATM machine at the issuing bank. Credit cards only, the consumer fraud protection on hacked cards is solid.
ghostsniperFebruary 20, 2020, 8:03 AM
@nobody, good idea, thanks!
Gordon ScottFebruary 20, 2020, 8:28 AM
I, too wear compression socks, and good quality New Balance shoes (mine are 928) and I walk around a lot. I think that’s what’s holding off diabetes on me.
I can get the 928s at local stores, as they’re a popular style. About $140, but they last. As for compression socks, they are really hard to get on the first few times until you learn the trick. After that….well, on Amazon they come in amazing colors and styles, because the number one customer for them is Nurse NotRatched.
I also watch for them at the local Aldi store. They show up from time to time, and they cost about 1/3 of the Amazon price.
As for big companies, my wife made a payment over the phone to the phone company about 20 years ago. They were using contractors, and the contractor wrote down her info, and it was used to pay for car repairs. We got the money back, but it was about two weeks.
There’s something to be said about a coffee can in the backyard, for a savings account.
Gordon ScottFebruary 20, 2020, 8:35 AM
Oh, the human-powered PA: I can do that also. I was in a Gander Mountain sporting goods store one weekday. There were few customers and the employees were invisible. I could not see one anywhere. After looking for a while I projected “Can anyone help me in the cooking equipment?” A guy showed up. He was angry. Instead of “Gosh, I’m sorry you had to yell like that. How can I help?” I got “You didn’t have to do that.”
I needed what he helped me find, as there was no substitute and I was on the clock. But I haven’t purchased there again. The chain went bankrupt a couple of years later.
VanderleunFebruary 20, 2020, 8:51 AM
So much great insight and advice. Perhaps I shall with my readers’ help find, if not a cure, a way to turn down the volume of my feet’s fake news.
Checking into the compression socks and have also cut out sugar (mostly).
Gordon ScottFebruary 20, 2020, 10:25 AM
Gerard, check email.
AggieFebruary 20, 2020, 10:26 AM
Hoping for the best in the neuropathy symptoms, and karma will smile on your kindness and caring for returning that poor guy’s wallet. Nobody here has mentioned anything about the pickles though, and I can only highly recommend Famous Dave’s “Devil’s Spit” bread and butter pickle slices, made together with hot red peppers right in the bottle. Awesome.
B PetersonFebruary 20, 2020, 1:04 PM
I had type 2 diabetes with peripheral neuropathy. My feet tingled. They were numb. I stopped the neuropathy completely by mostly removing carbohydrates from my diet.
For example, yesterday for my first meal of the day (delayed until noon) I ate 2 eggs cooked in the microwave, two chopped-up onions, also cooked in the microwave, and two strips of bacon. For my second meal (at 6 pm) I ate two eggs, a sweet potato cooked in lots of butter, and a small portion of chuck roast.
In return for eliminating so many kinds of food, have an HbA1c reading of 5.5, and a disappearance of diabetic symptoms.
I used to subscribe to the homily that pain is nature’s way of tellin’ you you hadn’t otta be doing whatever’s causing the hurt.
Alas, as I grow far older I figure pain is nature’s way of telling me I’m still alive. Oh well….
ChrisFebruary 20, 2020, 2:59 PM
Hey GS! Here’s a thought see if people will start accepting junk silver as payment,ya know Nicklels,dimes,quarters. Some people have bags of the “junk silver” as a hedge. And they’re still out their circulating.
I can remember my father in law buying tools and what back in the day.
Chris
captfleeFebruary 20, 2020, 3:28 PM
Hey, Lance!
Something’s wrong with the view from the Oceanic- looks damned cold and wet, and no callipyges in yoga pants (or less) are to be descried, though I suppose that for the sake of we present locals a grim and unpleasant face presented to the world might at least help to slow the invasion. I thought that stretch back in the nineties where five eyes ( one Cat 3, two Cat 2s, and two Cat 1s ) passed overhead would do it, but was sorely wrong regarding the seemingly perverse impact of The Weather Channel upon viewers elsewhere. As a son of the City of Oaks I am no stranger to metastasizing population influx and its decidedly mixed blessings, and note that we here are now about the same population as was Raleigh when I departed 45 years ago. Now, I make no claim on being around in 2065, but my son should be about my age then, and I would rather not have him and his progeny jammed onto this sandbar with a half million souls, irrespective of their previous domicile, whether Squatemalan or FLID.
Gerard;
As a ten mile a day flaneur myself, and a New Balance user, you appear to be getting pretty good advice. Work up to 10,000 gradually.
Watch out for blisters. As a preventative you might consider the offerings of wrightsock.com. Since my discovery of their socks years ago I have not had a hint of a blister. Oh, yeah…what got my old fat ass out there was a bad A1C, but that resolved itself pretty quickly. Simplest exercise in the world, and one that allows one space and time for contemplation. Or, if one wishes to remain plugged in, a universe of information can flow through your earbuds as you puff along. At least you’ve got some terrain…
Snakepit KansasFebruary 20, 2020, 6:06 PM
Gerard,
Most of us already know you well enough to have anticipated that you would have made such efforts to get a wallet back to its rightful owner. That is what kind of guy you are. Golden Rule. Glad to know you sir.
Couple of toes on my left foot are tingly a good amount of the time due to getting my butt-ocks impaled by a piece of sheet metal in 2003 after falling off a ladder. Long term nerve damage and an impressive scar. I’d pay close attention to the advice about possible oncoming diabetes. Prayers from me.
Credit Cards…yeah, I’ve had fake charges from India show up and have to get a new card. I put EVERYTHING I can on my CC, especially business travel and business expenses. I pay it off every month in full and never pay interest. I regularly get several hundred dollars back per year from the cash back benefit.
pfsmFebruary 22, 2020, 10:41 PM
If you do end up doing more walking, something I highly recommend, there is something special about walking on a path through the woods. You may not be as lucky as I am; I have more woods trails in easy driving distance than I can keep up with, and a few in walking distance.
I wouldn’t be screwing around with the diet much…at your age you know what tastes good to you and doesn’t make you feel bad when you eat it….
VanderleunFebruary 23, 2020, 7:09 AM
Great disicipline on the credit cards, snakepit.
And a very good hint from pfsm about walking in the woods. I’m going to start that today.
Larry GeigerFebruary 23, 2020, 9:21 AM
Myeloma medicine side effect is sometimes peripheral neuropathy. I take a little B12 in the mornings and it seems to be holding it a bay somewhat. Suggested by the oncologist. May have no good effect on your problem.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
It’s always better to give than to receive. I found an iPhone in the west end of Vancouver just before Christmas and the look of relief and happiness on the face of the young lady outside the apartment door when the elevator door opened and I held her phone up for her to see was at least as thrilling to me.
Dear Van der Leun:
I too am an old white man who has developed peripheral neuropathy. I spent a lot of quality time with my doctors who finally reached the conclusion that they do not know why it happened, but that there was nothing that could be done about it.
I have found that wearing compression socks full time (about 20 hours a day), putting good quality custom orthotics in my shoes, lacing the shoes tightly, and keeping them on my feet even when I am at home indoors, does help make it a bit less annoying.
My shoes are New Balance “Comfort Walkers” (MK706BK2). They usually have to be ordered from the New Balance company by your New Balance dealer, because they are not usually stocked in stores. They are very popular with Postal Workers because they are very comfortable and they do not have a logo on them. The Post Office rules say postmen should not wear anything with a non USPS logo on it. New Balance used to call them “Postal Walkers”, but some notorious incidents gave the adjective postal a bad odor.
The socks are:
Travelsox TSS6000 The Original Patented Graduated Compression Performance Travel & Dress Socks With DryStat OTC Pairs –https://www.amazon.com/Travelsox-Original-Graduated-Compression-Performance/dp/B000UQZB8K/
and
Travelsox Flight Travel Socks OTC Patented Graduated Compression, TS1000 –https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Z9X244/
They have the inestimable advantage of not looking like Nurse Ratched’s socks.
I will gladly share other thoughts on this subject if you ping me offline.
KJB: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. .. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
You added to your heavenly stash this day.
I’ve found a few wallets, but never ones with any cash or credit cards inside. Mostly I’ve found them kayaking downstream from the highway bridge in Hanover, and some purses. Some keys other stuff in the purses. All of them ripped off out of cars parked in the local mall and tossed when the bridge was reached after clearing out the valuables.
The Desk Sargent always seemed a little annoyed to see me (usually wet and muddy) walk in and plop down the sodden leather.
Left a stack of cards on the roof of my car as I prepared for a walk. [dumb ass]
Drove away later and they all blew off. [cause and effect, dumb ass]
Danged if people didn’t show up at my door with most of the cards that had been all over the streets.
The good people of Wrightsville Beach, NC., where half-nekkid coeds reveal The Lord’s Excellent Aesthetics.
“I’m especially pleased with my idea for hooters in front instead of in back, as suggested by that idiot Lucifer.”
http://surfchex.com
Heed. Not exactly wallet stuff but certainly wallet content. Sort of.
Couple weeks ago on a Sat my bank texted me and asked if I made a $17.92 purchase at a convenience store in India. Click here, if I did. Click over here if I did not. I clicked over here and laid the phone down. 1 minute later it rang and I answered. It was a bank employee telling my debit card number was being fraudulently used so they shut it down and I could no longer use it. On a weekend.
I only use my debit card at 4 places, all of them very large companies that everyone has heard of, so how could this happen? By the way, the same thing happened about 2 years ago. I was told about a system called “random generator” and it appears my debit card number was cued. Again.
See, it’s become custom for merchants to NOT require a PIN number if the amount of the purchase is less than $40. So, people can just fabricate numbers and try them out with under $40 purchases. On Monday I went to the bank and got a new debit card and then later went to amazon and changed my payment method.
After the first time this happened 2 years ago I changed my ways and started carrying cash for local purchases for the most part. As it appears use and exposure has little to do with the debit card fraud I may just get rid of it all together and just cease doing bidnit with amazon. I don’t really want to do that because of the convenience of getting 40lb bags of Iams dog and cat foods delivered to the door for free but, as Dylan said, the times they are a changing….perhaps faster than I am comfortable with. I’ve had 2 warnings now, what do I need, a bullet to the head, before I get the message?
Dear Van der Leun:
I too am an old white man who has developed peripheral neuropathy. I spent a lot of quality time with my doctors who finally reached the conclusion that they do not know why it happened, but that there was nothing that could be done about it.
I have found that wearing compression socks full time (about 20 hours a day), putting good quality custom orthotics in my shoes, lacing the shoes tightly, and keeping them on my feet even when I am at home indoors, does help make it a bit less annoying.
My shoes are New Balance “Comfort Walkers” (MK706BK2). They usually have to be ordered from the New Balance company by your New Balance dealer, because they are not usually stocked in stores. They are very popular with Postal Workers because they are very comfortable and they do not have a logo on them. The Post Office rules say postmen should not wear anything with a non USPS logo on it. New Balance used to call them “Postal Walkers”, but some notorious incidents gave the adjective postal a bad odor.
The socks are:
Travelsox TSS6000 The Original Patented Graduated Compression Performance Travel & Dress Socks With DryStat OTC Pairs –https://www.amazon.com/Travelsox-Original-Graduated-Compression-Performance/dp/B000UQZB8K/
and
Travelsox Flight Travel Socks OTC Patented Graduated Compression, TS1000 –https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Z9X244/
They have the inestimable advantage of not looking like Nurse Ratched’s socks.
I will gladly share other thoughts on this subject if you ping me offline.
Van der Leun:
Sorry for the double post there. Feel free to delete one or both.
I ain’t no Dr.., but I know NUTRITION. Peripheral neuropathy is a symptom of long term nutrient deficiency. Better check out Ben Fuchs, Robert Scott Bell, David Brownstein, Joel Wallach and other professionals to arrest the creep of the neuropathy. Take care. MAGNESIUM!
Walter double posted! Welcome to the club!
I have developed peripheral neuropathy in my feet. Mine is related to my metatarsals. I would recommend a checkup by your doctor and a podiatrist…and a good pair of supportive walking shoes. My orthotics have made a real difference. Good on you for being a Good Samaritan.
My debit card was used at a Dollar Store in Charlotte NC, for 580 bucks. I thought to myself, What would 580 bucks get you at the Dollar Store? I immediately said, Hmmmm. 580 things. I don’t use my debit card much anymore.
My dear VDL,
If the cause of your neuropathy is Type II Diabetes, as it often is, please attend to your nutrition as JoeDaddy asks. Just don’t follow the advice he points to, based on starches and coming from anti-vaxxers. (Based on a cursory google of those names. Pardon me if I was misled).
Diabetes is an insulin-related disorder, and eating plants and beans and sugars and starches is no help to you at all.
I am sad, angered and disappointed to know that many people I admire and respect are going to die too young because they listen to vegans and doctors, and don’t eat a natural human diet, high in meat and low in carbs. Ancel Keys may have done more to damage the health of Americans than any other group or individual in history.
Neuropathy may not be reversible, but stopping all sugar and starch in your diet may arrest the progression, and remove the need for constant monitoring and supplemental insulin injections.
Alternative names you might want to look at are Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Eric Westman, and Gary Taubes. Meatrx.com is a one new website focused on restoring health by returning to a largely meat diet.
In a just world, people who used government power to push bad food would be punished. In this world, they are rewarded.
I hate to sound as strident as a vegan, but there are people in this world I would hate to lose. You’re one of them.
Sincerely,
lp
Re Amazon payment: buy Amazon gift cards with cash from the local chain grocery or wally or wherever gift cards are sold (seems like everywhere around here). Load into your Amazon account, commence shopping. An extra step, to be sure, but exposure remains limited.
LP.. My father had diabetes, I remember him checking his feet every morning. Because of him I gave up using sugar completely and so far so good. Also carbs when I got to the point that I knew I had to lose weight, dropped 35 pounds in six months. But saying goodbye to beer was tough.
ATM cars are for the ATM machine at the issuing bank. Credit cards only, the consumer fraud protection on hacked cards is solid.
@nobody, good idea, thanks!
I, too wear compression socks, and good quality New Balance shoes (mine are 928) and I walk around a lot. I think that’s what’s holding off diabetes on me.
I can get the 928s at local stores, as they’re a popular style. About $140, but they last. As for compression socks, they are really hard to get on the first few times until you learn the trick. After that….well, on Amazon they come in amazing colors and styles, because the number one customer for them is Nurse NotRatched.
I also watch for them at the local Aldi store. They show up from time to time, and they cost about 1/3 of the Amazon price.
As for big companies, my wife made a payment over the phone to the phone company about 20 years ago. They were using contractors, and the contractor wrote down her info, and it was used to pay for car repairs. We got the money back, but it was about two weeks.
There’s something to be said about a coffee can in the backyard, for a savings account.
Oh, the human-powered PA: I can do that also. I was in a Gander Mountain sporting goods store one weekday. There were few customers and the employees were invisible. I could not see one anywhere. After looking for a while I projected “Can anyone help me in the cooking equipment?” A guy showed up. He was angry. Instead of “Gosh, I’m sorry you had to yell like that. How can I help?” I got “You didn’t have to do that.”
I needed what he helped me find, as there was no substitute and I was on the clock. But I haven’t purchased there again. The chain went bankrupt a couple of years later.
So much great insight and advice. Perhaps I shall with my readers’ help find, if not a cure, a way to turn down the volume of my feet’s fake news.
Checking into the compression socks and have also cut out sugar (mostly).
Gerard, check email.
Hoping for the best in the neuropathy symptoms, and karma will smile on your kindness and caring for returning that poor guy’s wallet. Nobody here has mentioned anything about the pickles though, and I can only highly recommend Famous Dave’s “Devil’s Spit” bread and butter pickle slices, made together with hot red peppers right in the bottle. Awesome.
I had type 2 diabetes with peripheral neuropathy. My feet tingled. They were numb. I stopped the neuropathy completely by mostly removing carbohydrates from my diet.
For example, yesterday for my first meal of the day (delayed until noon) I ate 2 eggs cooked in the microwave, two chopped-up onions, also cooked in the microwave, and two strips of bacon. For my second meal (at 6 pm) I ate two eggs, a sweet potato cooked in lots of butter, and a small portion of chuck roast.
In return for eliminating so many kinds of food, have an HbA1c reading of 5.5, and a disappearance of diabetic symptoms.
I used to subscribe to the homily that pain is nature’s way of tellin’ you you hadn’t otta be doing whatever’s causing the hurt.
Alas, as I grow far older I figure pain is nature’s way of telling me I’m still alive. Oh well….
Hey GS! Here’s a thought see if people will start accepting junk silver as payment,ya know Nicklels,dimes,quarters. Some people have bags of the “junk silver” as a hedge. And they’re still out their circulating.
I can remember my father in law buying tools and what back in the day.
Chris
Hey, Lance!
Something’s wrong with the view from the Oceanic- looks damned cold and wet, and no callipyges in yoga pants (or less) are to be descried, though I suppose that for the sake of we present locals a grim and unpleasant face presented to the world might at least help to slow the invasion. I thought that stretch back in the nineties where five eyes ( one Cat 3, two Cat 2s, and two Cat 1s ) passed overhead would do it, but was sorely wrong regarding the seemingly perverse impact of The Weather Channel upon viewers elsewhere. As a son of the City of Oaks I am no stranger to metastasizing population influx and its decidedly mixed blessings, and note that we here are now about the same population as was Raleigh when I departed 45 years ago. Now, I make no claim on being around in 2065, but my son should be about my age then, and I would rather not have him and his progeny jammed onto this sandbar with a half million souls, irrespective of their previous domicile, whether Squatemalan or FLID.
Gerard;
As a ten mile a day flaneur myself, and a New Balance user, you appear to be getting pretty good advice. Work up to 10,000 gradually.
Watch out for blisters. As a preventative you might consider the offerings of wrightsock.com. Since my discovery of their socks years ago I have not had a hint of a blister. Oh, yeah…what got my old fat ass out there was a bad A1C, but that resolved itself pretty quickly. Simplest exercise in the world, and one that allows one space and time for contemplation. Or, if one wishes to remain plugged in, a universe of information can flow through your earbuds as you puff along. At least you’ve got some terrain…
Gerard,
Most of us already know you well enough to have anticipated that you would have made such efforts to get a wallet back to its rightful owner. That is what kind of guy you are. Golden Rule. Glad to know you sir.
Couple of toes on my left foot are tingly a good amount of the time due to getting my butt-ocks impaled by a piece of sheet metal in 2003 after falling off a ladder. Long term nerve damage and an impressive scar. I’d pay close attention to the advice about possible oncoming diabetes. Prayers from me.
Credit Cards…yeah, I’ve had fake charges from India show up and have to get a new card. I put EVERYTHING I can on my CC, especially business travel and business expenses. I pay it off every month in full and never pay interest. I regularly get several hundred dollars back per year from the cash back benefit.
If you do end up doing more walking, something I highly recommend, there is something special about walking on a path through the woods. You may not be as lucky as I am; I have more woods trails in easy driving distance than I can keep up with, and a few in walking distance.
I wouldn’t be screwing around with the diet much…at your age you know what tastes good to you and doesn’t make you feel bad when you eat it….
Great disicipline on the credit cards, snakepit.
And a very good hint from pfsm about walking in the woods. I’m going to start that today.
Myeloma medicine side effect is sometimes peripheral neuropathy. I take a little B12 in the mornings and it seems to be holding it a bay somewhat. Suggested by the oncologist. May have no good effect on your problem.