Practicalhealthguide.com is, among other things, about me; Mr. Practical. I am a mature man with white hair and beard. I pride myself in being practical and in control of myself.  At one time I was a smoker. I couldn’t wait to get some place where I could light up. One day I said to myself look at you. You’re not in control of yourself when it comes to smoking. At the same time I was awakening every morning to a terrible taste in my mouth. I said to myself these cigarettes are killing me. The two thoughts gave me the impetus to stop. One day I got up with that taste in my mouth, took the half pack I had in the house and through it in the garbage can, never to even take a puff again.

Three weeks later I went to the dentist for checkup. He found that the tars from smoking had pushed my gums up and away from the teeth where food particles could get imbedded and rot. This caused the gum disease resulting in the terrible taste in my mouth.  With in six months of not smoking I had gained a great deal of weight.  I again said to myself, you licked the smoking problem, now lick the weight problem. How? I decided the right way was to exercise and diet. I read a pamphlet about the Canadian Air force exercise program. I adapted that with some changes and simplified it for myself.  At the same time I tried different diets. The exercise helped but I still seemed to regain some of the weight.

Then I simplified the concept of my diet. I have lost the excess weight and kept it off. At the same time I have developed definition on my chest, muscles on my biceps, keep my legs muscles in good condition  and flexible.  I have never spent a dime for conditioning or special diets. My body mass is 20 and I am feeling great See my Home category for what I do and Practical category for other practical tips and some of the other health benefits of staying in conditioning.

I have been retired over 12 years now. I was a financial consultant that traveled to 45 states and over seas on assignments, testified in court as an expert witness on financial maters and conducted financial seminars. One of my repetitive clients hired me away to develop a financial department to analyze prospective mergers, acquisitions or spin-off and for financial planning.

For a good part of those 12 retirement years my wife and I used to travel. We toured much of Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada as well as the states. We also took a land tour of and a cruise around Alaska. We have sailed on cruise ships to almost everywhere in the Caribbean and the West Coast of the USA and Mexico. Unfortunately my wife has been in an Assisted Living Facility for the last year. Now I just see that she is cared for.

More about Me

Although I am in excellent condition I have had one handicap most of my life. I was, and again am Hard of Hearing. When I was just 4 or 5 years old I could hear my mother talk to me from another room. When I was in the second grade in elementary school I asked the teacher if I could leave the class room to use the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom I took a drink of water from the fountain that was out in front of the boy’s room. When I finished taking my drink I was suddenly spun around and shaken by my former 1^st grade teacher. She said I had become insolent since I was in her class in 1^st grade. She asked why I did not reply to her calls to me to ask how I was doing. I told her I did not hear her. She said then I’m sending you upstairs to the Doctors office to have your hearing tested. Sure enough it was not up to where it should have been. As time went by my hearing declined. When I was 10 my parents took me to and ear Surgeon to have my hearing checked. He found the problem to be with the bone structure in the middle ear. The Doctor suggested an operation called a Fenestration. One of the meanings in the dictionary for fenestration is an opening in a surface such as a wall or membrane. In this case make and opening by making a hole through the overgrown bones.  Although only 10, and without any prompting from my parents I asked is this operation dangerous? He said it is a tricky procedure and therefore could be very dangerous if anything goes wrong. I then asked what the success rate has been when everything goes right. He said 50%. Of that 50% did any patients regress backward? Yes. What percentage? 50% was his answer. I looked at my Mom and Dad and said there is only a 25% success rate from a very dangerous procedure. Save your hard earned money, I’ll survive and let’s get out of here.  When I was 14 I went swimming at a large pool. I dove off a 10 foot high diving board and discovered an instant and material decline in my hearing.

More About Me Part 2

After schooling and marriage my wife and I were watching a documentary on ear surgery. It seems a Doctor was about to perform a Fenestration operation (the same as the one I declined) While getting ready the Doctor was prodding in the middle ear when the patient (who is not sedated) yelled out I can hear, I can hear. The Doctor aborted the operation and tried to figure out what had just happened. The long and short of it was he sort out persons with middle ear hearing problems.  After experimenting on volunteers he discovered the Stapes Bone must vibrate in the Window Bone that contains a membrane with the mastoids behind it. I immediately researched how to get in touch with one of the only two Doctors that knew how to perform this operation. I got an appointment about six months latter. His examination determined that I was a candidate for this procedure but that all his experience was with people who have experienced hearing difficulty with in the last two years plus or minus a little. He said that you have had this problem for years and there maybe nothing he can do. I asked him how he will know. He said he will peel back the ear drum and look. If he can’t do anything I will still have to pay for the operating room etc. I then asked the same questions I asked when I was ten. Is this operation dangerous?  Basically he said it is no more dangerous than an appendectomy that has not ruptured. What is your success rate? His answer was 100%. Has anyone retrogressed? No. I figured this was a gamble of hearing or money. I made an appointment to be operated on as soon as possible. He said we will start with your right ear which has more loss than the left. If successful the left ear can be operated on one year later.

As I lay on my left side on the operating table I saw this giant magnifying glass moved into position over the right side of my face. When the Doctor peered through it I saw one big giant of an eyeball looking through it.  I could feel more than hear grinding, scraping and sucking going on. All of a sudden I went from silence to sounds including the dropping of his tools in a tray a nurse was holding to the rustling of their starched operating aprons. I too yelled out I can hear. He said be quite and don’t move. I’m not finished yet. Latter that day and the next every musical instrument on the radio sounded screechy and was indistinguishable. I couldn’t smell or taste anything and felt like I had one too many drinks. All this was due to swelling in the ear. Within a week everything was back to normal with the exception of the drunken feeling. Like magic I can hear and didn’t need a Hearing Aid. The subsequent hearing tests on that ear the Doctor said were above normal.  With time the noise of the city would degrease my “virgin ears” some what.