The Breath of Life

Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Breathing is fundamental to life. If we do not take in sufficient oxygen or get rid of CO2 it affects every part of our body. For this reason I have been using a ventilator at night to keep a proper balance of oxygen and CO2 in my system.

There are types of ventilators that give Positive Airway Pressure support, called CPAP and BIPAP. I used a BIPAP machine for a while in January/ February 2007 but my condition continued to worsen and I need the extra support of a volume ventilator.

The ventilator I use is called a Respironics PLV 100. It is called a volume ventilator because it gives a measured volume of air on each breath. At night it is connected through a hose to my trach tube. It is set to give me 0.37 liters of air on each breath for a minimum of 10 breaths per minute. Room air is about 20% oxygen, but extra oxygen is added to the ventilator air to bring it up to 30%. The machine I have on a bedside table looks like this picture:

I found a video of what the ventilator looks like internally. I have always been fascinated by how things work. There is a microprocessor that controls a motor driven piston to give a measured volume of air on each breath. In the video you can hear the rhythmic breathing sound similar to what I have while I use it at night. After about 20 months of using it every night I have gotten quite used to the sound and feel of it. Elaine has also gotten used to it and can pretty well sleep through it. And I am thankful that each night it helps me get a sufficient level of the "breath of life."

TXT Around the World

I saw a report in IEEE Spectrum about the tremendous increase in text messaging around the world. In 2007 there was a total of 1.7 trillion text messages by 3.3 billion cell phone users. The data shows China in the lead with 456 billion text messages. However the Philippines is the text messaging capital of the world with 1707 text messages per person in 2007. The world-wide revenue for text messaging in 2007 was US$100 billion, more than revenue from movies, music or games. And a company in the Netherlands, Acision handles an amazing 2/3 of the world's text messages each year via systems and services provided to global communication companies. As a side note this company also handled the system for 60 million voters on American Idol.

On the local scene Sasktel, in justification for a texting rate increase, says that their network handles 8.5 million text messages sent and received in Saskatchewan per day. Somebody out there is doing a whole lot of texting!

Nasty Bugs

Today I was at the hospital for an examination and a trach change by the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist. Usually I have been having a trach change about every 6 weeks by a Respiratory Therapist. But I had an examination by the ENT specialist about 4 months ago, and he wanted to check how I am doing.

On my previous examination, the ENT specialist said I had some pseudomonas around the opening in my neck for the trach tube. This is a type of bacteria that naturally occurs in the soil, in water, and on plants, and is normal to have on your skin. But it is a very nasty bug if it gets into your lungs because it is very resistant to antibiotics. And the risk with a trach is the direct opening into the lungs where it could get in.

At my examination 4 months ago the ENT specialist prescribed that I use 3% acetic acid drops (vinegar is 5% acetic acid) on the neck area around my trach tube. This is supposed to get rid of the pseudomonas. This is not pleasant but preferable to the nasty bugs deciding to move down into my lungs.

Elaine has been using drops of oil in her ears. Janny told me not to get my vinegar mixed up with the oil or I will end up with salad dressing on my trach. I get no sympathy.

But the good news is that today the ENT specialist said that the area around the neck opening for the trach tube looks very good. No sign of nasty bugs. However I will still use the acetic acid drops once in a while to prevent any deciding to take up residence again.

A White Thanksgiving

It started to snow about 2 PM Sunday, and continued overnight. We got 17 cm (almost 7" for you USA folk) of snow here. But it should be gone in the next day or so. And we should still have some nice fall weather before the snow is here to stay.

Count Your Blessings

This is the Thanksgiving weekend (in Canada). We sometimes need to be reminded of all the things we have to be thankful for, even when things seem to be difficult.

One of my favourite verses is 1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." It is hard all the time to be thankful, but God will bless us if we start to think about all the things we have to be thankful for everyday.

A song I like is "Count Your Blessings. " The words of the chorus are:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

If we start counting our blessings instead of our problems we will be surprised what God has done for us. And what He will do for us.

Space Elevator

When I first heard reference a while back to a "space elevator" I was pretty skeptical. It sounded like science fiction. Then I found how many organizations are investing a lot of money in serious proposals to develop a space elevator. An organization in Japan has just announced their initiative to work together with a US group on a space elevator design. And there is a major international conference coming up in November in Japan to lay out a time table for development.



Some groups talk about an elevator to an incredible 100,000 km. The concept would be for an elevator car to climb a cable or ribbon of a material such as carbon fibre. Back in 2002 there was a group talking of an elevator by 2014. Now dates such a 2020 or 2030 are targeted.

One comment was that a downside would be the amount of "elevator music" you would have to listen to on a ride up a 100,000 km space elevator. But the possibility is too far away yet to push the "UP" button and wait to get on.

Canadian Communication Firsts

Wired and wireless communications were both Canadian firsts. The invention of the telephone by Canadian Alexander Graham Bell is well known. Less known is the Canadian inventor of radio, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden.

On August 10, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell transmitted human voice electrically 13 km by wire between Brantford and Paris, Ontario. He had previously on August 4 transmitted his voice from Brantford to family and friends at his home 6 km away. The famous earlier experiment where he said "Come here Mr. Watson" was just between offices. This proved that telephone voice communication could compete successfully with the telegraph.

Many people associate the invention of radio with Guglielmo Marconi. He is credited with the invention of the radio telegraph. He developed wireless transmission of telegraph code using a spark transmitter. However the inventor of the radio with wireless audio transmission by modulation of continuous waves was Reginald Aubrey Fessenden. This would be analogous to what we call AM (amplitude modulation) radio today.

On December 23 , 1900 Fessenden made what appeared to be the first wireless audio communication over a distance of 1.6 km. In 1906 he made the first transatlantic radio communication. Then on Christmas Eve December 24, 1906 he made the first radio broadcast of music and voice. He played O Holy Night on the violin and read the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2. He broadcast from a transmitter at Brant Rock, Massachusetts to an unknown number of shipboard radio operators along the Atlantic coast.

Fessenden, like many others, went to the US to be able to get the backing to conduct his research. He got a job working in Thomas Edison's labs. He also worked for George Westinghouse for a time, and General Electric made the equipment to power his transmitter. He never really made any financial success from his inventions and most of his accomplishments have not been well known.

Canadians made these firsts in wired and wireless communications. And Canada has continued to be at the forefront in communications such as satellite and fibre optics.

Northern Saskatchewan Wedding

On the weekend we attended Matt and Christine's wedding in Hudson Bay. We were pleased to have been invited and glad we were able to go. It was great!

We also enjoyed the trip up there and back seeing some new areas. We had a good visit with Elaine's brother and family Friday evening and stayed overnight there. Then on the way home on Sunday were we able to visit a wonderful older couple in Sturgis. All in all a very enjoyable weekend.