Gout Rears Its Ugly Head...again.

Yes I am one of the many that experience gout attacks. I've been on the drug Colchicine for many years and use it episodically ( a word?). It is hard to describe the pain, this time affecting the right foot nearly in it's entirety. Walking is difficult but possible by keeping on the heel so I kind of roll side to side as I hobble along. The pain is 8-9 on a scale of 10 which MUST be the pain of childbirth so I cannot compare, nonetheless it is intense and includes a fire-like sensation, deep throbbing and twinges of shooting pains. Altogether awful. I am drinking water at an increased rate and have been taking my drug right along. It's been 5 days since I felt the first pangs. I'm now online looking for more info and perhaps a study I could participate in that might help in the long run.
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I finished my upstairs sink faucet change out and tile job yesterday, it almost works...no leaks except thru the drain in the bottom of the basin as there wasn't enough room behind the basin for the lever that controls the opening and closing of the drain to operate, thus it sticks and must be re-shaped to allow it to work properly. I WAS going to do that today but frankly with this damned gout in that right foot I decline to climb the stairs right now. So maybe tomorrow. Meantime I sit and think nice thoughts about my left foot and how gout free it is THIS time.
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Upon extensive Internet search using the search term "GOUT" I found a reference to a site and once there and with a bit of reading found the following information...Cherry Juice! What? Why? What's the basis? Read more, not a lot of info but enough chat there to convince me to try this...it's about Potassium in the diet, so here's something culled from the page:

Vegetables including broccoli, peas, lima beans, tomatoes, potatoes (especially their skins), sweet potatoes, and winter squashes are all good sources of potassium.

Fruits that contain significant sources of potassium include citrus fruits, cantaloupe, bananas, kiwi, prunes, and apricots. Dried apricots contain more potassium than fresh apricots.

Milk and yogurt, as well as nuts, are also excellent sources of potassium.

So armed with this info Kelly went off to the nearby grocery to hunt down some Cherry Juice and Bananas while I waited patiently, foot up on the couch for my first dosage. Tastes kinda berry like with a texture like a thin syrup, no, it's NOT concentrate! The banana was green as they are anymore but welcome if it was going to help this ever worsening condition. Two Tylenol were thrown in for good measure as well for it's anti-inflammatory function. Then every hour or so I drank another glass of the juice and ate a banana til I fell asleep about 10:30 last night. I woke at 2am (as usual???) to pee and drink more of the stuff and yes, I ate another banana as well. When I awoke this morning...l'viola! I'm better! Not "cured" but definitely can move my aching toes and standing is not nearly as painful, I'd say I was at a 4 -5 on the pain scale. That's real progress as that means I can get around well enough with weight on that foot to do the sink faucet removal and replacement job on Kelly's sink.

Long Dead Tile Project Revived

The upstairs bathroom had it's counters replaced and sinks as well as new faucets set some many years ago. The plan had been to create a new bathroom facility w/o a tub but with a shower tiled floor to ceiling. All a great plan, and we started. Along the way towards mid-point we stopped to go away to Europe and that was the end of it, 7 long years ago. So "we" (me) have restarted the project now that the little house project is nearing completion. Yesterday I removed the now aged faucet from my sink (yes it has a his and hers sink arrangement) and began the labors of Hercules by chipping out (the word REMOVAL doesn't adequately describe it) bit by well adhered bit, the two affected tiles from the back on the sink. Then the new faucet can be mounted properly with two new tiles sans holes. The cuts though are oval in shape and not the easiest to achieve with even an advanced tile saw. I gought a pair of scroll saw blades that are coated in tungstun carbine hoping they can achieve the necessary cuts, Thanks ACE HARDWARE! Now we have done a LOT of tile work both here and in France to our own homes, thousands of square feet actually and love the end results but sometimes there are problems and difficulties that wear us down to a full stop. The chipping out of these tiles from the well adhered thinset underneath is just such a project as it the cutting of odd shapes. Against this charge is the fact of having exactly 4 whole tiles to work with as they have neatly gone out of production of this size and color. Fun. So this work has to be done carefully to say the least or else we are going to be in full stop again. I DID get the offending old tiles with the three holes in them removed after bashing the hell out of them with a hammer and cold chisel. That done I tackled the replacement install this morning. We shall see. Oh yes, here's a link to a This Old House video of the basic cuts needed to do MOST (but, of course, not ALL) tile jobs.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823433173/bclid823361889/bctid823321811