Looming Void: December 2, 2024
From Twitter to Bluesky; a big editing week; climate change debacles; peace at last on the mortality/healthfulness front
10,000 minutes
Over the past fortnight, I have managed to whip a chapter into coherent shape (although I was forced to edit a printed copy and now need to process it on the desktop), one of two such needed (they, along with a dozen other chapters, will need at least two rounds of polishing as well). If I finish those two chapters and complete the writing of Chapter 14, all I’ll have left are those aforementioned polishing rounds and a short concluding chapter. I feel so close yet so far.
Why only one chapter in two weeks? We were away a week and a half in northern Victoria, amidst alternate heat and torrential rain, awaiting the arrival of our eighth grandchild. Arrive he did. and in rather dramatic fashion, with us two grandparents having to act as makeshift midwives. He is a most relaxed newborn and I’ve had more chance to hold and nurse him than with any of our other seven. I haven’t processed that experience yet but I can sense it will reverberate. That peaceful joy … I can be a better family member, that was the thought I had.
This upcoming work week is crucial and I’ve cleared the decks of books to be read and movies/shows to be watched, other than those needed to fulfil the obligations of my other two cultural newsletters (On Screen On Page and Read Listen Watch). I’ve been too much the busy monkey lately, easily distracted by news and culture and general social media; I hope to dampen all that down and just focus.
One distraction that is now bedded down is a near-shift from Twitter to BlueSky (if you’re on that lovely, booming platform, you can find me as andreskabel.bsky.social). I used to regard Twitter as essential for the eventual marketing of the book and I’ll retain a slot on that now degraded, much debased platform, but BlueSky is definitely both a marketing must and a blessed community. (I was persuaded to shift by heartfelt endorsements from Dave Karpf, Will Carver, and Jane Friedman.)
Monsters
UN COP 29, hosted by oil nation Azerbaijan (for fuck’s sake), concluded on a bum note with a little uptick (a commitment from richer countries to throw in $300bn annually to poorer climate-crisis-battered nations, a commitment that might not be met) to allow the media to say something happened. If depression is your drug, read Arielle Samuelson, Emily Pontecorvo, and Jessica Hullinger.
Jessica Hullinger also reports on the flop of the global conference aimed at dampening the poisoning of Earth by fugitive and rubbish plastics. Predictably the same fossil fuel nations stymied any hope of hope.
I’m trying to avert my eyes as Trump assembles his new administration of slavering dogs and fruitcakes but his pick to head the Department of Energy, the key energy office (as well as the world’s most dangerous nuclear arsenal), floors me. Chris Wright, a climate-denying fracking exec … if I shake my head any longer, it will fly off my shoulders.
If I sound negative, it’s no more so than my customary realism/doomism gleaned over a half decade of reading. Yet I’m not rendered as anxious as I was a couple of years back (I needed some therapy then). I’m at relative peace with my own role in the climate crisis: I tried activism (an Extinction Rebellion arrest) but it was incompatible with writing my book (which is in itself a gift to the world), so I now limit myself to championing (money, votes, and word of mouth) climate change activism and influencing my grandchildren to turn out as ethical adults (my children and their spouses already are); I “stare into the abyss” by staying closely up to date with the science and politics; and I try to find hope where no hope grows.
Mortality
My six-monthly medical unfolded in a routine fashion. I had no new symptoms or problems. I required some referrals and prescription updates.
My LDL is down to 1.8 mmol/L with a moderate to high statin dose. My new cardiologist says it should be 1.4-1.8, i.e. aggressively low, just because my high Lp(a) reading means I’m genetically more flush with bad lipids than most folks. I’ve added an extra statin booster and tomorrow’s bloods will show if I’m now closer to 1.4 than 1.8. (Note that a major journey I’ve now completed has been to conclude that my “extreme” diet by itself won’t save me from my genetics, won’t magically reduce LDL; I need these drugs.)
We resolved one issue. I finally have compendious blood pressure data over two years, some it throughout the day, indicating I’m at 135/90, below my GP’s 140 intervention threshold but above my cardiologist’s action point of 130/85 (and above the “optimal” level some pundits assert, i.e. 120/80). Nothing rings alarm bells. No action.
I snacked during the day over winter, despite excellent WFPB breakfasts/lunches/most dinners. That led to my weight hiking by up to 9 kgs but 5 kgs of that was due (as indicated by two Dexa scans during the year) to adding muscle mass via gym work and daily creatine. Last year my weight was in the high 70s, a while back I peaked at 85-85, now I’m dieting it down to 83.
I’ve been telling my medical professionals that I’m a conscientious exerciser, call it 5-6 times a week. I now have accurate data and over 2024, I’ve jogged or gym’d 3.5/week, averaging 4/week. I was shocked to discover this although my GP could care less since it’s way more than most people of my age.
After the session, I found myself shellshocked and it took a day to unravel my reaction. I realize that for two years (I cottoned onto my symptom-less, but risk-laden mild arteriosclerosis in September 2022) I’ve been educating myself about my body and what I can do (drugs, diet, exercise, sleep) to optimize health. That education provoked considerable anxiety but now I’m done. I now know that I have too many bad lipids due to genetics which has damaged a couple of arteries a little bit. But I’m otherwise healthy with no inflammation concerns that might lead to, for example, prediabetes. All my vitals are good except for LDL (the statins are now dampening those down) and Lp(a) (nothing to do about that). A stringent diet is most helpful but is no magic bullet; I should stick to it but can be comfortable with occasional lapses. There is no more research to be done into magic molecules or supplements or superfoods. I don’t exercise as much as I need to and I’m going to fix that over 2025.
[A conceptual depiction of the extra Lp(a) nasties I’ve inherited]
I’m jotting all this down in this journal for two reasons. First, I’m telling myself what to do. Second, I’d like to convey that if you do have any health degradation issues, you should (according to me and I’m humble, I know I’ve no expertise) do yourself a favor and read up on the latest science and measure yourself to establish some kind of plan. Most people blithely keep eating and exercising unchanged. Call that a bad idea.