Goza's Wanderings and Wonderings: Life Line Screening & Duncan Hines

Location: The Narrows Campground (COE); Glasgow, Kentucky

Before I left on this trip, I received an email from Life Line Screenings telling me they would be in my hometown of Mansfield, Louisiana to perform screenings. I was somewhat familiar with what they do and the price was reasonable. The only problem was they were going to be there a couple of weeks after I left on the trip and I already had reservations all the way to the middle of August. Life Line is a roving testing outfit that comes into an area for a few days then moves on down the road, about the same as my travels. So, I went to work trying to see if I could find a time and place where our paths crossed. I finally had a bingo at this campground. Life Line was going to be in Bowling Green, Kentucky which is about 40 minutes away from me. I made an appointment and paid for my tests before I began my trip. I attended that appointment yesterday.

I was only interested in their basic four test package. Those four tests are Carotid Artery Scan, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) Test, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Test and Arterial Fibrillation Test. The entire tests took right at an hour with a half dozen people being tested during the same time. In plain English, they checked for blockage in my carotid arteries on the side of my neck. It is possible a piece of plaque broke loose from that location and went to Brandon's brain causing his strokes. They also check the Aortic artery that runs from my heart to my kidneys and then to my legs to see if there was any aneurysm. That is a ballooning of the artery where it swells up and if it bursts, there is a good chance you will bleed to death before reaching a hospital. There aren't any good symptoms of it and the scan is the only real sure way of finding it. My X-wife has one that will be repaired later this year. They have been monitoring it for several years waiting for it to get large enough for the insurance company to pay for the procedure. The PAD test checks for blockages in your legs and arms. Again, any blockages can break loose and travel in your bloodstream to other parts of your body causing damage. They also check for Afib. I was pretty sure I didn't have that since my blood pressure monitor detects irregular heart beat (Afib) and since I check my blood pressure every morning, I have been monitoring that one on my own. Nothing was found that required immediate attention and I'll receive a formal report by email in about 10 days after a groups of doctors review the tests. I breathed a big sign of relief as I was leaving the testing site. Early detection of these problems is crucial and without symptoms, the insurance companies usually won't pay for the tests. Mine cost, out-of-pocket, $150.00. I was satisfied. They are worth checking out.

After the tests, I picked up a prescription I had refilled at the Bowling Green Walmart then went to visit the Kentucky Museum on the campus of Western Kentucky University (WKU). A lot of the displays were by the students and I didn't find anything of theirs that caught my eye. I actually started to turn around before entering the museum because of a sign as you enter. There were a lot of weasel words and I'm a little out of practice with them but I believe it said there were some "woke" exhibits inside and if I didn't like it, too bad.

There was one exhibit I knew about and wanted see. It was about Duncan Hines. Yep, that's right, there was a real guy named Duncan Hines. He was a salesman that traveled around the country and made a list of good places to eat. This was back in the 1920's thru the 1940's. His list became so popular that he eventually wrote a book and published it on his own. The initial version of "Adventures in Good Eating" contained almost 200 restaurants around the country and sold out quickly. He published more and raised the price from $1.00 to $1.50 where it stayed until he passed. When he ate at a restaurant, he would ask to see the kitchen, if they refused, he would leave. He was looking for cleanliness which translated into pride. He would publish the good and bad about the places he tried. He is worth exploring deeper, and I'll put it on my ever growing list of "things to check out".