Category Archives: Health

Goodby #19

6 Replies

When I got up early this morning, I had two half-finished blog posts ready to be finished off, edited, and posted.

Instead, by 11:30, I was in a chair waiting for my “favorite” dental surgeon to remove Old #19 (that’s apparently dentist talk for the second tooth from the back on the lower left side). And that tooth is as old as I am, so I can’t complain about use of the “O word.”

I knew this was coming. It’s fate was already preordained, after our regular dentist spotted a problem in my latest xrays, an otherwise unnoticed infection that was undermining the roots of this and the next tooth. A review by a specialist last week confirmed that the tooth had to go. So I had made this appointment for what I thought was going to be just a consultation in preparation for a future appointment to do the deed. But I’d been through this once before with this doctor, who turns out to be fan of my Miske reporting. So after we chatted a bit, he asked if I wanted to go ahead and do it today. Lacking any reason to avoid it, and worrying about the logistics of scheduling another date, I said, basically, “let’s do it!”

So there I sat and waited. First for the numbing gel to do its work, then watching as several foot-long needles (well, they looked like that!) disappeared into my mouth to provide lots of further numbing.

Then the fun began. This tooth had already had a root canal at some point in the distant past, but now did not seem to want to let go of my lower jaw. I watched several different tools pass across my eyes, some traded back and forth repeatedly, work shifting from one side to the other (apparently for greater leverage), and then lots of hard work. The tooth finally gave up the ghost, with several pieces that had to be targeted in separate attacks. No pain along the way, but some powerful torque exerted on those stubborn dental remnants that is probably going to result in a sore jaw later tonight, despite the recommended combo of ibuprofen and acetaminophen (first dose done about an hour ago).

I was home by about 12:43, as I recall. I wanted a good nap, but the written instructions warned against sleeping because one can choke on the bits of gauze used to soak up blood for the first hour or two. I decided to play it safe.

It’s now late afternoon. We’re just back from a quick visit to Long’s, where I picked up an antibiotic and a bottle of serious dental rinse. Now I have to check the instructions and plan my next steps into evening.

Do you suppose a medical martini is appropriate under the circumstances?

Maybe tomorrow I’ll have the energy to finish at least one of those posts that I had intended to publish today.

Another traffic death

7 Replies

A story headline today in the Mercury News reported that a pedestrian killed in an accident on Sunday was the 20th traffic fatality in San Jose, California, so far in 2025.

In Honolulu, a 23-year old moped rider became the 48th traffic fatality of the year after losing control and crashing into a bus near Kualoa Ranch in Windward Oahu.

The population of the city of San Jose is about the same as the population of Oahu, both hovering around one million.

And the population of the San Jose Metropolitan Statistical area is nearly twice Oahu’s population.

I hope there are some transportation engineers and social scientists, as well as reporters, poring over the data to determine what accounts for Honolulu’s dismal record.

My lucky streak has ended

5 Replies

My luck finally ran out, but only in part.

We’ve been making a number of short, 1-week trips since 2021 after staying put through the worst part of the Covid pandemic. But since then, we’ve made over 15 short trips to the mainland, and one to Auckland, New Zealand.

In all that travel, neither of us has come down with Covid. Or flu. Or even a common cold.

Until yesterday. It was our day to head home after a week in San Francisco. I woke up with a bit of a scratchy throat and a runny nose. That was about it as far as symptoms went. And I should disclose that I usually have a runny nose when I first wake up at home. I think I could be allergic to cats, since it goes away when we go walking to watch the sunrise.

But yesterday things didn’t get better over the course of the day. We got home, apparently just ahead of the “atmospheric river” hitting Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

And this morning. I recall waking up to that feeling of a head full of cotton, and thinking to myself, “oh, I finally have a cold.” I did a home Covid test, just to be safe. Negative.

As a result, this box of Kleenex tissues has been my best friend today. It’s been so long since my last cold that I don’t really recall what to expect over the next couple of days. I plan on just taking it easy and letting nature do its healing.

Testimony: Additional nightclubs attacked with termite fumigation chemical

Leave a reply

A longtime employee and friend of former Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control owner, Michael J. Miske Jr., testified last week that he had released a toxic chemical in two nightclubs that competed with Miske’s M Nightclub for the business of late night revelers.

The latest disclosure came from Alfredo Cabael, who admitted doing “dirty work” for Miske as well as working for Kamaaina Termite. He testified he had released chloropicrin, a chemical used in Miske’s termite fumigation business, in the Pearl nightclub, apparently referring to the Pearl Ultralounge in Ala Moana Center, not far from Miske’s M Nightclub. Then, several weeks later, he said he had carried out a similar attack on SoHo, a club in Honolulu’s Chinatown.

A government attorney asked: “Who told you to do that?”

Cabael replied it had been Miske.

Chloropicrin causes symptoms similar to tear gas, including burning eyes, coughing, and difficulty breathing. It can, in extreme circumstances, be fatal, according to an FBI toxicologist who testified in the trial.

The disclosure brings the total number of chemical attacks allegedly directed by Miske and carried out by employees or associates to five.

Two chemical attacks on successive nights in March 2017 are the basis for three of the 19 criminal charges against Miske, who is currently on trial in Honolulu’s Federal District Court.

A third attack targeted the Addiction nightclub in The Modern Hotel on December 20, 2015. It was described in testimony last month by the club’s director of security, and a server who was working when the chemical was released.

John Stancil, Miske’s half-brother, entered a guilty plea in January just as the trial was set to begin, and admitted he had provided the chloropicrin used in the two nightclub attacks in 2017. He also advised those involved on how to release the chemicals.

“Stancil knew how to do so because he himself had previously dispersed chloropicrin in a crowded Waikiki nightclub in 2015,” apparently a reference to the December 2015 attack at the Addiction. The admission appears in his written plea agreement filed in federal court.

Miske is charged with conspiracy to use a chemical weapon, and two counts of using a chemical weapon, for his role in directing the pair of attacks on The District and Ginza nightclubs in March 2017. Conviction on the chemical weapon charges carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

He is also charged with 16 additional crimes, ranging from racketeering conspiracy, murder for hire conspiracy, kidnapping, assault in aid of racketeering, drug trafficking, bank fraud, obstruction of justice, and other offenses.

In addition to Stancil, three others have already pleaded guilty and admitted their role in the chloropicrin attacks. Jacob “Jake” Smith, who was trained in martial arts from a young age, admitted in his plea agreement with prosecutors that he was the driver during the 2017 chemical attacks. Two others, Kaulana Freitas and Ashlin Akau, have admitted entering the clubs and releasing the liquid chemical, which quickly turns into a gas.

Miske’s attorneys have argued chloropicrin is not a deadly weapon, and is safely used as a warning agent when fumigating structures for drywood termites with the deadly but odorless chemical, Vikane. Its effects warn anyone entering an area being treated with Vikane to stay out. They have characterized the releases of chloropicrin as akin to “pranks” rather than chemical weapon attacks, and questioned witnesses about whether anyone who had been exposed in the nightclubs required hospitalization. So far, all witness have answered in the negative.

However, one definition of a “chemical weapon” provided in the statue is “a toxic chemical and its precursors, except where intended for a purpose not prohibited under this chapter as long as the type and quantity is consistent with such a purpose.” In other words, the toxic chemical does not need to be explicitly manufactured or used by the government as a weapon of war in order to be considered a “chemical weapon.”

Multiple witnesses have described chloropicrin as a toxic chemical.