Down for the count - injured

I am healing from a severe herniated disc at C6. My right arm was in a pain I can not describe. I was out of work for almost 2 weeks and could not get out of bed. This happened about 1.5 months ago. It's serious. It has the possibility of ending my riding career permanently.

Today was my second round of cortisone. The Sunday before last I reached for Piper, who ducked, and I over extended myself. My neck hurt through Wednesday. but seemed to heal. I could not lay any way other than on my back, but have been back to normal since last Wednesday. Doctor said that is a promising sign, but he also said if this cortisone shot does not bring me to 100% recovery we need to discuss surgery. It should be noted he suspect this will work and I will recover without surgery. The last shot brought me back to 65-70% and peaked out. So I just need another push for the last 30%. Being vigilantly careful.

What I believe happened is . . . around December 20th I bought a new helmet. The shop guy fitted it for me. He grabbed the helmet from the front and told me to keep my head straight. He then applied pressure to turn it. I used a lot of neck strength to keep my head straight. For a solid week I ate Ibprofin like candy because my neck hurt a lot. I could not look over my shoulder. Then I healed, I thought. For about two weeks at night my right arm hurt a lot. Then the bomb dropped and the disc popped. I cried as my wife helped me get dress for work and left work early and reported to urgent care. The pain is unreal. The pain meds suck - clouded my existence - very very strong stuff.

Keep me in your prayers. I have two scooters to restore and one wanting to be ridden now.

New to me parts cleaner

I just received a Harbor Freight Tools parts cleaner for free for Justin M. Thanks Justin.

I asked my friend, Tom G., what solution he uses and he responded:

For parts washing, I use the solvent based cleaners supplied by McMaster Carr:

Solvent-Based Solutions— These solutions remove grease, motor oil, cutting oil, water-soluble oil, soft gummy deposits, and buffing and lapping compounds from metal, plastic, and painted surfaces. They have a mild odor and contain no chlorinated solvents. These products are compliant under all state VOC rules in effect on January 1, 2011, except in California. Caution: Do not heat. Use only at room temperature. Solvent-plus-lanolin formula contains lanolin to reduce skin irritation and chapping. Leaves a corrosion-resistant film on parts. Nitrile gloves should be worn for prolonged use. Flash point is 105° F. High-flash-point lanolin formula is for when local regulations require a higher flash point. It has a flash point of 141° F. Solvent-Based Solutions Size Each Solvent-Plus-Lanolin Formula 5 gal. 3229K1 $95.22 50 gal. 3229K3 859.66 High-Flash-Point Formula 5 gal. 3457K11 $91.92 50 gal. 3457K23 812.63 Unfortunately, I live in California so that will not work for me. I asked Mike A., who is local to Calif. and he suggested:

"Solvent, don't use the harbor freight junk. Call around to machine shops and see what they use. They probably have a service that changes out their tanks for them but some times they have extra on the shelf and might be willing to give or sell you some. Keep in mind good solvent is expensive. Easily over $5 per gal. Also it will evaporate so keep it closed up. The trick to making solvent last is to only use it for finish cleaning, so no greasy cases!"

My uncle has restored cars for decades and for the longest time has run kerosene through his parts washer and its pump. There are many considerations that need to take place before acting on this and then some serious planning, due to the explosive nature of kerosene and as Mike A. said "Just be sure to use gloves as the benzine in the kerosene has a cumulative affect and can cause problems later on tumors etc.".

At this point I will try Freecycle and my local machine shops.