ProfessorTomoe

After eating (and thoroughly enjoying) turkey & dressing with lingonberries at IHOP after Thanksgiving this year, I decided I would take lingonberries to the family get-together on Mrs. Prof's side as my contribution to Christmas dinner. Of course, I had to buy a test bottle from Amazon to make sure I'd be buying the right stuff. The bottle arrived today, so I opened it. Whoops. Not only are they the "right stuff," they're downright smegging addictive! I've gone through two thirds of the bottle by myself already, on things like English muffins, leftover stuffing, and just plain eating them from the jar. Thank goodness that they're only 34 calories per serving, with 20 servings per bottle. I've ordered two jars for Christmas, otherwise I'll eat all of the single jar myself. Now, the trick is going to be getting people to try them next to the cranberry sauce.

Had to skip today's follow-up blood tests / med checks. Mrs. Prof, a.k.a. my transportation, came back from the urgent care clinic last night with a diagnosis of borderline pneumonia. No way I was making her drive me to the doctor. My pre-op tests are still scheduled for Monday. They wouldn't let me schedule both the follow-up and the pre-op simultaneously, claiming insurance wouldn't pay for it. Bastages. I'll get the follow-up done later. A new issue is raising its ugly head, and it has to do with the endovenous ablation of my lower right leg. I'm starting to get some swelling and pain down the back lateral part of my leg, down to the curve of my ankle joint. It feels like something is stuck down there, like perhaps it's not draining properly. I'm going to call the vascular surgeon's office tomorrow to find out WTF is going on.

Well, THAT escalated quickly. The scheduling nurse called. I have a surgery date: December 23rd, two days before Christmas. I know what I want for a Christmas present. Of course, there's a schedule leading up to it. On the 9th, I get pre-op testing done. On the 19th, I have a pre-op appointment with the surgeon, with whom I'll no doubt argue. (He still thinks that my kneecap arthritis is the root cause of my pain, despite all of the problems I have with my meniscus and the physical pain I have on my left side.) Then, finally, on the 23rd, I have the surgery. In the afternoon. NPO (nothing by mouth) from midnight. I don't know how I'll survive it. Hell, I don't know how they'll find a vein to introduce an IV. I have terrible veins. They told me to hyper-hydrate for 48 hours prior to the surgery date. All I can tell that'll make me do is piss a lot. (Guess I'd better discuss stopping my Lasix with my primary care doctor.) That's what I know for now. There may be more forthcoming. I don't know. I hope not. All of my fingers and all of the toes I have left are crossed for a good outcome.

Saw the knee doctor's physician's assistant today. Took with me a printout of the MRI report and the DVD of the MRI scan as artillery. Also made him listen to and feel the clicking in my left knee (he called it "crepitus"). Told him the GELSYN-3 injections did squat for my knee pain and suffering. Asked for arthroscopic surgery. He went to talk to the knee doctor. The knee doctor agreed. In fact, he agreed to do it before the end of the year, while my 100% insurance coverage is still intact. I've got to wait for a phone call from the scheduling nurse and a pre-op appointment with the doctor, but after those comes the surgery. I only hope to God it works.

Not a wise move. It cost him a Beethoven symphony.

Got to see the foot doctor today. He said that I do have something that could potentially be shaved down on inside the bottom of the ball of my foot, but for insurance purposes needs to see if a cortisone injection will help first. He wanted me to come back in 2 weeks, but the damned scheduling nurse said his first available appointment wasn't until mid-January. I know how to get around that, though. Just you watch.

BTW, the ultrasound reading came back normal, according to the nurse who ran it. I still have to have a follow-up appointment with the doctor to officially get the good news. Today, Monday, December 2nd, a date which will live ... erm, scratch that. It's just a Monday. An extremely early Monday. I've got an 8:30 a.m. appointment with my foot doctor to go over the MRI and figure out why the hell the ball of my right foot hurts so much on occasion. I'm hoping it's something he can fix surgically so it'll go away once and for all. He's a good surgeon, otherwise I wouldn't be wishing this. Tomorrow, Tuesday, at a much more reasonable hour, I get to meet the physician's assistant who's been injecting my knees with GELSYN-3 and tell him the injections haven't done a damned bit of good. I'm going to request arthroscopic surgery on my left knee. If my main knee doctor refuses, I'm going to ask for a second opinion. You see, I've now read the MRI report on my knees, and it turns out he left out a LOT of stuff when he explained what was going on with my left knee. Brace yourself - here comes the report: === cut here === FINDINGS: LIGAMENTS: Low-grade interstitial tear of the anterior fibers of the distal MCL. The PCL is intact. ACL and LCL complex are intact. MENISCI AND FEMORAL-TIBIAL HYALINE CARTILAGE Myxoid degeneration of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. Small free edge radial tear of the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus. Myxoid degeneration of the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus. Scattered partial thickness tearing of the cartilage of the medial compartment. Few areas of suspected full-thickness fissuring with partial delamination within the lateral compartment and mild subchondral cystic change and marrow edema of the lateral femoral condyle. PATELLOFEMORAL JOINT AND EXTENSOR MECHANISM A diffuse full thickness chondral loss of the lateral patellar facet, trochlea, and median ridge with subchondral schlerosis and joint line osteophytes. Thickening and edema of the superior patellar fat pad which cam be seen in settling of patellar fat-pad impingement. OSSEOUS/BONE MARROW Tricompartmental osteophytes. Patchy marrow within the proximal tibia which may represent heterogeneous red marrow. Subchondral sclerosis and edema within the lateral femoral condyle. GENERAL Small joint effusion. Mild subcutaneous edema surrounding the knee. === stop cutting already === Good to know that I can still transcribe a document like that - phew! Anyway, that's just my left knee. My right knee isn't as bad. Still, I don't understand why he said my left knee showed signs of normal wear for someone my age. My right knee, maybe, but my left knee? Hardly. I'm making back-up copies of everything I take to the doctor and having them ready for a second opinion.

I stand corrected, yet you stand absurdly. A common stance used by people who do not have a leg to stand on.

Per the Purdue Writing Lab: Your argument is a cross between the two. Another example of where you'd get flunked. Try again.

If you tried to use Wikipedia as a quoted source in a grade school research paper, the school teacher would flunk you. Come on, you can do better than that.

Done, I think. At least, that's what the voices in my head tell me I did. Now I get to go back to the Vascular specialist on Monday and have a followup ultrasound of my right leg post-procedure. I then get to schedule an appointment with my foot doctor, now that I have the MRI CD-ROM with the report. (BTW, I read it - no more metal shards. There's some other stuff there, but I need to talk to him before I say anything.)

Speaking of Monday's endovenous ablation, apparently I'm still recovering from it:

I applaud the fact that you are at the point where you can comfortably (or at least, reasonably comfortably) write such a document. It's a bold move, and I salute you for it.

Done. Damn. Lumbar rhizotomies are only covered by insurance once every 6 months. My last one was in July, which means I'll have to wait until January to have it done. There goes my budget for January. On top of that, the doctor's office wants a new MRI of my back (my last one is years old). That'll probably happen within the next week or two, and it'll be damned uncomfortable. Fortunately, I got the doctor to call in some Xanax to relax me during the MRI, so there's at least that.

I got notification that I can now do advance check-in for a Gulf of Mexico cruise that Mrs. Prof and I are taking in February next year (it's a convention cruise, and I'm a "special musical guest"). Said notice told me that I needed the following to check in online: Ship name Sail Date Reservation number Passport Credit card I rounded up everything mentioned and was, I thought, ready to check in. Alas, not so. They want a Security Photo, 960x960, taken in front of a white or off-white background, with other niggling little details. Why the fark didn't they mention that in their e-mail, Bob Gammage??? So, I back out of the sign-in process, hope that it's saved what I've entered, and wait until Mrs. Prof gets home and we both get back from my doctor's appointment so that we can take lousy pictures of each other on my cell phone. Augh.