ProfessorTomoe

I have told Mrs. Prof to convey her goal of making me able to drive again directly to the pain doctor the next time we see him. I'll probably have to keep having her convey that goal, since he's bound to have other things on his mind on that day (like my surgery (or "procedure," as he's calling it)). I don't know if I ever posted my CT Myelogram here. I'm just going to post the lumbar portion, which the doctor called "one of the worst he's seen." Brace yourself for a lot of medicalese: The words to look for here are arthrosis, thickening, hypertrophy, bulge, stenosis, collapse, and amputation. Amputation shouldn't show up at all, the doctor said. My L2, L3, and L4, nerve root sleeves are amputated on both sides. Do Google searches on the rest, especially stenosis and arthrosis. Those are really giving me hell. This is the first pain doctor to take this myelogram seriously. The first at the STT "quack shack" (my opinion—damned liability laws) wrote it off as some intern's work. The UT Southwestern doctor, I was told (by the Baylor Scott and White doctor) was forced out of Baylor's pain program and wound up taking over UT Southwestern's program. I now have the head of Baylor Scott and White's downtown Dallas pain program treating me. BTW, we went to drop off the new hydrocodone prescription yesterday (8/7). My last refill was 7/10. I was told by the pharmacist that I could therefore not drop off the refill before Wednesday, 8/9. I know I had at least two days leeway when I had it refilled last time. I'm glad I've got medication to make it through Wednesday and through one dose on 8/10. Stupidity. It's like the stuff will become radioactive and kill us all if it leaves the pharmacy one day early.

There was a massive birth year list at Keenspot. I was up near the top, even back then.

Saw my primary care doctor today—he recommended that I start off with 4½ pills at first and move up from there if needed. That wasn't the real reason for the appointment, though. I've had a spot on my right ear that's been draining for about 6 months now. He saw it at my last appointment and said if it hadn't improved by now that I should come back for a freeze treatment. It hasn't improved. So, the doctor brings in this big cryo rig and sticks it up next to my ear. He blasts it a couple of times, then repeats the procedure. I hope this works, because if it doesn't, he said it might be a basal cell carcinoma which would require a trip to a dermatologist. Yep, another doctor. Please, no more doctors. No more doctors.

Shows how old some of us are on the forum, doesn't it? Who used to be the keeper of the forum age list? Are they still around?

I have a conundrum with which I need advice. My pain management doctor has increased my hydrocodone dose from my current four pills a day. It's now "one-to-two tablets 3x a day as needed." Basically, six pills a day if I go with the max. His reasoning is that my Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is not giving me good absorption and that I need the higher dosage. Mrs. Prof is DEAD SET against this. Her arguments? One time, back in the early 80s, I did develop a mild dependency. My doctor cut me off. Once I got over it, I've never had another problem with dependency since (my counterargument). Also, she had horrible experiences with her father being an alcoholic and is afraid anytime I'm prescribed anything with the potential for dependency. My counterargument is that I'm following doctor's orders under supervision, and (again) that I know what dependency feels like. Her final argument is that I'm dealing with Opioid Induced Constipation already. My experience yesterday proves that it goes both ways. My biggest self-argument is whether I'm not sure if I'm going to turn into a drug zombie on the sofa, or if I'm already one because I'm not getting sufficient relief. I have enough daily pain to knock an elephant flat, despite my hydrocodone. Her biggest argument is that I won't be able to drive. I haven't been able to drive since early February. She says that's her ultimate goal, and I think she knows that can't be achieved on such high levels of pain medicine (at least, not legally). I've told her to make her feelings on that known directly to the doctor. How the hell do I handle this? More than one of you, please, jump in. What do I do to deal with this situation?

I've been trying to learn how to make LibreOffice spit out a Writer report based on a Calc spreadsheet. I handed it off to my wife in .xls format (it translated fine—no functions in it, etc.). It's a nut neither of us can crack, though. Oh, how I wish for the days of Enable/OA. Anyone here have time to help out an American who's down on his luck?

Thanks to a certain someone for making them possible. I feel like she hasn't been using it enough lately. She may have reason now—two of the neutered males have become allies, based on what she's seen through the window. One is a tabby we call Big Tom. The other is a black cat with a white tuft under its chin—we call him Trouble, for all the trouble he gave her in the trap cage. I'll see if she can get photos of them.

Speculation: Edward's been hiding out in a corner somewhere, undetectable, waiting to have a talk with Pandora. This could get fun.

Mrs. Prof led me back to get Baker for his Elavil half-pill tonight. We couldn't find him at first, until we went into our son's old darkened bedroom. She gasped, with no explanation. Failing one, I stuck my head around the corner and saw Baker and Loudmouth sitting on the bed, side-by-side, like friends. Seriously, it was almost too good a scene to disrupt. Unfortunately, there was bed pee tonight, so we're back to square one on that.

No, I'm just doing it for the Halibut. (mandatory)

Something else I didn't want to have to take today: Imodium. Two doses so far. Who hit the EJECT button on my GI tract?

The recent lack of bed pee may have been a fluke as well. We're still putting Loudmouth in the cat room at night, because we can't trust what he'll do to the bed (or what Baker will do to him). The past couple of days, we started noticing an odor that smelled like burnt Feliway. Mrs. Prof investigated and found bed pee in the cat room, of unknown duration. She's attacked it with enzyme and is washing the bed materials down now.

Now, there's something I didn't need when I was on the Lyrica: Zofran. I just drank a cup of coffee to warm up and to stay awake, and I wound up getting sick to my stomach. It seemed like I could eat anything while on the Lyrica. I'm told Lyrica is chemically related to gabapentin (another pain reliever), which made me gain weight when I was on it. That would explain much.

Can you Amazon wish list some of your basics? I know of a group of people who would be willing to help out, and they frequent a certain forum around here ...

The NWS already has a rating on it? Proximity to the storms center, I guess. Nasty looking damage. How far away is your next closest shopping area?

This is the first we've heard of it. I've run a scan through all of the "news" channels, and they're all talking heads. We don't get TWC, we get Accuweather, which means no weather news. Damn!

Things were timing out last night, but they seem to be back in order this morning.

BTW, we did not use the softening cream yesterday. Mrs. Prof was busy for the first half of the day and worn out for the second.

I tried a bit of an experiment this morning. Baker was perched on his cat tree, while Loudmouth was on the bed. I decided to pay attention to Loudmouth first and see if yesterday's calm was a fluke. Baker got a bit agitated, but not much. Then I picked up Loudmouth and carried him out of the bedroom. When I returned, Baker was on the edge of his tree. I put Loudmouth down on the floor. Baker came down after him. Loudmouth jumped up onto the bed, and Baker followed up with a claw extended. I had to intervene. Yesterday's calm was a bit of a fluke after all.

5:37 a.m. CDT 20170805. Feels good to be able to see what the [redacted] I'm typing again. However, it does not feel good to have my podiatrist go a step down in my eyes. (hands /me the list and two pens in case the first pen is empty) At the past couple of visits, the podiatrist had been touting this dry-skin cream with 40% urea. That's a lot, I'll grant you. He said "they" (guess) couldn't get the stuff stocked in local pharmacies. I was interested, because I knew somewhat of urea's effects on the skin (no, I'm not a dermatologist). At yesterday's appointment, with Mrs. Prof's full approval (she hates how my heels get dry and cracked enough to do bodily damage), I took the bait. Bought a 4oz (114g) jar for $35. I woke up this [WAY TOO FREAKING EARLY] today and checked the internet. Decided to look up the stuff I'd bought, too. Gilden Tree Ultra Softening Cream, it's called. I quickly learn why "they" couldn't get the stuff stocked in local pharmacies. This product is only available to medical offices. Then I read further along: Suggested Cost to Patient: $26.00 each I've been had for $9 bucks. Dishonesty and overpricing (not by much, but still ...). Not a combination I want from my doctors. This stuff damned well better do what it's supposed to do. In any case, my "follow-up period" ended with my previous appointment, too (which they conveniently didn't charge me at that check out), so I had a balance due when I checked out this time around. Friday's appointment cost me $115.00. (Mrs. Prof made a particularly embarrassing remark about "Am I ever going to be able to retire?", for which I let my displeasure be unknown.) Otherwise, Mrs. Prof and I decided on the way home that, if my follow-up period is done, then we're done with the podiatrist. Time to move on to the pain management doctor, as long as he gets the stone bruise pain from my foot under control.

Mrs. Prof has a jar of Pill Masker for Cats. We tried that last night. Did not go well. She forced it down, anyway. Most of the day has been harmonious. Very quiet, no issues, save one: Mrs. Prof thought that the litter box in the master bedroom was now a communal litterbox. Not so. Result = bed pee from Loudmouth. It seems he doesn't like to share. I'm not looking forward to the repeat of last night's wrestling match with Baker. I don't think he'll trust either of us tonight.

I was about to go through that with my podiatrist until I met pain management specialist #3 Wednesday. I would have had an MRI ordered today if it weren't for him. He told me that the "stone bruise"/"gunshot" pains on the bottom of my left foot were probably due to spinal issues. Regardless, I'm having the podiatrist fax over my operative report on my big toe and the report from the week I was given the Lyrica to the pain doctor, just as a precaution. I still don't have all of the Lyrica out of my system. God, I hate not being able to talk coherently ...

Back before Aussie Rules Football was reliably on TV (other than the Grand Final), I used to get my fix by listening to the streaming radio feeds of the games. They had their John Madden equivalent (although much slimmer), who one night decided he was going to call out the scores using the dish numbers of his favorite Chinese Take-Away. At one point in the game the score became knotted up at 69-69—"Double Lemon Chicken, No Batter & Boneless." People were calling that the "moment of the match." I've still got a recording of it around here somewhere.

I just went through my pre-op "stop list" for my pain management procedure, and it's freaking spartan compared to the one that Spine Team Texas had me on. Basically, it amounts to no blood thinners and no anti-inflammatories, neither of which I take in the first place. My procedure is scheduled for two weeks from today, Friday, August 18th, at 12:20 p.m. CDT. I get to have a light meal and clear liquids 8 hours before the procedure, and I can take my other medications as usual, even on the day of the injection (including my pain medication), with a small sip of water only. That's pretty damned liberal when you compare it to the stop list that STT gave me. Makes me wonder why STT was so worried about things.