ProfessorTomoe

4:54 p.m. CDT 20170530. Mrs. Prof was unwell yesterday, so I've gone a whole day without my metformin. It's not like I'm taking much at a time—I'm cutting a tablet in half to get a 250 mg dose for morning and evening—but I'm a bit afraid of what being without it is going to do to me. I'm going to miss a third dose this morning, since she'll be off very soon to report for Jury Duty (no lifetime medical excuse for her, sad to say), so I won't have my metformin until tonight. Of course, she reassures me that it won't do me harm to miss a few doses. My anxiety is spiking over the issue. Meanwhile, yesterday was a "sine wave" day. I'd feel okay for a little while, then I'd suddenly feel like crap for a couple of hours. I'd respond by sleeping. I'd wake up below zero, but on the upward curve. Then I'd peak for a while, like nothing was wrong with me. Lather, rinse, repeat. I think I spent more time in negative territory than positive (can you tell I've forgotten my graphing math?), and I don't know exactly why. I'm guessing it's got something to do with my elevated white blood cell count, plus one or more of the underlying causes (stress and infection, most likely, but my toe isn't throbbing from infection). I'll probably spend most of the day with my foot elevated (i.e., asleep on the sofa), but I do have some Scribophile Moderator business I've got to be vertical to handle. I also have a conundrum—I've got to take a stand-up shower again before the podiatrist gets here Wednesday, and I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. No two ways about it—sponge baths are insufficient. However, my last attempt at a stand-up shower was not only painful, it got water all over the bathroom because I was trying to hang my left foot outside of the shower stall (the wall is on the left and the opening is on the right—picture that). Mrs. Prof is going to go in to CVS and do a bit of searching for waterproof stuff, including waterproof tape for this attempt (not present at the last attempt). I'm going to try wearing just a blue foot-only orthopedic boot instead of my full calf "moon boot" (I wore neither last time), and she's going to look for a "cast cover" that might fit over the blue boot. Barring that, it's down to roll-your-own with plastic trash bags and waterproof tape over the boot. Another thing that caused such a big problem last time was that I started the shower with me sitting on a shower stool in the center of the stall. This time, I'm going to have to start with the stool out of the way at the back of the shower stall so I can stand, get everything (skin) beyond sponge-bath clean, then move the stool to the center of the shower and sit to wash my hair. I did that back before I had a must-keep-dry bandage on my left foot—that's the real problem here, isn't it?—so we'll see how the above waterproofing plans work this time around. It sucks to have to do this much planning just to take a smegging shower. There is a part of me that wants to give up. I'm fighting it.

Rimmer. To rhyme with, "scum."

I could use a fifth so much right now it's killing me. (old joke, still appropriate)

Paul Taylor (Wapsi Square) had Fae down as well. He even handed one over to a Sub-Titan for sensitivity training, as it were.

Mrs. Prof has not had the trail camera outside lately. Holiday-related, I guess. I expect she'll probably put it out again tomorrow.

I'd love to, but I can't touch the Belgian-style ales I cellared away before I got really sick and injured. I really wish I knew the answer to the relaxation equation. I really do.

3:59 p.m. CDT 20150528. I received the results of my latest blood tests from my doctor (I guess he works the after-hours clinic on Sundays). My A1C is still at 6.1, which is at goal (normal is < 6.5), with my fasting glucose at 124. Not 100% wonderful, but not bad. All of my cholesterol and other numbers are at goal. However. (And I quote.) I pretty well fit all of the first three indications for myelocytes. I've been stressed out of my gourd, I've had an epidural steroid injection, and my podiatrist suspects an infection in the toe on which he operated. I've had the false positive for leukemia before, and I'm guessing this is another false positive. I'll just go back for a lab-only appointment on June 8th and hope that the myelocytes have gone back to where they belong. As for the high white blood count, I've had that for years. No one's figured out why I have that, but it doesn't seem to be causing any life-threatening problems. Yet.

It was a hell of a race. Several more Hondas went kablammo, including Fernando Alonso's. Helio Castroneves came 5 laps short of winning his fourth race, but in the end it was Takuma Sato winning his first Indianapolis 500, marking the first time a Japanese racer (in a Honda-powered car, no less) has ever won the event. In other words, a driver with Formula One experience won the race—it just wasn't Fernando Alonso. Now watching the Big XII Baseball Tournament Final match between Texas and Oklahoma State. Texas is down by a couple of runs in the bottom of the 6th inning.

7:25 a.m. CDT 20170528. Rough night sleeping. Had trouble finding a comfortable position with my left iron-booted leg elevated. My right spine nerve pain kept flaring up and waking me up. I had to switch from one side of our sectional sofa to the other in order to get sleep of any consecutive length. (Our bed isn't that conducive to sleeping with an elevated boot.) As mentioned elsewhere, coffee is required at the moment to keep me awake, and I'm about to go get a much-needed second cup. Walking is a bit less painful, but still slow. I was having issues with pain in my second toe when I'd walk after the podiatrist re-wrapped my new bandages. That seems to have gone away, but I'm still skittish when I walk. My spinal nerve pain is also causing issues when walking, further contributing to my slow gait. If you'll remember, I've been referred to an ENT doctor for out-of-control coughing, mainly when I lie on my back. For some reason, I'm not coughing any more when I lie on my back. I am still getting odd coughing fits, and I've still got other nose and throat issues, so I'm still going. I'll just be going for different symptoms. I'll also have Mrs. Prof with me to provide corroborating evidence so the doctor won't blow me off as a nutcase.

BIG TIME racing day today. Right now, I'm watching the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix. Mrs. Prof is still asleep—she had a busy day handing out cat medicine at the Pet Adoption Center yesterday, and she's not really an F1 fan. She is an IndyCar fan, though, and she will be waking up in time to watch the coverage of the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500, which starts at 10:00 a.m. CDT. We will both need mass quantities of coffee to make it through the race (assuming there isn't a rain delay)—her for physical fatigue, me to fight off medicine-induced sleepiness. We will watch the Indy 500, though, come hell or high water. There's too much intrigue in today's race, with Fernando Alonso driving, Scott Dixon on pole with a monstrously fast speed, and questions about Honda's engine reliability after James Hinchcliffe's engine went kablammo during carb day Friday, despite Honda's overall speed advantage. It's going to be a hell of a race.

Worry not, my friend. I see it after I wave it. It's like a cursor with a trail, and it doesn't happen every morning. Only occasionally, and usually for just a few minutes after I wake up.

The dizzy stuff is because of you Abilify dose, if I remember correctly, right? (Brain fade - please humor me.) Haven't experienced it with my own increase from 5 mg to 10 mg. However I am experiencing something almost as weird: afterimages after I wake up. I can wave my hand in front of my face, and it'll leave a "trail" of images that fade away behind it. Wikipedia calls it Illusory palinopsia. I call it weird, yet somewhat cool, when it happens. Turns out the culprit is most likely my Topamax. I can live with it, as long as the Topamax and hydrocodone keep working together.

Euro-style ham, mushroom pizza, lambrusco wine, and squash. must be one hell of a song.

I just switched from 32-bit Firefox to 64-bit Firefox, with no apparent side effects, just by following the instructions posted on Mozilla's website. They actually got something right for a change!

You know what'll really surprise the hell out of me? If he shows up carrying the stereotypical "little black bag" that doctors of yore used to carry. That'd be a hoot.

I've added two items at both ends of the price spectrum to my Amazon Wish List. I'm now going to sit back and, as you suggest, see what happens. And go slightly mad in the process.

Correct. It dates back to small town Americana, where one, maybe two doctors served an entire burg. It is a thing of ancient past, being resurrected, and most surprisingly so. The doctor and his nurse/wife are even familiar with the part of town in which I live, which is even more surprising since it's in "blue collar" Garland, TX. I'm not going to complain about it, either way.

4:58 p.m. CDT 20170526. Finally, a smidgen of good news from my podiatrist. He differed with my primary care doctor's opinion on the Charcot foot, thank goodness. Granted, I've seen him a total of three times (including in the hospital) compared to the countless times I've seen my PCP, but he is a podiatrist and does know what he's talking about. He believes the hospital and my PCP may have been trying to dramatically warn me that I could be heading toward a Charcot foot, perhaps. In any case, he doesn't think I have one. As for the rest of my podiatrist appointment today, he unwrapped my foot to get a look at how my toe was doing. Good grief—I've got radio antennae sticking out of the sides of my big toe! I should be able to pick up FM radio! Seriously, there are pins with rubber cushions on the ends sticking out of each side of my big toe, a nasty zig-zag set of stitches running down the top, and a fair amount of redness and swelling that concerned him enough to put me on Augmentin, just in case. There was also a bit of a problem with him re-wrapping my foot. I took a step after his first re-wrap and immediately jumped back from significant pain in my second toe—one that wasn't broken. He had to do a rather complex rewrap job before I could put weight on my foot (in the boot) without non-broken toes yelping at me. Now, for the weird part: he's going to pay me a house call next Wednesday to remove my stitches! You see, Mrs. Prof has Jury Duty on Tuesday (right after I received confirmation that I've been permanently removed from jury duty due to disability—what are the odds?) and is required to go in to her office to work on Wednesday, so she can't transport me to the podiatrist's office. He doesn't want my stitches to stay in any longer than next Wednesday, but he'll be leaving town for something on Thursday. Hence the Wednesday house call. Of course, that means Mrs. Prof will go into another absolute cleaning frenzy the night before, but that's a small price to pay for one of life's little rarities. So, for now, Mrs. Prof is over at a family friends' house, watching their kids while they attend the U2 concert at AT&T Stadium in Arlington (they're spending a mint—$200 tickets each, plus $50 for parking). She won't be home until well after midnight. I've been told by the podiatrist to continue elevating my foot for another week, which I do when I'm passed out from exhaustion and hydrocodone. I'll probably order up some sushi from the local Asian delivery place later on and try to find German food on Amazon for possible addition to a Wish List.

No, I haven't tried that. Can't do that until tonight, once she's off of it. She's using it to work from home right now. What's a good diagnostic tool that'll give me human-readable numbers for the connection? (I know I can time something being copied, but I'd like a real network utility for this if one exists.)

Ohmydearlord. (checks pulse, makes conscious effort to slow breathing) I hadn't considered invoking the hubris to ask for something like that. O.O !!! (mind starts racing—will have to keep racing until I get back from the podiatrist's office)

I've been noticing that my download speeds to my laptop have been slower than normal over about the past week. We pay Frontier FiOS for 50/50, so I ran an Ookla speed test and found I was getting only half of that. I had been getting 50/50 to my laptop over an 802.11n wireless connection, so I was clueless as to why I wasn't getting it anymore. I called Frontier. (OhmydearlordwhydidIdothat.) After getting Mrs. Prof to add me as an "authorized user" on the account (?), the tech had me run Frontier's speed test (also powered by Ookla). I got the same numbers. He then had Mrs. Prof do some futzing with the Actiontec router before having me run it again. Same results. We then had Mrs. Prof switch from her VPN connection to work over to her home connection and run the test. She got 50/50 plus. The tech immediately went into smug mode and started to explain to me that I wouldn't get the same speeds over a wireless yadda yadda yadda. I wanted to reach out and touch someone, in this case the technician, by slapping the smug grin right off of his face. End phone call, with no explanation as to why my wireless speeds got nerfed. I hate Frontier.

'Tis in my nature to worry. Part of the basic equipment package. Much obliged, as always. I just wish I had more positive updates to provide, that's all. The root of my problem, exposed.

4:22 a.m. CDT 20170526. One thing that I can tell you that is NOT ambiguous at the moment is the fractured sesamoid bone in the ball of my left foot. It genuinely hurts at the moment. I think I got the timing off on my hydrocodone last night, because I woke up at 3 am and the sesamoid bone was yelling for attention. I held out as long as I could, then finally took my pain pill at about three-fifty-something. Woke up dehydrated as hell. Have already gone through most of a 32 oz. mug of Crystal Light tea with lemon. Going to have to get another soon. Ye olde right spinal nerve issue gave me hell while trying to get restful sleep overnight. I kept moving around to find a non-painful position. Finally said, "[Redacted] it" and got up. (That's about when my sesamoid bone started hurting anyway.) This might have something to do with the fact that I didn't have my morning "drug cocktail" yesterday due to fasting for my blood tests. I haven't had any Topamax in almost 48 hours, which might be the cause. Heh. And here I was, under the impression that the Topamax wasn't doing anything for me other than helping me lose weight. I could be mistaken. (Granted, Topamax alone does not alleviate my spinal nerve pain—it must be the combination of hydrocodone and Topamax that's doing the most good.) Today is podiatrist day. I hope he won't make us wait as long as he did at the last appointment, which was a ridiculously long time. It set off Mrs. Prof's grouch response. Looking at the dynamic between Mrs. Prof and myself for a moment: we're basically at each other's mercy. I'm totally dependent upon her to get me to doctor's appointments, surgeries, and other medical destinations. Her patience is wearing thin, I think in part because she can't see what's causing my right leg issue. At the same time, I'm frustrated with setting up new appointments, since she turns on the "heavy sigh of frustration" machine when I have to consult her for appropriate dates (she has to take off work, and she's already used almost half of her available Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) time already with the year not half over. Don't get me wrong here. The gifts you guys sent from our Amazon Wish Lists went a long way to alleviate our tension and depression, especially for Mrs. Prof. She can't wait to look through the trail camera files each night and see what she's captured (BTW, she posts a lot more on her Facebook account—I cherry-pick from those to avoid overflowing the forum). It's just the amount of time that this has gone on ... sigh. All the way back to the beginning of February, with no signs of improvement and no end in sight. Hell, even when I nearly died back in 2009, we were able to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and I was able to provide my own transportation six weeks after I got out of the hospital. Things are moving in the exact opposite direction now. I meant for this to be a simple update, talking about being thirsty and in a bit of pain. That plan went sure sideways rather quickly. Sigh, again. And again.

And, of course, Dumb Ass B shows up while I'm posting the above picture, and it's too late in the week to trap cats for T-N-R (the vets are on a very restrictive schedule).

Only one photo for tonight, and it's from last night's infrared shots. We seem to have captured an image of the local wildlife: Just wait until the raccoon families start coming through in droves later.