ProfessorTomoe

Theraputic and medicinal. I'll take both, as long as they don't involve needles or pills. It's 3:53 a.m. CDT, and I'm waiting for my next hydrocodone dose at 4:00 a.m. CDT. Won't be long now and I'll be zonked out again, but at least I won't be in so much pain. Brace yourself for another theraputic and medicinal post. You know, back when I broke my ankles, I used to be able to drive with hydrocodone in my system. Not anymore. Not when it's mixed with the following multiple-times-a-day cocktail: Aripiprazole (Abilify) Atorvastatin Trintellix Bupropion (Wellbutrin) Buspirone (Buspar) Clorazepate Hydroxyzine Lisinopril Lorazepam (Ativan) Levocetirizine (Xyzal) Metformin Zolpidem (Ambien CR) Topiramate (Topamax) Add in a few other pills that I have to take in case of emergencies and you get someone who can't stay awake for periods longer than a few hours at a time. Seriously, I take all of the above, some of them multiple times a day. Ativan I take 4 times a day, while I take the Wellbutrin and Hydroxyzine 3 times a day. So, now, my life on a non-doctor-visit day looks like this: Wake up around 4:00 a.m. Take Hydrocodone Get in some quick computer time before it knocks me out Fall asleep Wake up a couple of hours later Take my morning round of medicines Get in some computer time before they knock me out Fall asleep Repeat in six hour increments, taking non-Hydrocodone meds on their own schedule (and dealing with cat on his own schedule) This is why you'll see me post at all hours. I can't predict when I'm going to be awake or asleep, but I can predict that I will be asleep multiple times a day. This, plus the fact that my right leg is affected by the spinal nerve(s) at the root of my problem, renders me unable to drive. Or do much else, for that matter. (That's another reason you'll see me post like this—it's theraputic, and I apologize for making you all my therapists.) I've taken my hydrocodone now. Going to go ahead and get a jump start on sleep so I can at least be awake when Mrs. Prof is.

Finished off the Sonic burger while I wait for it to be time to take my next hydrocodone dose.

Had half of a Sonic bacon cheeseburger and half of one of their new "Concrete Custard" Heath Bar concoctions (size: small, accompanied by a promethazine, just in case).

Totally off-topic for my own off-topic thread, but I kinda need the ego boost after all of the pain and health issues. I've got the TV tuned to the 2017 Kentucky Derby—not really watching it (the sound is off), it's just there for visual white noise. I glanced over a couple of minutes ago and noticed they were scrolling the names of the horses and the current odds at the bottom of the screen. Believe it or not, horse number 1 is named "Lookin At Lee" (my real first name)! It's probably not gonna win the race—it's a 31-1 longshot—but hey, I'd lay ten bucks on it. EDIT: HOLY CARP! Lookin At Lee came in second! That ten dollar bet would have brought back some good cash if I'd bet on him to place or show!

I'm starting to think that this is the situation, sad to say. I'm going to bring printouts of the reports to the follow-up on 6/1/17 after the lumbar caudal injection, along with any other reports that get generated from the injection itself. I will ask questions. I tend to stay on the major sites for basic info, like the Mayo Clinic and similar. I know what to look for when it comes to more detailed information, I would hope. If that book truly existed, I would thank you for it. In reality, well ... Believe me, that was done, to the audible irritation of the nurse. She deserved it for talking like a hockey play-by-play caller. They'll get it. I'm sure my PCP would tell me to give it to him anyway. Thanks!

I've got enough drugs in my life right now, thank you, including hydrocodone, a Class II drug. I'll pass on additional for the moment, even though I may need something stronger in the future.

Tried something last night: slept with my head in a normal position. Seems to have worked without inducing any brain freeze or other epidural headache symptoms. I might be over that part of this nightmare! (crosses fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes, certain portions of genitalia)

/* hauls out large fish and assumes last part of "Fish-Slapping Dance" choreography */

(I hope this isn't too necroposty.) Since shortly after my old laptop computer died, its replacement has been sitting and waiting to be activated. It's sat through various health problems, through waiting periods for tech support questions on how to transfer antivirus and antimalware licenses, and again through more health problems. I was going to set it up the weekend before my CT myelogram, but Mrs. Prof blew that out of the water ("You're not doing that without some antidepressants and antianxiety meds in your system."). So, the computer still sits. Waiting. Staring. I'm still not in the best health, but I'm unoccupied for today. Mrs. Prof said she's got a couple of things to do today, but she's not going to be busy for the entire day. I've got my tech support questions solved. I'm as ready to go as I'll ever be. So why does this scare the holy living hell out of me? Why can't I just get it set up and get going? What is my block that's keeping me from doing this?

Dinner turned out to be linguine and meat sauce with garlic cheese toast, made by the lady that Mrs. Prof was visiting. Not bad, but way more than I could hold. I just had a little more of it (no bread this time). There's still plenty left in the fridge. Mrs. Prof gave the lady her Tim-Tams. As of Mrs. Prof's leaving, the lady hadn't opened the package yet. Don't know if she liked them or not.

Don't get your hopes up for the OTC stuff. It's money-making placebo, most of the time.

My favorite cheddar so far has been an Old Quebec 7 Year Old Reserve Cheddar. It gets a crystallization that's hard to match. Oldest I've had was 14 or so, and the 7 year old was better. I'm very interested to taste the 20 year old Wisconsin.

I'm in a state of dinner limbo at the moment, at the mercy of Mrs. Prof. She's over at a friend's and fellow cat lover's house. However, as long as Mrs. Prof maintained proper temperature control, her friend should be enjoying some Australian Tim-Tams. The lady is getting the third of three packs of Tim-Tams I ordered earlier. Mrs. Prof got the second, a pack of Dark Chocolate Tim-Tams, and devoured them on her own. I did in all but one of a pack of Black Forest Tim-Tams. The lady is getting just the regular kind. I doubt I'll be eating Tim-Tams for dinner. I will be eating some 20-year-old Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese next week, once it arrives. Can't wait.

I can barely keep track of all of this. I've got a stack of cards and paper that, if Mrs. Prof were to touch, would destroy my medical scheduling and contact system forever. I got a call from the electrophysiologist's nurse within the past hour about the cardiac event monitor. Sure enough, she said it did catch what I've been having problems with—PVCs and other heart rhythm problems (she talked so fast that I couldn't catch all of what she said). She then said the doctor wanted to know what I wanted to do about it. Erm ... excuse me? The doctor wants me to tell him how to treat the situation? What is this, a Self-Service Heart Medicine Outlet Store??? After some confusing back and forth, I finally got the nurse to understand that I want to see the doctor (with Mrs. Prof in attendance) and discuss the next steps. Christ, I shouldn't have even had to have said that. Anyway, Mrs. Prof and I have an appointment next Friday morning. Side Note: I mentioned the aortal atherosclerosis to the nurse. She said that this doctor doesn't deal with that. I'll have to go to my regular cardiologist if my primary care doctor wants that treated. (Can you say, "52 Pick Up"? I'm feeling more and more like that as time goes by.)

That doesn't sound pleasant. Please be careful. I think I've found a little rat turd in my hospital report salad that could explain some of the heart issues I've been experiencing, including those from last night. Going through the report on the CT scan of my lumbar spine, I found this statement: WHAT THE HOLY LIVING @$#@%$$$????? Atherosclerosis? Hardening of the arteries? Of my frikkin' ABDOMINAL AORTA? And they were going to tell me about it WHEN??? Oh, why the hell do I even try? Even if it's mild, don't you think that's something they should have passed on to their patient? Anyway, I sent off an e-mail to my primary care physician through his patient portal and asked him if he wanted to do anything about it—you know, like forward the info on to my cardiologist or my electrophysiologist (who still hasn't called me back about the cardiac event monitor). It's still early, and I'm not expecting a reply from him until after 5pm, if I get one today at all. It's about 30 minutes away from my next pain med dose. They've been sine waving on me today—either bottoming out and not working at all, or peaking and working too well, knocking me out. I'm going to hope for something on they medium-high side of the y axis when I take it. Maybe that'll get the ticked-off sensation out of my head.

My condolences for the insurance/non-insurance suckage you find yourself in right now. At least it won't get worse.

I can see why you've been avoiding it. Still, follow your doctor's orders. Take the medicine, unless it's giving you a true, reportable adverse reaction. If that's happening, then for cryin' out loud, call him or another medical professional (or call 911 if the reaction is too horrendous or if it's too late in the day). You know the safety drill. Stay safe!

Clearing out some of my Keurig non-K-cup backlog. Drinking Pinhead Gunpowder green tea, but with Equal and creamer. The stuff's kind of meh on its own. Got it from a place called FreshRoastedCoffee.com - worth visiting. Most of their stuff is quite good, especially their Costa Rica Tarrazu. I bought this particular tea to put me over the free shipping limit on an order. It's the only thing I've ever bought from them to which I wouldn't give at least four stars. I'm drinking it today for the brain freeze-fighting caffeine and, like I said, to clear out stock.

Sucking down another cup of coffee to try and combat epidural headache symptoms. Bad brain freeze today. Am I the only person here who gets a lot of gas (burping) after drinking coffee? Yes or no?

Yeah, it was my psychiatrist who told me directly not to stop it cold turkey. Said that'd cause seizures. I don't think you want those any more than I do. Now, I wouldn't consider missing a dose here or there to be dangerous, but going off of it for 48 hours (or longer) without a weaning-off period? Yeah, that'd be bad.

I finally got confirmation of the name of the procedure a few minutes ago. It'll be a lumbar caudal injection, done on May 16th. I'll have to go off my "stop list" medications again for 48 hours before and 24 hours after the procedure, with the exception of my Abilify (which I'll have to taper off again for a couple of days prior to that). Jeez, what a pain to go through just to find out about it.

I got an e-mail from the hospital's patient portal, telling me that I had new test results in my online chart. I logged in to check them and discovered that they were from Monday's CT myelogram. Surprisingly enough, they listed three major problems found during the exam: Lumbar nerve root disorder Lumbosacral spondylosis with radiculopathy Other spondylosis with radiculopathy, lumbar region There are more detailed reports for both the myelogram and the CT scan that show a bunch of other little individual problems along parts of the spine. Sounds like someone hasn't been giving me all of the details. Now, the problems listed above and in the detailed reports may not be operable or curable, but they at least sound like issues that could be the sources for my pain. I'm not even 100% certain of what they are, although "nerve root disorder" sure sounds like an explanation for some of what's going on. And here I was, thinking I was going crazy from some hip problem or even a psychosomatic disorder. Damned "Spine Team" doctors weren't telling me everything that they were seeing. I need to do some more digging, methinks.

You speak truth. I'm stuck watching Men In Black II while I wait for the caffeine from the jasmine oolong tea I just drank to kick in.

Back down to 116/79 bp, but with 99 bpm as my heart rate. The PVCs have let up, but my headache hasn't. I'm going to get some more caffeine (after midnight? Sure, why not?) for the epidural headache and see if that'll help. I'll try to sleep once the headache calms down. Man, why can't hydrocodone work on epidural headaches? Too many drugs that work on just one thing and not another.

Having problems with a rather fast, throbbing heartbeat at the moment as I wait for my nightly pills to kick in. Took my BP & heart rate: 130/76 and 108 b.p.m. Not bad on the BP, but rapid on the heart rate. Lots of PVCs, too. Not helping with my epidural headache at all. Something's making it hard to keep both eyes on the same spot, too. Could be my hydrocodone.