ProfessorTomoe

She yawned and scratched her face. I'd say that's a good sign.

Test post from Mrs. Prof.

7:05 p.m. CDT. I called the spine doctor's after-hours number. The doctor that returned my call screened me for "red flags" to see if I needed to go to the ER. She found none, so she started trying to prescribe other medications. Unfortunately, they were medications that my body doesn't get along with very well. She finally decided to just increase my hydrocodone from once every 8 hours (3x a day) to once every 6 hours (4x a day). My last dose was about 6 hours ago, so I took a dose immediately. My next dose will be right at midnight, after which I can't have anything by mouth. Again, I'm going to talk to the doctor tomorrow (and during the followup Wednesday) about the poor pain relief I'm getting. This was scary.

6:25 p.m. CDT. Pain. I've been dealing with an increased level of pain since going off of the "stop list" meds. Hell, the hydrocodone was sliding off before that, but it's really losing it now. The pain is coming in waves. On a 0-10 scale, I'm hitting a high of just over 9, which is "take me to the damned emergency room" pain. Believe me, I'm considering it. The only problem is that the CT myelogram might get canceled tomorrow if I wind up in the ER tonight, and I'll have to go through this all over again. I've got to find the source of this pain and get it treated. My only alternative is to call the spine doctor's office and see if they've got an after-hours contact. I think I'm going to do that while I'm still in a wave of lucidity.

Thanks again for the kind words, guys. I'm not trying to show off here. I'm trying to keep from going crazy from the lack of meds and the pain. This has been a big help, and I appreciate your putting up with me over it. 2:37 p.m. CDT. Been out cold most of the day, but somehow able to feel the pain. Maybe I'm floating in and out of consciousness. All I know is that it's not pleasant. Experiencing a little bit of difficulty focusing, plus some trouble switching concentration. The folks in my Ubergroup team over at Scribophile found one of my blog posts and have been taking me to task over it since I woke up around 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. They're trying to help me get my query in line, get my story solid, and all of this without having read what I wrote. It's wearing me out, and I'm not sure how much more I'll be able to take before I pass out again. Still coughing, but not as violently as I was with the nebulizer. I can still feel the laryngospasms as they hit. Strange sensation. Something builds up in my larynx, then forces a cough. Not pleasant. Forcing fluids per nurse's orders. Watermelon juice and calorie-free sparkling strawberry water go well together. Will be taking a shower tonight so that all I have to worry about tomorrow is brushing my teeth. Got nurse's permission to use Biotene dry mouth spray tomorrow morning, as long as I don't swallow it. Good cheat around the horrible dryness of not being able to drink anything prior to a procedure.

10:46 p.m. CDT. I'm already in pain again. I wonder if it's got something to do with some of the meds I'm not taking at the moment. Regardless, the doctor's going to get a double earful about it on Monday, even if he isn't my pain management doctor. The expected brick wall of depression and anxiety has never really materialized—at least, not yet. No hallucinations, no seizures. Hoping they never will. Just heard a report of five deaths from the wedge tornado that hit the city of Canton, TX. Don't know if that's five total or five more deaths. Canton's relatively rural, compared to the rest of the Metroplex. Not a good thing either way. Switching away from the news. Now drinking a mix of sparkling peach water and watermelon juice while watching a highlights program of the Houston Rockets' game five series closeout win over Oklahoma City. Thinking about having some popcorn to go with it.

9:26 p.m. CDT. Fell asleep shortly before eight after eating an order that Taco Cabana screwed up. Again. Had more coughing, especially when lying down. It seems that the nebulizer is making things worse, so Mrs. Prof and I agreed that I should stop it until I see the pulmonologist. Woke up just after nine and dove for my hydrocodone again. The stuff barely works now. I shudder to think what my hospital trip is going to be like, with no hydrocodone from midnight before the procedure until around one in the afternoon. Figured out what happened with the weather. We dodged a howitzer-sized bullet. The front did form just east of us, and it was pissed. At least three tornadoes, including a major, long-track (40+ miles) wedge tornado, hit the area just a couple of counties to our east. From the looks of the wedge, I'm guessing an EF-4. They're still operating a triage center out of the high school in the city of Canton. Took the rest of my non-"stop list" pills and some diluted orange/lemon juice. Will probably crash out rather quickly. Mrs. Prof is wasted after her cat tree building work, so she's already in bed. See you folks in the morning, and thank you for letting me journal things here.

7:04 p.m. CDT. I'm on my cane again, thanks to the hydrocodone wearing off. Waiting for Mrs. Prof to come home, hopefully with some food from Taco Cabana. Been waiting for rain all day but haven't seen it. Wondering if it missed us or if it's coming at us from the backwards direction—that doesn't happen often, and I hope it doesn't happen while Mrs. Prof is still on the road. Hearing thunder outside. Feeling a bit lightheaded. Not sure why. Can't pinpoint the feeling, either. Might be anxiety, might be pain. Not really sure.

Either I slept through our rain, or the front skipped over us and formed to the east. I think the latter, because I don't see any water on the back porch.

3:40 p.m. CDT. I can already feel the hydrocodone starting to wear off, at least in my hip. This is not going to be an easy day on any count. I was hoping that at least I wouldn't have to deal with constant pain. Looks like that flew the hell out the window.

3:07 p.m. CDT. My hydrocodone wore off at around 10:00 a.m., putting me in an "AAUUGGHH" state for that part of the morning when I wasn't asleep. Fortunately, I did manage to sleep through a good part of the pain. Woke up shortly after 1:00 p.m. and pounced on the hydrocodone like a lion pounces on fresh meat. Did my nebulizer again shortly afterward. Wound up having coughing fits a couple of times in the middle of it. Don't know how to interpret that, other than to wait until my appointment with the pulmonologist before refilling the nebulizer prescription. Mrs. Prof has been away for most of the day, dealing with cat-related stuff. I was at her mercy when it came to going to the bathroom at one point. You see, I'm waiting for the postal carrier to knock and pick up the cardiac event monitor for return from whence it came. Kinda can't do my part of that equation when I'm otherwise occupied. Was very glad when she came home (with some flavored waters, no less) so that I could take care of business. However, she was gone as soon as I was done, headed back up to the Pet Adoption Center with her tools to help someone work on a cat climbing tree. Only brief bouts of unexplained emotional brainfarts so far. I've tried to remain unconscious to avoid having to deal with them. I'm glad I can take my Ativan/Lorazepam to help induce said sleep. One humorous moment, concerning the flavored waters: they'd been sitting on our counter for about an hour before I decided to open one up. They're carbonated, so I was as careful as I usually am when opening any carbonated fluid. I didn't even pick up this particular bottle—I slid it over and slowly opened it, so as not to induce a spray. You can guess where this is going. All over my kitchen, in a 360° arc is where it's going, and with no warning. First time I've ever had that particular set of circumstances happen to me. Mrs. Prof is going to be pissed, because I'm still in enough pain to prevent me from doing a thorough cleaning of the affected area. I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that the hydrocodone will work a bit longer this time. Wish me luck.

Our cold front is being very stubborn. We were forecast to get heavy rain and large hail, starting around now. There's a "cap" sitting on top of us, preventing the storms from forming. The front was supposed to sweep away the cap. It hasn't come through yet. Most annoying. That just means it'll do it later tonight, when the chances of a power outage move from the afternoon gloom stage into the total darkness stage.

7:39 a.m. CDT. Didn't wake up until about 6:30 or so. So much for getting back on schedule. Oh,well—work with what you've got. Nebulizer nebulized, pain pill taken, "stop list" medicines not taken. No weird feelings yet. Watching Formula 1 qualifying from the Russian Grand Prix. America's team, Haas F1, is having problems this time around. Brake issues. Been researching aguas frescas on the internet. I swear, authentic Mexican aguas frescas are made up on the fly and do not take bottled juices into account. I'm going to have to improvise as well. First attempt is with the watermelon juice—about half diluted with tap water, with a couple of packets of Equal for good measure. Nebulizer seems to have irritated my throat/post-nasal drip again. Not constantly coughing. Got a bit of a headache. Going to watch the rest of qualifying, then try and get some breakfast followed by sleep.

Approximately 3:26 a.m. CDT. Pizza consumed, along with other snacks (Mrs. Prof brought home much appreciated Red Velvet cake). I sit here awake, watching Aussie Rules Football and drinking a concoction of leftover lemon tea, orange juice, lemon juice, water, and Equal sweetener. Passable, without using too much of the expensive orange juice Mrs. Prof brought home. (She also brought home Watermelon juice—I'm looking forward to seeing if it's drinkable straight or if I'm going to have to make an aguas frescas out of it.) Alas, she brought home no flavored waters. I'll have to rely on either straight juices or on diluted aguas frescas to make what she bought last the weekend. Not feeling too shaky at the moment. Awake because I spent so much of yesterday asleep. I think. No hallucinations, which is a good thing according to the big green thing sitting behind my right shoulder. Tried to show Mrs. Prof how to access the forum using my account last night. As saintly as she can be most times, she can be a real demon when it comes to things that she hadn't planned on doing which involve multiple steps. "I'm gonna have to write this down," I hear all too often as her attempt to get out of things (yes, I know she may be reading this later, but she'll have to wait for at least 24 hours to pummel me over it). I will not give up. Mrs. Prof sterilized the nebulizer capsule last night. I'll go back to using the nebulizer this morning. Hopefully I can resume my normal 5am-1pm-9pm schedule for both it and my pain medicine. At least my sore throat seems to have let up and turned into a simple post-nasal drip. 3:49 a.m. CDT. Starting to feel sleepy again. Quick trip to use the facilities, then back to sleep.

Susan will know. She likes to watch, remember? * flrrd*

Do they even make them for humans?

Called the company that owns the cardiac event monitor a few minutes after my previous post. They said I could go ahead and remove it, which I did gladly. It sits in a prepaid UPS Mail Innovations mailer bag, waiting for a mail carrier to knock on the door and pick it up Saturday. No more electrodes! No more wires! Yay! It's now approximately 9:05 p.m. CDT. I've just taken the last weaning dose of my medicines from my "stop list." Got a call from the nurse at the hospital—my primary care doctor was on vacation (we both knew that), but none of the other doctors wanted to commit to a yes or no on the safety of stopping any of the drugs he'd prescribed. (There was really just one problem, and that was with the Abilify—I cut it in half over two nights and will go off it Saturday). The nurse then called the doctor who'll be performing the procedure on Monday. He was kind of wishy-washy on whether we should go through with it. I told Mrs. Prof what the nurse was telling me. She gave me the "all systems go" response, which I passed along to the nurse on the phone. So, barring any problems with my coughing or potential nasal/throat infection from the nebulizer, the procedure will proceed on Monday. Mrs. Prof wondered why they didn't just put me in the hospital Saturday and monitor me during the withdrawal phase. She's right—that'd probably be best, but it'd also be expensive, and of course for that reason insurance would never cover it. Now, if I go into seizures during the weekend, they'll have to take me in through the ER and monitor me, resulting in much higher costs on their end. In essence, they're playing craps with my health. With that in mind, why don't the health insurance companies just admit the truth that they're gambling with our lives and relocate all of their headquarters to Las Vegas? Mrs. Prof has just returned from the store. 9:17 p.m. CDT. She brings distilled water and white vinegar for the nebulizer, fruit juices and (maybe) flavored waters for me so that I can hydrate over the weekend (can't drink my tea), and pizza for our dinner. I will talk to you later, likely after said pizza is consumed.

We're getting mlooney's rain tomorrow evening, I think. Possibly with baseball-sized hail. Gonna be interesting to experience without my meds.

Ellen and Nanase vs. Justin and Luke. The perfect pairing.

Jasmine oolong to try and soothe some of this sore throat that the nebulizer has given me. I'm not sure if the nebulizer is working or not—it might be, if it weren't for the fact that I start coughing like crazy when I roll onto my back. Otherwise, the coughing doesn't seem as constant as it used to be.

Follow-up: I've stopped the nebulizer until we get it sterilized. It comes with instructions for doing so. White vinegar and distilled water are involved. We have neither. Started cutting my "stop list" meds in half last night. I can feel the difference already. Can't say it's a pleasant sensation. Not sure how to describe it. Irritated, annoyed, tired, shaky, hard to concentrate, just overall bleh, meh, and argh. At least I get to take off my cardiac event monitor in just over half an hour. Can't wait to get rid of it. Its wires hang on things, scare the cat, make sleeping difficult, and are just generally a pain in the ass.

Well. I've been kicked to the curd, now, haven't I?

Blessed are the cheesemakers, for they shall inherit the curds.

Another question, to anyone who's had to use a nebulizer on a multiple-times-a-day basis: do they give you a sore throat?

It damned well better be. I think this is the first time I'd declare something to be in my headcanon category.