ProfessorTomoe

Just did the dishwasher. Relative to the usual horrendous pain I get when I load it, this was about 15% worse on the left side. Good lord, it was screaming bloody murder. The upside is that I wasn't feeling pain in my right side until I sat down on the sofa—just a twinge, but enough to bump the pain relief from 100% down to 90%. Mrs. Prof is (reluctantly) keeping a running log for me, to present to the doctor. It's only for a couple of days, but it's an important job.

I'm glad yours are working.

I'm home. Turns out Mrs. Prof got her signals crossed. My check-in time was 1:30 p.m. after all. She remembered after she got out of the shower. They rolled me into the OR and had me roll over onto my stomach. Kind of funny—someone had 80s music playing in the OR. "Our House" by Madness and "Heaven is a Place On Earth" by Belinda Carlisle. Anyway, just as I was getting the face pillow comfortable, someone came around and practically shoved it into my nose and asked if I needed help. I told them I was almost there and pushed it back. After that, it was a puff of propafol and nighty-night. They injected nerve blocks into both sides of my L2 through L5 spinal exits. Eight injections of anesthetic. Ten needles, if you want to count the two they used to get my IV started. I now sit at my laptop, drinking cranberry juice, and dreading the thought of what I have to do next—load the dishwasher. Yep. Right out of the OR. I can already tell that I'm getting no relief from the shots. If I had to put the relief on a percentage scale, I'd say that it's a -15% right now. I'm kind of waiting for the pills I take for chronic pain syndrome (which I took as soon as I got home) to kick in, but I can't wait much longer. Besides, every time I cough kicks the pain up even higher. Thanks for staying with me through all of this. Wish me luck.

Approximately an hour and ten minutes left before the procedure. I woke up to find that my wife called the spine doctor to confirm the appointment. They said I had to be at the hospital at 1:00 p.m., which clashes with the 1:30 p.m. that she had been told earlier (and forgot about). Just what I need going into this, another clusterfark. I'm nervous enough, my back hurts, I'm thirsty as hell, and now I've got to be there 30 minutes earlier than I'd planned. Someone is screwing with my life, and I'm not pleased.

About to be ingesting Long John Silver's Beer Battered Cod again. Call ahead and check with your local store before trying to duplicate if you're interested in the dish.

That would be a Good Thing Indeed, with a caveat or two. I'm going to be reminded that tomorrow's procedure is only temporary and will be followed by physical therapy. If it works, I've got nerve cauterization in my future, and even that won't last forever. Not even success will lead to an easy path, I think my cat knows what's going on. He's up here on the sofa, next to me after a brief session of head-butting and purring (on his part, not mine).

At least I've got jasmine oolong.

T-minus one day and counting for the spine injection procedure. I report to the hospital at 1:30 p.m. CDT tomorrow (Tuesday) and have the procedure done at 3:15 p.m. CDT. I know it's an injection of nerve "blockers," which means something that's supposed to remove the sensation of pain, but all of my experiences with hospitals prior to this have been the exact opposite. I am not completely calm, and I believe I will not calm down as the moment approaches. (Eight frigging injections into my spine, for cryin' out loud!) Add to that the fact that I'm supposed to come home and do household chores almost immediately afterward to rate the pain reduction from the shots, and you can see where this is going. Tomorrow is going to be less than fun.

Soup in the microwave consumes too many large bowls that require washing—especially when tomato soup is involved. At least the tomato soup (sorry, tomato "bisque") helps my cough.

My other choice would have been canned tomato bisque. I wasn't going to eat the other stuff Mrs. Prof bought (chicken and white beans? No thank you), so I went with a slightly butter-augmented mushroom/garlic soup from a can. Finished it off at my next puff time. The Combivent Respimat (Respimat for short—I like it, it sounds like something out of Doctor Who) does indeed loosen things up for a while after administration. I still cough at first until things clear out, then I get a bit of rest from the hacking and wheezing attacks. I'm not complaining yet.

Puff number six inhaled, 24-hour counter reset. Also had to take a (doctor-approved) hydrocodone tablet, due to me coughing so hard in the shower yesterday that I re-injured the right side of my back. Ingested soup before taking my morning pills—Cream of Mushroom with Garlic. Helped some, but gave me gas ('twas to be expected). Phazyme softgel taken in revenge.

It's supposed to take a few days to kick in. I've only had five puffs of it so far (max 6 per 24-hour period). T minus 30 minutes and counting until puff number six.

I have to set my alarm so I can take my new inhaler every 4 hours around the clock. Shortly after my 4:30 a.m. dose, the refrigerator started sending rapid morse code again.

Very appropriate. On that note, I somehow got started on drinking ginger ale with a slice of lime whenever I fly. I don't remember exactly when, but it was well before my senior year of high school. I still order it to this day when drink service is offered. Jump to the middle of my senior year. I flew to Washington, D.C. with a group of students from my school as part of the Close Up Foundation, a student program to get to know the workings of Washington better. (Note: Famed lawyer Leon Jaworski was one of my financial sponsors.) En route, I ordered my usual ginger ale with a slice of lime. It caught the attention of the rest of my school's group. On the way back, there were a great many orders for ginger ale with a slice of lime. Probably the one and only time I set a trend in my high school days.

The refrigerator is down here. When my coughing woke me up last night, I went and got some soup from it, and I could swear that the thing was breathing. Seriously.

Cream of cauliflower soup. Warm soups seem to help my coughing.

I don't know ... I'm afraid that if you put any more symbols on my page, it might spontaneously combust.

You have my thanks, in abundance. I do appreciate it. Sincerely. I'm back from the second appointment this week. The doctor said he's now hearing wheezing in my trachea, not my lungs. He gave me a nebulizer of something which helped briefly, along with a $50 prescription Combivent Respimat inhaler that's going to take time to kick in. He said to take it every 4-6 hours, even if that means setting an alarm and waking up in the middle of the night. Right now, I think that's going to be necessary. One tiny bit of good news: the Topamax that I'm taking for my back pain is definitely helping me lose weight. I haven't been where I am in years. It caught the attention of the nurse, who asked me if I've been working on my weight. I told her that a side effect of the Topamax is anorexia. Another couple of good things: the coughing won't interfere with my diagnostic spine procedure next Tuesday, and the cardiac monitor won't interfere with the physical therapy after my spine procedure.

I know I'm being a pain in the [insert least favorite body part here]. I apologize, and I thank you and everyone in the thread for your support. I do actually let Mrs. Prof know about your gratitude. It's just ... well ... things get scary sometimes. You folks are some of the only ones I feel who will really support me when I need it. I've grown to trust you (see the thread title—it's been earned), so I can share things here that I wouldn't elsewhere. I really, really appreciate that, from all of you. I'm sorry if I'm overusing the thread.

I'm going to have to revise this. Shortly after 4:00 a.m. today (Friday), the coughing woke me up. Time for a hit from my Ventolin inhaler ... and probably some soup. Yeah. Soup is good. At four in the morning. Soup.

I'm going back to the doctor Friday. The Ventolin inhaler isn't working anymore, and I don't think the Azelastine nose spray ever has. I seriously thought I was going to wind up in the emergency room Wednesday night. Today (Thursday), I got hit with a solid three-minute-long coughing fit while waiting for some tea to steep. Mrs. Prof was in another room when it happened. She came in with a less than happy look on her face and told me to call the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] doctor and make another appointment. To her credit, she did come home from her cat T-N-R duties with a wide variety of soups (some of which only she would eat, but it's the thought that counts) and a Whataburger Monterrey Melt. (That's the weird part—I can eat/drink/sleep without coughing, but once I'm done, the coughing kicks back in.) I'm just hoping that this doesn't screw with the spine doctor procedure that's scheduled for this coming Tuesday.

Surprised it didn't use "Borland".

I've been drinking that Jasmine Oolong. It seems to have a soothing effect, but I can only handle so much of it a day. Sounds like a good idea right now, though. BRB. Our storm just blew through (knocking out the power temporarily), and pollen.com says we'll only have a 4 out of 12 today. However, we're scheduled for high-to-mid 10s through the weekend, followed by an 11.4 on Monday.

Had a bit of a scare tonight. Almost wound up going to the emergency room, thanks to my "reactive lungs." I got started on about a 90-minute-long coughing fit that would not let up. I took my Ventolin inhaler, but that seemed to make it worse. I managed to get my nighttime medicines and nose spray in. After that (plus a cup of the leftover tomato basil soup), my coughing finally started to calm down. It was mostly under control after about another 30 minutes, at which point Mrs. Prof decided it was safe for her to go to bed. I'm still a bit shaky and still coughing occasionally, but not like I was. I can do without another fit like that.

http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2327 No eye popping jokes, please.