ProfessorTomoe

***The Edema Chronicles for Feb. 23, 2023 Today's weight, taken at around 4:40 a.m., was 314 lbs.

***The Edema Chronicles for Feb. 22, 2023 I'm going to start a sub-thread in here that is intended to do two things: 1. It will make public my daily battle with edema (swelling) in my legs and help me to track it. 2. It will make public, for the very first time, my weight, and will force me to own up to the consequences of that action. I know I'm not going very public, since there aren't too many people reading this, but I run the risk that any one of you will take this information and run with it to a more public forum. However, I am not going to swear anyone to secrecy. Do what you will. Let ye olde Golden Rule be your guide. With that out of the way, let's get to some disclosures. All weights will be given in Imperial Pounds. Sorry, but I can't do kilograms or stones. My base weight, before this edema nightmare began, was 306 lbs. At its absolute worst, my weight got to 356 lbs, sometime in December or January, before I wound up in the hospital on January 26th at around 350 lbs (approx.). I left the hospital at 326 pounds on February 2nd, having lost 30 lbs of edema in the form of water weight that my doctor promised he'd take off of me when he admitted me. So, the baseline for this record starts on February 2nd at 326 lbs. Today's weight, taken at around 5:30 a.m., was 313 lbs. That's without me wearing my customary light jacket. It's down 13 lbs from my baseline, and down 43 lbs from my worst at 356. It's also one of the lowest points I've reached since being discharged. The only lower weight came almost 2 weeks ago, on February 10th, when I hit 312 lbs. Note that a fluctuation of less than 3 lbs either way per day is considered normal. Now, I've been *told* by my doctor to call my primary care physician if I ever fluctuate more than 3 lbs upward. However, my scales aren't the most accurate (they're CVS brand, for crying out loud), and what I wear changes from day to day. So, I'm not going to go screaming to Dr. Parker's appointment line if I ever have a 4 or 5 lb jump. Also, doctor's office scales rarely agree with my home scales - I think there may be a 4 to 5 lb difference. For purposes of these Chronicles, I'm going by my home scales. I've also been told to take my weight first thing in the morning, preferably at the same time each day. For reasons too long to get into here (!?!), I get up at 4am almost every day and weight myself at that time. Today was an anomaly. That's all for this initial entry in The Edema Chronicles. I promise you that tomorrow's entry will be much shorter.

In other news, I have an appointment with the cardiologist on Thursday to figure out what's going on with these palpitations.

I have six years left before I'll need eye surgery to remove cataracts. Or, so the optometrist told me today when I went to get new glasses. She said my left eye had a large cataract in it that prevented her from correcting that eye down any further than 20/25. In 5 or 6 years, she said it won't be correctible down any further than 20/40, at which point I'll need surgery. Sigh. At least I won't need surgery for it *this* year. In other news, my prescription has changed drastically in both eyes. I definitely needed new lenses, and thanks to a pair of faceplant falls I've had, I needed new frames as well. The frames were covered by insurance, as were most of the extras for the lenses, but the bill still rang up at around $225 due to the part of the high-end stuff (high-end Crizal, Varilux X) that wasn't covered. This sounds exorbitant, but I've researched the Crizal/Varilux stuff and have worn both on my current glasses for years. These are a step up from what I'm wearing currently, and a sorely needed step up. The high-end Crizal will give me blue light blocking from my computer screen, and the Varilux X will give me a better field of focus while working at the computer. Mrs. Prof can stay pissed at me for spending $225. I know what I need.

Leftover Moo Shi Pork with hoisin sauce on Chinese pancakes. Very drippy in its second-day state.

If it keeps happening, I'm going to get an earlier appointment.

Having a hard time with cardiovascular issues, especially on Sunday. I'd be going along just fine for a stretch, then I'd get hit with a bout of palpitations that would just sap all the strength out of me. They would go on for about 10-20 minutes and then fade away. After they left, I wouldn't have the energy to stay awake - I'd take a deep nap for an hour or so. When I woke up, I felt okay again, at least until the next round of palpitations hit. This went on for at least three or four sessions Sunday. It's too early to tell if I'm going to get hit with the same thing today. If I do, I'll report back. In the meantime, I don't know what to do. My next cardiologist appointment isn't until sometime in July.

Richard Belzer has passed on today.

Starting back in 2019, I used to do what was called the Song of the Weekend over in the Lee Jackson Audio Community Discussion Group on Facebook. Every other week, I'd let the members vote on a group of three of the songs I've written to choose which one would be the Song of the Weekend. I would do a write-up on the winning song, including history, anecdotes, musical analysis (where possible), and any other information I could come up with. This went on until the Spring of 2022, when I started getting sick. Anyway, the write-ups from the Song of the Weekend winners are now available for reading in PDF form from my website! No need to dig through a Facebook thread anymore. Simply go to https://dleejackson.lbjackson.com/music/song-of-the-weekend-archive/ and choose if you want to browse by date or alphabetical order. It's not a complete discography, but it's a pretty big collection of my songs. Please head on over and take a look today!

Had a rough patch overnight. Got hit by what I believe were some fibrillations in my heart. Woke up in the middle of the night to find that my heart was jumping around in my chest. Nasty fluttering feeling, wouldn't stop for about an hour no matter what I tried. Fortunately, I didn't have any shortness of breath, dizziness, or other symptoms to accompany it. If I did, I would have woke up Mrs. Prof and called 911.

Yesterday was rough. I couldn't stay awake for some reason, unless I was standing up or in active conversation with someone. I wasn't overmedicated by comparison to any previous day. No extra antihistamines, nothing like that. My blood pressure wasn't low to my knowledge. I just couldn't stay awake. Caffeine was no help in staying awake. Food was no help either. It's now 4:30am Wednesday. I'm up. Let's see what happens.

More or less. I'm not 100% back to normal yet. I still get dizzy if I stand up too long. My weight is still fluctuating, albeit on the downward side (a nice surprise, but slightly troubling - it's kind of sudden). My legs are weak, especially my left knee. I wonder if the edema was holding it up or something. And I've been having PVC heart flutters all damned day long - very annoying. Still, it is better than what I had, I must admit. When a doctor looks at you and his first thoughts are to stick your ass in the hospital, you know you're in a bad way.

I'm home from the hospital. The schedule is a bit delayed - I won't be going to wound care until next Friday. I'm going to have home health come in, potentially 3x a week, potentially as soon as tomorrow. In the meantime, I get to settle back in, preferably with some different lifestyle patterns, and become a functional human once again. Thanks for all of your messages of support during my hospitalization. I do appreciate them.

Had a chance to discuss a few things with the hospitalist while I'm waiting to be discharged today. Found out that I was presenting with a kidney injury when I showed up at the hospital, thanks to a creatinine level of 1.8. I'm down to 1.2 now, so the injury has been resolved. However, I'm now in Stage III Chronic Kidney Disease. Not the worst diagnosis (there are 5 stages), but not something I wanted in the first place.

Apropos today's Texas weather (can't permalink page, had to link image)

Update: There is a light at the end of the tunnel. My swelling has gone down, as has my redness. My infection markers are clearing, but they're going to keep me on Vancomycin while I'm still hospitalized. That may not be for very much longer, however; I've been given a tentative discharge date of Thursday, February 2nd (yes, Groundhog Day). It'd be sooner, but we're iced in here in the D/FW Metroplex and there's no way Mrs. Prof would be able to make it to the hospital. In any case, I'll be right back up at the Wound Care Clinic on Friday for a new wrapping on my legs. I'm going to have to be careful once I get home, however, or I could end up right back in the hospital according to the doctor.

Right now, though, I've been mostly eating hospital food. Bleargh. Cardiac diet with liquid restrictions.

I have a device that makes it easy to cook up almost an entire package of bacon at once. It's called a foil-lined sheet pan, situated inside a 375-degree oven for 20-28 minutes, rotated after 15 minutes. Cooks 'em up crispy.

I am in the hospital. Allow me to explain. I had ulcers erupt on my very swollen legs, so I called to have an appointment with a Wound Care Specialist at a Dallas hospital. He also happens to be a specialist in leg swelling cases, BTW. He examined me on Thursday of last week and told me he could not fix my problem without admitting me into the hospital. I agreed to let him admit me, so he admitted me straight from his offices after putting wraps on my legs. Since then, I've had one problem after another. We found out that a muscle relaxant medicine I was taking for muscle spasms was actually causing said spasms, so it was discontinued. I've had a couple of panic attacks in the overnight hours. I've lost so much water weight from diuretics that it's messing with my blood pressure, sending it as low as 83/35 the other day. And, I'm still getting post-concussion headaches. I have no idea how long I'm going to be here. My latest diagnosis is Peripheral Artery Disease, if you want to go look that up. It's supposedly somewhat serious - I don't know, I haven't had time to investigate it yet. I'm in Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, room M439. However, in place of sending cards or the like, I'd prefer you buy one of my albums from https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com instead if you haven't already. Either one would help cheer me up.

Frozen, unsweetened, organic cherries. Nomalicious. Feels so good.

Saw the doctor for my wounds and maladies Thursday. First off, he says the headache I've had since my fall is a symptom of a concussion. Joy. Too late to do anything about it now, though, since it's relatively minor. Next up, the cut on my butt. Something cut all the way through my shorts and through my shirt tail before tearing a two-inch gash in my left butt cheek. The skin area around it is blackened, and the gash itself is infected. Mrs. Prof is putting Silvadene on it to dress it, and my doctor prescribed a week's course of Augmentin to knock out any systemic infection that might linger. Elsewhere, I've got other minor cuts and abrasions left over and some bruised ribs. My left knee is still out of alignment and swollen. Still using the walker for both legs. Checked blood for a factor called Creatine Kinase to see if it or its related electrolytes (potassium, magnesium) are causing my leg cramping and my shaking in other muscles. Here are my numbers: Creatine Kinase 36 U/L (normal 44 - 196 U/L) !LOW Potassium 4.7 mmol/L (normal 3.5 - 5.3 mmol/L) Magnesium 2.5 mg/dL (normal 1.5 - 2.5 mg/dL) I e-mailed to the doctor about the results. He said that the normal Potassium and Magnesium results were good, and that the low CK numbers unfortunately don't tell him anything. They represent atrophied muscles according to some websites, which is to be expected because of the atrophied muscles in my left hand. Can't aim the number anywhere else, though.

I don't know. My knee hurts pretty bad.

Humpty-Dumpty time... I had a great fall yesterday as I was returning from getting blood work done. I was stepping up onto my porch/landing/whatever in front of my front toor, and my leg cramped up as I put weight on it. I collapsed as a result, faceplanting into the wooden beam alongside the left of my doorr entryway. and slamming my leg into the concrete.at the base. I cut my hand and my butt. My wife had to call an ambulance to get me up. I'm still shaking from the fall. Still somewhat traumatized. My left knee got knocked out of alignment. My neck hurts on my right side. I'm shaking a lot, and my wife wrapped up my hand in gauze. More details as I can remember them.

Hoooo-boy... I spent about 15 minutes trying to clear off the little end table where my daily medicine dispenser boxes sit. They'd gotten pretty overloaded: I'd say there was about 5 inches of paper piled on top of it. I managed to move about an inch before the pain in my lower back became unbearable and I had to stop. I barely made it over to the recliners, collapsed in mine, and just sat for several minutes until I could get back enough control to type this up. Even that's been a strenuous affair, requiring several breaks to get my hands to stop shaking. I'm really going to feel this in the morning. Hoooo-boy...

In today's case, I put the capers under the salmon instead of on top, so it was a hoist instead of a heist.