ProfessorTomoe

Quality of life. That would be nice. Very nice indeed. Thank you.

Does anyone know if an epidural headache can start behind the eyes? I've had a couple of coughing bouts lately, and now I feel like I've got brain freeze and a sore back.

Good question. Mrs. Prof loves to torture me with it. Apparently, Texas Health Presbyterian Rockwall Hospital does, too. They forced me to watch two episodes of it in the waiting room before someone came out to get me prepped for my procedure yesterday.

The weather service has finally completed their survey of tornadoes that hit counties to the east of the D/FW Metroplex over the weekend. Seven twisters touched down, including an EF-4 that had 180 MPH winds. Four people lost their lives among the varied storms.

I asked Mrs. Prof to try and find some Cream of Shrimp at our local wherever-she-went store. She was unsuccessful, and spendthrift that she is, she wasn't about to go searching for anything labeled "Pepperidge Farm" or similarly high-falootin'.

I'm back. So is my back. My back is back, I mean. My back and I are back. /* Oh, let it go, let it go ... */ Mrs. Prof is thankful for your kind words and likes. Not quite so thankful for me being a tad grouchy, but I'm the one who had a needle stuck in his spine. I call dibs. Anyway, the CT myelogram is done. It almost didn't get done. Hit a pair of road blocks along the way. First road block was the IV—took 'em three tries to get it started, although they started the second attempt anyway. I now have a nice purple map of Kentucky inside my right elbow as a result. Second road block was my laryngospasm coughing. I've discovered that it really gets worse when I'm flat on my back. Guess what they did to me? Yep, flat out, right before the doctor interviewed me for the procedure. Set off all kinds of red alerts. For a while, I didn't know if they were going to do the procedure or call it off. They eventually got me off my back, onto my stomach, and onto some oxygen. They then timed me between coughs. Once I was down to five minutes between coughs, the doctor decided it'd be safe. Fortunately, those were the only road blocks. They shaved my back, gave me some fentanyl and another drug whose name I don't remember, and proceeded to stick the needle between the bones of my spinal column. They didn't fully anesthetize me, since I had to roll around for the second (CT) part of the procedure. Still, I wasn't freaked out—the sedative cocktail was enough to let me be interested in what was going on during the procedure and not worried at all about it. They wheeled me into the recovery room after they were done. First time I've been conscious when that's happened. Very interesting sensation, knowing where you're going and not being afraid of or anxious about it. The pain from Sunday continued, even through the sedation. There was no real pain relief, since they couldn't give me enough fentanyl to do that without knocking me out. A post-op nurse got permission from a doctor to give me a hydrocodone pill in the recovery room. I spent almost three hours in the recovery room. The time there was to make sure I didn't get an epidural headache, supposedly one of the worst you can get. I didn't get one. I did have a nasty bout of muscle spasms set in, for which Mrs. Prof punched the nurse call button. The nurse determined I was getting a bit hypothermic. She must have piled a half dozen warm blankets on top of me. Even brought one in for Mrs. Prof. I had one small scary moment as they were discharging me. They wanted to make sure I could go to the bathroom, so they wheeled me over and let me go in. Mission accomplished, I stood in front of the sink and washed my hands. That's when the scary moment hit—a brief grey-out. It left me quickly enough so that I didn't fall over. I immediately left the bathroom and got back into the wheelchair before another grey-out hit. Riding home was interesting. I had to sit lying on my side with the passenger seat all the way back to keep my head and back as flat as possible. You get a really interesting view of traffic out of a Honda Ridgeline going full speed on a major Interstate highway from that position. We made it home in one piece, and I went straight to the sofa and got horizontal again. I was allowed brief periods of getting up for things like drinking, eating, and going to the bathroom, but otherwise I had to stay horizontal for 24 hours after the epidural needle went in. That period ended today at 12:34 p.m. CDT. I'm taking it easy now, as instructed, not moving around much other than sitting at my laptop and getting caught up on a metric buttload of internet things. I need to call the pulmonologist's office soon. Ironically, they called the house to set up an appointment yesterday while I was in the waiting room at the hospital. I'll be back at the spine team's office tomorrow at 2:15 p.m. CDT to find out if this whole odyssey was worth it. In the meantime, and I really mean this, thank you again for letting me track my progress, express my fears, vent my spleen, and just generally chronicle one of the more traumatic segments of my life. I hope it wasn't boring.

This is Mrs. Prof here... Mr. Prof made it through his diagnostic test today. He is home and being demanding. Guess that is a good sign!

10:09 p.m. CDT. The hydrocodone is more effective at the more frequent dose, although it's more sedating. I haven't hit anything higher than an 8 on the pain scale yet. Unfortunately, that's about where I am right now. I'm going to have to change my schedule to a more orthodox wake-up/shower/leave schedule tomorrow morning. I've got an alarm set for 11:55 p.m. CDT so that I can take my last hydrocodone dose of the night before midnight. This will probably be my last entry before the CT myelogram tomorrow. Again, thank you all for letting me chronicle what's been going on. Mrs. Prof will take over the posting until at least noon CDT Tuesday, which is the earliest I'll be allowed to resume sitting upright for any length of time longer than a restroom break. I'll let you know how things went as soon as I can. Much obliged.

Mrs. Prof is forcing "American Pickers" on me. It's just now reaching the level below torture, now that the extra hydrocodone has begun to kick in. Still not my favorite show. We're going to have to wait to watch the Phoenix IndyCar race tomorrow after I get out of recovery.

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?