ProfessorTomoe

Tastykake red velvet donuts with powdered sugar, topped with some Double Devon Cream. There goes my diet for the day.

Pain from stem to stern. Not fun. How many times have you broken your toes?

Right now I'm willing to try almost anything. Thank you, and please give your wife my thanks as well, along with my sympathies. Thanks, everyone. My doctor gave me another thirty pills of hydrocodone. He also referred me to a spinal specialist. I've got an appointment this coming Thursday, to which I'll likely have to have my wife drive me. The specialist is supposed to look at the right-side sciatica plus the compression fracture that's been screwing with my left side for the past seven years. My biggest worry is that they might not be able to do an MRI on me. I honestly don't know if any of the hardware they installed into my ankles and my vena cava back in 2009 are at risk for magnetic-related problems.

I don't know what's going to happen today. I've got three of the 10-325 hydrocodone-acetaminophen pills left. I iced down the spot on my back and spread out the hydrocodone dosage to two every six hours yesterday (4:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m., and 10:30 p.m.), but I had to take Advil with it to prevent headaches. I'm going to run out of the hydrocodone today, and the sciatica pain is just as intense as it was yesterday. I'm having a hard enough time typing this note. My doctor's call center opens at 7:30 a.m., so I'm going to give him a call and ask what the hell I should do. God, I hate this,

Now digesting chocolate (70% cacao w/nibs) from the Dominican Republic, thanks to Mrs. Prof who just returned from her cruise Sunday night. She also brought back some tourista mini-bottles of triple sec from Curaçao (different colors, all still triple sec), along with some rum-raisin liqueur and some coffee liqueur from the same distillery. Can't have those at the moment, thanks to the hydrocodone I'm taking for the sciatica.

Do we need to start a GoFundMe page to get you a microwave oven?

You have my sincere sympathies—that's a terrible thing to have happen. You're right, your mother should come along with you and your sister. A group trip back is in order.

More like UPSEx.

I have to plan very carefully in order to imbibe. An early wake-up time and pill-dosing is required, and I have to skip my midday dose (hydroxyzine, Wellbutrin, and lorazepam) to allow enough time to recover on both sides. Coma is thankfully not an issue for me, but seizures are if I do things wrong. That said, a week from tomorrow (Sunday) will involve a good deal of planning, because Mrs. Prof and I will be attending a substitute for the Super Bowl party that was canceled at one of my friends' house due to kids with the flu. It's going to be a craft brew party. I'll be providing the following: Chimay Grande Réserve Dark Trappist Ale. Jester King Brewery Kvass Farmhouse Ale (at least one, maybe more). Lakewood Brewing's Bourbon Barrel Temptress (Imperial milk stout). Lakewood Brewing's Lion's Share IV Anniversary Ale (a Belgian Trappist-style quadrupel ale, 2 bottles) Martin House Brewing's "Turtle Power" Blackberry Altbier (one 12 ounce can, just for novelty's sake) With the exception of the last item, all will be in 22 oz. bottles. I wanted to bring cheese from Chimay to match the Grande Réserve, but I can't locate any. Instead, I'm going to bring some good Aged Gouda, which is supposed to match up well with the Lion's Share IV Anniversary Ale. (N.B. - I've normally been the designated cheese provider for our parties, dating back to the mid-1990s.) (I'm also expected to bring a plain, yellow cheddar for the daughter of the host, but I'm not going to settle for Cracker Barrel or some cheap grocery store drek. I'll pick something from Central Market for her that she'll like.)

With tea? Personally had an oven-baked breaded cod filet sandwich tonight. With tea.

I am well acquainted with three of the major bowel problems—constipation, diarrhea, and black/tarry stools from internal bleeding—unfortunately too well. I've had IBS-D since around 1976/1977, with brief breaks of IBS-C and opioid-induced constipation. The third hit after my gastric bypass disaster. BTW, I was going to put this into a Spoiler due to TMI, but I can't find the right button. What's the trick to do it?

Will the mail come in an S-Car?

Hot jasmine tea, no cream or sugar.

Good grief. I am having nasty side effects from the hydrocodone this time around. Staying awake is difficult, and sleeping is uncomfortable. The stuff is also making it difficult to urinate, and not just because I keep nodding off while on the throne. Nausea, dry mouth, headache - this is a real byatch. At least it's helping the sciatica somewhat.

Fortunately, no. I also got lucky in that they didn't deliver it ups ide down. Could be worse—some places FedEx your UPS.

UPS drove off before I could ask for help with my UPSed UPS. Thanks, though! In any case, I managed to at least get the box onto the door threshold and slide it into the house. It now sits next to the front door, until my wife returns from her cruise.

Many developments today. First, the cardiologist's staff turned out to be a bunch of lying liars. They don't do the longer cardiac event monitor—just the one-day Holter monitor (which did not pick up the source of the problem, as my primary doctor predicted). What a waste of a $40 co-pay. I'm going to have to go to another cardiologist (maybe an electrophysiologist) for the long-term monitor. I wish that was the only problem my doctor had to deal with today. It wasn't. I now have a bad case of sciatica, on my right side. I have no idea how it developed. It started Monday morning. I thought I'd just slept weird. Wrong. My tramadol didn't even work to help the pain. It escalated as the week continued, to the point where it hurt when I worked the gas and brake pedals of my truck on my way to the doctor's office. I was in a fair amount of distress when I finally made it to the exam room. Anyway, he gave me a shot of Kenalog, wrote up a prescription for hydrocodone, and told me to lie down and ice the spot on my back where my sciatic nerve connects to my spine. I've taken the hydrocodone ((10mg + 325mg acetaminophen) x 2) and am about to go get an ice pack out of the freezer. Wish me luck, especially when UPS gets here later with the RMA delivery of the uninterruptible power supply that died on me last month (that thing's going to be heavy as all f*ck).

Many, many pills. With tea. However, I had time this afternoon to enjoy a couple of glasses of Jester King Brewery's Kvass farmhouse ale. You should see the pictures of how they used farmhouse-style bread in the brewing process. The end result is a bright, refreshing ale with just a 3.4% alcohol-by-volume rating. Easy to enjoy without getting smashed. I hope they brew another batch of it, since they've only done one batch so far. EDIT: I sent them e-mail and got an almost immediate reply. They said they're going to brew more!

I don't know, it bleu right past me ...

MoooooOOOOOooooo.

Decoupling the Heisenberg Compensators tricked Moriarty into letting them go. I hope the device they trapped him in doesn't develop memory corruption.

This. I believe she's more likely to be squeamish, I think. Now, give Susan that ability, and I think she'd dive right in and diagnose the situation.

DON'T PUT IT ON PIZZA

I vaguely remember something like this, although I think it was just the school spelling bee. You want frustration? Try this: I was a whiz at spelling bee contests through my eighth grade year (ending in 1977). I beat the entire 5th grade class in an impromptu contest the teachers held once. I didn't know about the Scripps contest until 1976, when my eighth grade English teacher announced it in class one day. I wound up winning the contest for my school and earned the right to compete in the area contest. I got knocked out in the lousy first round. The word was "aggravate." I blanked out on it. Wound up using an "i" in place of the second "a." Insert "D'oh!" here, way before the Simpsons ever used it.

Ohmydearlord. That's why I started this thread so long ago. It's not a pleasant experience. Prepare yourself to experience "brain zaps" for the next couple of months. Good luck - you'll need it!