ProfessorTomoe

My laptop is finally back from Gigabyte's repair shop. Better yet, it works! No problems so far with either the keyboard or the display. I am a happy camper. Now, I've just got to get it caught up on things it missed while it was gone, like software updates ... bleh.

Things are continuing to get worse. I had to go to my primary care physician today for treatment of a sinus infection. You read that right - despite the fact that I've been on antibiotics (Augmentin) for almost 20 days (and another antibiotic for 14 days prior to that), I have developed a fresh sinus infection. My doctor blamed it on some "drug resistant bugs going around." He put me on - wait for it - a *third* antibiotic (doxycycline) and on a prescription nasal spray (azelastine). I hope it does something. In other news, I got a call from an infectious disease doctor, the one assigned to take care of the IV antibiotics for my toe. I have an appointment with her on Monday (Feb 3rd) in the afternoon. She's going to love the mix of drugs that I'm already on.

Thank you! I thought I saw your name roll through on a Bandcamp receipt the other night. Much obliged!

Here we go again. The MRI on my right #2 toe came back showing early onset of osteomyelitis (bone infection). Since it's this early, I'm guessing, the doctor doesn't want to go straight to amputation. He wants to put me on intravenous antibiotics again. THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT I'M LETTING THIS INTERFERE WITH MY CRUISE!

I now have 8 songs complete out of a 10-song-long second album, and I could use some help in deciding on a title. My first album's title was Calibrations. I'd like to stick to that theme, so I've got two candidates for my second album's title: Derivations Derivatives Which one do you like best - number one or number two? I'm sorry, but no sneak peeks at the album contents. Thank you! Note: There's a high probability that someone has already used option number two as their album title before me. Just saying.

That'll be more than Microsoft ever managed to do with their Explorer.

Today (Friday Jan. 24) is going to be fun (sarcasm). I've got physical therapy (ouch) scheduled for an hour at 2pm in Rockwall (think far east D/FW area), followed by an MRI at 5:15pm in Plano (think far north D/FW area), with 2:15 hours to get from one to another during the start of Friday rush hour. I think we may just go straight from Rockwall to Plano, have an early dinner at Chuy's, and then go in for the MRI. That's the only way I see things working. Really hoping the MRI results show no evidence of bone infection. I don't want to lose another toe.

You got Benadryl? Take that. Nighty-night.

Had a particularly painful physical therapy session today. You see, three days ago, my knee decided to fire all cannons at me in one of the areas where I've got both bone-on-bone arthritis and scar tissue from surgery. Standing and sitting became excruciating tasks. I finally managed to overcome most of the pain by today, but I reported it to the PT guy. He did some manipulation and found that my kneecap had scooted over to the left, off-center from where it should be. He concentrated on working the muscles along my inner leg to get things to move back, but the knee pain flared up again doing some of the work. He's reporting to the surgeon that my knee seems to be getting worse with each PT appointment. In other news, I saw the podiatrist on Monday. My infected 2nd toe on my right foot isn't responding like it should to the antibiotics. I'm now scheduled for another MRI to test for osteomyelitis (bone infection). If it's there, I'm headed to a wound care specialist to see about putting my foot in a hyperbaric chamber. In further other news, I reported a problem swallowing to my primary care doctor last Friday. I'm waiting for him to set me up for a barium swallow test to see what's causing it. He thinks it might be reflux, which is treatable. Thank goodness at least one of these things has a potential positive outlook.

Soreness in my ankles does tend to make me flounder at times.

Okay, news from my primary care doctor's appointment. I've had some trouble swallowing on occasion over about the last six weeks. It comes and goes, and it affects liquids as well as solids. The problem is mainly on my right side. My doctor said this is relatively common and can be caused by reflux narrowing the esophagus. He's setting me up for a barium swallow test to see exactly what's going on down there. Nothing to worry about at the moment. He also wrote me a prescription for scopolamine patches to counter the effects of seasickness during next month's NotCon at Sea cruise to Cancun, Mexico. He advised that I start by cutting them in half and applying them so I don't get knocked out due to the interactions between it and all of the other medications I'm on. I also was told something interesting. He and every other doctor who has dealt with my feet has claimed that I have neuropathy, which is usually caused by diabetes. Not so in my case, according to him. He believes that mine was caused by all of the trauma I've suffered through the years, mainly the double broken ankles back in 2009 after my gastric bypass. Something I'll have to pass along to my podiatrist when I see him on Monday.

Had a talk with my physical therapist yesterday. I'd gone into the appointment with Level 7 pain in my left knee that didn't go away. I explained what the knee surgeon had told me about the knee replacement, including the part about having "bought 2 years" before I'd have to have the operation done. Yeah, no. I told him to tell the doctor that I felt the arthroscopic surgery had made the knee worse rather than better, and that I felt like I'd be having the operation before the end of the year. We kind of shifted gears after that. He worked on strengthening my core, rather than focusing on my knee in exclusion of everything else. I managed to make it through the session. The ice on my knee at the end was a welcome relief. Unfortunately, I'm having to cancel Friday's appointment. I've got a conflicting appointment with my primary care doctor to get a couple of other things checked out. More news (if there is any) after I get back.

We're too urban/suburban. Although, Mrs. Prof. has taken the Ridgeline up on an actual ridge line in the Colorado Rockies in the past. It handled everything well, except for a deer which jumped out and attacked it. Minor damage was inflicted on both.

We don't go into the woods.

While all of the knee drama has been playing out, I've still been trying to get toe #2 on my right foot to heal up after it so dramatically popped on the day prior to the arthroscopy. The podiatrist removed the toenail and let the clindamycin run its course while we put Silvadene on it. He also took a culture of it and sent it off for testing. Well, I saw him today and presented a toe that still looked rather gross - as in black and peeling gross. Turns out the culture showed Enterococcus bacteria - from a fecal source. We have one of our cats' litter boxes near the toilet in the bathroom that I frequent. Bingo. And clindamycin doesn't do a damned thing for Enterococcus. He prescribed Augmentin and an antibacterial cream, took another culture, and told me to come back in a week. I'd gone round-trip to the doctor by myself via Uber, so I got to freak out Mrs. Prof. with the news when she got home.

Make sure that she doesn't play with string that's too narrow in diameter. That's how one of our cats, Baker, wound up in the hospital. He got into some sewing string my wife had lying around and decided to taste it. Sure enough, he decided he liked what he tasted and downed a foot or three of it. It wound up getting stuck in his intestines, requiring major surgery to remove. We thought we were going to lose him for a week there. Thankfully, we had put him in the hands of some of the best vets in the D/FW area (and we had pet insurance!), so he pulled through and made a complete recovery. The moral of the story: watch what Explorer eats! You never know what she'll develop a liking for.

Drive slowly and carefully, and avoid them. Not an easy task, but doable in a Ridge.

And here I thought you were a Linux man.

Granted, but a Honda Ridgeline does give one an edge over the competition. I've navigated cobblestone ice on a freaking freeway in that beast with plain old all-weather tires. People speak ill of the Ridgeline at their own doom. It trundles where others slip and fail.

Mrs. Prof. has just shut off the water to our dishwasher. It's apparently sprung a leak, causing the wood laminate floor in the kitchen to buckle. We've got insurance, but with a $1,670 deductible, it's probably not going to help much. Lousy harbinger of things to come on a Sunday.

That actually sounds pleasant. Just enough to make snowballs out of.

The physical therapist thinks I may have done it during one of the exercises of the previous class. We won't be doing those exercises anymore, he says, mainly due to the knee replacement recommendation. PT won't help with those particular exercises. Friday's PT class was strenuous rather than painful as a result. He worked the hell out of the areas that can benefit from PT and left the problem areas alone.

Damn it, I don't know what I did, but I've hurt my left knee. My resting pain level has gone up from a 4 to a 6, with oxycodone. Today's PT session is not going to be fun.

Very cool. Tea probably wouldn't be good for her anyway, so that's a good thing.

Just got home from my follow-up appointment with the knee surgeon. He said he found "a lot" (his emphasis) more arthritis in my left knee, mainly on the back of the kneecap. After going in and doing the arthroscopy, he now, finally, recommends that I have my left knee replaced. It's about damned time. I've been trying to get this knee replaced for over a decade now. Of course, he doesn't think it should be replaced any time soon. In fact, he hopes the arthroscopy bought "a couple of years" for my knee. I don't see that happening. Ideally, I'd like to have it replaced before the end of this year. Of course, Mrs. Prof. would probably go ballistic if I told her that. We may soon find out. My next follow-up is in four weeks.