ProfessorTomoe

Aw, @$%!. I just lost either a filling from or a large chunk of my lower left molar. Emergency dental time. Thank God I'm on oxycodone, or this would be really hurting right now.

And just when things might be looking up ... The ulcer on the bottom of my right foot is back. I've got a hurry-up appointment with my podiatrist on Monday. He's probably going to debride it and tell me to put Iodosorb on it. Only problem: Mrs. Prof is going away for a week next Saturday. I won't be able to do the ointment and bandaging myself. I may have to get a home nurse for a week. Damn it all to hell.

Another set of very obnoxious neighbors who own at least four lifted big wheel pickup trucks which regularly block traffic on our street started building what looked like a massive, ugly porch in front of their house (and another to match in their backyard). They've been doing various work projects on this house for over two years now, very slowly. As we drove by on the way to a doctor's appointment, we looked and saw no building permit posted. That wasn't gonna stand. As soon as we got home, Mrs. Prof called Code Compliance and checked for permits on that address. There weren't any. She registered an official complaint. The Brothers Obnoxious may have to tear down their Grand Porches if they can't placate Code Compliance and the Garland Building Inspectors.

Follow-up on the eternally honking horn. A police officer came by and basically said there wasn't much he could do beyond knocking on the other house's door and asking them to turn down the alarm. He knocked, but no one answered, despite suspicions that someone was home. He then suggested that I call Code Enforcement and left the scene. I called Code Enforcement and was told that—believe it or not—the Health department handles car alarms that keep going off. They transferred me to a human at the Health department, who promptly took my information and said an investigation would be launched into the matter. A couple of days ago, I got a call from them telling me that they were sending a letter to the owner of the offending truck, notifying them that they were in violation of City of Garland statutes. The problem has practically solved itself since then. I think I've heard one instance of the horn going off for about a second. That's all. It seems like we're done with that problem. But ...

The MRI of both of my knees is scheduled for late tomorrow afternoon (Friday, Sept. 20). They found a 3 Tesla MRI machine (no electric car jokes, please - it's one of these) that is supposed to be compatible with the Greenfield filter that was implanted within my inferior vena cava way back in 2009, after my gastric bypass disaster. The MRI machine should be strong enough to get a good enough picture of my knees to let the knee surgeon know WTF is going on down there. It'll also hopefully show him the bone-on-bone arthritis in my right knee that he claims he can't see. I've got a follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks to learn the results.

And now, another nausea attack. A bad one. Right in the middle of a bowl of ramen. Thank goodness for Mrs. Prof - she recognized it and was on hand with a Zofran pill before I went urp.

... and I had to take rizatriptan #3. Urgh. Pain.

The migraine is back. I've had to take two doses of rizatriptan to get it to calm down to a small buzz. Still some low level pain, but I can only take one more rizatriptan in the next 24 hours.

I have just called the police. We have a nuisance parked across the street from us, in the form of a pickup truck with a car alarm that goes off at all hours of the day and night. It's been doing this for almost a month, at random intervals. Some days are worse than others, but today it went off one time too many. I had to report it. I picked up my pad and pencil, went outside, and wrote down the offending vehicle's license plate number, make & model, and the street address it was parked in front of. I then called the Garland Police Department's non-emergency number and relayed this information to them. They said they would send the first available unit out to investigate. Dear Lord, I hope this brings things to an end. I can't take much more of this.

The call has been made. I have an appointment this coming Tuesday. In other news, I've spent a couple of days this week fighting migraines. Today, I'm fighting pain on the opposite end - my left foot is shooting waves of pain up between my big toe and toe #2 for some reason. Pins and needles, like you'd expect in diabetic pain, but I'm not diabetic anymore (A1C = 5.2). I've taken an oxycodone to try and get it to stop. It can't kick in fast enough.

Some people use the brushings from their cats to create yarn for knitting pouches and other small items. You can probably find some on Etsy.

Follow-up: my knees are still hurting worse than they were prior to the orthopedist's appointment and the steroid shots. I will be making that call for a new appointment.

Brain swelling? Hell yeah, get that checked out!

I had a rather disappointing appointment with the knee surgeon today. He based his diagnosis off of two X-rays. They showed that I had arthritis behind my left kneecap, plus I had bone spurs on the outer sides of both knees. They did not, however, show the bone-on-bone arthritis on my right knee. His recommendation: steroid shots in both knees, followed by physical therapy. Sigh. I went ahead and had the shots administered. They made the pain much worse. I had to put ice on my knees and take an oxycodone pill when I got home. Plus, the shots didn't address the pain I have on the inner side of my right knee. I'm also not going to go with the physical therapy - every time I've gone with that, it's done nothing but make things worse. He scheduled me for an appointment 10 weeks from now, but told me to come back in 2 weeks if the steroid shots don't help. At that point, he'll have an MRI done and look into doing arthroscopic surgery. However, he said that knee replacements are not an option. I have a feeling I'll be making that call in 2 weeks' time.

I thank you for your patience, and I must admit that part of the delay is me trying to remember how I used to do recolors in the first place. It's literally been years since I've done one, and I had a whole mathematical system mapped out for recoloring that I've forgotten. That, plus you've got a lens flare of sorts in your avatar that's going to complicate matters - just give me time to ruminate on it. I promise it'll get done.

Had a bit of a health scare this morning. My heart decided to begin racing on me. It also started throwing PVCs (Premature Ventricular Contractions) - something I've dealt with for a long time, but not as bad as today. I had to take an emergency second dose of clorazepate to compensate. Knocked me out for several hours, but I've woke up feeling better. Considerably more cautious,, but better. I think this is going to be a "let's take it very easy" day, so sorry, tOH - It's going to be another day at least on your avatar.

I have done exactly that. Worked on my end. Here's hoping you can receive it.

SECONDED

Speak softly, and carry a big stick. Preferably one with a cattle prod at the end. Would you like for me to give your new avatar the same colorization treatment I gave your old one? Send me a PM so we can work things out if so.

Well spoken.

With my history, I deserve a bit of good luck, damn it.

Finally, some good news. Looks like I don't need the transport chair, which has never arrived. I saw the podiatrist today, and after scraping a goodly amount of callus material from the area of my ulcer and from toe #2, he declared my entire foot healed. I asked him about the pain I've been having: he said it was due to "baby skin" growing in the ulcerated area, replacing the bad skin. So, no more bandages, no more wrappings, no transport chair, nothing! Surprised the hell out of me. Meanwhile, I did ask him to set me up with a knee surgeon. He did - my appointment is this coming Tuesday afternoon. He will be looking at both knees for a fix of some sort, if not for a replacement of both. We shall find out exactly what when I get there.

Yep, I'm in Texas, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I'm not worried about cost through the end of this year - I've met my catastrophic deductible. Everything that insurance approves is covered at 100% until the start of 2020. Besides, anything strapped onto my leg isn't going to provide relief from pressure against my bones pressing directly into one another. That's where a knee replacement is probably going to be the only way to go. As for recovering from multiple things at once, well ... it wouldn't be the first time, let's just leave it at that. An update: the podiatrist is deadly serious about wanting me to keep my weight off of my right foot. So much so that he's replacing my knee-scooter with a "transport chair" (think "wheelchair lite"). Should get here in the next day or so, hopefully before my appointment on Thursday. I've spoken to his nurse about the referral to a knee surgeon, and she said there would be no problem in working one up for me.

There's a mention of copyright in the comments thread for the article.

I don't know - the guy who brought the knee-scooter is going to confab with my podiatrist and try to come up with something else that might work. That *is* a possibility. I'm going to raise it at my appointment on Thursday. The podiatrist is part of an Orthopedic Specialist group, so someone there's got to do knee replacements. I've lost enough weight that I might qualify now.