ProfessorTomoe

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.

The foam rubber isn't helping. My knee is too badly damaged. I never really have pain from it when I'm standing or walking, so this comes as a bit of a surprise. I mean, I've never been able to put weight on my knees, but I didn't know how pinpoint the pain was—or at least, I'd forgotten. My last diagnosis was back in 2010. But this is incredibly bad. I may give up trying to use the knee-scooter altogether because of the pain. Time to see a knee doctor, I guess.

My knee-scooter has arrived, fully covered by my insurance (I've met my catastrophic deductible yet again), fully assembled, and accompanied by someone to show me how to use it. I've already managed to figure out how to navigate most of the house with it. Only one problem: the padding is insufficient for my gimpy right knee. I've got bone-on-bone arthritis, and it hurts to use the thing. I'm going to have to send Mrs. Prof to Michael's for some foam rubber and some elastic so we can add more padding to the knee part of the cushion. Otherwise, I'm going to injure myself using the thing. Out of the frying pan ...

Got results on the pus pocket culture on my foot. Turns out it was just a clean abscess - no bacterial infection. Meanwhile, I'm continuing the antibiotics until I'm done with the prescribed course. My knee-scooter is scheduled to arrive Saturday morning, according to voice mail left by the doctor's office. 'Bout damned time. My ulcer is killing me.

My invitation to be a guest on Jon St. John's NotCon at Sea 2020 cruise became officially official this week with this announcement post:

Recording: "Your Speedo will self destruct in two seconds. Good luck, Michael." Michael:

I'm back in Foot Hell. Saw the podiatrist yesterday for a continuing problem with an ulcer on the ball of my right foot. He trimmed it down, drained a pus pocket (yum), and took a culture for a biopsy. Also put me on Augmentin until the biopsy results come back. Meanwhile, I've also developed "spots" on toes #2 and #4 of the same foot which he says are in danger of developing into bone infections, just like the ones on my left foot did. He gave me a pad to wear under my smaller toes which will raise them up (I've got "hammertoes") to a flat level. He's also mail-ordering a knee-scooter for me that he wants me to use in order to take the weight completely off of my right foot until everything heals up. No idea how long I'm going to be on that. Major annoyance. I mean, I'm not diabetic (A1C = 5.2), so why the hell is this happening?

I've spent a good part of the past two days piggybacking on the one and only Jon St. John's convention booth at the Let's Play Gaming Expo 2019 in Irving, TX (a Dallas suburb). He and his agent were kind enough to let me set up and sell copies of my Calibrations CD. Didn't sell too many, but it's the experience and the camaraderie that count. Had some fun conversations with Jon during slack time, none of which I'm at liberty to share. Big thanks go out to him for this year, as well as for the invite to return next year!

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/8/6/20756162/30-to-50-feral-hogs-meme-assault-weapons-guns-kids

Mrs. Prof and I were treated to a surprise luncheon (no Steamed Hams references, please) today, courtesy of Mr. Jordan John of the Texas Motor Speedway. He invited us out to The Speedway Club, a very swanky private club at the track for lunch and viewing of private Firestone tire-testing laps being run by Josef Newgarden for Chevy and Graham Rahal for Honda. It was a good day for testing - clear, hot (100°F with a heat index around 105°F), and not much wind. Fortunately, we were high above it all, on the 8th floor of The Speedway Club, having pulled chicken & dumplings, garlic mashed potatoes, elotes (Mexican corn off the cob), and more desert choices than you could shake a stick at. That, plus a great view of the track. Jordan went well above and beyond the call of duty today. He didn't try and sell us anything (directly), and he didn't ask for anything in return. He said that he just wanted to get to know us since we placed our 2020 IndyCar ticket order so early. I'm sure he probably wished that he could have sold us season tickets, but we let him know right up front that we don't like NASCAR racing - just IndyCar, Formula 1, and IMSA Sports Car/Endurance Racing. I sent him a personalized MP3 copy of my Calibrations album as a gift. He deserved at least that.

I've been asked to be a special guest aboard a game/anime-related cruise/convention! It takes place in February of 2020. The cruise departs from Galveston, TX on a 4 day round-trip cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. It's hosted by Jon St. John, who is best known for his role as the voice behind Duke Nukem in the video game Duke Nukem 3D. To come out from behind my persona for a bit for those who don't know me - my name is Lee Jackson, and I'm the former Music and Sound Director for Apogee Software and 3D Realms Entertainment. I worked on music and sound for PC games, writing the soundtracks for Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Stargunner. I'm not sure what kind of presentation (if any) I'll be doing on the cruise yet, but I'll be bringing copies of my Calibrations album, as well as two unique autographed Calibrations T-shirts to give away! If you've ever been crazy enough to want to meet and greet either Jon St. John or myself, now's your chance! Go to http://jsjnotcon.com/ for more information and to sign up. I'm looking forward to seeing you on board!

It's Tuesday, and the pain relief has been holding steadily since I got home Monday. It even held through a dentist's appointment today (two fillings and a temporary crown - that bit is still sore due to all of the injections I got for the crown). Granted, I've been asleep for most of the day save for the dental appointment. That's probably a good thing, since it's letting me get the Versed out of my system (I have big problems with Versed, normally). Fingers still crossed, and chicken wings eaten.

Thanks! This one has gone relatively well, compared to past rhizotomies. I let the anesthesiologist give me both Versed and Propofol. I usually have problems with Versed, but last time when I asked him to leave it out, I had rather unbearable post-op pain (go figure, eh?) in the right side of my back. No such pain this time around (in the left side). I was having some bad double-vision problems for the first few hours afterward, but a nap took care of that. I'm now on my second post-op oxycodone dose, and the pain is more-or-less under control at about a 5 as long as I don''t get up and move around too much. We'll see if it survives until Brenda complies with National Chicken Wing Day and brings home dinner from Wing Stop. https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-chicken-wing-day-july-29/

Wish me luck, folks. Time for another back surgery/procedure Monday morning (7/29). I'm having a lumbar rhizotomy done on the lower left side of my back - in other words, they're going in and doing a radio ablation on my nerve endings again. The last one wore off after about 6 months. I go into the hospital at 9:10 a.m. CDT. I've got about a half-hour to drink as many fluids as I can before I have to shut down all oral intake.

Now, my right foot has what my wife says is a Plantar Wart. Sigh. It never ends. Oh well, as long as it doesn't interfere with my plans to go to Iowa to see the IndyCar race on the 21st.

We were the first Brexit. Glad to see you again, old friend.

Kinda nervous about this one. I've just submitted my latest single for Grammy consideration: It's in the Record of the Year and Best Instrumental Composition categories. Probably has a snowball's chance in hell of getting nominated, but it was worth the try.

Thank you. It's been a long time coming. I do wish my stomach would return to normal now, though ... gotta give it the old probiotic/Greek yogurt shuffle.

It's feeling better, at long last. The Augmentin gave me stomach trouble, but it didn't mess with my hives. Those responded to hydroxyzine for once. Never have before.

Have taken a rizatriptan for what I think is a migraine. My head feels like a watermelon.

WT-Actual-F? Now my hives are acting up again, in the exact same location that they were before (left shin). This is getting ridiculous!