ProfessorTomoe

Additional about my son: I took him to see a game in the Astrodome in its last year of operation. That just happened to also be the night that the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup. Mrs. Prof wasn't too interested in the game or the dome (i.e., been there, done that), so she went around trying to find out what the score of the Stars game was. When the Astros game was over, we rushed to our hotel and put on the Stars game. Overtime after overtime followed until Brett Hull's goal (IT WAS A GOOD GOAL) won the game for the Stars. Lots of whooping and hollering followed that as well. So, imagine that - being a kid, seeing the Eighth Wonder of the World, and having your team win the Stanley Cup, all in the same night. He must have been awed on many levels. He also saw the Astros in their first year at their new stadium (formerly Enron, now Minute Maid Park). I made sure he bookended the Astros' homes.

Still giddy over the Houston Astros winning the World Series last night. Funny story: I talked to my son about him taking me to the doctor on Friday in Mrs. Prof's stead. I asked if he'd be watching the World Series game. He said he'd "probably crash after the 3rd inning." After the game, my phone rang—it was him, per Caller ID. Instead of "Hello," I answered, "So, did you crash out during the third inning?" (Note: the Astros scored all five runs in the first 2 innings.) His reply: "HELL NO!", followed by much laughter. We watched the award presentations on the phone together. Lots of giggling of happiness. (I should also explain that the first pro baseball game I ever saw was in the Astrodome as a small child, with the Astros vs. someone. I was an Astros fan immediately. That carried down the generation to my son.)

8:51 a.m. CDT 20171102. I'm waiting for a call from the Nevro rep about the setting she programmed into the unit yesterday. I've got bad news for her—it's not working all that well. Woke up with level 5 pain again, reminding me that it was almost time to take my meds. Exertion kicks off a level 5 pain as well. She'll get the news when she calls, supposedly around 9am or 10am. I'll be told to switch programs again at that time. 9:15 a.m. CDT. She called. I told her my average pain level was 5 and pain relief was 15%. I thought she'd have me change programs, but instead she had me turn up the intensity on the current program. She also said she'll call me back at around 4pm or 5pm to check again. I guess we'll find out what's going on then.

Break out the emergency Afrin spray for the cold. Works here. Usually. Can't help with the migraine, though, sorry.

THE HOUSTON ASTROS ARE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THEIR FRANCHISE FORMED BACK IN 1962!!!

Good luck, Prof. We're all rooting for you. Some thing(s) did happen today at the doctor's office. First off, they X-rayed my back to make sure the wires were still in place. I got to see them for the first time. They're not just wires—they're block devices. In good, old-fashioned ASCII, they look like this: -=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=- At least, that's what they're supposed to look like. Mine look like this: -=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=- So, they had to reprogram my stimulator unit to take this into account. They've also decided to extend the trial until Friday by loading two new programs into my stimulator. I'll go through those tonight and the first part of tomorrow, when they'll have me switch to the other program. In any case, the "wires" have to come out Friday at my 1:30pm appointment. The other thing that happened at my appointment is a change of medication. They've taken me off of hydrocodone, effective after the test, and put me on Dilaudid (hydromorphone), a stronger drug. It's also safer, since it doesn't have acetaminophen added in like hydrocodone does. My medicine is already in the mail, so it should arrive tomorrow or Friday. BTW, Mrs. Prof won't be able to take me to my Friday appointment due to work meetings, so my son will be driving me there. It'l be his first exposure to what I'm going through. Should be interesting.

4:13 a.m. CDT 20171101. Happy November. Make sure you get your free taco from Taco Bell (2-6pm, only in the States, I think), courtesy of the Houston Astros. Today is judgement day for the Nevro wires. Do they stay or do they go? /* breaks out into song and dance number, remembers he can't dance, sits back down */ Anyway, I go in at about noon-thirty to meet with the doctor and one of the representatives. I'll be a bit glum for starters, since my Astros lost game 6 of the World Series last night. (Come on guys, pull it together for game 7!!!) At some point after all the angst, we'll start talking about whether or not the trial will be extended, and if so, by how long. The setting they've got me on now has become progressively worse. I woke up about an hour ago with level 5 pain in my right leg. I've taken my pain medicine, but with me hitting tolerance, I don't know how fair a trial this is. Maybe it's even more fair—if the thing really worked, it would block the tolerance pain. I've got to remember to gather all the stuff they gave me (the remote, the documentation, etc.) and bring it with me to the appointment. I'm not looking forward to the whole rigamarole, since I've got to take a sponge bath (no showers with the wires coming out of my back) and get everything else together before leaving. Going anywhere is always a big production number with my pain interfering. Either way, something's going to happen today. It's just a matter of finding out what.

I don't know. I hear Mikhail Baryshnikov swears by it. What's it called? Contortionol?

Not yet. I don't feel like I could trade it for a reduction in my hydrocodone dosage. That's the bellwether that I'm using. If I could have decreased my hydrocodone in exchange for the implant, I'd say it'd be a success. Not happening yet. Oh, one more thing: they had me do some stuff that was on the "don't do this" list in order to get the left side of my back involved in the test. They made me very carefully unload our dishwasher, something that sets my back on fire under normal circumstances. Just in the short amount of time it took to do it, my left back pain level shot from a zero to a six. To hear the nurse talk, some of my pain may not be nerve pain. I don't see how that's possible on the right side, since it shows the classic signs of a sciatic nerve pain. On the left, though, there could be actual injury to my back. The unit's not going to do a thing for that if that's the case.

I made another stupid YouTube video. The title is kind of PG-13. Turn your volume down if you're at work:

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm sorry for the whining (American spelling). It's a rough situation all around. It's 4:58 a.m. CDT, and I'm up again. Woke up 30 minutes ago with pain in my hip. "Level Six" for the bean counters. Took my 4am hydrocodone dose. Still hurts some. The sad thing is that the "company representatives" are surgical nurses, if I understand correctly. They've been hired from hospitals by the implant company. In other words, I don't have a "higher up" to talk to until the day of my removal. Complicating that, if you'll remember, is the fact that I'm hitting tolerance on my pain medication. I discussed this with my doctor on the day of the implantation. I'll have to remind him of the situation come removal time. One more niggly bit: MY BACK ITCHES LIKE HADES!!!!! I've got a pad of tape, gauze, more tape, and even more tape keeping the wires in place and keeping my grubby fingernails away from the insert points. I'm going to cash in on all of the back scratches my wife has cajoled me into giving her and get her to scratch me for hours once it's safe to do so.

1:56 a.m. CDT 20171031. Halloween, and I'm a bit frightened. I've only got a day and a half left on this test, and I still haven't found a setting that would allow me to back off of some degree of my pain medicine. I mean, that is the goal of this test, isn't it? To get me off of the hydrocodone? Well, I took a hydrocodone dose about 90 minutes ago (slept through my regular time) and I'm sitting here with pain breaking through on my right leg. That doesn't sound like it's working as advertised. I don't know how to get this across to the representatives. They're only interested in percentages and pain levels on the old one-to-ten scale. I can't boil this down to a number. I've got hydrocodone running through me, wires implanted next to my spine sending out high frequency pulses, and I still hurt. I shouldn't hurt! Right? I'm trying to hang in there, @The Old Hack, but nights like tonight are discouraging as all get-out. I don't know what to do.

Baker is finally ready for his close-up on his throne:

11:21 a.m. CDT 20171030. We're on program 3 now, on the maximum setting. It's the closest thing to true relief that I've had. I'm getting headaches, but I'm not sure if I'm getting that from the therapy (if that's even possible) or from something else. I did the math and learned that I can take two 1000mg doses of Tylenol in addition to the acetaminophen that comes with the hydrocodone, so I've taken one of them in hopes it works.

Easy enough. Take a hotwire Styrofoam cutter and cut the hole, either in the bottom of a large fish container or with the bottom and top put together. Don't seal the top to the bottom. If they're clean, that's all the prep you need. Otherwise, use Styrofoam-friendly paint that won't leave a smell that will upset the cats. Paint the container with the lids on. Once the prep (if any) is done, use straw for bedding inside and put some rocks or some bricks on top (not too many) to keep them from blowing away. Easy peasy. Make sure you put in clean straw every now and then.

@The Old Hack - The Denmark/USA connection scored 4 points in Formula 1 today! Kevin Magnussen came in 8th place for Haas F1 at the Mexican Grand Prix!

I'm sure they are. Incidentally, she just finished up a new batch of houses today. This is the first batch that she's painted (due to the less-that-pristine nature of the batch she got): She went with a camo theme so that they wouldn't be so obnoxious to neighbors. @CritterKeeper, I'm sure you can understand the reason for that. They're selling for $10. She also assembled the $30 wooden feral cat homes from kits. She could make a lot more money on them, but she wants to get the houses out to the cats. She's not selling at a loss, but she's not making a major profit. Basically, she says, "Every house sold buys a pain shot for T-N-R surgery.""

You ain't from 'round these parts, are ya? Never use ketchup!

3:35 a.m. CDT 20171029. The boost helped a little, but I'm still feeling breakthrough pain when my hydrocodone wears off. That shouldn't happen. It woke me up, I believe, about 30 minutes ago. I got up, had some Crystal Light, and went ahead and took my pills. Now I'm just getting caught up on a couple of things before I go back to bed (including rehydrating myself).

They can be freaks, once you get out among them and get to know their individual behaviors. The Styrofoam feral houses, though, actually serve a purpose. Despite this being Texas, we can have (and have had) short stretches where the temperature does not exceed freezing. (Witness our "cobblestone ice" episode from a few years ago.) Houses like what Mrs. Prof builds are the only chance the ferals have against the cold in such situations. They're more than comfy cat houses. They're life rafts.

6:42 p.m. CDT 20171028. Getting in a report before the World Series and my Astros get started. The Nevro rep called today and got an earful about how program 1 wasn't doing the job. Maximum pain relief 20%, I told her. She had me switch to program 2 (of 3) and put the intensity (?) on 5 bars. I'm supposed to bump that up to 6 bars at 8:00 p.m. tonight. So far, program 2 is less of a pain in my left side. However, it's not working as well on my right side. I'm looking forward to 8pm to see if the boost helps.

Hire the mouse to push the stone out. /* runs away */

I keep telling Mrs. Prof that. She agrees. It's for the ferals. Baker and Loudmouth are too spoiled already. BTW, she's been casting about for surplus Styrofoam fish cartons (and finding them) for use as feral cat houses. She's got a hot wire cutter that she uses to cut a cat-head-shaped hole out of the side and puts hay in them. She then sells them at a profit for the benefit of the Trap-Neuter-Return program and the Garland Pet Adoption Center. The things have selling out as fast as she can make them.