ProfessorTomoe

Ow ow ow fucking ow ow. Sorry to hear that.

What the huh...? When did they start doing that??? Wish they would have let the buyer know that there's a greater-than-zero chance that the gift note might not be read. Hmm. Oh, well, at least you got it, and I hope you're enjoying it.

As with the thread from the previous incarnation of the board, I begin this one with a request that the information within remain confidential. This is a thread for those seeking support as they deal with very sensitive situations involving either their own or a loved one's health. Please let this be a thread where such information can be shared with a level of trust. Now, back to the topic at hand. I picked up my second filling of Brintellix yesterday—all $141 of it, for a month's supply. I find it odd that it is an antidepressant, yet the price is so high that it is depressing just to purchase it. As for its effects, I'm still getting used to them. I haven't been able to sleep for more than three hours at a time for a couple of weeks now. When I do wake up in the middle of the night, I'm not groggy. In fact, I feel for at least a short time that I've had a decent night's sleep. That sensation only lasts a few hours, though. I don't crash out—I just sort of fade to the point where I need to sleep again. Very weird. I've also lost weight. Not a lot, but every pound counts, and it's been a slow and steady drop. Some of this might be related to the small dose of metformin that I'm on (my A1C hit 6.5 again, causing my primary doctor to freak out). I seriously don't know. Whatever the reason, it made my cardiologist happy at my appointment yesterday. Speaking of cardiologists, mine determined that I am status quo as far as my PVCs are concerned. He hasn't seen them in the short 30-second EKGs he runs at every appointment, but the memory of my Holter monitor results from several years ago is enough to keep him on his toes. Still, he saw no reason to increase my lisinopril or to add a beta blocker to my shoebox full of medicines. I hope this thread will be as useful as the last one was. Thanks for any support you can provide.

When I saw the surgeon last Thursday, I got a letter to give to my pain doctor, asking him to reconsider my current dosage due to the increased pain I'm dealing with after the knee surgery. I just got back from seeing the pain doctor himself (not an assistant), and he agreed to up my Dilaudid to 8 pills a day, an increase from 5 a day. That's a total of 64mg a day, up from 40mg a day. He cautioned that I may have trouble getting this quantity due to a DEA crackdown on supply (thanks, guys). If I can't get it, he said he's willing to fall back on an oral dose of ketamine (a dosing regimen that won't cause hallucinations). I hope I don't have to go the ketamine route, since that's an unknown quantity.

Should have come with a gift note.

The nurse didn't come out until Saturday afternoon. She cleaned up the spot where the drain was and put a smaller dressing on it. That seems to be staying on a bit better than the larger dressings. I also didn't realize that the stitches got pulled from the drain wound by the surgeon on Thursday until Mrs. Prof pointed it out to me. Don't know how I missed 'em. The overall knee pain is hanging in at around an 8 1/2 when I try to walk. When I sit, it's under an 8, thank goodness. That means I can concentrate on arranging the Bruckner 2nd in C Minor. I managed to get the 2nd movement finished and am waiting for my son to give it a listen for mistakes before I post it. Until then, I've started work on the 3rd movement (the lovely Adagio). I just started last night and am already up to measure 71. I'm enjoying the hell out of this movement for now, which explains the rapid progress, but that'll change soon enough - the Adagio turns into a real bitch a couple of minutes down the line (it's a tad over 18 minutes total, and I'm just a couple of seconds past 5 minutes into it).

Saw the surgeon himself yesterday. He removed my drain, but he did *not* aspirate my knee. Said he didn't want to stick a needle into what was an apparently healthy knee (i.e., no infection). Said I should remove the dressing after half a day. I did, and it looked bad. Mrs. Prof put another dressing on it to try and draw out more surface drainage. I've got a wound care nurse coming out at around 1pm today. She'll know what to do.

They called back. I've got to go in tomorrow to have my knee aspirated and my drain pulled. I called the physical therapy people afterward to coordinate with them. They're going to have the guy who was scheduled to come out tomorrow touch base with the surgeon and see if I need physical therapy at all, considering the circumstances. I should hear from him in a couple of hours. That's if he doesn't call my wife's phone instead.

Couldn't take it - called at 2:30pm. They hadn't even received my photo yet. Resent - they got the resend. I'm now waiting for them to call back. Again.

I've called the surgeon's office and left word with the physician's assistant's "live help line." They asked me to text them a photo of my knee and then wait for them to call back. That was almost 3 hours ago. If I don't hear anything from them by 3pm, I'm calling back. In the meantime, we're putting ice on the knee. Not really helping much. There's a stinging pain at the surface and a burning pain inside the knee. Not sure how they want to take care of this.

Let's see if we can consolidate some of the "what are you eating/drinking/breathing" threads into this one. I am currently ingesting Crystal Light tea. Just had some hummus & pita chips beforehand. I'm considering getting a glass of Bulgarian buttermilk (I was shocked that my local Albertson's actually had the Bulgarian style! Nom.).

Friday. Yeah, fuck. In other words, if I can make it through tonight, I'm calling the surgeon's office in the morning.

Ohmydearlord. My left knee started swelling up on me tonight. Pain level 9. Mrs. Prof got after the drain tube and started "milking" it, managed to get some of the fluids out of my knee. Don't know if that was a permanent or temporary fix, but it's feeling like a temp fix. My drain site is starting to sting again, bringing the pain level back up. I took my Dilaudid 90 minutes early and at an emergency strength. I hope it kicks in soon. I'm working on the Bruckner again to take my mind off of things. It's not getting the job done.

I'd like to use this thread as a way to highlight new releases of my music. Anyone else who has any music coming out is welcome to do the same. For starters, I've just released a song called "Ant Farm Melee" to my Bandcamp account. You can read all about it on my latest blog post. Please grab a copy of the song today!

Just had the home health nurse out to change my knee dressings. The ones on the main knee incision looked good - no bad bleeding, no infection, no clotting. The ones around my knee drain were a bit more dubious. They'd already been changed a couple of times - once in the the hospital, once at home by Mrs. Prof - and they were a bit gunky. The nurse cleaned up the incision site and put on a new dressing, commenting that I should probably go on antibiotics. Urgh. Not again. I tested out the walkability of the dressing after she left, and found that she'd dressed the site a bit tight. Urgh again. Still, I can live with it until Monday, when I see the doctor.

Don't misunderstand. Do a deep dive into the term "Drum and Bugle Corps," then cross-reference how it applies to Texas marching bands. The football game is secondary when it comes to that activity in Texas. I know, I was in one of the first drum corps-style marching bands in the state (J. Frank Dobie HS, 1977-1981, Pasadena ISD).

In Texas, high school bands do the whole shebang. Concert, sight-reading, solo, ensemble, marching, you name it.

While I was in the mood for taking chances, I took another big one. I did a search for music contest lists on Google and came up with some good leads. Specifically, I came up with the entry form for the Florida prescribed music list for high school band students. So, I submitted my chamber music works and the arrangement of Bach's Prelude No. 7 in Eb Major to the selection portal. I didn't submit the Bruckner, because a) it's too hard, b ) it's too long, and c) there's not enough percussion used in any of the movements. Let's hope they take a look at what I did submit.

Took a big chance today. I subscribe to a newsletter from a publisher in The Netherlands who specializes in wind band transcriptions. This is the one that someone had referred the first movement of my Bruckner 6th arrangement to long months ago. Well, I got another newsletter a couple of days ago from them with news of a movement from a different Bruckner symphony being added to their catalog. That prompted me to act. I sent them an email with info on all of my Bruckner arrangements up on MyScore, complete with links. I'm hoping they'll take a hard look at each one of them and consider them for publication. I don't know if they will or not, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Thought my knee pain was in retreat until I tried to get up and take a shower today. It screamed at me after we got the shower shields on over the surgical wounds. Couldn't get in the shower stall - had to take a sponge bath with hospital-caliber "shampoo wipes." Things finally started calming down after Mrs. Prof got my dressing changed. Expecting a nurse to visit tomorrow morning. She'll probably change the dressing again.

Did anyone understand what I just typed above here? Because I sure as hell don't. I must have been fried beyond belief. Anyway, I'm down to 3 tabs of 8mg hydromorphone, and by tomorrow I'll be back to my regular 2/2/1 regimen...if it cuts the pain enough. If not, it'll be time for a call to my pain doctor.

I'm home. Yay. Still in pain, still a bit weak from the surgery, still somewhat blurry-eyed from the pain medicines, but I'm recovering. Been asleep for much of the day. Time has passed strangely for me. I could swear it's 6 hours later than it actually is. Weird. At least I'm not on any post-op check-ups and I have no antibiotics to take. Just Aspirin, to prevent blood clots. Right now, I just took four of my 8mg non-extended-release hydromorphone tablets, after which I'll probably have 8 eggs. I'll probably had Y 16 grams (possibly 32) to go with the leftover rice so it won't make me sick.

Barring any last-minute major disaster today, I'm going home! I'll be headed hone sometime after this afternoon. Still lots to do, lie dealing with doubled/blurry vision. Squeal like a pig, boy. Ahem. Any case, I'm going to order lunch, see if it comes, see if SHE brings something, and take my chances. Talk to you once I get home and feel better.

I'd given advance permission for whatever may come prior to the surgery, so the patella was covered well in advance. After the surgery yesterday, Physical Therapy came by. The Therapist was an old friend from my previous surgery here at this hospital back in April/May of this year. He knew of what I might be capable and let me run with it. Sure enough, we were up and walking by the end of the session. I even walked from one side of my room to the other and gave my onlooking wife a kiss. Fun, in a post-op kind of way. It's now just before 7AM on the day after surgery. I'm waiting for another Dilaudid dose. If this does more "throw me for a loop" than help, I might want to knock the dose at 11AM down from 4mg to 3.5mg, or even 3mg. We shall see.

They apparently replaced my natural patella with an artificial kneecap. I'll find out for sure in the morning.