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    • Robin

      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!

ProfessorTomoe

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Everything posted by ProfessorTomoe

  1. Happy News

    If I've got my dates right, Happy Birthday to @The Old Hack! May you have many happy returns of the day!
  2. 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.
  3. Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

    Two things: After removing the gauze from the area where the central line was, I noticed that there was a stitch left behind. I don't know if the doctor put one in or if he didn't take one out. In any case, it's one more thing to worry about. I noticed a significant amount of cat fur collecting around the ball of my left foot. Didn't think anything of it until Mrs. Prof noticed blood on my sock. Turns out I have a bleeding ulcer. I've got a podiatrist appointment tomorrow to get it treated.
  4. Pennsic 50

    The announcer at the University of Texas football stadium used to give the score of Slippery Rock football games during Longhorn home games. I miss that since he left this mortal coil.
  5. Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

    My line was removed, at last. It was neither a quick nor entirely painless procedure, but it didn't take too long and it didn't hurt too bad. The line was stuck in there pretty good, so the doctor had to get the lidocaine out and pull rather hard. There's a 1mm x 2-3mm ring around the line inside the vein (a "collar") to help keep it in place, and in my case some scar tissue had grown around it - maybe 6-7mm square of scar tissue. Once he got it loose, it just slid right out. Quite gnarly. I'm not supposed to do anything with my arm for the rest of the day, including raising it over my head. After that, I'm a free man, able to lift more than 10lbs once again. Yay.
  6. Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

    I'm finally going to get this damned PICC / central line removed today at the hospital. Going to get into the shower in a few minutes, then we'll be headed to Baylor Lake Pointe in Rowlett, TX to have it taken out. I'm hoping for a quick and painless procedure.
  7. New Music Release Thread

    New web page up: https://dleejackson.lbjackson.com/2024/02/keil-and-carragan-and-dorico-oh-my/ Includes embeds of players for the first three movements of Bruckner's sixth, arranged for concert band / wind ensemble.
  8. New Music Release Thread

    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!
  9. Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

    I feel lousy. End of line.
  10. Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

    What started out as a seemingly simple procedure turned into a trip to the emergency room Friday afternoon. My home health care nurse had received orders to remove my PICC line from my chest. She started the procedure by removing my sutures, then went on to try and pull out the line. She couldn't - it was hung. She stopped immediately and tried to get a doctor to come out (they wouldn't), then told me to go to the emergency room to get it pulled. I showed up and was immediately given a room - not many patients were there - and a doctor came back and saw me at once. They told me that I didn't have a normal PICC line, but rather had a kind of "central line" that leads through the veins to my heart. Unfortunately, they needed doctors at the "interventional radiology department" to do the removal, and they were gone for the weekend. In other words, they couldn't remove the line. So, they undid what the nurse did, told me to call a doctor and get orders for removal for the line at the hospital, and just wait out the weekend. Joy. Thus I sit, with the central line in my chest, requiring flushes on Saturday and Sunday, waiting for a doctor's orders on Monday. Have fun with that little situation.
  11. Things That Are Just Annoying

    Your day sucked, most assuredly. All I had happen this time was to come down with another stinking upper respiratory infection, just a couple of days after coming off of powerfun megaantibiotics. I'm still sick. Gotta call the home health nurses' office today and report that I blew up some yellow-green gunk last night. I'm going to ask if they have my lab results from yesterday.
  12. New Music Release Thread

    Glad it eased your morning chores. I'm drawing mixed reactions on the Dorico forum. Some like it, but one very vocal defender of the Bruckner 6th faith wishes I'd left the movement alone, mainly because of the sound engine I used to reproduce the instruments. He doesn't seem to have as big of a problem with my arrangement, and in fact seems to sort of like it, at least.
  13. New Music Release Thread

    Take about 15 minutes out of your day and listen to this track: https://on.soundcloud.com/51at8 It's my latest arrangement of a movement from Bruckner's 6th Symphony, this time the 2nd movement (Adagio), again for concert band/wind ensemble. I'm happy with it, but I'd like your feedback, please.
  14. Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

    Now that you mention knees, it's time to bring you up to date on a situation with my own, that being my left replacement knee. I got up to get something out of the kitchen about 10 days ago, and I damned near didn't make it. My left knee felt like it was going to go through an explosive disassembly on me. I grabbed my cane, made it back to my chair, and sat down, but the pain didn't subside - it got worse, climbing up to a 9.5 on the 0-to-10 scale. It made me sick to my stomach and drew tears. I managed to get an appointment with the knee surgeon's office two days later. They didn't see any structural problems on the X-ray, but they were able to tell that the joint was loose when they gave it the side-to-side shake test. They suggested doing surgery to put in shims to tighten up the mechanical joint, to which I agreed. They've already called to schedule. I've got a cruise-convention that I can't miss at the end of March, so the surgery won't take place until April 2nd. Until then, I'm using the cane 100% of the time, as opposed to just outside of the house before the incident occured.
  15. New Music Release Thread

    A potentially momentous occasion will take place tomorrow, January 9th, beginning some time after 7pm Honolulu, Hawaii time, when the Honolulu Wind Ensemble tries to tackle my transcriptions of Anton Bruckner's "Symphony No. 6 in A Major, 1st Movement," and Johann Sebastian Bach's "Prelude No. 7 in Eb Major," from "The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1" for concert band / wind ensemble. If they are capable of playing them and if they like what they hear, then they may decide to schedule them for performance on their Summer or Fall Public Concert listings for 2024. I won't find out until I hear the feedback from the rehearsal in a few days, so I'm going to be a nervous wreck until that comes in. I could use some emotional support cats until then.
  16. What The

    Ohmydearlord. Don't know what to say in a situation like that, other than I'm sorry you had to see it.
  17. Task Avoidance Thread

    Actually...no. Saturday is going to be interesting. Tomorrow (Friday) is just going to be me getting some labs re-drawn by the home health nurse and getting a haircut later in the day. The trip takes place on Saturday.
  18. Task Avoidance Thread

    As if this Forum isn't dedicated to task avoidance in the first place...anyway. This thread is strictly for avoiding whatever tasks you've been assigned or have been needing to do. Post something, anything, that will get you out of doing it. I'll start.
  19. Task Avoidance Thread

    Well, whatever it was, it was somewhat alleviated by reseating the dressing. The nurse had put it on in a sideways orientation. I had her put it on in the more conventional top-to-bottom orientation, and I felt immediate relief. It still itches a little bit just by being there, but not nearly as much as before. The sleep situation is still there, albeit not as bad. I guess. I've been asleep most of today. We shall see what the night brings. Tomorrow is going to be interesting as well. We're doing a "down-and-back" to the Georgetown area to finally have family Christmas with the rest of Mrs. Prof's kinfolk. We'll be driving in excess of 3 hours down and 3 hours up, plus we'll have the party at one of her brothers' homes, so who knows how I'll respond. One thing is for certain - I'll be doing an IV infusion while we're in transit on the road, since the cefepime plus the vancomycin usually takes about 3 hours to infuse. My morning infusion is scheduled for sometime between 9:30 am and 10 am, so we'll probably have to pull over down just north of Waco to get it started. My nighttime infusion starts 12 hours later, so I'll most likely be home before we start it up. No, it's not TMI, I'm just planning for myself. Gotta get this crap laid out in my head before we leave. Besides, if I get back and find the house ransacked, I'll know to whom I should point the cops at.
  20. Task Avoidance Thread

    Yep, it's happening again. I'm trying to read a Dorico help file, and I keep finding myself fading out on some of the most important sections. AAUUGGHH That AAUUGGHH at the end is literal - it's a primal scream that is about the only thing that will wake me up and keep me awake for a few minutes more. Fortunately, Mrs. Prof isn't here at the moment, and the three cats don't seem to mind me doing it. Add to it something that ought to be keeping me awake, and that's my Tunnelling PICC line to my heart. The damned thing itches where it comes out through my skin, right where they've got it covered up by a clear medical dressing. I can't scratch the thing enough to satisfy the itch. AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH
  21. Task Avoidance Thread

    They didn't. They told me to sleep, which I eventually did, damn it all. I'll probably sleep again, thanks to the fact that I'm still sleeping in a recliner and still taking a whole pharmacy twice a day.
  22. Task Avoidance Thread

    See below: And now, the IV antibiotics have begun. I'm pretty much stuck to the recliner for the next couple of hours, with exceptions for getting up to go to the bathroom. I've hauled out the medium-sized guns and called the home health care nurse hotline. They're all in a meeting, so I'm waiting on a call back from one of them now.
  23. Task Avoidance Thread

    Make this the Sleep Avoidance Thread, because every time I sit down, I almost (or do) fall asleep. I'm having hell trying to stay awake. Don't know if it's my medications or what. I've been falling asleep at the wheel, so to speak, with my computer mouse in my hand off and on for hours now. I'll get up and walk around to try and wake myself up, but when I sit down and resume computing, I fall back asleep. The only way I can stay awake to type this is to sit straight up, with my back far away from the back of the recliner chair, and with my legs up beneath me at an odd angle so that I don't get comfortable, and I'm still fighting it then. Caffeine isn't helping, in cola or coffee forms. Food isn't helping - hell, I've fallen asleep in mid-mouthful and had to clean up the remnants afterwards. I don't know what to do. It's 8:26 a.m., and I'm dreading the coming of 9:30 a.m. - I know that as soon as Mrs. Prof finishes getting my morning cefepime IV started, I'm going to be out like a light. I know that some of you would probably say, "you're sick, you need the rest," but I've had so much sleep over the past days it's not funny. It's time for me to wake up, damn it to hell and back. Crap, I almost fell asleep just pausing my typing here a bit. Help.
  24. Task Avoidance Thread

    I remember being fascinated by the kids' version of this book when I was in fourth grade. Enough so that I caused a minor uprising during the math portion of classes when I whipped out its rules and beat the snot out of everyone else who was using conventional "new math" rules in speed challenges. The teacher finally had to basically beg me to learn math the "wrong way" so that the rest of the class didn't feel left behind. The book is the Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics. It's been superseded by computers, but in its day it was dynamite for doing math in your head. I've forgotten most of it now, sad to say, and the more complex last half of the book was always over my head. However, the first part is killer for quick computations. Check it out. https://archive.org/details/TheTrachtenbergSpeedSystemOfBasicMathematics_201803/mode/2up
  25. Cats, Dogs, Other pets.

    Glad to hear it.