ProfessorTomoe

I am now walking sans surgical boot! Huzzah!

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.

Today is hopefully the last day that I have to wear a surgical boot on my forays out of the house. I'm going to the podiatrist for a followup visit on my broken foot repair surgery. As far as I can tell, the thing is healed - I can walk on my foot just fine inside the house. Doctor's orders have been to wear the boot outside, though. Let's hope today's visit changes that.

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.).

You're lucky your doctor has good aim. My former doctor missed the joint space once. I had a knot in my knee that hurt like hell for a week or two afterward. Hence "former doctor."

I had a kitten get inside my engine compartment once. It went on a wild ride for almost a mile before I figured out that there was a strange noise coming from up front. Fortunately, it was in the part of my Ridgeline in front of the radiator—no moving parts (as I'd learn later). Now, this happened at about 5:30 a.m. after I got off work at the traffic reporting company, so animal control wasn't open yet. I had no choice but to call the police. They sent a unit out, but two others responded as well after hearing the report over their radios. In all, six police officers showed up to help get the kitten out of the truck. After I eliminated the possibility that the kitten was caught in the engine proper (before the police arrived), I started looking elsewhere. I'd narrowed it down to the radiator area by the time the police got there. They finally pinpointed the kitten on a shelf-like extension of my front bumper just before the radiator. No one could reach it, however. Finally, one police officer popped the plastic aero skirt off of the bottom of my bumper and managed to reach the shelf. He had hell getting the kitten to let go: it was entrenched with all 20 claws, which it turned and used on the officer's hand. The kitten did relent at last, and the officer came up with a charcoal grey kitten with deep blue eyes in his scratched hand. I had to let the kitten go with the police. Lost a good canvas zip bag in the process, too. We put the kitten in the zip bag and zipped it shut so they could take it back to the station. I hope that one of the dispatchers adopted it, because the only other option was to send it to animal control. I never did find out.

I've finally got another new piece of music! It's a theme song for a radio show over in the UK, called "The Cyber Den." (airs every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. GMT) The song is up on Bandcamp and YouTube: https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/track/the-cyber-den-theme You can download the file - for FREE if you want! - from the Bandcamp link.

I used that, too, on my knees. It has a tendency to curve out. Watch for your body to develop a tolerance to it - the stuff will slowly stop working. At least, that's what it did in my case. I hope your knee rebounds before that happens.

Tried wearing a compression stocking on my swollen right foot. Believe it or not, it seems to have reduced the swelling. The pain is still there, though, so I'm still going through with the vascular specialist appointment.

And where do I find myself waking up? On my back again, which has begun to hurt in the lower left region this morning. Back to the usual pain, just like it was before this whole chronicle of infections and hospitals and nursing homes and a broken foot began. Sigh.

My left foot is finally out of the surgical boot, at least for walking around the house purposes. It's not completely healed, so I still have to wear the boot when going outside of the house. Finally, I can sleep on my sides instead of my back!

I don't think I'm going to need to call the doctor about the potassium after all. Doses over the weekend didn't have the same effect. Must have been something I ate on Friday night.

In fact, the pharmacist suggested dividing the dose if the doctor approves it. I'll need to call the doctor on Monday.

Picked up a specially compounded prescription yesterday - a liquid potassium supplement to offset the draining effect of the Lasix. Pretty hefty dose, way more than you can get OTC. The compounding pharmacist called me and warned me that it wouldn't taste good, which is a good warning since the stuff costs $65 a month. He said the manufacturer told him that the best flavor that they'd found for it ("it" being potassium chloride, technically) was cinnamon - not really my favorite flavor, but what the hell. He also told me that keeping it cold would probably make it taste less bad. I took my first dose after dinner last night, and I can confirm that he was right. The stuff isn't pleasant, even when chugged like a shot. It tastes like a mix of cinnamon and nasty. Fortunately, my iced tea is strong enough to wash the taste out of my mouth. The effect of the potassium is another matter, however: it set my heart on edge. I felt it throbbing hard, which really wasn't that surprising given what potassium does to the heart. It went on for about 30 minutes or so before things calmed down. All in all, I think I can tolerate the stuff for the next month. It's going to be a challenge.

Got a referral to a vascular specialist for my swollen right foot. The edema there has made my ankle as big around as a grapefruit, and it's headed towards softball-sized territory. Right now, I'm on 40mg of Lasix (a diuretic) to reduce the swelling, and that's got me going to the bathroom almost every hour. I don't think it's helping with the swelling, though - just making me thirsty all the time.

No, but I have an over-infestation of songbirds in the back yard. A bad case of chirpees.

Saw my hematologist today, for the last time. My problem with my white blood cell count and my neutrophils has gone away, so he released me from his care. Yay!

The potassium supplement has hit a bit of a snag. Turns out the one from the pharmacy has sucralose (a.k.a. Splenda) in it. I'm allergic to sucralose. Can't take it. So, the doctor is going to have a "compounding" pharmacy make up a special blend for me that has sucrose (sugar) instead. It'll take a week to get the order done, for some reason. Don't ask me why. Until then, I'm taking an OTC potassium supplement on the off chance that it will do any good. Meanwhile, my swollen right foot has swollen even further. It looks and feels like I've got a baseball down in the joint, with the rest of the foot relatively swollen. The 40mg Lasix dose hasn't kicked in yet, and my foot is reacting accordingly. I've taken my shoe and sock off - too painful.

Went back to my doctor today for the edema (swelling) in my right foot that accompanied me into the hospital several months ago. It's still swollen and flaking (due to repeated cycles of growing and shrinking). I'm being referred to a vascular specialist to see what's at the root cause of this. In the meantime, I'm being put on a higher dose of Lasix plus a prescription potassium supplement (Lasix makes you urinate, which leaches potassium from your bloodstream). I'm supposed to be on a liquid potassium, due to my gastric bypass. Also brought up the fact that I'm still getting headaches and that my sinuses still hurt. He switched my antibiotic to doxycycline as a last resort before going back on the PICC line. Lord, please keep that thing out of me. I also got a steroid shot - but almost didn't. Everyone forgot. He prescribed it, left the exam room, and my wife and I went over to get my prescribed blood tests done at the lab. We were in the car and about to close the door when my wife asked, "Didn't you get your steroid shot?" Park the car, go back inside, wait for a nurse to be available, and have the shot done. Wackiest thing I've ever done at the doctor's office.

Got a refill of my headache medicine. Also got told not to go through them so fast. (?) Still on antibiotics for my sinuses.

The headache medicine did work. "Did" because I'm out of it. The headaches are back. Trying to get a refill. In other news, the surgeon removed my stitches from my left foot today and pronounced it healing well. I get to come back in two weeks for a re-check.

Am I the only one seeing Diane transforming herself into Sarah?

The headache medicine does work to a degree, although it makes me a bit wonky in the head. Saw the infectious disease doctor for the last time today. She checked me out and said I don't have to come back.

Saw the doctor, who diagnosed my headache as acute maxillary sinusitis. He's put me on Augmentin and on a pain medicine called "Fioricet w/Codeine." I'm a little concerned about the latter, but he says it attacks pains that my oxycodone doesn't touch. I hope like hell it works, because on a scale of 1 to 10, my pain was pulling a hard 7 during the appointment. Fingers crossed.

Going to the doctor about the headache today. It's been over a week and the pain hasn't gone away. I'm starting to think that the biggest culprit is a sinus infection, but other parts of my head hurt as well. Hope he can figure this out for me.