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ProfessorTomoe

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Posts posted by ProfessorTomoe

  1. Posted

    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.

  2. Posted

    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. ;) 

  4. Posted

    1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

    Tomorrow is going to be interesting as well.

    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.

  5. Posted

    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. B)

    Darth Fluffy reacted to this

  6. Posted · Edited by ProfessorTomoe
    AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH

    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

  8. Posted

    1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

    Does walking help and is it an option?

    See below:

    1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

    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.

    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.

  9. Posted

    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.

  10. Posted

    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

  13. Posted

    On 12/27/2023 at 9:23 AM, Darth Fluffy said:

    Chat GPT? I've seen jacket covers that had obvious spoofs of the author's life. Write about how your parents sent you to Earth before your home world blew up, and you were adopted by traveling folk singers.

    I got Mrs. Prof's attention engaged long enough to help me with the biography. Now, all I need is help with the Curriculum Vitae, since Mrs. Prof has never had to write one of those (ah, the benefits of being a government employee...).

  15. Posted

    I'm getting ready to send in one of my works for consideration in a competition, and as always I could use a bit of help. This time, I could use help with my Curriculum Vitae. I just need someone to look at it and give their opinion on whether it looks acceptable or not. Drop me a PM and I'll make arrangements to e-mail a PDF - it's just 2 pages long. Please help, and thanks.

  16. Posted

    2 hours ago, mlooney said:

    I forgot to say "Thank You" to ProfessorTomoe for his gift of linen pants.  I've been out of sorts. 

    You're welcome, and Merry Christmas. Sorry we forgot to get anything for Explorer - it completely slipped our minds.

  18. Posted

    The first three infusion sets have passed without problems. I've taken in two infusions of vancomycin and three of cefepime. The vancomycin takes twice as long as advertised, while the cefepime takes less than a quarter of the expected time. Go figure. Mrs. Prof is as good as a professional at administration of the IVs. All I have to do is sit back and avoid getting cold (hey, you would as well if you were getting 37 degree F fluids infused into you). We're settling into a routine now.

  21. Posted

    Thanks for the kind words. I did this several years back, and it was a bit intimidating, but neither Mrs. Prof nor I freaked out. This time around it's like an old labcoat - you just put it on, and it fits. I'm about midway through my first infusion, which is vancomycin, the short infusion (just over an hour). Once it's done,  Mrs. Prof will hook me up to cefepime, which is the long infusion (supposedly around 4 hours). Fortunately, I'm not pinned to my seat while the infusions are going on. I can get up and walk as long as I carry the infusion balls with me. Much fun. :lol:

  24. Posted

    Well, smeg. I'm stuck in the hospital for another night. Saw my podiatrist this evening and learned that my white blood cell count had jumped from 12 to 15 overnight. He's keeping me to see if it goes down in the morning. If it does, he'll let me go home. If not...well, we'll come to that if it happens.

    I also learned that family Christmas has been temporarily postponed due to illness of several of the hosting family members. Looks like I'm not the only one sick, although I am the only one in the hospital. It'll be rescheduled soon.

  25. Posted

    In the latest twist to the osteomyelitis saga, it looks like I might get to go home today after all. I've still got to get a PICC line inserted while I'm unconscious, have IV drugs delivered to my house, and figure out who's going to be doing what and going where over the next few days. I may be riding down to Austin with a tennis ball full of cefepime infusing into me en route. Stay tuned.