Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required) (Content TV-MA)

[mlooney 3,839]

Well, fuck.  I got my blood tests results back.  I have stage 3 kidney disease again.  Fuck.  This sucks and it sucks hard.  NSAID are completely off the menu now.  

[mlooney 3,839]

The good news is that my $202.06 90-day supply of the drug that stops me from hearing things ended up “only” costing $94. The I'm not sure if it's bad news is that I don't think that counted against my deductable. I suspect I'll be paying that down with the lower-cost drugs. Based on what I found out when I had a long talk with my insurance company, my cost for it will be ~$64 once the deductable is paid off.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

8 hours ago, mlooney said:

Well, fuck.  I got my blood tests results back.  I have stage 3 kidney disease again.  Fuck.  This sucks and it sucks hard.  NSAID are completely off the menu now.  

I'm sorry to hear that. You and my wife's eldest brother are in a similar boat. They had to take him to the hospital, where he's now in the ICU. When he got there, his eGFR was at 9, indicating that he was in ESRD (end-stage renal disease, or Stage 5 kidney disease). They've managed to get his eGFR back up to 21, which is still bad (Stage 4), but a damn sight better than what he was at. Mrs. Prof is staying the next couple of days down in San Antonio (where he lives) to take care of him and whatever else crops up. I'm up here in Garland, being watched by my son while she's away. Not a good situation for either of us.

[mlooney 3,839]

Damn. I assume he's on a list for kidney replacement.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

4 hours ago, mlooney said:

I assume he's on a list for kidney replacement.

I don't think so. He's almost 80 years old. Not sure if they put you on a list if you're that old. In any case, they've bumped him up to Grade 3 kidney disease, so he's making slow progress back to normal. Only time will tell if he recovers fully. Mrs. Prof says he's getting ornery and wanting to go home now, so that's an improvement as well.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

Mrs. Prof's brother's health improved enough for the doctors to perform a heart catheterization procedure on him. They put in two stents - one on the right artery, and one on the left artery, according to a text Mrs. Prof sent to me. (She's back home, BTW.) Anyway, her brother came through okay, so there's some good news.

[mlooney 3,839]

“My” hospital just sent me a snail mail bill for a lot of money.  I already have a payment plan with them. I called customer service and got a run-a-round if this was the right person to talk to.  While I was waiting, I went to the web page for my payment plan.  The amount still owed on the payment plan exactly matched the amount on the bill, and the webpage said I was current.  I'm gonna assume that this was sent out in error, or it's the statement type they provide.  I'm just keeping to the payment plan; I'm not doing anything else.  I'd like my heart rate to return to normal, and I'd also like that hour of my life back.

[Don Edwards 583]

I'm in a similar situation, except the biller tells me when the next payment is due per the plan... 

although actually it's when the next payment WAS due, as I usually receive each bill about six weeks after the due date as printed in that bill. (And I have my bank sending payments automatically, so it's not me being late with the payments.)

[mlooney 3,839]

1 hour ago, Don Edwards said:

I'm in a similar situation, except the biller tells me when the next payment is due per the plan... 

although actually it's when the next payment WAS due, as I usually receive each bill about six weeks after the due date as printed in that bill. (And I have my bank sending payments automatically, so it's not me being late with the payments.)

At least the “due date” on the multi thosand dollar bill was for next month.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

Urgh. Fell hard on my left wrist in a hotel room in Carlsbad, NM on the way back from the King Con Cruise port in Los Angeles. X-rays showed I broke a tip of my ulna bone. Now, I'm in a splint and a sling for at least 3 weeks. That's a cymbal player's nightmare. Urgh.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

Further X-rays showed I broke two bones - the aforementioned tip of the ulna as one, and the end of my distal radius bone as the other. That was a *hard* fall indeed, considering that it broke both of the arm bones going into the wrist proper.

Anyway, I'm in the splint until Monday or until the swelling goes down, then I get my wrist+lower arm put into a fiberglass cast for 4 weeks. Urgh.

[mlooney 3,839]

I took the same walk I did yesterday. I had to stop four times and rub my calves. Way  tighter than yesterday.  Ordering some muscle cream now.
<Off to the river store> <read warnings>
Most of the “good” muscle ointments have a warning about using them if you have kidney disease.  So the one I got has an about a 60% “it worked” rate on a double-blind study. I hope I'm part of the 60% it worked on.

[mlooney 3,839]

I just got a snail mail from my current drugstore.  It said that the mental health clinic that I go to is going to start having an in-house pharmacy and reminded me that I have a choice in where I get my drugs from.

Which one I use will be based on two things.  

Which one is cheaper, and who delivers.

[mlooney 3,839]

I have a “surprise” meeting with my mental health lady today.  It's a surprise meeting because they called me yesterday to set it up.  I was supposed to call them on the 9th to set up the next meeting.  I'm starting to think that one hand doesn't know what the other hand does at that clinic when it comes to schedules

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

No fun today. Had a neurologist's appointment at 2:30 pm, and just before we got there a migraine kicked in, hard. I got nerve blocks for it - 8 injections into my scalp and temples, plus two medicine blasts up my nostrils. The injections HURT LIKE HELL! I felt like a lumpy pincushion. I also got a shot of a 30-day anti-migraine medicine in the back of my right arm, so 9 total injections. Oww oww oww.

We came home afterward, and I crashed hard. My scalp is still numb from the shots.

[mlooney 3,839]

So, Sandra, my mental health lady, always provides me a date to call the clinic to set up an appointment “the next week after you call”.  Today was that day.

So, my appointment is 1:20 today.  At least they waited for me to call them.  Last month, they called me a day early to set up that month's appointment.

I think the scheduling people and the clinical staff don't really talk to each other.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,671]

 

So, yes I've been away.

Just after Easter,  I had a stroke. 

Not back to work yet. 

Operating my own body feels like driving a car that is badly out of alignment. 

The drugs they have me on make even dizzier without any fun effects. 

 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

Sorry to hear that. Are you at least improving somewhat? I hope so.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,671]

 

The prescriptions I have been given are very strong.  Possibly too strong.  But a Neurologist could not examine me while I was in the hospital.  So until I can get a Neurological examination, which is yet to be scheduled, I am taking lots of Rx to prevent many things that might have gone wrong rather than treating what specifically did go wrong. 

Right now, the most noticeable effects are dizziness and lack of endurance.   All I can do at this point is keep walking. 

I'm not sure if this is a medical improvement, but I feel better wearing clothes other than a hospital gown. On the other foot, I do like the hospital socks with the rubber soles. 

 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

5 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

On the other foot, I do like the hospital socks with the rubber soles. 

Oh, man, I hate those things. I broke both my ankles back in 2009 while wearing the Grippy Socks. Urgh.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,671]

 

I remember when calling in sick to school meant staying home, watching Bob Barker, and drinking Vernors. 

Being a sick adult isn't as much fun. 

 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

I'm in what I'm hoping will be my last day in the Big Baylor hospital in downtown Dallas, as I continue to recover from my Zenker's diverticulotomy throat surgery. They had to put some clips inside my throat to help things heal, but I'm told I'll eventually swallow them without noticing. I had the surgery early Monday morning, and was in great pain for the first two days. Things started getting better yesterday, to the point where I'm no longer being fed through a tube up my nose. I'm still on a liquid diet, though, but it's a real treat when Brenda brings up something from Dutch Bros. If I make it through this morning, then I'll be sent home this afternoon.

[mlooney 3,839]

Good luck on getting out of the hospital today.

I first read “clips” as “chips”.  Good thing they didn't use chips; you would be mind controlled!

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

Had my first good solid meal last night since coming home from the hospital. Beer battered fish and stuffed potato skins. Couldn't get enough of either. I noticed that I'm back to where food is trying to go the wrong way again: instead of going down into my stomach, sometimes a part of it will try to go up into my sinuses. Takes real concentration to make sure one eats properly and not too quickly when this is happening. Fortunately, it's not a full-time fight, and it's not really causing me any problems in trying to drink things.

[mlooney 3,839]

3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Had my first good solid meal last night since coming home from the hospital. Beer battered fish and stuffed potato skins. Couldn't get enough of either. I noticed that I'm back to where food is trying to go the wrong way again: instead of going down into my stomach, sometimes a part of it will try to go up into my sinuses. Takes real concentration to make sure one eats properly and not too quickly when this is happening. Fortunately, it's not a full-time fight, and it's not really causing me any problems in trying to drink things.

I have a problem sort of like that if I eat things like rice.  A couple of grains end up in my sinuses and it hurts like the very devil.  Takes blowing my nose almost a dozen times to get them out.