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ProfessorTomoe

Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

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I don't believe it. I was reading last year's results, which were taken at almost the same date and time. This year's results were much more favorable. My glucose was 89 - damned good. No protein problem, but my kidney function tests were still a bit high (around 2437). The doctor didn't make any changes to my meds. He just wants me to come back in 6 months.

In other news, I had a back procedure done yesterday to try and mitigate the foraminal narrowing nerve pain I've been having since last month. They injected my spinal nerves with anesthetics and steroids on both sides around the C5-C6 and C6-C7 foraminal openings. Early results: my left side is numb and tingling, and I've had the occasional pain twinge. On the right, I'm still having pain above where they injected me. I got a call from the surgical center today - they were checking up on me post-op. I told them what I just said, and they said I should give things a week. I'm not very hopeful. As it stands now, I'm looking at full-blown spine surgery to correct the situation on both sides. I'll find out when I see the spine surgeon on the 10th.

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10 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

As it stands now, I'm looking at full-blown spine surgery to correct the situation on both sides.

That sounds really less than optimal.

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14 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

As it stands now, I'm looking at full-blown spine surgery to correct the situation on both sides. I'll find out when I see the spine surgeon on the 10th.

If your home isn't currently wheelchair-accessible, you might want to do something about that now. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if you get one for a few days to a few weeks - and that's if the surgery goes well.

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4 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

If your home isn't currently wheelchair-accessible, you might want to do something about that now. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if you get one for a few days to a few weeks - and that's if the surgery goes well.

That does seem like a good idea.

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* sigh * As if I needed anything else to happen to me.

I spent Saturday afternoon in a Level 1 trauma ER. Why? Because I slipped on black ice on my backyard patio and landed on my face, and because the paramedics who responded freaked out because I take Eliquis (a blood thinner). Allow me to explain.

We had a hard freeze Saturday night. During the day, I heard water running outside, so i put on my shoes, grabbed my cane, and stepped out back to investigate. I didn't make it one step out on the concrete patio before I lost my footing and started falling face first. I landed on 1) my right knee, 2) my right wrist, 3) the 4th and 5th fingers of my hands, and 4) the right side of my face. I drew blood from each location.

My glasses cushioned my fall - they wound up bent and scratched all to hell. I'm going to have to have them replaced, so as of Monday I'm going to be offline for a week or so, most likely.

I wasn't able to get up on my own, so I called out for help a few times. No response. I gave up on that, forced myself up on my injured hands and knees, and crawled over the threshold and back inside. There I collapsed for a while, then dragged myself on the floor to my cell phone where I called 911 (actually, I had Google call 911 for me - I couldn't focus on the number pad through my screwed up glasses). 

Five EMS personnel showed up and argued with me about going to the hospital. They were insistent that I go, saying that I might have a cranial hemorrhage worst case. I gave in and went. I was kind of glad I did, because once the adrenaline wore off, the pain kicked in. I was given fentanyl, but it didn't help. They eventually gave me a milligram of Dilaudid, which did help.

They took X-rays of my knee, lower leg, and hands, and did CT scans of my shoulders, neck, and head. All came back negative for new damage (of course, they showed what my other doctors had been reporting - bad knee, bad spine, etc.). So, with that, they cleaned up and dressed my wounds and discharged me to a pissed off Mrs. Prof.

I am now banned from going outside without supervision.

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5 hours ago, mlooney said:

Dude, you can't catch a break.

I don't want a "break." They X-rayed me and CAT scanned me and didn't find any breaks. I consider myself lucky in that arena. :)

My *glasses* caught a "break." I'm going to hand them over at Oculens Optical in Garland today to get them fixed. See you after I get them back.

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I just got bad news (not really bad, but possibly bad).  My kidney function went down (to 54 from 59), not up with the latest blood test.  So, I'm still restricted to 2 cups of tea a day.  She also wants me to increase my fluid intake.  That might be tricky.  Looking for a local consult to talk to a specialist about it.

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13 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I just got bad news (not really bad, but possibly bad).

I'm sorry to hear this. Did your doctor have any suggestions on how to increase your fluid intake, other than just "drink more water?"

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13 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I'm sorry to hear this. Did your doctor have any suggestions on how to increase your fluid intake, other than just "drink more water?"

The didn't even say that.  Just increase fluid intake.  I suspect that I'll be drinking a lot more decaf tea per day than I was.

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42 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I just got bad news (not really bad, but possibly bad).  My kidney function went down (to 54 from 59), not up with the latest blood test.  So, I'm still restricted to 2 cups of tea a day.  She also wants me to increase my fluid intake.  That might be tricky.  Looking for a local consult to talk to a specialist about it.

From my lab report:
gfr was 59, now 54, increase fluids, please ask pt if he would like to see nephrology to see if he would like to touch base as do not think at this time he will improve higher than 55-60 as baseline, please let him know it is stable, just want to touch base with a kidney specialist for assistance/suggestions from keeping this from getting worse

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59 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

Prof, you may find this interesting. Seems they have made some (preliminary?) progress on treating damaged spinal cords.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/07/health/spinal-cord-stimulation-study/index.html

Thankfully, I'm not in that situation. My spine bones are overgrown and are cutting into my nerves. An operation to widen the gap, one way or another, is usually what's called for.

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40 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

An operation to widen the gap, one way or another,

So, just driving some spreader wedges is right out then?  

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I got some good news yesterday from the Optical place. I won't have to be blind for a week!

The guy fixed my frames, cleaned up my lenses (but left the scratches in place), then took a $400 order for new lenses. He said I could wear what I've got, scratches and all, until the new lenses come in, at which point he'd swap them out in about a 15 minute operation. It's still going to take a week to get them, so I'm taking a sabbatical from Facebook and a few other places for that time (it's hard enough to see through the scratches). However, I'll be online here in at least some capacity.

18 hours ago, mlooney said:

So, just driving some spreader wedges is right out then?  

They might put in some artificial discs, depending on what the situation is. I think it's more likely that they'll remove bone, though.

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52 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

The guy fixed my frames, cleaned up my lenses (but left the scratches in place), then took a $400 order for new lenses.

Those are expensive lenses.  That's more than I've seen quoted for an eye exam and 2 pair of glasses. 

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I've done a little Googling and it seems that the view that tea is a problem for some one with kidney disease is mixed.  I'm going to keep to my 2 cup of "real" tea per day until I get told one way or the other about 4-6 cups a day.  My primary care person did tell me to increase fluid intake, which means I'm doing a lot more decaf tea than I was.  They are supposed to get me a consult with a kidney specialist some time this week.  Problem with that is there isn't one in town and I really don't have transport other than friends. Deal with that if and when it comes up.

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1 hour ago, mlooney said:

Those are expensive lenses.  That's more than I've seen quoted for an eye exam and 2 pair of glasses. 

This guy makes good lenses. He's using VariLux, Crizal, hell, the whole shooting match on them. That, and my prescription isn't an easy one to match (nearsighted one eye, bad astigmatic in the other).

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