Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

[mlooney 3,417]

Good luck, and lets hope you don't go back in the hospital.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I AM HOME.

Can't wait to order a pizza. Wouldn't you know it, Mrs. Prof had a Chef's Salad waiting for me for dinner tonight. Fnord.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

I'm relieved. Hope all will be well.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I'm relieved. Hope all will be well.

Thank you very much, old friend. Good to hear from you. It means a lot. It really does.

[mlooney 3,417]

7 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I AM HOME.

Can't wait to order a pizza. Wouldn't you know it, Mrs. Prof had a Chef's Salad waiting for me for dinner tonight. Fnord.

Great!  Hope you stay at home for a while!

[mlooney 3,417]

I have a migraine. What is allowed for me to take is acetaminophen and caffeine. That knocks it down a couple of notches, but doesn't work as well as acetaminophen, caffeine, and aspirin. Gonna hide in what passes for a dark room for a while.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Man, I am seriously feeling the difference between Dilaudid + Oxycodone and just Oxycodone by itself when it comes to taming the pain in my right shoulder, ever since I've returned home from the hospital. I didn't properly appreciate how much the Dilaudid was taking the edge off of the pain.

Once I get an appointment back with my pain management specialist, I am going to seriously grill them about why they won't prescribe anything stronger than Oxycodone for my pain. This is ridiculous. Aauugghh.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Mrs. Prof has temporarily (?) taken over the job of dispensing my meds to me. For this, I am eternally grateful, since I am not 100% back in action yet. However, we had a bit of a clash this morning. Allow me to explain.

She had purchased several pots of pudding snacks to help me swallow the dreaded potassium tablets, of which I must partake 4x a day. (They're huge, must be cut into 4 pieces, and even then cannot be swallowed with plain fluid.) I used these for the first couple of days, but at the first opportunity, I ordered applesauce, which makes the medicine go down much more easily (in a "matter of life and death" sort of way, which I apparently did not explain to Mrs. Prof sufficiently). I went all day yesterday since the order arrived enjoying (heh) the relative ease which the applesauce allowed the potassium to be ingested.

Well, this morning, Mrs. Prof brought me my pills and a pot of butterscotch pudding. While I would normally be pleased by a pot of butterscotch, today I was taken aback. I protested. She responded, "Well, I thought we would mix it up." Bad answer. I made it quite clear that this was not desired and gave her my reasons why. She overreacted and thought I was "bitching at her."

Oh boy. Great way to start the morning. In any case, we resolved the "mix up," got the potassium down with the required applesauce, smoothed over the situation (after a while), and restored tranquility in the Tomoe dimensional abode. However, it was touch and go for a while there, all thanks to a pot of butterscotch pudding and a misunderstanding.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I have my first doctor's appointment since returning home from the hospital today, and it's a telemedicine call with my pain management doctor's assistant. I intend to give them a right proper grilling over why I cannot have anything more powerful than oxycodone, when it was made quite clear to me in the hospital that pill-form medications stronger than oxycodone exist and when my right arm pain is too much for the oxycodone to handle. I expect them to come back with a, "your insurance doesn't allow it" argument, which will be negated by a, "I'm using GoodRx for pain pills, not my insurance" rebuttal. While my chances of success (goal: getting a stronger pain medication) are low, I intend to press on regardless.

[mlooney 3,417]

I just had a blood draw.  Like all blood tests I assumed I needed to fast before.  Nope.  Now having a cup of tea and thinking about a bagel with jam.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Pain management telemedicine appointment completed, without any of the predicted difficulties, surprisingly enough. I'm being put on 4mg Dilaudid pills every 4 hours (don't know how that equates to IV Dilaudid). The catch is I have to abandon the oxycodone entirely. That could be a good thing, if the Dilaudid dosage is high enough, since I may have developed a tolerance to oxycodone in the nearly 4 years (per the physician's assistant) that I've been taking it. My body may adjust well to the Dilaudid and receive significant pain relief.

That's what I'm hoping, at least.

[mlooney 3,417]

I just had my yearly in home check up several hours early.  I'm OK for a man of my age.   Found out that my blood pressure wrist cuff is close to what you would get with an arm cuff.  NP was surprised my blood pressure was so low. He lives in the county I grew up in and is friends with the other Looney family in county.   Old guy, approaching retirement.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Had an appointment with my primary care physician yesterday, and I got the results of blood tests today. My potassium levels are good, but I'm still having infection problems. My white blood cell count is elevated, as are my monocytes and my neutrophils. In other words, I'm still sick with an infection and inflammation.

Turns out my pharmacy shorted me on my two antibiotics by seven days. Unfortunately, it's a CVS pharmacy, so if they haven't filled the remainder for me, I'm going to have hell navigating the damnable phone tree.

[mlooney 3,417]

Hope you get your meds straightened out ASAP.  I've had to deal with pharmacies mucking stuff up and it's never pleasant.

52 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I'm going to have hell navigating the damnable phone tree.

Just for the record, back when I worked in Telephony, my company didn't do phone tree stuff.  We did voice mail and some semi related stuff like fax mail.  I'm not responsible for phone trees!  The fact that I haven't worked in Telephony for about 22 years might also have something to do with that.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I checked my meds on CVS's web site, and thankfully, they're there, ready to be picked up. No phone call needed. 

[mlooney 3,417]

Yay!  Isn't technology wonderful!

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I have taken my first dose of pill-form Dilaudid (a.k.a. hydromorphone), 4mg, instead of oxycodone. That happened around 30 minutes ago. I'm not really feeling a rush or anything from it, but I am feeling my pain being suppressed a tad bit. I think. I mean, I'm trying to aggravate the pain in my right arm, which has been really bad today, and it feels a bit dampened. No ill effects so far, thank goodness.

I'm watching this stuff like a hawk.

[mlooney 3,417]

Damped pain is good.  

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I'm not sure if the Dilaudid is working worse than the oxycodone, or if the pain is just getting worse. I'm starting to guess the latter, since the pain was getting worse while I was on the oxycodone. I'm sorely tempted to at least try alternating both on a one-every-two-hours stint for the remainder of the day. Mrs. Prof would have kittens if she found out, since that could potentially be dangerous. However, it wouldn't be any different from what they were giving me in the hospital, AFAIK.

I don't fscking know. This just hurts so bad. I can't wait for my appointment on Monday.

[mlooney 3,417]

You've got an appointment on Monday?  That's the 4th.  Good that they are seeing you then, but I'm a bit surprised.  Be careful with the meds!

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

5 minutes ago, mlooney said:

You've got an appointment on Monday?  That's the 4th.

Make that Tuesday. I take the 5th.

[mlooney 3,417]

I've got a kidney appointment on the 5th.    They _briefly_ said the 4th when they were setting up the appointment, then they went, "oops, can't do that".

[mlooney 3,417]

Just found out that if you tell an insurance provided in yearly home heath provider/evaluator  that you have bi-polar, anxiety and ADHD the insurance company gets all sorts of upset and will call you back to see how you are doing.   My meds are working so I'm not having any thoughts of suicide, self harm or harming others, which is what I told the dude when he was here.  I'm hoping that that is the last call from them I get until next year.

[mlooney 3,417]

 Back from the kidney doctor.  All my tests were normal and I don't need to see him for another 6 months.  My kidney function was exactly the same as last time, so I'm not losing any more kidney bits.  I was told to keep checking my blood pressure at least 4 times a week and to call them if it gets high.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Had my orthopedic appointment for my right arm yesterday. I think I may have given the doctor the wrong info. He asked me where the pain was, and I told him it was in my shoulder. He then zeroed in on my shoulder for the rest of the appointment, preferring to talk about injecting my joint with steroids. I asked for an MRI, to which he agreed. I can only hope that he will expand its scope to include the area between my shoulder and my elbow, which is actually where my main pain lies.

Fingers crossed.