IT'S! . . . monty python's monday mundane posts [MMP]

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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**Tugig **- if there aren’t any doctors in Annapolis, I can refer you to a good one in St. Mary’s county! :stuck_out_tongue: Going to Fredburg, you’ll be passing kinda close to me, assuming you’re going down 301. Don’t forget to wave! (On preview, I see BBBobbio pointed this out, altho we both live south of Waldorf/LaPlata metroplex.) :smiley:

It’d be a hoot if your doc in F’burg was the same one we saw when we lived in King George in the lat 90s. I don’t remember his name, but we called him Dr. Doogie because he looked like he was 12 years old. Really nice guy, tho - I was sorry to lose him when we moved.

62

Well, went to the horse-spittle, and after several hours of reclinin’ on an exam bed in a spare room because I can’t sit up proper in a seat, with people coming in and prodding me (I am so glad I brought a good book and some lunch!) the upshot is… surgery, first thing tomorrow morning. Eep.

I’ve never had a general anaesthetic before, and I’m a bit terrified, though it is a specialist spinal clinic, so they do know what they’re doing.

Apparently, it’s sufficiently bad that I’ve dodged the waiting list- currently 10-12 weeks, so obviously the Death Panels are in a good mood with me right now :wink: Mind you, I did actually collapse on the floor in the waiting room…

They even suggested me just staying there until the evening, and doing it tonight, but they had no comfy beds spare, and chairs are agony, so I said I’d prefer to go home for a bit instead, and just come in right before the op. Means I don’t get to have any breakfast tomorrow, but they said that with luck I should be walking pretty much normally by tomorrow evening! At the moment, I look like I should be getting a job as a bellringer, or possibly selling poisoned apples to gullible maidens, so that would be a fantastic improvement. Wish me luck!

Hope everyone else gets who needs it gets their brokenness fixed soon too!

It’s been so long since I left the house, I couldn’t find any of my shoes, or my housekeys…

63

That is wicked funny - and true. It’s worth considering if the pseudotumor thing falls through. No medications have worked so far to completely remove the pain but the diuretic has relieved it. Right now I have just the minorest of minor pains in the usual spot but my sinuses are giving me a killer toothache. I took some sudafed.

There’s no shame in using CC. Sweetie and I have used it for over 10 years now because he was used to it being on at work (at the time he worked as a Master Control operator in a PBS station so he was surrounded by TVs, all with CC running). I love CC and even got my sister using it. Once you adapt to it being there, it makes watching foreign movies so much easier. :smiley:

We thought that we needed new glasses - or a new TV - until we looked at the TV in direct sunlight (which is rare in my house). Turns out we hadn’t dusted in way too long. After cleaning it off, everything was much sharper and the colors were much brighter. Just goes to show - even a TV engineer can have computer-cupholder moments.

Oh, I knew what you meant. Parental help is a wonderful thing. It gives quality time and shows the child that their education is important to their parent. I won a science fair once, when I was 9. My project was on elephants (the research for that project led me to the name Congodwarf). My mom had just graduated from college so all that research stuff was fresh in her mind. She helped me understand the importance of an easy to read board and she helped me prepare for the judges’ questions. I still have my medal and I’m still damn proud of it. After that our family kinda went to shit and my mom was so busy dealing with my juvenile delinquent sisters that she didn’t have time to help me with school stuff any more. I never even entered a Science Fair after that one. :frowning:

Wow. That seriously blows.

So, I made a minor mistake last night. I asked Sweetie what time he needed to get up for work. Then I set the alarm. Unfortunately, I set it for the time he needed and not the time I needed, which was earlier. I usually reset it for his time when I get up. Our alarm does dual but I don’t trust it. Anyway, we both woke up at 10am. Too bad the class I was going to attend today starts at 10am. :smack:
I’m waiting for confirmation from the financial aid lady but if I understand the info she sent me this morning, I can drop everything but Chemistry with no repercussions. I really hope my interpretation is correct - it was pretty straightforward. She said that at this point in the semester I wont have any financial aid problems as long as I don’t completely withdraw from school. But, the school has their Satisfactory Academic Progress thing but from what I read, 1/3 of it don’t yet apply to me and the other 2/3 I’m covered on. Now I have to wait. I hate waiting.

Did I mention that I can’t get in to see the neurologist until the 16th? Did I mention that I hate waiting. :smiley:

64

Nutty, don’t sweat general anesthetic. You’ll get Versed first, which will make you loopy and give you amnesia before you get gassed. Before you know what happened, you’ll wake up in recovery.

65

Holy Crap Filbert!! Did I miss the post where you said what’s wrong? Good luck on your surgery!

66

I heard back from the financial aid lady. I interpreted correctly. I can drop Astronomy and Climatology and only worry about the class I actually need (and the one I’m having the most trouble with). Hopefully by the fall the headaches will be in check and I’ll have passed Chem so I can take my next (of 4 or 5 goddammit) chem classes. Later on in life if someone has a problem with me having 3 W’s on my transcript in the same semester, I’ll just show them my medical records. :smiley:

67

It’s just a herniated disc in me back- it’s northing life threatening, just giving me really really bad sciatica, and I’ve been stuck in bed, not even able to lie down flat for the last month.

I don’t know why I’m so nervous about the anaesthetic, I’m fine with needles- even when the nurse was going ‘honestly, I just can’t get blood out of anyone today, having one of those days…ha ha!’ which is not normally counted as a reassuring comment. :wink:
Thanks for good wishes, I’m sure it’ll all be fine. They said I might wind up staying in overnight, so don’t worry if I disappear for a few days.

I might lose my Ministry of Silly Walks funding now though. :frowning:

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**Filbert **- as a partner of multiple spinal surgeries, I’m certain you can look forward to a good outcome. The only thing I have to offer, beyond best wishes, is the warning that the healing process can *seem *to take forever, but it’s in your best interest to take things easy as long as you can. Even if you think you feel great, don’t overdo it! I’m convinced overdoing after #4 led my poor sweetie to needing #5, not that he believes that…

**congo **- yay for getting your school situation resolved! Now just get the headache nonsense taken care of, dammit!!! (Seriously, hope you can get it fixed.)

I need to empty the dishwasher and pick the chicken carcass - good times at FairyChatEstates! :smiley:

69

General isn’t bad at all. Actually, it’s kind of fun to wake up from. The biggest problem I had after surgery was the medication they had in the IV burned so I made them take it out and give me pills. They didn’t work as well but it was better than the burning.

Some tips -

If they tell you to get up and walk around, DO IT!! I made sure I got up and walked around at least once an hour and it helped so much. It relieved some pain and had me very steady on my feet by the time I left the hospital. It’ll be hard at first but it’s definitely worth it. If you stay in bed because it’s too hard to walk, you’re going to be stiff and in pain.

If they tell you to do PT, definitely do it. I think a lot of people underestimate the value of PT. I had it after the back and elbow surgery and it greatly improved my post-surgery results in both cases.

If they give you muscle relaxers and pain relievers, don’t take them at the same time. I didn’t know that and ended up spending a week feeling like jelly and having minor hallucinations. While it was fun, it wasn’t helpful. As soon as I stopped taking them at the same time, I turned back into a normal person.

Good luck! If your surgery is anything like mine, you’ll walk out of there feeling like a new person. Even the pain of surgery couldn’t compare to the pain of the hernia and sciatica.
Oh, and it feels weird and a little bit gross when the internal stitches start to pop.
Oh yeah, I totally second the not overdoing it part. Definitely don’t push yourself. It’s not a contest. Take it slow and easy and only do what you’re told you can do.

70

Nowhere near as weird and oogie as pulling an abdominal drain. :eek:

71

Ugh. That even sounds gross.

72

Don’t sweat general anesthesia, I’ve done it numerous times and frankly it’s no big deal. You never know what happened.

73

except for, once you wake up, the lingering pain of the surgery itself. :wink: :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

74

See, I love organizing bookshelves too. The problem here is not organizing the bookshelves. The problem is that I have neither the time nor space nor ability to organize them properly. The collection needs to be weeded - we have no need for EIGHT Kennedy biographies. We just don’t. Or for a 1997 guide to California RV parks. It’s just that Dad is so emotionally fragile that he freaks when he sees us messing with the books. He’s convinced his special books have gone missing.

Still, I got my books up with minimum hassle. One of the shelves of the homemade bookcase has major cracks in it - because Dad bought really crappy pine planks to make the shelves with. So, it can only hold paperbacks. There’s still a ton of organizing to be done, and furniture will be moved, because we got me a desk so I can actually do my thing here without having to rearrange the world to get to it.

Dad is . . . hmmm. He saw his internist yesterday, took the memory test, and flunked it. Doctor is notifying the DMV to pull his license. Dad has no memory of the doctor saying he can’t drive anymore. So, we’ve hidden the car keys, and if he starts looking for them, we offer to take him anywhere he wants to go. In the meantime, if I’m home, I park my car behind his, so he can’t sneak out.

We have a parade of health professionals marching through. Physical therapy, home health nurse, and more to come. Dad has mostly been in a good mood, but Mom’s been around. Today’s his first day out of the hospital (which he doesn’t remember going to) without Mom being around. So, he’s already snarled at me. sigh

Also, he doesn’t remember having any memory problems. The meta of that statement caused a crater to open up in a small Guatamalan village.

I went to the dentist and got clucked over. Three new cavities in the space of six months. Yet, no one shook a finger at me, because they all know what’s been going on.

I tutor tonight. In the meantime, I’m running laundry, organizing the library/office, and trying to keep Dad out of trouble.

75

I’ve got nothing to add, except I’m sending good wishes your way Filbert

76

  1. I keep telling my mother the same thing about Princess Di books but she doesn’t believe me.

  2. I know I shouldn’t laugh at this because it really is tragic. But, the comment itself make me laugh so hard I snorted.

  3. What do you tutor?

I took advantage of the fact that my eyeball isn’t trying to explode at the moment to clean my living room. Since the only way to properly clean it is to move furniture, I also rearranged it. It’s possible that Sweetie will be annoyed with me (he doesn’t like change) but I’m hoping he’ll take solace in the fact that the living room is very clean. The doggies are intrigued by all the new spaces but I think Ginger is pissed at me because there are no places for her to perch at the big window. I even moved the fish tank, which required taking about 15 gallons of water out and then putting them back in. It just makes more sense to me to have the firewood rack next to the fireplace and that’s where the fish tank was.

Now that I’m done procrastinating (but in a responsible way at least), I must get into the homework.

77

I’ve got the innards of a chickie pot pie assembled and ready to be pied in about half an hour. We’ll see how that goes.

One more color band and my monster afghan is done - I’ll post a pic - it’s really pretty!

I’m sure there was more to say, but apparently Kanga’s dad is contagious via the Dope. :stuck_out_tongue: More later, I’m sure!

78

Good wishes to shortdrum, Kanga & Nut, plus anyone else who needs 'em.
Been feeling a little under the weather the last couple days. But feeling ok now as long as I take my zinc. Beautiful sunny day here in Cowtown. Attended a feneral service today ( fellow we go to church with. Nice man. Wish I’d know him better I haven’t been attending there very long)
May take a nap. I tired.
sqooshy hugs

79

My adviser gave his approval and signed the form I emailed to him. I just need to pick it up from the necropsy assistant tomorrow after lab and drop it off with the registrar and I’ll be officially lazing my way through the semester.
Now I need to get back to this same problem. I’m sure I’m doing it right but I keep getting the wrong answer. If the answer key is wrong again, I’m gonna be pissed. One more try and if it’s still wrong I’m gonna skip it and move along.

80

Played in the sand at a mine today then checked e-mail in the hotel. Person coming from Houston cancelled his trip last night so I am headed to Baton Rouge on my own tomorrow. Fun Fun.

I’ tahred from the driving.

Good luck with surgery FBert! I have only had one general anaesthetic (I have no idea how to spell that) and that was for my knee surgery last year. It was fine. Although I woke up crying for some reason and I wasn’t in pain.