Yes, in the guitar thread on 4/6.
Hey guys, sorry. Haven’t checked in on this lately, thought interest had died. I’ll bring you up to date.
Still in the efficiency apartment. Miracle of miracles, they actually knocked down the cockroaches. I’ve seen just one in about the past 5 or 6 weeks. Didn’t have a lot of hope, as I understand the college students a few doors down don’t keep a clean place, leaving fast food/pizza bags/boxes and remnants out. If you don’t stop doing that, it’s hard to put a stop to the roaches. They tried a few different sprays, and I guess they found one the bugs did not like. Things are a lot more pleasant when cockroaches aren’t crawling on you.
Had an appointment with my primary last week at 3 in the afternoon. I have to go every 3 months to get pain pills refills. I set up transportation through my insurance company 9 days in advance. Had a reservation# and everything. At 6:30AM the day of the appointment, I call them, and they still didn’t have anyone lined up. Several calls and several hours later, my sister ended up having to take me. Never tried these handicapped transports before, and my first experience didn’t work out at all. Could have been worse: they could have driven me there and not picked me up.
I have an appointment on the 30th with an eye surgeon to see about getting my cataracts removed. I hope it’s not too many more months before I get that taken care of. It’s been two months since they said I needed them operated on, and I’ve been telling people I’m half-blind for about a year now. Had a confusing conversation with my sister last week when she took me to my appointment. I was asking about my car, where it was, etc. Things got confusing because we were parked right next to it and she just assumed I knew it was there, and she didn’t know what it was I was talking about. I’m REALLY looking forward to getting my eyes fixed.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a proctectomy later this year. The last several inches of my colon that remain is still causing me problems - I’m incontinent from excessive mucus, some blood, and 2-3 times a day, I have a few minutes of painful, uncontrolled cramping. I’m* really* not looking forward to that surgery. Afterwards, you can’t even sit down for 3-5 weeks, which is especially problematic for someone who can’t walk/stand for more than a minute. If it goes well, though, it will eliminate that particular pain, and I won’t have to wear diapers any more, which would be nice. Just 6-8 weeks more pain and discomfort, and I won’t have that any more. It’ll mean more time in the nursing home recovering. If things go wrong and I need more than 2 months in there, I could lose my apartment and end up in an assisted-living facility, or a nursing home, or even on the streets. It’s a risk.
Still working on walking. My hope is (once I get my eyes fixed) to be able to walk to my car, park in a handicapped space, and walk into the store and get into one of those motorized chairs/carts. It would allow me to get out of the house, and buy a few things on my own, even if I can’t get the heavy/perishable stuff. I could buy some things and leave them in the trunk until my sister visits.
Some random stuff:
I lost some things in the move. I had some autographed cards, including an autographed Harvey Haddix card that I probably could have sold for $100. Would have helped me get computer upgrades or a new Kindle. Had a Topps rookie Mario Lemieux card. Worst of all, I lost my Kindle Paperwhite. I have a color tablet, though it’s pretty beat up from a year of over-use in the nursing home, but I really prefer the Paperwhite for extended reading. I’ve got alerts set up on SlickDeals to tell me when a sale comes up. Maybe they’ll have a sale on refurbs, or a clearance when a new model comes out.
They made me take a pee test to get my pain pills last week. Tested me for drugs like pot and meth. Pot? I’m glad I don’t know anyone. If I had the opportunity, I likely would have tried it to see if it helped my pains, then I would not have been able to get my legal opiates because of using pot. Makes sense.
I think that’s pretty much everything worth talking about. Thanks for asking.
CBD is legal everywhere, because it’s made from hemp. I use it with my pain pills, and I think it makes them more effective. I also discovered that CBD can effectively “cure” what the advertising industry calls “OIC,” which stands for “Opioid Induced Constipation.” Since you have temperamental guts, you would need to use CBD um, delicately.
My source of CBD is wellicity . com
~VOW
CBD can also give a false positive for marijuana (or a true positive if they didn’t get all the THC out when refining it) which, from the standpoint of Federal rules and regulations regarding opiates, is no different than smoking genuine marijuana and would result in loss of access to legal opiates for the OP. If you’re doubtful about that, I will also throw in that eating hot dog or hamburger buns ornamented with poppy seeds can also generate positive results on some drugs tests. I don’t know what sort of test the OP’s pain clinic is using or the sensitivity of them, but drug testing urine can be a surprisingly tricky business.
In other words, nice thought but maybe not the best suggestion.
Face: Best wishes. I talked in a previous post about Amazon gift cards for you–and others supported it. So we could help you pay for a new Kindle or computer upgrades.
I’m in.
Thanks for the update, Face! I’m glad you don’t have to deal with cockroaches any more!
Thanks guys. I’ve considered CBD oil, but hadn’t got around to trying it. Now that I know I’ll be tested, I’m definitely not going to try it because of the false positive risk. I find it funny(in both senses of the word) that this will probably be among the last states to legalize it. I read somewhere that marijuana is Kentucky’s biggest cash crop.
I’ve never done any illegal drug. Always had better things to do. I find it funny that I’m being drug-tested for the first time now. I worked in a hospital, I was an assistant supervisor at a bank, and I was never tested. Let me get sick and sit in a wheelchair at home though, PEE TEST! Heck, possible pain reduction aside, I’m getting to the point in my life when I should consider trying drugs. Remember Alan Arkin’s character in Little Miss Sunshine? 
As for the gift cards, I appreciate the thought as always, folks. I don’t really NEED a computer upgrade now. As long as I have access to my desktop and it stays in working order, it’s adequate for my needs. I can afford the Kindle if I really needed it now, but I’m going to wait for a sale to conserve money. It’s something that will be more useful after my cataract surgery, anyway.
Thanks for caring.
I think you ought to have a Kindle Paperwhite! With a screen protector and a case that may protect from falls, but not from being run over by a cement truck.
Gimme an address, I’ll send it to you immediately, and the scruffy bunch here can hand over all the change they’ve been digging out of the storm drains.
I’m not rich, Face. My husband and I are disabled retirees. But I have a few extra bucks, and my mommy and daddy instilled an attitude of helping people out.
So…gimme your address.
~VOW
(PS–you can change the font size and brightness!)
I’ll just point out that there are a LOT of things you can buy on Amazon with a gift card. Building up a small account of that sort via donations can be an emergency resource of sorts. You don’t have to use it all up immediately, after all, you can keep it in reserve. Use it for what you need, when you need it.
It sounds like things are slowly improving for you. I know how tough it can be. Hang in there!
Yes please, I promise to chip in, either by Amazon gift card or Paypal.
I usually dig my spare money out from under the seats in the taxi I drive.
This makes me so angry! This shit happens every day; people rationing medicine and suffering in the process, people being denied medical care, etc. This nation has some serious moral issues.
Oh yeah, you can buy everything on Amazon. Before I went into the hospital last year, I ordered things like laundry detergent and big packs of toilet paper, just to avoid going to the store and/or having to carry it into the house. When in rehab, I ordered some coke and other snacks delivered, rather than pay vending machine prices
While I greatly appreciate the offers of Amazon gift cards, and even a Kindle Paperwhite, I don’t really need them. I’ve got a roof over my head, food (and food assistance), my computer and internet, and while things could be going better/faster on that front, I even have health care. I don’t truly need much more. I hope no one is offended by my declining the kind offers here, but there are people in greater need than I.
I have sales alerts set up for the Paperwhites, so I can save a little when I buy it. Recreational reading isn’t the pleasure it was before the cataracts. They make even my internet reading and occasional gaming problematic. When my eyes are fixed, I’ll be more interested in reading for pleasure. In the meantime, I can be patient and wait for a sale.
Thanks again.
It’s not necessarily about “need”. It’s about making a difficult situation a little more pleasant for a very nice person. And as broomstick pointed out, someday maybe you WILL need a bit extra.
OK for now! But if you ever do need a little help, just remember that you have a few people here who would be more than happy to give it. 
Hopefully you can get in to see someone about the cataracts SOON. It’s a very common, very low-risk surgery - and while your medication regimen might complicate things a bit, it’s nothing a good surgeon shouldn’t be able to handle.
And it’ll be a huge victory, having your vision improve that dramatically - which is sure to be a hell of a morale boost with everything else that’s been going not-well lately.
Thank you ,Helena330.
Mama Zappa, I have an appt with an eye surgeon at the end of the month to hopefully schedule surgery. Very much looking forward to it, as my vision is getting quite bad. I find myself leaning forward into the monitor so much it irritates my back, and I can’t move the monitor any closer to me on the desk. This is the one surgery where I foresee a great and noticeable change. Can’t wait.
Well, I have my cataract surgeries scheduled: The first one gets done on the 20th. Good news.
Bad news is I seem to have another abscess in my rectum. I have an appt with my GI in July and I was going to talk with them about having a proctectomy, a procedure that is commonly paired with the ileostomy I had late last year. Having that would eliminate some problems I’m currently having and help prevent things such as abscesses. Figures it couldn’t wait a few months.
I’ll need a surgery to drain and clean out the abscess, and then 4-6 weeks to recover while it heals from the inside out. Painful. THEN, sometime this fall or winter, I’ll have the six-hour proctectomy surgery, which is much more extensive and harder to recover from. I was dreading the proctectomy enough by itself, I didn’t want to have an additional surgery in that area as well. I just hope I can finally get my cataracts removed after more than a year of waiting, and this abscess doesn’t derail it.
Meanwhile, the abscess hurts like hell to sit or lie on. I called my GI on Friday morning and left a message on their machine, explaining my situation and asking them to get back with me before the weekend. Didn’t happen, of course. The fun never stops.
Maybe you could get some type of cushion. Here is an expensive one:
Here is a cheap one:
I am sure there are lots of options. As stated there are a few people here who would contribute some money.
Thanks for the ideas to reduce my pain. A decent cushion helps, but as this is not the first time I’ve dealt with this, I have a decent butt-cushion handy. This is really annoying timing. I’m worried it’s going to interfere with my cataract surgery.
A bit of good news:
The swelling/abscess started reducing in size and pain on its own, a first for me. By the time I got to the doctor, the palpable hard area was smaller, and the pain was greatly reduced. I took a week’s worth of cipro/flagyl, and the doctor said the hard area was gone. I still feel it though, a bit, as I sit here. Not worth mentioning with everything else going on, as long as it stays that way. Hopefully that will stay at bay until I see the doctor about a proctectomy in September.
The abscess didn’t interfere in my cataract surgery. After a year of waiting, I finally got my first eye operated on Thursday. It’s an improvement. Things are brighter, colors are more vivid. Things in general are sharper, but I still don’t have great distance vision or near vision. My current glasses are useless for that eye, so I removed the lens. Now I’m just not wearing my glasses, as they don’t appreciably help my bad eye either. I don’t think I’ve gone without my glasses for 43 years. It’s odd.
Friday I have my one-day follow-up. Hopefully he’ll give me a projected timetable on my healing, and when I can start thinking about a new set of glasses. Probably not for a couple months though, since it’ll be another month before the other eye is fixed. My vision is much improved, but until I can get my next pair of glasses, it won’t be what you might call good, or even decent. My close-up vision in my repaired eye is so bad I look at small print with my bad eye, from about 3-4 inches.
It’s a start.