Okay, a brief history lesson:  Back in November, I ruptured a tendon in my left arm when I attempted to lift my driver side door.  I did so to see if there was any slack I could take advantage of to close it, since it had been wrenched out of alignment by a massive gust of wind.  I believed, at the time, that I’d pulled a muscle or tweaked a tendon, so I didn’t go to a doc for a couple of weeks.  When I did, I discovered the rupture after a EMI. Right … so now it’s January and, to my astonishment, my wife’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield (the first layer of medical insurance we possess) is refusing to pay any of the medical bills associated with that event on the grounds … Read entire article »

So Friday night/Saturday morning, while still dealing with her Shingles attack, Dian starts throwing up, staggering around the house, and develops a high fever.  The vomiting and fever are bad, but Dian cannot take disorientation of any amount.  It’s like physical pain to her … it IS physical pain to her. I loaded her into the sedan, having to fight her to do so, and ran her to the Emergency Ward.  We got lucky.  Friday morning, we both had blood and urine tests as part of a routine appointment with our diabetes doc, so the ER doc accessed the blood work and saw that her white blood cells were crazy high even then.  He gave her a shot to take care of the disorientation that worked pretty fast and, after more blood … Read entire article »

A dripping wet and stooped over sailor pauses on his way out the door to address all who would attend, panting:  ”Y’know … I’d forgotten … what plain … ol’ fashioned FUN … it is to change a tire … in the rain and sleet.  A real … cardiovascular extrava…ganza.  Whee – *cough* – eee.” … Read entire article »

Did you know that 100 is considered to be an average IQ? There’s no mathematical measurement for an average intelligence, however, so folks mostly rely on their personal experience for that one. George Carlin (who I assume will be canonized any day now … only a matter of time, really) once said something to the effect of, “You know how stupid the average American is?  Well, that means fifty percent of them are dumber than that … but everyone has the same vote.” I’ve been keeping up with the silly season, watching all the various presidential wanna-be’s dancing their complicated tango.  Trash Obama and the other candidates, but do it in such a way that they, themselves, look statesmanlike … whatever the fuck that means.  ”This is THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, … Read entire article »

Remember that intersection that I’ve ranted about before?  The one with the “Right Turn Only between 7am and 7pm” and all the flags around it? So, okay, I’m out shopping and, coming back from Target, I come around the back of the line waiting for that intersection.  The guy in front is signaling for a right, but the guy behind him is signaling for a left … and the guy behind the guy signaling for a left is a cop car. So, naturally, I pulled into the gas station, the one just on the other side of the road from the stop sign, and get out of my little trick to watch. The car signaling for a right finds a gap in traffic and makes his turn.  The truck signaling for a left … Read entire article »

Hello, world. Let’s see … updates first, I should think:  Dian’s doing well, although we had a nasty surprise when both her Medrol and her anti-viral med ran out.  She took her last pills that morning and by 0100, she was in agony once more.  I fed her Tylenol 3 and, in the morning, ran her into our regular doc.  He said that putting her on another round of Medrol wasn’t a good idea, but he prescribed a good once a day anti-inflammatory, gave her a new prescription for her anti-viral med, and tossed in a pain med that he thought would work well for her. It’s called Nucynta, but that’s just a brand name for tapentadol … which you can read about here. Shipmates, if you happen to suffer from pain, this is the … Read entire article »

My left arm has been feeling pretty good this last week … or I’ve been too damn groggy to notice that it wasn’t feeling good, which more or less amounts to the same thing, right? Anyway, I took the sling off, pulled on the gloves, and gave my heavy bag a workout.  Nothing hard, mind (I’m not quite that stupid), but just a light session, around fifteen minutes.  I started off at about half speed and about half strength, then gradually upped the ante.  I ran through all the basic boxing punches and tossed in some backhands and elbow strikes towards the end. The result? Well, there’s quite a bit of zip gone from the left hand, I’ll tell you that.  If I move at top speed, it hurts; if I hit as hard … Read entire article »

Okay, so here’s the new situation:  I called Dian regular doc yesterday to get a refill on the pain meds, since the original prescription was running out.  Instead of just refilling the pain meds, he also called in a prescription for a Medrol 4 mg Dosepak.  I picked both up this morning when the pharmacy opened and rushed them home to Dian.  She gratefully gulped down a pain pill and the first two pills from the pak. Okay, so the new med is one of those where one starts with six doses the first day, five the second, four the third, and so forth.  Medrol is … well, it’s basically a corticosteroid drug, one used as an anti-inflammatory.  As such, it really isn’t what is commonly prescribed for shingles, y’know? Shipmates, it is a bloody miracle!  Between … Read entire article »

Y’know … I used to work on a buoy tender - a Coast Guard vessel assigned to the maintenance of all floating and stationary aids to navigation – and we’d work buoys, during the season, for three-four days in a row.  We’d work a buoy, then drop it back on site and steam to the next one, and work it.  Over and over again, all day and all night.  A lot of times, we only got an hour of sleep between buoys … often, much less.  We’d basically work until we couldn’t work anymore. Still, with that in my past, I can honestly say that I have never been as tired as I am right this instant.  I’ve transcended exhaustion.  I’ve gone beyond the golden place that lays on the far side of it and have discovered new … Read entire article »

The docs at the emergency room (to which we traveled twice on Saturday, thank you Blue Cross) think Dian has Shingles, a rather icky little malady.  She’s on antivirals and pain meds. I’ve been awake, more of less, for the past sixty or so hours taking care of her and helping her get through the bouts of really bad pain.  Since Shingles is a nerve thing, the pain is quite often described as having a toothache all over.  Her blood pressure is doing odd things due to the pain and her appetite is non-existent, which is adding to the fun since she is diabetic.  Blood pressure goes up, blood sugar goes down, and vertigo enters the picture, nausea as well, which means she doesn’t want to/can’t eat … which keeps the merry-go-round on high. Thank God for … Read entire article »