I find it truly pathetic that after the Tsunami last December the world was quick to react and come down hard on the United States over the donations made to the areas affected. However now that the proverbial shoe is on the other foot and we have millions of displaced, possibly thousands of dead and major cities laid to waste we seem to be going this alone.
I have not heard of ONE single donation or one single volunteer coming from another country to help out our people in their time of need. Funny how that works. I guess perhaps next time I will keep my checkbook closed and instead save that money for when my own people need it more.
8/31/2005
8/30/2005
Pain meds study
Link
This study is interesting in that it says EXACTLY what I have been saying for some time. Maybe I should go into research medicine?
It is interesting to note the number of patients in the study who had previously been on Neurontin, Lamictal, Elavil or the many other anticonvulsants and antidpressants still had pain for long periods of time. Again, I have been on those in the past as part of a pain management routine with little success.
Now by no means am I going to be going skiing or doing some of the things we used to do but I can tell you that since I started taking the Oxy my quality of life improved dramatically over the levels I had been at during other pain management routines, including Kadian (MS-Contin).
While many doctors and even the federal government are gun shy when it comes to Oxycodone it obviously has a place in pain management and as this study and my own experience shows, it works.
If you are having chronic back pain perhaps it is time to discuss this with your doctor. Remember though, no doctor is going to prescribe this for short term use. Oxycodone is a long term use drug, in my case it will be for life as there is no cure for my back problem. If you have pain that while severe is short in duration there are much better meds for you and your doctor would be better able to discuss those with you.
Chronic lower back pain - Opioid therapy with (OxyContin®/Oxygesic® tablets), plus modified approach provides superior rehabilitat
Sydney, Australia - New data, announced today at the 11th IASP World Congress of Pain, in Sydney, Australia, reveals over half (55%) of lower back pain patients treated with the controlled release opioid oxycodone (OxyContin®/Oxygesic®) tablets, in conjunction with a comprehensive rehabilitation programme, reported a 'return to normal' or a 'strong improvement' in their ability to work, compared to only 17% of patients receiving conventional therapy including other pain medications1. Today's paineurope newswire focuses on this exciting new announcement, providing details of the study and its implications for clinical practice.
(PressZoom) - In Germany, multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs form an important part of the rehabilitation of patients with chronic low back pain ( CLBP ), working towards alleviating the pain suffered by the patient and allowing their lives to return to normal or near normal levels.
The study team from Nurenberg, Germany, undertook a controlled, prospective, open 'with and without' study in three rehabilitation centres in Germany to determine how the opioid oxycodone affected the outcome of patients with CLBP.
A total of 443 patients with CLBP were entered in the study
Of these:
154 patients received 'conventional therapy' in line with the normal procedures for the multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs
289 patients received 'modified therapy', which incorporated oxycodone ( mean dose 31.2+/-13.2mg/d ).
Selection criteria:
Age: greater than or equal to 18 years ( mean age 50.3+/-11.2 years ).
Diagnosis of CLBP with a mean daily VAS of greater than or equal to 50mm ( moderate to severe pain ). Pain intensity was comparable between the groups at the beginning of rehabilitation.
"Effective analgesia is of paramount importance in multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs for patients with chronic lower back pain" explained Dr Michael Ueberall, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Nuernberg, Germany. "The effectiveness of the analgesia produced by oxycodone in the modified therapy group is evident from the significant improvements in outcome. In particular, the fact that more than half the patients stated that they did not feel a significant constraint on their physical therapy and that there was a strong improvement or a return to normal in their employability."
All of the patients studied had previously received non-opioid analgesics for the treatment of the CLBP. WHO step II analgesics such as tramadol had been used in 40.3% of the conventional therapy group and 43.6% of the modified therapy group. WHO step III analgesics had been used in 29.9% of the conventional therapy group and 28.4% of the modified therapy group. Adjuvant analgesia such as antidepressants and anticonvulsants had been used in 41.6% and 39.8% of the conventional and modified therapy groups, respectively. However, despite this previous analgesia, more than 50% of all CLBP patients had experienced pain for more than three years.
Disability and quality of life measures were comparable between the conventional and modified therapy groups at the beginning of the study, with two-thirds of patients having been unable to work for 'some months' or 'some years'. More than 80% of patients reported that their pain had caused 'noticeable' to 'total' constraints on their activities, requirements or needs, and almost all of the patients felt that they could only influence their pain 'a little bit', or 'not at all'.
The use of oxycodone in the modified therapy group showed significant improvements in all parameters when compared to the outcomes of the conventional therapy group after the rehabilitation programme. 61% of the modified therapy group stated that the degree of pain reduction was a 'strong reduction' or 'pain free' compared with 34% of the conventional therapy group.
58% of modified therapy patients reported 'no' or 'slight' constraint on physical therapy compared with 25% of the conventional therapy patients.
While both groups showed improvement in constraints to patient activities, requirements or needs, 39.4% of the modified therapy group reported that the constraint was 'nothing at all' compared with only 11.7% of patients in the conventional therapy group ( see figure 4 ). This corresponds to an increase of 38% and 9.1% in the modified and conventional therapy groups, respectively.
67% of patients in the modified therapy group felt that their influence on the pain was now 'strong' or 'total'. This compares with only 8% of the conventional therapy group.
hen questioned about their degree of working ability after the three-week rehabilitation program, 55% of the modified therapy group stated that there was a 'strong improvement' or a 'return to normal' compared with only 17% in the conventional therapy patients.
Of additional note, neither group experienced significant cognitive deficit as a result of their therapy.
Results from the study clearly reveal that effective analgesia is of paramount importance in multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs for patients with CLBP. Without this analgesia, patients are unable to undertake the physiotherapy necessary, expectations of success remain low and outcomes are poor.
The effectiveness of the analgesia produced by oxycodone in the modified therapy group is especially evident from the significant improvements in outcome. Of particular relevance, more than half of the patients stated that they did not feel a significant constraint on their physical therapy and that there was a strong improvement or a return to normal in their employability.
Transferring the relevance of the study to a real world setting, the cost of long-term treatment of CLBP patients is significant, particularly as a poor outcome can result in the extension of the multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. In this study the use of oxycodone resulted in a program extension in only 27.3% of patients, compared with 46.8% of those patients included in the conventional therapy group. Therefore, the use of a modified therapy equates to a cost saving of 41.7%.
"Under-treatment of chronic pain remains a significant global socio-economic burden. To alleviate the suffering experienced by patients, it is vital that multidisciplinary programmes, supplemented by effective opioid therapy, are put into place to address psychological, social, occupational, physical and pharmacological aspects", explained Dr Gerhard Müller-Schwefe, of Neurological Sciences, Nuernberg, Germany. "The results of this study show that effective analgesia with oxycodone plays a significant role in relieving the burden of chronic lower back pain. As such, improved education in the use of opioids is essential to ensure effective management of pain for all patients".
http://www.paineuropenewswire.com (requires registration)
This study is interesting in that it says EXACTLY what I have been saying for some time. Maybe I should go into research medicine?
It is interesting to note the number of patients in the study who had previously been on Neurontin, Lamictal, Elavil or the many other anticonvulsants and antidpressants still had pain for long periods of time. Again, I have been on those in the past as part of a pain management routine with little success.
Now by no means am I going to be going skiing or doing some of the things we used to do but I can tell you that since I started taking the Oxy my quality of life improved dramatically over the levels I had been at during other pain management routines, including Kadian (MS-Contin).
While many doctors and even the federal government are gun shy when it comes to Oxycodone it obviously has a place in pain management and as this study and my own experience shows, it works.
If you are having chronic back pain perhaps it is time to discuss this with your doctor. Remember though, no doctor is going to prescribe this for short term use. Oxycodone is a long term use drug, in my case it will be for life as there is no cure for my back problem. If you have pain that while severe is short in duration there are much better meds for you and your doctor would be better able to discuss those with you.
8/29/2005
Intervention?
I am sure some of you have watched the show Intervention which airs on Sunday nights on A&E.
Last nights episode (watched this morning thanks to the trusty TiVo!) had my blood boiling. Each episode generally has 2 cases presented in the hour, neither person knows they are about to face an intervention and believe they are being filmed for a documentary about addiction. Generally it is an ok show but like I said, last nights pissed me off.
I don't even know where to begin but I guess I could start with the A&E websites own mistruths on the issue...
Now I know of no doctor that would allow someone to have an intrathecal pump for that reason. Rather I suspect that seven surgeries have left this guy in a fair amount of pain and the pump was installed for that reason. Did they even bother to do a reference check on this? I am used to the crappy newspapers and magazines screwing up their details but this is pathetic.
This poor guy was bullied into treatment where they not only got him off his oral pain meds but removed his pump. WHAT? I know he had to agree to all of this but if you saw the episode you would have noted that his sister really did bully him into this.
There is so much I could say about this episode but basically it really seemed to me that if this guy was as he says he was, in pain, then they do not understand the problem of chronic pain. Sad indeed because in the end he paid the price for their stupidity and ignorance.
Perhaps later on when my thoughts are going at a million miles an hour I will say more on this. If you have the chance to see this episode it is worth the hour in my opinion. If you suffer from back problems and/or chronic pain you will understand what I am trying to say here.
All I know is that my family and I have had this conversation a few times. I want to make sure they are all crystal clear on what the extent of my injuries are and what my quality of life is with and without the meds. They have seen me without them, barley functional and VERY cranky as well as with them. While I am not going to be running the marathon or cutting a rug anytime soon they have seen that with my meds I am able to do some things with my kids, I can get around better then I can without them and so on. They have seen that my meds bring a quality of life that otherwise is no longer there.
It's too bad this poor guys family did not see that.
Last nights episode (watched this morning thanks to the trusty TiVo!) had my blood boiling. Each episode generally has 2 cases presented in the hour, neither person knows they are about to face an intervention and believe they are being filmed for a documentary about addiction. Generally it is an ok show but like I said, last nights pissed me off.
I don't even know where to begin but I guess I could start with the A&E websites own mistruths on the issue...
Family and friends decide that an intervention is their only hope of saving two men: Kelly, a man with a 160 IQ who lives on the streets and survives on beer and other people's spare change, and Mark, who's so addicted to painkillers that he's had a morphine pump surgically implanted in his abdomen.
Now I know of no doctor that would allow someone to have an intrathecal pump for that reason. Rather I suspect that seven surgeries have left this guy in a fair amount of pain and the pump was installed for that reason. Did they even bother to do a reference check on this? I am used to the crappy newspapers and magazines screwing up their details but this is pathetic.
This poor guy was bullied into treatment where they not only got him off his oral pain meds but removed his pump. WHAT? I know he had to agree to all of this but if you saw the episode you would have noted that his sister really did bully him into this.
There is so much I could say about this episode but basically it really seemed to me that if this guy was as he says he was, in pain, then they do not understand the problem of chronic pain. Sad indeed because in the end he paid the price for their stupidity and ignorance.
Perhaps later on when my thoughts are going at a million miles an hour I will say more on this. If you have the chance to see this episode it is worth the hour in my opinion. If you suffer from back problems and/or chronic pain you will understand what I am trying to say here.
All I know is that my family and I have had this conversation a few times. I want to make sure they are all crystal clear on what the extent of my injuries are and what my quality of life is with and without the meds. They have seen me without them, barley functional and VERY cranky as well as with them. While I am not going to be running the marathon or cutting a rug anytime soon they have seen that with my meds I am able to do some things with my kids, I can get around better then I can without them and so on. They have seen that my meds bring a quality of life that otherwise is no longer there.
It's too bad this poor guys family did not see that.
8/28/2005
The length
And time of your child's nap is inversely proportional to the amount of sleep you had the night before.
My wife is an angel. I did not get much sleep but she must have gotten less then me. While I did finally fall asleep in the recliner it was short lived as my oldest decided to be his usual rude self and stomp through the house like he owns the place. I swear the boy has no concept of "quiet" he is even loud when he talks and it is a constant source of trouble in school as well. Anyway, I got about another 2 hours of sleep but when I woke my wife had been up with the boys the whole time. She said that she knew I had not gotten much sleep and decided to let me be.
I felt bad because she is the one who has to work and while I am tired I will be in bed again long before she has the chance. I did send her back to bed for several hours before she had to go in to work so hopefully she is rested. As well it is Sunday so they close 2 hours earlier and her closing crew is much stronger tonight.
Regardless of how tired either of us are though our little guy is spent. He was up at the crack of dawn and while we have attempted a nap 3 times now he is just not going to go down for one. Of course he is now Cranky McSpanky and just crotchety as can be. Add to that my oldest ones inability to listen and his attitude (I can see I am going to hate puberty) and I am ready to lock them both in their rooms.
My oldest has copped an attitude this evening and apparently does not understand no. I have been recording movies on TiVo and burning them to DVD for some time. Naturally that leads to a pretty decent size movie selection. His great grandmother decided that every child should have a portable DVD player and sent him one for his birthday a few years back. Now on road trips it is great but in the house, not at all. He and I have had this conversation many times, he is not to touch my movies without asking because he tends to lose my things and he is certainly not to watch his portable in the house.
Well I just caught him sitting in the other room watching "Dodgeball" on his portable player. Arrrrrgh! What the hell is going through his head? Or is it?
Oh well, time to get dinner together and then bath time for the youngest.
My wife is an angel. I did not get much sleep but she must have gotten less then me. While I did finally fall asleep in the recliner it was short lived as my oldest decided to be his usual rude self and stomp through the house like he owns the place. I swear the boy has no concept of "quiet" he is even loud when he talks and it is a constant source of trouble in school as well. Anyway, I got about another 2 hours of sleep but when I woke my wife had been up with the boys the whole time. She said that she knew I had not gotten much sleep and decided to let me be.
I felt bad because she is the one who has to work and while I am tired I will be in bed again long before she has the chance. I did send her back to bed for several hours before she had to go in to work so hopefully she is rested. As well it is Sunday so they close 2 hours earlier and her closing crew is much stronger tonight.
Regardless of how tired either of us are though our little guy is spent. He was up at the crack of dawn and while we have attempted a nap 3 times now he is just not going to go down for one. Of course he is now Cranky McSpanky and just crotchety as can be. Add to that my oldest ones inability to listen and his attitude (I can see I am going to hate puberty) and I am ready to lock them both in their rooms.
My oldest has copped an attitude this evening and apparently does not understand no. I have been recording movies on TiVo and burning them to DVD for some time. Naturally that leads to a pretty decent size movie selection. His great grandmother decided that every child should have a portable DVD player and sent him one for his birthday a few years back. Now on road trips it is great but in the house, not at all. He and I have had this conversation many times, he is not to touch my movies without asking because he tends to lose my things and he is certainly not to watch his portable in the house.
Well I just caught him sitting in the other room watching "Dodgeball" on his portable player. Arrrrrgh! What the hell is going through his head? Or is it?
Oh well, time to get dinner together and then bath time for the youngest.
Wide awake...
I woke up at about 3am and cannot get back to sleep. Sometimes I curse those horrible tricks I learned in the Army, like getting by for days on end with little sleep. Sometimes I wonder if that does not have some effect on me currently. I moved down to the recliner when my wife got home from work in hopes of finding comfort but even after taking my pain meds I am not only still awake but very uncomfortable.
It was a late night for her since she had to train the new manager on their closing procedures. The good news is that this new manager gives them a full compliment, they are no longer running half staffed and her days should return to a somewhat normal routine. Even better is that one other manager lives in town where before my wife was the only one. That made her the most likely candidate for closing shifts. Since she could close and be home within 10 minutes rather then the others who would still have close to an hour drive. I did not like her closing that much but I understand it from a safety perspective as well. It is not their fault a lot of the management lives out of town.
I did the grocery shopping yesterday or at least the second half of it. We really need to start buying the Wednesday and Sunday papers if for nothing else the coupons. Now I am pretty frugal when it comes to groceries only buying what we need save a few "goodies" like the pop-tarts and some cookies but it seems that with the rising fuel costs comes rising grocery bills.
The shopping was not too bad though. The store was fairly empty and they have finally re-arranged the store a bit making the aisles a bit easier to navigate. No one ran into me with their cart this time, no screaming kids yelling "buy me this and buy me that" at least not with me. I was able to get in, grab what we needed and get back out in less then an hour and while it was not painless (nothing ever is now) it was not as bad as previous trips. Of course it was also nice to have a few minutes to myself.
It was a late night for her since she had to train the new manager on their closing procedures. The good news is that this new manager gives them a full compliment, they are no longer running half staffed and her days should return to a somewhat normal routine. Even better is that one other manager lives in town where before my wife was the only one. That made her the most likely candidate for closing shifts. Since she could close and be home within 10 minutes rather then the others who would still have close to an hour drive. I did not like her closing that much but I understand it from a safety perspective as well. It is not their fault a lot of the management lives out of town.
I did the grocery shopping yesterday or at least the second half of it. We really need to start buying the Wednesday and Sunday papers if for nothing else the coupons. Now I am pretty frugal when it comes to groceries only buying what we need save a few "goodies" like the pop-tarts and some cookies but it seems that with the rising fuel costs comes rising grocery bills.
The shopping was not too bad though. The store was fairly empty and they have finally re-arranged the store a bit making the aisles a bit easier to navigate. No one ran into me with their cart this time, no screaming kids yelling "buy me this and buy me that" at least not with me. I was able to get in, grab what we needed and get back out in less then an hour and while it was not painless (nothing ever is now) it was not as bad as previous trips. Of course it was also nice to have a few minutes to myself.
8/27/2005
I hate having a cold
My wife has brought home a cold for all of us to share. My stomach is churning and I keep having cold/hot spells so I spent most of the morning trying to just lye down. It sucks when you already hurt but adding that whole body ache gives it a whole new dimension.
Apparently the youngest is not feeling well either as he hardly touched his lunch or his dinner. He even asked for a hamburger (one of his favorite things) and then refused to eat it. I was not worried until he refused the yogurt. In fact about the only thing he has eaten this afternoon are Spongebob Cheezits and chocolate soy milk.
I am SO looking forward to getting into bed tonight.
Apparently the youngest is not feeling well either as he hardly touched his lunch or his dinner. He even asked for a hamburger (one of his favorite things) and then refused to eat it. I was not worried until he refused the yogurt. In fact about the only thing he has eaten this afternoon are Spongebob Cheezits and chocolate soy milk.
I am SO looking forward to getting into bed tonight.
8/26/2005
One year and counting...
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I started this blog. Tomorrow marks the year of my first post and I have to say that when I started this blog I really did not know where it would take me and I certainly was not thinking about a year later.
I started it hoping to share my own experiences and what I have learned about spinal cord injuries and along the way I have made some great friends. Saija, Kelly, A Military Mom, Stacy, Bridget, Mare and many other wonderful people who have come by to offer me encouragement when I was down as well as a few laughs here and there. Truly without them this blog would not have made it the first year.
Hopefully in this past year something I have posted has been of help to someone, that is a big reason for this blog. I am hoping that perhaps my experiences with spondylolisthesis, spondylolisis and arachnoiditis will help someone else avoid a few of the pitfalls and/or the crackpots I have run in to along the way. Yup, I am going with that old cliché of "if I have helped one person then it has all been worth it!" Of course the therapeutic side of blogging has been a big help to me as well. Having a forum to just go on and on about whatever is on my mind has been a big help, especially since it does not talk back, give smart ass answers or cut you off mid-sentence!
Here is to a second year!
I started it hoping to share my own experiences and what I have learned about spinal cord injuries and along the way I have made some great friends. Saija, Kelly, A Military Mom, Stacy, Bridget, Mare and many other wonderful people who have come by to offer me encouragement when I was down as well as a few laughs here and there. Truly without them this blog would not have made it the first year.
Hopefully in this past year something I have posted has been of help to someone, that is a big reason for this blog. I am hoping that perhaps my experiences with spondylolisthesis, spondylolisis and arachnoiditis will help someone else avoid a few of the pitfalls and/or the crackpots I have run in to along the way. Yup, I am going with that old cliché of "if I have helped one person then it has all been worth it!" Of course the therapeutic side of blogging has been a big help to me as well. Having a forum to just go on and on about whatever is on my mind has been a big help, especially since it does not talk back, give smart ass answers or cut you off mid-sentence!
Here is to a second year!
8/25/2005
Loyalty and respect must be earned...
An uneventful day really other then the fact it is the 4th day of rain. The first full day of school so we are working on adjusting everyone's schedules, mostly my youngest. I was lax over the summer when it came to wakeup and nap times but now I need to be able to get his nap started before 1pm so that we can make it to pick up the oldest on time.
My back has really been bothering me for the last week and change. It really started burning as did my leg and foot a few day after getting the epidural from the crackpots so I have decided it is time for me to find a different doctor to handle that aspect of my pain management. Between the poor service from the staff to the over billing I am just not happy with this company. Top that off when they called to confirm my appointment they had both my first and last name incorrect. It is like this everytime I deal with them so I am done.
I called my insurance company and hot damn they now have a few anesthesiologists in my area I can see. One of them was on my surgical team so I am going to try to get in to see her. The better news is that her office according to the insurance company is in the hospital complex right behind my house. If that is where she will be seeing me then my "drive" to the appointment will be a 5 minute walk. No wandering the parking lot looking for a space, no having to spend an hour to drive there and then back. Heck I can make the appointment for their first one in the morning and be in and out before breakfast.
I know there is not much they can do to relieve the pain from arachnoiditis (no matter how much that crackpot insisted it was curable) but if they can provide me any kind of relief then I am all over it. However before that can happen I have to trust the doctor and staff that will be treating me and quite possible operating on me at some point. With the crackpots that was obviously not going to happen. From their constant over/incorrect billing, insisting on treatments I was not comfortable going through and the confusion on more then one occasion of who I was and what I was there for it was time for me to move on.
I feel that it is the doctor who has to earn my trust and respect, not the other way around. Sure they went to medical school and all the training to be a doctor but that is not enough for me. As well the staff a doctor employs is a direct reflection on the doctor and if they are not making the grade then neither is the doctor.
Yes, I am hard on doctors and their staff but it is my life. Literally. With the procedures they insist upon performing and the medicines they give me a life is in the balance, mine. However when I find a doctor, and believe it or not the crackpots are the first doctor I have ever left, I am loyal to them.
One thing to always remember. When a doctor hangs that diploma on the wall it does not tell you what kind of grades they earned it just says they graduated. Even the guy who got straight C's gets to be called "Doctor", And while the world may be run by "C" students that is not the same thing as having spinal surgery by a "C" student IMHO.
My back has really been bothering me for the last week and change. It really started burning as did my leg and foot a few day after getting the epidural from the crackpots so I have decided it is time for me to find a different doctor to handle that aspect of my pain management. Between the poor service from the staff to the over billing I am just not happy with this company. Top that off when they called to confirm my appointment they had both my first and last name incorrect. It is like this everytime I deal with them so I am done.
I called my insurance company and hot damn they now have a few anesthesiologists in my area I can see. One of them was on my surgical team so I am going to try to get in to see her. The better news is that her office according to the insurance company is in the hospital complex right behind my house. If that is where she will be seeing me then my "drive" to the appointment will be a 5 minute walk. No wandering the parking lot looking for a space, no having to spend an hour to drive there and then back. Heck I can make the appointment for their first one in the morning and be in and out before breakfast.
I know there is not much they can do to relieve the pain from arachnoiditis (no matter how much that crackpot insisted it was curable) but if they can provide me any kind of relief then I am all over it. However before that can happen I have to trust the doctor and staff that will be treating me and quite possible operating on me at some point. With the crackpots that was obviously not going to happen. From their constant over/incorrect billing, insisting on treatments I was not comfortable going through and the confusion on more then one occasion of who I was and what I was there for it was time for me to move on.
I feel that it is the doctor who has to earn my trust and respect, not the other way around. Sure they went to medical school and all the training to be a doctor but that is not enough for me. As well the staff a doctor employs is a direct reflection on the doctor and if they are not making the grade then neither is the doctor.
Yes, I am hard on doctors and their staff but it is my life. Literally. With the procedures they insist upon performing and the medicines they give me a life is in the balance, mine. However when I find a doctor, and believe it or not the crackpots are the first doctor I have ever left, I am loyal to them.
One thing to always remember. When a doctor hangs that diploma on the wall it does not tell you what kind of grades they earned it just says they graduated. Even the guy who got straight C's gets to be called "Doctor", And while the world may be run by "C" students that is not the same thing as having spinal surgery by a "C" student IMHO.
8/24/2005
Blogger, again and again...
I tried to post last night and for several hours all I got was an error from Blogger.
First day of school for the oldest today. Hard to believe he is in Junior High already. Of course they no longer call it Junior High School, it is "middle school" and it's only 2 grades (7-8). Not sure what the big change was about but I suppose someone somewhere was offended by the "Junior" aspect of it because in addition to the name change they have added a "graduation" at the end of 8th grade.
He was fairly excited to get back to school but like most kids it was more about seeing his friends then actually being in school. Sadly his good friend is not returning this year. His parents have opted to send him back to public school as they will be moving out of the district shortly.
I feel bad for his friend as I know what it is like to have to start in a whole new school and then be yanked from that one and start all over AGAIN somewhere else. My fathers being in the military ensured that I would have that happen to me more then once. It happened so often that I went to 3 different High Schools in 3 different states from 10-12th grade. I went to 10th in NY, 11th in Kansas and 12th in Missouri. Each time having to start completely over, I did not even have any siblings in the school with me so when I hit those front doors it was all me. I guess I would not be so "eh" about it had my brother and sister dealt with the same thing but they both got to go to the same High School from start to finish.
My wife just got back from dropping him off and apparently the second the car pulled up and the door opened he was mobbed by a pack of girls. I think I told this story before, the girls LOVE my son and apparently he is the "talk of the town" according to a few of the other moms. Looks like he will have a good year.
First day of school for the oldest today. Hard to believe he is in Junior High already. Of course they no longer call it Junior High School, it is "middle school" and it's only 2 grades (7-8). Not sure what the big change was about but I suppose someone somewhere was offended by the "Junior" aspect of it because in addition to the name change they have added a "graduation" at the end of 8th grade.
He was fairly excited to get back to school but like most kids it was more about seeing his friends then actually being in school. Sadly his good friend is not returning this year. His parents have opted to send him back to public school as they will be moving out of the district shortly.
I feel bad for his friend as I know what it is like to have to start in a whole new school and then be yanked from that one and start all over AGAIN somewhere else. My fathers being in the military ensured that I would have that happen to me more then once. It happened so often that I went to 3 different High Schools in 3 different states from 10-12th grade. I went to 10th in NY, 11th in Kansas and 12th in Missouri. Each time having to start completely over, I did not even have any siblings in the school with me so when I hit those front doors it was all me. I guess I would not be so "eh" about it had my brother and sister dealt with the same thing but they both got to go to the same High School from start to finish.
My wife just got back from dropping him off and apparently the second the car pulled up and the door opened he was mobbed by a pack of girls. I think I told this story before, the girls LOVE my son and apparently he is the "talk of the town" according to a few of the other moms. Looks like he will have a good year.
8/21/2005
Tagged, again.
10 years ago- I was a snot nosed twenty-something fresh out of the Army and a marriage. I was working as a craps and poker dealer for a casino and wondering where I was supposed to go from here.
5 years ago- I was a newlywed, a "freshmen" in college and working on finishing the custody documents of my son from my first marriage.
1 year ago- I was diagnosed with arachnoiditis (exactly 1 year ago today). Not knowing much about it I hit the web and discovered a wealth of information on these things called "blogs" and decided to start one of my own to chronicle my days with arachnoiditis and spondylolisthesis. That was one year ago this week (the 27th).
Yesterday- I sat around the house working on a web site for my sons school. Since he goes to Catholic School I am trying to help defray the cost by doing small projects that they would have otherwise had to pay a company for. My wife began a much earned and needed mini-vacation, 4.5 days off.
5 Snacks I enjoy are Pop-Tarts (Hot Fudge Sundae!), Chocolate Ice Cream, Mini-Hershey bars, Peanut M&M's and Cheese Sticks.
5 Songs I know all the words too- Rambling Man (The Allman Bros Band), Down on the Corner (CCR), Master of Puppets (Metallica), Skin O My Teeth (Megadeath), Bodies (Drowning Pool).
5 Things I would do with $100 Million- Donate to spinal cord and brain injury research, Pay off all the mortgages for my mom& dad, father in law and brother and sister, buy a new car (mini van with DirecTv and TivO!), drive the mini-van across the US visiting historical sites and set up trust funds for my sons and my nephews/nieces.
5 Places I would run away too- I would like to go some place tropical like Saipan, Guam or Thailand. Perhaps China or Japan as well as I have always had a fascination with their cultures.
5 Things I would never wear- A dress, stockings, leotards, high heeled shoes or wonder-bra.
5 Favorite TV shows- The Shield, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, The Simpsons, Family Guy
5 Biggest joys- My first marriage, my first wife leaving me, my son being born, my marriage, my son being born.
5 Favorite toys- My laptop, my Mini-DV camera, my Camera, My TiVo & my DVD burner.
5 People I tag to do this....Bridget, Stacy, Mare, Kelly and A Military Mom.
5 years ago- I was a newlywed, a "freshmen" in college and working on finishing the custody documents of my son from my first marriage.
1 year ago- I was diagnosed with arachnoiditis (exactly 1 year ago today). Not knowing much about it I hit the web and discovered a wealth of information on these things called "blogs" and decided to start one of my own to chronicle my days with arachnoiditis and spondylolisthesis. That was one year ago this week (the 27th).
Yesterday- I sat around the house working on a web site for my sons school. Since he goes to Catholic School I am trying to help defray the cost by doing small projects that they would have otherwise had to pay a company for. My wife began a much earned and needed mini-vacation, 4.5 days off.
5 Snacks I enjoy are Pop-Tarts (Hot Fudge Sundae!), Chocolate Ice Cream, Mini-Hershey bars, Peanut M&M's and Cheese Sticks.
5 Songs I know all the words too- Rambling Man (The Allman Bros Band), Down on the Corner (CCR), Master of Puppets (Metallica), Skin O My Teeth (Megadeath), Bodies (Drowning Pool).
5 Things I would do with $100 Million- Donate to spinal cord and brain injury research, Pay off all the mortgages for my mom& dad, father in law and brother and sister, buy a new car (mini van with DirecTv and TivO!), drive the mini-van across the US visiting historical sites and set up trust funds for my sons and my nephews/nieces.
5 Places I would run away too- I would like to go some place tropical like Saipan, Guam or Thailand. Perhaps China or Japan as well as I have always had a fascination with their cultures.
5 Things I would never wear- A dress, stockings, leotards, high heeled shoes or wonder-bra.
5 Favorite TV shows- The Shield, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, The Simpsons, Family Guy
5 Biggest joys- My first marriage, my first wife leaving me, my son being born, my marriage, my son being born.
5 Favorite toys- My laptop, my Mini-DV camera, my Camera, My TiVo & my DVD burner.
5 People I tag to do this....Bridget, Stacy, Mare, Kelly and A Military Mom.
8/20/2005
New banner
Since I had out all the image software for the website I figured I would make a new banner for this one as well as the old one just did not work with this layout. If you still see the old banner please hit refresh for the new one.
I went for a natural setting, the woods and the mountains which are two of my favorite places. I added a crumpled paper effect to the image, representing my injuries that prevent me from being able to truly enjoy those places as I would like to.
Hope you all like the new banner. I tried to get the size down as well as compress the image because I know not everyone is using a highspeed line so please, if you experience a slow load time please let me know how long it took and what type of connection you have. That will allow me to better compress the image.
I went for a natural setting, the woods and the mountains which are two of my favorite places. I added a crumpled paper effect to the image, representing my injuries that prevent me from being able to truly enjoy those places as I would like to.
Hope you all like the new banner. I tried to get the size down as well as compress the image because I know not everyone is using a highspeed line so please, if you experience a slow load time please let me know how long it took and what type of connection you have. That will allow me to better compress the image.
8/19/2005
Doctors visit
Without a doubt today was the quickest visit I have ever had with any doctor. Granted it was just for refills but I still expected the wait in the lobby and then in the exam room but I guess my 7 or 8 months with this doctor should have taught me that they do not mess around.
My concern was that I had to drive myself as well as bring both the boys with me as my wife had to work. I know, even though she was there for the last appointment and I gave her the card with the date and time on it somehow she had to work with tomorrow being the start of her time off.
Anyway, having to drive that far is a concern for me in the first place but having the boys with me the whole time adds to the excitement. Top that off with trying to keep a 12 year old quiet and a 2 year old from tearing apart everything they touch and I was expecting a nightmare 30-45 minutes. I brought the laptop and some DVD's as usual in hopes of mitigating some of the issues but they have not worked in the past and I was not expecting much today.
I was WAY wrong. My oldest was an angel, almost. He took care of my youngest, kept him calm by playing with the matchbox cars on the way down and once we were in the doctors office he put in an episode of Spongebob and we were golden.
We were not 3 or 4 minutes in the office when the nurse called my name. Since the boys were behaving I figured I would leave them in the lobby, half expecting my youngest to freak out as I left his field of view. Of course Spongebob was on, the house could have been falling down around him and I do not think he would have moved. The nurse led me around the corner to a series of chairs instead of an exam room, took my blood pressure and other vitals, asked me some questions about my back and the pain and then we were done. Perhaps a total of 15 minutes from the time we walked in until we were walking out, not bad. Of course I cannot see the nurse every visit, they make you see the doctor every other at a minimum.
Not a bad jaunt down there and back and my only complaint is that when I stopped to put some gas in the car, ok 2 complaints but that is something else, and for the $15.00 I put in a got a whopping 5.1 gallons. WHEN THE HELL did gas prices jump that high here? Just 2 weeks ago it was about $2.45 and today it was a bit under $3 a gallon.
My other complaint is not that I had to get gas but that I was not told I would need to as had I known I would have gone before my wife went to work. In my town gas theft has been a problem lately, bad enough that it is now prepay inside only which means I have to get out of the car, walk in and then all the way back (why are the pumps SO far from the building?). When I have the boys with me that means I have to get them out as well. If it was just my oldest then no big deal but with my youngest it can be a small pain in the butt, literally. For most people what should be a 5-7 minute task can be double that for me if I have the youngest. Sure it is not a ton of time but the body contortions you have to go through to put a 6' man into the back seat of a Taurus to strap a toddler into a 5 point harness car seat, well you get the picture I'm sure...
It was a quick trip so it all comes out in the wash I guess. I have my refills and we have another night of hellacious storms.
Tomorrow it is back to work on the website.
My concern was that I had to drive myself as well as bring both the boys with me as my wife had to work. I know, even though she was there for the last appointment and I gave her the card with the date and time on it somehow she had to work with tomorrow being the start of her time off.
Anyway, having to drive that far is a concern for me in the first place but having the boys with me the whole time adds to the excitement. Top that off with trying to keep a 12 year old quiet and a 2 year old from tearing apart everything they touch and I was expecting a nightmare 30-45 minutes. I brought the laptop and some DVD's as usual in hopes of mitigating some of the issues but they have not worked in the past and I was not expecting much today.
I was WAY wrong. My oldest was an angel, almost. He took care of my youngest, kept him calm by playing with the matchbox cars on the way down and once we were in the doctors office he put in an episode of Spongebob and we were golden.
We were not 3 or 4 minutes in the office when the nurse called my name. Since the boys were behaving I figured I would leave them in the lobby, half expecting my youngest to freak out as I left his field of view. Of course Spongebob was on, the house could have been falling down around him and I do not think he would have moved. The nurse led me around the corner to a series of chairs instead of an exam room, took my blood pressure and other vitals, asked me some questions about my back and the pain and then we were done. Perhaps a total of 15 minutes from the time we walked in until we were walking out, not bad. Of course I cannot see the nurse every visit, they make you see the doctor every other at a minimum.
Not a bad jaunt down there and back and my only complaint is that when I stopped to put some gas in the car, ok 2 complaints but that is something else, and for the $15.00 I put in a got a whopping 5.1 gallons. WHEN THE HELL did gas prices jump that high here? Just 2 weeks ago it was about $2.45 and today it was a bit under $3 a gallon.
My other complaint is not that I had to get gas but that I was not told I would need to as had I known I would have gone before my wife went to work. In my town gas theft has been a problem lately, bad enough that it is now prepay inside only which means I have to get out of the car, walk in and then all the way back (why are the pumps SO far from the building?). When I have the boys with me that means I have to get them out as well. If it was just my oldest then no big deal but with my youngest it can be a small pain in the butt, literally. For most people what should be a 5-7 minute task can be double that for me if I have the youngest. Sure it is not a ton of time but the body contortions you have to go through to put a 6' man into the back seat of a Taurus to strap a toddler into a 5 point harness car seat, well you get the picture I'm sure...
It was a quick trip so it all comes out in the wash I guess. I have my refills and we have another night of hellacious storms.
Tomorrow it is back to work on the website.
Win one for the little guy
ANGLETON, Texas -- A jury has found pharmaceutical giant Merck liable for the death of a Texas man who took the painkiller Vioxx.
Robert Ernst in his sleep in 2001 at age 59 after taking Vioxx for eight months. Jurors awarded Ernst's widow, Carol, $253.4 million in damages, which is a combination of his lost pay as a Wal-Mart produce manager, mental anguish, loss of companionship and punitive damages.
Jurors rejected Merck's argument that Ernst died of clogged arteries rather than a Vioxx-induced heart attack that led to his fatal arrhythmia. Merck has said there's no link between Vioxx and arrhythmia.
Merck said it plans to appeal, and the company has vowed to fight the more than 4,200 state and federal Vioxx-related lawsuits pending across the country. The case has drawn national attention from pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, consumers and stock analysts as a test of how Merck will fare in other cases.
When the decision was announced, Carol Ernst wept as her attorneys leaped and shouted, "Amen!"
The decision came during the second day of deliberations in the case. The panel of seven men and five women deliberated for seven hours Thursday.
About an hour after they began those deliberations, the panel requested copies of several documents admitted into evidence during the trial. Lawyers delivered those and hundreds more that had been presented since the trial began with opening statements July 14.
Before deliberations began, the judge warned jurors not to allow "bias, prejudice or sympathy" to play a part in their discussions. A civil verdict can be reached if 10 of the 12 jurors agree.
I am glad to see the little guy win one. While I think the award was excessive for single case I am also perplexed that Merck has enough cash reserves to fight 4200 lawsuits.
If even just a small percentage of those cases made it to court I can only imagine the cost of defense per case. Gee, I wonder where the company got those kind of reserves. It certainly would not be from over charging the everyday Joe for basic life needing medications, no not them.
A LONG night with all the storms that blew through here. Just when you thought we might get some piece and quiet another one would roll through shaking the house with it's thunder. The lightning was intense as well, lighting up the entire room each time it flashed.
I finally fell asleep around 2am only to have my youngest up and ready to go at 7am. It's going to be a long day as I have to drive to the doctors office myself and take the boys with me. The plus side is that I am just seeing the nurse to pick up my prescriptions and that is generally a very quick appointment. They just take some vital signs, ask some questions and then kick you out.
I will also be working on a small project for my sons school. I was asked to revamp the website which is not a problem but like all projects I volunteer for this one quickly became more then I was told it would be. I am now developing the web site for the entire school system (Catholic School). I figure it is going to be about 30+/- pages when it is done but since none of them even exist yet that means we have to do it all from scratch. Needless to say that means I will be dedicating a big chunk of this weekend to that so I may miss some posting here. The good news is that doing the site will defray some, if not all, my sons tuition.
I finally fell asleep around 2am only to have my youngest up and ready to go at 7am. It's going to be a long day as I have to drive to the doctors office myself and take the boys with me. The plus side is that I am just seeing the nurse to pick up my prescriptions and that is generally a very quick appointment. They just take some vital signs, ask some questions and then kick you out.
I will also be working on a small project for my sons school. I was asked to revamp the website which is not a problem but like all projects I volunteer for this one quickly became more then I was told it would be. I am now developing the web site for the entire school system (Catholic School). I figure it is going to be about 30+/- pages when it is done but since none of them even exist yet that means we have to do it all from scratch. Needless to say that means I will be dedicating a big chunk of this weekend to that so I may miss some posting here. The good news is that doing the site will defray some, if not all, my sons tuition.
8/17/2005
As promised
These are some of the pictures I took the other night of the boys.
My youngest and myself!
My youngest and his favorite food group, POP-TARTS!
Giving his brother a kiss.
My youngest and myself!
My youngest and his favorite food group, POP-TARTS!
Giving his brother a kiss.
8/16/2005
Cameras and the Social Security Administration...
I figured I did not have enough pictures of the boys, especially my older one so I took out the camera this evening. My plan was to get some un-posed, candid shots of them as they went about their day. The plan lasted about 30 seconds.
As soon as the youngest saw the camera he was all about wanting to push the button while my oldest was all about getting his brother to do stupid stuff every time I tried to take a picture. I don't know how many pictures of my youngest jamming a finger up his nose I deleted but we killed the batteries.
The batteries are charging and I plan on being fast asleep before they finish so I will post the pictures tomorrow.
The breakthrough pain has been intense today and I cannot figure it out. I ended up slapping on two lidoderm patches well before I would put them on just to ease some the pain. It got to be so intense after lunch that oxycodone was not even working. I see the doctor this week for refills so I will ask about upping the dose a bit.
I also finished the Social Security appeal the other day and got that mailed back in time for that case to be heard. I am hoping that this time we get a favorable ruling but in case we do not I have already spoken with an attorney.
With the appeal I included all the changes that have occurred since I originally filed for disability. Of course my reasons for the appeal rather then being the standard "I do not agree with your decision" were all the facts of my disability and what it has and continue to prevent me from doing. Since I do not know what records the doctors are sending when they request them I made sure to include every little thing I could think of, everything that has happened since I filled out the original application. I do not care if it only happened once, it is on that paper.
From what I understand of this portion of the process they have 60 days to make a decision and from there it would require a court case before an administrative law judge. Of course this is just what I know from reading the pile of crap they sent to me, if it is incorrect hopefully someone will let me know.
Of course there is always the other option they give you. Drop your appeal and re-apply for benefits. I had to laugh at that one because that starts the clock all over again. It would mean filling out that ream of paperwork, more visits to the doctor, their shrink and then their surgeon for evaluations. While in retrospect it is actually a simple process the time involved in it all makes me say, "no thanks, I will take my chances with the appeal." Here's hoping we have a favorable ruling as well that I filled out the papers correctly.
As soon as the youngest saw the camera he was all about wanting to push the button while my oldest was all about getting his brother to do stupid stuff every time I tried to take a picture. I don't know how many pictures of my youngest jamming a finger up his nose I deleted but we killed the batteries.
The batteries are charging and I plan on being fast asleep before they finish so I will post the pictures tomorrow.
The breakthrough pain has been intense today and I cannot figure it out. I ended up slapping on two lidoderm patches well before I would put them on just to ease some the pain. It got to be so intense after lunch that oxycodone was not even working. I see the doctor this week for refills so I will ask about upping the dose a bit.
I also finished the Social Security appeal the other day and got that mailed back in time for that case to be heard. I am hoping that this time we get a favorable ruling but in case we do not I have already spoken with an attorney.
With the appeal I included all the changes that have occurred since I originally filed for disability. Of course my reasons for the appeal rather then being the standard "I do not agree with your decision" were all the facts of my disability and what it has and continue to prevent me from doing. Since I do not know what records the doctors are sending when they request them I made sure to include every little thing I could think of, everything that has happened since I filled out the original application. I do not care if it only happened once, it is on that paper.
From what I understand of this portion of the process they have 60 days to make a decision and from there it would require a court case before an administrative law judge. Of course this is just what I know from reading the pile of crap they sent to me, if it is incorrect hopefully someone will let me know.
Of course there is always the other option they give you. Drop your appeal and re-apply for benefits. I had to laugh at that one because that starts the clock all over again. It would mean filling out that ream of paperwork, more visits to the doctor, their shrink and then their surgeon for evaluations. While in retrospect it is actually a simple process the time involved in it all makes me say, "no thanks, I will take my chances with the appeal." Here's hoping we have a favorable ruling as well that I filled out the papers correctly.
8/14/2005
Epidurals revisited...
Here is some information I found while looking up information on epidurals. It is from the Coventry Pain Clinic and I had to share it so others might see how the spinal column relates to the pain you might experience. The points are called dermatomes, which are areas of the skin supplied by nerves originating from a single spinal nerve root.
For me all the pain is centered in the lower part of the back, basically from right above the small of the back and then it runs down my left leg and into the foot. While going down the left leg it crosses over from the back to the front at the knee. This tells us that the damage for me is in the lumbar spine and most likely involved the L3,4 & 5 nerve roots. Of course we have confirmed that by CT Scan and MRI.
The Second image is also from the same source and it shows how the different sections of the lumbar spine affect the legs. You can see where I am talking about how my pain crosses over at the knee and how there is a nerve root that corresponds to that pain.
When an epidural is given the doctor is attempting to place the shot into the epidural space¹. The medication generally contains an anesthetic (lidocaine) to provide some relief from pain as well as an anti-inflammatory such as triamcinolone. Working together they can provide relief for up to three weeks.
Hopefully this helps explain where some of those aches and pains might be originating from for a few of you. Remember that even short term back pain is no laughing matter. It could be a sign of an underlying condition and you should seek medical attention as soon as possible. A quick xray and/or CT Scan can verify any irregularities and if need be you can start a course of treatment. The longer you wait to more likely it is there will be little you can do to correct the problem. Also remember then many back injuries do not require any surgery, they can be effectively treated through stretching and muscle toning exercises.
¹-Here is an image of the epidural space.
Image courtesy of The Mayfield Clinic
For me all the pain is centered in the lower part of the back, basically from right above the small of the back and then it runs down my left leg and into the foot. While going down the left leg it crosses over from the back to the front at the knee. This tells us that the damage for me is in the lumbar spine and most likely involved the L3,4 & 5 nerve roots. Of course we have confirmed that by CT Scan and MRI.
The Second image is also from the same source and it shows how the different sections of the lumbar spine affect the legs. You can see where I am talking about how my pain crosses over at the knee and how there is a nerve root that corresponds to that pain.
When an epidural is given the doctor is attempting to place the shot into the epidural space¹. The medication generally contains an anesthetic (lidocaine) to provide some relief from pain as well as an anti-inflammatory such as triamcinolone. Working together they can provide relief for up to three weeks.
Hopefully this helps explain where some of those aches and pains might be originating from for a few of you. Remember that even short term back pain is no laughing matter. It could be a sign of an underlying condition and you should seek medical attention as soon as possible. A quick xray and/or CT Scan can verify any irregularities and if need be you can start a course of treatment. The longer you wait to more likely it is there will be little you can do to correct the problem. Also remember then many back injuries do not require any surgery, they can be effectively treated through stretching and muscle toning exercises.
¹-Here is an image of the epidural space.
Image courtesy of The Mayfield Clinic
Torn...
My back feels like someone took a baseball bat to it and just had a field day. I am sore from the dead middle of my back all the way down and through the calf muscle of my left leg and my toes feel like ice.
I cannot help but think this is all from that epidural I had the other day. I can still feel the pain from when he was putting it in and that bothers me. I really do not know what to do about the rest of the series on this one. I am going to let them do the MRI as they have the new highspeed machine. After speaking with the tech he said I would only be in this one for 20 minutes compared to the 45 minutes it has taken in the past, and that is a relief. I would do the open MRI as they have one but he said the image quality is not as good.
Whatever they do I guess I really no longer care. I do not know why I am "forced" to see these crackpots as they have nothing really to offer me except more pain. I have YET to leave their office feeling better, not even 2 or 3 days later when you would expect the treatments to really start working. Instead I along with my insurance company continue to line their pockets with cash. I mean it is not like if I stop seeing them my back is going to get worse. It is most likely going to do that no matter what I do.
Perhaps I should be content that I have found another doctor who has been great. He does not promise me that I will get better but he does his level best to make sure that I am in as little pain as possible. He does not stick my with needles that only make more pain and he does not jam me into a huge magnet looking for something we already know exists.
My next appointment with the crackpots is on the 22nd. I have not made up my mind yet as to what I plan to let them do but right now my thoughts are to allow the MRI to confirm that the scar tissue is growing but then telling them they can keep their epidurals.
I cannot help but think this is all from that epidural I had the other day. I can still feel the pain from when he was putting it in and that bothers me. I really do not know what to do about the rest of the series on this one. I am going to let them do the MRI as they have the new highspeed machine. After speaking with the tech he said I would only be in this one for 20 minutes compared to the 45 minutes it has taken in the past, and that is a relief. I would do the open MRI as they have one but he said the image quality is not as good.
Whatever they do I guess I really no longer care. I do not know why I am "forced" to see these crackpots as they have nothing really to offer me except more pain. I have YET to leave their office feeling better, not even 2 or 3 days later when you would expect the treatments to really start working. Instead I along with my insurance company continue to line their pockets with cash. I mean it is not like if I stop seeing them my back is going to get worse. It is most likely going to do that no matter what I do.
Perhaps I should be content that I have found another doctor who has been great. He does not promise me that I will get better but he does his level best to make sure that I am in as little pain as possible. He does not stick my with needles that only make more pain and he does not jam me into a huge magnet looking for something we already know exists.
My next appointment with the crackpots is on the 22nd. I have not made up my mind yet as to what I plan to let them do but right now my thoughts are to allow the MRI to confirm that the scar tissue is growing but then telling them they can keep their epidurals.
8/12/2005
We have had a break in this heat, finally. However it came with 2 inches of rain in about 45 minutes which on a 100+ year old house is not the best thing. We spent 20 minutes running around looking for the leaks in the ceilings. Sad thing is that the main roof needs re-roofing badly but it seems to be holding up well. It is the 2 lower roofs both of which seem to be in good condition that are leaking. Thankfully only during the heaviest rains but right now we can't afford to have them re-done and I am in no shape to do it myself.
You would think that after receiving the epidural I would be getting some relief but that is just not the case. I understand that they do not work instantly and I am not asking for that, but some relief would be nice. Instead I am seeing an increase in symptoms of the left foot and leg, it still feels like someone plugged me in. The headache did finally go away however which is a plus.
Now having had epidurals before I understand the risks involved in having them. One of the side effects if the shot is not done perfectly is a wicked bad headache. Now priority to this epidural I have had about 9 of them (you lose count after a few) and I have never had a headache like the one I had with this one, I could actually taste the shot.
I am not so sure I want to continue with this series of epidurals but I am torn. I mean the arachnoiditis is not going away and the epidurals have never seemed to work before. My concern though is that there are better treatments out there and without crossing this bridge I won't be able to get to those treatments.
You would think that after receiving the epidural I would be getting some relief but that is just not the case. I understand that they do not work instantly and I am not asking for that, but some relief would be nice. Instead I am seeing an increase in symptoms of the left foot and leg, it still feels like someone plugged me in. The headache did finally go away however which is a plus.
Now having had epidurals before I understand the risks involved in having them. One of the side effects if the shot is not done perfectly is a wicked bad headache. Now priority to this epidural I have had about 9 of them (you lose count after a few) and I have never had a headache like the one I had with this one, I could actually taste the shot.
I am not so sure I want to continue with this series of epidurals but I am torn. I mean the arachnoiditis is not going away and the epidurals have never seemed to work before. My concern though is that there are better treatments out there and without crossing this bridge I won't be able to get to those treatments.
The Z monster caught me!
You all know my little guy and his naps. He hates them, will fight them every step of the way and will certainly never just fall asleep on his own let alone on the floor.
We just finished dinner and he and his brother were playing on the floor in front of the table while I was online doing some reading and waiting for his bath time at 6:15. About 6:05 I hear that familiar heavy breathing of a toddler who is sleeping and sure enough...
We just finished dinner and he and his brother were playing on the floor in front of the table while I was online doing some reading and waiting for his bath time at 6:15. About 6:05 I hear that familiar heavy breathing of a toddler who is sleeping and sure enough...
8/11/2005
I still hate IE
Internet Explorer sucks, that is all there is to it. I have done all I can to make this layout look decent and when testing in Opera 8.02, Netscape 8.0.3.3 and Firefox 1.0.6 it looks just as I wanted it too.
I understand that each browser has subtle nuances and that you have to work to get it just right. However I have adjusted all that I can (or will), I have deleted an entire column, scoured the net looking for information on how to fix this, spent an entire afternoon going over it on W3C's website and I still just cannot seem to get it right on IE so I am giving up and leaving it as it is.
So if you arrived here and are viewing this through Microsloths Internet Explorer you are not seeing the site the way you might if you switched to a better browser like Firefox. LOL!
I understand that each browser has subtle nuances and that you have to work to get it just right. However I have adjusted all that I can (or will), I have deleted an entire column, scoured the net looking for information on how to fix this, spent an entire afternoon going over it on W3C's website and I still just cannot seem to get it right on IE so I am giving up and leaving it as it is.
So if you arrived here and are viewing this through Microsloths Internet Explorer you are not seeing the site the way you might if you switched to a better browser like Firefox. LOL!
Technical issues with IE
If you are trying to view this page in IE, of which a little over 30,000 of you have done this year, I apologize for the technical difficulties. I am trying to sort them out but it just is not working. It looks like I am going to have to re-do another template so...back to the drawing board.
Click Me!
Click Me!
Health insurance is a ripoff
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Millions of American families have trouble paying their medical bills or erasing their medical debt, even when they have health insurance, a new analysis reveals.
Almost two out of five adults -- an estimated 77 million people -- had medical bill and debt problems in 2003, analysts at The Commonwealth Fund reported Wednesday.
Uninsured individuals were twice as vulnerable, the study found. But having health insurance did not prevent financial hardship: The majority of adults who had bill problems and medical debt said they were insured at the time their difficulties began.
"What this study really shows is that people who are insured are also sharing medical burdens, and the type of insurance they have isn't adequately covering their out-of-pocket costs, and so their care is not being met," said study author Michelle M. Doty, a senior analyst at The Commonwealth Fund.
"Almost everybody but the really well-off are at risk here," added Carol Pryor, a senior policy analyst at The Access Project in Boston.
The new analysis helps to substantiate results of a widely publicized Harvard bankruptcy study that found many people were insured when they incurred the medical debt that contributed to their financial ruin.
It also raises a difficult question: Why are so many insured folks struggling with medical bills and debt? Doty and her colleagues implicated "gaps" in coverage, including high cost-sharing and a lack of key benefits, such as prescription drug coverage.
As an example, 49 percent of adults with deductibles of at least $500 a year had medical bill and debt woes, while 32 percent of those who had deductibles of less than $500 reported similar difficulties.
"The trend toward higher deductibles in employer plans may have gone too far," Karen Davis, president of The Commonwealth Fund, noted in a statement.
Not so, countered Dan Perrin, executive director of the HSA Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based outfit that advocates the use of health savings accounts (HSAs) to keep health insurance affordable. By switching to a high-deductible health insurance plan, people can cut their monthly premiums and set aside some of the savings to cover their out-of-pocket costs, he added.
"The idea is to take money out of that check that's going to your insurance company, and put it in your account instead," he said.
Using data drawn from a 2003 health insurance survey, Doty and colleagues assessed the extent of Americans' medical bill-paying problems and current or accrued medical debt. In the survey, people were asked whether they had difficulty paying or were unable to pay their bills, whether they had been contacted by a collection agency about owing money for medical bills, and whether they had to change their way of life significantly to pay their medical bills.
"We weren't talking about luxury items you weren't able to purchase because of your medical bills," Doty noted.
Beyond creating financial hardships for families, medical bill and debt problems can cause people to forgo needed care. Even after adjusting for insurance, income, health status and other variables, people with medical bill and debt problems were much more likely to not fill a prescription, not see a doctor or skip recommended tests, treatments or follow-up visits, the study found.
"When people accumulate medical debt, they're embarrassed to go back (to the doctor)," Doty said.
As health plans respond to rising health-care costs by placing limits on coverage and raising patients' cost-sharing, policymakers must consider the plight of the nation's "underinsured," the authors concluded.
"We can no longer just add people (to insurance rolls) and think, 'Well, now they're insured,' without really looking at what they're getting when they are insured," Doty said.
The state of insurance is a sad affair. The companies require outrageous premiums for half hearted coverage and they wonder why people are in debt? Perhaps it is because people have to opt for the coverage they can afford and that is generally not the best policy on the table. They are more worried about being covered should something major happen and not about the visits to the doctor when they are sick, and that is what gets them.
Add to that failing prescription policies and you have disaster on the horizon. My insurance company doubled the patient responsibility on prescriptions leaving me paying several hundred dollars more a month for the same meds I had been getting.I could not longer afford to take all my meds which meant that I was not getting better and that meant more trips to the doctor, a vicious circle.
Insurance companies are obviously in the business to make money but it is ridiculous at the amounts they pocket while they tighten the screws on the little guy. Here is some data from a previous post of mine on how much drug companies are making each year. Remember, this is profit. They have already (unless they are using the Arthtur Anderson Accounting Method) have accounted for R&D, marketing and so on.
Merck is one of the leading drug companies in the world, if not the largest. In 2004 they had a revenues of $22,938,600,000 (that's BILLIONS) with a net income of $5,813,400,000 (again that is billions).
Novartis is another large company who showed huge numbers for 2004. They generated revenues of $28,247,000,000 and had a profit of $5,767,000,000.
PFIZER had revenues of $52,516,000,000 and a net income of $11,361,000,000 which represents an increase in profits over 2003 of almost 191%.
Sure, MSA's are a great tool to counter the deficit created from an insurance policy but the fact remains that many people in America can barley afford the insurance let alone the MSA to help offset the out of pocket expenses. With so much month left at the end of the paycheck the chances of someone finding an extra $100-200 a month to put into an account is unlikely. The odds are more likely that they save that extra money, if they have it, to combat higher fuel bills so they don't freeze to death in bed come January.
Add to all this the rising cost of office visits and you have a recipe for bankruptcy.
8/10/2005
Saying I'm Sorry Can Make A Difference...
Time Link
I am not going to cut and paste as it is a long article but if you get Time Magazine it is in this weeks issue as well as online.
Now when I had my Spondylolisthesis surgery I had my left radial nerve damaged severely when a nurse pierced it with a blood/gas line.
I awoke in ICU with my left arm numb and was told throughout my entire week in the hospital that this was normal. During my follow ups over the next 3 weeks with my surgeon during which time I complained that the numbness was giving way to burning pain they were stumped. It was not until I went to my own physician that I was finally sent to a pain management clinic where I received stellate ganglion blocks to repair the damage. The nerve never fully recovered and almost 2.5 years later I still have some problems.
Now the big deal here was that once the pain management clinic was able to trace the source of the problem not one single person in the surgical team ever said they were sorry and that really pissed me off. I even asked the surgeon right out about the problem and what happened and got nothing but a casual "I am not sure."
Of course I did not sue, I believe we are already an overly litigious society and I was not going to add to the backlog of court cases. I also asked myself what would I get from this other then another headache as these cases can take years to get into the courtroom. But what if the damage had been permanent and instead of nicking the nerve they had severed it? Without the radial nerve functioning you lose your dexterity of you forefinger and thumb making that hand pretty much useless. Would an apology have made the difference between a lawsuit and perhaps a compromise?
I think there is something to this but not quite enough to stop all the lawsuits. Sure some of them will continue to be frivolous, people looking to cash in on their suffering and misfortune, but others will have merit. We have all heard of a case or two of wrong site surgery or worse the amputation of the wrong limb. Clearly these people have a legitimate case and while an apology is not going to stop a lawsuit it will certainly be the right thing to do as well it just may lighten the impact of the lawsuit when it comes.
If you have a few minutes check out the article. It makes some valid points but at the same time has some issues that leave you wondering. In my case that would be the Presidents plan to limit pain and suffering to a $250,000 cap per case. I do not see how you can put a monetary cap on something like that. You just chopped off the wrong foot, hand, leg etc... and are telling me that my pain and suffering is only worth X amount? Sure you can be awarded actual damages as well and there is no cap as it is based on outside factors such as your income and such, but if you are going to put a cap on an award make it punitive damages, not pain and suffering. Punitive damages should be left up to the criminal courts and the precaution attorneys, not the civil court IMHO.
Edited to add- I apologize if this is even less coherent then my normal blather. Since the ESI this morning I have been feeling like crap. For the first time I have a headache from an ESI, my back is feeling like crap and my foot is buzzing so badly I swear I can hear it. I slept for about 5 hours this evening and while I am awake I am half asleep.
I am not going to cut and paste as it is a long article but if you get Time Magazine it is in this weeks issue as well as online.
Now when I had my Spondylolisthesis surgery I had my left radial nerve damaged severely when a nurse pierced it with a blood/gas line.
I awoke in ICU with my left arm numb and was told throughout my entire week in the hospital that this was normal. During my follow ups over the next 3 weeks with my surgeon during which time I complained that the numbness was giving way to burning pain they were stumped. It was not until I went to my own physician that I was finally sent to a pain management clinic where I received stellate ganglion blocks to repair the damage. The nerve never fully recovered and almost 2.5 years later I still have some problems.
Now the big deal here was that once the pain management clinic was able to trace the source of the problem not one single person in the surgical team ever said they were sorry and that really pissed me off. I even asked the surgeon right out about the problem and what happened and got nothing but a casual "I am not sure."
Of course I did not sue, I believe we are already an overly litigious society and I was not going to add to the backlog of court cases. I also asked myself what would I get from this other then another headache as these cases can take years to get into the courtroom. But what if the damage had been permanent and instead of nicking the nerve they had severed it? Without the radial nerve functioning you lose your dexterity of you forefinger and thumb making that hand pretty much useless. Would an apology have made the difference between a lawsuit and perhaps a compromise?
I think there is something to this but not quite enough to stop all the lawsuits. Sure some of them will continue to be frivolous, people looking to cash in on their suffering and misfortune, but others will have merit. We have all heard of a case or two of wrong site surgery or worse the amputation of the wrong limb. Clearly these people have a legitimate case and while an apology is not going to stop a lawsuit it will certainly be the right thing to do as well it just may lighten the impact of the lawsuit when it comes.
If you have a few minutes check out the article. It makes some valid points but at the same time has some issues that leave you wondering. In my case that would be the Presidents plan to limit pain and suffering to a $250,000 cap per case. I do not see how you can put a monetary cap on something like that. You just chopped off the wrong foot, hand, leg etc... and are telling me that my pain and suffering is only worth X amount? Sure you can be awarded actual damages as well and there is no cap as it is based on outside factors such as your income and such, but if you are going to put a cap on an award make it punitive damages, not pain and suffering. Punitive damages should be left up to the criminal courts and the precaution attorneys, not the civil court IMHO.
Edited to add- I apologize if this is even less coherent then my normal blather. Since the ESI this morning I have been feeling like crap. For the first time I have a headache from an ESI, my back is feeling like crap and my foot is buzzing so badly I swear I can hear it. I slept for about 5 hours this evening and while I am awake I am half asleep.
Hi ho, hi ho, to the crackpot doc we go...
Well I dragged my happy butt back to the crackpots. I thought of every conceivable reason to not go, I even told my wife to go back to bed that's how much I dreaded seeing these people.
In my opinion of doctors and having been to many of them through my trials and tribulations these crackpots are the bottom of the barrel. They are barely capable of practicing medicine and instead run solely on a solid business plan of over billing patients and insurance companies. In fact out of all my experiences with this clinic they have done one thing correct and that was referring me to another doctor for the pain meds side of my program.
This morning we drove all the way down to the offices, checked in and waited. My wife took the boys to go get something to eat from the bagel shop down the road as I did not know how long we would be. This clinic has a habit of telling you your coming in for one thing and then running a litany of tests or wanting to jam a needle into your spine. Today was no different and I suspected it before I even left the house.
From the start my visit went south. After having been made to drive all the way down south to see these people as I am checking in the girl at the desk, a new girl, looks at my address and tells me that they have a clinic in my town. Not only do they have a clinic it is in the hospital that is literally 5 doors down from my house. I could have been getting the same treatment from the same doctors and could have hobbled to and from the damn clinic.
The nurse calls my name and leads me through this mega complex they have, no other doctors but there own, with marble floors and walls trimmed in gold. As she is leading me through I can't help but think that perhaps if they spent less money and time on opulent fixtures they could afford staff that know what they are doing. While I am dreaming in la-la land the nurse is asking me about my epidurals, saying "so this is your third epidural in the series, right?" I am stumped and tell her "no, I have not had any with you before" which was funny because at this point I had not even decided to have one at all. This more or less just reinforces my beliefs that this clinic is run in the most slipshod manner possible and their whole goal is to get people in and out so they can bill the insurance. It only got worse when she asked me the same question again as did the second nurse and the doctor. Now I was starting to wonder and made them let me look at my chart to ensure they had mine and not someone else's.
We finally get to the exam room and she takes my vital signs and then tells me "to wait, the doctor will be right in". Thankfully the wait this time was not long and the doctor was congenial. He quickly checked me over and then made the comment of "you're the one who won't take his shots." I was perplexed but figure he read my charts, I have been adamant in my past visits about holding off on epidurals as long as possible. I told the doctor that "Yes, I have refused them in the past but it has come to a point where I can no longer go forward without them." So of course I had to take an epidural this afternoon and of all the epidurals I have ever had, this one was by far the worst. He did not even bother with the lidocaine before the shot and instead he went straight in with the ESI.
The pain was not bad but it is also not something that I would want to do again nor will I let them. After the doctor was finished the wheeled me on the gurney to a recovery area where the rest of the torturees were waiting out there time. After having an epidural you have to wait XX amount of time to check for reactions. If you are asymptomatic then you are cut loose and sent home. Of course while I was lying there waiting to get out the nurse came back to tell me the doctor wants to do an MRI. No remember I said they like to spring crap like this on you but I was ready. I told them that they would have to reschedule the appointment for a week from Monday. With my back killing me and my family waiting downstairs there was no way I was going to have them waiting around for another hour or so while they jammed me into the tube.
Anyway, nothing has changed since my last visit with them. I am still not at all convinced that they are truly a clinic I want to continue seeing though. They have failed to impress me yet and instead I find myself having to double check them to ensure that I am getting the proper care. If that is going to be happening every single time I visit them then I need to find someone else.
In my opinion of doctors and having been to many of them through my trials and tribulations these crackpots are the bottom of the barrel. They are barely capable of practicing medicine and instead run solely on a solid business plan of over billing patients and insurance companies. In fact out of all my experiences with this clinic they have done one thing correct and that was referring me to another doctor for the pain meds side of my program.
This morning we drove all the way down to the offices, checked in and waited. My wife took the boys to go get something to eat from the bagel shop down the road as I did not know how long we would be. This clinic has a habit of telling you your coming in for one thing and then running a litany of tests or wanting to jam a needle into your spine. Today was no different and I suspected it before I even left the house.
From the start my visit went south. After having been made to drive all the way down south to see these people as I am checking in the girl at the desk, a new girl, looks at my address and tells me that they have a clinic in my town. Not only do they have a clinic it is in the hospital that is literally 5 doors down from my house. I could have been getting the same treatment from the same doctors and could have hobbled to and from the damn clinic.
The nurse calls my name and leads me through this mega complex they have, no other doctors but there own, with marble floors and walls trimmed in gold. As she is leading me through I can't help but think that perhaps if they spent less money and time on opulent fixtures they could afford staff that know what they are doing. While I am dreaming in la-la land the nurse is asking me about my epidurals, saying "so this is your third epidural in the series, right?" I am stumped and tell her "no, I have not had any with you before" which was funny because at this point I had not even decided to have one at all. This more or less just reinforces my beliefs that this clinic is run in the most slipshod manner possible and their whole goal is to get people in and out so they can bill the insurance. It only got worse when she asked me the same question again as did the second nurse and the doctor. Now I was starting to wonder and made them let me look at my chart to ensure they had mine and not someone else's.
We finally get to the exam room and she takes my vital signs and then tells me "to wait, the doctor will be right in". Thankfully the wait this time was not long and the doctor was congenial. He quickly checked me over and then made the comment of "you're the one who won't take his shots." I was perplexed but figure he read my charts, I have been adamant in my past visits about holding off on epidurals as long as possible. I told the doctor that "Yes, I have refused them in the past but it has come to a point where I can no longer go forward without them." So of course I had to take an epidural this afternoon and of all the epidurals I have ever had, this one was by far the worst. He did not even bother with the lidocaine before the shot and instead he went straight in with the ESI.
The pain was not bad but it is also not something that I would want to do again nor will I let them. After the doctor was finished the wheeled me on the gurney to a recovery area where the rest of the torturees were waiting out there time. After having an epidural you have to wait XX amount of time to check for reactions. If you are asymptomatic then you are cut loose and sent home. Of course while I was lying there waiting to get out the nurse came back to tell me the doctor wants to do an MRI. No remember I said they like to spring crap like this on you but I was ready. I told them that they would have to reschedule the appointment for a week from Monday. With my back killing me and my family waiting downstairs there was no way I was going to have them waiting around for another hour or so while they jammed me into the tube.
Anyway, nothing has changed since my last visit with them. I am still not at all convinced that they are truly a clinic I want to continue seeing though. They have failed to impress me yet and instead I find myself having to double check them to ensure that I am getting the proper care. If that is going to be happening every single time I visit them then I need to find someone else.
8/09/2005
Thanks Jackass
Thanks to the likes of jackass spammers I have closed my blogger based comments to only registered members of Blogger.
Inderal and itching
I guess I need to talk to my doctor about the Inderal I am taking. Out of the blue I am itching like crazy within minutes of taking the medication and it sucks. It does not seem to be a major side effect and in fact on 2 of the sites I checked it is a rare side effect and while it is not cause for alarm they do suggest talking with the doctor.
I took the max dose of some allergy meds but they are not doing squat. The itching is so bad right now that I actually feel like I was given morphine. If you have never had the morphine itches count your blessings. When I had surgery they injected it straight into my spinal fluid to help alleviate the pain from surgery. When I woke up in ICU I had apparently scratched a good deal of the skin of my legs and arms through the night from the reaction I had to the drugs. I never looked so forward to a shot of benadryl in my life.
I took the max dose of some allergy meds but they are not doing squat. The itching is so bad right now that I actually feel like I was given morphine. If you have never had the morphine itches count your blessings. When I had surgery they injected it straight into my spinal fluid to help alleviate the pain from surgery. When I woke up in ICU I had apparently scratched a good deal of the skin of my legs and arms through the night from the reaction I had to the drugs. I never looked so forward to a shot of benadryl in my life.
8/08/2005
Not much going on today. I tried to paint my oldest's room again but the roller we decided to use is not working like we had hoped. We went with a sponge, real sponge, roller in hopes of adding some depth and texture to the paint but it just did not come off like we were hoping. Now we need to re-think how we are going to do this.
My back has been on fire for the last few days and sleep has been difficult. I made a roll for my knees to prop on in bed and while it works for a bit I find it makes it much more difficult to find a new position with any ease. I wind up kicking it out of the bed and then having to fish for it later on. I just do not know what to do.
I am finding it more and more difficult to find a way to get comfortable but I have not told anyone really. I am sure my wife has figured it out (or she will when she reads this...) by the way I am constantly up and down and in and out of bed at night. I find myself having to get up and walk during the night so that I can get comfortable again. It is not often, usually once or twice a night and I will get up and come all the way down stairs and then back up before lying down. It is not much of a walk but it does ok. If I had my druthers I would drag the recliner upstairs every night to sleep in as it seems to be the one place I can lie down for more then 2 straight hours without adjusting. I simply adjust the foot rest which as my legs adjust so does my spine. Even a small adjustment will relieve some of the tension and pain.
We see the crackpot docs this week so we will see what they have to say.
My back has been on fire for the last few days and sleep has been difficult. I made a roll for my knees to prop on in bed and while it works for a bit I find it makes it much more difficult to find a new position with any ease. I wind up kicking it out of the bed and then having to fish for it later on. I just do not know what to do.
I am finding it more and more difficult to find a way to get comfortable but I have not told anyone really. I am sure my wife has figured it out (or she will when she reads this...) by the way I am constantly up and down and in and out of bed at night. I find myself having to get up and walk during the night so that I can get comfortable again. It is not often, usually once or twice a night and I will get up and come all the way down stairs and then back up before lying down. It is not much of a walk but it does ok. If I had my druthers I would drag the recliner upstairs every night to sleep in as it seems to be the one place I can lie down for more then 2 straight hours without adjusting. I simply adjust the foot rest which as my legs adjust so does my spine. Even a small adjustment will relieve some of the tension and pain.
We see the crackpot docs this week so we will see what they have to say.
8/07/2005
Geez...
Ok, I was tired of the old template so I made this one but now I am having trouble with it in IE. I HATE IE and always have and this is one of the reasons why.
Now I think the layout looks great in Firefox, at least it did the way I had it laid out. However when I viewed it in IE all the columns were overlapped and the margins were FUBAR.
I did this one using CSS for the layout rather then going with tables as I feel it is cleaner and will load faster but if I can't get the bugs out I may just trash it and start from scratch, yet again.
Where is my remote....
Now I think the layout looks great in Firefox, at least it did the way I had it laid out. However when I viewed it in IE all the columns were overlapped and the margins were FUBAR.
I did this one using CSS for the layout rather then going with tables as I feel it is cleaner and will load faster but if I can't get the bugs out I may just trash it and start from scratch, yet again.
Where is my remote....
Give me the remote...
The all too familiar cry of my toddler. The remote has become his best friend, it is his reason to live.
He knows that we hide the remotes as he loves to just sit there and press the buttons on them. He could care less if anyone is actually watching the TV as it mindlessly flips through every channel or if he deletes my favorite show from the TiVO, as long as the batteries hold out on that remote.
This morning mom was "guarding" the remote by her on the couch, you could see him eying it from across the room, those little gears cranking in his head, his fingers itching to hit those buttons and then he made his move.
He sauntered past the couch, straight to the end table where the ever growing stack of magazines sits and gently pushes them over. He knows that when the magazines topple mom is going to get up and straighten them up giving him the chance to make his move, and he does. As predicted mom gets up to straighten so he darts down the tunnel behind the couch and out the other end, finding his precious remote just sitting there, all by its lonesome. Just as he reaches out to grab it mom spots the little hooligan and snatches the prize from his grasp. The dejected look, the pouty pepper lip followed by the cry "remote" as if he was shouting out for his long lost love.
The boy is like Sylvester and the remote is the elusive Tweety Bird. Sometimes I feel bad and will let him play with a calculator or an old remote without batteries but it usually does not last long. When he figures out he has been shanghaied he sets out to find the real remotes and he will leave no cushion unturned in his quest.
I guess I am raising a future Al Bundy.
He knows that we hide the remotes as he loves to just sit there and press the buttons on them. He could care less if anyone is actually watching the TV as it mindlessly flips through every channel or if he deletes my favorite show from the TiVO, as long as the batteries hold out on that remote.
This morning mom was "guarding" the remote by her on the couch, you could see him eying it from across the room, those little gears cranking in his head, his fingers itching to hit those buttons and then he made his move.
He sauntered past the couch, straight to the end table where the ever growing stack of magazines sits and gently pushes them over. He knows that when the magazines topple mom is going to get up and straighten them up giving him the chance to make his move, and he does. As predicted mom gets up to straighten so he darts down the tunnel behind the couch and out the other end, finding his precious remote just sitting there, all by its lonesome. Just as he reaches out to grab it mom spots the little hooligan and snatches the prize from his grasp. The dejected look, the pouty pepper lip followed by the cry "remote" as if he was shouting out for his long lost love.
The boy is like Sylvester and the remote is the elusive Tweety Bird. Sometimes I feel bad and will let him play with a calculator or an old remote without batteries but it usually does not last long. When he figures out he has been shanghaied he sets out to find the real remotes and he will leave no cushion unturned in his quest.
I guess I am raising a future Al Bundy.
8/04/2005
More bad news for those of us with chronic pain...
Everytime something like this happens the DEA and FDA tighten that noose and make it that much more difficult for those of us with legitimate and serious needs to get the medications we need to get on with our daily lives.
Now I am not sure what "high" these people are chasing because in all my time taking opioids for pain I have yet to feel anything other then tired. I mean unless that is what they are looking for in which case you can get that from hitting the gym for an hour or doing some yard work, and then it is even a better "tired" feeling because you accomplished something.
Freaking morons! It is idiots like this that caused the change in procedures that means I have to drive to see the doctor every month rather then every 3 months. Sure it is not that big of a deal, unless you factor in the need to get daycare for our toddler, schedule the appointment around my other sons school day, my wifes need to take the day off work and so forth. Throw all that out the window and it is a piece of pie! I hope they throw every one of them in prison for the maximum sentence. Too bad there is no law against being a freaking moron.
29 Charged in OxyContin Ring at School - Yahoo! News: "MIAMI - School bus drivers, attendants and other co-workers were charged by federal prosecutors Thursday with taking part in an illegal drug ring involving the powerful painkiller OxyContin.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to the indictment, Miami-Dade school employees were among 29 people who used more than 100 forged or fraudulent prescriptions to obtain thousands of tablets of OxyContin from South Florida pharmacies.
No teachers were involved, and there was no evidence of drug sales to children, U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said.
The school workers were recruited to use their health-insurance cards as part of the scheme, prosecutors said.
Of those charged in the grand jury indictment, five are Miami-Dade school bus drivers, 13 are school bus attendants and one is a former school bus driver now driving a city bus. Two school custodians, a cook and a cashier were also charged, along with a Miami doctor and five other people.
Dr. Ronald E. Harris was also charged by state prosecutors last year with illegally selling OxyContin prescriptions to Medicaid recipients.
Miami-Dade school officials had no immediate comment on the 84-count indictment, which came days before classes begin Monday.
Those charged face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each count of possession of OxyContin with inten"
Now I am not sure what "high" these people are chasing because in all my time taking opioids for pain I have yet to feel anything other then tired. I mean unless that is what they are looking for in which case you can get that from hitting the gym for an hour or doing some yard work, and then it is even a better "tired" feeling because you accomplished something.
Freaking morons! It is idiots like this that caused the change in procedures that means I have to drive to see the doctor every month rather then every 3 months. Sure it is not that big of a deal, unless you factor in the need to get daycare for our toddler, schedule the appointment around my other sons school day, my wifes need to take the day off work and so forth. Throw all that out the window and it is a piece of pie! I hope they throw every one of them in prison for the maximum sentence. Too bad there is no law against being a freaking moron.
29 Charged in OxyContin Ring at School - Yahoo! News: "MIAMI - School bus drivers, attendants and other co-workers were charged by federal prosecutors Thursday with taking part in an illegal drug ring involving the powerful painkiller OxyContin.
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According to the indictment, Miami-Dade school employees were among 29 people who used more than 100 forged or fraudulent prescriptions to obtain thousands of tablets of OxyContin from South Florida pharmacies.
No teachers were involved, and there was no evidence of drug sales to children, U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said.
The school workers were recruited to use their health-insurance cards as part of the scheme, prosecutors said.
Of those charged in the grand jury indictment, five are Miami-Dade school bus drivers, 13 are school bus attendants and one is a former school bus driver now driving a city bus. Two school custodians, a cook and a cashier were also charged, along with a Miami doctor and five other people.
Dr. Ronald E. Harris was also charged by state prosecutors last year with illegally selling OxyContin prescriptions to Medicaid recipients.
Miami-Dade school officials had no immediate comment on the 84-count indictment, which came days before classes begin Monday.
Those charged face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each count of possession of OxyContin with inten"
My little guy has decided that rather then sleep he wants to be wide awake (at 12:30am) and watch "tubbies" and read a book. Of course he is also munching on a banana and asking for chicken. I am not sure why he is up right now but he did not eat much yesterday so perhaps hunger woke him up? He had a good dinner but just refused to eat, which was a repeat performance of lunch and breakfast. I know, kids are like that at times but it still does not make it any easier for moms and dads.
The good news is that I, as was mom, wide awake. We had just finished watching a VERY LAME movie called Kings Ransom. Save yourself a few dollars and don't rent this one. It had 2 good laughs in the whole movie and both of them came in the last 5 minutes. It was 200% predictable and they wore out more old gags then I could count. Tomorrow though we watch Million Dollar Baby which I am looking forward too.
Tonight my son has his best friend spending the night. These boys are like peas in a pod during the school year so I am sure the 2 months my son was at his moms house was killing them both. They spent most of the day tucked away upstairs playing the Xbox and PS2 and swiping sodas and snacks from the fridge. Typical boy stuff...
The good news is that I, as was mom, wide awake. We had just finished watching a VERY LAME movie called Kings Ransom. Save yourself a few dollars and don't rent this one. It had 2 good laughs in the whole movie and both of them came in the last 5 minutes. It was 200% predictable and they wore out more old gags then I could count. Tomorrow though we watch Million Dollar Baby which I am looking forward too.
Tonight my son has his best friend spending the night. These boys are like peas in a pod during the school year so I am sure the 2 months my son was at his moms house was killing them both. They spent most of the day tucked away upstairs playing the Xbox and PS2 and swiping sodas and snacks from the fridge. Typical boy stuff...
8/03/2005
So what good is a gate anyway?
Apparently our youngest has become so proficient at climbing the gate between the kitchen and the front room (where the stairs are) that he can get up and over in a few seconds flat. He took off running for the gate and by the time I caught up he was on the stairs. Looks like it is time to find a bigger gate or figure out how to prevent him from getting over this one.
My son saw the surgeon today and it looks like he has another week with the stitches in. Standard nerve tests show that there is some damage to the finger but the doctor was not sure there is much he will be able to do for it right now. He will take another look in a week when the stitches come out.
I broke down and made an appointment with the crackpot doctor I swore I would not see again. Apparently they are the only place in this area that I can get into in the near future. I was amazed that many places have a 60-90 day wait for new patients and that is far too long for me to go as the pain is growing in area and intensity. Right now I really do not care if they do a myelogram or an MRI as long as they do something to figure out what is going on. There has to be a reason for the increase in pain and my guess would be the development of new scar tissue.
The pain has been sucking lately and I find myself spending even more time in the recliner then usual. I know that a small increase in the breakthrough meds will do the trick but until I see the doc and get the prescription changed there is not much I can do. I see the doc for that in 2 weeks so until then it is Lidoderm and taking it easy.
I am also tempted to ask the docs about the intrathecal pump which would allow me a steady dose of meds. What I need to find out though is if there is still a chance for breakthrough pain with the pumps and if there is what is it in relation to a regular oral medication. Right now I have breakthrough 3 times a day on average and that is what we really want to keep in check. I do not mind a constant low level of pain but the random fluctuations suck. If a pump can bring an end to that then I am all over it.
A concern for us this year is paying my sons tuition for school. His education is important to us and while we are waiting for my disability we will have to figure out how to pay for it this year. I talked with the Sister (he goes to Catholic school) in charge of administration and volunteered my time working on some of the projects they would normally have to pay someone to do like redevelopment of the web site. For a small school they have a pretty large site, by my count they have about 35 pages that need to be redone and I am sure that there are more that I do not know about. I am hoping she agrees and I can get started on that by next week.
While my HTML & CSS skills are a bit rusty I do have Macromedia Studio to help me along. I have also been reading and playing around with Flash so I am hoping to do the site and use my new flash skills!
My son saw the surgeon today and it looks like he has another week with the stitches in. Standard nerve tests show that there is some damage to the finger but the doctor was not sure there is much he will be able to do for it right now. He will take another look in a week when the stitches come out.
I broke down and made an appointment with the crackpot doctor I swore I would not see again. Apparently they are the only place in this area that I can get into in the near future. I was amazed that many places have a 60-90 day wait for new patients and that is far too long for me to go as the pain is growing in area and intensity. Right now I really do not care if they do a myelogram or an MRI as long as they do something to figure out what is going on. There has to be a reason for the increase in pain and my guess would be the development of new scar tissue.
The pain has been sucking lately and I find myself spending even more time in the recliner then usual. I know that a small increase in the breakthrough meds will do the trick but until I see the doc and get the prescription changed there is not much I can do. I see the doc for that in 2 weeks so until then it is Lidoderm and taking it easy.
I am also tempted to ask the docs about the intrathecal pump which would allow me a steady dose of meds. What I need to find out though is if there is still a chance for breakthrough pain with the pumps and if there is what is it in relation to a regular oral medication. Right now I have breakthrough 3 times a day on average and that is what we really want to keep in check. I do not mind a constant low level of pain but the random fluctuations suck. If a pump can bring an end to that then I am all over it.
Time for school
A concern for us this year is paying my sons tuition for school. His education is important to us and while we are waiting for my disability we will have to figure out how to pay for it this year. I talked with the Sister (he goes to Catholic school) in charge of administration and volunteered my time working on some of the projects they would normally have to pay someone to do like redevelopment of the web site. For a small school they have a pretty large site, by my count they have about 35 pages that need to be redone and I am sure that there are more that I do not know about. I am hoping she agrees and I can get started on that by next week.
While my HTML & CSS skills are a bit rusty I do have Macromedia Studio to help me along. I have also been reading and playing around with Flash so I am hoping to do the site and use my new flash skills!
8/02/2005
Happy Birthday!
Today was my wife's birthday. Since we did all those projects last month we promised each other that we would not do anything for the birthdays other then the DVD burner we bought. I felt bad not having anything for her, even though we promised but she quickly reminded me that she did not buy anything for me on mine in June.
SOOOOO....
I made some KC Strips which were a treat as we normally do not buy them as they are a bit more then we care to spend. I did some corn on the cob as well as some yellow squash and zucchini in the cast iron skillet with some sweet onions and garlic. I smoked everything on the grill using some hickory chips and it came out kick ass. The steaks were done perfectly and with just a pinch of salt and pepper they were tasty, tasty, tasty! I always cook the corn on the grill as well by soaking it for a few minutes in cold water and then husks and all putting them on the top level of the grill.
Happy Birthday baby, I love you more then you will ever know.
SOOOOO....
I made some KC Strips which were a treat as we normally do not buy them as they are a bit more then we care to spend. I did some corn on the cob as well as some yellow squash and zucchini in the cast iron skillet with some sweet onions and garlic. I smoked everything on the grill using some hickory chips and it came out kick ass. The steaks were done perfectly and with just a pinch of salt and pepper they were tasty, tasty, tasty! I always cook the corn on the grill as well by soaking it for a few minutes in cold water and then husks and all putting them on the top level of the grill.
Happy Birthday baby, I love you more then you will ever know.
8/01/2005
Another small project on the books...
I had my son work on a small project with me this afternoon and rather then allow it to degrade into a yelling (me) fit I decided to try a different approach this time then I had in the past. I wish my dad had tried it this way as it was much easier and less stressful then the old way.
I needed to finish putting the privacy film on the back sliding glass doors but my wife and I did not have much success when we tried nor did my son and I yesterday. In fact yesterday was a disaster ending with my yelling at him. While the chiding was deserved in some respects I got to thinking about my experience with my dad on projects and I realized I had done exactly what I hated having done to me. I felt bad about it and talked to him this morning about it letting him know I was sorry for berating him the way I did. I then got all the tools we needed to complete the project and we did a talkthrough with my explaining to him how and what he would need to do as well we discussed what he should do if X, Y or Z happened. We then did a walkthrough (without the film) so he could feel and see what he would be doing.
I then went and cut the film to the lengths we would need and started putting them on. It took a bit longer then I thought it would but we did get one side of the door done and will do the other tomorrow. The only problem we had was the youngest wanting to help and as mom was sleeping it was difficult to keep him from grabbing the film as we were putting it on or running away with the spray bottle when we needed it most.
While you can tell which panel went on first I must say that for never having done this we did a good job and doing the other door tomorrow should be much easier to do. We also noticed an immediate difference in the temp back here. This room is not well constructed in terms of air flow and with the A/C on 74 the rest of the house would be cold and the backroom would be hot. The sun beating in through those glass doors would turn the room into a green house and no matter what we tried there was just no beating back that heat. Putting the film on the windows was the last hope we really had and it looks like it is going to work.
Rather then go for the heat/cool control we opted for the privacy film. The doors had been covered by this atrocious orange drape which had been left by the previous owners (Bob & Carol Brady apparently) and we hated it. We wanted to put up the shear blue drapes that match the curtains but being shear they allowed the sun right through and made the room even hotter. They also allowed people to see right into the back room and that bothered me even more. Going for the privacy film allowed both the control of the blazing sun and obviously people being able to see right in to the room. They did have another film that offered better heat/cooling control but it had no privacy.
Having my son help me gave us some time to chit chat as well show him that helping dad is not always a pain in the butt. I like having him help me and even with his bum hand this was something he was able to do. He asked if he could give me a hand tomorrow as well so I think he too liked helping out.
I needed to finish putting the privacy film on the back sliding glass doors but my wife and I did not have much success when we tried nor did my son and I yesterday. In fact yesterday was a disaster ending with my yelling at him. While the chiding was deserved in some respects I got to thinking about my experience with my dad on projects and I realized I had done exactly what I hated having done to me. I felt bad about it and talked to him this morning about it letting him know I was sorry for berating him the way I did. I then got all the tools we needed to complete the project and we did a talkthrough with my explaining to him how and what he would need to do as well we discussed what he should do if X, Y or Z happened. We then did a walkthrough (without the film) so he could feel and see what he would be doing.
I then went and cut the film to the lengths we would need and started putting them on. It took a bit longer then I thought it would but we did get one side of the door done and will do the other tomorrow. The only problem we had was the youngest wanting to help and as mom was sleeping it was difficult to keep him from grabbing the film as we were putting it on or running away with the spray bottle when we needed it most.
While you can tell which panel went on first I must say that for never having done this we did a good job and doing the other door tomorrow should be much easier to do. We also noticed an immediate difference in the temp back here. This room is not well constructed in terms of air flow and with the A/C on 74 the rest of the house would be cold and the backroom would be hot. The sun beating in through those glass doors would turn the room into a green house and no matter what we tried there was just no beating back that heat. Putting the film on the windows was the last hope we really had and it looks like it is going to work.
Rather then go for the heat/cool control we opted for the privacy film. The doors had been covered by this atrocious orange drape which had been left by the previous owners (Bob & Carol Brady apparently) and we hated it. We wanted to put up the shear blue drapes that match the curtains but being shear they allowed the sun right through and made the room even hotter. They also allowed people to see right into the back room and that bothered me even more. Going for the privacy film allowed both the control of the blazing sun and obviously people being able to see right in to the room. They did have another film that offered better heat/cooling control but it had no privacy.
Having my son help me gave us some time to chit chat as well show him that helping dad is not always a pain in the butt. I like having him help me and even with his bum hand this was something he was able to do. He asked if he could give me a hand tomorrow as well so I think he too liked helping out.
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