Updates, Medical And Otherwise

Finally, eh?  Where the hell have I been?  Well, I have no excuses other than I just got a slow start to the new year.  With so little evening daylight we have been going to bed at about 8:00 anyway, throw in holiday strife, a few medical appointments and general cold weather laziness and all of a sudden we are more than a week into 2011!

I hope everyone celebrated the new year safely.  I had fun, mostly.  Drama happened that I didn't understand and took personally at the time, but I'm happy to say I later found out I was just collateral damage and not the target!  Still, I will pay better attention and not trust some friends word so much in the future maybe.  After all, by our age we're supposed to be the professionals on amateur night* (among other times) by now.  That's all I'll say about that here.

Medically speaking, my knee bend has only increased to 96 degrees, but I found out that I can just fit on the recumbent exercise bike we have downstairs so I will hook up the TV down there this weekend and try to spend some time on the bike to try to loosen up my knee some more.  Maybe a little bit every day after work.  Also, I had another MRI on Tuesday morning followed thereafter by an appointment with the neurosurgeon (plenty of waiting room time in between, of course).  The disc herniation is actually fractionally smaller than my last MRI about 3 months ago and the nerve medication has been working satisfactorily so far.  Enough so that even though the surgeon said that the bulging is enough that he would operate if I said so, but as long as the medication can stave off the pain my body still may re-absorb it.  Now, let me pause and consider this.

This first started acting up on me last June or so, giving me enough pain in my arm to not be able to lift it above my head long enough to tape or paint a bathroom and interfering with my work, progressing to limit me in all aspects of my life.  I tried drugs, muscle relaxers and pain meds, and had an appointment scheduled with my doctor about it when one day I came home from work and horrifically broke my leg.  Ignoring the leg for this moment, one doctor tried a mild steroid that was less than ineffective, then I progressed through a few different appointments, an MRI, and my first consults with the neurosurgeon.  Now, back then they wouldn't do anything because of my recently badly broken leg.  No surgery on my neck while I can't walk and no strong steroids while my bone is still healing, so I suffered with this nerve pain in my neck and arm while trying to concentrate on healing my more serious injury.  In early December I had another appointment where I said Help Me a little stronger and was given this pain medication that took two weeks to get started but has finally given me some relief.

The point is, had I not broken my leg I would certainly have had surgery on my neck several months ago.  Now, being forced to wait, I have some hope that the bulge may be reabsorbed some more, maybe enough to not cause me any symptoms and no surgery will be required.  That would be my 'best case' scenario, otherwise surgery is just delayed.  I'll determine that in the next couple of months.


*New Year's Eve.

How To Confuse An Idiot

I loved this, you should look!

via

I'm off to a slow start to the new year.  I'll take the time to post something more substantial soon.

Happy 2011!

Last year on New Year's Eve I was sick as a dog and had to stay home as my wife and our friends went out and had their fun.  I still have to listen to stories about that night.  It seems like I missed everything, but not this year!   I will be accompanying my wife and about 5 or 6 other friends out tonight.

From what I hear, we will be generally staying on this side of town.  Some places within walking distance, though I think there is a plan to cart my disabled ass around somewhat in the designated driver's car.  It's in the upper 40's and much of the snow is melting right now, but sometime tonight the temps are supposed to plummet into the 20's or teens so we will have to dress for it.  I've obviously done none of the planning, I just hope to have fun and roll with whatever happens.  I do plan on drinking, but I want to be in good shape tomorrow so I can fully enjoy the Rose Bowl!

However you celebrate tonight, be safe and have fun!  Happy New Year!

92 Degrees

I didn't post it, but last week I bent my knee 90 degrees for the first time in four months.  At last night's physical therapy appointment I had only improved 2 degrees, to 92.  I have had weeks where I gain a lot then weeks like this where I gain little.  At least it keeps improving!  I have an appointment with the orthopaedist coming up soon, I plan on taking my camera to get pictures of that day's x-rays so I can finally show you what it looks like.  In fact, I have a few medical appointments this month.  Not the best time to be me, yet.

Christmas Stress

Christmas is usually stressful for me, this one more than usual.  I think I did okay, got the nieces and nephews decent presents and all.  But yesterday's visit at my mom's was cut short, just a hello/goodbye with my brother and a short while with my Sis and her kids.  The problem was that they were planning on staying the night so they took plenty of time to get to Mom's - and rightly so for their purposes.  We, however, were planning on coming home that night.  About an 80 mile drive for us, but we all drove similar distances.  Except for us, as we were leaving Madison a familiar problem came up.


The driver's side windshield wiper does not work when I drive highway speeds.  Actually the arm doesn't provide enough downward pressure so the wiper has a chance.  It must actually lift off the surface.  The last time this was a problem was last Christmas making the same drive, otherwise my truck is only driven in town.  I remember now stopping at an open service station and buying a new wiper blade last year (didn't help).  The roads Saturday were wet, so all that salty water spray leaves a film on the windshield that I can't get wiped off while driving on the highway.  I took extra care, even going slower than normal (i.e. the actual speed limit), to keep from having a vehicle driving in front of me for too long.  When we arrived my windshield looked almost whitewashed, but the wiper cleaned it easily while sitting in their driveway.  And yes, I had washer fluid but that was downright dangerous to spray on on the highway when the wiper couldn't wipe it away.



What all this meant was that I wanted to get back on the road before the dark of night to more safely navigate our way home.  Our stay was a semi-respectable 3 and a half hours, but unfortunately not the same timeline as my sib's.  There were, of course, other factors in making this particular day a little extra stressful, including the embarrassment of making a mess of crackers whilst about to eat chili and having to clean up more snow before we left.  Also, it's not lost on me how negative my Christmas Pic Dump was, either.  What I chose to post was somehow representative of how I really feel about holidays, I'm sure.  I even had a cigarette yesterday.  I can only take so much holiday before the cracks start to show.  I try to be good about it, really I do...

Anyway, I hope my brother, sister, sister in law, mom, mom's bf Dan, and both of my nieces and both of my nephews had a great time with their big slumber party last night.  It's just not my style, I like shorter visits and my own bed.  Perhaps things would be different if we did the procreating thing, too.  Perhaps not.

Pic Dump 24: Christmas

Just a short Pic Dump for the holidays.  I hope everyone enjoys it in whatever way that makes them happy.  Thank you for visiting, rules are the same:  More after the break, some may be nsfw and click the pic to see original size.  Enjoy!

Many thanks to the fine sites in 'My Other Favorites' on the right!

The Auntie Carols

It's too late to request a song from the Auntie Carols, but their video library has hidden gems!  I'm sorry to be late to this party, I think I may save this link for next year!

Driving, 4 Months Later

I'm driving again!  When we got home tonight I hobbled around my truck cleaning off two snowfall's worth of snow.  I just drove around the block, pausing to reset my radio stations, then back home.  But I was comfortable driving.  I could probably have driven a week or two ago but I wasn't comfortable yet, meaning I didn't trust my leg to react.  On the right is some random pic off the internet.  I picked it because, except for the main thoroughfares, the good roads here look like that.  The side roads, while plowed, are still very much snow covered, or packed.  That includes our street.  The snow on the side of the road, though, is about 2 feet less than what we have here.  I think we had 15.7" so far this month, not including last night's blanket of snow.  Which reminds me to thank my wife for shoveling the whole driveway and sidewalks again all by herself.  Thanks, hon! 

Anyway, after 4 months of not driving I get to drive in this.  I'll do just fine, it just stinks is all.

Christmas Presents And More

It has been a while since I sat down and tried to type something meaningful, so instead I will just type my usual drivel.

I have been doing a lot of shopping online this month.  Much of it for Christmas presents and some for my wife's birthday in January, and I couldn't resist getting a few things for myself.  First off, from my wife I got a new floor desk mat for under my chair in front of the computer.  The old one was cracked and getting worse all the time, now my chair rolls freely.  For my wife I got a new camera to replace the dinosaur digital camera we had.  It worked well but 12.2 megapixels is better than the 3.1 we were working with.  So, Christmas is already done with us.

I got all my presents online this year, a first.  I think I did pretty good with the kids (the most important presents I buy), except for maybe one.  I'm worried now that he's still too young for it.  My problem is that I buy what I would have wanted when I was a kid - and I like spoiling my nieces and nephews a bit.  I can't mention what the presents are yet, of course.  Though I saw some last night, the kids will get their presents at my mom's next weekend.  Other presents heavily confused my dad and brother at my dad's get-together last night but the other half is being sent to them and I will send them an email today with some links that will explain the Mangrates further.  For myself I got Sean Yseult's book and The Big Four DVD, both heavy metal stuff.

Though I haven't made a lot of progress with my knee bend, I hope to actually try driving this week.  I'm trying to plan it around weather a bit.  I'll let you know here when I'm (auto)mobile again!  As for regular mobility, I have not used the walker in a couple days and have been making myself get used to the cane around the house.  I just ordered an ice grip for the cane to prevent disasters when I use it out and about.  It's kind of hard to believe, but it has been almost 4 months since I busted up my leg.  I had hoped recovery would go faster, but the reality is that I really effed up my leg and still face months of physical therapy.  Godammit.  I hate not ending on an up note, re-watch this.

Jingle Balls

In keeping with the holiday theme of postings lately, Udo Dirkschneider and some staff from EMP, a large European merchandise seller, got together for versions of Jingle Bells and Balls To The Wall in the video below.  A merry heavy metal christmas to you!