Stabbed In The Neck

I've been stabbed in the neck!  I had an appointment at the hospital first thing this morning for a cortisone injection into a nerve root in my neck.  You know, that pesky nerve problem that has been bugging me for several months now?  Truthfully, my leg and my lower back have caused me more pain and discomfort lately than my neck - unless I cough hard or sneeze - but I will be going back to work in a week and the more I use my upper body the more that bulging disk will bother me.  Hopefully it won't bother me anymore, though.  I still suspect I'll need surgery eventually but I have high hopes that it can be put off for a long time.   I have a little log to fill out and in two weeks I need to call the doctor's office back and then it will be determined whether this shot was a success or not.  Here's hopin' for the best!

I know I haven't been posting much recently and what I have posted is mostly medical updates.  That's really all I have going on.  My days are spent gazing at the computer moving from one mindless web page to the next.  I only leave the house to see a doctor.  I have no life right now.  I do expect things to improve rather quickly though, and getting back to work should help force the issue.

Physical Therapy

I just got back from my first physical therapy appointment for my leg.  The most my knee bends is now 40 degrees, less than halfway to sitting upright in a chair.  I have two different exercise sets to do every day, 3 times daily, plus ice packs and compression since there is still swelling.  I really hope the exercises that I have to do will work well and the sooner the better.  I have 4 more appointments over the next 4 weeks to make that happen.  I was also there to get a few pointers on my neck, but that is secondary.  I think my neck is past the point where any physical therapy will help and after reading my notes and testing my neck the therapist seemed to agree.

On a side note, when we were leaving I saw somebody from my work that I usually see and talk to every day, so of course I forgot his name!  Sorry Ted!  I felt pretty stupid but that seems to be how my brain works.  I'll remember his face forever but without the day to day interaction I forget names.  I'll have to remember everybody's name very soon!  I hope I don't offend anyone if I forget.

Pic Dump 22

Again it is time for me to regurgitate all those funny and strange pics that have caught my eye recently.  You know the drill - click the pic for original size, some may be NSFW and much more after the break.  Enjoy!

Topical... and just too true.

Brent Favre And His Thing

Okay, I've been leaving this Brent Favre/penis pics thing alone since I first heard of this at least 2 months ago -- but this was just too funny.  Here is Taiwan's CGI view of the story:


via

Like I said, this story has been out for a few months now.  But the recent Deadspin.com NSFW video finally brought it to the front page.  You can see that video here.

Old-Computer Don't-Know-What-I'm-Doing Blues

Well, where the hell have I been?  I haven't posted this little since I started this thing.  I'll try to do better in the future.  Lately though, being on the computer has been a bit of a pain ever since a windows 'update' last week.  I had to try to get a handle on things on this machine that I know so little about.

About 2 months ago, before I broke my leg, our computer was almost plum full so I bought a 1 Terabyte external hard drive (for less than 100 bucks - not a bad deal).  Since then I have been moving over video and music files.  Since this latest episode I am now finding some bad music files here and there.   Sometimes a whole cd, sometimes just a song or two.  A developing bad spot on my hard drive perhaps?  So I have been trying to finish my transfer of music with more urgency.  I will have to address missing tracks and missing albums later.  I have about 50 more bands to transfer before I'm finally done.  I have a lot of music.

Itunes is a whole other animal.  Those bad files have led to many (!)'s that need to be fixed.  I only have about half of my audio files in itunes, about nine thousand tracks.  I may just start over, reset my ipod, and just add as needed and not be so anal/perfectionist/OCD about it like I usually am.  Itunes is secondary, though, I need to see to my computers health.  I don't think I'm that bad off but our computer is quite old and we're admittedly overdue for an upgrade.

My mom's boyfriend, Dan, knows alot about computers and has offered to help.  I think I will take him up on that soon.  First I want to transfer as much as I can over to the new hard drive.  A very tedious task.  I just don't want him here to help and we spend too much time doing stuff I could or should have done first.  But soon, mom, soon I will call and we can make some plans for a Saturday and get this done.

Keep your fingers crossed - I'd be lost without a computer.  Take my TV but I need my computer!

Neck Update

Yesterday was the appointment with the neurosurgeon.  He doesn't want to perform surgery on my neck until my leg is much more healed so it looks like I will be returning to work on November 3.  In the meantime, pending insurance approval, I am scheduled to get a cortisone injection into that area of my neck to hopefully relieve the pressure on that nerve.  That should happen in about 2 weeks.  Also, I have physical therapy scheduled to start late next week.  I don't recall these exact dates but I'm close.  If the cortisone injection works well then I may be able to avoid surgery, at least in the short term.

All I can do is go day by day and keep knocking these appointments out of the way until I'm better.  There's so much I wanted to do outside this time of year.  Oh well, what really needs to be done will get done, all else are things that would be nice yet are ultimately unnecessary.  I'll clean it up in the spring.

Short post today, I guess I don't really feel like writing. 

Leg-6 weeks on / Neck-TBA

After reading Tuesday's post my sister Kelly actually called me instead of commenting because she was concerned about me.  Thank you, Kel, but really I'm not sad or depressed.  I'm sorry if I come across that way.  I'm just reporting on my life, and right now it's mostly medical stuff.

I got a call Wednesday from my doctor's office.  They got the results of the MRI back and wanted to set up an appointment with a neurosurgeon, so we did.  That's coming up early next week.

Yesterday I got x-rays and saw the orthopaedist in the morning.  Everything seems to be going as planned.  It has been 6 weeks since the surgery and my knee is still swollen and won't bend much.  I am supposed to start putting a little weight on it, more and more over the next few weeks.  Soon I will start physical therapy to help me bend it.  This doctor is looking at November 3 as my return to work.  Part time for a couple weeks then full time.  Of course this may change...

Yesterday afternoon I saw my primary doctor and we discussed many things.  Most important of all was the MRI results and what may happen.  I have a moderate to severe bulging disc that is pinching off my nerve.  He was so sure that the neurosurgeon would recommend surgery that he went ahead and did the pre-op exam.  Next is finding out how healed my leg has to be for me to get neck surgery (c6/c7).   If it needs to be done then the idea is to get it done sooner so it will be less time off work overall. 

I'll know much more next week but it looks more like when than if  I'll have another surgery now.

October Is Full Of Weekends

Here's something I wasn't aware of - Half the month is the weekend!  I know it doesn't change anything but it's neat to know!

Thanks to Bits and Pieces!