January 31, 2007

One Two Punch

Not content with the neck injury that pretty much bothers me all the time, my body has decided to change things up on me. I was feeling pretty ill last night (upset stomach, a little warm). So, I went to bed early, and slept like a demon. I figured the stomach thing was just a reaction to the percocet.

I woke up this morning with the same symptoms, but also my legs were incredibly weak. This is the first (and major sign to me) that something's not right. Whenever I get sick, my knees and thighs get really weak and I can barely stand up. So, I decided to check my temperature. I've got about a 2 degree fever going right now. The sad thing is I'm debating going to work. I should just suck it up, realize I'm going to have to let the good folks at work down, call in and go to bed. Such a problem when my good sense wars with my sense of duty.

January 30, 2007

I Really Think So

As part of my self-improvement plans for 2007, I'm going to attempt to learn something new. (Besides the knitting, you punks.) I've bought a Japanese book that incorporates the grammar (i.e., how to speak it) and all the written characters as well. This is a good thing because most of the books I saw just had the Japanese transliterated into Roman script (romanji in Japanese). I'm a bit of a completionist ... so having it all in one place makes me happy. Later on after things calm down in my life, I'll start applying myself. And I think I want to get a practice book to learn all the characters. I've seen them at Borders, and I think they're relatively cheap.

Getting Ready

In preparation for the upcoming slice-a-malation, I'm stocking up on books and other things to do to keep me entertained. I'll also add these over to the side bar -- but I since I'm out of ideas to write about these days, I'll give you an update here ... and you all can also tell me anything you know about them ... or give me some recommendations. Here they are:

  • The Witching Hour -- Ann Rice
  • Imajica -- Clive Barker
  • The Historian -- Elizabeth Kostova

Eventually, I'll get around to reading Skipping Toward Gamorrah or whatever the title of that book that Neil let me eons ago is. I've also got a game for the Game Boy Advance -- Final Fantasy V.

In the TV department, I'll be watching The X-Files Seasons 2-4. They were on sale at Best Buy the other week for $19.99 a piece. I guess I'll have to remember to rest in the upcoming weeks when I'm recuperating.

Homo Fantasia

Because I'm simply not gay enough:

I decided to teach myself how to knit this weekend. I got this kit from the local chain craft store that has a nice manual and all the fixins (needles, row counter, gauge chart and a whole bunch of other things I have no clue what they're used for, but they're pointy and will probably come in handy if I ever get stabby.) So far, I've mastered the basic knit stitch. The purl stitch is giving me fits though. I'll eventually get it. And then it will be on to world domination. Until then, I'll continue knitting plain coasters for my amusement.

January 25, 2007

Red Pills, Blue Pills

I finally broke down and called one of my army of doctors Monday morning. One vicodin doesn't really provide any pain relief any more, and two just knocks me out. I wanted to see if there was a solution that would involve say 1.5 vicodins.

Happy Doctor Lady provided me with 90 percocets as a solution. They work. I have many percocets now. I am happy.

And no, I'm not going to sell them on the street for profit.

Elevator

I am not a morning person. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Roxy, however, loves the morning. She's hyper and happy. She thinks it's time to play and she's ready to romp. Most mornings I watch her with affection and she makes me smile. This morning I was tired and really not in the mood for it. Especially when I was walking her. She wasn't doing anything wrong, per se -- I just wasn't in the mood to deal with a ballfull of doggie energy.

We got back on the elevator on the lower level of the parking garage after her walk. She was pacing all around the elevator sniffing things, and just checking the environment out. I told her to "sit," and she ignored me. So I raised my voice and told her to "sit" again.

At this point, the door opened on the second level of parking garage. Roxy is standing next to me safely penned against the wall. Looking at me and wagging her tail. Still not sitting. The blonde swamp donkey outside the elevator takes one look at us, lets out a sigh like really stuck up people do when they realize they're going to have to interact with the 'public,' makes a mean face at me and Roxy and says rather rudely "I'll just have to take the stairs." And stomps off.

I just stood there rather stunned. We were in the back corner of the elevator and there was plenty of room. Roxy was on a short leash so there was no way she could have interacted with this woman. And the only reason why I raised my voice at Roxy was because she was being fidgety and I wasn't in the mood for it. Yet she still chose to treat us like pariahs. And like we had completely imposed on her.

January 12, 2007

Nobody Likes A Know-It-All

I usually reserve this tag for political entries, but it's just so appropriate for the story I'm going to relate.

I was talking with a co-worker a few days about about the new-and-improved diagnosis, and pointed out that PT never had a chance of working given the nature of my injury. Said co-worker immediately chimed in with "I completely disagree." My first instinct was to blurt out, "Since when did you get your MD?" but I was polite and explained the situation again. It became obvious to me that I was getting nowhere and completely failed to convince her, so I cut the conversation short.

Now, I need to point here that this co-worker believes exclusively in homeopathy -- even the pets unfortunate enough to reside with her go to homeopathic vets. I also recall a conversation that ended with "allopaths (that's her word for medical doctors) don't cure their patients." Color me skepitical, but if you have a disk injury that is beyond the body's ability to repair itself, it stands to reason that no amout of herbs, or massage, or any other alternative medicine will be effective in treating it. But there's no reasoning with this woman. She's so convinced that her brand of medicine can fix anything, she's trying to get me to go to her PT specialist, because, you know, "he can like fix anything."

So much for the opinion of one of DC's top ranked neurosurgeons. I suppose I should call him and let him know that my coworker thinks all the work he does is crap and he should immediately disband his practice.

Shout Out!

Neil knows me really well. For Christmas this year he got me the boxed set of The Big O. It's an anime series that I've been eyeing for some time and heard really good things about. I haven't started watching it yet -- I'm kind of saving it to have something to do when I'm laid up in bed with nothing to do in mid-February.

So, belated, here's a great big shout out and thank you to Neil.

(And he's even coming over this evening to keep me and the animals company! It's great to have a neighbor like him.)

What's Old Is New Again

Back in the day I was a big fan of The X Files. I'd tune in religiously every Friday, or Sunday depending on the season. Then Season 8 rolled around and things just fell apart. I lost interest, and only watched the show when I remembered to do so, or when I knew a main story line episode was going to air.

The other day the Major was channel surfing and ended on an episode of the X Files. I got sucked in and realized, hey this is pretty good. The next time we were out at Best Buy I made a point to pick up Season 1 on DVD. I have not been disappointed and it made me remember why I liked this show so much.

I'm just about done with Season 1, so soon I will be buying more DVDs -- just in time for the surgery.

Review: Casino Royale

The Major and I went to the movies on Sunday, and we saw Casino Royale. Yeah, I know we're a little bit late to the party on this, but better late than never.

In general, I really enjoyed this movie. Daniel Craig has a real screen presence and is really enjoyable to watch. He really brought a physicality to the role that the other Bond's didn't bring in the past. I'm not entirely convinced he's believeable as Bond, but I think he will settle quite nicely into the role. Maybe I missed a few things about Bond in the past, but in this movie he came off as the bad boy of MI6, a rogue, foolishly headstrong and apt to make really stupid mistakes. Also, the movie had some really excellent cinematography.

But -- there's always a but -- there are some serious flaws with this movie. The first 20 minute chase scene is entirely too long, and almost pointless. It could have been pared down and still had the same effect. The plot seemed very thin in this movie, and at points I was wondering "why are the characters doing this and why is it relevant?" The last 20-30 minutes seemed like they were tacked on and really ruined the momentum and energy of the movie for me.

I found it hard to care for or relate to many of the characters. The only one I felt was truly developed and intriguing was the guy with scar on his eye. (And why do Bond films always have a bad guy with an obvious physical trait that lets you know they're the bad guy?) Finally in the realm of character-dom, what was up with the Bond Girls? They weren't particulary attractive: the love interest was at best bland, the bad guy's ho looked exactly like one, and the only one that seemed interesting bit the dust early on.

All in all, this is a good film. What would make it a great film is some tweaking and fine tuning of the plot, and pacing. This movie is like a really good recipe you know, but somehow you make an error in the porportions of the ingredients. They all taste really good separately, but when you put them together in the wrong way they don't quite fuse together like you'd hoped.

January 11, 2007

Ginsu

My sense of direction is a very falliable thing. And Tuesday morning was no exception. I headed out the door to go to the surgeon's office for the initial consultation, and I thought to myself it can't be that hard to locate something just off the beltway. Well, I still got a little lost, but finally I made it there.

The consultation with the surgeon was the first time in this whole affair that I felt like someone was taking time to really explain everything to me. I had a very good general idea before what was going on, but the surgeon actually took the time to point things out on the MRI and show me what 'normal' looks like and what I actually have.

The interesting thing about this whole appointment was that he used the same MRI that I had taken back in September, i.e.: the MRI that the nexorsists responisble for PT and the injection used to diagnose me. Super Surgeon showed me the herniation, and I thought to myself wow, that's really cool now that I can see what this thing that has been causing me all this pain looks like. However, the surgeon kept pointing things out and showed me that the herniated disk is also completely collapsed! And to round the show and tell portion of the consult out, he pointed to the bone spurs that have grown and are crushing my nerves (i.e.: the STENOSIS that is clearly indicated on the write up the MRI, and that the original nexorcists didn't feel necessary to point out.)

Obviously, it seems that because of this there is no way that PT or the injections could have done anything but provide temporary relief of my symptoms. What a way to waste 4 months of my time and money.

The last thing the surgeon and I spoke about was the actual surgical procedure. He's going to remove the herniation and disk, clear out the bone spurs. Then he's going to take a bone graft from my hip and place it in the newly empty spot in my spine. This should then fuse to the vertebrae above and below. Within 2 weeks I should be back to my normal self. All I have to do now is make it to February 8th.

Oh, and one last thing: the surgeon's office manager is a total crotch.

January 2, 2007

Necxorsism Update

I haven’t posted about my trip to the necxorsist, because I wanted to enjoy my holidays and not think about what he told me. Now that the holidays are over and I’m back to the daily grind, I figure it’s a good time to blog about my busted neck.

My latest trip to the Orthopedic Surgeon yielded some interesting results. The doctor I spoke with is the lead doctor on my case. We spoke for a while about my general health and pain levels. The net-result is that I have to have surgery. I’ve tried all the non-invasive procedures and they work at the short-term level, but my pain levels will return to the baseline level within days. This fact is why the doctor is recommending surgery.

In most cases, the disk herniation will resolve by itself, and your body will absorb it right back into itself. However, in a statistically relevant number of cases, the herniation needs to be removed physically because it never gets absorbed. I’m in the latter category.

I have a follow-up with another of my doctors tomorrow, and I want to get a second opinion from him. I may even speak with my family doctor before I make any final decisions. I have however, been referred to 2 surgeons that can do the operation.
It appears my adventures with the necxorsism are going to continue for a while longer.

Happy New Year!

It was a very quiet New Year chez our place. We stayed in and watched movies with a friend of ours. I saw a movie from Spain that I really liked – Cachorro. It reminded me of how much I like foreign films. They’re not always the feel-good drek that pervades American cinema. Although this movie did have a feel-good ending, it wasn’t overly sentimental or cheesy or campy. Just right for the overall tone of the movie.

New Year’s Day was a laze around the house fest until we both decided to get up and terrorize Boston Market and the Verizon store. I’m now the envy of the town with my new phone … the NV. Most likely, no one gives a care that I have a new phone but it makes me happy. It’s got a ton of features my last phone didn’t have, and the one that I think will come in the most handy is the mobile IM feature. That and the NV opens to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. I can definitely say, I’m completely over the push a button 3 to 10 times to get the character you want. And that “spell-matching” software never seemed to spell the word I wanted.

Finally, I have no plans to make any resolutions this year. I am going to quit smoking sometime this year. But other than that I’m going to enjoy life and take things one day at a time.
Wishing you all a very healthy, happy and peace-filled 2007.

Homecoming

The holidays were very good to the Major and I. We got to spend some good quality time with my family. The nephew was as hyper as ever, and it was really cool to see him playing with Roxy. The two of them chased each other around my parents’ backyard non-stop. I think the best part of it was Zachary was ‘playing’ football with the dog (i.e., “you’re the other team Roxy and you have to keep me from the end zone”) and the dog was just happy to chase the human that had her ball.

My niece is a very cute 6-month old. And she cries whenever I go anywhere near her. Most people would be a little bothered by this. I think it’s a cool superpower to have. And it’ll be great story to tell her later when she’s old enough to understand.

The rest of the trip was spent sitting around watching TV, eating really good food, sitting around the dining room table talking and working on a puzzle – a puzzle with a lot of pieces that were exactly the same color. I think I got more out of seeing my relatives than the Major did, but as always he got along famously with them.

We came home a lot lighter in the present department, but a lot richer for having spent a relaxing time with family. I think this was one of the best Christmases I’ve ever had.