Fercryinoutloud.
I turned 50 last October and it's like I immediately begin to fall apart.
Carpal surgery--Meningioma--Rotten disposition (oops, nevermind, politics)--And now I find my dammed spine wants to add it's two cents to the adventure.
I had an MRI in 2003 that revealed a buldging disc between the C6 and C7 cervical. Uncomfortable but manageable, as long as I "took it easy".
I made it 7 years.
The MRI I had last month was a lesson in NOT "taking it easy". Not only has the disc ruptured and is now poking out on three sides of the vertebra, EVERY cervical disc is ruptured and to top it off I've developed arthritic spurs all over the damm place.
...I can still walk without the lightningbolts shooting down my arms, but not much else.
I had an epidural yesterday. It actually did wonders, but it's a temporary relief. I go for another in a month, and will begin phys therapy as soon as they can "fit me in".
I found out that surgical options have advanced bookoo in the last 7 years as well. They no longer resort to simply fusing the spine.
Here's to hoping the insurance holds out... :eusa_wall:
Speaking of back problems, has anyone heard from moT lately?
Well that sucks. :eusa_think: Can't you just call Obama and have it fixed now? :devil:
I am looking up my warranty expiration date as I type. :sadness:
I wouldn't bother with the warranty, unless you bought extended coverage. I thought, in my indestructible youth, that I was indestructable. The warranty only covers the drive-train... :eusa_doh:
...Oh, and remember the anti-seizure drugs I hated so much? They put me back on them, they're supposedly anti-nerve pain drugs as well...
The wife's lookin' to trade me in, but wants a loaner til she finds the right model.... :disturbed:
Dang..thats not good since it is the only spine you will ever have... My wife is going through the falling apart bit too..jpints, back, etc etc..... I got a mild wake up call awhile ago when I noticed a lot of folks my age were dying off......hmmmm that's not good, I guess I am vulnerable to natures chronological wrath...so I am trying to force myself to take better care of the ol' chassis while it is still in running condition...
That rotten disposition thing seems to be pretty prevalent these days. If you want to see really special cases of that, check out the average airline employee...... :disturbed:
I feel for you amigo. The only thing that really bothers me these days is my hands, from the arthritis and the accumulated damage from swinging wrenches and banging on keyboards all these years. Sometimes I think I keep the Tylenol people in business.
Get that back taken care of ASAP. Let me know when you do, so I can call and harass you now and again... :icon_mrgreen:
The effects of the epidural steroid injections are really settling in, as I expected. Those of you concerned for any chances for me to take up a professional sports pursuit need not be, I've had several of these injections in the last 10 years or so (though all of them in my shoulder), so I blew it on that point a long time ago.
As is usual with the steroids, my back feels almost brand new, and will until the magic sauce wears off (about a month). There is a down side to this. I'm now feeling the urge to get some things done, and knowing me I'll forget that my back's a mess. The doc even said as he pulled the needle out of my spine "We aren't fixing anything. This is a temporary relief."
So, just like my shoulder, I am likely to make things worse in the next month, being impervious to pain. That happened with my shoulder as well, except that I was able to rehabilitate the shoulder with 10 weeks of physical therapy. I'm s'posed to do that with my back, and will actually have the same therapist I had for my shoulder.
Today I'm going to plant 3 maple trees (O Cana-DAH!) and a couple hedge-type bushes (aspen lace or some such foo foo), then I'm going to work on finishing my recording studio, which ain't gonna happen but I can get it closer. Terrin's office is done but for carpet, and I refuse to lay carpet. Once that's in though, I'll have yet another room to remodel after moving her office furniture out of the sittingroom/library.
So thus is my dilemma. Terrin can't follow me around with a switch and I won't remember to "take it easy". There's just too much to do.
Oh, and then Monday comes. I have three backed-up customers who demand my presence this next week. Cha-ching! comes at a price... :sadness:
Yeah, funny how people expect something for their money.
Do try and remeber you are not superman for a bit though. ;)
Maybe you should take up a low impact vocation...like a Librarian...... :icon_lol:
or teach the stettolings how to swing a hammer, wield a paintbrush, or lay carpet......
How's is going Stetto? any relief yet??
Well Nony, I guess the broader answer would be "no". I was, as predicted, pain free...For just about a week. But whether it's lingering effects of the steroid, the effect of the meds (gabapenton, another mind-clouding seizure drug), or the magic hands of my physical therapist Keri Jo, the edge has definitely been taken off...
The "toothache" is ever-present, the right arm can be downright useless at times, and it's still an epic adventure to sneeze, but the lightning bolt shooting pain is less and I've actually slept through the night a few times.
...But I can't seem to get in more than a four hour work day.
There are folks who have it much worse than I, I know this, but we just bought this fercryinoutloud moneypit and I not only have the endless task of remodelling ALL of it and making it watertight, I have to find a way to pay for all of this...
I go back in a week from tomorrow for another big needle in my spine. I can't wait.
...Heh heh heh, but thanks for asking... :icon_lol:
Yeah, wait until parts start to fall off, then it gets real fun. :icon_smile:
Quote from: Onepoint on July 14, 2010, 07:17:36 AM
Yeah, wait until parts start to fall off, then it gets real fun. :icon_smile:
Yeah sure, but you
cheated...
Hey, the early bird gets he worm...if you want a worm. :eusa_think:
maybe he was impatient.... :icon_biggrin:
I bet you guys are as tired of hearing about this stuff as I am having it happen to me.
Another development. The short of it: I've lost almost 60% of the use of my right arm and they aren't sure if I'll get it back.
I've been seeing Keri Jo twice a week since my last post, and had another spinal injection last Thursday. Keri has taken to "targeting" trigger points in my shoulder, as insane a back rub as I've ever had. But the results were really good.
A day after the last massage and a few days before the injection I "noticed" that I couldn't light my cigars with my right hand; the signal went from brain to thumb, but the thumb played dumb. The next day I started dropping things.
There's no numbness or pain, just a refusal of my arm from the elbow down to perform as ordered. Oh, it tries, but it's like a mild palsy.
It doesn't feel worse than the first week, but I'm told by them who know that it is. They also tell me that repairing this kind of nerve damage is a 50/50 proposition...
They are "re-evaluating" me as a candidate for surgery. I don't see the doc again until late August, so it will be at least that long...Almost as long as it took me to type this. I have to get my other fingers out of the way so they quit adding letters to my words. Backspace has become my go-to key...
The good news: They aren't sure if it's not an inflamation issue, but another MRI will be necessary...In late August.
Yes, I'm still trying to work. I've found a new friend for my cigar lighter opposite my right hand...It is doing more and more these days.
I can still play guitar, my left hand does most of the work anyway, but my buddies up here say I need to get my sh!t together and start recording stuff.
Dominoes, man, dominoes...
:eusa_wall:
.
Man, I hate to see you falling apart like this.... hopefully it is just a temporary setback, and you can resume leaping tall buildings again!
Yeah, hope for the best buddy, I guess every day is a blessing, I keep getting reminded of that the hard way too it seems.
Saw the surgeon today. He says that my hand problem is a spinal cord injury and surgery is imperative. Had a new MRI yesterday and it shows a clear degeneration, just in the last three months.
They're going to fuse 3 to 5 of my vertebra in my neck, C4, C5, C6 and "maybe" C7.... We talked for two hours. No good news.
...And me with work to do...
:sadness: Well hell. What, is there a pretty nurse or something that keeps you going back?
You best leave her out of it... :P
My last act before going in for surgery might just be driving that pretty red Blazer that Terrin bought through the dealership's window. They turned a $5000 car into a $6000 car the other day, and the first loan payment was only just made.
Never do business with friends. :icon_evil:
I used to have a friend, and I mean used to as in is not anymore, who told me once "If you can't screw friends, then what good are they?"
Fortunately I never did any business with him and for some reason we had a little falling out over something else that was minor, but has kept me from looking him up for around 20 years now. That always sticks in my mind though.
When are you going in, or do you know yet?
I'll see Hutch (my surgeon) on Tuesday. He'll likely tell me how dire this all is and for all I know will try to get me to admit myself immediately.
One of the problems I'm having now is probably all in my head due to the urgency they're trying to express. My hand is getting worse and I'm feeling "twinges" in my back every time I move.
I'm going to try to get some recording done before all this transpires, I have a lot of music left and haven't had any motivation (a side effect of the med, Gabapenton).
My memory is also sh!t.
They did say that therapy will begin the same day as the surgery, so I don't think I'll be bedridden. I forgot to ask, but I bet, considering the proceedure, that I'll have to wear "the collar" for six weeks and have a Louie Armstrong vocal tone for a while...
QuoteI'm going to try to get some recording done before all this transpires, I have a lot of music left and haven't had any motivation (a side effect of the med, Gabapenton).
My memory is also sh!t.
Hey wait a minute, I bet I have been slipped that drug for a while now, because I talk a lot and have no memory too! I have been gab-apentioned too!
That's my excuse and I'm stickin to it. :icon_razz:
I call it Gabba-Dabba-Doo....
Sept 15. Mark your calender.
He would have made it earlier, but apparently my affinity for cigars is a hinderance. He put me on Chantix and said "See you in two weeks..."
Oh, and they only want to fuse C5 and C6, where there is no visible sign of a disk. I asked him if he was going to put a zipper on my throat for future proceedures...The guy has NO sense of humor.
I'm also going to be tested for umbar nerve damage in my right elbow, of all places. So he might be taking care of an obstruction there as well.
This soup of chemicals I've been ingesting has me very calm and content.
QuoteThis soup of chemicals I've been ingesting has me very calm and content.
Well I am not surprised, with chantrix I bet you are meditating a lot, but I am curious would that be Gregorian or or Tibetan monk chants? :disturbed:
sunday I'm declaring myself tobacco free and going off of chantrix. There have been aishgonvondgoiuahnfdg no side asopi9gj[opaijdoi[gijaoijg effects.
Quote from: zrct02 on September 04, 2010, 12:50:07 AM
sunday I'm declaring myself tobacco free and going off of chantrix. There have been aishgonvondgoiuahnfdg no side asopi9gj[opaijdoi[gijaoijg effects.
Yeah Roger, the dreams are better than the state fair, ain't they? :disturbed: Terrin is quitting with me and seems to be having more fun than me.
Well, here's wishing every success for whatever procedure they embark upon..... Hopefully that will be it for bad-health news for this year......
I'd quit with you, but I didn't have much success in starting in the first place....(http://planetsmilies.net/vomit-smiley-31.gif) (http://planetsmilies.net)
Home. Throat sore. Hospital was an adventure.
Want cigar--Can't have... :icon_cry:
Went OK I take it? Hopefully this will put you back to just feeling old, not old and wore out. ;)
Actually, my back hasn't felt this good in a very long time. Doc said they removed an arthritic spur the size of a thumbnail.
My voice sounds like a cross between Lee Marvin and Vin Diesel on helium. I'm told it will should change back...
Getting out of bed hurts, so I've been advised not to.
The wife has turned Gulag commandant on me. Last week she said I could go back to work on Monday in a supervisory capacity. Now that she's actually seen the scar she says "Maybe Wednesday"... :eusa_wall:
My musician buddies are egging me on to record some songs like this...Guess I have the time. :eek5:
Heheh, I have the album name, "Stetto, plugged"
..get thee well, my friend.......
Ahhh Mannnn. Stetto, hope ya get the better end of this coming to you.
Huh, I just checked the calander and it is Wednesday...I'm still home.
My "assistant" is hauling sugarbeets right now, and the main harvest starts next Friday--Frau Whipsundchains will not allow me left unattended, so my rehabilitation may last longer than I planned.
The throat is mighty swollen this morning, inside and out. Back feels great, unless I cough....
It could be that the good Frau wants to keep you around a bit longer....... :devil:
I've noticed that wives tend to get that way.
There's not a thing that can be done about it.
Best to follow orders.
Hang in there stetto, things will get better. Glad to hear that your back is feeling so much better.
Thanks for the frivolity guys, I need it.
Woke up without a neck this morning--Wasn't in the brochure. Doesn't hurt or anything ( *cough*hydrocodone*cough*), but swallowing is a tactical adventure. No wonder they gave me so many refills on the dope.
My voice is all but gone, so I've decided to go without it for a while.
Reading a Doris Day bio. Hate to dispell anyone's fantazizations, but she weren't no virgin... :P
No way! A hollywood starlet less than pure? I may be scarred for life now. :icon_smile:
So no neck, whats holding on your head? Or did they just mount straight to the shoulder?
I dunno.....I think we are getting the short end of the stick here.... if they keep removing parts, there is less and less of you to be friends with... :sadness: :icon_wink:
Hey Stetto, I have a high torque servo sitting around that you can have if you need something to move your head with. Just make sure Terrin has the frequency pin for the radio, wouldn't want you to get hit..... :disturbed:
That is too funny Jaime. This picture popped into my head of stetto setting in his recliner trying to recoup a little bit, when all of the sudden, bam his head jerks to one side then back to center. Kind of like a nervous twitch, only on steroids. And I can just see puddin' face, setting in her room messing with stetto's transmitter, wondering why pops keeps hollering when she moves this lever....... :devil: :devil: :devil:
Carl
Heheh, we we know what dance Stetto will be good at at parties, everyone will watch him do the robot. :icon_lol:
I think Stetto should write an electronic song, and call it ..... "Servo Stetto". :devil: Hmmm, that could make for one of the famous fubarhill fabuloulsly formed and forever funny fabled ficticious short stories, written by none other than the gang.
(cue theme music from "Leave It To Stetto")
The servo sat alone on the workbench, waiting for something to happen. Stetto's doctor passed by and....
picked it up and went "hmmm this looks interesting" and then he...
Thought ".. I need a theme for that new TV series that I am funding with my pocket change....what to call it? What to call it?? "
"That 70's Stetto ?
The Stettoridge Family?
All in the Stetto Family?
Stetto Five-O ?
Stetto Trek?
Survivor Stetto Style?
Stetto-ing with the Stars?
Americas funniest Stetto?
oooo .....ooooo.....I know!!! Stetto's Anatomy!!"
"Sooooo, the doc exclaimed, these servo things will turn things left or right, or forward and back". "how many of them do we have, nurse wratchet?"...
"Well," she replied, "we have a few itty bitty ones, and one great big one."
The doctor thought about this for a moment.
"Nurse Wratchet, we can rebuild him. We can make him better. We have the technology. And it'll only cost six dollars!"
(cue theme music, "The Six Dollar Stetto".....)
TIH-nih-nih-nih-nih-nih-nih-nih....
Meanwhile, puddinface notices the TIH-nih-nih-nih-nih-nih-nih-nih.... from the Stett, and decides to charge the batteries up, and...
is interupted by the doctor...."If we are going to do this right, we need the $6 Bionic Woman!! What was her name...Lindsay something...... Lindsay....Lindsay...oh what the heck is her name??...........LOHAN!!!! Get me Lindsay Lohan on the phone!! We need her!! "
But the ansthetic hasn't kicked in yet, and when Stetto hears the Lohan remark he commences to choke on his toungue, which...
prompts superwoma... er 6$ woman to do the hind-lick maneuver on the poor choking stetto :disturbed:
Which caused a sudden jolt in stetto blood pressure, triggering the alarms and the automated vacuum (yeah, stettos wards is funny that way) which then interfered with his servo signal causing...
...an automated message to be sent to the nearest Hoover service center. Esmerelda Hoover, who answered the phone, listened to the message and screamed, "Fosdick!! Come here!! We have a......"
".....doctor looking for Lindsay Lohan, and he is willing to put up bail money....however he keeps muttering something about a "sheep highteck serveo" or something..."
meanwhile, the battery fully charged...
...and the TX fully trimmed and programmed, the pre-"flight" uncovered something disturbing; The slow-yet-high-torque landing gear servo was installed in his...
...manly big toe... suddenly those ballet lessons as a kid started to make sense for now he could......
..do touch and goes without leaving the Barcalounger. The unexpected problem with this was.....
the cat with the sharp claws really liked things vigglin, ( like a big toe) so puddinface...
who thought his big toe wasn't properly 'trimmed' took stetto to get a pedicure. The big Vietnamese lady...
grabbed aholt of stetto's...
...transmitter and said, "I wonder what would happen if I moved this switch labeled "FLAP"....." So she did, and....
One arm moved up and down and he made clucking noises, which caused...
...the cook to race in, screaming "Yoo GO now! You eat noooo vegable...Yoo..."
"...no likee my moo shu poodle!!" Just before he went kung fu on Stetto, the big Vietnamese lady noticed the transmitter label that said "DUAL RATE" and......
You bad man, no free runch, but of course......
"DUAL RATE" was the secret switch that summoned Frau Stetto....... :icon_eek:
because stetto was trying to do something so fast
hair was flyin' out of Stetto's ...
...guitar...that D@mn cat had been using it for a scratching post again!!!! Dazed and confused from all the meds, Stetto...
thought he was reaching for the transmitter stick, but instead grabbed...
...the closest microphone and started belting out...
some opera, imitating Signor Foghorni, the great Hibernian basso-tenore robusto-profondo voice...
....and began with his signature tune "Home, home on the range........."
All the dogs..............
Started to howl, but abruptly quit to chase a guy on a stick horse who was ...
...not Stetto, rather a misinformed superfan of Stetto's named Nony, who thought...
I sure hope I dont get a splinter right there, because...
...I'm ridin' tight, and forgot to wear my...
....silk BVD's, which prevents chafing of my....
YCCCHHH!!! What a terrible dream!!! Stetto awoke with a start.......
But there was another noise in the otherwise quiet and dark bedroom...a faint clink clinking...strang, yet somewhat familiar...........Wait a minute!! That is the sound of Frazz undoing his belt......
beltzenhaagen beer which he happily hands one to stetto and a cigar also, but alas....
his beltless pants drop to the floor, exposing......
exposing Nony over in the corner writing fantasy novels...
.......naw.....it couldn't be......his flashlight wasn't that bright.....the groogy drug induced semi coma dream continued.........can I change channels to something less revolting?........how about fitness.....yeah...theres LeAnn Rimes....yeah....that's more like it..........mmmmmmm..........
(http://gossip.whyfame.com/files/2010/09/leann_rimes_shape.jpg)
so after seeing the cover of the magazine, stetto grabs the transmitter so he can operate the servo that runs his...
....eyeballs. But, since the large Vietnamese woman (who still secretly had a crush on Stetto and was not at all happy at his ogling Nony...err...ummm.....LeAnn) had flipped the Dual Rate switch, the result was....
..Frau Stetto rushes into the room, sees Stetto, the magazine cover, the pants on the floor, and the knife dripping with blood....."AHAAAA!" She exclaims "Zer haf been und.........."
underneath zee cah, sniffing fumes with uncle Nony, but nony, looking at the magazine cover, got something stuck in the exhaust pipe, so stetto tried to get it out but slipped...
...into a self-induced coma, just to get away from that stick pony ridin'...
...Honcho, who, after a slight disagreement with a certain hay feeder, discovered Puddin' Face's magic transmitter lying forgotten (because everyone else was ogling Nony) on a table. With an evil smile, Honcho....
twitched the throttle lever to and fro, which made...
Jetmex come to life.......
because he put his thong on backwards and...
...horrifed because he had made such a basic thong mistake, turned to Frazz (The Thong Master) for guidance. Frazz looked down and discovered that....
the reversed thong chafing caused a bad attitude and made Jetmex surely, so then he wondered if that what was Bin ladens problem, but then realized he probably didn't wear any under wear his thoughts drifted to... (Frazz has deep thoughts when encountering thong under wear :disturbed:)...
making sure the servo batteries were 110% charged up, so that the extra super duper strong high torque servo that was hooked up to stetto's right leg would kick a certain hay guy and jet guy right in the... :icon_razz:
....tailpipe, causing the afterburner to light off, which, aggravated by the too-tight reversed Frazzthong, caused....
Jetmex's super (snuck out the back door one night) duper continental jet engine fired grill to spontaneously light, so Jetmex threw a couple of....
...tender, juicy, succulent, supple...
....zucchinis on the grill, which was not exactly what Frazz was expecting. Puzzled, he.....
went snooping in stetto's garden, looking for...
His gnome, who has been having...
...secret fundraising dinners with foriegn...
Foreigner, that 70's rock and roll band, and stetto has been secretly saving up moolah so he can buy a synthesizer, so he can...
...finally contact those pesky UFO's that have been getting into the corn. Stetto thought they were deer, but after the ship (drawn to the Great White North by Stetto's unique synthesizer rendition of "Inna Gada Davida") landed, they turned out to be....
...brown, having...
a digital drum set and guitar hero to go with that unique synth, and found an outdoor plugin underneath stetto's bedroom window, so they...
...launched into a Romulan version of "La Bamba", with Stetto on lead kazoo (his arm's messed up, remember?) and the alien captain (who looked remarkably like Nony) playing a.....
polka version of la bamba on his accordian, and the two sounds together made a...
kzinti go berserk, its tail swishing to and fro. The kzinti said ...
You have summoned me, the great kzinti, to come to earth and listen to that earth shattering noise, especially that one who holdeth the instrument with the white and black pushbuttons and the pleated cloth. That instrument does not make me purr at all, it makes me...
...pull out the iludium Q38 explosive space modulator and.....
run a quick scan for asteroids in sector Jetmex, and lo and behold it found...
...it's way to Cabelas, where Buzzardbeak was voraciously...
...devouring turkey jerky while sawing the barrel off his nuclear scoped phased array solar photon powered.....
daisy bb gun, because after he got his scope all ghetto'd, he ran outta moolah, so he...
...went to Honcho's place, hoping to borrow some atomic BB's and a...........
water pistol so he could...
squirt stetto when he wasnt lookin, and zrct shot him right in the ...
...rotunda, which was really tender from all the.....
"Whoa whatta dream" stetto shouted as he woke up from another nightmarish wet dre.... er dream. Now either that squirtgun was real or I might have...
...eaten a few too many of those really good mushrooms that Mrs. Stetto was growing in that damp spot by the garage. That probably caused......
the other guys not to help me an ole jetmex to do this story, so....
...feeling neglected, Frazz and Jetmex saddled up the horses and headed west with Hopalong Cassidy, Buffalo Bill, Jesse James and 300 unidentified Indians. As they rode off.....
Frazz and Jetmex were smokin ceegars, and after about 5 min of puffing, the indians got all riled up.... seems jetmex's smoke signal puffs...
said something to the effect of " Bringin' the injuns, get the pit ready for a b-b-que", which they interpreted as....
*We interrupt this story for a brief newsflash: THE TEXAS RANGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!* Sorry, New York....... :icon_mrgreen: We now return you to the Fubar saga currently in progress:
....yet another violation of the Stetto-Indian treaty of 1903, which stated that anyone making smoke signals in the vicinity of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota had to.....
roll up enough ceegar type objects for all, and stetto, being a musician, knew exactly how to roll all of them objects, because...