Im bitchy, I moan, I groan.....anyway.
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Remind me not to piss off Connie OR Barbe!
Just had a minute remaining on my lunch and wanted to check in...in regards to teh cervical epidural, yes Connie -it is pretty damn painful even if they tell you it won't be. Mine took about 4 hours to ease up, so I hope you've found some relief by now.
studying for finals this weekend, so if I don't stop in, ya'll have a good weekend!
XOXOXO
Navy
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I took 5 falls the winter after BC, fell off the treadmill, slipped on acorns (twice), slipped onto wet leaves on the driveway and head-on hit a curb while riding a scooter and landed head first, broke my glasses, damaged my pride and herniated 3 disks in my neck. It took the medical profession a year to determine what was causing all the pain, actually, it's still being diagnosed. But a year after the falling I had C5-6 dissectomy and fusion. Pain returned and was shooting down my arm. FINALLY I got in to see an ortho Back specialist after being shuffled around to other sorts of doctors, waisting my time and money. Dr. R is really nice, listened to my story and sent me for yet another MRI/cervical. Said the C4-5 which was of concern when the Neuro did surg Jan. 09 was bulging into the central canal space. And osteo-arthritis encroaching on the nerve roots. Cervical epidural ordered and taken yesterday.
I would rather have given birth again. HIDEOUS INJECTION, HURTS TERRIBLY, STILL.
Wonder where some gals are, Traci, Sessna, Annette so many used to post in here and aren't. Missing you ladies.
Connie
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Hoping everyone has a H A P P Y E A S T E R !!!
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Oh Lord, I'll remember that word.....Cervical Epidural............the needle to make sure you never get...................So if I go to an Ortho, and he uses that word I ............RUN.........not WaLK out of his office..........................
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I've had TWO of them! When I went back for the second one, they said holy shit you must really be hurting. NO ONE comes back for a second one!!!
Funnily enough, I thought it was something to do with your cervix Connie...hehehehehhehehehe
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Ok, barbe.............don't feel bad, so did I.......duh, and I've had Kyphoplasty for a broken vertabrae, wouldn't you think I would know something about the spine.............I kept thinking why would you get an epidural in your cervix.
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Opposite ends of the spine really, eh?
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Cervical yea................part of the spine
Cervix.........no,not part of the spine, its part of the reporductive system
So I was really not thinking.
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I wasn't sure where a cervical epidural was either- if you get cervical cancer- its not in your neck eh?
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I never realized. whatl do they call it when one word means two things? Just doesn't usually happen with anatomy. Guess I should say either my NECK or Cervical Spine. I had a pain in the neck. Then the shot was a pain in the neck. Ican't imagine going back for a second one. HOLY Cow, Barbe, was there an accident you were in? What happened that changed you from a dancing, gun totin wild woman into one with all the health issues? I just know it sucks to be in pain all the time. It really can blow up ones life.Taking eons of time, money and patience. OY, the money.
Connie
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Ducky, the neck cervical is at the top, the reproductive cervix is at the bottom! Just for clarification...
Connie, I was beaten by my father....he broke my body, but not my soul.
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I'm so sorry you had to go through that Barbe, but I sure hope he got his. If not yet, then I guess they'll be seeing him in Hell.
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Hey Barbe........I was associating the word epidural and cerviical with the cerviix as I read it, you know cercix, epidural, birth, baby.................
I do know where the cervical spine is, had too damn many xrays of the spine to talk about, so I kow where all that it............the confusion came with the epidural part..........I didn't realize when they inject you in the spinal area that it is also called an epidural.....we usually refer to it as "getting a cortizone shot in the spine......never heard the word epidural used in that regard.........thank heavens I never had that done......now I did have Kyphaplasty done for a broken vertabrae, but never any type of injection...
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Can I moan a bit? No posting on this thread in a long time. An acquaintance of mine - I do not call her friend - met at Senior Center, played bridge several times and she is not a very good player, although she claims to have played 25 years. I am not judging her playing, but she does not even know how to count the # of points in her hand without asking questions...
There was this day bus trip and I passed out info on it. She wanted to go, but since it does not get back till after dark and she does not drive at night, I (hind site is great) offered to pick her up and take her back home since she lives near me.
This story gets a bit long, so forgiveness is asked: Day before she phones and says she has a discharge and does not know if she can sit that long on the bus. I phone the organizer and there is no wait list, so if she goes or not, she gets no refund. So, agree to phone her when I leave to pick her up in morning but she wants to call me at 5 am (bus leaves at 7 am) to let me know if she is going or not. Ok to that.
Day of trip at 5 am she phones me and says she has infected gums with pus but will use Rx mouthwash and really wants to go on the trip. I pick her up and on way to the bus pick up place she gets on my case about cancer (dumb me told her I had BC) and what I should do to cure myself. It is a short trip and I basically ignore her and mention lack of traffic, clouds in sky may mean rain, other general (hopefully non confrontational topics).
BTW, by the way,this was a trip to Atlantic City to gamble with free slot play money - half the cost of the trip. She has never gotten free slot play and asks over and over how it works. I send her to the organizer person, who later tells me she just could not get it. I had pre arranged to sit with a friend and she seemed upset with that. Turns out she got a single seat as the bus was not totally full.
Arrive at casino and she hangs on my arm - tell her NO NO - I do not want a shadow and IF I am free at 3:00, I will meet her at the food court escalator -- big signs, hard to miss. How will she know it is 3:00 since she has no watch or cell phone??? Oy... I tell her to ask someone. Then on way up to the casino, she goes on and on how to play max credits, like she has never been to a casino. Then tells me is is originally from New jersey and often went to casinos.... Asks again can she hang with me, and I try to say NO as nice as I can. She finally "gets it".
3:00 comes and goes and goes and I am truly busy and is it not my choice to meet or not?? Bu ride back is uneventful. Ride back to her place - why this, why that, was this one drunk, was that one married to this one, etc, etc. I flat out told her I do not meddle in other's business and she should ask them next time. Dropped her at the door, went home and poured a drink and sat on my balcony - alone.
Thanks for listening.
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Very Annoying Day! Hope the wine helped!
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GramE that'll learn ya for trying to be nice!
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Yes, ruth & barbe, no good deed goes UN punished...
Good thing I have caller ID to avoid future encounters.
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Hi, everybody. Lately, everything sucks. I've been saving them up...
First: as everybody knows from Blue's thread, my mom died about 10 weeks ago. She and I had some ... um, some difficulties, let's say. I always felt like she never accepted that I was an adult woman, and not that cute little girl she had raised. I never accepted that she was an individual person with strengths and weaknesses -- she was always my mom. We lived those roles for most of the past 35 years. I was planning for dh and I to visit her and Dad more often (it's a 1200-mile drive). I was even thinking about counseling to try to work through my frustrations, so Mom and I could get along better in the years she had left. And then one day she fell on her icy sidewalk on the way out to her car, hit her head, and died. Since then, I've been dealing with beneficiary forms and income tax filing on behalf of deceased taxpayers, and powers-of-attorney and long-distance geriatric care (for my dad, who has Alzheimer's and is in a nursing home).
Then on April 27, two and a half dozen tornadoes ripped through my state. Our house was spared by a 5-mile buffer, but our boat -- our vacation home -- is still buried under tons of wreckage from the covered dock which was completely destroyed. We still haven't been able to get near the boat to survey the damage, because the risk of falling debris is too great. A salvage crew is supposed to be there toward the end of this week to start cutting and lifting the steel beams and freeing the boats. That's when we'll find out whether the damage is repairable or the boat is a total loss. That's what insurance is for, right?
After all, what's a boat, when thousands of people have lost their homes and businesses and loved ones? We drove through Tuscaloosa last week and crossed the path of the tornado that raged through that city. The devastation is unbelievable there, but perhaps worse in some of the smaller towns that haven't received all the publicity. It's just too hard to find a place in my mind for those images...
We were driving through northern AL because my M.I.L. had called the night before to tell us she was having surgery on Mother's Day to have her kidney removed. "WTF???", my dh and I screamed in unison. She'd been in the hospital for almost a week, after complaining of severe weakness and lack of appetite. Every day she assured us she was going to be going home the next day. The doctors were puzzled but equally optimistic. Then, suddenly they were going to take out her kidney?
We hopped in the car and drove 14 hours (detouring because of the flooding that closed I-40 in Arkansas). We learned on arrival that she does have a blocked ureter and a bad kidney -- the result of an endless series of urinary tract infections that weren't treated quickly enough and never really resolved. The urologist agreed that a more conservative strategy ( = life-long antibiotics) was worth a try, given her age and "co-morbidities". She went home on Mother's Day.
Five days later, she was readmitted to the hospital with abdominal pains and nausea, and a minor fall in the bathroom that occurred when she tried unsuccessfully to use her 4-wheeled walker as grab bars. She is still in the hospital, being held hostage by a pernicious system in which none of the nurses admit to knowing anything and a budget shortfall prevented the hiring of doctors.... or so it seems.
My dh tried to contact the hospital's "Case Manager" for my M.I.L.'s floor, and the name he was given was for a person who no longer works at that hospital. The phone number listed in the "Patient Information Guide" for the "Case Manager's" office was a FAX machine. So dh called the hospital's "Quality Department" -- the office of last resort for unresolved complaints -- and learned that the "Quality Department" was unavailable this week because she's on jury duty. And, people, this isn't in a small hospital in rural Alabama -- it's in a large, brand-new hospital in TULSA.
There's more, but I think I've hit my quota for the day. Ever hear of "depressive anxiety disorder"?
otter
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Oh, man... I shouldn't have posted my suckiness. Looks like I shut down Traci's thread. <sigh>
otter
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Oh, otter -- that is beyond sucky. I'm so sorry -- wish I had some way to help, but the only doctor I know in OK is a rheumatologist in Oklahoma City...
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Deepest sympathy on the death of your mother, otter. Unresolved issues are difficult when a person is alive, but once they are gone, you sit and wonder why and how and what to do now. So sorry you are dealing with this.
You did not shut down the thread... I had wondered if my minor rant had done it. The devastation from tornados, floods, and heavy rains is spreading all over the country. Yesterday I heard that upstate New York was having floods also.
So many hospitals and doctors treat older people with such disrespect and assembly line care. I wonder if it was their mom or dad or close relative if they would react - or not react, treat - the same way. You MIL deserves proper care and immediate attention to her and your needs. Can the AMA help with this? (American Medical Assn) As scary as getting sick and needing hospital care can be, this is so wrong.
Rain last night and still going this morning. I was at the American Legion last night and the leaky roof almost let loose with about 20 spots flooding the lounge area. So, weather related events have come to my back yard. Hugs, Nancy
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Otter, that is TRUE suckiness!!! I was off the radar at my MIL's funeral out of town. Same old suckiness here, so nothing new to report. Am I childish to be kind of sad that Mother's Day AND my birthday (yesterday) get ignored from here on in now that my kids have kids?? I remember trying to make both days a big deal for my Mom..... I just don't think a phone text is sufficient!! They joked on the radio that only 5% of people would be gutsy enough to wish Mom Happy Mother's Day by email. Heck!! I got phone text messages.....sigh.
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Barbe, it's sucky that you only got text messages for Mom's Day and your birthday. I wish I'd been paying attention, 'cause I would have sent you a HUGE happy birthday wish yesterday. It would have been in digital format (here), which is not as good as a phone call or a real (paper-format with postal stamp) card. <sigh>
My mom was a deeply emotional person. She never forgot to send a card, no matter what the occasion. She used to spend hours picking out just the right card at the Hallmark store -- she always said if the card made her weepy, she knew it was the right one.
I'm more of a visual person. I pick out cards that have pictures and colors representing my memories of someone or some place. Maybe that's because the emotional, wordy cards make me weepy, too; and sometimes I don't like that feeling.
I'm typing this on my laptop in my MIL's hospital room. Today's day nurse ("Michelle") is a good one -- she's friendly and professional; she answers questions thoroughly and offers information even when we don't ask. (She wondered aloud why the doctors hadn't figured out the cause of my MIL's upper-right abdominal pain, which is just as bad as it was 4 days ago when she was admitted and was the reason for the hospitalization.)
Minor, annoying suckiness: All the hospital staff members here wear a stack of name (ID) badges clipped to the collars or lapels of their uniforms. But, 98% of them keep their badges turned around backwards so their first names and photos are not visible. It's obvious that they're doing this intentionally, because the holes punched in the badges are flat slits and the cards are attached to short, 3/4 inch wide straps with clips. The badges could not twist around accidentally, the way they're being worn. We can see the fine print on the back of the badges; but, what good is that? I understand about the security issues; I don't remember the last time I saw a hospital employee's last name on his/her ID badge.
They do have good food in the hospital cafeteria, and it's remarkably inexpensive: $1 for a 20-ounce bottle of Coke; $1 for half a dozen good-sized fried mozarella sticks; $1 for two egg rolls and a big scoop of fried rice... The banana pudding is sold by the ounce, as are the fresh salads. Good stuff.
I have my suckiness alert button turned on today. I'm kicking butt and taking names, as is dh; and we're working through any available back doors. Things seem to be starting to move.
otter
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oh, Otter, i've not been coming here, and im so sorry for ALL of your suckiness, including, and not least, losing your mom. its' a hard thing to deal with, the mother /daughter thing was a problem for many years with my mom till she passed, also. i got the time to "fix it" as best i could, and im sorry you didn't .. it SUX!!and now, the other suckiness, the house, boat, MIL its; like life saves it up; and then WHAM!!!
Barbe, i only got 2 texts, from 2 sons. the oldest had invited us to dinner, then uninvited us, cause his MIL couldn't make it. THEN, he went to a friend of hers house "so she wouldn't be alone on mothers' day" WHATTTTT??? im officially disgusted!!! so, i hear ya, gal......it all sux 3jays
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Otter, have they considered kidney? I found out mine are unusually high up my back (probably moved there to get away from the kicks my dad used to give me!) and I had the hospital stumped one week on my pain until they did a double-contrast CT and found out that part of my right kidney is dying off. Just a thought for the day.
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BINGO! Barbe, you should be a doctor. Do you play one on TV? (Hey, maybe you *are* a doctor!)
When my MIL relapsed last Friday, she had a fever of 101.7 F and a WBC > 20,000, in addition to the upper-left abdominal pain and nausea. Pyelonephritis was the first thing on her PCP's list. He examined her Friday afternoon and sent her directly to the hospital with a probable dx of pyelonephritis and possible septicemia.
She was started on heavy-duty i.v. antibiotics the next day. Her temp went down quickly -- in fact, it was 99 Friday evening, well before the i.v. meds were started. Her WBC gradually dropped to the normal range over the next 3 days. All her X-rays and CT scans have been normal, though (except for reaffirming the atrophic left kidney), and repeated urine cultures were negative. The pain continued, but it wasn't quite right for kidney pain. The docs apparently were stumped. They were thinking maybe an ulcer, or maybe just severe constipation (4 days without "going"). They were ready to release her yesterday, but we fussed that they still hadn't figured out what was causing her the sharp pain on her left side.
We insisted on a GI consult, to rule out pancreatitis or other GI problems (including an ulcer). More poking and prodding got my MIL to admit that the pain was under her rib cage, not in her abdomen or back. Chest X-rays and a good physical exam showed that she has pneumonia in the lower left lung. The GI doc does not think there's anything GI going on. The kidney doc hasn't been summoned (why not???). Her broken foot (yeah, it turned out she broke a bone in her foot when she fell on Friday morning) is stabilized with a huge boot, but she complains that the boot is so heavy that it's making her arthritic hip hurt more. And, she can't put on her "Depends" over the boot (she has total urinary incontinence).
Everything is on hold today. We don't know the treatment plans for the pneumonia. She's already been on one or more antibiotics of one form or another for most of the past month, including i.v. Levaquin and i.v. Rocephin since last Saturday. Her PCP wanted to transfer her to a skilled-nursing rehab center for a few weeks, but that was before the pneumonia dx. This is so complicated in so many ways...
My dh and I haven't admitted this to each other, but I'm sure we're both worrying that unresponsive pneumonia in a frail, 89-year-old woman is the sort of thing you read about all the time in the obituary column of the local newspaper. This year has already topped my "5 worst years" list, and we're only halfway through the 5th month.
Hugs to all of you. Really, I am so grateful that we can come here and whine. I am on the verge of tears all the time lately, but I know y'all will understand.
D*mn, that stinking GE commercial just came on TV. I hate it. It's the one where the husband looks so sad and helpless, and the wife looks completely exhausted; and the doctor is using his stupid pen to point to the place on the scan that shows the huge tumor in her abdomen. It's supposed to be an uplifting commercial about the ability of GE imaging to find tumors "in time." Sh*t. That woman's tumor was not found in time -- it has replaced half her liver already.
otter
[Edited to clarify that my MIL does not have a tumor -- at least not one we know of. I'm empathizing with the woman and her husband in that commercial. It makes me think of so many of my friends here on these Boards, and what they're dealing with.]
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{{{{{{{{ Otter and MIL and DH and everyone else involved!! ]]]]]]]]]]]]
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(((((((((((Otter))))))))))))))
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{{{{{{OTTER}}}}}}}}}3jays
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otter- that is all horrible what you have been through...there is nothing I can say beyond giving you a big old hug and letting you know someone in Texas is thinking about you.
Barbe- that sucks as far as Mothers Day and Birthday= we are human and thus, we have feelings. Nice to be thought of by those we raised and have loved. BIG HUG to you:)
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