This is the song that never ends.
Yes, it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was,
and they’ll continue singing it forever just because…
This is the song that never ends.
Yes, it goes on and on ………..
There! Now it’s stuck in YOUR head too!
Green Acres theme doesn’t help……
Welp, I had my wrist stitches taken out. I didn’t get pale like I thought I would. I was even worried about the tape strips that went across the elbow scar. Those came off with no problem.
My hand is the same as it was before the surgery, numb pinky finger and part of ring finger and the hand is still a little weak. Doc told me to not get discouraged. It could take from now to next year before the numbness goes away if it ever will. He did want me to get an exercise ball to help with the hand strength. Not sure where to get one of those. Local drug store?
The elbow scar isn’t as ugly as I thought it would be. I guess once it settles down and smoothes over, I’ll like it even better.
We talked more about his statement that the nerve was more pinched in the elbow than they thought. He stated the nerve was red and inflamed (really pissed off) and really tucked away. That’s why he said he believed I should be better here soon since the surgery revealed that the nerve was in duress, which to me says my decision to do the surgery was the right one.
I’m still hoping that I’ll be in that 80% success rate for the strength in my hand to come back.
Anyways, it’s down to the “waiting game” for the numbness to go away and the strength to come back.
Welp, the doc sliced in, moved and repaired the nurve and slapped a big ol “DONE” stamp on it!
Sorry, that line isn’t as funny if you never saw the series “Monster House”.
Anyways, it’s done and I’m doing well. Arm is wrapped up and in a sling. Feeling sore in the elbow (duh) and barely notice any pain in the wrist. I’ll see if I change my tune once the O.R. drugs wear off.
The doc fixed the nerve pinching at the wrist and elbow. As for the elbow, he basically moved the nerve from, what I call the funny bone alley, to above it underneath the muscle. Didn’t cut any muscle, just lifted and shoved. So now whenever I bang my left elbow, I’ll never get that “funny bone shock” again. He mentioned to Colleen that there was more pinching than he thought there would be. So that just makes me even more thankful I had this done.
I went in at 10 and left around 2:30.
The surgical crew at this place was good. I’ll give them an “A”, just like the other surgical center that I had my nose done.
The nurse did her speech and asked a 100 questions. She placed in the I.V.
Interesting thing they do now is numb your hand before they place in the I.V.
I just HAD to ask, “So, let me get this straight. You’re gonna give me a needle so I won’t feel a needle?” She laughed and shrugged her shoulders and said, “Yea, I guess if you put it that way, I suppose so”.
The Anesthesiologist was great. Sorta a guy that you could see riding a motorcycle. A great sense of humor, all I had to do was start the joking and he followed right through. This is where I could grade better than the other surgical place because the other guy was just a straight to the point, this-is-my-job, this-is-what-I’ll-do, and never saw him again. I can’t fault the guy. Wasn’t a jerk about it, just one of those serious people. I can respect that. Now as for the latest dude, he did the 100 questions too, made sure I knew what he was going to do and had a ball with it. I even got to see him in the O.R. later.
The doc then came in and did the 100 questions (yes, these were the same questions as the others ask). Explained the procedure and answered all my questions. Painted a prettier picture than what I had in my mind about the whole thing. Was happy about that.
Later had another guy come in and, yes, asked the 100 questions. Led me to the O.R. and there I saw a bunch of guys, most were the ones that I had already seen at the earlier visits just tagging along. The Anesthesiologist was there as well and MAN what a blast we all had. Same thing, I started the joking and he followed right through and had the others going as well. They had me in tears.
From the nurse to the crew in the O.R., they appreciated my sense of humor but I’m quite sure nowhere near as much as I appreciated theirs to help my Logic side of me drag my Shy side of me to that O.R. bed.
The anesthesia went the same as I had before. Noticed the room getting “wobbly” and like a switch, bam, gone to la-la land. There’s no memory of a slow sleep, just going from “wobbly” room to me waking up in recovery. WOW I love that!
I came out of this better than I came out when I had my nose done. Didn’t once have any nausea! Ate as soon as I got home, I was freakin STARVING. Had a ham, cheese, and turkey hoagie. Oh man that was bliss.
So that’s it. I took next week off from work to just take it easy. I’ll work out my hand and elbow a little at a time. I have some pain pills but I’ll use them as little as possible.
So I had my first visit to an Orthopaedic doc about my pissed off Ulnar nerve. Good visit with some education since I had the doc and an intern, so I was able to get good answers to my questions (well at least the ones I remembered to ask).
It comes down to what they were able to get from my stories, the exam, and what the Neurologist’s report said. My nerve is pinched at both the elbow and wrist. How this happened is a mystery since I didn’t injure these. It’s not common for this without injury but it’s not unheard of either so there are some people out there that had their nerve go “Hey, check this out!” without any injury (yea, it seems my Ulnar nerve has most of my Redneck cells I guess). So with that, I have two options:
1) Surgery: They will repair the wrist and move the nerve from the “funny bone alley” to above it.
2) Live with it: I could just say to heck with it and do nothing.
There are people who decided to just live with it and have done OK but there is a good chance that my hand will get weaker. I have noticed my weakness in my hand with my pinching ability, having the thumb and index finger pressing into each other. A bugger for when I need to pull a folder from a filing cabinet. The doc also demonstrated another weakness. He had me spread my finders apart as far as I could. He then says, “Now I’m going to squeeze your index and ring fingers back together and I want you to resist that”. With just his thumb and middle finger, he was able to squeeze my fingers together with VERY little resistance! Holy CRAP!! I told him that was cool yet very disturbing. He then tells me that there are people who can’t even spread their fingers apart! I didn’t like that story. Now how much weaker will my hand get is unknown but it will get weaker. Didn’t like that one either….
So, even without me having to say it, he noticed that I would want the surgery. So he gave me the story on the surgery.
The success rate is about 80%. What will happen is that I’ll have the feeling and strength back. That minus any damage that has been done and is having now. As for the 20%, that is people who said there was no difference and is still numb BUT even if I fall to that category, at least the damage will stop and I will not get any worse because the pinching will have been eliminated and therefore no more pressure to the nerve.
The recovery made me step back a bit. It’s typically a month. Whoa! Ouch…. “This all depends on what you do for a living and your own recovery time”. Well, if you ask my boss, I do nothing so there’s that. Anyways, I told him I’m just a mere technician with low amount of heavy work. He said he’s heard of people going back to work in two weeks so I might be able to do that. Heck, I don’t see myself going THAT long but hey, I don’t know how I’ll actually be so I can’t say that for sure BUT it’s just my left arm. Thankfully I’m right handed.
The other part that made me step back was the surgery scheduling lady. She wanted to set me up on the 17th…… OF THIS MONTH! Whoa! Time out there miss. I’m gonna have to call ya back on that.
Welp, to me the decision is a no-brainer. I’ll have the surgery. I was just worried about how much vacation time I have to do this along with my planned vacation time in July to NC to see my oh-so-dear sister. I think I’ll be fine so I’m gonna call today and have them set me up ASAP. Get this crap over with. The longer it lingers in my head the worse I’ll get. That “necessary evil” and the “This too shall pass” bits that I use only goes so far……
My other worry was how would I drive my stick shift car? So, on my way to work this morning I tried to drive with just using my right arm. The result was good and I do believe I could do it. Now I wouldn’t recommend it but it is doable as long as I take my time.
So there you have it folks. Looks like I’ll be “down and out” in the last half of this month. Surgery, here I go again! This 2009 is for the birds……
WOO HOOOOO!! ROAD TRIP!!
Rob and I are in very early planning for a road trip across America.
Right now we’re looking into the routes and stops along the way, using cameras and shooting some video.
Rage n’ Cage Road Trip as it’s being labeled.
Rob is Rage and I’m Cage. We each have our own story as to the nickname and no he’s not always pissed and I don’t live in a cage (even though some would say I should).
Heck, maybe we can label this our mid-life crisis.
This is basically his idea that he’s had in his head all the way back to his early teenage years. He’s planned a few times but something would come up to make him place it in the “back burner”.
Well a couple of years ago a movie came out called Wild Hogs. Good funny movie about four guys taking a road trip on motorcycles. Four actors that I thought would never see together in one movie and worked beautifully!
Anyways, it sparked up his interest in doing a cross-country trip and asked me if I would be interested.
I’ve always had an interest about doing such a trip but have always drowned into the who, what, where and how.
When he asked me, I lit up with excitement with images of small towns, sites, and meeting people. With the “who” set, now we just have to set the what, where and how.
I do believe this will be a great trip to do.
Our Plan A is to drive from coast to coast and back.
Plan B is to just drive from coast to coast and just fly back.
Both have their pros and cons but right now I would like to stick with Plan A.
Who knows, with all the planning yet to come, Plan B might turn to be the best choice.
Rob is the brains for this trip and I am ….. heck….. just WHAT am I?
Lunatic, embarrassment, a nuisance to society…. Hey I can go on and on….
Oh Shut up…. My alter ego gives me logic but I swear there are days….. ug
ANYWAYS, all of this will hopefully work out in the end.
We’ll take the trip sometime next year.
Take about 1.5 to 2 weeks to do.
Our wives have given us the OK to go (nice of them right?). I’m sure they’re looking at us funny but hey, we believe this will be our grand story for the future. We’ll be free men wondering throughout America…. If that will be OK with the wives….. HA!!
We’re thinking on having a website set up for this (Well HE is doing it, you’re just…thinking…now go sit before you faint). oh boy…. Well WE would like to log our planning, the trip, pictures, video, ect.
So, does anybody have any thoughts as to the “where” part of the planning?
I’ve been making a list myself. Just throwing in places of interest. I know most will get thrown out due to location and timing but I’d rather have choices to look at than to wonder where the heck we’ll go and see.
OK, so I made it out alive through the nose surgery. I think the doc did a great job. I can now feel the difference in how much easier it is to breathe through my nose. It’s still a little sore and the center feels stiff but I can tolerate that. I was expecting that along with a little nausea which has been quite low.
What I didn’t expect was how my body system would be sent out of whack! My goodness… what it did to my head, heart, and lungs….
I felt “cob webs” in my head along with some headaches. I had an “episode” with wanting to feint, which had the EMTs telling me I had low blood pressure. Then there’s my lungs. You know, I can’t say I was too surprised there. You see, I view my Asthma as a 4 year old. There are times it’ll throw a fit if aggravated. There are times it’ll throw a fit all on it’s own. Then are times it’ll throw a fit when there’s a “party” of other diseases going through me like a cold or flu and then joins it. So with all this crap happening to me, I can see why the Asthma got jealous and decided to join this “party” I’ve been having. The problem with my Asthma is that it may not be the last one to join the “party” but it’s always the last one to leave.
Anyways, I give the docs and the staff at the surgery center high grades. They never seemed in a hurry to rush things too fast. Took their time to talk to me. Seems they all asked the same questions about what I can take and can’t take so I wasn’t sure if I was suppose to be worried that nobody there talked to each other or if I should be relived that they double and triple checked all how I am.
It was weird to actually be in a surgery room! I’ve seen these rooms in TV shows and movies but to actually be in one? Scared and excited. They wrapped me up good in a nice warm blanket and kept talking to me (helped with keeping my mind off what was to come). Did a decent job with the IV even though they had a hard time with getting the ….ug… needle in the top of my hand. Didn’t surprise me there. My hands have always been a tough to put IV’s in. After talking a bit afterwards, I noticed the room getting “out of focus”. My response was “Whoa… good stuff. Started it didn’t you?” “Yup! Shouldn’t be too long now” “OK, well this is a weird feeling” And that was it… out like a light. I loved that! No slow motion sleep, just say goodnight and BAM… off to la la land. I wish I could go to sleep that fast normally!!
OK, enough of the story telling time. Now on to what I’ve noticed lately. Most of you folks know I’m weird. Wired funny. Proof that God experiments sometimes. Anyways, I woke up some time last night with an earache and I just laid there thinking “You have GOT to be KIDDING me!!!” So I then listed all the problems I’ve had lately:
Left nostril had a big ol polyp removed
I kept having pain on the left side of my skull
Left eye hurts occasionally
Had an earache in my left ear
Pain in the left side of my neck (slept wrong I guess)
I have an Ulnar nerve problem on my left arm.
I had an issue with my big left toe.
What is it with my left side??
Is there a battle with right vs left and left is losing?
Is my left side pissed at me for being right handed all these years?
Well the pains in the head can be explained with the surgery, but the neck, nerve and toe??
Funny yet …. “things that make you go hmmmmmmm…”
There’s an argument for this all being coincidental but yet it still makes me wonder.
So everybody, just shake your head and say “Oh that Kevin… he’s a weird one….. OK, back to doing something better”
Welp, I did my visit to the Neurologist. What a … shocking… experience.
The doc said the test would involve short bursts of electric shocks which is mostly just annoying.
Man, he was right…. Felt like short bursts of 110 VAC. He did it throughout my hand and up my arm.
Than after all THAT he says, “OK, now to the 2nd part…”
WHAT!!!?!?
This part involved a needle…. Oh boy… how I LOVE needles……
He kept poking me in various spots in my hand and arm, testing my resistance to him pushing up, down, and sideways to my hand and arm.
Yea…. Testing my resistance to smacking that damn needle through the room…..
Anyways, after all of that he says he believes he has an answer.
Well give my dear sis the prize! She nailed the answer.
It’s my Ulnar nerve. It gives feeling to the pinky finger and a part of the ring finger.
http://www.eorthopod.com/public/patient_education/6606/hand_anatomy.html
He said the best cause for my problem is that I banged my elbow.
Hey doc, if you say so….
So, I take it that my Ulnar nerve is just pissed off at me and doesn’t want to talk to me yet.
FINE! I’ll show it… I’ll…. Yea right….
So, I have to wait it out. Got a wrist stabilizer and an elbow pad, which is mostly to remind me to stay off of it. He said leaning on my elbow does not help it.
So…. Stay tuned to see what it takes. Hey it’s only (I had to do it)….
“Feelings! Nothing more than…. Feelings”……..
Fallin apart I am….
Seems I’m having a couple of issues with my body.
The first problem involves me having my first surgery. I’m getting a polyp removed from in my left nostril.
Big sucker that occasionally acts like a check valve, blocking air from going out but not in. Sucks when I have to blow my nose and can’t on my left side….
I like the doc I’ve been going to about it. He explains the scans that look like mush and even does a diagram that I can understand! Nice guy. Thankful that I didn’t get a “Well.. you have this….thing…. and well… well it needs to come out….yea….we’ll get you all scheduled up to…. get’er out…. The one that’ll yank it out…. you’ll like him…. just graduated from PenncoTech….. and he’s my nephew… yea..”
OK, enough of that.
Anyways, he has my trust.
Nervous about it but yet quite looking forward to it so talk about your mixed feelings.
I’ll have this done on Feb 11th. Keep your fingers crossed for me then.
OH! There is a request I have… Keep Rob away from me afterwards! I noticed that he bought some feathers…. He’ll have his revenge on me yet… That’s another story…
My second problem. I’m losing feeling with my left pinky finger. Weird… Woke up one morning and felt like it went to sleep and is on the verge of waking up. Well, I’m still waiting. This was two Mondays ago. I would say it’s about 80% numb. I was OK with it but now it’s getting annoying.
Gonna see a Neurologist today and he’ll electrocute my nerves to test what the heck is going on.
I had my first follow-up weight management class. I was nervous for this class due to the weigh-in after Thanksgiving, but once the day came, I knew I was good to go. Sure enough, I lost some pounds, 2 or 3 I think but my total so far is 11. Nice. Now, I wonder just how much better that would be if I exercised…..
Not as many people showed up that I thought would. We kept begging her to keep this Saturday follow-ups going. She’s going to keep it, we even talked her into another follow-up in two weeks! We all agree, if we keep going then it helps keep us honest. We kid her about how we all seem to have her on our shoulder as the “angel” side, helping us “keep our hands out of the cookie jar” so to speak.
Anyways, I’ve actually surprised myself that I’ve been able to keep this going. I believe this is truly a record breaker. Really! Like I’ve said before, I’ve never been able to stay on a diet for more than 2 to 3 weeks. After awhile I finally say, “Screw this! I’m starving!” and fall off the wagon face first. I think it’s helped with the fact she’s explained things as we go along. I love the binder she made for each of us, especially since I have this “goldfish” memory.
To show how far I’ve come to see this through, I ordered a chicken wrap that had spinach in it and ATE it! I didn’t throw it across town or threatened to shove it up someone’s ***.
Yea, like I said…. Even I’m surprising myself….
Welp, had the last class yesterday…. didn’t lose a single pound this week….BUT I didn’t gain any either so I’ll take that sliver of victory considering I had a bad week. I knew I would at times but I’m actually happy I didn’t gain any pounds during this “bad” week so…..
So with the class officially done, we can still do follow-ups with her. I’m glad she offers it. She’s good and informative and I’d recommend her with no doubt. She rarely does Saturday follow-ups but if the class was serious about wanting to continue then she’ll keep the Saturdays open for us, maybe even once a month, but only if most of the class wanted it. I don’t blame her, why waste a Saturday to do a follow-up on something like three people when the normal follow-ups are on the weekday nights. We did have a good class and I think all of us signed for our first follow-up. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we’ll keep it going because I like going there on Saturdays instead of the weekdays. So, anyways, somehow Colleen and I made the best of the class for most loss of body mass. That I’m not sure how but I’ll take the complement. I was rewarded with packets of fat-free hot chocolate and Colleen was given a box of cerial called Organic Hemp Plus Granola. Yea, it sounds like you can eat cerial AND get high. HA!
So, like I said, I would recommend her to anybody who would is looking for options. I’ve said if before, I truely believe that each person that wants to try a weight management program, needs to find the one that fits them by location, instructor, and program that you can “sink your teeth in”. The place wasn’t too far away from us and she kept it upbeat instead of lecturing us and being monotone and the program was quite informative so this worked for me. Will it work for others? I don’t know and I’ve never been the one to force anybody to do anything but I’ll talk to anybody that wants to listen.
Her name is Angela Shaw and you can see her program, The Healthy Weigh, on the website: http://www.cooperhealth.org/content/NutritionServices.htm. Like I keep saying, she’s really nice and take this for what it’s worth, I’m planning to go to her follow-ups every Saturday that she’s willing to do. Yes, I’ll take time out of my Saturdays to continue to listen to her (and yes, I do love my time on the weekends).
