I would like Whine with My Cheese...

Hello all, forgive my last rant about the PDiddy, Pity Pot Blues. I normally don't go on and on like that about my health. But, I guess I needed to. So, I put it out there, and it served it's purpose. After I wrote the rant, I felt stupid complaining. I felt exactly like this baby in the pic. Why me? Why me? Waaahhhh! Well guess what? Why NOT me? Who am I to be exempt from life's little bumps in the road? So, onward and upward.


Shortly after I wrote the rant, I called Mom. If you remember, she has MS and diabetes and a host of other health issues. The conversation went something like this:


"Hello?"


"Hey!, how are you?"


"Fine, and you?"


"Fine. "


"You know you don't feel well! You lie like a rug."


"Whatever"


"What was it you said earlier?"


"Uh...hmmm I can't remember. I'll think of it. Remember when? uh...hell, I don't know."


"You said something about ... wait, it will come to me. Who am I kidding? no it won't."


"It will. What was it that you said? I'm trying to remember, hang on."


"Did you know that the police caught that guy that uh....what did he do? Something about Crystal Gayle...uh....or was it Walmart?"

"I love you, I'll think of it and call you later."

"Me too. did I say it or did you?"

"Bye Mom, I love you"

"Bye Taryn, I love you too."

She never fails to make me laugh. Thank you Mom.



More Musings Later-

Healthcare in America SUCKS

Not too long ago, I was in the hospital. Now, before I entered this hospitial, I felt comfortable going to it, it seemed nice and clean, full of competant medical professionals. Boy, was I wrong.

Top 10 Things you can expect while in the Hospital

10. You're not going to get any sleep.

Nurses are in and out and out and in all freaking night. Do they bring towels? Water? something you can use? No, No, and No. That takes forethought.

9. You're going to drive the nurse's station crazy because you'll hit the wrong button on your remote and call them when you really want to watch channel 2.

The deep exaspperated sigh over the intercom evokes a vision of the nurse rolling her eyes at you.

6. You will encounter "Hospitalists". They are doctors but they have a crappy schedule and work "for" your regular doctor. You also won't be able to remember their names and what one says versus the other. What's even worse, you feel so bad, you don't care. You just want them to shut up.

5. There will be a sign above your bed that will say, "Do NOT take BP in left arm." They do it anyway.

(see the sign above the bed to the right?)

4. When they come to make up your bed with fresh linens, they bring you wash cloths and towels. The problem is once you use them, they never take them back.

3. When you carry on conversation with a "nurses tech" (they take temp, bp and put a bandaid on your boo-boo).

The conversation goes like this: "So, what kind of experience do you have to have to become a nurses tech?" Nurse's response? "Nothin, I'm right off the street".

2. My toilet paper doesn't runneth over -

You need a roll of toilet paper. You ask....and ask....and ask....the nurse looks bored and wonders if it's going to flurry outside. She walks out of the room and you ask...and ask...and ask some more.

1. You're ready to get out of the hospital because they are still scratching their heads over what you have and you know the bill is going to be expensive.

You punch the nurses station button and tell the nurse, "Where is the doctor? Nurse: "Maam, he is in another part of the building seeing a patient and then he is going home."

Your reply: "Don't make me get all Shirley MacLaine on you," there is a long silence. Next thing you know, the hospitalist is standing in front of you reading your tests which equates to: "I dunno".

Falls, Referrals and Boots, Oh My!

Can I say one thing I have observed in recent months?

HEALTHCARE SUCKS

Now, I didn't bitch when I got the vasculitis (Churg/Strauss Syndrome) although I wanted to! I won't post the pics of my breakout they are so disgusting...but, I am 46 and have been fairly healthy for the most part...no major surgeries and so forth. So, what the hey, I decided to grin and bear it. I kept thinking of my sister putting up with the same crap only much more so and now I was feeling some of her pain.

So, I still have a nasty rash on my legs and feet and I guess I've grown used to seeing it. I'm on my last antiobiotic (Praise Jesus) and I've weaned myself off of insulin and massive doses of steroids.

Can I say steroids SUCK? I was SO depressed while taking it in the hospital and at home. I remember when I watched a football game one evening, it was the NY Giants vs somebody that I can't remember at the moment and they lost. (I was rooting for NY). What did I do? I cried like a baby. Then when my Titans lost, I sobbed. Why???? STEROIDS. Don't take them, they suck.

Okay, then I am weaning myself off all this crap, right? Then on Sunday, I had been working and was seated with my laptop on my lap. I stood up and my Parkinson's got me. My balance was horrible and I could feel myself going down. Next thing I know, I feel something crack and my ass is on the floor. My knee is swollen and my foot was throbbing in pain. Oh, it's just a twisted ankle, I think to myself. I try to get back up and stand up on that leg....no, it isn't a twisted ankle, nor a sprain. I mean this HURT.

So, once again I go to the doctor who is trying to make an appointment with a Rhumatoid Arthritus doctor for my vasculitis. "Change in plans, doc...I hurt my foot really bad." So, I go to see a orthopedist today. I roll up my pants leg to show him my foot and he looks horrified. "Oh yeah, I have vasculitis." He puts on plastic gloves and looks like he is going to pass out examining my foot. He starts examining my foot, pressing here, pressing there....nothing too painful.

He goes to look at my x-ray. He comes back and takes his thumb and presses in the center of my foot below my 2nd toe. After he regained his hearing from the shriek of pain I bellowed, he remarks, "Did you take alot of steroid for your vasculitis?" I tell him yes.

"You know that steroids weaken your bones, right? That's probably what happened with your foot. By the way, your metatarcel bone is broken."

So, here I am hobbling out of the dr's office with a big honking foot brace. "See me in 2 weeks, it should heal on it's own," he reminds me.

Part of me is pissed and the other part thinks it's funny. I wish you could have seen the sheer horror on the dr's face when looking at my legs/feet.

I guess this long post brings me to this; I was trying to look on the bright side of all of this and it felt like it just kept coming at me. I was mad about it! But, I was brought up to make the best of things. Which I tried my best.

But tonight, I thought of a section of Roseanne Barr's book when she was detailing a similar situation. Here's the gist:

"I went to the store as a little kid and bought groceries for the family with money my mother gave me. I would walk to and from the store with 2 big bags...On my way out of the store, I saw an old lady that dropped some money and didn't realize it. I put my bags down and ran to get the money to give back to the old lady. I tripped when I ran through a pothole and fell.

It was then that I learned that God hates a kiss-ass."

More Musings Later-