Friday, November 18, 2005

evening

Book Meme & Teasing Secrets from the Dead

From Leigh-Ann, from VetMommy from...yadda, yadda, yadda:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the sentence in your blog with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually closest.

I’m so disappointed in the fifth sentence from Teasing Secrets from the Dead: My Investigations at America’s Most Infamous Crime Scenes by Emily Craig, that I wanted to cheat.  I’ll tell you why.  The fifth sentence is, “The second-hand smoke covered the smell for me, too.” However, the fifth line is(if I back up a few words to get the beginning of the sentence), “The maggots gorge themselves on the liver, then bury themselves in the dirt to pupate.” Cool, huh?

Oh, and while I’m here, I may as well write my brief book review for that book, since it’s sitting in my stack of “hurry up and review(s).” It’s written by Emily Craig Ph.D., a forensic anthropologist, who started out as a medical illustrator.  She got bored with that and went back to school to learn to analyze bones, charred remains, skulls...and other bits of bodies that you and I don’t ever want to see.  While I found the book interesting, the constant Emily Craig self-backpatting got tedious.  Yes, it was wonderful how you solved the crime that no one could solve in a million years.  Yes, it was fabulous how you made a sculpture of a face only going by the skull, so that it was recognized and the body identified.  Yes, YOU ARE WONDERFUL AND THE BESTEST FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST EVAH.  THE BESTEST.  But, really, when you ignore the against the odds, this woman identified those who no one else could identify, even in their wildest dreams, it’s an interesting book about forensic anthropology.  While Kathy Reichs (who writes her own books and on whom the new show “Bones” is based) writes the foreward, I’d honestly rather just read any Kathy Reichs book.  At least there, the character is fictional, so if I’m getting annoyed by her, I can look at it as fictional writing that makes me feel something about a character.  Not that Temperance Brennan annoys me usually.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

evening

You Too, Can Be On Bill O’Reilly’s Black List

Go here and sign up.  Arianna Huffington will personally deliver the list.  I signed up and got this pretty gif.

evening

Mooooom, I don’t wanna update.  I’m too tired to update…

Haircuts - Yes.  Leafs game - yes, though I slept through half of it.  Liz Phair/Missy Higgins - yes.  Good.  Dr. Outlaw...cancelled - oh yes.  He doesn’t do what Dr. FancyPantsAnesthesiologist (previously Dr. No Esta Bien) does, which requires being in a surgery center and using a flouroscope.  Tomorrow, after my chiro’s appointment, I will give more detail and some pictures of our day.  Tonight, no way.  Sleepy, seeeeeepy, seeeeepy, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

evening

Dr. Outlaw Returns…Needle At The Ready

So, where did we leave off with this herniation stuff?  Oh yeah, I was waiting for the pain management doc’s office to call.  The doctor to whom I was referred by Dr. FancyPants.  I waited a week, then decided to call Dr. FancyPants’ office.  I left a message and then, interestingly enough, received a call from the pain management doc’s office the very next day, wanting to schedule an appointment for me.  The very nice girl advised me that my co-pays were used for the year (heh, in less than a month) and that my first visit with Dr. No Está Bien (he may very well be a good/nice/great doctor, but I probably won’t find out) will be the cash price of $250.  Oh, you think to yourself, that’s not so bad because it’s for the lumbar injection.  But, oh, you’re wrong, it’s only for the first consultation visit.  You know what that visit entails?  I do.  I’ve had it with my chiro, the MD in his office, Dr. NotSoFancyPants, Dr. Outlaw, and Dr. FancyPants.  It goes something like this:  tell doctor about pain, get reflexes tested, have doctor hold hand on each knee while I push up/down against said hand (indicating weak left leg), walk on my heels, then look at MRI of herniation and say, “Oh, that’s BIG.” Yes.  I know.  I’ve seen the MRI.  I’ve compared it to other MRIs online.  I know it’s big.  I know my symptoms (left leg pain, weak left leg, and bladder problem) are textbook for the size of my L4-L5 herniation.  Yes, I KNOW.  Nicely, Dr. No Está Bien’s appointment girl told me that I’d only have to pay $75 a visit after the first five minute visit where I could tell him EXACTLY what he’d do and EXACTLY what findings he’d have.  The thing is, the first time they can fit me in for said TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLAR consultation is November 30th.  Who even knows when they could get me in for the injection, as they’d have to get approval from the insurance company before they could go ahead with the procedure.

The above paragraph brings us back to Dr. Outlaw (his real name - I like him and he isn’t going to be my surgeon, so I’m okay with using his really cool name in my blog) and the lumbar injection.  I’ve already had my consultation with him - using my $30 co-pay, natch.  His office has already gotten approval from my insurance company to do the injection.  So, I did what anyone who didn’t want to pay $250 for five minutes would do.  I called his office back and said, “Say, by the way, do you still have approval from my insurance company to give me a lumbar injection?  Oh, you do?  Great.  So, Tuesday the 22nd at 10am?  Okay.  No food for six hours, lots of fluids the day before, no aspirin/blood thinners, and a way to get home after being pumped full of Versed?  Okay, deal!” I called Dr. FancyPants’ office and asked if it was okay if I had Dr. Outlaw, instead of Dr. No Está Bien, do my injection.  Naturally, since they’re a big fancy spinal disease/injury place, I had to leave a message.  I can’t imagine that they’d mind.  I only mind because Dr. Outlaw’s office is MUCH further away from home.

But seriously, $250 cash for a five minute consultation.  Shouldn’t Dr. FancyPants’ referral be enough for Dr. No Está Bien to believe that I need the injection?  If he’s charging me $250, is he charging the insurance company $500+?  Do they pay it????  I am so going back to school to become a pain management physician.  If we conservatively agree on $250 for a five minute consultation, that’s $3000/hour.  Silent Leanne, inform your friend this is an excellent line of work - not very messy and probably quite rewarding when you figure out how to make a person pain-free.  Sure, you have some drug seekers, but mostly you just have regular ol’ people in pain.

As for my personal update - I’m glad you asked.  I’m okay.  A couple of times a day, I think to myself, “Wow, that really hurts.  I do have something wrong with me.” Very rarely do I have to run out to the garage and look at my MRI for a refresher to know that it’s “BIG”, the herniation, it is.  The next week will be the big test for me, although if I have the injection next Tuesday, it might be the big test for the injection.  Anyway, tomorrow is haircuts (no biggie, just a mile or two away) and then Liz Phair/Missy Higgins at the House of Blues.  Next week on Thursday is Thanksgiving at my parents’, then Friday is a Wranglers game to see the Stanley Cup, and Saturday is Colin Mochrie/Brad Sherwood ("Whose Line Is It Anyway?") at the Las Vegas Hilton.  Except for the Wranglers/Stanley Cup night out, everything was paid for and planned before I was accursed with my affliction.  I guess it’ll be a good test to know whether or not I need surgery.  And that, by the way, is tentatively planned for January 11th.  I keep hoping I won’t need it, but if my bladder doesn’t get better, I’m going to have to go through with it.  Pain off and on, I can handle.  The bladder thing, sometimes sucks the life out of me when I’m out.  This is TMI, but I know people are finding my blog for herniated disc searches, so they may as well know what might go along with it - I’ve never lost control (the doctors always ask that question), but that’s because I’ve never allowed myself to be stuck in traffic on the freeway on my bad days.  I have to take side streets so I can stop when I want to, and then stand up.  Apparently, standing relieves the pressure on the nerve.  Anyway, standing is the cure for me, so if I could find a car modified to allow me to stand, I could go on cross-country trips.  In the meantime, I never know when I’ll be able to drive across town without a problem or when it’ll be torture for me to drive a couple of miles.  Talk about stressful.  I feel sorry for Leigh-Ann, having to sit in the car with me when I’m having a bad bladder day.  Picture being with someone who’s having a full-out anxiety attack, but one that can be alleviated by standing.  Heh.  Anyway, it sucks for her too.  I can’t take her anywhere further than the Strip.  No long freeway rides to go exploring or anything.  No going to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.  :(

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

evening

Warning, Warning, Warning

My Blogrolling blogroll, is a work in progress.  While Leigh-Ann as an anniversary gift fixed the borders and made it match, I wanted to make mahself a pretty little picture to indicate new entries.  After several trials and tribulations even, I finally got it to work.  But alas, my pretty little picture was too large.  Leigh-Ann is going to see if she can fix it.  If it wasn’t animated, I could do it myself, but I am not animation girl.

We had a good anniversary day - I went to the chiro, but that only took about thirty minutes.  Then, we ordered some yummy food at Pickup Stix.  While waiting for our food to be made, we strolled on over to Cost Plus (or World Market, as those southern weirdos call it ) for a few goodies.  John Wm Macy cheesestraws, which are the finest cheesestraws in all the land.  Plus, a couple o’ candy items.  Then, off to Borders cafe, so they could make us some Starbucks drinks and wrap up a couple of tasty desserts, which I forgot we had until just now.  Ooops.  The evening ended well nonetheless, with a Leafs win.