New news

I saw an infectious disease (ID) specialist today, and I'm looking at at least eight weeks of twice a day vancomycin by IV plus some other oral antibiotic. I go in next Wednesday to have a Hickman device inserted for the vanco IV. This medication is very harsh and can burn up the smaller peripheral veins (the ones in your arms). The Hickman is a device inserted into the jugular toward the vena cava (much bigger and tougher veins). The other good thing with this device is blood can be drawn from it to gauge my health without extra needle sticks.

Besides having IV vanco twice a day, I also see the ID every single week. If my orthopedic surgeon decides that the rod has to come out, then my eight weeks of vanco starts all over. I won't be able to call him until Monday because he's not in the office of Friday.

When we left, I went and got a chocolate Freddy's Frozen Custard. Screw my diet.

Here's a good schematic of how the device works.

This just keeps getting better and better

Happy day! My leg hole has MRSA!

Listen here you nasty, sneaky little bacterium of doom -- you will NOT prevent my graduation. You might delay it (what else is new?), but you will not prevent it.

*rather loud string of colorful metaphors*

Enough is enough

I would love to have a few days to work on this dissertation. On Feb. 2 and 3 I had a horrible muscle spasm that nearly made me throw up. On the 3rd, my doctor was out of the office, so I saw his partner who gave me 10mg of Valium to take three times a day -- with my 5mg Percocet. So, needless to say, I have done nothing but fall asleep in my chair for days. And I still have pains. Not as bad, but still enough that I can't concentrate on shit.

Oh, and it turns out the Valium and antidepressants (I've been on Zoloft since the Wreck) don't generally mix well. I literally bawled my eyes out Friday night because I was missing brisket and potentially chocolate creme pie at a church Valentine's banquet. Yes, I hate Valentine's Day, but I love brisket and chocolate pie! Mom and Dad, bless 'em, bought me Woodie's BBQ (nummy ribs and pulled pork) and a chocolate pie on Saturday. And on Monday, my doc told me to double my Zoloft.

AND I have a minor surgery on my leg tomorrow because one of my Wreck scars has been seeping goo for months.

FML.

I just want to freaking graduate! It's been EIGHT EFFING YEARS!!!

A peek from under the pile

I've been absent lately -- not just from posting but also from reading on my flist. I want to graduate in the spring, so I need to defend my dissertation no later than April 9, which in turn means I must turn in a draft to my advisor no later than February 9.

Actually, as of last night, those deadlines will get moved up as I purchased tickets for the Celtic Woman concert being given on April 12.

My motivation has been nil. Once I start writing, I move right along. Fortunately, I also have a grant application that wasn't funded that helps me write my introductions, but the materials and methods still need work. I have analyzed data for my 2008 experiments, so I should be done with that damn chapter, but I'm not. I'm so annoyed with myself.

Dad has an appointment in Wichita this afternoon, and Mom is driving him. Ordinarily I would ride along, but I am opting to stay home and take full advantage of approximately three hours of alone time to write.

C'mon D -- let's get this thing banged out.

Gimps unite!

Mom and I are heading out of town tomorrow to attend a disability caucus. We'll get home Friday afternoon or evening. I've never been to one of these, so it'll be interesting. Tomorrow's highlight is a performance by Flame, a rock group made up completely of people with disabilities.

Everyone be nice to each other and share your toys while I'm gone. *hugs*

Meh

Hopefully the pain specialist can figure out why I've been having all these new and interesting (she said sarcastically) pains and spasms over the last year, especially in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully it's not autonomic dysfunction resulting from the Wreck, as my GP thinks.

Edit:Turns out, Medicaid doesn't recognize the need for pain management. The place that called me said they would give me their "special self-pay rate" of $325 per visit, due in full at the time of my visit. Oh, and I get to drive 45 miles one-way in a van that maybe gets 15 miles to the gallon, with gas at $3.59 per gallon. Did I mention I'm only getting $672 per month in federal supplemental income -- assuming, of course, that the government doesn't default?

Guess who's not going to get pain management.

Ow! Ow! Oh crap that hurts!

Over the weekend, I had some HORRIBLE shooting pains in my left foot. On Saturday, the pains hit me every 15 seconds to 5 minutes, and this went on for SEVEN HOURS. I've had a few pains since then, but nothing like Saturday. I went to the doctor today to see if he could help me with it. He's worried that I'm experiencing autonomic dysfunction due to last summer's Wreck. He's sending me to a pain specialist to sort it out. He's also sending me to a lymph-edema clinic because my legs and feet are badly swollen. It would be nice to have more normally sized feet again.

This June 7 is much better than the last one

A year ago today was the infamous Wreck. Aside from extra pain spots and a Foley catheter, I'm pretty much back to normal. Took me a while to get here, but here I am.

Onward and upward!

Day of awesome

Thunder, rain, hot cocoa, a relatively painless hip, and (so far) totally painless legs. Can the day get much better?

Sleep is elusive

I was awakened this morning by numerous puppy kisses -- first by Spanky (the four-month-old cocker spaniel who loves to roll around on my head), then by Mairead (the eight-week-old snuggle-icious rottweiler). Not a bad way to start the day, but I'm still so sleepy. I don't even have the energy to be annoyed that said puppies are currently shredding a Ding Dong wrapper that the Spankster got out of the small trashcan next to Dad's recliner.

Steamed

Somebody in the voter registration office dropped the ball and failed to send out the mail-in ballots for all the voters registered here at DH&R -- so now I am not going to able to voice my opinion about our next governor, attorney general, or congress-people. You can bet that I will voice my opinion about the irresponsibility of the voter registration office.

ROTD -- Return of the Dawn

I'm still at the rehab facility healing my broken bones (work in that area is progressing slowly, but it is progressing), but the corporate office had blocked a lot of networking/blogging sites, thus my absence. However, my laptop crashed Saturday, necessitating the need to purchase a new one. I picked out a sweet little number -- a Sony Vaio with 6 GB of RAM, a 640 GB hard drive, and amazing graphics with which to measure my fish heads -- and I decided to splurge on a mobile broadband device so I can do the Internet my way. I feel like I'm channeling my techno-geek brother.

In other news -- my most recent fishy paper has been accepted for publication! After four and a half years, at least a dozen revisions, and three journals, it's finally in! ::D does the happy dance:: It should be published electronically sometime this week, but I'm not sure when it will be in print.

How are all of you?

Still around

Still at the rehab facility. Still healing, though not nearly as quickly as I'd like.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled day.

Here I am

Last Thursday (19 August), I had my second ortho checkup. My arm and left leg are healing well, but the plate in my right leg has shifted a half an inch because my bones are so weak. The orthopedist ordered a cessation of physical therapy on that leg and is trying to get me a bone stimulator to help with the healing on my legs. I'm also making a point of drinking a packet of Carnation Instant Breakfast every day for the extra vitamins and minerals -- maybe they will help the healing as well. I will remain in rehab until my bones are able to handle me using the two-piece sling I use for transfers at home (minimum another month).

Furthermore, we discovered earlier this week that my left foot has been sweating in its brace, and so I have a couple of spots in the beginning stages of skin breakdown (skin red but not broken open). I will be getting my ankle x-rayed at some point to see if I even need the brace or if the tib-fib fracture is healing as slowly as the breaks.

I actually got girly on Wednesday and bought a couple of skirts. ::shiver:: I don't think I've bought a skirt or a dress in almost 20 years. It's just that even shorts are a pain (literally AND figuratively) to put on over these leg braces.

OK, I think I may get back in bed soon and get to work on my manuscript revisions . . . IF I can keep my eyes open.

Yes, I'm alive

For those who didn't know, I was in a car accident on June 7th in which a 20-year-old failed to pay attention to the large red stop sign in front of him, causing us (my parents, Reba, and myself) to hit him at 50-55 mph. Mom bruised her right hand and knee, Dad had a concussion, Reba's sutures from a surgery that morning tore open, and I broke my right humerus and both femurs and cracked my left tibia and fibula. I underwent a six-hour surgery on June 9th to attach plates and screws to my humerus and right femur and a rod along my left femur. Basically, I now have more hardware in me than a Home Depot.

I was in the hospital for three weeks, then I was transferred to a rehab facility where I still am. I get therapy on my arm five days a week and on my legs six days a week. I'm not healing as quickly as *I* would like, but I am healing. Moby (my van) was totaled, which upset me a lot. She was a good van, and she didn't deserve to go out like that. My folks quickly found me a new ride, though -- a maroon-colored 1993 Ford with a working AC. I have christened her the Red Baron.

Isn't life grand?

Poop poop pee doo

Not feeling so hot today. I'm really wishing I could trade my body in on a better model, one without all the aches and maybe a bit more muscle strength. Just enough to, say, get a drink out of the fridge, make my own snack, comb my own hair, help Mom fold the clothes. That's not too much to ask, is it?

On the plus side, looks like there's going to be semi-homemade rolls with supper.

Looking ahead

A lot of people use this time of year to reflect on the year that has passed and try to divine what will come in the year ahead. Unless something truly crappy or truly outstanding happened, I rarely remember too much of what happened the previous year. The minutiae get all balled up until I cannot tease them loose from each other. I do not make up lists of praises and lists of rants and post them on tha Interwebz because they have meaning only to me, and I don't want to get into some heated discussion with someone who takes offense to this like or that dislike. I don't make huge, life-changing resolutions because something always happens to prevent their completion.

Every new year, what I promise to do are "little" things. I hold my head up and smile at strangers as we pass on the sidewalk or in the grocery store, even if they look at me like I sprouted a third eyeball in the middle of my forehead. I say thank you when someone helps me with something, even if s/he does it for me every day and knows I appreciate it, because very few people show gratitude for the little things. I try to do the best research I can. I explore my personal spirituality and endeavor to remain patient with those of a more rigid mindset. I make attempts at creativity in a variety of forms such as writing fiction, making soap, making mosaics, or cross-stitching. Soon I'm going to attempt to make my own portable medicine wheel. I try to read widely. I try to read something or someone previously unknown to me. I try to read as often as I can. Following the example of a friend, I will endeavor to keep a list of everything I read in 2010 -- both books for fun and research materials (the latter for my own edification) -- and I will attempt to write mini-reviews of the books in the interest of those who might want to also read something I've read.

So, in that vein, I am off to drink some tea (green tea with jasmine and passionfruit) in an attempt to soothe my sore throat, then I shall return to the further adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

I hope your year is everything you want it to be.

Thank you for being my friend and helping me grow.

Last post of 2009

Y'all have fun partying. I'll be in bed trying to sleep off this head cold and sore throat.

Happy new year! Remember -- it is illegal to shoot your firearms into the air if you live inside city limits, not to mention stupid.

Time to see if my tea has cooled to "just right."

Yeah yeah yeah

I know it's been a bit since I blogged, but after I get home this weekend, I'll try to take time to catch you up on the last ten weeks or so. I've just been quite busy despite depression and health issues.

So, I'll be in KS in time for supper on Saturday, and I will be around until July 29. There are pals I'm hoping to see, and you know who you are (especially you four -- Mouse, Psi, 'wela, Lachlan -- who I have not seen since P's funeral). So much to do this trip:

-- get my stupid blood under control

-- finish one manuscript, start two others

-- hang out with my peeps and hug 'em all (especially the 6-month-old nephew) 'til their eyes bug out

-- read a s*** ton of research articles

-- see HP and the Half-Blood Prince

-- get some things fixed on my chair

-- fun, novel-type reading

-- maybe talk Rolando into going to the zoo, especially the one near my house

-- do my yearlies with the cardiologist, the neurologist, the pulmonologist, and the urologist

For now, more library research. 'Night!

MEH

And that's all I have to say.