More Medical Fun

The other day I spent 3 hours driving around in blowing snow with maybe 200 feet of visibility in order to find the dentist who takes Medicaid. Mapquest fucked me right in the sigmoid colon and then turned around and didn't pay. You know how sometimes numbered streets also have names? Yeah. They gave the street's name but not its number, and the signs showed the number but not the name. Also, "Highway 5" is not the same thing as "County Road 5" except that it actually is.

Also, going 35 on the interstate is for stupids.

At the end of it all, I got my teeth cleaned and the dentist told me I need fillings. Either I developed three cavities in six months or the last guy missed them on my previous visit. Ah well, I can always use more needles in my gums.

Then today I saw the podiatrist about my arch pain and toe numbness when walking. He said I have good arches but they don't have much support, and slapped some wet plaster socks on my feet to make orthotic inserts. They'll come in the mail next week and then I have to break them in over a week or so. It sounds a bit draconian but whatevs, as long as I can look forward to someday being able to jog and walk without my shins catching fire I'll be a happy guy and suffer minor annoyances.

Next week I see a nurse-practitioner who has allergies training about my eye. I've been getting a firespot in the exact same place every other day for a week or more. Feels like grit is caught under the lid, but there isn't anything there. What really causes the sensation is chemosis--the conjunctiva swelling up in a bright red lump like an itchy, burning nipple on my freakin' eyeball. No idea what causes it but I have had it happen before when I lived in my sister's backyard party house. Dusty place, maybe that's the connection? We shall see.

I inked the pages today and went on to pencil another one. Why not? I'm slacking at the computer so I might as well catch up with pen and paper. I don't like how the art came out (forced my way through a block and it shows) but probably a bit of digital touching up will at least bring it up to standards. I can't worry too much about it because in the end it's only 2 out of 700+ pages, which brings the grand total of pages I can't stand to admit to drawing in my comic to 4. I'm a picky motherfucker, so that's actually not a bad track record at all.

The Zoloft seems to make me sleepy, but I need extra rest anyway. This cold is still kicking my ass. I've gone into the "dry hacking" phase, and it's so uncomfortable I've begun to almost long for those long nights where I would wake up with my entire body cocooned beneath a brittle crust of leaking snot. Fuck, but that's grim.

#44

It still doesn't feel quite real to me yet. And holy shit, what an acceptance speech.

I have a doctor appointment today for a physical. It's been 14 years since I had one and I'm getting a wee bit nervous. I guess there's no helping it--I'll be pissing in a cup just a few hours from now, and not even getting paid for it like some people.

Medical Fun!

Had the first doctor visit this week. We talked about my blood sugar problems and she said he was pretty sure it wasn't diabetes (YAY) but we'll do the fasting/tolerance thing to make sure. He prescribed me Adavair and a new albuterol inhaler, and then we talked about my wrists. He used a little rubber hammer to tap on the base of my hand and I felt it all the way in my fingers, worse on the right side. I could barely do the hold-hands-together test because the left one hurts so badly.

At first he told me to just continue taking anti-inflammatory drugs and bracing the wrists at night, but I told him I've been doing that and it's getting worse and I'd like to try the next step up to stop it. Lately I wake up with both hands feeling numb and weak, and I can't hold a fork or a pen without losing the feeling in my thumb and half my fingers. If I set the pen down and flex the fingers the blood rushes back in, but that only lasts a few minutes. I can't draw like I used to, and I can't lift free-weights or ride a bike comfortably.

He said that in cases where the pain wakes you up at night or you start losing grip strength it's time to look into surgery, and that's right around where I am now (although I don't recall waking up at night, I'm sure yelping in pain in the early morning counts). He's referred me to a neurologist for an EMR(?) test. Basically they're going to stick needles in my arms and run a charge through to see whether the signal slows down in the carpal tunnel area. I have been offered cortisone shots in both wrists to temporarily relieve inflammation, and if that doesn't work, there's always surgery. At this point I am absolutely committed to whatever it takes to get my hands to stop buzzing and going numb on me when I try to draw. It's so hard to lose yourself in the work when the work is hurting you!

Cross your fingers y'all. Lord knows I can't. I go back next week for a physical, and am hoping all goes well and my heart isn't likely to asplode at the gym or something.

Had a two hour bike ride with the Captain today, the longest since you-know-when. His hurt toe didn't bother him at all, but I kept our speed down and the bike in low gear for my knee's sake. We were mostly on the sidewalks (legal in this town) so the Captain could pad along on the soft grass instead of the harsh street surface. We went all over the place. Even to the dog park, which was empty, so I brought in my bike and rode around with the Captain chasing me until he was good and exhausted.

During the ride I tried so hard to induce an asthma attack, pedaling as fast as I could and breathing through my mouth, but nothing happened. This new medication is fucking amazing. I'd forgotten what it was like to be able to go all-out physically and still be able to breathe without my lungs shrinking to the size of itchy, burning little raisins.

Life is good.

Whoever loves, let him flourish. Let him perish who knows not love. Let him perish twice over whoever forbids love.

-Graffiti found on the wall of the House of Caecilius Iucundus, Pompeii.