The surgery

Tomorrow I am going to the hospital at 6:00am to have my spinal surgery. Yesterday I went to have a plaster caste made for a back brace. They wrapped me in casting and will use it to make a plaster mold and they use this to mold plastic into the brace. My brace will have butterflies or be cobolt blue snake skin I had to pick two then they will see which they have. I will do a detailed blog about the experince this is why I ha ve done this blog so the real work is being tomorrow.

Bad medical news

I went to the doctor yesterday. My sugar is out of control. I got a new blood sugar meter. Then when I took my blood sugar last night it was 426. If you know anything about blood sugar that sucks. So I am eating nothing but protien from now until the end of all time and eternity. Then I got a call from Mrs. C and she said my nerve conduction test will be on Feb. 23rd. Sooooo I called back and I left another message. I asked her if this was going to be a problem. Last time she said that the reason they kept cancelling my appointments is becuase I needed the EMG first. Well I am scheduled to have my disco on Feb 19th so I asked if this was a problem. The thing is if she says it isn't then that means she was lying about the reason it was cancelled in the first place. I hate this bitch. I am going to be calling everyday untill I have my surgery.

Toooo long between posts!

I have to stop putting off posts like this. I have a few little medical tidbits to talk about.

First, on Monday I went to the neurologist. I was supposed to be getting a nerve conduction test but I had a sinking feeling that that wasn't going to happen. Why? Because nothing in this process seems to be happening as expected. SO I went and had a consult. In which the Dr. so nicely informed me I was going to have a nerve conduction test. Yawn. I went to the lobby where my whole family was waiting. They went with me because they decided if they were getting me out of the house they were getting me to go to dinner. We use to go several times a week but now that I have been home I usually refuse to go out. So when I came out with the Dr. They said have a seat and we will call you to schedule an appointment. I thought um... no I will not wait in a waiting room after a Dr. appointment. So I went up to the little glass window and explained I have a life and need to leave. They said they would call me. This should have been a BIG RED FLAG!!! But I give them my cell phone and go to dinner with my family(Outback).

Of course the next day...no call. I wait optimistically. The next day I decide this crap is not going to happen to me again. SO I call and get put on hold. According to my phone I wait 4 min. Then I hang up call back and claim I was disconnected. I have been using this method for year. It is the one truly passive aggressive thing I do. Then I waited 6!!!! more minutes and call back AGAIN. Some story. They say " you were here today right?"

"no"

" oh we usually schedule appointments before you leave so we thought it was today ( I will pretend I didn't explain before I was put on hold I was there on Monday).

"no I was there Monday but couldn't wait"

"We can't find you chart cause we though you were here today."

"ho Monday, I just need to schedule a nerve conduction test..... blah blah blah blah.....

To make a long story slightly less long. They promised to call me back in just a jiffy...They never called. SO because of my lessons learned I will be calling every day until I get my appointment.

To add to the excitement my regular Dr. got my pre-op test results and is freaking out. My sugar has gone super massive black whole. SO she wants me there Friday, for a double appointment slot, and I am to bring all medications I take and my blood G meter. I am in deep trouble. My machine broke like months ago I have been a bad bad diabetic. I'll keep you posted.

Medication lesson

Last month when I got my medication I had some extra. This means I didn't use the pain killers around the clock. Well because of this I didn't fill my prescription right away. This is a mistake for a few reasons. First, insurance companies will not fill a prescription for a narcotic for thirty days. Second, if you hold a narcotic prescription to long (read 48 hours) it will actually expire. Because of the first problem I am spending two days without proper pain medication. Now fortunately I have Soma which I still basically have a full prescription of and I also have extra morphine. This is because since I have been on disability I have not needed to take the maximum doses. Unfortunately I have no Percacet. This is my main maintenance medication. I take it every six hours. I am proud of myself for using less of the medication but I am not happy with the position I have put myself into.

SO what have I learned from this. Well first I will fill prescription in a timely manner. Second I may actually be able to get by with less medication. I didn't oversleep today and although I have a headache I have more energy. I am excited to think I may be able to reduce the medication and gain quality of life. SO even when I get the pills I am planning to use only what is completely necessary. Overall I see thins as a win.

Slow day

Today I got a call from the hospital. There were a few problems with this. First, as I said yesterday I am not having the surgery on the 10th anymore. Another problem was that they said I was schedule for a lumbar fusion. now I am not a medical professional but my understanding is that a lumbar fusion is not a disc replacement. So I called Mrs. C, and asked about it. Well I asked her voice mail because God forgive I actually get to speak to her. Latter on in the day I get a cal from Mrs. C. She wants to know the name of the person who called. I tell her "Umm... B" (short) and say, " I also was wondering why they said lumbar fusion aren't I supposed to have a disc replacement?" I felt like this was a pretty normal thing to ask but Mrs. C was a be-otch anyway. She says" I just called because I wanted to know the name of the person who called and maybe the number." Hmmm....really does that sound like an answer to my question? It didn't to me. Sooo again I say, " Her name is B, and am I having a lumber fusion or a disc replacement?" She says, "The terminology we use is for your procedure is a lateral lumbar disc fusion, because we replace the disc and then we "fuse" it together." Now that would have been a much better answer then the one she gave and I wouldn't be all pissed off. Then she said "she just wants to call this person because she has been trying to call for a while and the person is getting on her last nerve ending" So I said "Yeah that would get on my last nerve ending too." Which is code for you are on my last nerve ending. Of course she doesn't know this.

It is also worth mentioning that I called Mrs. C yesterday and (left a message of course) saying blah blah no hard feelings sorry for the mis-communication and blah blah blah. It was my attempt at making amends. DO you think she said thank you, or even I got your message, or maybe blah blah blah me too. No she didn't. I will just consider that another reason I am less then impressed with Mrs. C.

Disaster Number One

It is official I have had my first major medical scheduling snafu melt down. I really did see this coming. Things just were not runny smoothly. The snow ball started rolling in the beginning of January. I received a call from a random neurologist and they wanted to schedule an appointment for a visit. They did not know why which is funny.

So I made the appointment and got directions and forgot to get the name or phone number of the Dr. Then I drove the hour it takes to get to the other side of the valley. When I got the the directions were clearly wrong. Not just wrong but not even close to right. I mean the streets didn't even intersect the way the directions said. So I fought with my husband about map quest for another hour and then I gave up and went home.

I then went to my next Dr. apt and asked for a closer office. I was told no problem. Well the next day I get a call from the office and the wonderful Mrs. C. We will call her that in case someday someone ever reads this blog. Well she said I can't go to them because the insurance is approved for The original Dr. So I call and I call and I call trying to reschedule. Nothing they never call. Then I come home two weeks ago to find out my surgeon called and they have to cancel the Disco because the insurance hasn't approved it. Then again last week same thing. In the mean time I call several times wondering when I will get any information about the hospital stay since I haven't.

This brings us to today. I have a regular appointment and it is only a week till surgery. I plan to ask what is up and I assume I will have to do a little complaining. Well I had no idea. I tell the PA I haven't heard anything and he passes the buck to the scheduler you know Mrs. C. Then I get the message that my insurance clearance for the disco expired. Hmm.... Expired. The one that hadn't come in as of Sat. expired. ????? So I say how does something expire that has never been issued. Seems reasonable .....right? Am I crazy? Apparently I am and also a lazy appointment skipping, lying liar that lies.

The lovely Mrs. C explains that because of my own personality flaws you things like not answering phones or living up to my responsibilities on the paper work she personally gave me......screeeeech.........halt. What???? Y0u personally gave me???? Lady I have never met you before. I have only spoken to you on the phone twice. And I might add during these phone calls you told me my MRI hadn't been approved and after I probed a little you suddenly realized it had. Thank God I did that or else we would be missing that test as well.

There will be no surgery on Feb 10th. Mrs. C doesn't know how to make it any clearer to my dumb ass. I explain about the three calls to the nero Dr. to rescheduled that had remained unanswered. She promptly calls them and schedules and they tell her they have been trying
to call me bullshit. Well maybe bullshit and maybe the kids have answered the phone and did not give me the message. However, I did explain that I have said time and time again that my cell was the phone that needed to be called.

To make an already long story not much longer. The bottom line is that my surgery is no longer scheduled for Feb 10th. It isn't scheduled at all. Now we have to do all the testing again and start from scratch. I balled and complained for an hour and a half then scheduled my new appointments and left.

About two hours latter I called back an left a message apologizing for being so emotional. I think the fault is shared at this point. She never gave me any info the day we got the surgery date and I have a house full of children who don't deliver messages. And forward we march.

sleep issues

One of the problems with not having a regular schedule is never being able to sleep normally. I am now awake at 1:30 in the morning. I was exhausted at 4:00pm but forced myself to stay up until 9:00 yet here I am awake. It wouldn't be such a problem but I have to drive my daughter to the bus stop. Now doesn't that sound ridiculous! Drive her to a bus stop. Well she leaves the house so early it is still dark. I can't have her walking the streets of Las Vegas in the dark morning hours. She is in a magnet school. For those of you who don't know magnet schools are special schools in not so desirable neighborhoods. The ramp it up and to justify the cost they insert an academy and open it to any student in the district. It is like free private school. First the kids have to have the test scores then there is still so many they have a lottery. My daughter is taking classes a year ahead of her grade level so it is worth the early morning. She is twelve and yesterday she said she couldn't be late because she didn't want to go to a "B" school for college. I'm 38 and I am not really sure what that means. Where does she hear this stuff?

Pre Op Clearence

So I got up at 5:30 this morning to take Em to school and go to the Dr. I had my sister drive me because I have decided to stop driving. I didn't know what to expect they would take blood. Well the gave me something they called a gown. Ridiculous to call it that it was a paper vest that came just to the tip of my boobs and covered nothing. It was more like two paper towels. First I got a chest x-ray. She told me to raise my hands. Really? the paper towels were already at the tip of my boobs. I told OK but I'm gonna flash you. After the c-ray I got an EKG. She told me to turn the "gown" so the opening was in the front. I layed on the table. Then she hooked up pads on my legs, arms, and torso. She said it wouldn't hurt, and it didn't, it took about 10 seconds and that was it. I know this test has something to do with my heart. They said it was normal but I know from talking to my brother-in-law who has a heart condition, all they can tell is I've never had a heart attack. Then the nurse said "wait till I leave and you can get dressed". I said "Why is there comething you haven't seen. She didn't laugh no sense of humor. Then 7 viels of blood, and a pee test and that was it. Home I went. Pretty standard I guess. They did seem to want some kind of form from my other Dr. about what he needed but I didn't have one. It may mean I need another bllod test or something. Oh and interesting side note. There was a student at the Dr. and he had done a rotation with Dr. Spine and saw hime perform the same surgery I am having. Small world.

I'm Baaaack

I haven't written in a few days. I have been busy laying around the house and thinking about how bored I am. Then while reading my favorite blog the Pinoneer Woman I saw something called the bloggies. It is a site that gives awards for the best bolgs all over the world. I decided I would check out these cool blogs. So I did and do you know what I found out? That the most popular blog is just a woman writing. No bells and whistles just a woman living life telling her story. I like it. She started like me. I am writing for my own enjoyment. I still will but now I think maybe someone will read this. The trouble is I wonder if this will make me change what I write. Will it make me worry. Well for now I am sure now one is watching and if someone does that's ok too. I guess if I didn't want them to I would have written this in a book.

So I am worried that the surgery may be postponed. I still haven't had my disco and I can't get a response from the doctor who is supposed to do my EMT. SO since the surgery is scheduled for feb 10 and that is creeping up I begin to worry.

Well while I worry I sit around bored. I worry about getting increasingly fat. I worry that I sleep to much. I worry that my sleeep schedule is screwed up. I don't know why but staying up all night and sleeping all day seems so wrong. It is what teenagers and cllege students do. Speaking of which my son who is 18 is doing that it is really irritateing to me. I have no explaination for why it bothers me. It's it wrong? Aren't human beings supposed to sleep at night?

See what I mean sitting around THINKING is just not a good idea. I am going to try to write it all down here. Maybe then I will feel more normal.

20 days till Surgery

Well I spent the day on the phone with various doctors trying to get pre-op testing completed. I was scheduled for a disco tomorrow. This is a proceudre where they put you in what they call a twilight sleep and inject the disk. They are attempting to find the nerves that are cousing the pain. I have had it done before and have no memory of it. Then I have to have an EMT. I don't know what the acronym is but they send electrical current to determine the pathways the nerves take. Finally, I have to have a MRI again.

I also am dealing with my disability plan. I am now required to provide info on all doctors I have to seen in the last year. I am worried they will give me difficulty. I waited the required year so the back condition would not be a pre-existing condition. I am trying not to get worried because of course insurance companies do this but I don't know what I will do if they don't provide the disability. Makes me nervous.

Yellow yarn ball

I made a yellow yarn ball for my nephew. It is something he can throw around and it's soft. It starts like this. Then this. And finally it looks like this.

Another day Another picture of something ....

This is the view from the car when I am waiting with Emily for her bus. The trees and bushes are in the park "Ansan Park". I wanted to get a piture of sunrise but the building were blocking the sunrise so I took this facing West . You can see the snow on the mountains and the different color in the rocks. Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains like these on all sides.

I was wide awake for this becuase I woke up at 3:00am. I slept before that for 18 hours. I have decided to try to keep a schedule and spend a linited amount of time in the bedroom. Even if I am in pain I will stay down stairs.

Writing a Blog

There are so many topics I want to talk about and I never know what to use. I saw a very interesting movie tonight called Julie/Julia about a blog written by a women cooking all of the recipes in Julia Child's cook book. It was neat but it made me think about blogging. She choose to do a blog about something very specific. While I am writing very random stuff. I am totally good with that because mostly I am just interested in getting my thoughts out. As I spend most of my time stuck in the house.

I vertured out today and it was a huge mistake. My sister decided to make a garden. She reorganized the entire back yard and started getting things ready. So I went with her to Lowe's to pick up seeds and a hose nozzle. That seems fairly mundane, Right! Well I should have known it was a mistake when my back hur tthe minute I walked in the door. Then I just HAD to take a look at the kitchen cabinets ( I am working on remodeling the kitchen. By the time we got to the check out I had to go sit in the car.

I was in so much pain I went home and laid on a bag of peas (for the cold). I hurt the entire rest of the day. This sucks. I now can't even go to the store for 15 minutes. I am so eargerly awaiting this surgery. I have not gotten an official appointment for all my preop procedures yet so I will be calling the Dr.'s office in the morning. Wish me luck.

Dentists

Dentists suck ..... five freaking hours of waiting. I wrote a nice long post about this but they it disapeared. So basically it boils down to I HATE THE DENTIST.

Playing with the Camera

I decided to play around with the camera all of my kids are so darn cute. Today I concertrated on my 12 year old nephew Micheal he is adorable. In fact I think he could be a model. I promised him I would keep it EMO ( that is team speak for emotional teen). He would not smile any more them this he said his teeth are to big. Translation beautiful and white. Well physically I am feeling OK. Still bored but I am working on keeping my self busy(see picture). My biggest challange is sleep. I don't like sleeping all day. My daughter has to be driven to the bus stop( yeah I know that sounds wierd but she meets the bus for her magnet school at the local Jr. High. She is fairly well spoiled so we drive her to the stop. It would be about a 15 minute walk.) Anyway she leaves at 6:20 so I want to be up to take her. This will keep me on my work schedule. The problem is I feel really tired later in the day and want to take a nap. Then I can't sleep at night...... you get the picture... its a vicious cycle. So that's why I keep trying to not sleep during the day. So that is my main activity remaining awake. SOund fun huh?

Harry Ried's Flub

So Harry Ried says something raceist. It's OK though because Obama doesn't mind. As if Obama is the only black man of consiquence. Yeah it directed at him but that's not the point if he is willing to say it about Obama he obviously thinks it is an acceptable opinion to have. So why is Obama OK with it. It's simple he is willing to throw himself under the bus to continue his healthcare crusade. If Harry Ried resigns it effects Obama's ability to drive the healthcare bill home.

Saturday Morning.

Today was a busy day in bed. I completed some of my graduate work. Dylan had his friend Jordon over nad his friend Alton came by as well. This house is crazy enough, but when you add more teenagers into the mix it gets crazy. Yesterday I tried to spend most of the day in the living room. Unfortuantely all it got me was a lot of pain. I am super glad I have this blog. Even if no one is reading it gives me a chance to let out some of the frustration. I don't know if I mentioned but I am also dieibetic. I am wondering if my sugar levels are cousing me to be tired. I can't check because my meter is broke. I guess on monday I'll make an appointment to get a new one. Yesturday I got some Baby kisses from Mason. He is really funny. He is my nephwe and two and he climbed up on my lap and rolled around snuggling me. Here are some pictures my sister took.

Today I stayed in.

I was in to much pain to go anywhere today so I stayed in. I actually slept for 18 hours. This was horrible. I hate napping and feel like a slacker. I am going to attempt to make a schedule for myself to try to keep myself busy. To entertain my self I took a bunch of pictures of the kids.

This is my beautiful sister the mom of many of the kids in my life. She is studying. She is currently doing a midwife apprenticeship. That's why they are living with us so she can pursue her life long dream and the kids still have access to one of three other parents at all times.

Then her are the two middle children playing in the living room. I love seeing them play.

The older child is my girl in her natural habitat. Reading. She is either reading on the computer or doing school work. This is what goes on around me as I sit in pain. It's not to bad all things considered.

Jack

Jack went exploring with Dyan. The best thing about the park was the light for my photos. Then we ran into some friends!! So I took a few pictures of them as well.Vienna and TJ are my best friend Michelles kids they were there with their dad. This may not seem that odd but Vegas has 100's of parks.

Mason

Mason was everywhere this is a shot of him going down the slide.

A day at the park

I decided to go to the park with my two youngest nephews. The problem is my back does not allow me to do much and I can't keep up with them. So I took the two oldest along with me. Ellie is 16 and Dylan is 18. I would not have been able to go with out.