Medical Update

This the post explaining the medical issues that have been going on lately. As it stands now most of these have been cleared up and I am doing much better, so don't get too scared reading this.

The first Wednesday of June I woke up in fair bit of pain It was beyond the usual post work out pain I would get from having over done it the day before working out(I like to do sit ups till I fell like death is over taking me sometimes). I just lay in bed groaning till it got so bad I had to go throw up. The rest of the was spend floundering on the couch till I had to go throw up again. And I figured that since green mucus and bile were all I brought up it was time to go see the doctors.

An over night stay in the emergency room, a couple of scan, and some liberal application of painkillers(they gave out the stuff like candy down there) reveled that I had gal stones blocking my bile duke. I was scooped, snipped and had four stones removed. Other problems arose while this was going on. My anti-rejection meds spikes, going from the range of 7-10 to 20. My kidneys were overwhelmed by the toxins in my blood and were getting some fairly signification damage dealt to them. My gallbladder was still full of stones and infectious goo.

The treatment for this dialysis and eventually removing the gallbladder. My kidneys could not keep up the pace needed to filter out the bad stuff they needed to, so a hymo-vat line got inserted into my neck and I spent three hours getting my blood changed. Very sci-fi.

By week two of hospitalization my blood work was showing improvement, and I was allowed out on day pass(I also said if I didn't get out I would throw a chair through the window). Blood work, kidney function, medication levels are all continuing to improve but I'm still spending every night in lock up. My doctors want to make sure I'm in the best shape to present my case to the surgeon, so that the surgery can be done as an in-patient.

More to come later.

Speed post

This a posting that is long over due and shorter than it needs to be, but time and energy are a factor. Longer and more indepth posts are going to be coming.

So the bullet points are these: Calgary is under water. I am safe, living up in the high north of the city. I am going back to school, in my program, a lot of people came through for me to make this happen and they rock.

I have been in the Hospital since the fifth of June. I had gal stones, four of them. Kidney function got all messed up, anti-rejection medication levels spiked, and almost three weeks later I am still sleeping there. I am very much on the up swing now, and have been out on day pass. I lost too much wait and I have a very low hemoglobin blood count. So I feel like tired kitten all the time, only I'm not as cute when I'm napping.

An actual post

Okay I did promise a real post, and if you read through that last one you are a trooper.  The last month has been eventful with both medical and non-medical events. It is now seven months as of yesterday since the voodoo necromancy was preformed, and I have to say I'm feeling pretty damn good. Lungs have had no issues, I have avoided getting any colds, and I am keeping active(kinda).

On my last visit up to Edmonton I was cleared on resume light contact sports and activity. This is potential huge because it means that I could, very carefully, go back to Hap Ki Do. The doctor says my chest wall has healed fully by now, and that my risk of rib breakage is the same as most other people(possibly slightly higher due to the steroids). So as long as I take things slow and don't do any of the full contact aspects of the training I can finally get back to something that was a major part of my life for ten years.

Mt eye doctor finally gave me a prescription for glasses two weeks ago, and there is a very noticeable difference. It was very much like the new lungs, I got so used to living with how bad it was that it was shocking once it was fixed. I have a very strong lens in the left eye and a blank lens in the right. I have to wait a few months before we can set a date for surgery on the cataract in my right eye. On the advice of a friend I bit the bullet and got the nicer frames. The logic being that if they fit poorly and I don't like the look I am not going to wear them, so whats the point. My disability, combined with a rather well timed sale, brought the cost down by about half. It took a chunk out of my whores and cocaine budget but I have had nothing but positive feed back on how they look. With the exception of the nurses calling me a hipster today, which is SSOOOO not true it just the shirt/hat/glasses/sideburns combo I was rockin this morning.

In less awesome news I wrecked my car last month. It was a bad judgment call on my part while changing lanes. No one was hurt and no other vehicles were involved, but my Swedish tank found its panzerfaust in a steel meridian pole. I still rather pissed about the whole thing. The car was ion great working order, engine ran well, it was well take car of, the radio came in clear, and now its gone. I was lucky that a friend of my mothers was looking to sell an older car and offered it to me a very good price. So now I'm the proud owner of a '95 Ford explorer. It needs some work, and has a lot of km on it, but for what I paid if it lasts me till summer I did better than buying a bus pass. Having a car for me is rather important, what with all the doctors appointments, blood work, and other time sensitive activities I have. The flexibility and independence are worth the cost. Once I am back in class, and have to buy a bus pass anyway, I will just walk to the train. But for now 'the beast', as she is referred to. will be my chariot of choice.

Hey dinks

Sup internetland? Been a while, but that just means there is actual news to report and I'm not going to fill a post with rambling non sense. Like the story about the time I took the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed the heel of my boot repaired, and the shoe repair here was closed. This was because old man Perison had to attend the funeral of Gladis Windslow's niece, she lived in that house that used to be yellow. I went into the corner store to get a onion to tie to my belt, which was the style at the time. while I was there I was sure to get change for the ferrie toll, which back in those days cost a nickle. Nickles back then didn't the beaver on them, they had big bumble bees, "gimmie five bees for a quarter" you'd say. Don't know why they switched to the beaver, politics most likely, thats what you get letting Trudeau in. Now this all took place in June, or possibly July, late June or early July, some where in there. That being the case I was wearing that hat that I liked because it matched the onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. Couldn't get white onions because of the war, so all we had were those big yellows. Good thing for me being as that hat that I liked was yellow, similar to color of the house the Gladis Windslow's niece lived in before they changed it, poor girls dead now you know. Now that I think of it, I may have been in April when this happened, it was April or August one of those two. Now walking to ferry was difficult because the heel on my boot needed to be repaired, I tried gluing it but it just created a rather sticky situation. Which coincidentally was the name of the dance we all went to after the maple syrup festival. It was always big ta-do, and all the fellas would be hurried out to get onions for their belts, which was the style at the time.You know thinking about it more it probably was March that this happened, but I wouldn't rule out Septerber as well. It was one of those two cause I remember putting up the Christmas decoration or taking down the Easter ones. So I go into the store looking for an onion that matched my hat, but they were all out. this hadn't happened since they first put the bumble bee on the nickle. I figured this ws because everyone has gotten one earlier on a case of having to go to Gladis Windslow's niece's funeral, and wanting to keep up with the current style at the time. I didn't want to look like a a square on the ferry boat, so asked the shop keep to get me an onion, preferably one that match my had, cause it look so good on me. Actually I think I was putting up the Halloween decoration about when this happened, them or the Thanks giving ones, hard to tell those apart sometimes, they're both kept in the big orange box in the garage and its way up high on the self it case the garage floods like it did that summer they painted Gladis Windslow's nieces house, its used to be yellow.

Planned on this going on for about three more pages, but I want to just get it done so I can do a real post.

December summary

I haven't posted in a while because posting isn't cool anymore, so if I want to be popular enough to have a shot with Mary-Jane Rottencrotch at the spring formal I have to post as little as possible. Nah I have just been lazy...and already had a piece of MJ's RC. For most of December I was on a very high dose of my anti-rejection drug Tacrolimus, which brought with it head aches, fatigue, and Peter being a generally unhappy camper. This wasn't straightened out until after Xmas and Yule, but before New Years eve. Which meant that I had a good time at one party, not great but not bad either. This was one of the things that I should expect to come up now and then. Until the medication level gets on a stable level and stays there, I'm going to run into issues with the level. Hopefully not as bad as it being three times as high as it should be, but lets looks forward not backward.

The doctors are softening on some of the rules they imposed at the very beginning. They don't get pissy about me going to the movies, or other social activities. And I was told that I can have a drink "every now and then". I am well aware that this terminology is not of a medical nature and leaves a lot of wiggle room for interpretation. As a responsible person I know that my health must come first and restraint is always preferred to regret. So I only did one long pull from the vodka bottle on NYE(still goes down really smooth, no burn at all, but orange juice still hurts, go fig). Like I have said before, doing things I used to do like drink at a party helps pull me back into the role of a person instead of the role of a patient.

Plans for the future: I dropped of the medical documentation that the Dean of the Arts faculty wanted from me. Hopefully it will get everything smoothed out for a re-start of school in the fall. Got me a new computer box! Twin monitors, DVD reader/burner, really fast insidie parts(I'm not a com sci major, fuck off|). So now my interneting, writing, and youtube watching isn't hampered by a computer that still has a floppy disk drive. I also plan on doing a 5K run at the end of April. I was talking to a friend of mine whom happens to be a police officer, and he mentioned he would be doing the 5K run/walk when the Police half-marathon happens. I, naturally, started talking trash, and challenged him to see who would have a better time. I'm confident that I will make short work of the ol' bugger, but I will be putting in the time in the gym to get up to fighting weight(or whatever it is that runners call it).

That all ya get for now.

Obligitor birthday update

As you may or may not know, its my birthday today. In lieu of gifts please pull emotionally scaring pranks on your co-workers (or neighbors and children if you work from the home). I am 29 years young, and just completed a detailed search for grey hair(up and down). There were none. Besides the usual "OMG, my life has no meaning, and I'm going to die alone*sob*" moments that come with my birthday the rest has been ship shape. Broke some personal record with the spirometry tests, eating well, all that good stuff. You can pretty much read the pamphlet I shoved under your door last time in regards to medical stuff.

I would also like to make an apology though. Even if it is my birthday I feel I have been some what selfish. It was never my intent to do this, nor was there any malicious mindset behind it, it just happened. So I would like to say I'm sorry to everyone. Sorry that I took ALL THE AWESOME, and didn't leave any for the rest of ya'll. PEACE!*drops mic and walks off stage*

Four months out

So today marks four months post-transplant for me. Not much to say other than that. I feel fine, haven't had much issue with medication  excepted for the sleeping pills. It varies from night to night, but if I don't take one I tend to lay awake for hours before falling asleep. But hey when you don't have to peel your butt of the Sealy till 10am you can stay up as late as you want.

I do feel like I am in a daze some times. The technical term is "Med-head", you aren't stoned but you're definitely slowed down a bit. I sometimes catch myself standing in a room for minutes at a time daydreaming, then coming to and not knowing why I had gone in there in the first place. If I get my act together early on and get some momentum going I will usually avoid wasting the day in front of the computer or napping. If I can say that I have accomplish one task in the day I don't feel like I have wasted it. Even if it is just sending out an email or doing a load of laundry, I have a to do list that keeps getting updated, so there is always a reason to get up a get moving in the morning.

My throat is much better, I can now eat stuff that I won't think of touching a few weeks ago. The doctors say my blood work and other tests are coming back good, and my daily breathing checks are stable. Weight still isn't coming back, I am hovering at 70 Kg and that doesn't seem to want to change. I picked up some protein powder last week and I'm putting that in everything. Don't know if that will make a difference, but I feel better about using that to gain weight rather than eating a bag of chips.

The novel is going poorly, thanks mostly to lack of focus brought on by meds and comics(web and dead tree). But its my first attempt beyond a short story, so I'm not expecting it to be my magnum opus. Its the process, the experimentation, the comparing it to my previous work, and the practice that I am getting from the whole thing that is the big reward.

Goals this week include: figuring out what I am doing for Yule this year, Christmas shopping, and making some appointments of a non-medical nature. Easy stuff...we'll see how much I get done, no rush really.