mistakes that let everyone know youre a rookie

I forgot to mention acupuncture as well.

 

First I can't take ANY form of an opiate natural or not. I am going in the morning for some PT and to a short meeting about my surgery as far as how they are going to anesthetize me, right now I think they are going to use a general preceded by a fentanyl-versed mix to relax me. I am trying to get the fentanyl skipped because it will cause me to have severe stomach issues.

As to how all this ends? Right now I am in a wheelchair 90% of the time. In the VA they will not approve non-emergency surgery until you have been cleared by the heart docs. In my case, I can also add my Neurologist and Endocrinologist to that list. My neurologist told me that soon he won't clear me for any more surgical procedures. Epilepsy is a NASTY disease, it can have different forms. Mine is one of the worst. I have horrid trouble with "absence seizures" and with "musicogenic seizures". This is a bit funny in a way, my church pastor gives me all kinds of grief (good-natured) about why I listen to classical music so much.

I want to also add that "absense seizures" mostly happen to kids. Take a look at this video I will post at the end of my post. I begin to have these dang seizures slowly over my last 2 years on the road. I then went to see a Neurologist who tested me and told me to GET OFF THE ROAD! I don't think anybody would want someone driving a fully loaded CMV in heavy traffic to have one of these. I cry sometimes when I see a child in the same neurologist waiting room I am in and see them have these. It will rip your heart right out. One more point on this. Most of you are at some point in your day out in public. Do you know how to handle a seizure? I have made sure all my friends do. Both my neighbors do. Anyway here is that video. It is simple, maybe even boring, I don't know if that girl is acting or not, but this is a VERY accurate portrayal of one of these dang things!

 

Seizures I have handled with dear friends in school. As would be caused by mennengitis on one hand life long with someone from childhood to adult and another from strong lights and epilisy also from childhood to adult. The state schools have afforded those experiences in my life and learning how best to combat to protect those two when they have a episode hit them at any time. The one who had the dinner episode at my table with 6 others was in most danger of losing his airway due to the food. So we took care of that. We meaning me and one counselor trained in basic EMT. Then Infirmary transferred him to FMH for observation and haven.

Fent is a lethal medicine to me, it stops the breathing as a form of shock that kills the last time I had a dose. So I cannot use that.

The last surgery I had my doctor responsible for putting me out, first used a large sedative followed by a paralytic once I was out. Then hooked me to a vent to provide life support via oxygen with my body paralyzed for the surgery. I came up in recovery enough for them to take tube out which was good, got the gag reflex back, puked up empty stomach and that was that followed by 100 mg of demerol IV until the immediate FLACC pain was reduced to zero.

I did not like being that deep in surgery but they did put me on Versed which I have good experiences with that helps the staff just deal with very basic functions without the higher level crap. The Versed helps me greatly in situations that I would not do well sometimes.

It has been years since I considered the Seizure scenario and what must be done to assist a person experiencing it. A little rusty you might say so it's very good I think of those two dear friends from way back that you triggered a memory of same.

Fent is a medicine from God so to speak, the king of all pain killers. It reduces someone to like 14 years old, in perfect condition without pain. For some like me it kills instead by striking my lung function and shutting it down in a few minutes. They brought me back that day and it was a near thing. Not that I was concerned too much about that but it would have been bad if it did kill me that year. I was needed.

I have also stopped all medicine for pain but other medicines are present and I hope someday to leave them be and stop it. But it's something for me to work for. I appreciate your thoughts and did not understand the gravity of the situation until now.

 

@Moose1958 I wish you well in you surgery and keep us updated. reading this it reminded me of this video i seen a couple years ago

 

I understand where you are standing on those functions. CBD is a wonderful product. There is a palsy that I have had since trucking. You would think there are 10,000 shaky truckers from all that old iron days. Im one of them. That product takes care of that palsy in a minute tops for the rest of the day making it useful for fine motor control doing delicate tasks such as writing. Fortunately a small amount once every two years is plenty. It's like 120 dollars a bottle.

Regarding surgery, I consider the analogy of the broken car. If you have to remove a busted radiator hose and put in a new one and similar to stopping a internal bleeding or big cut etc thats surgery. I do not take on surgery for just its own sake. I fight off doctors who push it just because. I got one doctor who told me that he wanted to do some really big stuff related to my spine and neck with some form of plastic pipe with a pump inside my chest feeding it to be filled one time a month.

ERM no. nuh uh. I actually like my spine the way it is and depend on it.

When you get into the realm of Ketamine, you run up against Arkansas doctors who normally will be ###### before they hand THAT out. To them its a monster on Schedule one waiting to bite them in the ### from the State. I have heard of what special K can do in Trauma situations but for ordinary pain? Erm... I dont know. Forgive me if I back away from it.

Arkansas has outlawed certain substances that have become popular from Nature when refined to a form we can take such as powders etc. They unfortunately at the state house has been ahead of the rest of the USA where it's legal. Its not to say I can drive a few hours and get it. Actual possession is debatable. I don't know if I will go that far just yet. I still get drug tested several times a year hunting for substances of all kinds. Such as those. and truckers think they worry about the tiny 5 panel DOT test. HA....

I have alot to think about every day and its really hard to take on surgery just because someone said so or wants to. I prefer to have a simple goal. If Butcher wants to cut? he needs to pull the busted part out and throw it or drop a replacement in. Otherwise forget it. I'll get along as I am knowing what I am rather than take on a chance of further damage or loss of function etc.

Not to mention insurance has paid out like 240,000 and another 16000 going out soon this year. And thats not including the two I am thinking on. That totals about 110000.

Who am I to commit that kind of money? I am nothing. But a Trucker. It would take a lifetime to repay society for that kind of expense.

 

Yeah man those surgeries are very expensive! Where I worked, I saw how much surgeons charge the insurance company and boy oh boy, half of the things they requested to the insurance aren’t needed. The health care system is corrupted almost everywhere, doctors want to charge for unnecessary services. If u don’t mind what kind of back surgery does your surgeon want to do? Is it to fix a herniated disc, spinal fusion, replacement of joints, or putting a rod in your spine? I met a young girl at my PT place awhile ago and the surgeon was so persuasive that he sold her in getting the spinal fusion. He even went on showing her a video of how the post recovery process is, when I heard that I was like BS! That surgeon is a scum, I hated him because he was ####y, came in the office smelling like alcohol, rude, and worst of all a liar and he will do what ever it takes to cut you open. Spinal fusions are very serious and should be done when your older, not in your 20s. When the patient came to our clinic, she could barely move, and worst of all she’s been coming to PT for 3 years and we can only do so much you know. So my therapist straight up told her your going to be limited in your range of motion for the rest of your life, she never came back after hearing the truth. My PT told me that she was too young to get a spinal fusion.

 

I hate the word free, but my healthcare is provided by the VA. I do pay copays and at some point, I will get a small bill for my surgery. I also have both VA providers and providers that are non-VA. I estimate my total payments for this surgery will be under $200 altogether. The Hampton Virginia VA Hospital just recently finished upgrading and expanding its entire surgical suites! I had my first cataract removed in Sept 2015 and the one in my right eye was removed last March. They opened these new ORs in the time between these surgeries. The VA also brought in some fine Ortho surgeons. My Ortho doc is a great guy that sat with me a while back, twisted his computer screen around and showed me my last MRI and Xrays. I have a basic idea of what he will be doing. Part of this is to repair rotator cuff tears as well as grind off where a piece of (Bone?) is protruding into one of the tendons that make up that cuff. To put this into perspective, A surgeon at the Riverside hospital near me absolutely refused to even consider surgery because of my age and because of Epilepsy. The doc laid it out and said he was willing to try, then we got my approvals. The last and most difficult being my neurologist, and he is close to shutting all of this down. This VA Ortho doc wants to also do this same surgery on my right shoulder in about 6 to 8 months. In my case, I need my shoulders fixed so I can have some basic movement back. I am not doing either of these to reduce pain.

 

Well rotator cuff repairs are very common, we get a lot of patients who get surgeries on their rotator cuff muscles and/or tendons, meniscus surgery on the knee, herniated disc removal, carpal tunnel repairs, trigger finger release, and some other ones I can’t remember. If you can live with your rotator cuff muscles being the way it is that’s fine too. I met a patient who has a torn rotator cuff and biceps tendon and still managed to NOT get surgery on it. My therapist said if you can live like that your whole life then do it but if you want to fix it it’s all on you. I think fixing it would be more tiresome because you have to go through surgery, possible therapy and also a great deal of time to take away all that #### scar tissue and limited range of motion haha

 

If I can remember that one “black magic doctor” In China I would let you guys know, 4 patient of ours went to a so called doctor somewhere in the Philippines or Hong Kong in the mountains and they performed this ritual that “supposedly” cures your ruptured muscles or tendon. She came back to us and holy moly! She was able to raise her arm and everything, we couldn’t believe it but a few other patients mentioned the same thing. If I can find out the name I will post it here. Sounds kinda sketchy tho.

 

If all my shoulder problems were just rotator cuff tears I would not do surgery. I have problems with protruding stuff pushing into those tendons. As it is I can't get my left arm much higher than even with that shoulder. I have gone as far as PT will take me, and they are getting concerned about using cortisone because of my eGFR numbers show reduced renal function.