My day starts a lot like Sesame Street

[cornerofmadness]

I always end up counting the cats before I leave to be sure no one is locked in the closet. One cat, two cat, three cat, bwaahahaha, I’m good. Let’s get out of here.

Today I had to go see the doctor about my shoulder. More precisely, the physician’s assistant (or what she a nurse practitioner…). And I’ve seen this a lot lately. The doctor is an easy going man or woman and his aid is a douche. She obviously had a lot of issues with me knowing as much as she did and seemed to think that I wanted narcotics.



PA – the shot didn’t work at all?

ME – not really

PA – not even after a few days

Me – yes, after the corticosteroid dissolved there was some pain relief but not that much. Can you give me a realistic idea of recovery time post op. This she did all right but wouldn’t be pinned down.

Me – please, I really need to know how long before I can drive. I live alone. I’m going to have to get a caretaker (i.e. mom)

PA – well you can use your hand once the drugs wear off in 48 hours.

Me – I can drive (not buying i)

PA – maybe, everyone is different but you can’t put your hand over your head for 3 weeks.

Me – ah, so I CAN’T actually do much steering if I have to limit movement, not that my hand needs to be above my head to drive. I’ll wait until I’m off in the summer.

PA –Oh…are you sure?

ME – yeah well maybe. If the pain gets any worse.

PA – the doctor did say you needed a Mumford procedure. That means there is a bone spur digging into your tendon and could rupture it.

Me – I know this but my job requires me to carry heavy things

PA – Your students can’t do that.

Me – not really. Can you give me anything for pain?

PA- I can’t give you a narcotic if you’re not having surgery right now.

Me - I don’t WANT a narcotic. They do nothing for pain. I would like an NSAID (non steroidal antiinflammatory) Maybe Relafen. I’ve been able to tolerate that before.

PA – you do know pain pills do nothing for pain they only make your head fuzzy

ME – um…that’s only true of narcotics which I don’t want. I want NSAIDS.

PA – you want to risk your stomach and kidneys for a little pain relief?

ME – Okay fine then give me more voltaren cream and Lidoderm patches (Voltaren is a transdermal application of an NSAID)

PA – those won’t go that deep

ME – you know really never mind (thinking I’ll just get my doc to give me freaking Relafen which I won’t tolerate for long but for bad days…)

PA – who about trammaldone

Me 0- that sounds familiar

PA –Ultram, it’s scheduled but not technically narcotic.

Me – no, look they’ve been arguing that since my residency in 94. It’s still addictive and it makes me barf. Nsaid?

PA – how about we put another shot in there.

Me you can’t, I’m maxed out. Okay I have one left I can have but I’m saving that one for vacation.

PA – schedule your surgery and she said goodbye. It’s like omg give someone a hint of power. The doctor is so nice and she makes me want to find another practice.


Then I came home to get pissed off. I noticed lately Kanda’s mouth is getting smutty look. I really look at it. It’s all flea dirt. It’s not been two fucking weeks since I gave them all frontline. I think it’s pointless. I’m calling the vet. She said they were looking at a new pill. All three cats have fleas in spite of being treated. ARGH.


Then tonight I had a major episode curtsey of Diabetes iz Fun. Ugh. It’s been a long time since my gastric paresis has acted up this much. I felt fine until about 3 hours after dinner. Okay, in 2 hours all the food should be out of your stomach and on its way. I got violently ill and let’s just say it was like 3 minutes had passed since eating, not hours. And of course I had already taken my insulin and my sugar promptly crashed. Thank god for dissolving sugar pills. I managed to get in a little soup with bread mushed up in it just to try and stabilize. Might go for a little peanut butter now, something easy to digest.

And now it is snowing in time for tomorrow’s nursing test. Pouts.


check this out. the greener penny it's a green site (ignore there is martha stewart involvement. there is helpful stuff here)





OMG TREATS. Look we've totally wrecked your rug. treat us

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Oh, GEEZE. It's like she didn't hear anything you said. SMACK HER.

The cats are cracking me up. Seriously.

Good luck with your snow.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the COUNT of the cats. Oy.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

she wasn't prepared for a patient who knew what was going on and didn't like it

TREATS (notice there are at least two on the floor these rocket scientists haven't spotted)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

snort

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

She had a rote speech and you interrupted it or something.

WAAHH HAAAH HAAAH HAAA...ONE, TWO, THREE CATS.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

hahaha,thankfully one cat is sleeping on the futon not bugging me

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

THREE kitties! It is astounding how much difference just one more cat makes...

I don't care for nurse practitioners -- it's like they don't hear you at all. (And for heaven's sakes, you're a DOCTOR, you know what you're asking for!)

[ital-gal.livejournal.com]

geeez, douche seems like the right word. as if it's not enough that you have all this pain in your shoulder, you have to deal with this pain in the butt as well.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Give me the address, I'LL go smack her. I need someone to smack in the wintertime, anyway.

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

OMG, nurse practitioner sounds so freaking annoying. Way to be melodramatic about NSAIDs - I know doctors like to be conservative about prescribing them due to the stomach stuff, but she made it sound like as though one dose of diclofenac would eat a two inch hole in your stomach. And if it was drug-seeking behaviour, why the hell would you be even asking for NSAIDS instead of a bucket of opiates? Helen has noticed that a small minority of nurses and GPs feel quite threatened and defensive when treating doctors.

Sorry to hear about the diabetes 'fun'. Hope you're feeling more stable now and had an okay night.

That kitty photo makes me laugh so hard. Ours do this exact thing. Hey, we just peed on your bathmat. LOVE US. FEED US. PET US.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh they do. Most docs are okay with it but then you get the ones who are very threatened and then you get the nurses who think it's their duty to protect the doctor from you.

And for that matter she didn't even know I HAD a stomach issue. i told her that afterward (I'm not sure anyone could get thru my chart quickly)

Once I threw up, I was fine. the sugar stablized but i'm still a little blah right now.

those treats must be crack given their reactions.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Sleeping animals are always good.

[caffeinified.livejournal.com]

I don't think that nurse listened to you at all. That is so annoying. You know every time I've been to the doctor lately they have all this stuff on the walls about how you should speak up cause they can't know unless you say something. But then you run into someone like that and it's like... okay why should I speak up again?

More snow. Man, we're supposed to get some again tonight and tomorrow.

[rain-oubliette.livejournal.com]

One! One cat! Ah-ha-ha-ha! (COM does Count from Sesame St.) Totally had me LOL.

PA=douche.

Cats say "We killed the evil rug thing so it wouldn't trip you. Give us treats!"

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

hahaha prettymuch that is my morning. One, one cat two....where the hell is it?

definite douche

i do tend to trip on those things

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah even when i was practicing i'd see some people get SO threatened when treating a fellow health care worker. whatever

oops, you guys are getting swatted this winter

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

holzer clinic Jackson OH. go nuts

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

no kidding

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

right now everyone wishes there were one less kitty (let's just say Soul's rambuctiousness isn't winning him kitty friends)

Yeah I have issues too with them since it usually seems like they feel threatened because they aren't doctors or something

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a neighboring state -- I'll check on the drive time.

[kashicat.livejournal.com]

It's the weirdest thing, how all these bad things seem to collect and then throw themselves at you on the same day. It's like the universe plotted, or something. Grrr.

I hope things will pick up now, and be a *little* more tolerable at the very least. One hopes maybe the universe just got it all out of its system in one day, but...

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah you just can't trust the universe some days

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yay love that icon

[hopeswings.livejournal.com]

What is that icon from?? D: I know I've seen it before but can't place it... *scratches head in confusion*

It's funny looking though, what over it is. xD

[hopeswings.livejournal.com]

eh...try having twelve cats in the house at the same time. My grandmothers' had all the girls in the house at one time and that was a nightmare. She called me like every other day for a while because she couldn't find a certain cat. So I know how you feel. Cat breeding is nice but it's a nightmare trying to keep up with all those cats because they like to disappear. ;D

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

That's Fizzgig, from Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal. :D

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thank you but no. 3 i s plenty.12 would terrify me

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I don't get to use it often, but it's one of my favorites!

[hopeswings.livejournal.com]

ah...haha, no wonder I recognized him. xD I use to watch that movie all the time.

[hopeswings.livejournal.com]

haha, well that's not even all her cats. She's got about six boys too. x3 She's had over 20 before but she's been trying to get rid of some of them. lol But I know what you mean. I have 1 cat and I intend on keeping it that way for now. lol

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've seen it since the '80's, but my dogs always remind me of Fizzgig, soooooo....

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

given how much poo my 3 put in the box in 12 hours. i don't want to consider that