WHAM life reminds you how cruel it can be.

It started out as an innocent cold, I should have known better.

8/20/10 I notice some congestion and get the sniffles.

8/22/10 It shifts into high gear, don’t want to get out of bed.

8/23 – 8/26/10 Becky tells me I should go to the doctor.

8/26/10 I give in and go to immediate care. They tell me it’s viral and give me cough syrup and a prescription for antibiotics that I am only to fill if a fever sets in.

8/29/10 Fever!

8/31/ – 9/1/10 I start to feel better!

9/1/10 Late evening. Spend the entire night coughing unable to sleep.

9/2/10 Go to ER get an x-ray, two breathing treatments, prednisone + a script for more, a new inhaler, and a shot in the nether region that hurt like heck and still does a bit.

9/3/10 Lying awake for the second night in a row but hopped up on Albuterol this time. Realize I have not updated my blog in a while. Posted this long drawn out account just for filler on my site!

As I write this I am wondering if I am going to fall asleep before it is time to get up, I’m not feeling very confident about that. Last week was rough, emotionally draining. This week is shaping up to be more of the same, just of a different variety.

My health insurance expired at the beginning of this month, now all I have is the Medicaid with a huge spend down that makes it practically useless. I have tried to get other health insurance but that isn’t working out. No one wants to cover me. No real surprise there. I wonder if this means I will be fined under Obamacare?

Anyway, without the insurance I can’t afford my medications, even with the disability payments. Between meds and constant doctor visits I go through a lot of money each month, money that I can not afford. I am still unsure of what to do about this, it has been weighing on my mind since Saturday. I imagine something will come up, God seems to provide just in time, usually when I realize I need to stop worrying about it.

Also, it bares repeating, Pop Tarts are highly flammable. Don’t ask how I know, I just do and we will leave it at that.

Persistent buggers aren’t you?

I have been spending time getting everything ready for my big adventure on Friday. I am trying to keep myself occupied so I don’t psych myself out anymore than I already am.

Had to go to the doctor today because my bronchitis is not totally gone yet, this is not a good thing since I cannot have it when I go to surgery. The doc gave me the antibiotic that they usually perscribe for pneumonia. She said this should work and have me where I need to be by Friday. When I went to get the perscription filled they cashier asked me for 123 dollars! I about had to be carried out of the store. It’s all good though, they just accidentaly ran it through on an old insurance number, took a few hours but it got straightened out and I got my money back. They actually gave it to me for free and didn’t charge the co-pay to make up for the trouble.

I am supposed to be posting more about Christmases past, but I haven’t got it in me today, hopefully tommorrow I can get it up here.

I gave in and went to the doctor today. The bronchitis was getting to me, that and the whole “if I’m sick when my surgery rolls around they will cancel” thing. I was right, it is indeed bronchitis, a pretty nasty case according to the nurse. Anyway, they gave me some antibiotics and some cough syrup with codeine in it. I don’t think I should have taken the cough syrup and then tried to post.

I have some things I want to blog about but I am holding back because some of it might just turn some people away. It’s not bad bad stuff, just my thoughts on things happening in this country right now. I seriously wish that ALL the politicians, media, and pundits would pull their collective heads out of their butts and realize that they are not doing the U.S. any favors right now. To be honest, I think the thing that is truly screwing this country up is what is supposed to be protecting it.

That is all I will say for now, lets see how many hate emails I get because of that and I will go from there. I am now going to go enjoy a codeine induced sleep!

Give up, you will never figure out the tie in with that post title.

I have been absent for a few days now with good reason. First, Becky was on vacation all week, it was great to spend some time with here, we don’t get to do a lot of that when she is working. We saw the movie Four Christmases on Wednesday, very funny movie, although Vaughn’s character seemed a little effeminate. So then Thursday Anna got sick and had to go to the doctor, of course you know that whenever someone in this house gets sick I am not far behind! I started out with the same symptoms Anna had, but mine went south pretty quick. Desiree got sick Friday and had to come home early from school. Poor Becky ended up with a house full of sick people over the weekend. I need to make that up to her somehow!

On a completely different note I have a proposal for all medical practitioners. From now on when you tell someone they need surgery, you can’t tell them until you can schedule it within two days. Giving me all this time to think about it is not doing much for my nerves. All I do is sit around and worry about “what ifs” and it is taking a toll on me. If I make it to the 26th without having a heart attack from fear I will be glad when it is all over and I can get some semblance of a life back.

Well, I guess that is all I really have right now. I need to go worry myself into a tizzy again by reading about surgery mishaps!

Long time no content! I have been excessively lazy lately. I haven’t taken any pictures. I have been out of the house very little. Mostly I have just sat and home and moped. I still have a few weeks till I see the surgeon for my initial meeting. I have already psyched myself out and am scared to death! I haven’t even filled out the paperwork yet, maybe I should do that soon!

Oh well, short post!

A few quick thoughts!

1. if a doctor wants to stick a hose down your nose, pass on it.
2. if a doctor tells you that you won’t feel said hose being inserted, DO NOT believe them.
3. when the doctor tells you that taking that tube out is not bothersome at all again DO NOT believe them.
4. you would be surprised at the things that come out of your body along with that tube!

So are you convinced? Well try out my sore sinuses for a bit and I imagine you will be.

Alright, done whining, carry on!

Had my visit to the specialist yesterday. All in all it was a good visit. She changed my medications and told my I need a colonoscopy, yay. Looking forward to that! Oh well, it was inevitable so I might as well get used to the idea.

I am going to be off work for the next three weeks, which means I am going to be tightening my belt a bit. I will survive, but it is going to be a pain!

I like my new doctor, at least she listened to what I was saying, which is more than I can say for the last gastro I had.

I have not been at work at all this week. Instead I have spent the majority of the time either in bed or wishing I was in bed. At the moment I cannot stand for more than 15 minutes before the nausea becomes overwhelming. So here is the symptom count at the moment:

• Abdominal pain
• nausea
• exhaustion
• dia*****

No it is not very pleasant. On the plus side, in a major coup, I was able to secure an emergency consult with the best Doctor in the state when it comes to Chrones. She agreed to see me this coming Monday. I couldn’t even get in to see my regular gastro until the end of August.

I did manage to see a nurse practitioner yesterday that was able to prescribe something for the nausea and pain. The medicines do work somewhat, I still get nauseous after standing for a bit but it is now as overwhelming and it goes away if I sit for a few minutes. Unfortunate side effects of the meds= even more exhausted than I was, but I will take it over the other problems any day.

I am hoping to resume a regular posting schedule here soon and post something that isn’t whining about my illness!

God bless,
Jeff A

No substance to this post, no photo at least. I am working on some stuff for the site that is taking up quite a bit of my “free” time. Plus I have a doctors appointment today (Friday), so I am up to my neck!

Oh heck, here’s a photo for ya!

Click to enlarge

Doesn’t it look like he’s saying “Just a little closer”