(no subject)
Sep. 17th, 2002 02:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikA good indicator of a quiet, peaceful night is when I momentarily confuse the music in my head with a real radio. It's amusing to try to turn off the radio after a song only to find it was never on in the first place. Who needs a walkman? :)
I decided to wring some of my paycheck back out of the insurance company and spent today doing Routine Medical Maintenance. While at the Ren Faire on Sunday my stupid acid-reflux got the better of me, so I wanted to ask them some questions about it. I've not been to the doc since 01/2001 anyways, so why the heck not? At least my doc's office is a nice and friendly enough place that it's actually a good break from bein' in the office at work.
I'm quite glad to report the results are all good so far. Even though I'm seriously overweight and have been my entire adult life, all the vitals are in good order. Blood presure, blood sugar, cholesterol, pulse rate, yadda yadda... all smack dab in the happy-green section of the charts. Heck, my blood pressure has gone down a bit from last year! They even did an EKG for good measure and it came out squeaky-clean and right on target. I find it amazing how good it feels to have a professional tell you Things Are A-OK.
A few of my LJ friends have been going through "interesting" medical times. I have my hopes up for all of them, especially one female friend who's got a lot of worry right now as they check out a possible cancer. I'm rootin' for ya, babe! Seeing these medical entries of late, I figured I'd bandwagon it some and do my own. So if this kind of thing bores or squicks ya, please, surf on past. :)
Since all the labwork and various delays at the Dr's office had me there until nearly 1pm anyway, I decided to use the rest of the day to clean up medical-scheduling stuff I normally avoid doing. The email bucket from work was pretty empty today so my boss was cool with me taking a full day out instead of a half. I played the Insurance Mambo game and spent a few hours calling between the nasty New-Jersey based insurer and various specialists. I got assigned to a new GI to get the acid reflux problem looked at, and an orthopedic-type-dude to give the trick knee a quick check-up. As I've been hiking/walking a bit more lately for exercise, it's time to get the hobble-prone appendage taken care of. I fear my current friends are getting annoyed having to wait around for a lame-legged Tug to catch up.
The biggest thing that kicked my tail to go see the doc again was my stupid acid-reflux problem. It acted up all weekend, and I was a sore-chested, light-headed space-case. The fact the symptoms lasted two full days meant it was time to get re-evaluated and see if a treatment change was in order. It's not a scary thing -- just kind of a quality of life issue. When the acid reflux is controlled better, I have a more enjoyable daily life. When it's not, I'm a little cranky and spaced out... and prone to growling about it at my roomates. It's therefore wise to keep it under control. Acid reflux is weird. The nerves of the heart and other important things are scary-close to the areas acid reflux can damage, and so even though it's just a more serious form of heartburn it can give all kinds of nasty symptoms. Some are basic aches/pains, others are things like blood chemistry changes that leave me feeling a bit energyless or scatterbrained. The scary ones are mild heart-attack-like symptoms that are luckily rare nowadays. Back in college before I was diagnosed with GERD (the fancy name for hardcore acid reflux), I ended up in the emergency ward with an EKG strapped on me a few times. Each time the heart was A-OK and they made me feel stupid for coming in, even though at the time I was afraid for my life. I never told my parents about this, and thanks to student privacy laws I was able to keep it under wraps. Nowadays I wished I had, as I'm sure I would have been diagnosed properly much earlier on and saved years of nasty symptoms.
Additionally, my 'trick knee' was acting up from all the walking, and I hobbled the entire length of the Faire's serpentine streets. I got to see everything, but the trip back was a bit painful. Socially it was awkward, as I felt that I was slowing everybody else down. I finally nosed them on ahead of me, and when I got to the main gate they were all sitting there in a group. I'd hoped they would have found more stuff to do and I'd have beaten them to the exit. Ahwell. :) Annoyingly, on the final walk back to the car, I stepped down wrong on a tilted bit of the road and POP... my knee snapped back into place somewhat, and most of the pain was gone. Aaargh! Why didn't it do that on the way into the festival? Stupid trick knee...
<<-->>
A quick diversion: The Knee. More backstory stuff. About 3 years ago my then-roomie and current friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
reality_fox and I worked together in downtown San Jose for a very fun company. To get to our parking lot we had to cross a small street that had pretty minimal traffic. Even so, we used the pedestrian lights, as drivers can be idiots. That day as we headed out to lunch, we waited for the light. As it turned green, a lady in a red coupe came flying at the intersection. We wisely stayed on the curb as she laid on the brakes to not run the red light. Having come to a full stop, she looked at us through the windshield with that "oh, sorrysorry!" expression, and waved us on through the crosswalk. After making eye contact, we proceeded on, Reality_fox first.
As I walked past her car, I noticed she was eagerly looking right, ready to make the right-turn-on-red. I guess she had a vision failure or a brain-fart or something, because the moment Reality_fox cleared her car she went... right into me. She hit my left leg with the corner of her car... the leg that was still on the ground (I was stepping forwards with my right). I ended up rolling on my hip onto the corner of her hood, then landing on my right foot and falling to my side. It was a sub-5mph impact, but it pressed my knee sideways as my weight was on that leg. POP. I lept to my feet and both Fox and I started screaming at this idiot lady. Her eyes did the dinnerplate thing and zoom, she was gone. Hit and freakin' run. Buh bye. Buzzed on adreanline as we were, neither of us thought to get the plate. Nor did any of the onlookers... about 5 of them. One guy came up to me and said "Jeez, I can't believe she just hit you!"... but when I asked him if he got the plate #, he was clueless. The irony? He was an accident injury laywer. Bad lawyer! No lawsuit.
In any case, the knee was sore for a few days, then OK. A year later it acted up and was wobbly, but then OK again. A halfyear after that, shortly after buying my GoldWing, I bent my leg just barely in the wrong way and *wham*, it felt like someone had bashed my kneecap off with a crowbar. I was in such pain that I couldn't walk for nearly a week, and hobbled like a peg-legged pirate for three weeks after that. X-rays and such showed there was very little to no actual damage -- and instead, a very important nerve had gotten pinched somewhere in the joint it shouldn't have, and I'd set it off. A few weeks later, all was fine again. The docs told me that it wasn't any big deal and I shouldn't do anything about it. I'd "get over it".
It's now a 'trick knee', which will act up with no cause, but never for long. It's like the old man sitting on the porch sayin' it's going to rain 'cause his joints ache... it just chooses a day, and suddenly I'm hobbling again. The issue is that it's now happening more often, and longer each time... so now the docs can't just tell me it's all in my head. Finally they agreed, and I'm going to see the orthopedist guy next week. We'll see what they do. I hope I don't have to do knee surgery and end up with a lot of missed work. That would suck just a little too much.
<<-->>
While I was at it, I buttonholed the doc a while and asked him all kinds of niggling little medical questions... some just curiosities, others embarrasing. I just like getting answers from qualified people so I can stay informed. At first annoyed, then amused, it turned into a refreshing Q&A session, almost like a game of 'stump the doc'. This is another reason I love my current family physician office -- they take time to rap withya a while, even if you have to convince them a little first. I also got him to send me to a sleep specialist to get the apnea checked up on, 'cause I've not had any maintenance done on that in two years or so. Better safe than sorry, and with the recent weight loss I might need a treatment change anyways.
Oh, oh, oh! That's the other good news... and a good way to wrap up this post:
Yes, I'm losing weight. The doc confirms it, and in fact noticed. Yes, it's a safe weight loss. The bloodwork and talks about my habit changes with my doc led him to tell me I'm Doing The Right Thing so far; a slow, steady loss. I was worried maybe it was due to other health issues, as there are definately unhealthy ways to lose weight (like the time I lost a full 30 lbs during a Killer Martian Death Flu four years ago)... but nope! All Good.
The only bad that can come of this is if I lose enough weight that my completed-but-not-yet-delievered riding suit won't fit (the fits are very exacting). That's a problem I can live with. :)
I decided to wring some of my paycheck back out of the insurance company and spent today doing Routine Medical Maintenance. While at the Ren Faire on Sunday my stupid acid-reflux got the better of me, so I wanted to ask them some questions about it. I've not been to the doc since 01/2001 anyways, so why the heck not? At least my doc's office is a nice and friendly enough place that it's actually a good break from bein' in the office at work.
I'm quite glad to report the results are all good so far. Even though I'm seriously overweight and have been my entire adult life, all the vitals are in good order. Blood presure, blood sugar, cholesterol, pulse rate, yadda yadda... all smack dab in the happy-green section of the charts. Heck, my blood pressure has gone down a bit from last year! They even did an EKG for good measure and it came out squeaky-clean and right on target. I find it amazing how good it feels to have a professional tell you Things Are A-OK.
A few of my LJ friends have been going through "interesting" medical times. I have my hopes up for all of them, especially one female friend who's got a lot of worry right now as they check out a possible cancer. I'm rootin' for ya, babe! Seeing these medical entries of late, I figured I'd bandwagon it some and do my own. So if this kind of thing bores or squicks ya, please, surf on past. :)
Since all the labwork and various delays at the Dr's office had me there until nearly 1pm anyway, I decided to use the rest of the day to clean up medical-scheduling stuff I normally avoid doing. The email bucket from work was pretty empty today so my boss was cool with me taking a full day out instead of a half. I played the Insurance Mambo game and spent a few hours calling between the nasty New-Jersey based insurer and various specialists. I got assigned to a new GI to get the acid reflux problem looked at, and an orthopedic-type-dude to give the trick knee a quick check-up. As I've been hiking/walking a bit more lately for exercise, it's time to get the hobble-prone appendage taken care of. I fear my current friends are getting annoyed having to wait around for a lame-legged Tug to catch up.
The biggest thing that kicked my tail to go see the doc again was my stupid acid-reflux problem. It acted up all weekend, and I was a sore-chested, light-headed space-case. The fact the symptoms lasted two full days meant it was time to get re-evaluated and see if a treatment change was in order. It's not a scary thing -- just kind of a quality of life issue. When the acid reflux is controlled better, I have a more enjoyable daily life. When it's not, I'm a little cranky and spaced out... and prone to growling about it at my roomates. It's therefore wise to keep it under control. Acid reflux is weird. The nerves of the heart and other important things are scary-close to the areas acid reflux can damage, and so even though it's just a more serious form of heartburn it can give all kinds of nasty symptoms. Some are basic aches/pains, others are things like blood chemistry changes that leave me feeling a bit energyless or scatterbrained. The scary ones are mild heart-attack-like symptoms that are luckily rare nowadays. Back in college before I was diagnosed with GERD (the fancy name for hardcore acid reflux), I ended up in the emergency ward with an EKG strapped on me a few times. Each time the heart was A-OK and they made me feel stupid for coming in, even though at the time I was afraid for my life. I never told my parents about this, and thanks to student privacy laws I was able to keep it under wraps. Nowadays I wished I had, as I'm sure I would have been diagnosed properly much earlier on and saved years of nasty symptoms.
Additionally, my 'trick knee' was acting up from all the walking, and I hobbled the entire length of the Faire's serpentine streets. I got to see everything, but the trip back was a bit painful. Socially it was awkward, as I felt that I was slowing everybody else down. I finally nosed them on ahead of me, and when I got to the main gate they were all sitting there in a group. I'd hoped they would have found more stuff to do and I'd have beaten them to the exit. Ahwell. :) Annoyingly, on the final walk back to the car, I stepped down wrong on a tilted bit of the road and POP... my knee snapped back into place somewhat, and most of the pain was gone. Aaargh! Why didn't it do that on the way into the festival? Stupid trick knee...
<<-->>
A quick diversion: The Knee. More backstory stuff. About 3 years ago my then-roomie and current friend
reality_fox and I worked together in downtown San Jose for a very fun company. To get to our parking lot we had to cross a small street that had pretty minimal traffic. Even so, we used the pedestrian lights, as drivers can be idiots. That day as we headed out to lunch, we waited for the light. As it turned green, a lady in a red coupe came flying at the intersection. We wisely stayed on the curb as she laid on the brakes to not run the red light. Having come to a full stop, she looked at us through the windshield with that "oh, sorrysorry!" expression, and waved us on through the crosswalk. After making eye contact, we proceeded on, Reality_fox first. As I walked past her car, I noticed she was eagerly looking right, ready to make the right-turn-on-red. I guess she had a vision failure or a brain-fart or something, because the moment Reality_fox cleared her car she went... right into me. She hit my left leg with the corner of her car... the leg that was still on the ground (I was stepping forwards with my right). I ended up rolling on my hip onto the corner of her hood, then landing on my right foot and falling to my side. It was a sub-5mph impact, but it pressed my knee sideways as my weight was on that leg. POP. I lept to my feet and both Fox and I started screaming at this idiot lady. Her eyes did the dinnerplate thing and zoom, she was gone. Hit and freakin' run. Buh bye. Buzzed on adreanline as we were, neither of us thought to get the plate. Nor did any of the onlookers... about 5 of them. One guy came up to me and said "Jeez, I can't believe she just hit you!"... but when I asked him if he got the plate #, he was clueless. The irony? He was an accident injury laywer. Bad lawyer! No lawsuit.
In any case, the knee was sore for a few days, then OK. A year later it acted up and was wobbly, but then OK again. A halfyear after that, shortly after buying my GoldWing, I bent my leg just barely in the wrong way and *wham*, it felt like someone had bashed my kneecap off with a crowbar. I was in such pain that I couldn't walk for nearly a week, and hobbled like a peg-legged pirate for three weeks after that. X-rays and such showed there was very little to no actual damage -- and instead, a very important nerve had gotten pinched somewhere in the joint it shouldn't have, and I'd set it off. A few weeks later, all was fine again. The docs told me that it wasn't any big deal and I shouldn't do anything about it. I'd "get over it".
It's now a 'trick knee', which will act up with no cause, but never for long. It's like the old man sitting on the porch sayin' it's going to rain 'cause his joints ache... it just chooses a day, and suddenly I'm hobbling again. The issue is that it's now happening more often, and longer each time... so now the docs can't just tell me it's all in my head. Finally they agreed, and I'm going to see the orthopedist guy next week. We'll see what they do. I hope I don't have to do knee surgery and end up with a lot of missed work. That would suck just a little too much.
<<-->>
While I was at it, I buttonholed the doc a while and asked him all kinds of niggling little medical questions... some just curiosities, others embarrasing. I just like getting answers from qualified people so I can stay informed. At first annoyed, then amused, it turned into a refreshing Q&A session, almost like a game of 'stump the doc'. This is another reason I love my current family physician office -- they take time to rap withya a while, even if you have to convince them a little first. I also got him to send me to a sleep specialist to get the apnea checked up on, 'cause I've not had any maintenance done on that in two years or so. Better safe than sorry, and with the recent weight loss I might need a treatment change anyways.
Oh, oh, oh! That's the other good news... and a good way to wrap up this post:
Yes, I'm losing weight. The doc confirms it, and in fact noticed. Yes, it's a safe weight loss. The bloodwork and talks about my habit changes with my doc led him to tell me I'm Doing The Right Thing so far; a slow, steady loss. I was worried maybe it was due to other health issues, as there are definately unhealthy ways to lose weight (like the time I lost a full 30 lbs during a Killer Martian Death Flu four years ago)... but nope! All Good.
The only bad that can come of this is if I lose enough weight that my completed-but-not-yet-delievered riding suit won't fit (the fits are very exacting). That's a problem I can live with. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 06:19 am (UTC)It's interesting to find out someone else has the acid reflux problem. It sounds like yours is way, way worse than mine, but would you have any suggestions for keeping it vaguely under control?
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 11:05 am (UTC)Acid Reflux, and the more serious version called GERD (Gastroesophagal reflux disorder or something like that) aren't something you should try and defeat on your own. Y'know how all those antacid packets say "if symptoms persist more than 2 weeks, call your doctor" ? That's because if it's not just heartburn and instead is real reflux you honestly should.
Left untreated, even if it's not terribly painful for some people (depends on each person's nervous system), the continual burning/scarring from acid reflux can lead to much more serious problems, up to and including stomach cancer. A good friend of mine died of just that a few years ago. Part of being treated for reflux includes the proper scanning and check-ups for signs of cancer and other related long-term effects.
Tons of people have reflux problems. Not a lot talk about them. To some it's embarrasing; to others, once they're taking care of it, it's not really much of a big deal to talk about. If you think you might have more than just simple heartburn, do yourself a huge favor and talk to your doc about it. Getting checked and treated is far preferrable than being suddenly surprised by far worse complications, as my friend was.