Intergalactic House of Paisley

On Saturday, NPulsifer hosted a wake for the Toe of Doom 2™. Beth, Barry, and Tanya came up with a wonderful menu (taquitoes, potatoe chips, proscuittoe, pigs in blankets, etc) and much fun was had.

Yesterday was The Toe's date with destiny, or something that smelled like it, at least.

I live-tweeted the procedure, and the saga is collected here.

There are pictures, but nothing graphic.

As of this morning, the half-toe is feeling fine. No particular pain so far.

The PICC line has been inserted, and antibioticals have been infused into my body. I didn't get the once a day pressurized bulb from last time, because it's much more expensive. Instead I have to run a syringe of saline through the line, then a syringe of antibiotics (Ancef, the label says), which has to be slowly injected over a five minute period (much better than the 15-20 minute requirement which has only recently been changed, according to my infusion nurse), then another saline, then heparin, three times a day, at least 7 hours apart.

I left the facility with a big bag o' drugs, and after some failed attempts at Xmas shopping, I got home, and went to put everything into the fridge, when I discovered I had been given a double set of heparin, but no saline. I have a call in to the nurse. I expect it will be dealt with tomorrow.

And then Dragonet texts me to say our insurance co has been trying to get a hold of me, and gives me a number and a PIN. I call, full of trepidation, to discover it's a fucking survey. Good timing, after you've spent several days telling me I can't have the treatment my doctor says I need.

So, off to bed, and work in the morning. Toe of Doom™ II is doing pretty well, though not undergoing a miracle cure. Yet.

So that PICC line I was supposed to get tomorrow? Not happening. Denied by the insurance company. No reason given, just "uh-uh, nope, no way." I will spend most of my pre-work morning trying to get the info so I can appeal, but I have little hope of that doing any good.

Next step is to get an MRI approved, to make sure the infection is only in the first joint of Toe of Doom™ II. Who knows if that will fly. Also going to make sure the podiatrist has gotten clearance for the Toecapitation.

As far as I can tell, this is happening because I blew through all my deductibles already this year, and they want this put off until after the 1st so they can get some cash out of me. Well, joke's on them, I won't have any cash!

On the plus side, I did see the podiatrist today, and he said TOD II looks much better than it did a week ago, but he's still planning on surgery. Who the fuck knows what will happe, and when?

I really should have had this blow up in Toronto; at least it would have been dealt with without all the bullshit.

Welcome once again to Friday the 13th that comes on a Friday (©Pogo)! Ten days on antibiotics have brought Toe of Doom 2 back under control, though the damage to the digestion will last a bit longer, as usual.

As for my car, the $600-700 price tag replace the heater core, combined with the further corrosion of the right front wheel have led to the inevitable conclusion that I won't have a car of my own anytime soon. It'll go off to the knackers sometime this week.

In house-related news, our offer has been accepted, and Rohanna has been running around like crazy trying to get all the paperwork together for the loan company. Part of the rush has been the desire of the seller (Sisters of St. Joseph of C@rondelet) to get the property off their books by the end of the year, which involves cramming six weeks worth of activity into four or fewer. She and I had a talk Wed. night, and we have decided that if Baby Jesus doesn't get a check for Christmas, that's not our problem. Ro is much calmer now.

In other festive news, Dragonet has been going through training to prepare for the coming tax season for the last two weeks, and was informed yesterday that all of the seasonal employees are being furloughed as of today. No idea when she will be called back. Thanks so much. Have some non-holiday based music.


1) Poisoning the Well, Matthew Perryman Jones

2) Won't Get Fooled Again, The Who (Bridge Concert 1999)

3) Globe of Frogs, Robyn Hitchcock (2010-06-11 - The Drake)

4) Light Pollution, Delay Trees

5) Through My Sails, Soulsavers

6) Dreamer, Ry Cooder

7) Thief, The Ozone Quartet

8) What She's Done To Your Mind, Rain Parade

9) Three Ten Ten, The Last Round

10) More Money, Barry Reynolds


then


11) Morning Mr Magpie, Radiohead

12) Rogue Wave, The Madeira

13) Sunshine Blues, Bahamas


Tomorrow we go to the new place to measure rooms and start thinking about what goes where and how to make this madness work. Be nice if something would go right, just for a change.

Actually, there isn't one, any more. The PICC line was removed Tuesday morning, and I am now on oral antibiotics to keep the Toe of Doom™ under control until such time as I can afford to take the time off for the Toecapitation™. In the meantime, here's some tunes.


1) The Step and the Walk, Duke Spirit

2) Pay Bo Diddley, David Lindley & Wally Ingram

3) Creeeping Around, Excepter

4) Down, Down, Down, Tom Waits

5) Orion, Rodrigo Y Gabriela

6) Half A Boy & Half A Man, Nick Lowe

7) Better at the End of the Day, Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles

8) The Intruders, Clingtone

9) The Late John Garfield Blues, Jeffrey Foucault

10) The Mercy Beat, The The (Live The The - Paris 1989)


moar?


11) Christmas With Satan, James White

12) Black Magic Blues, Olin & The Moon

13) All I Want, Waz


The big plans for the weekend revolve around the Chiefs' playoff game (and that's certainly not a phrase I would have been expecting to use at the start of the season). Can they beat the Ravens? Maybe. Should be an interesting game. And no matter who winds up in the Super Bowl, it won't be the Cowboys, so there is that.

I'm still getting used to the return to part-time hours. Spent most of Monday sleeping, which felt real good. But I need to use that off day to get stuff done around here. It's not like there isn't plenty to do.

The Toecapitation® has been put on hold for now. Not due to things getting better per se, but the fact that the podiatrist told me Tuesday that I would be recuperating for six weeks following the carrying out of the sentence, as in not working. Or getting paid. Which isn't an option at the best of times, and certainly not going into the holiday season.

So I will be on the super-duper-not-bothered-by-alcohol-consumption* antibiotic for at least six weeks (two down as of tomorrow). Dr Driks has generously offered to provide me with oral (not a euphemism, or an establishment of religion) antibiotics for the trip to San Jose for SMOFcon, so I don't have any reason to upset the fine minimum wage workers at the TSA Scope 'n' Grope emporium. Other than my "Touch My Junk and I'll Have You Arrested" t-shirt, boxers, thong, socks and tie, appearing soon on CafePress if there is any justice at all. Maybe I'll make some buttons.

In the meantime, another egg every day. And the Toe of Doom™ does seem slightly better. The hole in the front of the toe has healed up, and it only rarely hurts. Still swollen, and red/gray in color. At some point this will happen, but not for now. Ain't health care wonderful?

Oh, and I got the bill for the insertion of the PICC line today. $2900 and change. The ultrasound to see what they were doing cost almost as much as the surgery. Good thing I have insurance. Of course, if I didn't, I'd be out there with the hedge trimmers and the brulée torch.



*The only alcohol-related warning concerning Invanz I could find was the old "may make you drowsy, alcohol can exacerbate this" crap.

Spent most of the day at St. Luke's Lee's Summit to get my PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) installed and the pre-surgical IV antibiotic regimen started. The installation went quickly and smoothly. I now have a length of tubing hanging out of my right arm and a piece of really clingy plastic wrap covering the entrance area.

Due to the speed with which all of this happened (I got seven phone calls Wed. to set all this up, followng my appt. with Dr. Driks Tues. afternoon), I got confused when two different people with the same name were brought into the conversation, so after my initial infusion with Invanz®, I was told by Sherri I could leave. So I did, and made the 30 minute drive home. I then started calling around to find out how the rest of the treatment was going to be handled, and discovered that I was supposed to go back to Dr. Driks' office to see the other Sherri there to set me up with all the stuff. So I drove back out there and got my supply of juice.

The antibiotic comes in a neat little egg-shaped dispenser with a built-in pump. I can hook it up and go on about my business without worrying about having to hang a bag and sit while it drips (not a euphemism). Pretty spiffy.

Once the labs get back, the docs will consult and we'll set a date for the Toecapitation.

1) Toe of Doom™: Hasn't gotten any better, so I saw the doc on the 6th. Because I Can Has Insuranz!!!!!, he took the extra time to give me a quick once over, including the ever-popular (amongst doctors, at least) Cough and Grope with a side of Roll Up Your Arm and Bend Over, along with standard blood tests and x-rays of the accursed (if not recursive) foot. Also got scrip for triple round of Augmentin. die, infection, die!

Blood work came back fine (no gout, diabetes or other things to make one drink more), but the x-rays seemed to show some damage to the toe bone, so Monday I had an MRI. Concensus: definite damage, possible bone infection. So Tuesday I see a podiatrist. they keep talking about "debriding." Now I'm not going to claim my marriage(s) is/are perfect, but this does seem a bit extreme. On the other hand, if they amputate, it will keep me out of the army.

Best news: foot started really hurting bad yesterday, and this afternoon called the doc for another scrip of Vicoprofen[1]. They called back at 5p to say they had called it in, and I was able to pick it up at Costco earlier this evening. Nom nom. And even better, two refills! I love my doctor.

2) Ro's computer: It gave her the BSOD last Saturday, and after multiple intercessions by her company IT dept, Obi-Karl Foss and others, it currrently resides at Best Buy, which happens to be an Asus warranty repair provider. Worst case, she might have to buy a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, because including an install disk (as opposed to a recovery disk) with a brand new computer doesn't happen with PCs. WTF?

Interesting data point: Ro brought her work laptop home to check email, etc, and after plugging in her monitor, wireless keyboard/mouse dongle and a router, it BSOD'd. Is there a USB-centric virus/trojan out there anyone has heard of?

3) My keyboard/mouse: still with the same crap. Must unplug the mouse every 3-5 minutes to keep it actually working. Almost ready to re-install Tiger and see what happens (see, MAcs come with the full operating system on a disk for such situations. This really should have been a "Mac/PC" commercial).

UPDATE OF NO IMPORTANCE: The "Noises in My Head" entry was supposed to read: Nom Nom Nom Bow Wow Wow, I Want Candy. Apparently using code in the details is not allowed. Bah and humbug.

But the point remains: Myant Myant Aye = nom nom.


[1] Like vicodin, but with ibuprofen rather than that evil acetomeinaphen, and 50% more vico!