Tiki Central Member Infirmary

Awww poor Kitty! Having to look like Maddog...poor thing. :wink:

I see the resemblence! :lol:

I dont have an injury but I;ve had walking poo-moan0ya for 6 weeks now. stoopid flem hacking!

Dawn, what is green and carried a black bag? Mucus Welby, M.D. What's green and glides accross the ice? Peggy Phlegming

LOL...I always liked Peggy's hair style...now I will only think of phlegm.

Feel better Dawn...I am just now getting rid of the plague...the junky cough hangs on for weeks and weeks.

MDM you are very photogenic.

We are sorry to hear you aren't feeling well Dawn. We hope you are on the mend now.

Yesterday Dan and I donated blood for all those in worse shape than we are. Stay well by washing your hands!

Dan looking cute.

My arm looking poked!

I got faint and had to stay an extra hour with my feet up. Maybe I'm too old for this. Cheers, Wendy

Turns out that which I thought was skin is merely a basal cell carcinoma farm for my Dermatoligist to harvest every 3 months, I thinks she's using it to make her BMW payment :D

Dr Eaton, standing over me with a scapel: "So we're going to cut out this spot on your neck?"
MadDog: "Yes. That thing pulsing under the spot is my carotid artery, you want to avoid that"
Dr Eaton: "I'll see what I can do"
MadDog: "And that cartilage wrapped tube to the right is my trachea"
Dr Eaton: "OK, I'll try to avoid that too"
MadDog: "Thanks, I wasn't sure how much anatomy you guys got in dermatology school"
:lol: :D :P

Those butchers! what kind of "Inquisition" trained Witch Doctors are working in that mudhut they call a hospital!

"Dr.(Bones) McCoy"

Some scars are sexy on men so you are looking good Mike. Wendy

MDM...who knew we would be voluntarily (yet with trepidation) have our skin poked, probed, and snipped at in our twilight of life!!! Sending good vibes your way.

I am heading to Occ Med tomorrow to get my messed up knee checked out...hopefully it will heal on its own. However, to add to the excitement, I am having some major allergic reaction on my face. Saturday woke up with right red cheek and it spread up into eye and jar, painful to touch...that lasted 2 days and now today it spread to my left cheek & my nose...I look like Jolly St. Nick. Must have been a bug bite or I am allergic to the Gingerbread at Starbucks.

VampiressRN we are so sorry to hear about your face and knee. Dan took the Norco for his post surgery pain and he itched all night so now he's trying Naproxin and the itching is letting up. I hope they do well by you during your appointment.

Dan's surgery 12-12-12. He's doing well today but I have a sore throat. I can see my tonsils. Now I have to wash my hands every few minutes so I don't give this cold to him although it may be too late to avoid. Poor guy.

Get well hugs, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2012-12-13 08:45 ]

DAMMIT VAMP ~ we are NOT in the "twilight of our lives"! :lol: Hope that knee heals on it's own and the rash goes away soon!
Wendy, give Dan my best :) Nice pics!

That's the stuff!

Not near as exciting as Dan's surgery photos but what the heck. We put a wooden bench in front of the sink so he could sit to brush his teeth. Of course I forgot and ran my shin into it in the dark. I cried and jumped around and poor Dan couldn't get up to hug me. Of course with this bad cold I couldn't let him anyway. It hurt worse than it looks but soon I'll have a nice bruise. Wendy

Nice goose egg there Wendy. I saw you posted in the middle of the night, I hope you or Dan weren't having a bad night

Hi MadDogMike, Dan's sleeping really well. I made us chocolate chip cookies too close to bedtime so the sugar and caffeine kept me awake the entire night. No naps today just working on glazing so I'll sleep really well tonight. Thanks for asking, Wendy

Quite edifying to see Dan and Wendy donating blood.
I do that too, have for a long time. (I've forgotten when
the blood bank gave me my first one-gallon-donated
award.) My misadventures were a bit more exciting
than Wendy's feet-up-for-an-hour.

I first donated knowing that my blood type (O-neg) was
much in need just then. (I knew my type because a
friend studying to be a high school science teacher had
helped me type it myself in his lab.)

When I arrived to donate the desk was staffed by the
nicest old lady you could imagine. She was plump with
a very wrinkly face and all-white hair, and the charmingest
granny smile. All went well until this dialogue ensued:
"And do you know your blood type?"
"Yes, I'm O-negative."
"That's very good! And where was it typed?"
"I typed it myself."
For about three seconds her charming smile was replaced
by an expression I wouldn't want to see on someone
coming toward me in a dark alley. Then she clamped the
smile back on, with difficulty, and said:
"Well, we'll just type it again to be sure."

This must have disturbed what some people would call my
karma or my entry in the cosmic database, because a near
catastrophe struck as I was walking out the door after
donating. First I had to cross a very wide street, five lanes
just to the center island. I was feeling fine as I started
across on green, but almost immediately the light turned
yellow. I began running toward the center island, but
within ten strides I could barely stand up. Somehow I
made it there and hugged a light pole to keep from
collapsing into the street, but it was almost ten minutes
before I could finish crossing. Since then I don't shortcut
the recovery minutes after donating, and I park in a place
that will not require a strenuous return trip.

Then came many uneventful donations followed by a
messy one. As the technician stuck the needle into my
elbow, out spurted a brief stream of blood that flew about
18 inches--most of it onto the sleeve of my shirt. I was
not watching the needle stick so I have no idea how it
happened, and it never happened again, but for at least
two years I always held my other hand up during the
needle insertion to deflect any further spurts onto the
floor. Yes, the blood did stain my shirt sleeve perm-
anently, but fortunately it was an orange shirt.

Last month I donated blood again, for the first time in
over eight years. The reason for this hiatus is another
story and a gorier one, so I'll save it for a future post.

i'll be watching for part two of your story. The reason your blood spurted was that the phlebotomist hit an artery. I was a Red Cross volunteer at an army base and they trained me to draw blood. The training consisted of watching for one hour and then being told to draw five tubes of blood each on 40 pregnant women lined up in the hallway after a Lamaze class. The one thing they didn't tell me was to check for a plus and to avoid drawing blood from any that did. So of course I found a site on one woman and when I stuck in the needle the blood actually hit the ceiling and then rained down on both of us. I was given a jug of peroxide to cleaned us up with after finding out from the captain what had happened. They must have drained out your blood really fast! Whenever I have blood drawn I always look up at the ceiling. Wendy

I changed the bandages on Dan's knee and saw he's doing great.

VampiressRN how are you??? Wendy

Thanks for Dan's pictures...I really kneeded those!!!! Hope things are going well for ya Dan. We miss you on the broom patrol.

Kraken...bring on part 2...we can hardly wait.

So far I am just diagnosed with a tweaked knee with inflammation of the bursa...supposedly 2-4 months should self-resolve. I know the roller derby will have to find some new jammers with all of us knee veterans on the mend.

Hi Vamp that's good news. We hope you mend super fast. Happy Holidays, Wendy and Dan

What! are we getting old? my back,damn it this out burst put my back out......

Part two---why I stopped donating blood for more than 8 years.

The problem started with lower intestinal disturbance: queasy,
soon gut churning, with ongoing diarrhea that my HMO just
couldn't diagnose; they dismissed it as "suspicious for ileitis".
Two of their gastroenterologists tried to give me colonoscopies
but neither could get the scope past my ileo-secal valve; they
both reported it too inflamed. Obviously this mystery ailment
disqualified me as a blood donor just then.

There followed over a year of treating me with any combination
of antibiotics that they or I could find that the scientific journals
reported as seemingly helpful for this class of mystery disease,
no matter how expensive. One antibiotic combination cost more
than $1500 a month and turned my urine red after exposure to
air, making me less than popular with friends when I spattered
a little on the rim of the toilet bowl. No treatment helped at all.

That's when I took my medical needs to another organization.
The first time I brought this problem up with them, they gave me
a CT scan and told me I seemed to have an ugly-looking growth
in my bowel which could easily be cancerous. By that time I was
desperate (unable to work much for well over a year) so when they
told me the most reliable way to confirm this was to cut me open
I told them to start cutting. The next morning they told me they'd
found a 3.5 centimeter carcinoid tumor on the flap of my ileo-
cecal valve, which they'd excised (along with some localized
metastasis) by removing a foot of my bowel.

Slow recovery from surgery, but problem solved! No recurrence
in more than 5 years! But blood donation rules around here, at
least back then, prohibit a cancer survivor donating blood until
5 years after his last treatment. That plus a few minor technical
obstacles, mostly to do with my hemoglobin level, brought me up
to November 2012.

PS--I wanted to save the foot of bowel, which even had my
appendix on it, to have it mounted by a taxidermist, but the
hospital staffers thought that was a really bad idea. I did acquire
a second navel out of this though. The way the incision was
stitched up gave one spot the appearance of being another navel,
about 4 inches from the original. This lasted for almost a year.

Wow Kracken that's a good example of never giving up. You saved your own life with a great attitude and by trusting your "gut". It's a story with a good ending. That's the best Christmas story so far this year. Best Wishes, Wendy

Many thanks, Wendy, for your encouraging reaction
to my cancer episode, and the enlightenment you
provided regarding my aerial blood spurt during the
ill-fated needle stick. Next, a couple of pre-kindergarten
fiascos that make it surprising that I'm alive these days
to write this stuff.

When I was born my family lived in a vintage house on
the edge of a little-used canal originally built for freight
boats in the colonial era. Early on my parents would take
me outside to play near the canal, and my favorite game
was to throw small branches into the water. But all too
frequently I would forget to let go of the branch as I
threw it, so of course I'd wind up in the canal along with
the branch. Fortunately my father watched me closely
and fished me out quite quickly.

Very shortly thereafter we moved to a two-story house
with a long inside staircase (luckily carpeted). From
time to time I would trip as I started down the stairs,
and invariably tumble all the way to the bottom. (My
father was certain that I merely forgot to step down at
the top step.) I clearly recall intense soreness lasting an
hour or more on each part of me that had bounced off
a stair on the way down, and I cannot explain why I
never broke a bone. Nor do I know why it took me such
a long while to form a reliable habit of making sure I
carefully stepped down off the top step.

Hi Kracken, I never fell in water once unintentionally as a kid but I started swimming lessons when I was 6. I loved them but the water was always so cold that my teeth chattered.

As for falls we moved to a 2 story home when I was 12 and falling down those stairs was a habit I've not yet broken...bones I've broken. I posted photos of my metal plate going in my wrist earlier on this thread. I really think about it now before the first step. Kids bones are more pliable and not so brittle as us old folk.

Stay healthy and have a wonderful Happy New Years. Wendy

PS we are only 105 miles from you

Wow! Only 105 miles from me--that's pretty close by
California standards. In which direction?

My apologies for having no broken bones in my history,
but I did get a concussion once: rear-ended on freeway.
It was a minor concussion; I drove the two miles directly
to my insurance agent's office and only at her insistence
trekked to the emergency room, where the doctor said
a concussion it probably was, but nothing much could
be done about it.

'Twas a week later that eye trouble cropped up. Things
began appearing in my vision like seaweed floating in a
tidepool, and turning my head suddenly produced multi-
colored sparks at the sides of my vision. Back to the ER,
where the physician on duty tested and questioned me
for about 40 minutes, finally saying he hadn't any idea
what was causing this so I should be consulting an
ophthalmologist.

This I promptly did, in fear and trembling. Before I had
finished listing all my symptoms, without any examination
at all, he stopped me and said "I see 3 or 4 cases of this
a day." He added that there was little that could be done
about it, but that it would probably go away in a number
of months. Turned out he was right.

The medical people on this thread probably recognize this
already as vitreous detachment: the transparent jelly inside
my eyeball had come loose from my retina. The gap
between them in places caused the black floating seaweed
effect; the loose jelly rubbing on the retina gave the
appearance of colored sparks.

My real regret was that something so common (another
ophthalmologist confirmed that it was about the most
common ailment he encountered) was unknown to the
ER physician.

Hi Kraken, we are 16 miles south of Sacramento. If you are in our area come for a tour. Just PM me as soon as you know when.

I recently had flashing lights at the perimeter of my vision. The clinic doctor told me it was an eye migraine. He sent me to the specialist who confirmed it. I was told it was common but I'd never heard of it. I only had it one time and never again but it was so weird to see fireworks. I'm glad you recovered. Wendy

Fixed!

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2013-01-03 07:12 ]

Your migraine diagnosis is new to me. Apparently
my ophthalmologist passed over that possibility due
to my co-complaint of floating "seaweed" objects in
my vision.

That doesn't improve my opinion of that ER physician
a bit, though. It seems now that there are two fairly
common maladies that could cause at least the sparks
at the sides of our vision, and despite their common
occurrence he hadn't even heard of either one.

Yes, we definitely should arrange to get together some
time soon, since we're so close together, and seem
rather compatible on this thread, at least. My own
schedule is rather erratic, though, because I work in
the unpredictable business of caregiving, so I'll just
have to let you know when an opportunity comes up.

Kraken

PS--I spell my screen name without a C because I've
taken it from the legendary Norse sea monster which
now seems to be based on the giant and colossal squid
that live in the southernmost oceans, including the
South Pacific. That's pretty close to Tiki territory.

Also know with the common term "Torn Retina" which can lead to blindness in some cases
people with very poor vision are more prone to this.

And now, the further stultifying medical misadventures of KRAKEN!

Since last summer, kraken has had an unexpected and unexplainable
weight loss of 40 pounds; much of it muscle tissue. Also tiredness,
severe weakness and stumbling. More than a dozen blood tests have
shown nothing, 4 different physicians are perplexed, so kraken was
told to do urine tests involving two separate 24-hour urine collections,
which kept kraken confined to quarters for two days. (Would you want
to wander around carrying an orange two-quart plastic jug, shuddering
every time it looked as though someone was going to ask you "What's
in the jug?") This too produced nothing, as did a shoulders-to-pelvis
CAT scan.

Time for endoscopy at both ends. As initial prep for the colonoscopy
portion of the proceedings kraken was on a restricted diet for four
days, followed by a day of nothing but clear liquids. Then came a
laxative bowel purge using 4 doses of Dulcolax and 14 doses of
Miralax. The latter was supposed to last 3 to 5 hours but actually lasted 15.

On to the gastroenterology lab, where kraken was told both scopings would
be done with the same probe. Before kraken could run screaming down the
hall, he was assured that the upper endoscopy would be done first. Only
things found were kraken's known bowel diverticula, which kraken at times
reflected on as he spent 48 hours recovering from the anesthesia.

Upshot---kraken has been able to restore quite a bit of strength but no
weight by physical exercise. Tiredness has been notably reduced by herbal
concoctions. As of this moment he has no idea what the problem is, nor
even wether it was a passing thing or is still lurking somewhere down there.

Dulcolax in the PM for a BM in the AM! :D

Kraken, hopefully it was just a passing thing and you are on the mend now. I have about 10 or 15 extra pounds that I would gladly donate if you want to build that reserve back up?

Hi Kraken, are they going to do any more tests? It seems that this has been serious enough that just saying, Oh Well we don't know what's wrong is not enough. If you have lost muscle mass then you must eat protein and do some weight lifting to regain it. Keep going back. We lost Dan's dad because they kept giving him iron for anemia when he had blood loss from a small bowel cancer. I'm glad they did a torso CT but how about a whole body scan in Nuclear Medicine? Keep us informed. Best Wishes always, Wendy

You bet I'm going to insist on deeper investigation
of this problem, once I overcome a side issue; the
anesthetic they gave me for my scopings never
completely wore off. It's been two weeks now and
I'm still having memory problems (short and long
term), stumbling, lack of peripheral attention and
trouble concentrating.

These are standard symptoms of the anesthetic
Versed (midazolam) so a consensus of myself,
two physicians and an advice nurse are sure that
Versed caused the problem but is not still in my
body; only its effect on my brain is lingering. But
as for how long the partial effect will be with me,
the physicians can only speculate weeks to months.
This kind of holdover is so rare that nobody knows
much about it.

So for a while I can't go back to working as a caregiver.
My creativity is not dampened by this, so I'll probably
do some writing. I was previously a technical
magazine writer---to see samples of my published
work, google my real-world name, Walter Zintz.

Only bright spot in all this. One of the doctors is
someone I've always liked but haven't heard from in
seven years.

http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Zintz_Walter_4776445.aspx

Hi kraken, I haven't been looking here for awhile so I was pleased to see you have posted. I did look up your profiles. Unless you are a woman named Walter all the photos I saw were wrong.

I know what you mean about the after affects of things given for tests. I lost my sense (for 3 days each time) of taste after MRI's years apart. Now its in my medical records which contrast agent causes it to happen to me so they can give me an alternative. Maybe you shouldn't have the same anesthesia medication next time. Since you care for people with dementia this must be a scary time for you. I hope in the days since you posted you have noticed an improvement.

I'm glad you are not going to stop until they figure out why you have the weight loss. Maybe you have a tape worm they are still a problem in some countries.

Best Wishes for you always, Wendy

I am definitely a man, with a substantial beard. If you direct
me to the profiles that say otherwise, I'll try to correct them.

My memory problem keeps improving, but the rate of uplift
has become very slow. Still hoping it will eventually get to
unnoticeability. The physicians I've spoken with seem to
think this is quite likely.

Definitely will reject the anesthetic Versed (pronounced
vur-SED) in the future. Don't expect to need any more
anesthetics to further investigate my original problem. Don't
know just what I will need, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, let's get this thread hopping again! It started off
dripping with blood and grue, then faded to colds and sniffles,
and now carries just about nothing. Tiki Central people are
devil-may-care enough that we must be involved in plenty of
physical catastrophes, and I've yet to hear of physical sufferers
who don't like to complain about their medical afflictions.

Kraken, its time for you to let us know how you are doing.

Dan has re-torn the meniscus in his knee which was repaired last year. He may be up for another surgery.
First he is trying cortisone to calm it down.
look how long the needle is before it goes in.


If this doesn't help with the pain then Dan will have another surgery.

We love Dr. Hong. He's done knee repairs for Dan and I so we know him well.

Take care of your knees, cheers, Wendy

Hi folks,

Tried to post my status update here earlier, but it
disappeared into the machinery somehow. Here
it is again in briefer form.

Turns out that my original set of problems (at
least according to WebMD) was caused by not
having my diabetes under good control. I switched
my diabetes medicine from Metformin to Glipizide,
and the original problems mostly subsided. Now
I've got to get rid of the remaining effects of the
original symptoms (e.g. rebuild my strength and
balance), clear out the memory problems from the
Versed anesthetic, and deal with the slow but steady
worsening of my hand tremors. All this ought to
keep me busy for a while.

Horrifying to see that long, long needle going into
Dan's knee! I hope he gets some relief out of it.

kraken

PS--Please excuse the (now corrected) mistake in
the name of my earlier diabetes medicine. My memory
is even worse than I'd remembered. (Joke intended.)

[ Edited by: kraken 2013-05-06 23:33 ]

HI Kraken, it seems like this is good news. Fighting to stay healthy is always a challenge.

The shot worked wonders for Dan's knee pain. So he's hopeful.

Keep us up to date on your recovery, best wishes, Wendy

Glad to hear you are feeling better Kraken.

YIKES Dan...soooooooo sorry about your knee. Hope the injection will help out. Nice pictures Wendy.

If you've enjoyed seeing Dan and Wendy donating blood above,
check out our new Ohana topic, "Donating Blood".

Cardiologist says it's time to fix GROG' broken heart. 1st up, gotta schedule an angiogram.

Bicuspid aortic heart valve----it's a bitch.

Been a nurse for over 30 years, spent the first 16 years in ICU, mostly post cardiac surgery recovery. There are so many people to help you through the whole process and valve surgery is fairly common, you will do well. I will be thinking good thoughts for you...if you post pictures, you may blow Dan's pictures out of the water!!! Best of luck with all your tests.

GROG will they use a brontosaurus donor valve as a replacement? :D

Keep us posted on your progress Ernie.

On 2013-06-15 21:29, GROG wrote:
Cardiologist says it's time to fix GROG' broken heart. 1st up, gotta schedule an angiogram.

Bicuspid aortic heart valve----it's a bitch.

My thoughts are with you Buddy. Let me know when you want the King Cake sent. Take care.

On 2013-06-15 21:29, GROG wrote:
Cardiologist says it's time to fix GROG' broken heart. 1st up, gotta schedule an angiogram.

Bicuspid aortic heart valve----it's a bitch.

Because of your primitive physiology Ernie, you will be just fine!
The Baboon, not so much.......

Keep us updated Grog, all our good thoughts and positive vibes are headed your way. I'm sure a big strong caveman like you will do wonderful. :)

• Dale

Thanks ya'll.

Brontosaurus valve would be great, but not too many of them around anymore.

El Jefe, GROG not sure if GROG should have King Cake before surgery to relieve stress, or after surgery to celebrate successful surgery.