Plymouth State are the ones to beat in Women’s Volleyball this year:
9-0 Baby!
Another Dead Bee
Time will tell how le’Von does in New York, and New England already re-signed Brown for a 1-year $15M deal. We’ll see if Bell learned anything, but I’m afraid it may be too late for Antonio. Somebody needs to tell this butthead to STFU and grow the fuck up.
Just What I Needed IV
I get so tired of doing other people’s work for them. But yesterday was progress. Like I said in the last installment of this saga – probably not the last word. I understand how listening to old folks complaining about their back problems could become de-sensitizing after awhile. Sorry, but if you’re not ready to do that conscientiously with real concern, you might be in the wrong business.
Anyway, TriCare (insurance provider) is looking at a re-do or 2nd opinion on the spine eval, and I have a new Primary Care physician, based out of Loveland. Evidently, this annular tear thing happens to be one of the least well-diagnosed back issues in all of neurology. Just as I had to corner a surgeon and demand an MRI in June, it now appears I will need to perform a similar instructional session regarding the need for a CT discogram with yet another highly skilled and qualified doctor, suffering from their own hubris and diagnostic inflexibility.
I’ve been meaning to change my Primary Care location for years, but primary care has never been anything I was too concerned with. They give me drugs I don’t need or want, listen to my healthy heart and lungs, and provide referrals. I just need that last bit for someone to work on the mechanical and electrical issues. In my case at least, the so-called “Primary Care” entity has never been anything but a time-consuming scheduling roadblock and source of confusion.
The 3rd thing from yesterday was the VA did manage to re-instate the MKS (physical therapy) consult without another office visit, so that’s something, I suppose. I had to cancel that appointment last week to go see spine doctor Gerlach in Longmont. When I called to re-schedule, they told me the consult itself was rescinded? Deja vu. Remember the original spine consult from back in July? (Cue Twilight Zone soundtrack.) Still a little nervous about submitting to PT without a diagnosis, but we’re on the 9-month mark with a painful, disabling, un-treated back injury at this point.
Sooner or later I will figure out how to get someone to help me extinguish the fire burning my ass any time I’m on my feet more than 10 minutes.
The Kid's Killin' It!
PSU Women’s Volleyball is off to a great start, at 4-0 after the first week’s play. Francie put up awesome numbers, with the 2nd best kill % behind Carabeth in the 3rd match against Hartwick last Saturday.
That was a tough match, after dominating Colby-Sawyer:
Go Girl!! Unfortunately she’s now down with another bout of antibiotic-resistant kidney infection.
News is not News
NPR ran a story this morning about how Trump posted a satellite image. Was it the about the Iranian launch accident? Perhaps something to do with the Euro-Iranian nuclear deal? Anything about the tweet or picture WRT Iran? Anything at all? Reuters is no better. Today they published nearly back-to-back pieces talking about “hundreds of protesters,” then “thousands of protesters.” Which is it? Is there any integrity left in the media anywhere at all?
Fuck no. But you’ll certainly find plenty of patently false information about satellite imagery and editorializing about poor POTUS judgement. I hate Trump as much as the next guy. But what I hate even more are the fuck-assed bastards running around playing politics with things as fundamentally simple as news reporting. Politics and Greed have irreparably damaged our culture. Nothing broadcast on the airwaves or published on the Internet can be trusted any longer.
Then they push the agenda for an argument about the goddamned weather turned political.
Puh-leeeez.
Diff Plate
So I got this diff plate from a guy named Dan on n54. It was undoubtedly the easiest mod ever – strictly bolt-on, fit perfect. It eliminates the acceleration squirm I’ve been noticing ever since getting the thing tuned a couple years ago. I thought it would need M suspension parts to fix that problem, but never got around to it because they just didn’t appear to be worn in any way. Best 100 bucks ever spent on a car mod. No NVH to it I can tell, so not sure why BMW did not properly mount the diff to start with.
Couple other things of note in the pic. For the guys having trouble getting exhaust lined up, mine was a little uncooperative, but that aluminum adjuster brace did the trick. It was only maybe a half inch off, but refused to line up until I added that little doo-dad. The catch can drain can be seen in the bottom-right. I re-used the old DEF tank line there in what felt like an appropriate thumb-nose to the emissions systems. It used to muck up the bottom of the car when it pushed out a bit of oil every so often – not anymore, just a spot on the floor to clean up from time-to-time.
Free Will now Comes with a Techno Tax
Reliability – What a Concept
It can be built into software systems. Just look at the primitive computer that prevented the Apollo 11 lander from crashing into the surface of the moon, or any of the plethora of real-time systems running critical ops of all sorts where failure is not an option. But those programs all had the financial and power-broker support necessary to get it done.
The problem with software in this respect is simple: People. There are lots of flaky, fundamentally unreliable people out there. Software is a real crapshoot when ordinary buttheads start generating code sans the proper resources and oversight. A government job to program voting machines? Seriously? Good luck with that.
FUD USA
Still can’t determine if the FUD factor (fear, uncertainty & doubt) is a generally good or bad thing with this Trump administration. I guess it’s fairly innocuous to intelligent people, so from a long view, probably an evolutionary plus. Only the incorrigibly stupid are really affected by it:
Not 1 single verifiable scientific fact.
At least they’ve recently shown inclination to expand the research grows from nothing but Mississippi ditch weed.
Just What I Needed III
Three outcomes from my January Hip Surgery:
- New left hip.
- New L4-5 annulus tear.
- End of my patient role relationship with anybody wielding a knife.
It now seems unlikely I will be passing through the doors of a VA facility much ever again. Maybe the occasional flu shot. It is quite likely and my solemn intent, the next time a surgeon gets anywhere near me with a scalpel, will be too soon.
Study finds medical malpractice claims most often associated with orthopedic surgery.
They somehow managed to roll in all three top contenders on me:
Probably not the last word on this, but here’s the neurology wrap-up in a feedback survey returned to Front Range Orthopedics, at their request:
“Thanks for the update on how low back pain affects millions and there’s not much we can do about it. But I was only there about the L4-5 annulus tear. I understand how orthopedic surgery is the biggest malpractice generator in the business, so no need to cover for your buddies. Regardless, please document with the VA or Tricare, however that interface works, if at all, your specific diagnoses calling for conservative treatment only WRT the annulus tear. I will be following up in the coming weeks to ensure that communication is being properly conducted.”
Then I find stuff like this. Guess I’ll be on the quest for a 2nd opinion now…
Play Ball!
It’s my favorite time of year once again folks. Temps are beginning to cool and I have plenty of footballs and volleyballs flying around on TV screens to keep me occupied. Steelers are 3-0 on the pre-season, with Denver 0-3, so football’s looking likely to be a mixed bag again this season. Francie’s 1st match is Friday, with the new schedule posted here.
The "Wired" Internet
Stumbled across an article in Wired magazine where the author made the following statement: “The Internet is becoming a low-trust society, where an assumption of pervasive fraud is built in to the way things function.” How naive. Anyone who was paying attention at the beginning never trusted it in the 1st place. Just goes to show how generational knowledge fails to evolve.
Please allow me to correct the author’s thinking. “A low-trust society has built widespread public electronic communications infrastructure without security.” I have a newsflash for some of these Internet pundits: The “Internet” is merely a reflection of the people using it. The Internet is not the problem, society is not the problem and the Internet is not a society. I did not even continue reading the article after I saw the summary line.
The Internet is no different in this respect than many other tools used by dishonest and criminal elements to further their pursuits. Mass shooting? Guns bad. Cyber fraud? Internet bad. Check your logic. The typical underlying problem in the Internet’s case was the rush to capitalize and worry about the details later. In the meantime, lower-tier capitalists were building their scam and fraud empires. Good luck with that.
"I Don't Wanna Waste Your Co-Pay"
…said the 20-something blue-jeans-clad office assistant, upon determining they did not have access to my imaging, rendering my appearance at the neurologists office yesterday morning moot. Thanks for not wasting my money. I think. I was a bit surprised, since making a point to specifically ask about that, to which a VA staffer informed me “…sure, but they may want to do their own imaging.” Apparently, a wasted appointment is needed to make that determination. I bet they collect alot of copays that way.
What was all that nonsense I’ve been hearing about universal electronic healthcare records sharing? Oh right – this is 2019 and the sharing part is still sneaker-net. Oddly, a request for new imaging was denied, even with blanket insurance authorization and credit card in hand. I’m taking bets on what the next obstacle blocking my quest for treatment will be. I’m guessing their software will not read the CDROM handed to me by a VA staffer an hour later. I’ve got to stop thinking it’s not possible to be jerked around any more than I already have been with this hip operation fiasco.
Software Development
Anyone working in a large software development environment knows this intuitively.
Just What I Needed II
It took waaaaay more time and effort to push this through the system than I’ve ever encountered before. The final tally was 2 IRIS complaints, 2 helpdesk complaints, 3 calls to the neurology scheduler, 3 calls to the nurses, confrontational appointments with a PA and 2 different orthopedic surgeons, and ultimately, a talk with Tom Martino on his radio talk show. I am dead fucking serious about all that. We could even include a couple of confrontational interactions with PT back in January-February if you want to go back that far. Not even mentioning the written communication. The last 3 paragraphs of a letter to Dr. Park are given below for your reading pleasure. I have no idea what one or combination of those things got this moving again, but here’s the latest entry from my symptoms log:
15 AUG 19: Managed to get an appointment with a spine doctor in Longmont next week. Been wondering how much worse PT made this from what they did to me back in Jan-Feb. It’s definitely getting worse, not better now. Rolling knots out of both glutes every night. Entire lower torso, hips and thighs in continuous, chronic strain. Any standing or walking causes increasing tightening in the erectors, glutes and obliques. Getting winded with minor exertion. Radiating ache from right side of L4-5 accompanied with sharp jabs on bending/twisting. Glutes are just about out of commission. Blood pressure still elevated – since January.
The insomnia with this is different than earlier bouts, waking from pain or inability to fall asleep. Falling asleep is no problem. Lying prone is the only time the primary muscle tensing symptoms subside. Even just sitting is a bit uncomfortable. Then, if the dogs bark or I get up to pee at 4am, there’s no going back to sleep, because any meds are worn off and the dull ache from L4-5 I don’t notice much throughout the day becomes emergent.
I clocked 180 over something the 2nd night in the hospital when they started withholding pain med, as usual. Of course I didn’t realize it at the time, but the burning sensation running up and down my spine had nothing to do with the new hip. That BP is just another clear symptom of the body’s auto-protect for an injury like this. Coming up on 8 months since they broke my back. Wonder if anybody besides Dr. Park has seen this letter sent to him in June, following the 1st formal complaint.
-snip –
Unhealthy Dynamics
What could possibly go wrong?
