Musings of a minor megalomaniac
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.
Three outcomes from my January Hip Surgery:
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…
…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.
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 –
Saw Dr. Brinkis, from the (now) 2-person surgical team, including Dr. Sylvestri as the current chief of ECHCS orthopedics and man who fixed my shoulder 3 years ago. Exactly what happened or why was not going to be discussed, except to say that Dr. Park no longer works there – not that he ever really did, as one of the contractors currently doing half the orthopedic surgery at the new hospital here.
As expected, apart from some tests, VA cannot accommodate any further treatment in a timely manner, so I’m being sent off into the civilian medical community to see a spine doctor. This was the last thing I needed, considering spinal issues already constituted the biggest problems in my disability situation. Now there’s a new problem there, and I just hope this new injury isn’t bad enough they need to go in and clean it up.
Still can’t believe I spent the last 6 months telling every VA staffer I encountered from the physical therapist, to the physician assistant to primary care to the surgeon himself, how badly I was doing in vivid detail, and every single one of them sent me away saying or implying there was nothing wrong with me. Perhaps disregarding Dr. Sluder’s April referral offer was unwise, but that was at the time I was still under the delusion of normality being instilled in me with comforting reassurances like “sometimes it just takes longer to get over an operation.” As it turns out, things eventually crystallize with an untreated back injury like this.
A little background before the upcoming appointment Friday with Dr. Park, the surgeon who performed my hip replacement back in January. Hopefully better light will be shed come Friday, subsequent to sacrum and lumbar MRI’s accomplished last week.
An unusual sensation emanated from the base of my spine accompanied by severe autonomous clenching and chronic muscle strain throughout my lower abdomen and thighs when I stopped the pain medication approximately 10 days after surgery. There were 2 problems associated with the surgery, the 1st of which is mostly resolved, with the 2nd remaining to be diagnosed.
Beginning in January 2018, I waited while the VA slowly and methodically slogged through one conservative treatment after another. Neurological and orthopedic exams, steroid injections and of course the months-long waiting periods in-between amounted to well over a year from the time I knew I had an end-state arthritic hip, to when I finally received the surgery. So the entire right side of my body compensated by developing an acute chronic strain condition. The right thigh in particular, became so deeply strained and sore I was often barely able to walk at all by the end of the day the first half of this year. Now after 6 months of misery, that problem has only just recently begun to show signs of remission. Within the past month or so, I have started using the cane more in my “right” hand, supporting the new left hip, which seems to be doing great, with only minor healing discomfort remaining.
Now for the bad part. I’m still grabbing the cane with my left hand due to: Either my lower abdomen was crushed like a bug with some sort of clamp on the operating table while my left leg was being sawed off and re-attached with a new hip joint, or the L4-5 annulus was torn tossing me around somewhere like a sack of potatoes. My first guess was a mashed-up sacrum. Dr. Park said it could be a stress fracture in my pelvis. L4-5 annulus tear seems to match the primary pain source from what I can decipher in the MRI reports. I was interpreting this as the worst of the muscle strain, but now it’s pretty obvious what is going on down there. Whatever it is, I’m effectively crippled.
It’s not just the VA, and could happen to anyone. I’m probably one of the lucky ones. Surgery is risky business. People make mistakes. Thankfully not a botched hip “replacement,” considering the new hip seems good so far. I’ll have questions to ask, and suggestions to offer regarding the patient clamping and handling procedure(s).
When are people going to wake up to the fact that large swaths of the pharmaceutical industry in this country are operating as government-sponsored organized crime syndicates? Insys has capitulated, but the victims are dead and the money is certainly squirreled away in Swiss bank accounts. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
The anti-vaxxer movement has got to be about over by now. At least one sub-group in that collection of morons is getting a good taste of their own medicine. What’s it take to get people to observe their surroundings in one or another forms of objective reality? I bet a couple weeks on a cruise ship with a good case of the measles might do it. Too bad it’s only affecting around 300 of these idiots. Returning to home port the following day, they learned their quarantine will be maintained there as well. And don’t forget the random morons around the country like this. Ever wonder what anasognocia looks like? Maybe not that serious – just a little cognitive dissonance?
The evidence keeps rolling in:
“The study’s results are consistent with a number of prior trials — such as those here, here, and here — finding that a history of marijuana use is associated with a lower prevalence of obesity, high cholesterol, and diabetes.”
I can personally corroborate the above claims. I’ve been using weed to manage my arthritis and neurological issues for going on 4 years now, and the results are just fantastic. I’ve lost weight and stopped taking all the pharmaceuticals I have been prescribed over the years. Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Pain and Depression are all under control.
Here’s some personal proof, for the doubters: I had a left THR (total hip replacement) on 8 January. I used about half the Oxycodone they sent me home from the hospital with. I remember begging for more when it ran out after the 1st THR done on the right 5 years ago. Cannabis can’t prevent me from running my body into the ground, but it sure makes getting there more bearable.
Had my left femoral ball upgraded to the titanium variety Tuesday morning. Hips are both prosthetic now. Procedure went smooth followed by 2 nights in the hospital. Once again, I cannot say enough good about the care I am receiving from the Rocky Mountain Regional VA. The new hospital in Aurora is just fabulous.
Join ’em! Was there ever any doubt?
Now if we could just entice the tobacco companies to move their manufacturing overseas. Makes sense, because they sell most of their product outside the country and millions of people are growing their own weed here now anyway so… Good Riddance! Wonderful stuff we here in the good ‘ol USA export all over the world: Tobacco, weapons, fossil fuels to name just a few. Based only on the arms sales graphic below, looks almost like corporate-sponsored planetary fratricide, to me.
Hopefully people are becoming more aware of the pitfalls involved with today’s media-enhanced society. Russian electioneering and Facebook foible outrage seem to be vying for eyeballs everywhere right now. But the problem runs much deeper and into just about anywhere you look online. Here is a perfect example of how a well-respected medical journal gets it wrong by trying to be everybody’s everything: WebMD Does BBQ.
Of course the findings are preliminary. I’m sure the data is good and they mean well. But where’s the chef? Or Grillmaster? Or just about anybody who understands cooking meat from a culinary standpoint – not just potential hypothetical scientific outcomes thereof. The data and study findings get lost in translation. They warn against high heat and flame as the means to avoid over-cooking meat, but the heat source is irrelevant. Intensity and time are the issues. Whether it is on the BBQ grill or in the kitchen frying pan makes no difference. The best steaks are quickly flame-grilled medium rare, IMHO.
The correct message they are trying to convey is “don’t overcook your meat.” Grilling and broiling do not necessarily over-cook your meat. Newbie BBQ buffs might need to develop better timing and heat control for this purpose. Apparently the problem also afflicts WebMD article authors. They overlook the carcinogen factor in searing meats, but that’s a different topic. Sort of.
After all, they’re just doctors, not chefs. Just presumptuous doctors – or maybe their inexperienced lab assistants? It’s hard to tell from across the Internet.