Seems to me like it’s getting hard to tell. But every so often something pops up reminding me the world has not gone totally to shyt. Yet.
Pond V6 – Wrap-up 2019
It took 2 months for the leak(s) to work their way out again, and was running up to a 3-4GPH leak rate when I last checked it in July. The top epoxy surface coating had cracked again, but only in one spot this time. I’ll repeat the sealing process again over the winter and double up the final epoxy topping in the spring. I’d have liked to do so much more with it this year, but was stuck mostly just sitting around looking at it. I guess that’s really what it’s for, anyway.
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Up until last year, wintering the pond plants in the basement was mostly just a struggle for survival. Last year I started adding aquarium nutes and re-charging the water with nutrient-rich tank runoff. That made a big difference last winter. First frost and freezes coming up, so the plants came out last week. The little basement grow area just had another light fixture installed, doubling output this season. I expect next spring to be the 1st time we don’t buy any pond plants. The ones we have are pretty nice now and fit the bill for this application very well. The new one in front there spreads out nicely on the surface, giving the Goldies something to hide under. Now if the Blue Herons can wait just 1 more day…
Just What I needed VII
Thinking back from the start of this fiasco, it all makes sense now – particularly the part where they start withholding pain med to help gauge your take-home prescription. That is permanently seared into my memory.
It’s so easy to slip through the cracks. I feel like I’ve been fighting a losing battle against the system all year and gotten to the point where just struggling through daily life and trying to deal with this at the same time has left me so physically and mentally exhausted I’m ready to throw in the towel. After seeing the KMS gatekeeper Dr. Knight Tuesday, we’ll do the EMG test, and see what they say about that. I imagine it will be either inconclusive, or find some unrelated issue I don’t care about, like the carpal tunnel last time. Guess what she said when I told her my pain was getting worse and definitely not chronic but acute? “So this has been going on since January, huh – looks like it’s chronic now.”
Fortunately, the first real ray of hope since July came Thursday with Dr Thieman, my new PC out of Loveland. I’m not a religious person, but by some miracle apparently, he was familiar with something at least similar to my issue and and is sending me to see a spine guy who might recognize it as well.
After the MRI finding was made back in June, I’d have let Brinkis get away with blaming it on me! All he had to say was something like “…occasionally we see this in older patients with weakening structures due to disc degeneration, etc. It’s not too serious, just takes a long time to heal, so now we need to…” And that would have been the end of it. This is starting to feel like an “innocent until proven guilty” proposition where nobody even wants to look at the evidence. They are maintaining my toxic annular tear innocence at all cost. Too bad I’m the one paying the bill.
Extending the Lead
Trump Speak
Randall Munroe appears to have the same speech impediment as our POTUS:
Circle of Life
What a Disgrace
I’ve been openly regretting my 2016 Trump vote ever since realizing I did not do my homework that time around. I ranked him as just another greedy businessman and Washington “out”sider. It seemed like a logical alternative at the time. After a few years of this nonsense I now come to realize this moron is just a 73 year-old, minimally literate, spoiled brat. Time to go, little boy.
Petrochemical Storage Upgrade
This year I finally got around to replacing the 40-gallon Olive Barrel we’ve been using for kerosene storage the past 10 years. That was fine, but it was plastic, so not going to last forever and only represented a good supplement to the natural gas – nowhere near enough to keep the place from freezing for very long without the furnace. This will be a much better long term solution, and holds enough capacity to carry us through more extended cold weather calamities involving utility problems, holding approximately 170 gallons.
The actual start was clear back in April. This was certainly one of my biggest welding projects ever, and took all summer to complete, by working for only an hour or so any given time. I was able to get it done because welding is something I can accomplish without moving around too much aggravating my back injury. Getting it down to the basement was a different story. The unique design incorporates a space-saving triangular shape. It was very time-consuming going over all the seams multiple times and testing to ensure a good seal. The construction approach was basically assembling 5 big sheets of 14-gauge steel with the wire welder, then going over everything again with the oxy-acetylene torch for good strong, solid welds. Took 2 welding tank refills before it was finished, so all told the materials bill came to around $500. I figure that’s about half what you’d pay for a lesser tank that didn’t fit right.
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Tech Run Amok
For decades, the enthusiast electronics industry has catered to an insatiable demand for faster processors, higher-res displays and burgeoning bandwidth to support what? Medical research? Spaceflight? Artificial Intelligence? No, I’m afraid it’s computer games. I understand the markets represented by multitudes of people with more money than sense is tempting, but seriously? This is just ridiculous.
2nd Opinion
Yeah, I definitely got crushed. I’ll be going for a 3rd with my new PC next Thursday.
Numbers are Piling Up!
I wasn’t kidding when I said Francie was leading the attack the other day:
Just What I Needed VI
So the other Longmont spine doctor named Dr. Smith wanted to do some injections to isolate where the pain is coming from – after I told him. Multiple times – along with a rehash of everything else for the umpteenth time. I didn’t bother asking him to explain how making the pain go away with anesthetics and steroids would better help find it. That just seemed a bit too insulting to both of us. Ineffective and unnecessary diagnostics appear to be an important bottom-line booster. Gerlach got x-rays. This gentleman gets paid only for another useless office visit, despite trying to get more x-rays and some injections. Seriously? You could cut the diagnostically bereft dishonesty coming out of this guy’s mouth with a knife.
Seeing the overall healthcare picture from this perspective is disturbing. It’s probably the biggest reason why I like the VA – they are certainly not in it for the money – but that engenders other issues. In any event, apparently patients are not the best source of information about their maladies these days, regardless of who is writing their doctor’s paycheck. My view of doctors is dimming at an alarming rate – probably normal for someone my age. They are after all, just people.
And I have no problem with people making mistakes. The problem comes when they don’t own up to it, followed by lies of deceit and omission. This one particular mess of a therapeutic misadventure is now becoming clear. They let little things slip from time-to-time. Smith knows or at least knows of Park. They also seem to know they have a problem, and it’s not my back injury. Stalling probably works in most of these cases, just not this time. This type of dishonesty appearing to be an acceptable course of action is stunning, to me. How naive I must be. Orthopedic surgery outcomes like this are a not uncommon occurrence, so they just try to ride it out, hoping the patient gets better? How many more doctors do I need to tell I still haven’t recovered from the January surgery? Next up: MKS on the 1st.
Maybe I turn up with some morbid complication? Depending on what turns up in other areas, they better hope I don’t need another surgery because of this. If I find out they knew about it and were just trying to wait me out, I’m thinking max-dollar tort against the government. That’s how it’s gonna go if we find some REAL bullshit going on.
The only thing I can prove right now is they knew about it for sure in June – if anybody was paying attention. There’s strong indication in the record they should have known about it in January, right after the surgery. Patients aren’t the only ones signing release forms. Probably not even worth it after the state, feds, hospital and lawyers get their cut. I’m sure there are legal time limits well-aligned with the delays.
Reminds Me of Melissa
We’d been back from Germany less than a year when early one afternoon, our Sq CC stopped by the section and instructed Captain Mears to send me downstairs to talk with the SA’s and find out what was going on. eMail had been spotty and slow all morning, people were getting pissed, and 21Net administration was seeking outside help.
After poking around for a few minutes, I told the boss down there they needed to shut it down. He said “we can’t do that without the base commander’s permission!” I replied “OK, you can either do it and start the clean-up now, or wait and try to find out how long it takes to clean the entire 14 terbaytes in the NAS eMail store – your call.”
![](http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Dilbert-Worst_Cyber_Attack-1024x323.png)
NCAA Div.III Little East
…Will belong to Plymouth State in the Women’s Volleyball category this season. Yesterday they extended their lead to 12-1, cruising to a 3-1 victory over Regis, with Francie leading the attack. Keene State is the only other team even remaining in contention, at 10-3:
.
Disappearing Systems
I tend to worry more about the ones still around, not working very well.
Just What I Needed V
The long slog through numerous failed attempts at getting my VA-Inflicted back injury treated was a foregone conclusion nobody was ever going to tell me about. Of course my IRIS complaint inquiries were probably investigated, at least to some extent – none of the findings of which (if any) were ever communicated to me. And thus the cover-up began in earnest at that time, with the following utterance: “Dr. Park doesn’t work here anymore.”
Interesting. I don’t recall ever asking if he did, or if I could see him again, because frankly it would have been a bit uncomfortable. But that was the 1st thing Brinkis said to me as we walked into his exam room. Scary to think, but it’s probably just a stock response to this sort of routine issue. I kinda doubt suspected bad doctors just get fired and that’s the end of it. Seems rather presumptuous to believe a stranger like me is really that stupid, but I guess that’s the preferred approach. I was actually quite well impressed with Dr. Park, from what little interaction I had with him, and suspect the only thing he may be guilty of is inexperience. Whether or not anyone actually knew or realized what happened to me that day became basically irrelevant once the systematic denial and mistreatment began shortly after the surgery.
So I’ll take a liberal tack and investigate the investigation starting with several FOIA requests. I wonder if a smoking gun of malfeasance on my case turns up at the new Aurora VA facility. What happened to me is incontrovertibly recorded in official VA medical records. VA’s response to that information remains highly dubious. Brinkis’ consult written for “lower back pain” not “L4-5 annular tear” was useless. Under the circumstances, I presently believe everybody knows what the problem is – they just refuse to diagnose it, hoping I’ll get better and go away. So referral to the outside providers was met with nothing but reference to chronic low back pain, despite my clear, detailed description of the symptoms not being chronic, with acute pain from that one, single spot. All Gerlach did was improperly collect a co-pay and some x-ray fees, none of which was legitimate, because I don’t do copays, he did nothing, and the VA imaging I carried with me on a CD was higher resolution anyway. He was just collecting money.
I’ll be trying to get a 2nd opinion with the bad consult on the 24th with a different spine doctor. There will be no x-rays, or detailed diagnostic interview. They will either order an L-4-5 discogram, or our visit will be quite awkward and brief. Then, depending on that outcome, I will re-tell the whole story to a VA PT doctor once again on the 1st. My new Primary Care Provider was initially scheduled for the 27th. They got sick, then see below. That would have happened yesterday, but they had to reschedule due to an administrative SNAFU. For me at least, it’s gotten to a point with the VA, to where I just expect delay and screw-ups. All I ever wanted was to know what happened and get my back fixed. This is what I am dealing with in terms of VA scheduling:
I’m pretty sure somebody will eventually end up going in there to clean it up, because it’s in the 3rd or 4th different stage of whatever it’s doing and definitely getting worse – “festering” would be the layman’s term. Only questions are how to find an interested Dr. and how much further damage ensues over this lengthy course of mistreatment. Starting to look like all of 2019 is down the proverbial tubes for me.
(Late Update 09/19) Almost on cue, I got a call from the Loveland Clinic this afternoon to re-schedule yet again. Story was, Denver input the PC change wrong. So they re-scheduled the appointment with the wrong doctor last week, then fixed that yesterday and re-scheduled again – each time getting further away. LATE UPDATE 20231220: Upon review, I am now certainly convinced they knew exactly what was going on – just performing the cover-up.