Casting Call

 

New Status Update: Pt 2

Last week in the series of snowfalls we had, I fell on a patch of ice while clearing the driveway. What I thought was just a minor sprain has turned out to be a fracture in my wrist. I am waiting for the Dr to call to tell me what comes next. This on top of getting let go from work Thursday.

Not my week

   

Tough Week

This has been a rough week.

Work has been pretty unstable. With the economy the way it is, sales have been on a steady decline for over a year. People quitting the Customer Service dept have not been replaced, and in the company management, layoffs have been a steady drumbeat for the last 18 months. Another of the buyers was let go Thursday. The tension there is pretty intimidating; both my supervisors where given a pay cut and everyone else is looking for the axe to come at their necks. My part time job has been pretty much dropped to zero since before Christmas. I've only put in two full days (it's a one day a week job) so far this year.

Then my Uncle Rick (in VA) was informed his cancer, which we all thought was beaten back last November, has come back with a vengeance. His doctors have told him to get his affairs in order, quickly. Care has been shifted to palliative. My family is a free wheeling and loving bunch, and my Aunt and cousin are taking this really hard (as would be expected). It's also given me cause to assess; there are four male relatives in my family (two from either side of the linage) who have contracted cancer. Is there a ticking time-bomb cell lurking somewhere in my flesh, counting down?

Our family has been fortunate in that - other than my grandparents/Mom's parents - my mother's family has remained intact all these years. Only one of my Uncles and I have lost a spouse, and my family was not really connected to Peter when I lost him. I have never been sure they understood just how horrible an experience I had, although in the case of my Uncle, when his wife passed in 2000, it was easier for them to comprehend. After all, he has 3 beautiful daughters and the marriage took place 20 plus years prior. All of us in the family knew that he and my Aunt had a loving relationship, and came to his side in the moments he and the girls needed us. (And it should be noted, the Gallagher family has been completely taken by my partner Joel.)  So getting the news of my Uncle's resurgent cancer has shaken us all.

There are letters to write and notes to be passed. He has given my Aunt and his son a very, very good life and provided for them well. My job and financial fears pale in comparison

Ain't too proud to....

This month has been a crusher. Between losing the bulk of my Part Time job hours, getting the bills for the January surgery and my ongoing IRS issues, I'm getting clobbered financially. 
 

So if anyone was thinking of maybe getting a new toy from Amazon (click here), 
TLA video (click here) 
or something from my dirty book site (click here), 

...now would be a really really helpful time! 
Thanks. TB 

 

Fistulaectomy

Some of you may recall a post I made back in August where I discussed an infection in a localized area upon wish is usually refered to as a descriptive used to talk about donkeys and ending with the word "Hole." While I made some light of it at the time, the problem has not healed after a pair of anti-biotic treatments. I have been informed that this problem must now be rectified through a surgical procedure called a Fistulaectomy. You can google it if you want to, but suffice to say that sharp objects will be inserted to core out flesh where one does not want sharp objects tunneling.

I go for the pre-surgical exam Dec 30th, then the first hospital visit with an overnighter January 7. Just how I wanted to kick off the 2010 New Year's Action. About the only good thing about this will be that the major irritation that this itty-bitty sore spot has been causing me since the end of summer will finally be gone. And that the rest of 2010 can only go up from this.

Pain in the Butt!

I am finally catching up after being really medically frustrated since Wednesday morning. On that day, I awoke to an unbelievable concentrated pain in my backside that almost made me scream. I rushed to the bathroom which, when trying to expel whatever was inside of me, increased the burning, searing feeling to a point that Joel came in and asked what was wrong. All I could do in reply was whimper like a very whipped dog. But when I tried to wipe myself, it was with even greater mortification to see blood on the toilet tissue.

I first called my doctor for an appointment and then called work to report out for a sick day. The pain/sensitivity was unreal; it actually hurt to fart. This was not going to be the fun sort of hump day.

My general practice Doctor had an opening at 11, so I sat on pillows until that time. He asked me to describe the pain, and my response was to say that the seven deadly sins, the plagues of Egypt, all 9 circles on Hell and a hornets' nest had been shrunk to the point of a red hot needle and jammed in my backside. That at least got a laugh out of the guy, but he was seriously concerned about the bleeding. He pulled out the rubber gloves and I inwardly groaned. For the first time that day, I dropped trou and bent over the exam table as Dr NotFeelGood probed around with a lubed finger and I yelped when he touched the appropriate sensitive places.

Withdrawing from the lunar surface, he commented that there was a fissure and pus drainage, so he wanted me to see a proctologist ASAP. He wrote up the insurance referal and bounced me to a clinic less than a mile up the road. In that office, there was the usual 20 questions, forms filled and insurance card copying, then it was time to meet Dr Silver. Once again, it was bend over and drop trou, but Dr Silver had the much cooler exam bench. On his, you kneel on the bench-like end, grab the handles up near the head, and the Doctor hydraulically adjust you to the point of greatest accessiblity. Doesn't make the rubber gloving any more enjoyable, and I was certainly barking more than I did at the earlier appointment.

As Dr Silver lowered the bench back to the floor (and I wondered how many dungeons this piece of equipment might be used in), he informed me that I had developed a cyst on the rim of my anus that had abscessed and broken, which was why I was having such an intensely localized pain. Grateful for the slice of information, I asked what could be done about this little problem. He prescribed two medicines and spitz baths for the next week, then in two weeks, my first ever colonoscopy. Ack. I'm getting old.

The serious problems have subsided, my butt now just aches and gets intense during bathroom visits.

Undesired pain is such a pain.