Surgery--Again

Almond Milk, huh? Where exactly is the udder on an almond? How do they know when almonds are lactating? Where do they get those little farmers to milk them?

It's in the coconut.

Ragman, I assume they have the same info and the same milkers for soy beans. Feh, as my grandmother used to say. (Also my mother and now me.)

osso, coconuts milk almonds? What's happening to the flora of this world?

Vonny, I just finished editing an entire book written by someone from England. I had to Americanize it. Feh on humoUr.

I'm a regular milk person too. (And no it's never given me mucus.) I prefer chocolate, but also like old fashioned hot regular milk of a cold evening.

Of soy, almond milk, and coconut (store type) milk in cartons, I suppose I like coconut but I've only tried it once. I've used the canned unsweetened kind in thai food a couple of times. I've never tried the almond kind you can make yourself (well, not you) from almonds, but it's supposed to taste and be better.

Arm update. It wasn't the dictionary. My arm is getting sorer and sorer, and I'm not lifting the dictionary. The problem is work-related. Have to figure out what's going on.

One last comment about milk. No milk, no egg creams. I'm not spending the rest of my life without an egg cream. Period. The end.

Feh about the dictionary.

Do you lean on that arm while editing? I caught myself doing that for many months and couldn't figure out why my shoulder was hurting me. One day, while leaning on that arm while at the computer, my shoulder had a sharp pain in it and made me realize that maybe the pressure on the arm was causing the pain.

The shoulder improved greatly when I was more aware of and avoided doing it.

Have you had any recent falls, is it possible you injured it by catching yourself with that arm against a wall or piece of furniture, or bracing your fall onto the floor?

Are you a side sleeper, is that the side you sleep on? Try sleeping on the other side for a few days and see if it improves.

Oy vey and I mean it.

Is your dictionary a fattie? Mine is, from my parents in the thirties. It's also sort of wrinkled and I don't know when that happened.
Can you somehow switch to a decent online one?

What is a decent online one?

I'm lucky in life so far without much neck & shoulder & arm stuff, but I did get some tsouris from fluorescent microscope looking, back when. Hunching and neck tension over hours of slide looking daily.

My own devilment to come will be that I hunch, as hunching is comfortable, also dumb.

I am hoping you get help to figure this out, Robbie. It could be simple or not.

I'm trying to remember the departments at ucla - aha, physical therapy. Yes. Some of those people know what is going on.

How you can access them at Bellevue -- ?

butrfly, I don't lean on any arm when I'm editing. I'm typing at the computer. No falls. And I sleep on both sides.

osso, My dictionary is the eleventh edition of Webster's Collegiate. But it's not the dictionary. I'm not lifting it with my left arm anymore. And an online dictionary would be a pain in the ass. It's much easier and less time consuming to just pick up a book. When I see my doctor, I'll tell him that my arm was better and is now getting worse. I already had the X-rays. I don't know what's next. I assume some kind of orthopedic person.

Getting an appointment with my doctor has become a challenge. I've been trying for a while.

Thanks for your concern. Throwing in an ouch.

Have an egg cream on me! Sorry about the arm.

I have found a chiropractor who is giving me long lasting relief from neck and upper back issues I have had for thirty years. I can't believe it.

I don't know quite why I said that, it just seemed vaguely germane.

Hey Ms Roberta

Can you move the dictionary to another position and have you ever tried lavender heat bags? I had an injury in 1999 and once I changed my typing in your case as well, writing, and used heat bags PLUS moving, moving, that arm, twas and is so much better.

Sorry to hear this, now that my computer is "new" photos on your other thread may now appear ..........

Okay then, not the dictionary. That's good. One possibility ruled out. How about your seating posture? Often times my shoulders start to become ached from a lean-over slouch. It can also happen if I fall asleep with an extra pillow under my head/neck. I am a 1 thin pillow, or no pillow sort for sleep but rest/relax sometimes with 2 or 3. If I fall asleep often there's a price for that.

Hope this gets resolved soon for you.

Now, back to the egg creams...

Update for you, Roberta, and other friends:

Saw my band surgeon and my primary doctor on Tuesday for follow-ups. The swelling in my body is finally starting to go down. It didn't require the steroid injection after all and I'm able to start eating softer foods again. I seem to do better with firm, but soft food that I can chew to a pulp rather than soft, mushy food that is difficult to chew any smaller. For instance, I can eat a hard boiled egg and a little mayo without problem, but I can't seem to swallow scrambled egg. I can eat some ham and bean soup with a lot of broth, but can't swallow it if I puree it.

Haven't been able to take my usual daily dose of aspirin for about two months now and the arthritis in my knees is killing me. My GP doc gave me a ortho referral to get some injections in my knees. I'm also looking for an adult strength, liquid OTC pain reliever I can take. So far, I've only found children's versions.

Over the weekend, I experienced for the first time since surgery, an overwhelming hunger that just could not be satisfied no matter what I ate. I stayed within my small circle of food I can eat, but I ate a lot of it, not at any one setting, but constantly all day.

The next day, I did some thinking about the situation and I think it was one of my usual emotional hunger episodes. I'd just had a huge battle with my mother and had to stuff a lot of my feelings, as many dementia caregivers do, because most of the problem, and my frustration, is out of her control. I still struggle with not taking her demented meanness personally. Before surgery, I would have just stuffed myself with a food binge. This time, I couldn't do that because of the band. That hunger I was feeling was probably an emotional hunger that was no longer being medicated with food and needed another outlet. The band works!

So, today I returned to getting up at 5am to go swimming at the local city pool. Man, did it feel great! I was able to do my warm up stretches and exercises in the water, jog about 8 laps and do all my arm and shoulder exercises with the water weights. Was only able to do about 30 minutes of this rather than my usual 2 hours. I started feeling a little soreness in the port area and my knees were killing me. Came home and took a small swig of the liquid hydrocodone. I'm such a lightweight with narcotic medications, that even that small amount that basically just coated my tongue, knocked me out and I slept for 3 hours.

It feels great to be able to start eating again, and to be back in the pool!

For the first time, today someone noticed and commented on my weight loss. They didn't know I've had surgery so it felt even better to hear it.

That's great news, Butrflynet. Sounds as if the band is really working for you - well done! And well done for being able to work out just what was behind the big hunger you experienced!

Thanks for the update, Butrfly. I'm glad that you didn't need surgery and don't need steroids. Also very glad you can eat. This puts me in mind of when my throat was being radiated. Getting anything down was a major triumph.

I understand totally the anger and frustration of dealing with a difficult person with dementia. Grrrrrrr.

Swimming and running and looking and being thinner. All good things. I think that your knees will hurt less, the lighter you are.

Rooting for you, kid.

Great post, butrfly. This is all hard and you're brave. Glad about the swimming.

Frustrated and PISSED OFF!

I finally got a paycheck yesterday. Deposited it yesterday. It cleared. So I went to the drug store to get some scrips filled. My antidepressant was all gone. Dangerous to skip pills. No asthma meds. Gonna get the new cheaper ones. (Ha!) And my BP med. Cheap.

Before I got the new asthma meds filled, I asked for prices. The most important one to me is Spiriva. Da best asthma med I ever took. The cheap replacement? What the doctor prescribed is no longer being made. I had the foresight to bring a prescription for Spiriva with me. Last time I had it filled, it wa $124. It went up. It's now $136. (Insert dirty words.) Advair is the more expensive of the two asthma meds. I stopped taking it a while ago. The last time I had it filled it was $178. The new, cheaper scrip? $118. Yes, less than Advair, but still too expensive. I passed.

Total prescriptions--$218. Plus I had to get an OTC med that I have to take. $22.

Now I can't pay my utility bills.

**** this donut hole. I would like to spend one day not worrying about money.

Manana. I'm taking a lump day. I'll finish one editing job tonight, and I'll lump tomorrow.

A string of dirty words pour from my snarling lips.