My husband (JU ID 'lonesome traveler') complains that I talk too much sometimes. It's true, I do get a bit chatty at times. He's going to be a very happy man when he gets home from work this evening. I'm losing my voice.  I have a cold, and it was a bit raspy when I got up this morning.  I liked the way it sounded, so I started singing along with my guitar playing. That was a mistake.....because I've gone from having a sexy rasp to having nothing but an unattractiv...

This is the back brace that I'm going to be wearing for 3 months: Yes, that's a look of discomfort on my face in the first picture.  This thing has to be tight; so tight that it's difficult to take a deep breath.  It does what it's designed to do, I can't twist or bend in it, and sitting is...interesting, to say the least.  I'm supposed to wear it over my clothes, and I already learned that low-rise pants aren't a good idea to wear with it....the bit of belly ...

I can get fixed!  I can get fixed!!!! I'm having a anterior spinal fusion surgery done, probably the first week or so of July.  I see the general surgeon on June 30th - because they're going through my belly the general surgeon has to tag team the neuro surgeon and clear the way to my spine, so to speak. 2 titanium rods, a few screws, and some bone harvested from my hip...and he said he was 90% certain that I'd be almost good as new afterwards! I got fitted for my brace today,...

I'm seeing the surgeon again this morning. He's going to look at my myelogram films and then we're going to decide what needs to get done and when. Realistically, I could initiate the 'get D home' campaign this afternoon.  His squadron have decided that he shouldn't just come home for 2 weeks e-leave, he should come home to stay.  I'll still have to send Red Cross messages and get statements from my family practice doctor and the surgeon, but that's just red tape necessary to fac...

I collapsed in the ER foyer this morning. I had been leaking cerebrospinal fluid for the past 48 hours, and was in a pain that I can only being to describe as excruciating.  I wouldn't wish it on ANYONE.  My friend Kim came and carried me to her car, drove me to the ER (with me crying and puking the whole way), then ran and got some people to carry me the rest of the way. I cannot begin to tell y'all how much it hurt.  CSF is like a 'buffer'; your brain and spinal cord and n...

....it's not going to be that bad.....it's not going to be that bad.... That's my mantra for today. I have to get a myelogram done at lunchtime.  I have to go let the radiologist stick a big ass needle into my spinal column, draw some cerebrospinal fluid out and then inject some radioactive contrast material in so they can take pictures and see exactly which nerve roots the herniated disc is pressing on before the surgeon cuts me open. I have to get admitted to the hospital afterwa...

Yes, I am.  I have to get a myelogram done next Thursday.  That's a test where radioactive dye is injected into my spinal canal and then X-rays and a CT scan is done so the surgeon can better visualize the discs that are herniated and see where he needs to cut and how much bone he's going to need to graft. I'm scared. I'm going to be awake for the entire procedure.  No sedation, no pain relief except for a little local anesthesia.  I have to be admitted to ...

There's an end in sight for me. I had an appointment with a neurosurgeon today. He can fix me.  He can fix my back.  He says that whilst there are no guarantees, I should see at least a 75% improvement and could even see upwards of 95%.  Right now, with the kind of pain I've been having fo the last year and a half...I'd take a 50 or 40% improvement.  Almost anything would be better than what I'm living with now. I need to have a discectomy and spinal fusion surgery d...

I took my almost 13 year old daughter back to the doc again this morning. She's had this cough since February.  We saw the pediatrician when she first got it, and she got a chest x-ray...and declared that she had a viral infection and we should go home and wait it out.  She had the start of a pneumonia, but the doc didn't seem to be too concerned, so off we went. She's been coughing ever since.  She's coughed hard enough to make herself throw up at times.  I've called t...

I'm on day 5 of trying to pass this kidney stone. I'm tired of being in pain.  I'm tired of having to pee into little hats and then look to see if I've peed out a stone.  I'm tired of getting no sleep.  I'm tired of getting IV's and drugs that make me sick to my stomach.  I'm tired of everything. I just want this stone to pass so I can feel better.  I'm literally at my wits' end....

I spent 4 hours in the emergency room this morning. For the past few days I've had a vague right flank and right sided abdominal pain.  Yesterday it got pretty intense, and it woke me in the night and kept me awake until dawn, when I decided to haul my sorry ass over to the hospital. After they gave me IV demerol (woo hoo!!) they sent me off for a CT scan. Yes, you've guessed it.....I have a kidney stone.  Just a little one, about 3-4 mm.  Big enough to hurt like a mofo, ...

I'm having a bad back day. I would do almost anything to rid myself of the burning, throbbing, aching sciatica that's running down my legs.  This is the worst it's been, ever. The thing is, I know WHY I'm having a bad back day.  I have to go to the doctor this afternnon and, after I plead with him to temporarily put me out of my misery somehow, I'll have to explain just HOW I hurt myself this time. *blushing* I have a.....a.....fornication related injury.  Yes, yo...