Jose,

Yes it really is me. I didn't get abducted by aliens or rubbed out by the mob.

I hope you have my old email addy, still using the same one.

Sorry to hear you are suffering again. Me I quit all meds, I could barely hold my head up. I still can't remember peoples names 2 minutes after meeting them.

I hope what ever treatment you are going to have will give you some relief.

Missed you since your last visit to Las Vegas, when we had dinner together and gambled the night away.

Moved back to PA. last September, sure miss the desert though.

Hi Jose, I'm sending out prayers and good thoughts to you. May the procedures go well, give you lots of pain relief and have your pain levels down - way down!
I was sad when you called yourself stupid, especially since we've all done the same thing -- that is delay things. I do that when I can't or don't want to deal with anything else. If I sit still and don't move then I can make it through the day without having the whole day be a 10 which is where I was this morning when I woke up. Sitting still all day is stupid, but that doesn't make ME stupid. Got my point? GOOD !!
Anyway, maybe what you did was stupid but YOU are not stupid. You've shared so much of your vast knowledge and wisdom with us, how could anyone think that?
Everyone who comes to this forumm whether it's to answer a question or ask a ? is intelligent.
You'll be in my thoughts tomorrow. I think we'll all be waiting to hear from you to see how you are doing.
Love ya, Hope

Good Luck and success with your proceedure today.My prayers are with you.

Joselita: I will be thinking of you today. Good luck and a speedy recovery.
Regards, Lil

Hey Folks.

I want to say "Thank You" again to everyone that sent all of those well wishes for me through all of this.

My procedures weren't canceled this time (YAY!), and Meghan and I made it up toe Birmingham just fine. We just had a very long day yesterday. Longer than usual when I have my stuff done. I am not complaining, as I am just glad that I was able to get them done...but it sure was a long, long day. LOL

Things were kinda backed up there...so I had a pretty good little wait until they got a "room" (not even a room...one of those cubical thingies with the drape across the front? LOL) available for me. Once I got back there, I had...well...a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG wait. I don't even know how long, as there isn't a clock in those little "rooms", and it just so happened that there was a pillar in between my "room" and the clock hanging above the nurses desk/station thingie. That was probably a good thing, as I most likely would have been poking my head out and looking at the stupid clock way too much, and that would have only made time seem to go by that much more slower. Know what I mean?

Anyway...when the Nurse from the OR came to get me for my stuff to be done, there wasn't any slow poking around about it. Most times, I get into a gurney bed thing, and then have to wait a little longer for an OR to open up. Not yesterday, though. In fact, they put my butt in a wheel chair to get me back to the OR holding area....and I got all nervous (I know..I shouldn't do that by now...but I do. I can't seem to help it. LOL), which made me have to pee (Yeah..right. Pee what? ROFL..it was mainly because I was nervous). When I got in the bed, they were saying "Hurry! Hurry! We have to get back there," and they weren't kidding. Everyone was in the OR waiting for me. LOLOL..it was a good thing that I peed when I did, because THAT would have just made me have to for sure, since I got all flustered and anxious and whatnot. Never have had everyone in there waiting for me before! Not like that, anyways..

So..I get all loopified, and Dr H does his thing. Evidentially, I had that problem again, where I chock on the meds when he first tried to do my Thoracic Sympathetic Block. I have posted about that before...but since there is nothing HERE about it, I will just say that it happens sometimes, because evidentially I have some sort of "Fistula" thing going on, and if he hits in the wrong place (or places...We think that I have more than one back there. NOT infection places..just little hollow tube things. He explained it to me before...I will have to try to do a better job explaining that here..but not now. LOL) I chock and cough. I wasn't aware that this had happened, until I came "out of it" and was coughing and what not, and they were saying that they needed to get the X-ray folks into recovery, and I realized that I could still taste medicine. YUCK.

Fun. Nothing like waking up like that, I can tell you.

But....chest x-ray came out clear...and I finally got to go home. Yeah! We had to be to the Hospital at 9 am yesterday morning, and we didn't get out of there until about 4 pm. Like I said...LOOOOOOOONG day. I spent the rest of it basically sleeping. So, that is good! In fact, I think that I could sleep more today, and just might do that!

I do feel MUCH better after the procedures. RSD things have simmered down GREATLY. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO relieved! I do, however, have some troubles today.

Yesterday, after the meds started wearing off some (and while I was still up there), my muscles on the right side of my chest, and around the back, including my shoulder HURT! I feel like I got beat up by a base ball bat or something. I am not sure why this is? Maybe, because of all of my coughing? I did a lot of that...more than I have ever done before. So much, in fact, that I won't be surprised if Dr H says that he doesn't want to do that procedure anymore (and I might just agree, Scary to chock on the meds, scary and yucky to have med taste all in my mouth, scary at the thought of what could happen if I aspirated on them, and this beat up feeling sucks. I do worry too, about pushing my odds of having something awful happen because of the chocking thing....I am not a good gambler, and this has happened a few times). This time, I coughed more than I have ever before, and I kept hearing them call for that stupid x-ray thing "Stat". That "Stat" thing scares me...you know? Didn't the x-ray people as they didn't "stat" very well at all. LOLOL. Crap, by the time we finally got them in there, and then they cam back because they fudged up the first pic, and then they FINALLY got the stupid report done (that they didn't send where it needed to go, and the afternoon nurse that I haven't had before had to go chasing it down), everyone had pretty much figured out that I was "OK", since I wasn't having troubles breathing, and the coughing had taken care of it's self. Sheesh. LOL


Anyway. This beat up feeling sucks, and it is worse today than it was yesterday. Probably because all of those nice meds are mostly out of my system now. I don't know. I just know that it feels like my whole upper right quadrant is in one big charlie horse. Even under and around my collar bone...and that REALLY hurts, as it hurts when I move my head, cough (for normal reasons) blow my nose, take a deep breath, or move my arm in certain ways. Then add to that the muscles under and around my right breast (OUCH!), the muscles all around and over that big shoulder blade bone thing in the back, and even my right Biceps. OUCH!!!

LOLOL..but, still...even with those muscle cramps, spasms, and charlie horse things going on, I can STILL say that I feel MUCH better than I did yesterday...or the day before...or the day before that....and so on and so forth. So, that is good!

Hmmmmm. I think that maybe I still have some of those drugs in my system, as I seem to be doing a really good job of Blabbering away here. I am just hoping that it makes some sense? I have had to start and stop more than a few times (it hurts to sit at keyboard for too long...makes those back muscles scream at me), and harder to type than normal. So, please excuse all of the typos and rambling I have done here. If you made it all the way through this...WOW! I am in awe! Seriously. LOLOL

I just wanted to try to let everyone know that I survived yesterday....and that I AM doing much better now. I also wanted to thank all of you for all of those well wishes and prayers. I surely needed them....I was in really bad shape, and then they day went weirdo yesterday. Who knows what would have happened, or what kind of shape I would be in, or even if I would have been able to get UP there yesterday, if it wasn't for all of YOU sending all of those positive thoughts my way. Thank you, thank you, and thank you...from the bottom of my heart!

I will still be lurking around...and reading...and trying to post (and email. I KNOW I owe LOTS of emails. So sorry) as I can. Like I said...just Watch Out for when I get back to my "normal" self! ROFL Whatever that is!!!!!

Love and (((Hugs)))
Jose

Ah ha! There you are.

I've been waiting for you.

I'm relieved that you are finally feeling more comfortable. It does sure sound like you had a very full day over there in Birmingham!

I'm so very suprised still in that in this day and age, with all the knowledge and such, that all doctors are not doing ALL procedures with the aid of florescopes! It just seems quite silly. This way they are not going in blind and can see exactly where they are going. Of course, there are still risks of "gaggle" and other complications...we can't around this, but of course, the risks are lowered.

How's your toe? You got both upper and lower done, right?

I'm glad that all was okey dokey and I'll be much happier to hear that your pain levels are going lower and lower!

I look forward to seeing more purple threads very soon!

With aloha, Dana

you Jose, and for your pain to be ended. I know how it gets ya down when flares erupt and pain tries to take over your life. (I haven't experienced a Monster flare like you are facing now.) I am sending my hopes and prayers for a speedy recovery and an end to your pain.

We will be waiting for good news.
{{{{{HUGS}}}}}


PS I apparently missed the last few threads. (Late again... y'know.)
I am very happy you're better Jose. I hope you stay better and even feel better than that. I'm looking forward to your normal self.