Month 28

I was going to write to this blog on Thanksgiving weekend just to say that things were going well. My cold started petering out after 3 weeks or so. The coughing lessened a little each day and is now gone. The runny nose persisted a bit longer and still continues slightly, although I guess that could be allergies and not a cold. Also, I got more inoculations, including polio, tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis B, and influenza.

Anyway, things were going fine until Wednesday afternoon (Thanksgiving Eve) when I had a very unfortunate accident with a hydraulic log splitter that resulted in the loss of the ends of 2 fingers of my right hand. We had been splitting for a while and were within a couple of minutes of being done when I broke the cardinal rule of using such a machine which is to not put your fingers on the end of the log. I won’t go into details partly because I don’t like to relive it. Although we had the severed tips, reattachment was not an option mostly because it was only the ends of the fingers. They were severed at the first (most distal) knuckle of my index finger and a little above that on my middle finger. I went to see an orthopedic specialist yesterday and found out that I had not lost as much as much as I had thought for 6 days (I had thought it was about ½ inch more than is the case). He also said that the skin graft which had been done in the ER that night may be good enough so that another graft would not be required. That night in the ER, they sewed some skin from the severed tips onto the ends of the fingers and my memory of what I was told was that what they had done was just to protect the ends and keep them clean, and that another graft would be done with skin from the palm of my hand. It was good news to find out that might not be necessary.

The bottom line is that I will be fine. When I heal and recover, I will have to make a few adjustments (e.g. typing on a keyboard), but will not be greatly hampered for most things. In the meantime, it has been and will continue to some extent to be painful and very inconvenient.

Lesson for all – when using powerful tools of any kind (including non-physical), do not get careless enough to forget how much harm as well as good can be done with the tool.

Love,
Justin

Month 27

It’s been more than 6 weeks since I last posted here. The good news is that that is due, in large part, to the fact that I have had little to report, and that is a good thing. It’s been so long since I had been into the clinic for an appointment, that I forgot to go get my blood labs done in time for the 10/23 appointment (my health insurer, in it’s wisdom, requires me to make a separate trip to an approved lab to get my blood work done, instead of allowing them to draw the labs right before my appointment at the clinic), so I had to put the appointment off another week to 10/30.

I had my first colonoscopy last week which was certainly not fun, but also not unbearable. The doctor removed 2 small polyps which he was going to biopsy, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I’m sure no news is good news. He said that about 20 – 25 percent of people who go in for routine colonoscopies have polyps, so it’s not really uncommon.

It’s actually kind of good that my clinic appointment was delayed a week, because in the meantime (on Thursday, 10/26), I suddenly got quite sick from a cold. I felt bad after work on Thursday, but when I took my temperature, it was below 98 degrees. A couple of hours later, it was 101.4 degrees and I felt really bad. The good news is that while I was home sick the next day, as the day progressed, I felt better and better, and by the end of the day, my fever was pretty much gone. A week later, my temperature had mostly been below normal, with a couple of instances where it got up around 100 degrees. So the fever didn’t hang on like last time, but the cold has really knocked me for a loop. I’ve been coughing quite a bit and worse, my cramping has returned with a vengeance, and has been debilitating at times. It usually takes me at least 2 or 3 hours to get to sleep after I lie down due to the cramping, and during the day, it can and does attack me frequently – back, abdomen, hands, arms, feet, legs, and neck (especially when I cough). The doctors don't know what causes the cramping, but when I went in for my clinic appointment on Monday, I got prescriptions for quinine (which I have not filled) and Atavan (which I have filled). The Atavan is an anti-anxiety med that the doctor said is effective as a muscle relaxant. The dose is small, but I feel like it has definitely help with me getting to sleep a little quicker.

My blood counts were:

..... previous current normal
..... -------- ------- ---------
WBC.. 7.8 .... 5.2 ..... 4 – 11
Hgb.. 14.7 ... 13.6 ... 14 – 18
Plt.. 337 .... 284 ... 150 – 400

All the counts are down from last time, but since they are all still in the normal range, it is no cause for concern.

I’m still thankful every day that I am off my meds. I don’t like being sick and feeling as bad as I do now, but knowing that it is temporary and that I will get back to feeling normal again keeps me hopeful and grateful.

Love,
Justin