so waht ya doin today?
- Thread starter fiver
- Start date
CZ93X62
Official forum enigma
SOMETHING "gave" here in Kalifornistan. Not less than 4 doctors' offices have called me since Wednesday to make Telehealth appointments, and I already had one this afternoon (with cardiologist). Haven't heard JACK for almost 3 months, then they land all at once. Ah, whatever. Suposed to have been another one today, he no-showed--and another on Tuesday.
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Makes perfect sense, they found out they can charge the insurance the same for talking to you on the phone as they do for an office visit. I had telephone doc appointment yesterday.
fiver
Well-Known Member
yep, they gors bills to pay, they don't just give those Mercedes S class daily drivers away.
planted a bunch of stuff today.
put out the Pea's and gave them a pat on the back and a hearty good luck.
stuck some perennials in the ground too.
went on over to Littlegirl's place and we stuck some more flowers in the dirt and put out a couple of test plants in her flat top poly tunnel to see how things go.
if they make it the next week we will most likely stick in a few more things.
tomorrow another 80 sumthin Pea plants will go in, and a few annual flowers will go in the funny shaped box out front, I might stick in the bleeding heart plant I bought out of the dead pile for a dollar and have been babying along for about the last month.
planted a bunch of stuff today.
put out the Pea's and gave them a pat on the back and a hearty good luck.
stuck some perennials in the ground too.
went on over to Littlegirl's place and we stuck some more flowers in the dirt and put out a couple of test plants in her flat top poly tunnel to see how things go.
if they make it the next week we will most likely stick in a few more things.
tomorrow another 80 sumthin Pea plants will go in, and a few annual flowers will go in the funny shaped box out front, I might stick in the bleeding heart plant I bought out of the dead pile for a dollar and have been babying along for about the last month.
Ian
Notorious member
So it's everywhere, huh? I said I wasn't gonna rant, but I have to a little. Add mass confusion, conflicting information, and the heat of the moment to an already impossibly cumbersome and incompetent medical system and...you know. Got a friend with stage 4 cancer missing two months of radiation that based on the first doses would have given her a lot better chance at the second half of her life, but they're too scared she'd get Covid. I'm like geeze, throw her in a Tyvek suit and a fireman's hood to get her in/out of the facilities and let her take her chances, she's 100% certainly going to die very soon anyway without treatment and is getting worse every day.
I got sent home with surgery schedule describing a "neck dissection; thyroidectomy" in two separate places. My thyroid is no part of this tumor and wasn't so much as mentioned in any of two appointments by the surgeon or his PA. I caught that reading as I was crossing the waiting room and turned on my heel to demand clarification that I got second-hand through the scheduling clerk that it was "precautionary" and "he might have to take it out". Ummm, negative. Not gonna happen. If he thinks so I'm going to find a different outfit that would at least discuss it with me first.
Same clerk went over the preop tests, in her own handwriting and highlighter, for labs, chest x-ray, and covid test. I gave them over $18,000 worth of high-resolution imaging tests on DVDs I handed the surgeon myself a month ago and they want a @*#$&% X-RAY??!! Ok, fine, I'll get one. Then I get home and read the whole thing myself and there's a little thing about an EKG. Nobody said a word about that and I asked the surgeon several times how's this work, what do I need to do, what do I expect before/after, and basically got zero effective explanation other than we kinda think it might be a nerve sheath tumor and you'll probably lose some function like voice, left arm, neck muscles, but we have no clue which or how bad until you wake up. I read the lab orders and the first one is a TSH panel, so he's serious about thyroid. Maybe it's precautionary but it looks to me like he's making sure the next doctor will have a way to tell how many mg of synthroid to prescribe after I wake up missing a tumor AND a major organ. Hell, take out my left lung and collarbone while you're at it, doc, they're in the way too. Save my aorta though, I kinda need that to live. I don't think a single one of these people looked at the CT or MRI.
Color me a little....skeptical. Also fatigued with disgust and the mental energy above and beyond any reason that I have to expend on my own advocacy. On top of all this they won't let anyone else to the appointments or the hospital, so I will have no advocate when I am helpless.
Just marching through the meat grinder. I'm about ready to call the whole thing off and drive 500 miles further north. The only things stopping me are PPO network and the knowledge that it's pretty much like this everywhere at best, and likely much worse.
Advocate is exactly what you need. Once inside they own you. They will do what they think is best. What they won’t always do is show compassion or understanding. If you aren’t actively attempting to die then what is the problem?
Thyroid may also just be in the way. No sure myself but who knows?
The real failure here is in the communication. Tell me what you see, what you think is going on, and what you plan to do, What is the desired and expected outcome. Give me the best to worst scenario.
Don’t give me a bunch of medical jargon and jibber jabber, sit down and talk to me like a person. Treat me like a person with a job, a family, and a life.
Thyroid may also just be in the way. No sure myself but who knows?
The real failure here is in the communication. Tell me what you see, what you think is going on, and what you plan to do, What is the desired and expected outcome. Give me the best to worst scenario.
Don’t give me a bunch of medical jargon and jibber jabber, sit down and talk to me like a person. Treat me like a person with a job, a family, and a life.
Gary
SE Kansas
Thyroidectomy is precautionary in that it is in the proximity AND would most likely be one of the next glands to shoot craps if the Tumor is malignant or metastatic in nature. No one, and I mean no one (surgeon) would want to go back into that area after a "radical Neck Dissection" which seems to be what you are describing. You have my sympathies and understanding, as best that I can. I'm positive you have the collective support and well wishes of all on this board. Best of luck and we're all rooting for your full recovery.
Thyroidectomy isn't that big of a deal, I had that done 20 years ago due to Graves disease. One pill every morning and you'll never know the difference. I also would ask why what for and how come but if they feel it wise to remove it at the same time as the rest of the surgery I don't think it should be something to fear. True I'm not a doctor but as someone that went through that I wouldn't let that be a game changer.
fiver
Well-Known Member
it sounds like removing the thyroid is to make sure it doesn't just move along to the next hiding place and start up again.
one thing I have learned is that most gifted surgeons are either genial and confident, or they are somewhat haughty and arrogant.
when your laying there on the bench and you hear him ripping someone a new butthole about some minor detail it's generally a good sign.
his bedside manor will suck for sure but he cares about getting his job done efficiently and thoroughly.
the genial ones take 5 more minutes and make you feel like your having a little chat about something they do every day all day long, but then you miss them on their rounds for the next 3 days because they run out of time for everybody.
one thing I have learned is that most gifted surgeons are either genial and confident, or they are somewhat haughty and arrogant.
when your laying there on the bench and you hear him ripping someone a new butthole about some minor detail it's generally a good sign.
his bedside manor will suck for sure but he cares about getting his job done efficiently and thoroughly.
the genial ones take 5 more minutes and make you feel like your having a little chat about something they do every day all day long, but then you miss them on their rounds for the next 3 days because they run out of time for everybody.
Ian
Notorious member
This one is definitely genial and on the nerdy side. I'm going to email him Monday and see if he can't answer the same questions I asked him in person a lot better in writing, and inquire as to the what and why of thyroidectomy. Does "precautionary" mean "oh, we always get that out first when doing neck surgery, it's so obvious we didn't bother to tell you", or "if we get in space jam we take the thyroid out before cracking chests". I dunno. I don't like "dunno", especially since I already asked him every question I could think of about what is it, what are you going to do, and what does that mean afterward. If I don't get satisfactory answers, I'm getting a third opinion.
This mass is clearly well-defined. The MRI tech specifically noted a fat layer separating the tumor sheath from my thyroid gland. My local ENT specifically discussed this with me, reviewed the scans and showed me there was no evidence this thing was invading any other organ or structure, especially the spine, thyroid, larynx, esophagus, or any of the major blood vessels that the tumor displaced.
I don't think the guys in the big city even bothered to actually look at the scans, because they just himmed and hawed at my questions and spoke in vague generalities.
This mass is clearly well-defined. The MRI tech specifically noted a fat layer separating the tumor sheath from my thyroid gland. My local ENT specifically discussed this with me, reviewed the scans and showed me there was no evidence this thing was invading any other organ or structure, especially the spine, thyroid, larynx, esophagus, or any of the major blood vessels that the tumor displaced.
I don't think the guys in the big city even bothered to actually look at the scans, because they just himmed and hawed at my questions and spoke in vague generalities.
EKG is nothing, will have the electrodes on you during surgery anyway. Taking a baseline. Don't worry until they get a panicked/frantic action when looking at the chart. The guy doing the work has seen a lot of the same thing in scans and real time- so kinda blows off the scans but probably will look them over in detail. Kinda like a car, you get the computer scan but you already know from the other 500 times it's the TPS. But the dealer gets paid to do the scan anyway.
JonB
Halcyon member
The Hospital called me Yesterday.
Long story short: My knee replacement surgery is back on.
I was gonna wait to call them, because I had the cortisone shot in late March, and was told they can't do the surgery, for at least 3 months after that shot. But I guess with elective surgeries just now being allowed (in MN), maybe they are having a hard time trying to fill the docket, to start bringing in the $.
Long story short: My knee replacement surgery is back on.
I was gonna wait to call them, because I had the cortisone shot in late March, and was told they can't do the surgery, for at least 3 months after that shot. But I guess with elective surgeries just now being allowed (in MN), maybe they are having a hard time trying to fill the docket, to start bringing in the $.
Is a good thing I think Jon, like John (Winelover) it's better to have such a thing in the rear view mirror rather than in front of the windshield.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
Brad,
Have been worried about your in-laws for some time! I have grown very close to Paul and Sandi because of this forum.
We communicated often via PM's but recently Paul has grown silent...& I was beginning to worry about them!
I sure miss those PM's from Paul! Hope all works out well
Jim
Have been worried about your in-laws for some time! I have grown very close to Paul and Sandi because of this forum.
We communicated often via PM's but recently Paul has grown silent...& I was beginning to worry about them!
I sure miss those PM's from Paul! Hope all works out well
Jim
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StrawHat
Well-Known Member
Never had or even used one. On board ship, blades and sanding blocks worked for whatever needed to be done.
Kevin
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Twice, the pressure washer saved me from having to repaint both sides of about 70 feet of picket fence, and used it three times to clean the deck prior to staining it. It has saved me a lot of money and time, and though it doesn't get used often I don't plan on ever not having one.
fiver
Well-Known Member
I was thinking about him the other day too, wondering how he was doing and such.
I got the two directiom half arch done over in the corner and pulled the tay berry vines up into/over it.
when they get around to getting leaves and such it might be kind of nice over there, plus they ain't going through the wood fence into the neighbors trees and such now.
I really wish I could find 2-3 more of them, they do pretty good over there in the Siberian wasteland of the yard.
[plus they are really good to eat if you have the patience to let them go all deep purple]
we also got the other 75 peas put in and I have the strings run to pull the bush peas up into place, so that's done.
now it's just wait and hope they make it through the next few weeks okay.
StrawHat
Well-Known Member
Our peas are up a couple of inches. Garlic about a foot. Perennials are all up and getting showy. The fall crocus have leafed out and are starting to die back. Surprisingly, we still have daffodils blooming. Nearly eight weeks of blooms. We have always thrown down the “naturalizing mix” and let them grow and divide themselves. I prefer easy gardening!
No work events today so more getting the house ready to sell. That means more painting. I’m in the office now. Walls and ceilings are easy but the trim is probably 3-5 days alone. It will look nice when it’s done.
Kevin
No work events today so more getting the house ready to sell. That means more painting. I’m in the office now. Walls and ceilings are easy but the trim is probably 3-5 days alone. It will look nice when it’s done.
Kevin
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