Wow, sorry I haven't been as active as I had hoped to be. Life can get away from you pretty quick this time of year, especially with the latest developments in my life. Since my last post, I have had two more nerve blocks, one was the same as the others I have had, two injections above the knee in the same appointment, one block on the popliteal nerve and the other on the saphenous, while the block I got on the 29th was done at the ankle, which they just traced around the ankle just under the skin, in an attempt to block all of the superficial nerves in my foot. The block on the 22nd did a good job of alleviating most of the feeling on the outside of my foot, where the pain is worst, but the arch of my foot was somehow untouched by it. The ankle level block didn't take at all, which was a real bummer, as we were heading into the weekend that my wife and I had planned to knock out as much of the holiday insanity as we could, and to try to squeeze in a nice dinner for my berfday. Well, we got most of our insanity figured out, and we even got to our dinner at Biaggi, it may be commercial, but I love that place.
So, the biggest development-WE HAVE A SET DATE!! I will be trying my first Ketamine infusion therapy starting January 7th. I can't believe how long the days have seemed since the date was finalized last week. Even though Rach (my wife) was the first to bring up the idea of this therapy, she is pretty anxious about it, while I was somewhat skeptical at first, I am super stoked for this to happen. I'm not looking forward to being a slobbering mess, but when I get home, I want to have my first thought be, "I can't remember if I have a banana for my cereal this morning", not "F#%k , I don't want to have to move my foot, this is going to suck."(excuse my language, but that is what I say every morning). The behind the scenes work that we have had to do is one of the key players in my absence from my story telling. I have to have a babysitter that I feel completely comfortable with 24 hours a day, this is going to be the most taxing issue for my close friends and family, especially Rach. If we didn't a small petting zoo at home, she would be able take care of most of this time, but the 2 dogs and 2 cats need their love too, so we will be working on getting people involved to help her out.
I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but the meds used for my nerve blocks are ropivacaine and dexmedetomidine, at times, epinephrine has been added as well to extend the efficacy of the injections. Believe it or not, the injections above the knee, when they have used the blunt needle and jab through layers of tissue, are much less painful and less bloody than the one at the ankle, where they use a typical injection needle. I have had one of the most patient and helpful anesthesiologists helping me through this, that or she is eager to write a paper on me.When my PCP put in the consult to the Pain Clinic, they moved my appointment up on their list and after seeing my foot, they had me scheduled for my first block that afternoon. I was even more uneasy about this diagnosis than I was when the great Dr. Pat York told me that was my problem and told me what he knew of it. Nothing can explain the feeling of the first block, I feel like I'm confessing my drug addiction here, but I couldn't wait for the next injection. With a few weeks missed for various reasons, I have gotten the block every Thursday since June, and another recovery line, none have been as good as the first. I was up and walking for the whole weekend and never thought about the foot, one weekend I got brave enough to try to ride my bike, it was a mistake, but at least I felt good enough to give it a try. For someone that suffers this syndrome, dystrophy, disease or whatever the world decides to call it, and has not had a nerve block injection, I would definitely look into the possibility of getting it done, even a weekend of relief is worth the time and effort many times over. I won't lie though, at least for me, the first pangs when the pain returns are some of the sharpest and worst pains I have throughout the week, just have to ask yourself if it's worth it, for me it most definitely is.
On a more selfish note, I encountered 2 people today that thought they would like to see if their foot fit in their mouth. Taking the stairs at work from the basement back to the 1st floor, a female employee at the VA (I hold the terms woman or lady because her character didn't bring either words to mind) was approaching the same door to the stairwell that I started through. Seeing that she was coming, I held the door for her, upon reaching the door, her first comment wasn't thank you, it was "Well, you're moving pretty slow these days, huh? Haha." With my typical "sometimes" response, holding my cane steady, I allowed her to hit the stairs first, upon reaching the top of the stairs she held the gate for me, being close to the bottom I told her not to wait, but this time she stated, "We all know gimpy people need all the help they can get". I know I took more offense to this than necessary, but my response was, "Most of us prefer the term disabled vet." To which the apologies started to pour out like Niagara Falls. I walked past and through a door behind her and let it shut in her face, I don't always let things get to me, but this somehow made it through and I wasn't about to attempt to make her feel better about her comments. Being an employee at the VA, one should have a little more tact than that when dealing with someone you don't know who has an obvious disability. The second incident was in a clinic room, I was helping another nurse by giving a flu shot. As I entered the room, the patient's comment was "Ah na, you got me the broke nurse?" As soon as he saw the 'Eat sh!t' look, he had the same slew of apologies. I couldn't even respond to this one, I just told him to get his arm ready and I gave him the shot. Human ignorance seems to have exploded to an entirely ridiculous level. What ever happened to the days of showing people respect? I know I let myself get too bothered by these two, but I shouldn't be required to wear kid gloves every time an ignorant ass makes a comment or performs an act that deserves repercussions.
Oh hell, how could I have forgotten this? The Thanksgiving fiasco at the local mall:Shoplifter is caught, resists arrest, someone throws a trash can, people yell shooter, the entire mall becomes a stampede of hysterical shoppers and shoplifters (opportunists love these-people grabbing an armful of clothes off of the racks and running out of the store), people are turned into the human Mufasa (nobody died or was injured, relax) and Omaha has proven once again, that as hard as we try, there will always be someone hellbent on ruining what should be a mostly uneventful evening. Prior to all of this, my wife and I were with the kids, in Younkers, she wanted to find a pair of boots for her and my daughter, a sweater, and she wanted me to look at a scarf. I suggested that we split up to save time, lucky for us, she wanted me to see the shirt she wanted, so we stayed together. We got to the scarf section, I changed into one of the store's coats, and was trying on the scarf as this all went down. Rach being Rach, got the kids down and was starting for the door with them. I stayed where I was, checking the area, looking for anyone that was hurt and trying to see if there was a credible threat, or if it was standard idiocracy. This ROYALLY pissed off the family, who were all outside expecting me to pop out any time. After Rach's second reentry to get me to come out, we walked around the mall to the car. There was a lady in her car trying frantically to reach her kids, I can't describe the horror in this lady's eyes, but thankfully, after an eternity, she spoke to each of her kids and they were fine. Lesson learned?:As long as there is a way to ruin a good time, you can bet that someone is doing their best to be that guy.
