MRI Results and stuff This blog has moved to http://quagmire.darsys.net

This is post 650 for this blog and the current counter has surpassed 230,000 which is pretty amazing to me. I also wish to point out I am spending too much time on Facebook lately. I'll correct that in short order. Happy Birthday to Jace -- I'm glad you're having one, and I hope there are many more to follow. I have a brutal headache and have taken Fioricet. Good luck to David who's off on his business trip.

I am saddened at the crash of the monorails at Disney (Purple was hit by Pink). One intrepid tourist shot a video just after the crash -- a short way in you can hear security say they just called the EMTs. This video is at the ClickOrlando's website here (you may have to watch a commercial first). It's pretty disturbing that Disney security is more concerned about the guy filming it, than getting passengers off the train or trying to see if anyone's hurt (or as it turns out dead). You can see some tourists trying to rescue the driver. This was at 2am and the very last monorail of the day, so doubly sad, bad luck. Over on YouTube an ex monorail driver explains how this might have happened. The monorail was reopened earlier today.

So I had my MRI results today. Or, to be accurate, the doctor interpreted them today. There is no additional damage to my C1 through C7 vertebrae when comparing the new and old MRI except for what can be accounted for based on my age (fuck you!) The issue I had mentioned before "meningocele" is minor and isn't the cause of my pain. So that leaves muscle and tissue damage. Since the last cortisone shot into my neck didn't do much for the pain, we're trying something else. I am having Celebrex for two weeks (2x day) and a Lidocain patch (1x day for 12hrs). We're going to see how that works. I saw Dr Berkower instead of Dr Cohen -- same office. I liked him okay and he's a hockey fan. He also checked my knee pain out and said it probably wasn't serious and would likely go away over several months: that means returning to the pain level from before the accident.

And for those of you who might be ABBA fans and not on my FaceBook page, there's this word of a pseudo-reunion from BBC. It's in Hyde Park so have fun. I'd go but it's on Dad's Birthday which would be a bad thing.

MRI Results -- Unofficial This blog has moved to http://quagmire.darsys.net

I got the films and CD today along with the report to take to my doctor. (One scan is posted on my Flickr Page for friend/family contacts only.)

I've read the report and it appears there is no major change in C3-C4 and C5-C6 which still show about the same mild disc bulge. There is still mild degenerative stuff. The new thing is "Small root sleeve meningocele on the right T1" -- a Google of that shows it's never damage -- a trauma injury often called "traumatic meningocele." I think the closest I could find is that it's a brachial plexus traction injury. I'm not a doctor so I can't be sure that's a proper diagnosis. Depending on what you read this will either get better, won't get better, is treatable, or is not treatable. In other words: no idea at all. Any of my doctor readers who wish to comment may do so. We really won't know until my doctor compares this MRI to the last one, but reading the report it made it seem this is the only 'new' thing.

I copied the MRI image files from the CD to my hard drive for future use. They're interesting to look at though I have no idea what they mean. They're in some unknown format but GraphicConverter on my Mac can open and display them.

Anyway, that's really all the news until 6 July 2009 when I see the doctor for an interpretation.

Ann Coulter, Republican Governors, MRIs, and a bitch This blog has moved to http://quagmire.darsys.net

Another GOP governor was caught in the arms of another woman, tearfully confessing after excerpts from his randy emails were posted. Apparently Republican governors are irresistible sex magnets with no ability to honour their commitments to their loved ones. That or Democrats are just not getting caught. This adds to the "politicians are scum" collection.

One of my long time friends has parted company with me, or it certainly seems that way, or maybe it's just a break. I just am not sure. It came at me out of the blue and made me very sad. I was thinking about it though, and things have been different for a few months -- I've noticed it. I don't want to go into it in a public forum, but thought I should address it since a number of people asked. Still, I hope this is temporary and I harbour no ill feelings. This is definitely a bad thing and I wish I knew what to do.

Media "personality" Ann Coulter appeared on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show this week to discuss the murder of late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. Coulter offered the following ethical assessment of the crime "I don't really like to think of it as a murder. It was terminating Tiller in the 203rd trimester." I always hated her because she's a nut job, but she's gone off the deep end. Murder is murder. She's saying it's not okay to kill a fetus because it's alive but it is okay to kill a doctor. The article I've hyperlinked above is interesting. I propose we terminate Ann Coulter and call that a termination in the cause of making the world a far more tolerant place. Oh, wait, I bet she'd call that murder. Hypocrtical c-word.

My MRI is tomorrow. The insurance company was being a serious poopy-head about it along with the hospital. It seems to be resolved. I hope. I won't bore you with the details unless you ask.

I am scheduled for an apppointment on 7-6-09 to get the results from said MRI. Getting an appointment with a doctor when the office doesn't return phone calls is difficult. This particular doctor has some of the worst office staff since the dawn of time. They are inefficient, uncaring, and in over a year and nearly a dozen phone calls have yet to return one single phone call. However, he's an excellent doctor. But once I'm done with this, I'm finding a new one. This is the same guy who leaves patients waiting for hours in the waiting room with no explanation. Doctor Dan Cohen if you want to know, though I'm not sure if he realizes how unprofessional -- or maybe it's just inefficient -- his staff is. (They also lost my MRI films once but found them a few days later.)

And, I've been instructed to give a shout out to the little bitch :P
[I take no responsibility for the above sentence, thankyouverymuch.]

I am also irritated that Facebook screwed up and put out quite a few days' worth of blog posts out at once today instead of when they were originally released.

Medical Update Addendum This blog has moved to http://quagmire.darsys.net

I am in the final stages of preparing my documentation for the hiring of an attorney. I got a copy of the "Final Interpretive Results" from the hospital (not the one my doctor did). The stuff not listed seems okay. So I won't bore you with it.

• At the C3-c4 and c4-c5 juncture, there is minimal disc bulging.
• At the c5-c6 juncture, there is mild disc bulging. There is a left paracentrical focus of annular fissuring.
• MRI demonstrates disc degeneration from C4 through C6.

Yeah, that doesn't sound exciting or good but I'll go over it with Doctor Cohen on the 11th. I don't know what it means.

In other news, I'd like to throw a special shout out to Jace for talking with me last night about a certain issue and giving me a second opinion. It matches the first opinion more or less from Tim from the night before. It's good to have a few friends you can talk to about difficult stuff and get an unbiased opinion.

And a reminder to participate in Kiva because it's a good cause. If you want Stevie K has founded the "Do Gooder's Team" and I've joined.