So yeah, I smell!

Well it's almost a month after my sinus surgery, I'm still in the Twilight Zone. The bad news is: the effects of the anesthesia are messing my stomach up and I cannot eat anything other than saltines and rice (if you know what I mean) and my pain is so bad I haven'y much appetite anyway.

And I still can't breathe so good yet.

BUT... the good news is: I'm getting my sense of smell and taste back! I really did not dare to hope it would happen.

You remember in the film "The Wizard of Oz", how it starts in black and white then turns to color? That's how I feel now, my life is filled with color that has a scent and every scent is connected to a memory. It's almost overwhelming- the first week I cried every time I tasted something. Coffee and chocolate, OMG!

It will be wonderful without the nausea!

Steve's sister got us tix to see George Thoroughgood, Elvin Bishop and Buddy Guy last Fri but I was too sick to go ( I also missed Dylan in Prospect Park on the 12th, my birthday) so I told Steve to go with his sisters.
Buddy Guy went into the audience and Steve got a photo:


Sat we went to my Bro's in Philly saw nephew and family from Houston who I see only annually and I got to hug and sniff everyone and there were gifts and cake and it was a lovely birthday party indeed.
This is me and my niece's daughter and one of my nephew's.

The picture of Maxie, the doggie from the previous post is someone we became acquainted with from our daily morning porch-sitting. His owners went to St Maartens for 2 weeks and boarded him at the vet where he wouldn't be walked during the whole time. This was horrifying to me but as I had a broken toe and would be recovering from the sinus surgery and Maxie is unaltered, I was uncomfortable about making a 2 week commitment to keep him. But I hobbled over to the vet every day ( it is only 3 blocks away) and picked him up so that he could spend the day with Carmie and me. He was the perfect guest and I learned that 2 dogs are twice as much fun and they were a good distraction for me.
I asked at the vet to keep him overnight but they had to get the owners OK.
Margarita, his owner called and left permission but after a few days Maxie started getting very sick, vomiting, coughing, not eating or drinking. I was terrified so we brought him back to the vet on my birthday. Drama! They said it was kennel cough which is apparently very contagious and made me nervous but Caramel seems OK.
Maxie is back home and doing better and I hope to see him soon.


In other animal news, we have a pet shop/animal shelter two blocks away which rescues all kinds of animals, including a 2-headed turtle. Today on our walk, I saw a "missing" poster- it seems some moron stole the turtle.
And as I am writing this, I turned on the TV and what do you know: Fox News is live in Windsor Terrace, reporting on the story. My nabe is big news!
Uh oh, there's another storm coming: hurricane Fay!

Caramel and Maxie

Do you trust your doctor?

This was the title an article in the NY science Times yesterday. In fairness, it's all med personnel, not just the docs. For me it was very timely and as I am just sitting around convalescing and being pissed off I felt compelled to respond/rant.

Two weeks ago I had a GP visit for surgery “clearance”. GP did not get letter from surgeon about my sinus surgery next week. My fault? His office never received my CT scan or xrays either. Odd. He could have just asked his asst.( whose fault it clearly was) to call the surgeon and fax the letter but he clearly wanted me to feel bad. He got what he wanted. He wouldn’t listen to me, he was accusatory, he castigated me, and criticized the surgeon and my rheumatologist (who is treating my other chronic issues) and their respective diagnoses. I have had many diagnoses from many doctors and I am dubious about many of them myself but as I did not go to medical school I must defer to them.Does confusing and accusing me make me feel better?

I got really angry, called the surgeon’s office myself, (he actually asked me to use my cell phone- I did not) got another stupid twit on the phone, then left, tearfully.
I dislike doctors and medical settings and feel vunerable and confused in the
doctor’s office- and this is the doctor who diagnosed me, finally, with fibromyalgia. (although he only told me to go home and look it up on the Internet)

He once went ballistic in the office and started yelling about insurance companies and Democrats wanting to keep all his money- nothing to do with me but I stopped going to him.
After seeing much worse doctors, ( one told me I had breast and lung cancer and I was way too sick for him) I went back to him. Despite his schizophrenic behavior, he could be compassionate and I was starting to trust him. Needless to say, I feel quite betrayed.

So let’s fast forward to my sinus surgery and a different doctor. At
the hospital I was given post-op instructions- unfortunately there were 2
conflicting sets of instructions. As I couldn’t breath I did not think it
unreasonable for me to call the doctor for advice. Now, this begs the
question: why do medical personnel say, “call the office if there is a
question or a problem”?I called 3 times during the day assured that the
nurse would call me, then finally called back to learn that everyone was
gone for the day.The answering service offered to page the doctor who seemed
rather annoyed to be interupted in the OR. I got a quick answer and
the nurse never did call me back. (I Googled post-surgical info, thank you)

I saw the surgeon today, an 8:15 AM appt when the waiting room was blissfully empty and TV-free. There is an average, noisy, crowded 2 hour wait just to see him and I will need to do that every week for a month so I will go at 8:15 and like it.

He cleaned out my nose and explained everything and was comforting and supportive. He's great- his staff is not.

I still can't breathe very well and have head and neck pain but he said that will dissipate and the surgery went well and..... he thinks I may get my some "smeller" back!!!!!- if the olfactory nerve was not too burned out. I"m actually a little nervous about it- it may be too overwhelming.

Also, Steve had a follow-up to his CT scan- it shows a very narrow passage for air to get through making him a good candidate for FESS too. I'm pleased about this because he has a lot of trouble breathing and sleeping too.

The only problem: he has to schedule the surgery with the nurse. The same nurse. She still has her voice-mail message saying she's on vacation till 7/16 and after 2 phone messages she hasn't called back.

And so it goes.