(Continued from previous message)

Tornado Season now, and I think the winter stuff is past until this
fall. But, after northwest Arkansas got 6 inches of snow the first
weekend of May last year, nothing is guaranteed. 

  Back to the medical, a female doctor examining me thought I had a
double inguinal hernia on either side of my genitals, but not on the
genitals themselves.

  This can become a life and death emergency situation in a hurry...as
it can strangle the testicles in males, or the large intestine in both
sexes. That can cause the affected area to become gangrene and die in a
hurry...and it can only be corrected by emergency surgery...and a delay
in doing such can be fatal!!

  Well, I went to a hernia specialist, and he did the "turn your head
and cough" test, but he could not detect any hernias!! When I told him
that doctor had examined me while I was on my back, he annoyingly noted
"That's not the position to check for inguinal hernias", and added "I'm
not going to do surgery if you don't need it". My bank account was
rather relieved on that one.

  What I do have, however, is a severe groin muscle pull...and that,
unfortunately, has to heal on its own, with "nature taking its course".
The heaviest thing I lift each month is a 30 pound case of ham radio
license exam supplies, and that's just once a month.

  My PCP did prescribe a stronger dose of Ibuprofin (a bit stronger than
the OTC variety). However, I no longer take any pain medication on a
daily basis, because of two reasons. First, it was giving me constant
migraine (rebound) headaches. Second, any type of pain medication makes
me groggy. I took 2 Excederin Migraine earlier today...it took away the
headache, but also knocked me out!! The nap was needed, but it's not for
beauty's sake...I gave that up long ago. 

  They finally increased my diet to clear liquids, then a regular
"bland" diet...no spicy foods...and that included tomato sauce for meat
loaf (that was a drag).

  They were going to discharge me on a Saturday afternoon (after being
admitted the Wednesday before)...but, the deal in many cases now is "you
can't go home until you go poop"!! Since it was my colon and the rest of
the digestive tract that brought me in (as noted, there was
gastrointeritis going around), I wanted to make sure it was WORKING
before I got released.

  However, the next day, it took forever for the doctor to come around
to set up the discharge papers, and for transportation to come take me
downstairs. I told them that my Mom didn't drive that much, as she was
nearly 88 years old, and has macular degeneration in her eyes...my
brother was out of town that weekend, and my wife and father had died 7
years before. I told them that I would pay for the taxi ride home...just
get me out of here!!

  I thought I was coming down with another bout of bronchitis about a
week or so after I got home from the hospital...but I think I'm finally
having to deal with allergies, pollen, hay fever, etc. I did get some
extra Day-Quil and Ny-Quil, but haven't taken that much of them...as
both tend to make me drowsy. But, with all the rain we've had lately, it
has tended to keep the pollen washed out of the year. However, on the
way home from my Mom's earlier today (I do most all the driving for her
now), I saw several trees loaded down with pollen!!

  Also, my hands have dried out, but it's like I've got a fungus,
similar to athlete's foot. I have hand lotion, plus some anti-itching
cream to use. I had worked around strong solvents (methyl-ethyl-ketone)
for almost 20 years when I was in silkscren printing, and that can drain
moisture from you in a hurry. They also gave me an antibiotic that I
took once a week, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. I'm not sure
what the problem is.

  Anyway, that should do it for this post. I do have blood work
scheduled for early July, then a KUB exam and PSA check in October, and
an eye exam in November. I hope that's the last of my medical deals for
the year.

Daryl
---
 þ OLX 1.53 þ Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your week.





























































                                                                               
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