Rcnevada

Waiting for my pulmonologist

01/08/2025 / rich / 0 Comments

I’m sitting here waiting on a callback from my newest doctor.

Am I the only one who shows up when I’m told and then waits an hour to finally see the doctor for ten minutes?

Of course, it could be worse. At Sunrise Hospital I lay around on a gurney for several hours until they could find me a bed. Speaking of which, did you know that Sunrise is one of the hospitals that got grandfathered in for multiple patients in a room? I was in a room with two other old dudes. Fortunately, they were quiet. Unlike someone on the same floor who yelled loud enough every freaking night to make me shut the door. — And they call those good drugs.

I’m staring at one of those little doohickies you put on your finger to check your pulse and oxygen levels. It says I’m doing ok but I’m checking so often that I may need to replace the battery before I get my callback. –Nothing like worrying about things you can’t control to keep your mind focused.

Okay, so no call back after several attempts.

I despise doctors and, more importantly, their nurses who are too important to give a shit about anything as trivial as their patients.

I got an email telling me about their new answering service… Still ignoring me.

And this is my heart doctor. I give up.

Tachycardia

10/11/2024 / rich

I’m sitting here waiting for a callback from my pulmonologist. Partly because my pulse hit a little over 150 then dropped back down to 75 in about 15 minutes. Then I had a second attack an hour later. It seems that one or more of the blood clots in my lungs have moved to my heart. Oh, happy days. Now I get to worry about a stroke.

At any rate, I’m supposed to get an echocardiogram but I have no idea where to go, I’m told I need to RSVP. How do I do that if I don’t know who to RSVP to???

I like my doctor. He’s old school, complete with suit and tie, and a stethoscope poking out of his pocket. He reminds me of the doctors I had growing up – yes, I know I’m showing my age. He’s also pretty laid back making it easy to relax around him.

The paperwork says to check with their patient portal, but the patient portal just flat sucks. It looks like it was written by someone’s favorite nephew, not a professional. You need to apply for access… I think. But my request has been ignored. –Or maybe their programmer’s mommy has grounded him.

Yes, I’m being hard on the programmer, but I’ve seen this sort of thing written by high school students that was much better. They don’t even tell you what they want, they just give you a series of choices with no explanation.

God, I hate dealing with new doctors with different ways of doing things.

Yup. I’m rapidly becoming one of those crotchety old dudes.

Ah well, I guess I’ll quit bitching and wait quietly like a good boy.

Gravel in my lungs

09/29/2024 / rich

Okay, so I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. In other words, my CT scan showed my lungs were full of small blood clots.

The E.R. doctor said something about finding the source and removing it. But when I got a room and mentioned it to my new doctor he said something like “he’s an ER doctor.” Instead, he started me on a heparin drip, kept me there for a few days, and then sent me home with a prescription for Eliquis.

I started out thinking that it was some kind of miracle drug, but all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe again. My oxygen levels were fine, just like they were when I went to the hospital. So I went to urgent care and they X-rayed my lungs and rather than send me back for another CT scan they tried a nebulizer. That helped a bit so I got a prescription for an inhaler. This helps a bit so I guess I don’t have to go back to the hospital. This is a good thing.

One thing that stood out to me was the doctor’s comment about this being caused by being too sedentary. Which is not good since I can’t use my treadmill because I feel short of breath. — So, I can’t breathe, because I can’t exercise, or something like that. By the time the subject came up, I was dressed with one foot out the door. Needless to say, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention.

Now, I have an appointment with yet another pulmonologist on Friday.

God this is getting old.

More hospital B S

08/25/2024 / rich

This is chicken Caesar salad.

Of course, the Parm tastes like the stuff that came in the round green box we used to eat before we knew better.

I know it’s supposed to be cold, but I swear the chicken was so cold it was crunchy.

On a different note; this is a heavy blanket… According to the hospital at any rate.

If it was any thinner it would be tissue.

I decide when to put on the blanket (which, surprisingly, does help) by watching the thermostat in my room when it hits 71 it’s time. This “thermostat” has nothing to do with the a/c unit, but it does let you know when the room is getting cool. (you know you’re officially “bored out of your mind” when you find yourself watching the thermostat.)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. If you have visitors they need a secret code to get in. It’s your first initial, last initial, two numbers, and then your room number. I’ve met security and I’m not sure if they’re just not smart enough to deal with anything more complicated or if they’re not paid enough to care.

Hospital food

08/17/2024 / rich

Well, once again I’m laying in a hospital bed with a heparin dip. I hadn’t give my pulmonary edima so much as a passing thought. I mean, after ten plus years without a single symptom who expects it to pop back in for a visit.

One definite improvement over my last stay is my night shift menu. The hospital made a deal with the cafeteria so some patients can order a cheeseburger and fries.

I’ve been trying to stick to a low fat diet, so a mediocre hamburger and french fries was an amazing treat.

I really must fall off the wagon more often. When you live on fish, chicken and salad beef is worth it’s weight in anything.

Bad news. The good meal is only available for late checkins. Rats.

I spoke to my doctor and I’ll be here a while for more tests and lost sleep. – Last time I went through this I got bills from doctors I never saw and for lab work that was never ordered. Yes, they made a few bucks but only because it was cheaper than my hiring a lawyer.

Now I have something to look forward to.😆

Hardware Store Guitar

06/07/2023 / rich

I know I’ve mentioned this hardware store Guitar before but I came across some photos that show more details.

Here’s the guitar.

Guitar that looks like the parts came from a hardware store

All that metal is sheet aluminum. And we mustn’t forget the light-switch rockers.

I don’t know what kind of pickups they are, but they’re kinda fugly.

The sound is thin and, until I clean things, scratchy, but I think I’ll keep her. Doesn’t every guitar player want at least one seriously weird git-fiddle?

License plate readers

03/26/2023 / rich

This article in the intercept on the use of License plate readers by HOAs should bother you — big time.

The readers are, for the most part, unregulated. Which means, that already nosy HOA, can now record and keep track of all your visitors, their names, their addresses, the make and model of their car, and all of your comings and goings. All without any sort court order. After all, they’re the HOA, and they’re not being nosy little tin-pot dictators, they’re trying to protect you… Ha!

In case your curious how they do this, here’s an example of how it’s done in the State of Nevada.

You can find a vehicle owner in Nevada if you know the vehicle’s license plate number. To do so, you need to conduct a license plate search through the Nevada DMV or third-party license plate lookup service. Before the Nevada DMV issues license plates, vehicle records and vehicle owner information are obtained from vehicle registrants and maintained in a database. Hence, by searching DMV records using a license plate number, it is possible to find the owner of the vehicle

Nope, I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of maintaining your privacy without going completely off the grid. And then your neighbors, no matter how distant, will gossip about you, leading to some news program wanting to interview you. This in turn will tell the entire world where you are… So much for privacy.

Birders are weird

09/23/2022 / rich

Birders are weird.

I was out at the wetlands and ran into a couple of birders discussing a sparrow they’d seen.

savannah sparrow on bush — One of my pics of a Savannah sparrow

It looked like a Savannah Sparrow, but one of them was pointing to a picture in his copy of Sibley and practically shouting that it was a bunting.

I pulled out my phone and snapped a pic then pulled up my copy of Merlin bird ID to identify the little bugger… It was a Savannah Sparrow.

This guy’s response was that the picture was no good and it was a “fuckin’ bunting.”

I asked if he knew what kind of woodpecker this was to distract him and get him to calm down.

ladder-backed woodpecker with head in hole — According to the park ranger, this is a ladder-backed woodpecker

He insisted that it was a sapsucker, not a woodpecker. He was wrong, but I certainly wasn’t going to argue with him. I simply thanked him and got as far away as I could without actually running.

The problem with Sibley’s is that the pictures are teeny-tiny artists’ renderings, not photos. -Not that photos that small would help my tired old eyes.

At the end of the day, birders are not always calm and peaceful, some of them are as wacko as anyone you’ll ever meet.

No wonder I hate to leave the house.

Hummingbird

03/05/2022 / rich

I saw this little guy in the garden this morning and heard him happily chirping away as he moved from blossom to blossom on the bottlebrush.

It’s strange that I’ve never heard a hummingbird chirp before. In fact, I didn’t know that they could chirp.

And the reason for this post? Well, the news is depressing, the pain is making me crazy, and the doctors I’ve dealt with lately are a bunch of gibbering idiots.

Rather than trying to find out why my legs are a fucking mess they sent me to wound care. Who now come to my house three days a week and change my bandages. Which changes nothing.

The system is such a rolling cluster fuck that they won’t give you pain meds without forcing you to jump through a bunch of hoops while trying not to cry.

The whole world is fubar and this little guy made me smile. So, maybe it will at least lighten somebody else’s day.

Bugs in the yard

10/05/2021 / rich

Bugs I found in the yard. (I think I’ve been stuck inside for too long.)

Anyhow, I went outside to water what little grass I have and noticed an interesting bug… Yes, I said “interesting. bug” – God I’m bored.

At any rate I thought I’d post a few of the critters we tend to ignore… If we see them at all.

First we have a white praying mantis. Whether it’s an albino or just a normal variant I don’t know.

Here’s a mantis that’s the traditional green color, but it’s only a bit over three quarters of an inch long.

This little wolf spider is one of my favorite critters. It’s around a quarter of an inch long, but it can jump a foot or maybe a foot and a half at a time.

A lot of these are brightly colored, with blues or greens, but this one is brown on brown. It’s also too small to bite through your skin so it’s fun to handle.

This tiny hunter is a cute little lady beetle that hunts things like aphids.

These are the same critters you buy online to help control garden pests.

And here’s a guy with ambition. This little ant rolled a seed that’s almost the same size as he is more than ten feet across the patio.

Yup, it was fun to watch… For about twenty seconds.

ant moving a seed that is bigger than it is

I know this is boring, but it showed me the need to get outside. Even if it’s only to breath the air.

Because even a little smog is better than sitting in the house with no sunlight and recycled air.

One last photo.

This guy is the reason I had so few critters in the house… Except, of course, for the ones he brought in.

If he looks kind of scruffy it’s because he was the only cat I’ve ever met who hated to be brushed.

TTFN