TV Day

I'm getting ready for knee surgery next week, so I'm not doing much the next few days. I can't afford to do any more damage to it. That means, some quality time in front of the TV On Demand. First up, past episodes of Amish Mafia. Yes, you read that right, there is really an Amish Mafia (well on Reality TV, that is) and has ben on TV for 4 years.

This episode shows them trying to get the Amish into politics because former (and current at the time it was filmed) PA Governor Tom Corbin taking a stand against the Amish. I live in the far northern part of the State, so I never read about it, but they had real news footage of Corbin and his security showing them in no uncertain terms that they are not wanted or even going to be tolerated in the public sector. Really frightening to see Constitutional Rights stripped away.

The rest of the show is pretty funny. Who, in their right mind, would shoot and blow up things with a news crew following them? Anyhow, it's funny to see how these people act for the cameras. We get to see Amish Lebanon Levi, Merlin and Mary go against the law and Mennonite advisory Devil Doug. I do my best to translate the Amish~German they speak, but it's not the high German I learned in college. I can keep up a bit, enough to get the just of what they're saying, but it doesn't translate directly to English.

The sickness that got me in 2006, that destroyed my body. Yeah, I was a size 14 child again for a few years and got to wear my favorite clothes, but it took the vitamins and minerals out of my body and now my bones, hair, teeth, etc ... have lost everything they need to stay healthy. I know it's happening again because I can't keep more than a few bites of food or drinks down. It hit over the weekend and yesterday was the worst ever. I can stand to lose a few or more pounds and get back to my fighting weight.

I'll update as soon as I can, but I'm sure I'll be ok. I'm use to having  3 or 4 surgeries a year. It hurts a lot, but I guess it's just my time to pay the piper for the glorious results of a mis~spent youth.

UPDATE:  I just finished Mountain Monsters Season 2, Episode 2 that is supposed to be our merry gang of rednecks hunting monsters in the Appalachia Mountains. (Hey, I love the paranormal) Anyhow on this one, the group is after the evil Chupacabra, only they got the facts about the creature all wrong. I can forgive that, but at the end, they "capture" the monster and just give brief glimpses of it in the "trap." They need a better film editor because it was painfully obvious that what they had in the box was not a large, hairy black cryptic with 2 inch long fangs, but a cuddly blonde dog with a green collar with the name of the trainer on it. SIGH! Please, now I love a good fairy tale and really love to see them get all worked up and curse a bit, but it is not ok to show me a Labrador Retriever and tell me it's a monster. I may get confused, but I can still see. Producers of Mountain Monsters on Discover Channel: You really need to hire someone to watch the show to make better edits, unless the who purpose of your show is be an hour~long joke with an expanded cast of the Three Stooges. If it's the joke, then you have a real winner here. I'm not sure I'll be able to watch it again and I love shows like this. I even watch In Search of ... knowing at the end it will be, "We didn't find him this time, but next ... "

Finally home and healing ~ Resistance is Futile

I had the second neck fusion done several weeks ago in Pittsburgh by the only specialist I would allow to work on such a delicate area. Dr. Vinny Silvaggio is a partner in 3 Rivers Orthopedics. He performed the first fusion in April. He warned me that it might not work and he would have to go in through the back of my neck and have more metal put in to keep the nerves from being pinched. Sadly, that prediction is exactly what happened. The pain was coming back and it radiated out to my left shoulder. Numbness would be next step. He asked if I could take the pain another 6 months to give more time to completely fuse, but I wasn't able to deal with it. I met with him last Thursday & he personally made sure I was first on the next surgery day. That happened to be Monday. It worked out well, only 3 days to worry.

We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. on Monday. Mom, Randy and I were there in plenty of time. The surgery was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. I was taken back at just about the exact time. Of course, I got kisses from both and my teeny beanie Peace bear was in my hand. He goes everywhere with me. This was his third surgery with me this year. I started to have a bit of a panic attack when I first had the face mask put on. Claustrophobia is a horrid thing and mine keeps getting worse. The staff were wonderful and had me calmed down in minutes.

The next step in my transformation towards becoming Borg

It looks like I'll be having another surgery before too long. Back in April, my neck was fused because I wasn't able to use my left arm. I had a herniated disc and fell. The disc moved and pinched the nerve and it went numb. The surgery was supposed to have me better within 6 months. It's been those months, but my neck still isn't better. We were warned that could happen and I would need more surgery. I have no problem with things happen. My whole life has turned into "THINGS HAPPEN." I try to just go with the flow.

The neck surgeon sent me for a CT scan last week and it wasn't conclusive, so we decided surgery is a very real possibility, he wanted a MRI to see how bad my neck is. One disc was fused then, but now it's a possibility that it will be three disc. He'll go in and remove more bone, give the nerve more room to keep It from being pinched, add donor bone (THANK YOU DONORS!!!!), then add rods and screws to hold me together. Go ahead, I've heard all the Borg jokes. Resistance is futile, I will be assimilated!

Then there is my knee. I had surgery at the end of February to repair a torn meniscus. No worries, I'll be fine a couple weeks. WHAT A JOKE! I can barely use my lower leg most of the time. Why? According to another doctor, the nerve was CUT! The knee surgeon says it's only pinched and he was going to send me for a MRI and go from there. It's been a month since then and not a word from the office. I called and ripped them a new one. I know it's not nice, but I have no confidence at all in him or his staff. The secretary claims that their "phones were having trouble for the month." Can you believe that smoldering pile of horse droppings? Everyone has a cellphone. If it's an important issue with a patient in horrid pain, use hour cellphone! Besides, it's a hospital clinic. There is no way in the world that a hospital would allow one of it's clinics to go without working phones for a month!

Since then, we have new insurance, so she has a new company to call. I admit it, I was not the nicest person to her. I told her straight out I thought she was lying. The connection ended then. Hmmm That awful phone system at work? She calls me back. What happened? You hung up on me, lady. "I would never hang up on a patient." RIGHT! I have no such worries and have and will continue to hang up on people. My mother was here, so I couldn't tell the secretary what I thought of her skills and those of her boss. He was in surgery yesterday, so I let them have a day and expect it returned today. Give me the MRI. I will get the disc and the radiologist's report and find a new orthoscopic surgeon. Everyone has urged me to get a lawyer and sue him for malpractice. I fully intend to do that if I don't get a call today with an approval for the knee MRI, I'll make another call. I also know the hospital's CEO as well as their top doctor. I will never allow anyone to do surgery or any test on me without a second opinion.

To tell the difference between the two surgeons, Pittsburgh (where my neck surgeon is) called for the MRI approval on Friday when I left. It was a 3-hour drive home and when we go there, the insurance company had already called with the approval. That's less than 3 hours! There is NO reason for a professional to take a month to get an approval or at least call me and say they are having problems.

If I have to go to the knee doctor's office, I'm afraid to think what my mouth won't be able to hold back. I married a Marine and spent years learning some very "colorful metaphors!" I have no trouble using them. When low~life telemarketers call me, I have had some of them so upset they couldn't even think of a response to me. That's skill! :-)

Visiting Pittsburgh, PA for a doctor's appointment

We have been going down to Pittsburgh for surgery and doctor's appointments for several months now. I had my neck fused on April 7, 2014, and go every 6 weeks to make sure the donor bone and titanium disc is staying in place and hopefully will start to graft onto my own. So far, so good, but the 6 month visit will tell it all. Now my husband has been going down to get injections in his knees. They are in very bad shape, causing horrible pain and he needs knee replacements. The injections are a chance to keep the surgery from happening for several more years.

Of course, since we were there, I had to take photos. The City is gorgeous. That is probably one of the reasons so many block buster Hollywood movies are being filmed there now. My brother has been an extra in many of the recent movies and TV shows.