One day left in San Diego

Today is our last full day in San Diego. We'll take Trevor to his girlfriend's apartment and then I have to leave my baby. He is still ill and nowhere near ready to be on his own, but we have to go back home and he has to have a re-check by the cardiothoracic surgeon who saved his life in 2 weeks. Add that to the fact that everything here costs almost twice what it does at home and we just can't stay another two weeks. He's not allowed to fly for at least 10 days. We checked on trains and buses. I could charter a plane for what these trips across the country cost!

He will be living in Mexico until he finds a job and an apartment here in CA. He has a month to find both or he has to come home. If he hasn't been able to find a job in a month in the birthplace of computer technology, he will be asking, "Do you want fries with that?". I know he's smart and can do any job related to computers, but he has to be given a chance first. He missed the interviews that were scheduled last week because he was having surgery to remove over a liter of blood from his chest.

I wrote about not speaking the right language to be here and it keeps getting more and more obvious, I should have taken intensive Spanish rather than German in college. It's frustrating when I can't even tell the maid that we appreciate how clean the room is or ask a waitress for extra napkins. This has opened my eyes to the complaints of people along the border being so anti-immigrant.  I believe with all my heart that this country should allow immigrants to come here. With the exception of Native Americans, all of our ancestors are immigrants. What if our ancestors were treated with the hate and violence poured on toady's immigrants?

I made the appointment with this heart specialist, so that is taken care of. Now, I'm trying to find him a new primary care physician. Not an easy thing to do. Nobody seems to want new patients! Maybe the specialist will have an idea and help him out. If you live in the San Diego region and have a good doctor, I would really appreciate a name and phone number.

He's going to take a shower now and then he'll pack up his suitcase and backpack and off we go. Those two bags will be the extent of all his worldly possessions until I can bring his car and other items out. Once he gets a job, I have about a dozen people offering to drive out with me to deliver them. I think I'll have a lottery, just put everyone's name in a jar and pick 2. :-)

I know he's a young adult and needs to be out on his own, but he's my baby and always will be. I don't know how I'm going to drive away!

Thanks for listening to my whining and moaning about how my life sucks. I'm in sunny CA, my son is ALIVE and my husband is here with me. If my daughter and rest of my family were here, it would be perfect. Family is all there is when you think about it.

Until next time ....

Nerve Conduction Torture Test

Yesterday was the dreaded nerve conduction test that I have been worried, well scared is a better word, about for the past few weeks. I had one done two years ago next month and it was just as painful as I remember. I wasn't able to sleep at all the night before.

It started out with a little electrode being placed on my arms and zapping me with electricity. My hands curled on their own with each touch. All I pictured was Frankenstein lying on the slab, covered with the sheet and his hand starting to jerk after being zapped with lightning. Once the doctor got the information he needed from that torture, out came the needles. He put them in at certain points and then even more electricity. It has changed my thoughts on the death penalty. While I completely believe in the death penalty, electricity as a way of death, I feel, is now cruel and unusual punishment. When a person is sentenced to death, it should be painless or it should be done in the exact same way as the person they murdered died, that should be the rule for anything who kills an innocent child.

Dr. Baker is a nice man and we spent the time talking about old-time movies like Casablanca, Frankenstein (with Boris Karloff), The Wolfman (Lon Cheney), The Invisible Man (Claude Raines) and of course The Rocky Horror Picture Show. By the time we were done, he was actually singing The Time Warp!

He said I was a good patient and didn't even fight. What use is it to fight? I had to have the tests to see what's wrong with my arm. He said he'll have the results sent to my doctor on Monday. I'm worried that it's carpel tunnel syndrome for sure. I'll need a MRI to see if my rotator cuff is torn, the muscle damaged and my elbow messed up. He even laughed that I'd be a terrible poker player because all my feelings show on my face. He could see how badly my arm hurt and what the test was doing to me. I was wearing my red contacts and it took him about 20 minutes for him to decide to ask about them. He thought they were like the Frost Giants in Thor. I had to explain they were really vampire eyes. That's when our talk about monsters, Gods, the paranormal and movies really started.

Like most doctors know, I'm a different type of patient and even he admitted it when I explained what migraines feel like. I think the person who wrote about the birth of Athena was experiencing a migraine. Zeus was feeling stabbing and banging in his head and it was so bad he couldn't take it anymore. He had his head cracked open and Athena sprang out, fully dressed in battle gear with a sword and shield. The stabbing was her sword and the banging was her shield hitting his brain. That's exactly how I feel during the level 10+ migraines I get constantly. I spend so much time around doctors and nurses, that I no longer have even a bit of "awe" for them. I realize they are just people with a little more education. Some doctors appreciate that I treat them like equals, while others get very furious that I don't bow down to their God complex.

I asked him about a bionic arm transplant, but again, he can't help with that. They don't have them available. Maybe someday? My next doctor visit is at the end of the month to an orthopedic surgeon to check out my knee and now my arm. I'm sure he'll want MRI's of off them to make sure he can see if there are any tears, rips, etc.. I'm not thrilled at the thought of having another surgery or three, but I can't keep going on with the pain. I'm use to living in constant pain, but this is even worse than ever and I'm not sure I can tolerate it much longer. I cry myself to sleep every night and quite often through the day as well.

As a treat, we stopped at Four Sons' Texas Hotdogs. Trevor loves their slovaki dinner and I always get their fish dinner and share it with Arielle. They are beyond delicious and it's a HUGE piece of fish. Last night, Randy tried a tiny bit, then he wanted a little more. I think he'll order the fish next time. :) He and Arielle took hotdogs in their lunchboxes for their lunches today.

Until next time

Happy New Year 2014

Here it is, another new year has started. Sure hope it's better than the last one because it really sucked royally! I think I spent more time with doctors, either in offices or in hospitals, than I did with my family. That has to change this year. I only have 3 scheduled appointments so far this month. I go on Thursday for a very horrid nerve test. The doctor inserts electrodes inside left my arm (where a lot of the current pain is, aside from the never-ending migraines), then will zap me with electricity. If you've never had it done, I suggest you skip the offer. The last time I had this torture er test done was three years ago. I can still remember ever minute.

My shoulder is still killing me. Actually, the entire left arm is ready to be exchanged for a bionic one. That would be nice. At least the pain would stop!

I'll post more after we get the results of the tests. Think happy thoughts. I can't take much more pain.

G