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Karen’s Journal ~ 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
“As far as the MRI’s are concerned, I’m not aware of your particular situation, but I’ve been ‘preaching’ for years on this site that not all MRI’s are created equal. An MRI is only as good as the doctor that is performing the read. And an ‘open’ MRI does not provide the details of a traditional MRI and should be avoided unless a patient is TRULY claustrophobic.
“Let me explain. There are good radiologists and mediocre radiologists and there are radiologists that read a mammogram at 9:00 am and an MRI of your shoulder at 9:15 am and then an x-ray of the spine at 9:30 am, etc.
“And THEN there are radiologists that SPECIALIZE in reading MRI’s, and THEN it gets one step better. There are radiologists that specialize in musculoskeletal MRI. All they read are MRI’s of the musculoskeletal system. THESE are the radiologists that you want to read the MRI’s of your shoulder, knee, ankle, foot, etc. (There are even musculoskeletal radiologists that specialize in particular body parts such as the foot/ankle!)
“These radiologists are so specially trained, that they are up to date on the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the particular areas and rarely miss a problem compared to ‘general’ radiologists.
“Most major teaching hospitals/university hospitals have musculo-skeletal radiologists on staff. Therefore, there MAY be the possibility that your injury/pathology DOES/DID exist on your MRI, but simply wasn’t picked up by the person that was reading the films.” ~Dr. DSW http://heelspurs.com message board.
Random Chronic Pain Thoughts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 10:36am
I am the author of the following:
Regardless of the cause of Chronic Pain, certain themes emerge. Chronic Pain affects the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of ones life. Chronic unrelieved pain causes impaired activities of daily living, changes in mood, decreased involvement in social activities, impairs function, leads to depression, anxiety, causes feelings of hopelessness and despair, and can result in suicidal behavior.
You learn who are your true friends. Many people are supportive in the beginning. As time goes on, most of those people reject you. Only true friends last.
Chronic unrelieved pain steals your future, your ability to hold a job, and your health insurance (if tied to your job.)
People that have not experienced severe unrelenting pain for months or years expect you to suck it up and continue your normal daily activities.
Chronic Pain makes you feel alone. Like no one understands how much pain you are in.
[Sadly prophetic about suicide. –Hubby]
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 9:44pm EST
If you would not mind, can you tell me how you were diagnosed with lupus?
What symptoms did you have when diagnosed? How long from your first symptom until diagnosis?
What symptoms do you currently have? And how you manage the symptoms? Sorry for these questions.
After a major antibiotic resistant infection in 2003, I developed flares where my body systemically attacks my tendons. One of the medications I WAS on for my diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis is Remicade.
In hind site. one of the known side effects is elevated dsDNA. Well, I began getting weird symptoms on the medication, and the local rheumatologist increased the medication with no blood test. I continued to get worse.
About a year after this, I switched rheumatologists and had my dsDNA checked. Elevated, along with some other values consistent for lupus. I have been off Remicade for three years now.
My values have came back into the normal range, and so far have stayed there... I have no more weird symptoms.
My tendons still become regularly inflamed. This inflammation was the reason for starting Remicade in the first place. I have neck and back pain from a congenital reason unrelated to the rest of this post for most of my life.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
malinerging, attention seeking, insinuations that it’s purely psycological
The problem with pain is that you’re the only one who can feel it and people are prone to thinking you exaggerate disbelief, allegations of malingering or pathetic weakness, blame for bringing illness on themselves, insinuations that the illness is purely psychological or just imagined, claims of attention-seeking, or any number of harsh judgments rising from ignorance or lack of compassion.
Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 5:04pm EST
From reading your wall, you are a very positive person. How do you stay so positive in your situation? I struggle with staying positive.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
If you learn from your suffering, and really come to understand the lesson you were taught, you might be able to help someone else who’s now in the phase you may have just completed. Maybe that’s what it’s all about after all.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
It amazes me how many people will get their information and opinions off of talk radio, instead of researching things on their own and thinking on their own....do they not realize that talk radio is just entertainment...
Lung Issues Start
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 9:59am EDT
I had the flu in February with much dry coughing. It appeared to be getting better than got worse mid-last month. I went to the doctor and was given an anti-biotic. My head cleared up and the cough lessened. The cough is increasing in frequency again. My chest was clear at the rheumatologist yesterday. He gave me an injection of Kenalog thinking maybe there is some inflammation in my head causing the cough. If I cannot get this dry cough that is resistant to cough medicine to go away, I will need to have my lungs checked. My Mom has advanced pulmonary fibrosis (scarring of the lungs) which ultimately causes death. One of the early symptoms of a dry cough resistant to cough medicine.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Life just handed me lemonade. Not sure what to do.
Business truth: The phone will not ring until you leave your desk and walk to the other end of the building.
If people talk behind your back, it’s because you are ahead of them.
As I said before, I never repeat myself.
The Only Constant In Life Is Change
In order to succeed, you must first be willing to fail.
Most people walk in and out of your life. But only true friends leave footprints in your heart.
I’ve decided not to be pessimistic. It wouldn’t work anyway.
If Facebook ever shut down, you’d see people aimlessly walking round streets, scribbling on walls, and poking each other.
If you are non part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can.~ Elsa Maxwell
Speak when you’re angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.
Assumption: the first sign of impending disaster.
Starting a sentence with “If you ask me” almost always indicates that no one asked you.
Just because your doctor has a name for your condition doesn’t mean he knows what it is.
Always listen to your wife, she gives sound advice : 99% Sound and 1% Advice…
I keep trying to lose weight... but it keeps finding me!
Medicine is full of probabilities and uncertainties.
Being the youngest child is the biggest compliment ever! Think about it...your parents decided they finally got it right and didn’t need to try again! LMAO!
Did ya ever notice that LIVE backwards is EVIL?!! and LIVED is Devil.
To get respect, you need to give respect.
Remember, It’s not how much you have to enjoy... It’s how much you enjoy what you have.
I have the greatest mom and dad in the world! I LOVE MY MOM AND DAD!!!
I can type upside down and backwards. I ɔɐu ʇʎdǝ ndsıpǝ poʍu ɐup qɐɔʞʍɐɹps.
[I remember her being so excited when she showed me that she learned how to do that.]
Nick Goes to Rainbow Bridge
[The website contains links to YouTube videos of Nick. The picture at the right is from 2001, pre-Floxing, Karen’s teaching Nick ‘Watch Me.’ Karen’s most loved hobby was obedience training our dogs.
Nick had hip dysplasia, so Karen got him a treadmill to keep him exercised (we did not get one when I wanted one years earlier, go figure). At times, Nick would ask to get on the treadmill. We thought we’d burn off some of his high energy levels. We discovered we were building up his endurance!]
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 3:42am EDT
With the vets help, Nick [our Australian Shepherd we raised from a puppy. He was a very strong dog, required a strong leash, this becomes significant at the end] passed away last night. He had a really bad day yesterday. I cried all night last night and yesterday. The next step was subcutaneous fluids, which with his temperament, age and arthritis, was not a viable option. He had kidney disease.
Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 10:41am EDT
Thank you for your support. Right now, all I can think of is what he looked like. We kept his weight around 40-45 pounds. Although I do not know his weight on Tuesday, it was less, much less. He lost a lot of weight toward the end. His shiny, smooth, pretty merle coat turned unkempt. It didn’t matter whether I bathed or furminated him. He was very subdued at the car and vets office, and not his normal, happy, excited self. We stayed home on Tuesday. We spent all day doing activities with him that he enjoyed when he did not need a rest. On Tuesday, Bob was supposed to be in Cleveland for a seminar, and I had plans. It was more important that he did not spend his last day at home alone. Garth spent most of the evening last night looking for his buddy... How do I tell another dog that his friend will not be back? My spirit died with him.
[How do I tell Garth ‘Mommy’ will not be back? Ten months later he is still looking for her.
Karen I’ll meet you, Diamond and Nick and probably Garth by then, on the other side of Rainbow Bridge… Right now wishing it was soon, yet there are things that need done to help those you’ve left behind...
See page 240 for the Rainbow Bridge poem.]
Can’t Walk Due to Tendinitis
Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 9:54pm EDT
I developed another tendonitis in my ankle, so I will be dealing with this most of the summer. I get tendonitis in multiple sites.
[She spent a year crawling around the house on a skate-board-like thing so she would keep the weight off her tendons so they would heal. This Levaquin® crap ruined Karen’s future. I believe it keeps future CSF Leak treatments from working.]
Friday, June 17, 2011 at 9:09am EDT
I wish there was a machine they could hook us up to, that showed the amount of pain we have. Then maybe pain would be adequately treated!!!!!!
[Why can’t we figure out how to do this? For example there is no objective test that will show that you are hungry.]
Sunday, July 17, 2011
I was dumb with shock when Nathan shot Shawna.
[The brother shot and killed his younger sister across the road from us. That is a story in itself.]
It was dumb luck that I won the door prize.
It was dumb luck that I had that accident.
1. What do your eyes “hear” that tells you someone is not listening?
[A dead web site link was here. Link to reading body language?]
Noticing what their eyes are focused on;
What they are doing with their hands;
Their posture.
The eyes and facial expression of a listener are important to a speaker. If a listener is rolling her eyes, has a bored expression or seems glazed over, these are blatant cues that the listener is not actually listening or does not care about the speaker has to say
2. To let you know they have a problem
Comes to you with a look of concern on their face.
A normally friendly person has a behavior change around you.
3.http://smallbusiness.chron.com/noverbal-communication-examples-workplace-10663.html they may give off subtle cues in their body positioning by turning slightly away, giving the impression that they want to leave the conversation
4. Fidgeting while listening also imparts cues that you are not interested in what is going on. This includes fiddling with your hands or doodling, as well as swinging your foot and crossing and recrossing your legs.
5. They appear angry. Prompts an emotional response.
6. Staring off into space
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 8:29pm EST
My ankles had flared a bit again last week. They seem to be calming down again. I am considering getting a scooter and lift for my van. My physical therapist thinks this is a good idea for my condition. Do you have a scooter? If you did, maybe next year we could go for a *walk* on the bike trail together.
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 6:36pm EST
You will mourn your dog for a very long time. He was a member of your family that was suddenly taken from you. Eight years ago this past November, Diamond [our first Australian Shepherd] passed away. I still cry if I think of her much. Nick past away this past spring. I have been feeling very depressed lately. Going out and about among people makes me feel better. I need to do that more often, but I do not know where to go or what to do because of my physical limitations. I get to the Y 2-3 times a week, get groceries, go to my doctors appointments, and a few other places on a regular basis. The long hours of being alone at home are what depress me. How do you deal with not being able to get out often?
Contents | Start | End | Previous: Karen’s Journal ~ 1969-2010 | Next: Karen’s Journal ~ 2012