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I'm a monkey-boy sitting up in a turtle-shell


all by my lonesome, and i feel fine.

for those who most likely don't understand: Would offering the following be enlightening?

Percutaneous Vertebroplasty

dis am a nice way to set it too. i recently had back surgery for what seems a multitude of cancers in it.

now i have been set up in a back brace by some therapists.
a monkey-boy in a turtle shell, and i feel fine

41 Comments

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I hope you continue to mend, and that you will keep us informed.

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thanks, OG, now i am mentally, getting clearer again, i'll try to keep up on quick updates.

i st ill get disorientated though now and then, and things can reverse in a heartbeat.

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Yay, yay and yay!!

I waded through most of your article, but alas and alack (as dd would say), I fail to imagine the monkey boy in the turtle shell theme. Got a camera handy? :-)

The best part is you feel fine, and the wireless is working in the turtle shell, according to you. I can leave well enough alone, if you can. Yay, again!

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It just heartens me to see you back here and making progress. Godspeed!

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Good mantra, keep feeling fine, pseudo. (What follows naturally from that: don't you dare blame yourself if you don't sometimes. :-))

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Or: 'don't blame yourself if you Ant sometimes.'

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And here all along I thought you were an ant climbing an antennae (or maybe a lacrosse stick). ;)

Soon you will be back to your six-legged self in no time!

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Wonderful to see your post. Peace and healing dear PCA! :-)

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Well done PCA. Though if you're willingly coming to TPM, you must still be struggling a bit with the mental clarity business. ;-)

Cosmic healing waves from the North country, comin' at you.

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I liked you better as ants, but I'll buy the monkey/turtle imago. Having done time in a couple of Spinal Injury clinics, I have a good idea what you look like.

I served out a 4 week sentence in a clinic in San Jose, CA, before I was transferred to a minimum security unit at the VA hospital in Palo Alto. The kid in the next bunk was a source of endless entertainment. At his High School senior party at Santa Cruz, he dove under a wave which crased down on the back of his head and broke his neck. Thankfully it was not permanent, and he was getting all his movement back as the shock subsided. But he was "stabilize" with a full thorax cast and a metal halo with screws into his skull.

At the hospital in San Jose the staff was on strike, and they were running on a skeleton crew. So one day my neighbor got up on his own to visit the john without staff help. He was muttering "Hello, I am Robbie the Robot" as he passed by. Ten minutes later he was asking us to ring our buzzer because was stuck on the pot, unable to stand up. We did, but no one came. After about 15 minutes of no response, the kid started screaming "Help! Help! Jaws!" Immediately 6 or 7 staffers came running into the ward and saved him from the shark attack.

Get well, PSA. And if you want to blog while peaking on Demerol, go for it.

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When was that? Maybe my mom was your nurse, she worked in spinal cord injury in the early-mid 1980s.

=D

Maybe you knew me, I used to pick her up once in a while.

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Which clinic? I was at the San Jose Medical Center August 1975, and at the VA Palo Alto August thru October the same year.

At San Jose there was a patient - a Samoan elder with traditional full-body tattoos. I didn't get to meet him, but the staff was really thrilled to have him as a patient.

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She worked at the VA in Palo Alto in the spinal cord injury unit. 1975 was before she got there, tho.


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no demerol blogging (not taking it)

the neuro fails are curious to me tho, once the first fear wave passed...

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neuro is weird, alright

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I must of course give you the Dayly Blog of the Day Award for this here TPMCafe Site, given to all of you from all of me.

GREAT METAPHOR PCA.

It sounds to me like they have abated most of the pain. I keep hearing more hopeful statements from you.

To the monkey boy in a turtle shell!!! ha

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You know, I read your comment in another thread... I'm glad you started a new thread on it.

What a spot to be in!
Get well soon. Good vibes coming your way.

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And they must, by law, give you all the pain meds you require! Make sure they do. So many docs are sooo puritanical. Keep healing.

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"Up" is a seriously good word to see
in your title.

My best thoughts to you for healing and
a strong recovery CyAnts.

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PCA I am very glad that something is helping with the pain and thought processes even though the road back to semi-normal (all that many of us hope for) can be long and winding.

Having read a number of medical papers and studies over the last 9 months or so, I had to chuckle (grimly) when the authors at your link blithely state:

The semisolid mixture of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), an acrylic cement used in orthopedic procedures, has been shown to restore strength and stiffness in vertebral bodies in postmortem studies.5

When are these folks going to get it that "lay people" with these conditions and undergoing these procedures are reading these things?

Regardless, I fervently hope that this technique proves permanently effective in getting you back to normality. My best hopes for your continued improvement.

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gawd rowan; at least i am not the only one crazy on this bus. i laughed morbidly about the post-mortem bs, when 1st reading this. i should have been clearer; this procedure is not for me; still too sick. i hoped i could super-glue my back together, but because of recent, active cancers, it's not advisable.

instead, thalidomide therapy is currently the rec, but costs are prohibitive without being part of a study, and i need out-patient status to be in the study, but a resident here won't release me as such, because i still need very specialised rehab care not easily available at 3rd party providers.

catch 22

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Well sheeeeeet! Beyond frustrating to be in that situation. I'll hope that something either shifts or improves or there is a new promising study which fits your situation to a T.

I am glad that I'm not alone in reading these things and saying WTF!?? I think it takes a certain twist of mind - or perhaps twisted mind - to find such things "comical" (or perhaps it is tragic comedy). HA! Laugh where you can is my advice.

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a + side though:

if i had normal insurance, it would have seen to it that my hospital stay had not been 3 weeks. it would have gone into bean-counter mode, and i'd be in a 3rd party provider's hands instead of Univ Nev Med School Residents. I'm much happier with the later, no matter the other bs.

fortune smiles oddly upon me once again

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If the fates are smiling on you my friend, then for god's sake leave them cookies or something to keep them happy. Heck, I'll leave out cookies for them in your name, light joss sticks, whatever.

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just....yay!

(thinking good things in your general direction)

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they put me in the brace, (turtle shell), it hurts, sometimes lots, but good hurt, pointed towards healing, and i mostly laugh with/at the pain, cause i'm presently beating it.

hopefully tomorrow, i last a bit longer sitting up in the saddle. today was 2 whole hours, off only one anti-pain dosing.

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(trys to hug cyants)

(looks sideways at brace)

(shuffles feet)

Oy!

I'll stick to cyberhugs fer now. Lucky you.

=D

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Really good to hear that you are doing better.

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i'm sill here lulu!
and so are you!
just that is remarkable for many reasons, eh?
a while longer then, before the goodbyes...

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PCA- I have experience in checking out and finding medical studies. Would such experience be helpful to you right now? Would love to help if I can.

As an aside, I even hit the jackpot on one. Got my step-mother into an Alzheimer's experimental vaccine study by Elan Pharmaceuticals in 2001. The study was stopped after only 3 vaccinations because of meningitis problems in Europe, but 8 years later her Alzheimer's has not progressed. A variation on the drug is now in it's 3rd phase of testing and looks promising.

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Hey, Ants...you sound chipper today...thanks for keeping us posted. I'm only a couple of hours away from you...if you need anything, I'll be there as quickly as I can get there...you know how to reach me.

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stilli, big thanks, but unneeded presently. my family has gone whole hog on the advocacy for me.

it has been a wonderful sight.

relentless

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Way cool, Ants...

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seashell, i'm happy with the care level presently from the residents and active attending. they have been outstanding.

i am certainly curious about new literature and procedures.

i may need to contact a Sen Reid staffer (my senator) in the near future. know how to do this properly?

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Heh, everyone should feel free to weigh in on this suggestion, but ...

I think if we were to email the TPMMuckrakers this blog or something that explains the request, you would have the name of the exact proper staffer to contact as well as the phone number, email and a good time to call, and maybe even other helpful tips.

The info is probably just sitting somewhere in their files waiting for us to ask.

Brilliant Suggestion or Rotten Tomato Worthy?

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Brilliant.

=D

Make it so, number one.

And,

buttsecks. Also.

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You are too cool.

Also!

You forgot TruckNutz!!!

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Yikes! Glad you are feeling better, and seeing the humor!

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I was going to write you a blog sending you love... but was told you wouldn't want it...

So, here's the LOVE and support and hang in there wishes that I wanted to send!

XOXO

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Hang in there pca. You've been missed around here!

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Delighted for your progress, PCA!

=D

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PseudoCyAnts

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