Update 12/10/09 scroll to bottom.

12/08/09

So, I had a routine 4 month visit with my rheumatologist this morning. I told her I was feeling quite a bit of muscle and joint pain due to the recent cold weather's effect on my old injuries and arthritis. Also having a lot of bad headaches, but that's more in my neurologist's area of expertise. She asked had I given any thought to having my hip and shoulder rebuilt with state-of-the-art technology. I told her I was not interested in any more operations ever. She mentioned a new pain medication and I said I was also not interested in any new pills, as it was now, I'd rather get up every hour all night than even take Flomax.

No, I'm still not using my CPAP machine. No, I haven't investigated whether there are quieter CPAPs available. (Didn't tell her, but maybe it would be easier to just wake up dead some morning than to go down in a gunfight with the feds.) Everything looked normal in the last blood test. (She sends me to the lab after every visit for blood tests to be sure my medications aren't killing me.) This time she added in a couple of tests for vitamin B12/Folate and vitamin D as diagnostic aids, since old men can have weakness and pain symptoms due to deficiencies of those substances.

But an M.D. who spent years in school, and spent years building experience, and is recognized by her peers as an expert in her field was overruled by an affirmative-action chair-warmer at Medicare.

I Guess I'm Going to Have to Get Used to This...

The guy at the lab was apologetic about it. I guess he sees the government do this to a lot of people. This time, I don't really care. If those substances are out of balance in my body and that's contributing to my pain, so what? My pain helps me to stay focused and pissed off. (It does bother my wife though, and she doesn't deserve it.)

Pain is good. Inflicting pain on bad people should be the ultimate goal of all good men.

12/10/09 Update

Words you never want to hear your doctor ask over the telephone:

Are you having chest pains?

I failed my blood test.

My Creatine kinase enzyme level was something over 600.

That's usually a sign of heart attack, kidney failure, muscular dystrophy or (possibly) right-wing extremism.

It's sort of like cruising down the highway of life and red lights blink on all over your dashboard.

I have an EKG scheduled this afternoon and another blood test next week.

Life is what happens while you were making other plans...

I've always said that if I found out I had a terminal illness, I was going to build a jihadi vest and buy a bus ticket to D.C.

Live Free or Die.

Further Update

The EKG looked OK. So I have most likely NOT had a heart attack.

Talked it over with my family doctor and told him I had spent several hours on the range Monday with my gimpy left arm doing a two-handed grip on several pistols and also an "evil black assault rifle". He tended to agree with me that the muscle strain on the gimpy arm might have generated the high level of CK enzyme.

Meanwhile, the rheumatologist scheduled another blood test for next week.  I'll study for this one.