“On a good day, Death wears a sombrero.”

—Tom D.

Categories: distracted
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The question came up a bunch of times this weekend: “So, did they figure out what was making you sick?”

Here’s my answer. “No. But they figured out it wasn’t killing me.”

And there you have it. I get to have periodic tests to make sure whatever-illness-it-is isn’t killing me. Otherwise, it’s a medical mystery and I have no real want to go through more testing. Excessive sweating remains a problem, as does pulse and blood pressure. I’m certainly not as tired as I was and am getting my usual excessive energy back (which my friends must be thrilled about, I’m sure). The one med change made was switching the celexa back to brand-name from generic. That’s it.

As for the cortisone shot, my shoulder hurts less now when I’m not using it. Before the shot, it hurt no matter what, and the pain got worse from movement. Now it’s a dull-ish ache I can ignore when I’m not using it and hurts more when I use it, especially certain movements.

One day, I’ll be able to play like the other kids! It’d better not be rotator cuff damage. I tried fencing left-handed on Thursday night and it was like a drunken monkey trying to fence. In case you’re wondering, that is not a pretty sight. Entertaining, yes. Pretty, no.

Categories: medical adventures
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This song’s been getting a lot of play time in the car’s CD player lately. The discordantness of the music is hard to get used to at first, then it just…grows on you. Then you start listening to the lyrics and realize holy shit, they’re saying something. Something political, even.

B.Y.O.B. — System of a Down
Bring Your Own Bombs. © 2005 System of a Down

(my comments in italics)

Why do they always send the poor?

sending the poor to fight the war, instead of the middle and/or upper classes

Barbarisms by Barbaras
With pointed heels
Victorious victories kneel
For brand new spankin’ deals

this is interesting because it seems to point towards the current Bush administration and its various atricious actions, then having some moral victories that are set aside in favor of new “better” action

Marching forward hypocritic and
Hypnotic computers
You depend on our protection
Yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth

Those in support of the current policies continuing forward as automatons that ignore their hypocrisy. However, those same people depend on protection of their freedoms by the poor (those sent to war) and they still lie to them (lies from the tablecloth could reference watching the evening news while eating dinner)

Everybody’s going to the party have a real good time
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine

I think, fairly apparently, that’s got to be the war in Iraq. This is also the verse where the song switches from hardcore metal to a catchy pop-like tune. An interesting foil to what’s actually happening, which isn’t dancing in the desert or anything nice like the pop-tune of this chorus.

Kneeling roses disappearing into
Moses’ dry mouth
Breaking into Fort Knox stealing
Our intentions

back to the hard metal with this verse. Kneeling roses could refer to those masses continuing to blindly back Bush (reference to burning bush and Moses’ dry mouth being Bush?). And now the representative of our nation (bush) and his followers (who have disappeared within his presence) breaking into our inner selves/integrity (symbolized by Fort Knox?) and stealing our intentions and misrepresenting them.

Hangers sitting dripped in oil
Crying freedom
Handed to obsoletion
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth

The military posts seeped with the desert oil, still saying it’s all for freedom, but without finding any WMD’s, it’s obsolete, yet the evening news tells us it’s still about the freedom of the Iraqi people.

Everybody’s going to the party have a real good time
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine

Everybody’s going to the party have a real good time
Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine

Back to the catchy pop-tune, referring back to the war and where all the “people” are

Blast off
It’s party time
And we don’t live in a fascist nation

the followers’ self denial, that all’s good, and our nation isn’t in the wrong at all

Blast off
It’s party time
And where the fuck are you?

and all those war supporters, why aren’t they in the war? (at the party)?

Where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?

mmm. self-evident.

Why don’t presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?

Pretty damn good question.

The rest of the song is repeats of chorus, melodies and verses. Fairly evidently anti-war and interestingly so. I just find myself liking this song more and more. I’m certain other people have other interpretations of the lyrics, so more discussion of them would be cool.

Categories: reviews
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friend: Okay, I’m making the corn latkes I found on recipezaar last week.
me: On purpose?
friend: No, the ingredients all fell in the blender by accident.

Zing!

Categories: distracted
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I might change my mind in a day or two or three. But right now, I am not happy with said shot. My visit with the orthopedic doctor was this morning. This is the same guy who treated my both-shoulders-tendonitis a couple years ago (which pretty much resolved after much PT and posture changes and the like). He remembered me. I still can’t decide if that’s good or bad.

Anyway. Questions about when the pain started, what kind of pain, for how long, has it felt like your shoulder pops out of the socket?

“Um, no.”

Then came poke, prodding, and manipulating. And me saying ow, ow, OW.

He seemed rather indecisive about whether it was my tendonitis Acting Very Badly or a different injury. He did say I’d already done things he would’ve told me to (ice, Celebrex, PT exercises) and thought PT wouldn’t help because I already know and do the exercises.

Soooo. He gave me a cortisone shot. I’m to lay off my arm/shoulder for the next five days. Yes, this means no fencing right handed. Also no PT exercises, no weight training for my upper body. Nothin’, man, nothin’. I’m clueless when it comes to cortisone shots. The actual shot didn’t hurt at all, really. A brief pinch when the needle went in, then pressure as the fluid was injected. No big deal. After a minute or so, I got an odd burning sensation in my throat. Still feels kinda funky, but whatever.

Except.

Good god, my shoulder and arm hurt. My right arm is practically useless right now. I can use my hand, as long as it’s independent of actually moving my arm. After doing a bit of Googling, I believe it’s this:

Also note that some patients may have a reaction to the cortisone injection called a ‘cortisone flare.’ A cortisone flare is a condition where the injected cortisone crystallizes and can cause a brief period of pain worse than before the shot. This usually lasts a day or two and is best treated by icing the injected area.

—about.com orthopedics

I think their definition of “brief” and my definition of “brief” are decidedly different.

Categories: medical adventures
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