Well, Mrs R FINALLY made me do it - I went to the doctor for a physical. And it turns out

[Redstone]

that for a guy in his mid-fifties who smokes and drinks, and has essentially broken everything on the lower right side of his body and everything on the upper left side of his body; has been hit by a car while riding his bicycle three times; survived a near-fatal blood disease as a young teenager; blown an aneurysm in his gut (fortunately, while driving to the hospital for some tests); has been shot, blown up, and stabbed (though not all at the same time); had four concussions, and fell off a HELICOPTER, of all the absurd fucking things to do...I'm in pretty good shape overall.

Blood pressure's a bit on the high side, but not in the worrisome range, that's all. Clean EKG, clear lungs, decent blood results.

Ha! I TOLD her not to worry about me.

(Well, there IS that little matter of the MS. But the treatments all still have side effects that are worse than the state of my personal version of that disease. So that's a wash, right there.)

So, Peg, you happy now? I finally broke down and got the damn checkup. Mrs R is mightily relieved, so I guess it was worth doing.

Redstone

[Inchworm]

1. you ghetto rapper!!

lolol

:*

[supernova]

2. Good job!

Congrats on the good report.

:hug:

[DarkTirade]

3. Well after all the shit that happened in your first paragraph, no WONDER your blood pressure's

a little high... :P

Glad to hear you've got a pretty clean bill of health. :thumbsup:

[KitchenWitch]

4. I am glad you got a check up

and as clean a bill of health, considering all of the above!

:hi:

[bigwillq]

5. Wow.

That's good news.

:)



You lived quite the life, for better or worse.


When we going to lunch? Can't wait to hear some of these stories! hee hee

:) :hi:

[Redstone]

7. Hey, I've gone places and done things. A little damage is a small price to pay for

having had the experiences, even though my kids will never know the truth about most of them. (Hey, they don't NEED to ever know that Dad was such an oblivious lunatic when he was young. Mrs R and I have agreed on a car-accident explanatory cover story for the boys, and we're sticking with it.)

I haven't forgotten you. We'll do lunch when the weather breaks and vacation is over, and the boys are back in school. Figure September. You get to pick the place, because I don't get to New Haven much these days.

Redstone

[bigwillq]

8. They don't need to know.

You're right.

I will think of a place. :hi:

[ThomCat]

6. I'm glad you're reasonably healthy.

Now I wish you had good news about the pain. :hug:

[Redstone]

9. Ah, actually there MIGHT be some of that, as well. The doctor told me about a new

medicine that, even though it's prescription-only, is supposed to work well with nerve pain, such as diabetic neuropathy, like Cymbalta is supposed to (but didn't work for me).

And the damnedest part is that, even though it's prescription-only, the ingredients are...VITAMINS! Apparently, it's a specific mix of vitamins in a specific ratio, that has shown results for helping with pain from neuropathy and damaged nerves. I don't remember the name, but I'm going to try it, because what the hell, it's VITAMINS, so what's the downside? It may work or not, but at least there are no side effects to worry about, like with Topamax or Neurontin.

Hey, do me (and you) a favor, and send me a PM with a reminder for me to let you know how this medicine works out, and to send you the name so you can look into it. If it helps me, it might help you as well, and I'd certainly like to see a post from you that you're feeling better, some day.

Redstone

[moriah]

10. Are you sure you aren't my man?

He claims it was a car accident too.... (cervical and lumbar fusions, one rebuilt knee, one artificial knee....)

And I am trying to drag him in for a physical. What can I say, us wimmin-folk worry about our men.

[Redstone]

13. Your man's got me beat on the knees; I only have the one rebuilt one with the Teflon kneecap.

But hey, having a plastic kneecap is a great excuse for getting out of having to dance, which I never could do anyway, even before all the damage.

Yes, it was a car accident, it was. You know, those happen all the time, and can happen to anyone. Can't they?

PS: You "wimmin-folk" are absolutely justified in "worrying about your men." Because we men are, for the most part, a stubborn and bullheaded lot, to the point where I'm ready to nominate the whole lot of you women as saints, just for the fact that you manage to be able to put up with us barely-evolved apes of men.

And I'm not being sarcastic in the least, here. Just honest.

Redstone

[moriah]

17. He thinks he knows what the doc will say anyway....

He likely has high blood pressure (he stresses out too much, and a great deal of pain will make someone have higher blood pressure -- especially when he won't take anything for the pain, I have to almost force him to take a Tylenol when he's hurting so bad *I* can't stand it).

He also thinks he may have high cholesterol (although he does eat better than he did before we met). He's a touch overweight but has been working on it, he's lost 20 lbs since we've been together (he maybe has 15 left before he's at "ideal weight").

Other than that, he thinks he's fine. He did have an ulcer problem when he was going through his divorce, but he said it hasn't flared up recently. He eats Tums like they're candy, but ...

So he figures, "Why waste a ton of money just to have a doctor tell me what I already know?"

I do wish he could find a pain treatment option that would work and wouldn't leave him with a bleeding stomach or impaired mentally. Tylenol works a bit, Advil works better but he gets worse heartburn when he takes it. I gave him one of my 50 mg Tramadols, though, and he said while it didn't impair him mentally, he was really disconcerted by the lack of pain. He said that he uses his pain to tell him when he's overdoing or to remind him not to bend/twist in ways that aren't good for him. He said that he almost felt like he was having an "out of body experience" when it first kicked in, and has been very reluctant to take another one. (He'd been hanging drywall that day, which was probably the only reason he finally gave in to my attempts to medicate him.)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. My dear Redstone!

Yes, you bet I'm happy!

And you should be as well...

Any working machine (and this includes people, BTW) needs to get checked up now and then!

You've had a few adventures, and I am very happy to hear that you're doing so well...

I don't want to lose any more of my friends...

And you are one of them...

:hug:

[Redstone]

14. Thanks, Peg. And for once, I went to a doctor and didn't hear any proposals that

involved scalpels.

Nobody's ever going to cut me again. (Well, excepting the recent debridment, but that's different.)

Redstone

[Redstone]

12. Oh, I forgot, there WAS one bit of bad news:

You know how people get shorter as they get older, because of compression of the discs in the spine?

I'm no longer six foot-four. I'm now, sadly, only six-three and three-quarters.

Well, booger.

Redstone

[moriah]

18. Uh-oh.. you mean I'll get shorter than I am now????

I already lied to the DMV about being 4'11 instead of 4'10 and 3/4....

*cry*

I had this vain hope that I would be able to say I was truly 4'11 someday and not be stretching it... or maybe even 5'...

[DS1]

15. awesome, C!

I'll be working on that stuff tomorrow night.

[Redstone]

16. Hey, thanks. I know you have kind of a full plate right now, and I appreciate

you taking the time to yank my yockers out of the fire yet again.

I'm working on a business-development deal with a guy (who is roughly in your area) that, if it works out, will likely result in a need for more programming work. And you can be sure it will be headed your way if it happens.

Redstone

[DS1]

19. I got your info

and I'll get it all fixed before end of Saturday at the latest.

[BlueIris]

20. Redstone, if I ever hear about you slacking on your preventative health maintenance again,

I will break out the proverbial can of whoop-ass.

[Redstone]

30. Ma'am, yes MA'AM! I promise, but only until someone wants to break out

a scalpel, OK? I'm gonna have to draw the line right there.

Redstone

[kat_kringle]

21. glad you're well, sir!

:patriot:

[Writer]

22. I'd love to see this on your epitaph... when you pass on at the wisened age of 105...

REDSTONE

He smoked. He drank. He broke everything on the lower right side and everything on the upper left side of his body. A car hit him while riding his bicycle three times. He survived a near-fatal blood disease as a young teenager. He blew an aneurysm in his gut, has been shot, blown up, and stabbed. He suffered four concussions, and fell off a HELICOPTER, of all the absurd fucking things to do...

But, damn, was he in pretty good shape overall.

Rest In Peace.

[sakabatou]

24. Redstone

Makes 50 Cent look like a wimp.

[MonkeyFunk]

23. Geez, you're like Rasputin!

Why do so many people try to kill you?

[Redstone]

27. Dunno, I guess they were jealous of my freedoms or something. Or it could have been,

maybe, my own stupid propensity for being in the wrong places at the wrong times, for the wrong reasons?

Except getting hit by the cars. And the blood disease and the aneurysm. Those were just luck of the draw.

Redstone

[applegrove]

25. Wow. Sounds like you've lived.

[skygazer]

26. Sucker

:P

Glad to hear you're (relatively) healthy. :hi:

[flvegan]

28. How'd you fall off a helicopter?

Very happy for you and the Mrs for the good report, but I just have to ask.

[Redstone]

29. Riding the skid, and taking a spent round (I think) in the ribs, which kind of

knocked me off, even though I thought I had a good grip on the M60 pintle mount with my left hand. Was either a spent round or frags that had bounced already, because whatever it was didn't get through my flak vest...just hit me like a Louisville Slugger in the side and broke two ribs. In addition to provoking the sideways (then immediately downward) momentum.

I probably don't need to remind you, but I'll do so anyway: Don't ride the skid.

Redstone

[SarahB]

31. Good to know.

:hi:

[Sequoia]

32. This is just for you then:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1261648/real_men_wear_gowns_ahrq_and_ad_council_encourage_men_to_take_p/

[Redstone]

33. Well, I'm glad at least that I went to a female doctor;

they tend to have smaller-diameter fingers than male doctors do, so at least THAT part wasn't too horrible.

Redstone

[Sequoia]

34. I'm not going to think about it.

Glad you're okay.