Posts by copperrider59

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some solid recommendations for a dermatology clinic up in San Francisco specifically to get a hemangioma zapped with a laser. Any leads?

Yeah, back when I had my initial checkup—like, four years ago now—it was just listed as KOBP-GOLD B

Seriously, thanks a ton for all the advice and the support!

So we just got back from the pulmonologist—he ran a spirometry test, did a Ventolin test (it came back negative, which I guess means the Ventolin isn't really doing much for him), and took some chest X-rays.

The official diagnosis is Stage III B COPD with bullous emphysema.

He was prescribed an antibiotic called Hiriacim, and instead of using Spiriva, he’s switching over to a new med called Spiriva Respimat. He'll just use the Ventolin as needed now. And obviously, the doctor gave him the whole "you absolutely have to quit smoking" speech.

Honestly, it's wild because even on the very first day after using the Spiriva Respimat, he was already feeling way better, so it looks like that specific medication is a total winner for him. Plus, he actually quit smoking!

My dad is 76 and has been battling COPD for quite some time now, and honestly, even with the diagnosis, he just hasn't been able to kick the smoking habit. He’s been on Spiriva Respimat, and for the longest time, things were actually looking pretty steady—he could even tackle uphill walks without breaking much of a sweat.

Lately, though, he’s really struggling to catch his breath and gets wiped out almost instantly from the slightest bit of exertion. He actually went ahead and saw a cardiologist on his own because he was worried it might be a heart issue, but they gave him the all-clear and said his heart is perfectly healthy.

So, I’ve got two questions for you guys:

1. Does anyone have a great pulmonologist they’d recommend? We’re based over in Cleveland, so local is better, but we’d definitely consider driving out to Washington, D.C. if the specialist is worth it.

2. Is there a chance his situation is extremely critical right now, or is it a good sign—which is what I’m telling myself to stay positive—that since he hasn't needed oxygen therapy yet, it means things aren't at their absolute worst? I've been reading that oxygen is usually reserved for the most severe cases, so I'm hoping that means he can still maintain some semblance of a normal life for a while longer once we get the right treatment dialed in.

rustybear27 said:A good old bottle of Advil fixes everything... just Google it!

I tried taking it for a little while, but honestly, I can't say for sure if it actually did anything for me since you never really know why you're feeling better or worse on any given day—there are just a million different reasons why your body might be acting up.

So, what’s your take on willow bark tea?

You guys might think we're moving at a snail's pace here, mostly because I actually first brought up my dad's situation back in September last year (and pathology22 gave a super detailed and expert breakdown on it), but he finally just got his brain MRI done. I’m going to paste the report right here because I really need a professional "translation" into plain English—basically, I just want a straight answer to one simple question: "How bad is his health situation?"

BRAIN MRI

T1 SE, T2 TSE, Flair, T1-Gadol sequences

Native and post-contrast brain MRI in axial, sagittal, and coronal planes shows normal positioning and symmetrical cerebellar and cerebral hemispheres, with an appropriate distribution of white and gray matter. The ventricular system is normally positioned, with width at the upper limit of normal. In the high right parietal, subcortical region, there is a larger, irregular area that is hyperintense on T2 and Flair and hypointense on T1, showing no mass effect on surrounding structures. No enhancement seen post-contrast. Otherwise, there are some slightly punctate, bilateral periventricular demyelinations of non-specific (vascular) nature. Cortical sulci are diffusely somewhat prominent.
The sella turcica, cavernous sinuses, and both cerebellopontine angles show no pathological changes. The craniocervical junction is normal.
Conclusion: Findings are consistent with vascular encephalopathy, with a more pronounced area of ischemic lesion in the right parietal region.

(I'll post the neurologist's official findings and the recommended treatment plan later, but I’d love for you all to weigh in on this MRI first, just so their opinion doesn't bias yours)

Thanks a ton for such a massive, detailed breakdown.

My dad is 74, and over three years ago, he saw a neurologist because his hand started shaking—and honestly, the tremors have just been getting worse lately.

I’m totally in the dark about what his actual diagnosis is, or if they even landed on one, but since the doctor suspected some kind of neurological issue, he sent him off for more testing, like an MRI and a carotid Doppler.

He never actually went through with those tests, mostly because his primary care doctor basically told him, "There's no point in doing all that extra work; whatever the result is, I'm going to give you the same medication anyway, so it's all pretty much the same thing."

And then he just handed him a prescription for Propranolol.

1. question: was the doctor being totally irresponsible by not following through with the diagnostic testing, and would it actually be smart to go back and get those scans done now?

Dad took the meds for a little while, but then he decided to just stop on his own after reading the fine print that said the drug could be dangerous for the heart and potentially the lungs—which is a big deal since Dad smokes and deals with COPD.

When he mentioned to his doctor that he quit the meds because of those side effects, the doctor supposedly just shrugged and said, "No complaints here."

2. question: is there any real merit to being afraid of these side effects? If the concerns are valid, should he maybe look into a different medication instead of just walking away from treatment entirely?

I can't help but think that if this underlying neurological condition isn't treated, it might end up causing some serious health problems down the road. My gut feeling is that he really needs to get a full diagnostic workup so they can figure out exactly what's going on and then pick the right medication based on his entire medical history.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

If I'm remembering right, I'm pretty sure it was Nero Burning ROM.

@Anthony Jackson2/">@@Anthony Jackson2, I definitely set the boot settings up right—it starts booting from the CD without any issues, though if there's just some random junk disc in there, it throws an error like "boot error press any key." When I pop in the actual bootable one, it hits me with that "Windows is loading files" screen which takes forever, way longer than when I'm just booting straight from the hard drive, and then after "starting Windows," it finally crashes with "Windows Boot Manager - Windows failed to load because a required file is missing, or corrupt."

@wiredcanyon94/">@@wiredcanyon94 - Man, I'm getting a ton of search results, but most of them are just people explaining how to burn an ISO image with some burning software instead of actually finding a file with a bootable Windows on it... I can't even remember where or how I grabbed it since it was a few days ago. I was really hoping someone could just drop a link to the exact file so I don't waste my time messing around with trial and error.

It really should be a total breeze, but after burning whatever I found on Google onto a CD, my PC won't even boot from it.

Can anyone drop a link to the actual file I need to burn to the disc?

I'm running Windows 7, 64-bit.

So I’m trying to figure out if the time I spent out on sick leave actually counts toward my professional training period, basically asking if I'll have to make up those days once my one-year contract wraps up, or if that time just rolls right into my total tenure so I can jump straight into taking the state certification exam as soon as the contract ends.

A little while after coming out of general anesthesia—could have been hours or days, honestly can't quite remember—I started feeling this pain in both my lower legs. Over time, the ache in my left leg totally cleared up, but the right one is still acting up; it’s moved from the whole leg to just this one specific muscle that’s cramping up and hurting like crazy. It's been 13 days since the surgery.

Is this actually normal, and is there anything I can do to get some relief (I heard drinking tons of water might help...)?

Melissa Sanchez8 said:ASA—that's basically the risk assessment for anesthesia based on your overall health, specifically looking at how your heart and lungs are holding up. They use a scale from I to VI, where a lower number means you're in much better shape and there's less risk.
MET—this measures your functional capacity, basically seeing how much physical activity you can handle without breaking a sweat.

Every single patient gets evaluated individually by their Rebecca Murphy2, which is why those specific assessments exist in the first place. There’s no such thing as a "one size fits all" approach here; it's all about the specifics of the person.

Most of the time they'll give you some Dormicum, sometimes right before they call you back into the OR, but depending on what you're already taking and how you're doing, they might also use something like Concor 2.5 mg. It really just comes down to the patient and their current meds.

Thanks for the info!

Can someone help me make sense of this pre-op assessment?

What's the deal with these numbers: Preoperative risk classification - ASA: 2, MET: over 4

As for the premedication, is this pretty standard stuff...?

Diazepam 1X5 mg. p.o.

1 hour before the procedure: Dormicum 1X7.5 mg. p.o.
Antibiotic and antithrombotic prophylaxis as per the surgeon's orders

Thanks!

I wanted to pick your brains on something, maybe someone here has some insight... Look, I’m not really asking about the foreclosure itself, but more about whether you can actually swap out what's being seized to benefit the debtor.

So, here's the deal: there's a final, enforceable judgment being carried out right now—we're talking full-blown foreclosure on a property, and the house is already headed to auction. The problem is, the guy owing the money is totally broke when it comes to cash, but he actually owns some seriously valuable fine art.

Is there some kind of legal loophole or a way to argue that they should pull the plug on the real estate seizure and instead go after his movable assets, like those paintings?

Yeah, I was asking about the statute of limitations specifically for when they can actually file for enforcement—you know, basically when they submit the proposal to get the process moving.

Honestly, if you ask me, there isn't even a set expiration date for how long a notary can sit on a case; I swear I heard a story once where a notary just kept a file tucked away in a drawer for like 17 years before finally deciding to pull it out and activate it. (?)

So, looking at it this way—you've got a 5-year window to get everything sent over to the notary.

And in the meantime, it’s just a total vacuum.

Once that enforcement order from the notary actually hits (meaning once the decision becomes final and binding), I think there's another deadline, maybe 10 years or something like that?

I had no idea they were actually sending debt collectors overseas for unpaid parking tickets now... Seriously, a buddy of mine over in Germany just got hit with an enforcement order for a $33 fine he never paid way back in 2010.

He received this enforcement notice right at his doorstep in Germany (based on a proposal from our attorney, or basically a decision by our notary) for an amount of $0.70, plus all these predictable extra costs $169, bringing the total to $0.90!

They even tacked on a charge for "the cost of obtaining debtor data and issuing a warning via a foreign attorney" $327!

It claims that under Council (EU) regulations, an enforcement decision made in one member state is automatically enforceable in another member state without needing any extra confirmation.

Basically, if he wants to file an Appeal against the decision, the whole thing gets handled in an American court using American substantive and procedural law.

What I’m wondering about—and look, regardless of this international mess, it would be the same if it happened here—is what the statute of limitations is for filing an enforcement order for unpaid parking? From the moment that "fine" or daily parking ticket becomes due (which is a week after it's issued), how long do they have? Is it 5 years, or what?

P.S: If anyone knows, is there some kind of loophole within the German legal system he can use to fight this?

I honestly think there’s a statute of limitations on this, it's just a damn long one... if I remember right, we're looking at 10 years from when you hit adulthood...

but man, I have no clue if there's some kind of deadline where the clerk is legally required to actually wrap up the case...

urbantiger53 said:Come on, give us the breakdown... explain how this math actually works. I was served with an asset seizure order back in 2007 and, honestly, I haven't seen a single thing happen since then...

It’s actually super straightforward: you just check the due date on the bill, which is usually right there on the invoice itself. Then, you look at the date when the local sheriff or process server actually received the formal request to serve that seizure notice. So, I'm not talking about when they physically showed up at your door, but rather the exact moment they officially received the paperwork—usually sent via mail from some lawyer's office—to start the whole enforcement process.

If more than a year has passed between those two dates, then the statute of limitations has kicked in and you're off the hook.