Posts by Jamie Clark74

8/12/04

My younger son and my grandson are visiting today; they live 249 miles nearby.
We all went to visit Dario together. I was a bit concerned when I saw the IV drip, so I asked him what was going on. He told me they removed his staples yesterday after 14 days /see photo/.... he has an incision on his abdomen. Following the surgery, he was on an antibiotic drip just to be safe while the pump was being implanted in his abdomen, but they took that off after a few days.

For now, they have him on a strong antibiotic until the test results come back. We're really hoping it isn't Staph, but it takes about 24 to 36 hours to get those results.

It’s looking less likely that he'll be home in time for Christmas.😢

shadowfalcon33 said:I can't recall the exact URL, but if you search Google for "depression test" or something similar, you should find an online screening tool to see if what you're feeling aligns with clinical depression. If the results suggest that, please reach out to your doctor.

Anyway, I found one right here.

http://www.depressioncenter.net/depressiontest/

==============
The Algorithm test mentioned by shadowfalcon33 is actually quite solid and accurate,
though it might be tricky for anyone who isn't fluent in English.

I've been dealing with major depression, panic attacks, anxiety, and personality issues for 13 years now.
In my case, I've had psychiatrist appointments every six weeks for 1.5 hours plus medication... I waited too long to get help, and now I'm stuck with chronic issues for the rest of my life.

🙂 😉 😎

Unless you're dealing with obesity, a healthy person can shed a few pounds quite easily. To gain weight, you obviously have to overeat. To lose it, just cut back on portions and get moving. You don't need a fancy gym membership for this. Just a brisk 30 to 45-minute walk a few times a week does the trick. If the winter weather keeps you indoors, find some stairs and just walk up and down them. It’s a reliable, lifelong approach that doesn't require any "natural" detox shakes or gimmicky supplements.

Losing five pounds is the easy part; the real challenge is maintaining that weight long-term. That's why doctors suggest the methods I mentioned above.

👋 👋

Anthony White57 said:I've been buried under a mountain of grad school work for a few days now, forcing me to pull all-nighters. I'm curious how much damage sleeping only 3 or 4 hours a night actually does... though I've been stuck in this cycle for about a week and a half already.

=======
Some people need a solid 8 to 10 hours, while others get by on 4 to 6.
I also know folks who have survived on just 3 or 4 hours for stretches of time,
and managed to make it through... my wife has always been fine with about 4 to 6 hours, whereas I definitely need a lot more.

👋 👋

Sam Gonzalez67 said:I've been reading through everything you've written, and I have to ask... how on earth are you even able to sit at a computer?

Just one more thing—it might seem a little trivial, but how’s your sex life doing?
Is Josh always sexually active?

========
Sam Gonzalez67, I'll get back to you on that later. I've actually written quite a bit on health forums before regarding "everything about sex," including plenty of advice specifically for men.

We used to joke around about the Motel thing on that thread—I was actually the one making fun of myself!

I’m going to be completely honest here, even if there are a few trolls out there who find plenty of joy in being toxic.

My son and granddaughter just arrived. 249 miles Those two did it to themselves—she's only 2.5 years old.

Do slijedeceg pisanja!
👋 👋

bluewalker36 said:The mesh screens are made of asbestos and we use them to heat various containers. Our lab is old and we don't have any choice but to work with these screens. No one ever told us if it was dangerous or gave us any warnings.😢

============
Honestly, I'm not surprised by your response!
If you’ve read much of what I’ve written, you’d know that even shipments from Russia arrive with "asbestos" markings—those skull and crossbones symbols...
It's dangerous.

The US is also one of the few countries that didn't immediately sign on to a total ban on asbestos use.

All I can suggest is that you take a look at how many of those mesh screens have been used up.

Asbestos itself isn't dangerous unless you touch it or disturb it enough to send particles flying through the air. Unfortunately, it was used extensively in residential construction for modern buildings and schools... though in your area, things seem to be built more with brick and plaster.

Back in the US, during the September 11 catastrophe at the Twin Towers, the dust spread for miles. Those buildings were constructed using a massive amount of Asbestos plaque.... In 20 to 25 years, many people will become "victims."

I can't find the exact figure right now, but there were roughly 550,000 tons of asbestos material used in the Twin Towers building.

September 11... asbestos dust!!!!!

Location of the "asbestos dust" at the Twin Towers

Update!

Dario is in the hospital!

The patient’s medical expenses have already climbed past a million dollars.
He was declared unfit for work, though he isn't technically disabled—by law, they have to keep paying him until he turns 65... but he’s only getting 60% of his original $120,000 salary.
Right now, he’s pulling just $30,000 gross.

Insurance refused to cover the $70,000 cost for the Intrathecal Morphine pump. His doctor moved him to a pain clinic, which costs about $50,000 a month... luckily, he got quick approval for the surgery.

Implanting the pump in the abdomen, just 13 days old!

On 11/23/04, he had abdominal surgery for the pump port /attaching photo/ taken 13 days post-op... he also had back surgery to place the pump catheter.
At the same time, they performed a discectomy at L4 due to a workplace injury.

Dario's back operation

As I write this, the patient is heavily medicated on narcotics but still in intense pain. They are currently adjusting the pump dosage; he's receiving Morphine injections every four hours.

He’ll likely be in the hospital for about 3 to 4 weeks total.

Morphine ruins your teeth. He has to wear a special fluoride tray every night and visit the dentist every two months; he's dealing with skin changes too.

It's hard to wrap my head around it. At the time of the accident, he was 36. Now, at 41, he's living with a disability and hundreds of complications.

What kind of life is that? His kids are 16, 12, and 11, and he can't see them nearly enough because
he’s divorced and remarried, paying child support, and every time he tries to visit them, something happens or he's stuck in the hospital.

Son, please come home from the hospital for the Yule log... we want to spend it all together!🙂

Mom and Dad love you and just want a better future with less pain.😘

William

Rachel Peterson2 said:I have a buddy with really thick fingers.

He also happens to be exceptionally well-endowed.

So, I can't help but wonder if there's some kind of causal link there.

Though, I'm certainly not an expert...

Plus, if his fingers are long and thick too, he's definitely winning at life!👋 😁

Patient history.

Back in 1999, a Verizon technician was inspecting solar panels
that support mobile communications across the US, located about 1,000 miles
out in the desert, when he had an accident....
The entire battery rack gave way, and heavy batteries fell right on him.
Each one weighed about 130 lbs; we're talking a total of 1,300 lbs.
Some missed him, but a few hit his legs, back, and neck.

The technician was alone; the nearest group was 311 miles distance away from where the
accident happened. Somehow, he managed to pull through... he connected the batteries on the ground just to get the system running and
drove his Land Rover back, stopping every hour.

Honestly, when he finally made it back to camp, he didn't complain much. As a supervisor,
he used the satellite phone to notify the San Diego headquarters that they were heading back a week early due to his accident.

He was completely bruised and swollen, and everything hurt. It was right around the Yule log season, and things weren't running smoothly at the hospital. He went through an exam and was given a month off work, with instructions to see a neurosurgeon specialist.

In January 1996, he lost consciousness... ambulance, new CT scan... three cervical vertebrae and one lumbar vertebra were injured.
Soon after, he had neck surgery involving a fusion using donor bone. The patient actually felt worse, not better... another MRI showed it wasn't working... he needed a new surgery, this time using bone harvested from his own leg.

A year later, at his father's urging, he traveled north and switched neurologists.
A new MRI revealed the vertebrae weren't supported by the fusion at all; there was almost no hope they would fuse.

Then came a third surgery. They took bone from his other leg for the fusion, and this time they used titanium plates and screws to hold everything together... he was just thankful he wasn't paralyzed.

He spent five years going through rehabilitation and a pain clinic, where they taught him how to manage the pain. His narcotic doses were massive, and he was taking several different types... his father eventually reported both the doctor and his son to a medical board.
/After speaking with the doctor/ they admitted him to the hospital for three weeks to stabilize his
narcotic use.
But it didn't work; his pain levels stayed consistently between 8 and 10 on a 10-point scale.

The pain clinic decided the only way out was to implant an Intrathecal Morphine pump.

To be continued.

6/12/04
Saw my neurosurgeon today. They’ve got this new MRI system where they pull the images directly onto a computer. It was my first time seeing it—you can actually rotate the scans to any angle you need to get a better look.

Not feeling great, which I honestly expected. My right nerve is pinched at L4 (I wrote L5 in my last post, my mistake).
Heading in for an X-ray guided nerve block soon. My neurologist isn't sure if it’ll actually do much, but we're going to try it just to be certain. They also suggested another surgery... but no more after that, please!

They confirmed the Meniere's diagnosis and suspect
I might have Fibromyalgia too. This is what I've been told before, but now I have yet another specialist to see—a Rheumatologist. That makes eight specialists total. I've been cycling through seven of them for years now.

The main thing is that it's not cancer. Anything else is manageable by comparison. Now I just need to add steroids to my pile of pills.

Money isn't everything... but when you're sick, you certainly need a lot more of it than when you're healthy.

🙂 😉 😎

Kevin White5 said:Older folks really should get vaccinated. My grandmother is doing terribly right now because she hates hospitals and refused the shot... now she’s suffering big time. So if anyone over 60 is reading this (Jamie Clark74?), please go get vaccinated!

Thanks for thinking of me. My wife and I have both been getting our shots regularly every single year since I turned 55.
Around here, it's free for retirees over 65, otherwise we just pay $3.80 each.
We also get the pneumonia vaccine every 4 or 5 years.

🙂 😉 😎

swiftbison7 said:would you swap places with someone suffering from cancer?

I don't think I would. Honestly, God help you, because you're going through much worse.🙂 😉 😎

My apologies to everyone dealing with cancer. I’m perfectly healthy right now, but once I deal with more significant illness and hardship, I'll know better... sorry...
One thing is certain: sitting in waiting rooms with seven different specialists and a primary care doctor, you always feel like there's someone else in the room facing an even tougher fight.

Sorry, I'm totally off-topic here!

🙂 😉 😎

swiftbison7 said:How on earth did you come up with a theory like that?

It’s obvious you don't realize how much pain exists in other conditions, or how many people struggle with multiple illnesses at once.
Can you even wrap your head around living with chronic pain 24/7? Dealing with a CPAP machine just to sleep, or being physically limited to walking maybe a block or two before needing a break?
Then there's the exhaustion—not sleeping for 40 hours straight, only to crash for 12, or lying awake until 4:00 AM every single night.

Honestly, it's hard to truly grasp how heavy that is.
Some people face cancer and go on to live completely normal lives, while others suffer immensely... I suppose it all comes down to luck.

🙂 😉 😎

Edward Green said:And I don't see Jamie Clark74 actually responding to the guy who recommended Ayurveda to him.
If that’s just exhaustion from the asbestosis 😁, my bad.

But honestly, I really feel for him regarding the asbestosis.

If he'd spent half the time he wasted cultivating that "sick person" persona on actually feeling better, he might be happy right now.
I'm not saying he hasn't dealt with anything.
But we have our own version of Brankica here, someone who pushed through some pretty nasty stuff with that "everything will be fine because it has to be" attitude. 😘 For her, 🙂

Jamie Clark74, if you prioritized being a person first and a patient second, things would be a lot easier for you. 🙂

🙄 🙄

Baka kaze:
19/8/2003

People might laugh at me, but:
"The News" Monday, July 18, 2003, p. 9
nadnaslov: Data from the asbestosis victims association shocked members of the International Labour Organization standards committee
Title: IN VRANJIC, AN ASBESTOS VICTIM FROM THE SALONIT FACTORY DIES EVERY 20 DAYS
salonit podnaslov: In the case of Salonit, international conventions regarding proper product labeling and worker information are being violated, along with safety measures for clothing, safe waste disposal, and the training and education of workers handling asbestos.
The article opens by stating that one person dies every 20 days...

Jamie Clark74 and I used to joke about it, but asbestosis is right here, in our own backyard, and nobody is saying a word about it....

🙂 😉 😎

bluewalker36 said:Does anyone know how dangerous those asbestos meshes used for heating things like zucchini in a lab actually are?😕

Are you working in a lab?

Back when I worked as an asbestos removal supervisor, I used to take materials into the lab to test if they contained asbestos.

I ditched my own mesh grill for gas cooking about 20 or 25 years ago.

Nowadays, as far as I know, people use Teflon fiber or Zetex(TM).

Plus, technology has changed—you don't really need to heat things directly over a flame using a mesh cover anymore, or am I mistaken?

I remember writing to Pfizer for advice regarding my own asbestosis, and honestly, they knew less than I did; I actually had to send them links to the information myself.
When I asked if there was a registry in America for "asbestosis victims," they couldn't even give me an answer.

People on this forum used to mock me until about a year ago, before the real numbers finally came out regarding how many people are sick, how many have passed away, and how many continue to die.

Personally, I wouldn't touch anything containing asbestos.
It’s easy to find everything online, though most of it is in English and there's an overwhelming amount of it—maybe 30 million articles.

Asbestos in the home

Hope that helps a bit.

🙂 😉 😎

To: Kate Jackson68,
You really have to experience illness firsthand to truly empathize with others.
Just because we aren't battling cancer doesn't mean our own struggles aren't just as heavy.

When you actually get sick, you find out who your real friends are and who you can actually count on.
Everyone tends to assume things are easier for you than they actually are. The truth is only known by us—those living through it—and the families who have to stick by our side through it all.
Wishing you the best.

🙂 😉 😎

A little consolation for those of us with thick fingers!

🙂 😉 😎

Betty Roberts4 said:It’s like this—I have thick fingers. My whole family has much slimmer fingers than mine, and I'm wondering if there's any way to slim them down even a little without having surgery. Thanks so much.

You basically asked the question and answered it yourself!

Genetics is just a roll of the dice from your parents. Look, if you were born with three fingers, then maybe surgery would be
justified. But in this case, what can you do? As long as everything else is fine, it's okay.
I'm pretty sure your fingers do their job just fine.

I often see kids wanting to extend their leg bones through procedures—can you imagine the pain and how much time that takes?

Next time, try picking parents with long fingers. 😁

🙂 😉 😎

stormylynx14 said:Yeah, and? Are we all supposed to be carrying around a pump or a TENS unit instead of just taking an Aspirin?😕

Someone who needs Aspirin doesn't have chronic issues; they don't fall into the group I'm talking about. Their pain isacute, not chronic. 🙂

Out of everyone dealing with acute pain, only about 5% deal with recurring issues.
Statistically, only 5% of those people end up needing surgery after at least six months.
Pain that persists every single day for more than three months falls into this category.
The cause could be anything from non-specific lower back pain to cancer or other serious injuries.
In the USA, Canada, Australia, and Europe, about 10% of the population lives with chronic
pain, and some individuals are completely incapacitated or immobile.
Those are the people this discussion is actually about.