mtbakervapor

[Seanchai]

I have seen this pain chart before and it totally cracks me up, not that I think pain is funny....just the illustrations and descriptions! I agree with the pain=cranky theory....at least for me. In any case, I, too, hope that Oz will come back because he adds a lot and is a seriously funny guy too. As for my absence, I've been on #6 on the pain scale for the better part of a month now, particularly the last few days, which is exactly why I haven't been around here. Go figure, 8 months after the shoulder replacement I get released from PT, other than at home, and released also from pain meds, and my OTHER shoulder blows out! So I go back to my surgeon and he says, yep, looks like a torn rotator cuff. Well, that was surgery number 2 (rotator cuff repair) on the other shoulder, the replacement was the 4th, and this feels a lot like the other one felt when it was bone on bone and there was nothing left but replacement to fix it.....I know....boring....blah blah blah.....getting older and getting osteoarthritis sucks and tomorrow I get to go out into the god forsaken cold to get an MRI on the left shoulder. Most likely looking at surgery on this shoulder now. That would be 5 shoulder surgeries in as many years. I shouldn't complain, because so many have it worse than me, but pain is relative, just like everything else, and this is *my* pain and it's tick'n me up. So think a good thought for me tomorrow...or I should say today, because it's going on 4am, making it 'today', and I should have been asleep 4 hrs. ago....but I can't sleep!!

I empathize, roonies. Torn rotator cuff is why I'm not in bed right now; sleep is not gonna happen. I'm "too young" for surgery to fix it, so all I can do is tough it out... in the past year or so I've started to feel the other shoulder trying to decide whether it's going to join the party. Pain meds take the edge off, but that's all... TENS unit cranked up to ridiculous levels numbs the nerves to the point where I can't feel it quite as much. Good luck with the MRI; more surgery is never fun but there are times when the relief is worth it.

 

[roonies]

I feel for ya! My poor Chiefs and Eagles too!!!

my heart is broken. View attachment 291720

 

[roonies]

I have one flavor from Gourmet Vapor I cannot be without. It's Peach Cobbler, #1052 I think. It's the one that has a youtube review on the home page. It's dead on and one of the very few that I just can't replicate from our beloved MBV......which I have about 70 bottles of and 30 flavor concentrates....which, I think, proves my total devotion....just thought I'd mention that GV incase anyone else love peach cobbler like I do.

I tried Gourmet Vapor some time back. I also found it unvapable.

 

[roonies]

Thanks Sean....and I remember now that you have the torn rotator cuff too. You can't sleep on that side when you have it so sleep is fleeting and you're right...pain pills only take the edge off....move wrong and it's like a knife in your shoulder. I have a TENS unit and pulley for over the door. I also use lots of ice. The TENS and ice are the best pain killers, at least while they're on the shoulder. Sorry you have to wait for surgery. It's not fun but it does provide relief. Only 6 weeks in an isolating sling afterwards so a pretty quick heal. The replacement is a 12-18 month heal and I'm in month 9 so right arm can probably handle the load while the left is out of commission. Just have to grin and bear it. Physical limitations build lots of character, huh??!! Hugs my buddy!!!

I empathize, roonies. Torn rotator cuff is why I'm not in bed right now; sleep is not gonna happen. I'm "too young" for surgery to fix it, so all I can do is tough it out... in the past year or so I've started to feel the other shoulder trying to decide whether it's going to join the party. Pain meds take the edge off, but that's all... TENS unit cranked up to ridiculous levels numbs the nerves to the point where I can't feel it quite as much. Good luck with the MRI; more surgery is never fun but there are times when the relief is worth it.

 

[roonies]

sheesh people.....I spend 2 days sleeping most of the day and come back to a gazillion pages to read....and being OCD I feel I must read them all! Can't turn my back on you guys!! Well, I'm going to try this sleep thing again. Have to be up in 3 and a half hours to get ready for a doctor's appt. for blood work and then an MRI in the afternoon on the bum shoulder. Oh boy!! see ya all later.

 

[Seanchai]

Thanks Sean....and I remember now that you have the torn rotator cuff too. You can't sleep on that side when you have it so sleep is fleeting and you're right...pain pills only take the edge off....move wrong and it's like a knife in your shoulder. I have a TENS unit and pulley for over the door. I also use lots of ice. The TENS and ice are the best pain killers, at least while they're on the shoulder. Sorry you have to wait for surgery. It's not fun but it does provide relief. Only 6 weeks in an isolating sling afterwards so a pretty quick heal. The replacement is a 12-18 month heal and I'm in month 9 so right arm can probably handle the load while the left is out of commission. Just have to grin and bear it. Physical limitations build lots of character, huh??!! Hugs my buddy!!!

Yep, ice, too... and hot showers help sometimes, but not always. The hands down *best* thing I've found for pain management is ultrasound; it breaks up all the damaged cellular detritus that's trapped in the shoulder and moves it out, decreasing the chronic inflammation. I get a huge amount of ROM back for about a week after an ultrasound treatment... (up to about 70% of normal, when usually I'm at 30% of normal, and down to about a 3 in pain from the usual 6-9) but unfortunately, insurance will cover exactly six of those in a calendar year, so I try to space them out a little. In between, ice, TENS, therabands, pain pills, and grin and bear it. Hang in there and I hope all goes smoothly for you!

 

[poetic_injustices]

Oy. I try to keep up but I just...can't...do...it. But it was a lot of football talk. I know enough to know when to stand up and yell at the screen but in a forum my interest would be in keeping my foot out of my mouth

Rotator cuff...man that must not be fun. We spent awhile on rotator cuff injuries in my anatomy & physiology class simply because they're so durn un-fun. In my chem class back at university years ago, I had a professor with a torn cuff. Grumbly old guy who spoke like he had marbles in his mouth and insisted on using a chalkboard for a lecture hall of 300+ students. Spent more time complaining about his rotator cuff than teaching and thus the curve was so steep that a 25% in the class earned you a C.

Feel better, roonies.

 

[roonies]

Really lucky to have great insurance, although it's a new year and so there's that deductible to fill. Having a shoulder replacement last April completely eliminated co pays for the rest of the year. That's what a $109,000 surgery, before insurance adjustments will do for ya...on the bright side! My PT guy has never used US on my shoulders. I asked him why and he says it's not beneficial to my condition. Maybe because I was bone on bone and the rotator cuff and bursa were totally gone....who knows. He's a great PT guy though. Just seems like I have spent most of the last 5 years going in for PT 3 times a week, for 2 hrs. each time. It's actually not bad because I adore this guy and his wife who works with him. They've become family to me and believe it or not, it's kind of my main social outlet. Was just hoping to be back to sailing this next season but going to keep a positive attitude on that one. Acceptance is the answer to ALL of my problems. And like I said, I have no room to complain, especially since you are yourself such a positive inspiration to everyone here, and have so much more going on than me in the physical limitation department. Send some of that positive mojo my way, would ya?! I'm just tired being up all night....after some sleep I'll be good as new!! Hope you can catch some sleep too. Hugs to ya!!

Yep, ice, too... and hot showers help sometimes, but not always. The hands down *best* thing I've found for pain management is ultrasound; it breaks up all the damaged cellular detritus that's trapped in the shoulder and moves it out, decreasing the chronic inflammation. I get a huge amount of ROM back for about a week after an ultrasound treatment... (up to about 70% of normal, when usually I'm at 30% of normal, and down to about a 3 in pain from the usual 6-9) but unfortunately, insurance will cover exactly six of those in a calendar year, so I try to space them out a little. In between, ice, TENS, therabands, pain pills, and grin and bear it. Hang in there and I hope all goes smoothly for you!

 

[Orb Skewer]

Trampoline leotard ?

 

[roonies]

Thanks poetic!! I'll bet he was a crabby professor. When you can't raise your arm or rotate it internally or externally, push, pull, or bear weight with it, writing on a chalkboard big enough for all of those students must have hurt like a son of a gun!! Wonder why he just didn't get it fixed. Maybe they told him what they told me.....there's no such thing as a single shoulder surgery....sure has been the case for me! anyway....enough about me!! Welcome back to you and I was very pleased to read that you had a good time with your mom...kind of a big Christmas miracle it sounds like. So much better than being toxic with each other.....and your pooch is a cutie. What breed is he?

Oy. I try to keep up but I just...can't...do...it. But it was a lot of football talk. I know enough to know when to stand up and yell at the screen but in a forum my interest would be in keeping my foot out of my mouth

Rotator cuff...man that must not be fun. We spent awhile on rotator cuff injuries in my anatomy & physiology class simply because they're so durn un-fun. In my chem class back at university years ago, I had a professor with a torn cuff. Grumbly old guy who spoke like he had marbles in his mouth and insisted on using a chalkboard for a lecture hall of 300+ students. Spent more time complaining about his rotator cuff than teaching and thus the curve was so steep that a 25% in the class earned you a C.

Feel better, roonies.

 

[Sambuca]

I have seen this pain chart before and it totally cracks me up, not that I think pain is funny....just the illustrations and descriptions! I agree with the pain=cranky theory....at least for me. In any case, I, too, hope that Oz will come back because he adds a lot and is a seriously funny guy too. As for my absence, I've been on #6 on the pain scale for the better part of a month now, particularly the last few days, which is exactly why I haven't been around here. Go figure, 8 months after the shoulder replacement I get released from PT, other than at home, and released also from pain meds, and my OTHER shoulder blows out! So I go back to my surgeon and he says, yep, looks like a torn rotator cuff. Well, that was surgery number 2 (rotator cuff repair) on the other shoulder, the replacement was the 4th, and this feels a lot like the other one felt when it was bone on bone and there was nothing left but replacement to fix it.....I know....boring....blah blah blah.....getting older and getting osteoarthritis sucks and tomorrow I get to go out into the god forsaken cold to get an MRI on the left shoulder. Most likely looking at surgery on this shoulder now. That would be 5 shoulder surgeries in as many years. I shouldn't complain, because so many have it worse than me, but pain is relative, just like everything else, and this is *my* pain and it's tick'n me up. So think a good thought for me tomorrow...or I should say today, because it's going on 4am, making it 'today', and I should have been asleep 4 hrs. ago....but I can't sleep!!
ETA: I just saw that you're back Oz....yippee!!!! welcome back!

if pain is relative, it's one you should disown!

sorry to hear that Roonies!

 

[Sambuca]

I empathize, roonies. Torn rotator cuff is why I'm not in bed right now; sleep is not gonna happen. I'm "too young" for surgery to fix it, so all I can do is tough it out... in the past year or so I've started to feel the other shoulder trying to decide whether it's going to join the party. Pain meds take the edge off, but that's all... TENS unit cranked up to ridiculous levels numbs the nerves to the point where I can't feel it quite as much. Good luck with the MRI; more surgery is never fun but there are times when the relief is worth it.

morning Sean

 

[roonies]

lol.....well, that was random.

Trampoline leotard ?

 

[Sambuca]

Omg after steeping the Moo Juice is awesome. I love it! ADV!

hi Cindy, glad you found something you enjoy so much!

 

[Seanchai]

Morning Sam and poetic!

Roonies, all the positive mojo I can muster is absolutely going your way. I make an exception to my medical geekitude for the rotator cuff thing, don't know all the ins and outs of it... mostly because it winds me up that mine *should* be fixed according to every medical professional I know, but insurance won't cover it because I'm not old enough. I get their logic - as you say, no such thing as one shoulder surgery - but I've been dealing with it for 10 years now so it'd be nice to start hearing that I've put in my time. Anyway, I do my best not to think about it too much, which also means not knowing as much about it as I do my other stuff... because knowing any more about it would just frustrate me at this point. Is what it is, could be worse!

Might have a bit of unexpected money coming in in the next week or so, not much, just enough to fill mom's gas tank and squeeze another MBV order in there... don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched, but I've got my fingers crossed. Need more Vanilla Butternut!

Have a stressful week or so ahead (long story, nothing I can do but get through it) so I have my fingers crossed that I can at least put in a juice order at the end of it. If not, I'll live, there's *plenty* of juice here.

I just threw together a word doc of most (but not all) of the juices I've tried for a buddy of mine... he let himself get a little too low on juice and he lives too far to come pick some up from me in person, so he was looking for some good presteeped stuff that won't break the bank. Pointed him in the right direction there, but figured I'd give him the rundown on most of the MBV flavors I've tried too... sure enough, he ended up placing a MBV order too. My work is done.

 

[poetic_injustices]

Thanks poetic!! I'll bet he was a crabby professor. When you can't raise your arm or rotate it internally or externally, push, pull, or bear weight with it, writing on a chalkboard big enough for all of those students must have hurt like a son of a gun!! Wonder why he just didn't get it fixed. Maybe they told him what they told me.....there's no such thing as a single shoulder surgery....sure has been the case for me! anyway....enough about me!! Welcome back to you and I was very pleased to read that you had a good time with your mom...kind of a big Christmas miracle it sounds like. So much better than being toxic with each other.....and your pooch is a cutie. What breed is he?

I'm sure he told us all about what they told him. I just couldn't understand most of what he said. What I could never understand, however, was why he insisted on writing on a chalkboard with a rotator cuff injury.

And thank you Yes it was nice. I know better to expect anything to really change but I'm going to try to find a way to appreciate the good and maintain boundaries for the bad. She's been essentially manic since my grand return so I am bracing myself for the crash and that will be the real test of whether I've learned to balance and accept.

Nugget is an english bull terrier. Think Spuds McKenzie or Bullseye the target dog. Just a different color(s). He's pure as far as I can tell but he's a rescue so I don't know for sure. No indication he's anything but A really lucky find. I'd lost my dog before him in a really traumatic way and it was a long time before I could bring myself to get another. I had decided I wanted a bull terrier but was prepared for a long search through the rescues. The stars aligned, however, and there he was the very first day and the first rescue I checked. Funny how that works out.

 

[Sambuca]

oops, forgot the poetess, hi poetic!

i hope the week goes well for you Sean. i've got my interview at Social Security on Friday. i'll have to get creative and be well prepared. i get my medicaid package this week. i'll be perusing that to see what there is that i can take advantage of.

James posted in his thread that vanilla butternut is one of the flavors you can use to make root beer float. good job helping out your buddy.

don't worry if all your chickens don't hatch, you can always make an omelet.

 

[cocacola31173]

I have always teased my husband for saving all his paycheck stubs....well Sat I get a letter from the Unemployment Office saying I needed to send proof of income any time after 12/23.12. The place I worked shut down down in May and I haven't worked since. One of the options is a copy of last paycheck stub. When I told my husband this he just grinned at me and I told him to shut up! LOL

So today I get to spend all day trying to call the Unemployment office. What I hate is a lot of times you get through push all the buttons just to hear a recording that they are receiving a large volume of calls and try again later! And then when you do get through you are on hold for an hour. UGH! I haven't got a check in 2 weeks and I need to make sure everything is set up for when I start school next week.

 

[poetic_injustices]

Hi Sambuca...and Sean...and everyone!

Now...bye...it turns out the temps aren't dropping until tonight. Though there is a wee bit of snow on the ground and even a wee bit can cause problems when you live on a hill...I'm preparing for a controlled slide down the hill and out onto the nearest main road at the bottom. How about...I watched a salt truck drive down my road early this morning on its way to said main road and it didn't even have the decency to put any salt down on my road. Jerks.

ANYWHO...it looks like I'll be working today after all. Guess I should be grateful given that I pretty much broke the bank!

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

 

[vapnstuff]

Good morning ALL

Roonies – my thoughts are with you and your MRI. Hopefully, the results will be in your favor.

Sean and Sambuca – hope the week goes well for both of you as well.

if pain is relative, it's one you should disown!
sorry to hear that Roonies!

I too have some relatives that are pains but that's a whole different topic.

Started off the day with Hawk Sauce. Last night I could taste the menthol/mint and put it aside ... this am. it was fruity. Weird stuff but I like it.

Off to the work place to train my replacement ... like 2 days training is going to help. Oh well, better times ahead.

@cocacola - good luck with the UC thing. They can be frustrating to deal with.

Stay warm everyone.