Archive for the 'Health' Category

• 08.21.09 Lions, tigers, and injuries. Oh my! posted in Health

  On Sunday, Emily and I decided to do a quick impromptu bouldering session at the local climbing gym. Unfortunately, I did something bad that I’m afraid is going to haunt me for quite a while. While holding on to a really funky and hard to use hold, I heard a “pop” as my hand forced me to let go and fell to the floor. I stood up to try and get back on that hold and felt a really sharp pain in my wrist.

  I gave up on that hold and moved on to a couple more climbs but we had to go very soon. I went home, took a few ibuprofen, and hoped it would feel better in the morning. Today, it’s still swollen and aches all the time. I’m icing my wrist as I speak.

  My second climbing related injury! I’m not even sure if I wrote about the first, but I tried to campus on a few holds and miscalculated a reach and punched a plastic hold very hard, fracturing a knuckle. That hurt for a long time but I was able to deal with the pain and keep climbing since there wasn’t anything to immobilize in order to heal. I’m not so sure this injury is going to be as simple.

  It’s likely one of my pulleys. I have a doc appointment next Friday. Until then, it hurts to type, hurts to climb, hurts to do just about anything so I’ll probably be moping around wishing I had warmed up and stretched better for my short climbing session on Sunday.

• 01.06.09 Foot healing update: Sesamoiditis, cortisone, and a MRI posted in Health

  After being on crutches since the 20th of November, I came off yesterday and immediately found pain in the old area, a tender spot on the bottom of my foot. The side of my foot healed up in the 9 weeks I was off it, but they’ve said I have sesamoiditis and don’t expect that crutches are going to be of much help for the rest of my pain. Resting, ice, ibuprofen, and cortisone seem to be the solution for now.

  They gave me a cortisone injection and sent me off to have a MRI performed. A followup appointment will be made in early February assuming nothing odd is found in the MRI.

  I had a long struggle with tendinitis in my right elbow back in high school and don’t look forward to a similar struggle with the foot. I pretty much had to stop all activity that bothered it for years until it finally healed. This has been a real bummer for me; at least when it was my arm I could easily take it easy. The feet are a much harder thing to rest.

  So it looks like the early part of this year will be spent continuing my one-footed, or at least mostly one-footed climbing. Once the tenderness of the cortisone shot goes down I’ll be able to spend some much needed time at the house finishing up the final projects in order to move in March 1st.

• 12.02.08 Fractured foot posted in Health

  I found out on the 20th of November I fractured a sesamoid bone in my foot just behind my big toe. So, I’ve been on crutches since then and will be until January 1st. What a bummer. A lot of activities will be impacted including work, climbing, dancing, and even holiday travel plans.

  On the bright side, I’ve had some major problems with that big toe joint, perhaps what is called sesamoiditis. At least I’ll be giving that some time to rest and heal. I hope in the new year I can cure some more of these aches and pains I’ve been having. Being off my foot for six weeks is a good start.

• 01.16.08 Bionic man: New wrist and hand posted in Health

  In my quest to become a bionic man, I think I’ll ask for a new left wrist. If that requires a hand replacement, so be it. But if I get a hand replacement, I want to be able to crush things with that hand like Will Smith in I, Robot. Or I’d just settle for a chainsaw attachment! 

  The real bummer here is that I haven’t been able to climb or even dance very well for the past week since last Tuesday I somehow sprained/strained something in my left wrist climbing. At first, I was barely able to move my wrist and in a ton of pain but things have improved to the point where I can get by doing most things without really wincing in pain. It’s still a little hard to wash my hair or grab my car’s seatbelt behind me — and I surely can’t climb. But at least I can still dance as long as I’m careful not to twist my wrist. 

• 04.01.07 Stuck inside posted in Health

  I’ve been stuck inside my house since Friday when I came down with some sort of cold/flu and a 102 degree fever. It hasn’t been too fun, but this is one of those times I’m very thankful I pay for cable and can get the Discovery Channel, since that is basically the only channel worth watching. They’ve been running through the Planet Earth series, which is really interesting. I wish I had a HD tv to really enjoy the quality of the video.

  It sucks though, because I had a lot to do this weekend, including going to Elaina’s 30th birthday and seeing Dom and Jaimie’s new home. Adam called me earlier to let me know they were demo’ing a wall over at Dom and Jaimie’s. Too bad I couldn’t go over and help with the destruction of something that wasn’t mine!

• 02.05.07 Mass healthcare posted in Health

  Today, I can’t help but wonder about healthcare. It’s a big and booming business. Traditional practices with one or two doctors seem to be a dime a dozen. Hospitals have always existed. However I can’t help but wonder if there is a trend in accessibility, as with all things, in health care too.

  Take Minute Clinic www.minuteclinic.com/ for example. Or even Patient First www.patientfirst.com. Totally accessable, quick, and specialized healthcare. Kind of like McDonald’s for the healthcare industry. But is comparing it to McDonald’s fair?

  I’m not related to the field, but I have to wonder what kind of quality you can get out of the additional volume places like these get. There’s lots of regulation in healthcare, but does seeing a doctor at one give you the advantage over another?

  My take: The number of people and doctors involved in a volumized healthcare practice probably increases the overall quality of an organization. I think there’s got to be some sort of check and balance system that goes on at one of these larger organizations that is not seen at a smaller practice. If a doctor sucks, not only will the 2 receptionists know it, but 12 other doctors and the nursing staff of 60 will too. That doctor will be out of there faster than you can say “bloody knuckles.”

  Granted, you might not want to go to Patient First when you’ve cut off two of your fingers, but in the case where you think you might have a fracture of a finger it doesn’t hurt either party to make things a little more quick and convenient. I’m all for the specialists when it’s necessary, but I don’t need to wait an hour to see my PCP (Primary Care Provider) for that tetanus shot when any party will do.

  In general though, I think I lack a lot of faith in a PCP. I’ve never seen a PCP and thought, “Wow, this person is really freaking smart.” Most of the time, I can diagnose myself better than any of them could. And all the PCP does is send me to someone else! Argh! How frustrating after all that waiting I find out you can’t xray me? I could have told you that finger might be broken. That’s why I came here.

• 03.10.06 Lefort surgery panorama picture posted in Health, Lefort Surgery

  Not only does the name “metal mouth” ring true due to my braces, but I have quite a few titanium plates in my face. Click the picture for a really large version. If you’ve somehow found this entry through a web search, please see this weblog entry for additional surgery information. Isn’t it cool?

• 12.28.05 Lefort (orthognathic) jaw surgery information and pictures posted in Lefort Surgery

  I’ve made it through the bad part and I’m healing now. Everyone asked what I had done. I don’t really know the technical names to give out. I know the procedure on my upper jaw was called a Lefort, although I think more specifically it was considered a Lefort II. I don’t really know what that means though. They took my upper jaw, cut up into the inside gum-line and separated it from just below my nose. After separating it, they broke it into two pieces by cutting along the length of my upper palette, placed a brace on the inside of my mouth to widen it, and then shaved away 8mm of bone towards my back two molars to flatten the entire palette. I have 4 titanium plates holding the outside of my bone together so it can heal. The two pieces are held together by this really uncomfortable plastic brace that is glued around my teeth. It makes it very hard to talk or eat chunky foods.

  I can’t eat anything that requires chewing for 6 weeks. I can however eat mushy things like beans and even some well-cooked pasta. Soda has been my friend. I used to not even like soda but I couldn’t survive on fruit juices alone. Well, soda and instant breakfasts.I intially lost 10lbs in just a few days. They kept coming off though and at my lowest a week after the surgery I weighed 135, down from 150 the day of surgery. This morning I was 138, so hopefully I’ll slowly gain everything back. It will be hard with the fact that I really dislike eating at the moment.

  The bottom jaw surgery was a bit simpler, basically they cut down into my inside gum again, cut out my chin, and then brought it forward. This was strictly a cosmetic thing. I didn’t have to do this but when it came down to it I figured I’d just do everything that was suggested and get it all over with.I’m happy I did it so far. No real problems. Still hurts, but that’s to be expected. We’ll see how I am in another week.

  Edit (1/24/08): Here are some before and after pictures and captions to give you an idea of the process:

  Pre-surgery:
  

  What I imagined things would look like after:
  

  Immediately after surgery:
  

  3 months after surgery (still a bit of swelling):
  

  2 years after surgery (no swelling left):
  

• 12.20.05 Surgery posted in Lefort Surgery

  Yea, it hurts. Not much else to talk about. I’m home and recovering.

• 08.21.05 Cholesterol posted in Health

  I had my cholesterol checked the other day and it was 173. Not that it’s bad or anything… but I figured I’d be quite a bit lower than that. It’s not one of those really descriptive tests that tells you how much LDL vs HDL you have, so perhaps I have a lot of good cholesterol. Regardless, still a bit startling.

  I’m supposed to go biking today at BWI. It’s nice out, so let’s hope everything goes through!

• 02.09.05 My tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and uvulectomy (uvulaectomy) posted in Tonsillectomy

  Someone commented on my older tonsillectomy entry and it reminded me I should write a brief update on how everything turned out.

  My tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and uvulectomy (uvulaectomy)

  The picture taken a few days after my surgery still had a small portion of my uvula attached. After healing, I have no uvula left at all. I guess it was just swollen.

  I don’t snore anymore, but I also can’t oink like a pig. I’ve had some issues with drinks and/or saliva going up my nose accidentally but I’m much more comfortable breathing (a good trade-off). I can’t gargle because it drips down the back of my throat. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to do that again. I’ve searched the internet for some answers but I guess people don’t like talking about gargling too much.

  The day of surgery I felt great. Day after was another story. I bled for the first two weeks but after they cauterized the wounds bleeding stopped. It was extremely painful for the first 19 days. I took liquid hydrocodone every 3-4 hours on the dot. Needless to say I slept a lot. After the pain died down, regular old tylenol did the trick. It took me just over 3 weeks to eat normally. Yawning still hurts a little and my throat has a general sensation of being tight. Drinking water helps and I’m sure this will go away in time. I lost 12lbs, ate 4 boxes of jello, went through 2 boxes of Quaker apples and cinnamon oatmeal, and used about 38 ounces of liquid hydrocodone.

• 01.06.05 Pictures of Jason’s tonsillectomy posted in Tonsillectomy

  I know you all have been dying to see what my mouth looks like. Luckily for you, I’m feeling up to sharing such goodies as the Lancaster home photos of my tonsillectomy. Thrilling, ain’t it? I can’t talk today (as previously mentioned in comments) but Amy brought me Doom 3. Now I’ll have to get Adam to call me back and bring my good computer from work so I can play. Yay!

• 01.05.05 Tonsils are gone posted in Tonsillectomy

  Tonsils are gone… so is part of my uvula. Things are exciting, I’m just trying to stay awake in the basement. Just wanted to let eveyone know I’m ok. I can talk a little if you decide to call, but emails or comments would be much more appreciated.

• 12.06.04 My stupid mouth posted in Tonsillectomy

  I’ll be getting my tonsils out sometime in January. Seens like Heather always beats me to the things I want most in life. So in January I’ll be getting my tonsils out and braces put on.

  We have a new logo designer now. Hopefully we’ll see some new samples by the end of the week. I’ll be sure to post them.

  Seeing that livejournal recently added rss/atom feeds was interesting. I’m not sure if most of you reading this even know what they are or what they do, but I’m somewhat inclined to add them to my site. It wouldn’t be that hard. I doubt anyone would use it though.

  I have like 50 million billion things to do right now other than this. Procrastination is great!