The Max Murdok Program

So, how have I been doing? I haven’t posted about things because frankly things suck. The good stuff, as I said in older posts is getting off the Oxycontin and other drugs. That was a hard fought battle. The pain is still there of course, and it zaps me of strength big time. I get winded walking a flight of stairs. Also my heart rate is typically at 90 plus beats a minute still. I try to walk or do something, anything and I get exhausted quickly. That I hope goes away in time but its hard to get motivated. Add to that the crohn’s is still there, not as bad but makes itself known. Walking is the best thing I can do, but this disease is inflammatory and does effect my joints as well so I don’t get far. Add to that the hip sometimes gives me For more babble, continue reading… “Health Update n’ other stuff.” »

Or how health care, being sick, hospitals and doctors tend to suck.

Around the very end of July, last day I think – not sure because I was sick as hell. I had been sick the week prior but thought I was getting better. When I say sick I mean a Chrohn’s flare. Most of you know me and know I have no problem telling it like is. I was shitting so much, so fast I wasn’t digesting my pain medication what so ever. It just so happens that my GI doc wanted “samples” and yes, sick and all I was saving my shit and found a god damn pill, the 20mg still readable on it. Happy thought.

So, I’m not only sick and in pain but as I try to reduce my pain meds during this, I’m not getting enough and going through withdraws. Things reached the peak when nothing would stay down, and all my meds and what food I could eat came up. I began to fade in and out of consciousness and my wife had to call an ambulance. ( Once again, thank you to my friends at Elk Creek & Park County Sheriff ) What happened between then and admission to Littleton Hospital I have no idea at all. BUT that is where a lot of things happened, none of them good – some of them insightful – all of them quite shitty.

Healthcare is Diabolical

First off, this is with out a doubt the worst hospital stay at Littleton Adventist Hospital I ever had. I don’t know if it was an administration change, or policy change, or both but what a god damn train wreck that place has turned out to be. The nurses and CNA’s were great as usual, but their hands are tied when it comes to medications and what not, often that puts them in the middle. In the middle of, in my opinion doctors who don’t effectively communicate or worse flat out do not give a flyin’. I’ll discuss that part in a bit, I’m not just talking out of my ass on that.

So. Crohn’s is doing its thing, making me feel like shit but within a day or so it’s brought under control. Slowly I start to feel better and it looks like I’ll be going home. Suddenly and without any heads up, the charge nurse comes in and says “Actually, sorry – you can’t leave, we have found an infection in your blood.” That is actually when it, everything, takes a turn for the worse. One of the doctors from South Denver GI, ( Dr. Kugelmas ) whom I do not see at all, only in the hospital – apparently doesn’t read my chart or at least the part about my high level of pain meds and STOPS all of my pain meds right then and there. I spent at least 12 – 14 hours in so much pain and withdraw that I don’t even remember that day other than the level of pain and agony that I can’t even put into words. Minutes seemed like days, literally. I have not decided yet, what to do regarding that. I have a great relationship with my doctor ( Doctor Sabel ) , and his nurse Candy – they call me, they check on me, and go above and beyond when it comes to getting my crohn’s controlled. This associate, this $#@&^% Kugelmas put me through a living hell and as you can guess, I’m not too pleased with what went down. Now, the on call doctor did eventually catch the error and fixed the med issue, going so far as to say “He ( meaning me ) can’t be pulled off his pain medication!” Also, surprisingly Doctor Al-Tamimi, on a Sunday, got involved somehow. I am not sure how or what, but I believe Dr. Darcy called him for me. She’s my regular doc and in my desperation, I sent her a TXT message telling her that in effect, Littleton Hospital wasn’t doing shit and that I was in a living hell.

For more babble, continue reading… “My Rotten Health and more…” »

I’m gonna keep this post relatively short ( well for me that is ), mainly because I feel like shit. However this time feeling like shit is a good thing, well it will be a good thing eventually. About a week ago I went to see a new pain specialist; Dr. Mazin Al-Tamimi. Those of you who know me well, know I appreciate bluntness. Well Dr. Al-Tamimi basically said to me, “…keep taking the level of pain medicine you are taking and be dead soon.” You can’t get any more blunt than that.

Thanks for the wake up call, Doc!

He went on to tell me that he was surprised I walked thru the parking lot and to his office – all that distance without my heart exploding. You don’t have to be a medical professional to know that something like that could be unpleasant, dare I say crappy. He went on to say that no one he sees is on the level of pain meds I’m on. I am not on morphine, I am on other pain meds but it’s easier to equate my dosage to doses of morphine than to combine the different pills and their milligrams, but what I am on equates to 450mg of morphine! That’s way too much, obviously. This is what I get when I put my trust in the last pain doc who made it sound safe. Sure I knew it’s a lot, but I have no way of gauging what’s a lot, what’s too much, or what I was taking as being way WAY too much. I didn’t think doctors would allow a patient to have as dangerous a dose, as I learned from Dr. Al-Tamimi, I was wrong about that. I also learned that sometimes the drug companies dictate who gets what when it comes to prescriptions. That’s a nice little gem to find out.

It’s been a little over a week and I am reducing my meds slowly and honestly, very painfully. Ok, I’m lying… it’s fucking agony! I thought my pain by itself was bad. But the thing is and was, I was having pain at that high dose. Therefore the pain meds didn’t do diddly squat which is why Dr. Al-Timimi said “Why be on meds that aren’t helping and that are killing you!” I think he wanted to add “dumbass” to the end of that comment but his professionalism kept him from doing so. He doesn’t blame me, which is good. Again, I trusted my other pain doc and that I was safe, or at least within a safe zone. So yeah, as I bluntly learned; I was pretty wrong ’bout dat! So, the goal is to treat the areas of pain – the nerves and the places that are painful and to remove me from medications that block pain receptors in the brain. It’s not easy I can tell you that. I knew it wouldn’t be but I am committed to doing this regardless of how bad it sucks. Being sick this long, in pain this long, and having to try and cope with it all has sucked a lot longer, what’s one more suck?

For more babble, continue reading… “Good-bye Pain Meds,…I hope!” »

No, I’m not testing a plug in or something. I had some tests done. One,… I hope explains the sarcoidosis pain I live with and the other, well it was a debacle, all my fault ( cuz I’m a great big wussy pants ). Anyway let’s get to the first test, a stress test. Now if this was a test for actual stress I’d pass with flying colors, I’d be head of my class and god damn valedictorian. But it was to test my heart and to get some imagery of my ticker. It was going to be a chemically induced stress test because of my knee, and of course my hip. Someone forgot to tell me no coffee that day. Nice. That little sweetheart of info almost caused me to reschedule the test over yet again. I had that option or to try the treadmill, all I had to do was walk. Well in the middle picture you may be able to see how well that was going over. Sweet Jeebus did that hurt. I did, I basically walked – shall I say hobbled and gimped and stumbled my way up to a 150 ( I think ) heart rate – swearing like a drunken teamster who just got his walkin papers. I’ve never actually seem official office letter head walking papers. Maybe I’ve been working for low rent businesses. Anyway, the pictures below are a few my wife snapped. Funny how set up is all smiles, actually doing it is ” Ima Kill U Biatch! I Ain’t Playin’ Yo!” 3rd Pictures just a token ass shot the wife wanted. MAN, this sucked and if you don’t see me around for a while – this test is why. I am in off the scale pain right now, like amazingly shitta mega ouch, no foolin’.

Oh yeah, this was as fun as it looked.

For more babble, continue reading… “Testing,….sucks!” »

Looks like I made it.

As a matter of fact, I believe I also did not die as well. Apparently. Unless of course hell is an exact duplicate of my actual life….which would not surprise me one bit. So here’s how thing’s went. My wife’s Aunt Dixie and Uncle Bob stayed at the Maxi Mini Mansion to “Pug” sit our dogs while I would be in the joint. So many thanks to Dix and U.B. I put on my Doctor’s white lab coat with fake hospital staff I.D. – Using a photo of Grandpa Munster of course… gathered up some junk like my laptop and a ton of movies and out the door we went.

Upon arrival at the hospital ( Sky Ridge in Lone Tree Colorado ) my sexy lab coat was replaced by the stylish ass-hangin’ robe and some other unflattering garments. My wife Shels had been playing World of Warcraft in the waiting room and didn’t even notice our good friend Matt Filios who was sitting right behind her. Matt had come to see me hobble down the “green mile” as it were. No harm, Matt got to sit in as they ran thru the final check points and helped me torment the nursing staff.

And then it was on. I was carted down to the operating theater, loaded with “junk” – hyped up with “happy gas” – and injected with “Fhaagetaboutit” and that was it for me. Before that however, I handed the good Dr. Loucks the digital camera to snap a few doozie’s for ya. Those will be posted below for you’re viewing pleasure.

I came out of things in my usual funkyass way. When the nurse told me to wake up I apparently told her to “…wake up yourself, asshole!”

Now on to the serious bits, just a little. To the point, as much as I had hoped I expressed myself that my tolerance to pain medication is VERY high – and that I am NOT a junky looking for some kind of fix, the hospital didn’t really manage my pain well at all. What ever they were shooting me with or having me take NEVER ONCE relieved me of the full pain. It may have relaxed me, but I can not say that at any point while in the hospital my pain was effectively treated. That’s not to say they didn’t give me pain med’s or make an attempt. But my complaint’s went untreated and at best my pain was “padded” briefly, but certainly not relieved. Otherwise I was treated well at Sky Ridge.

The day after surgery I was up and walking if you can believe that! The pain I had in my hip is GONE. What’s killing me and making it difficult to walk are the muscles that were shifted, cut, and all out abused to get the new joint in. That’s ok tho. I also only have roughly a 4 – 5 inch incision. The day after that, Hell – I did a flight of stairs up and down. Also cruised down the hallway a bit. So yeah, I can’t say I’m not pleased if not pleasantly surprised!

Once I got home, just being home helped but as fate would have it my guts started killing me. That’s my biggest concern now, another flare of Crohn’s. I don’t think I have ever been given a straight answer on how having Crohn’s will ( or will not ) effect my arthroplasty now or in the long run. I’ve asked of course, and the replies seem vague or flat out “who knows”. So for a day or so I didn’t do much of anything, altho bathroom runs did get me on the leg more. My fear of a flare is gone, whatever it was has passed and now I’m just working on moving this thing the best I can. I have a physical therapist coming from Mt. Evan’s Hospice tomorrow and really, that’s about it.

As you see there is this whole new long blog post, so I can finally sit in my office chair now.

I wanna thank those of you who checked in on me via the Web Cam, or sent a text, email, whatever. Thanx to Kritter for my nurse abusing toys and to Andrea for the very cool, non-sissy, flower arrangement. Thx guys – you’re swell!!! Also, for those of you who know my buddy Hana – keep her in your thoughts. She did a wonderful thing and donated one of her kidney’s to her mother, who has for some time now been slowly loosing function of her kidney’s. Hana went into the hospital a couple days after I went in.

OK, as promised… some disturbing photos of my surgery. Enjoy,…. I didn’t.

Photo1 – Photo2- Photo3 – Photo4 – Photo5 – Photo6