The Human Brain

 Hey folks, we have another new week ahead of us, will it be 'same old, same old,' or something different?

Weather wise... we got rain in the forecast for today which is odd because it's bright and sunny outside.  I checked the weather map, however, and there is a storm front moving east.  Right now it's in Ohio, so I'm guessing it will hit Central PA later this afternoon, or this evening.

Yesterday was also bright and sunny.  Even though our Garden department was busier then the rest of the store, flooring was no slouch either.  My sales topped $20,000 for last week.  That should keep management happy, however this time of year we are normally much busier.  Sales are down across the district.  Our corporate office is trying several different specials to try and increase the $$$ coming into our tills, I don't see them working.  Forecasted sales are still too high.  I suspect the investors will end up being disappointed.  That's fine.  I have no problem with them getting a reality check.

I've been making friends with an individual who's going for Doctorate in Physical Therapy in order to build Max into a 3 dimensional character.  He's been a great asset so far.  Sometimes I ask him questions directly, at others I jot them down and text them to him.  Here's an example of one.  During one of our conversations he told me that he'd actually held a human brain in his hands, so now I'm trying to figure how I can write a line or two into the book about that into The Body in Motion.

And for those who haven't been paying attention, Israel's on the point of being flushed down the conservative shitter.  Baby Netanyahu and his ilk are desperately trying to create their own style authoritarian government, one similar to that which our Republicans want, where they will be able to say "shut up, we're in charge."  However, they're running into some serious problems.  A vast majority of Israelis don't want this.  Protests abound.  A General Strike is causing havoc.  And all the while, 
Baby and his cronies are facing what might possibly complete political ruination.  I think it's about time that Baby gets his diaper changed.

Here in the good old US, the question of the hour is "will this be the week of Bragg?"  I do believe the New York Grand Jury is set to reconvene today.  Anticipation is still on high.

Tis the season of indictments

 So, when I checked the weather on my phone this morning there was a notification that "snow will stop in 20 minutes."  Looking out the window I saw no snow.   Curious, I checked the regional map and sure enough, Central PA was covered by a light blue cloud of snow.  Still, we were flakeless.  Honestly, it would be nice to have a little, just enough to use my snow shovel at least one time.

Those who read my books will know that one of my protagonists, Max Sullivan, started out as a nurse working for the #1 heart team in Old Towne.  Not knowing anything about cardiologists and heart teams, in the 3rd book I had him change careers, becoming a Physical Therapist (I've had PT) and actually got a scathing review telling me no cardiologist would ever do such a thing, even though I'd never said he was one.  For 3 books there's been only passing mentions of his new career.  That may change.  Max may become more 3 dimensional.  One of our new associates is not only a physical therapist, he attending a local university to get his doctorate.  I'm planning on having a conversation with him to see if he'll let me pick his brain.

I have this unusual feeling that this Sunday's Oscar ceremony may be one of the most watched in a long time.  Not because a lot of blockbusters have been nominated.  I suspect people will be tuning in because the nominations this year are filled with diversity.  I know I'll be watching for a number of reasons, one of which is I want to see them do Naatu Naatu live!  Just thinking about it makes me laugh.  What a great song!

For some odd reason, Twitter seems to have decide to add the crazy voices of Elise Stefanik, and Kev McCarthy, Tim Scott, and Casey DeSanits to my feed.  Even though some of them have been muted, they still show up regularly.  I don't doubt this is the result of a billionaire decision.  Rather than waste time calling these people out for their lies, so many others are already doing that, I'm simply muting them again.  The fewer people who see their Tweets, the weaker they become.

And it looks like we might finally be heading into indictment season, someone noted that it usually runs from March to June.  As I've noted before, once they begin to fall, Trump's base is going to unite around him.  They will become more aggressive.  Their lies will not only increase, but become more outlandish.  They will begin to attack every Republican who doesn't bow down to him.  They will become uglier and possibly violent.  While they do this, more and more Americans are going to see them for the evil they represent.  The death of the Republican party is not going to be quiet.

 

Too late to Right the Wrong

 Of course today begins my 4 day stretch... no work, no health check, no face mask, except for when I go shopping later this morning.  My laundry routine has commence, the 2nd load is prepped and ready to go.  Outside, the skies are overcast and there is a constant drizzle.  I will probably light some candles to Amun Ra later, not because I believe he exists, rather I do find the idea of lighting candles to a sun god a bit on the exotic side.  Exotic can be good.

Or maybe I'll just settle for making candles.  I have enough wax on hand for three or four.

And I want to get a ride in or a run.  Alternating between the two of the next for days would be great!

I've also been researching PT exercises for my shoulder since my personal care physician at the VA seem more interested in letting her assistant do her work.  What I've also decided to do is switch to the Lebanon VA for my doctor's visits.  I still go to the New Cumberland clinic for my bloodwork and eye care, but everything else will be shifted to a facility with working doctors.

Because the location for the next book is going to be New Orleans, concepts for characters and the way they speak have been bubbling around in my brain.  There will probably be a character named Bianca.  Here's an example of a descriptive sentence which popped into my consciousness while I was showering yesterday morning.  "She spoke slow and forcefully,  her smooth southern accent wrapping the sounds of her syllables tightly around her words, so there was no misinterpretation of meaning."  Now, ain't that nice?

Oh, and evidently John Boehner's book is filled with obscenities.  He is angry.  Loser #45 is to blame for everything.  Oh, no John, the GOP is sitting on the left side of Satan because of you.  You, and your spray-on tan were the loud voice of the party of NO.  Now you swill your wine and point your finger at others, doing what you, yourself, as well as every other Republican has done:  Blame someone else.  It's too late to try and right your wrong.

The wondrous plank

Today was my second last day at PT and my therapist talked to be about my plans... he did not recommend I keep up the therapy until seeing my doctor, which was nice.  He did, however, introduce me to a number of new, core strengthening exercises.  Actually, they're not new.  As he was describing the first position he wanted me to get into, I said, "oh, you want me to do a plank."  He was a bit surprised and said, "oh, well, yes."  They're even going to print off some work-out routines I can do either at home or at the gym.  I didn't ask if there was going to be a charge.
Anyway, after PT I stopped by the store to speak to the manager because I was scheduled to open.  Opening shifts are off limits to me because that's when you mix all the 5 gallon buckets of paint for contractors and I, for the foreseeable future, will not be lifting any 5 gallon buckets.  When I told him that I was now doing planks he said, "I know how to do planks, I can hold one for a minute," and I had to contain myself.

You see my store manager is about 6' 1" and weighs in at about 265 lbs.  I am being very kind when I say he has some girth.  Now this doesn't mean I don't believe him when he says he can hold a plank for one minute.  It's just that I suspect he might have a little mid-section assist going on.  I just have to remind myself that even if his abdomen is only 1/4 inch off of the mat, for some people in a quarter inch can be as much as a mile.

The High Cost of Physical Therapy

I have 3 more sessions of Physical Therapy left before my prescription runs out.  This morning, when the receptionist asked if I wanted to schedule for next week, I told her I'd wait and see what my doctor said.  Her comment to me was "well, maybe you should see what your therapist thinks."  And, of course, I said "nope."  I like the people at Drayer. What they've been having me do has been helping, however they are expensive.  My consultation cost me, after insurance, $126 and my first session cost $59 on top of that.  For the next 3 sessions my cost was $86 per session because they added more exercises.  By the 5th session my cost had jumped up to $113 per session.  Oh, and until I fulfill my deductible, which is $1500 I will have to pay a large  percentage of each session's expense.  While I don't think I'll hit that $1500, I know I'll come close.  However, after I hit my deductible I'll only have to pay a $35 copay for each visit (right, like I'm going to continue going).  This is costing me way, way more money then it's worth.

Why do I say it's more then it's worth?  Because every exercise they have given me to do, I can do at home for free.  And it's not as though there is a lot of supervision, you know, like someone is hovering over me to verify I'm doing the exercises correctly (and I do get billed per exercise).  Two of the therapists are very good with observations, 3 are okay, and then there is this Blondie who walks away, maybe to get herself a beverage or perhaps talk to the receptionist.

Anyway, my point is that so far my therapy has consisted solely of 'core' exercises: leg abductions and variations of crunches, to strengthen my 'core' muscles.  Interestingly enough, I could join LA Fitness (or some other gym) for $100 and pay $30 per month ( access to a trainer is a little more) and get exactly the same workout / therapy.  That high cost I'm paying for my Physical Therapy would easily cover 3 or 4 years at a gym.  You shouldn't be surprised if I tell you I've already begun checking out gyms in the area.  So, unless my doctor says different, I'll probably start posting pics of the hotties at my new gym.

A technologist reveals the truth about physical therapy

While I was at Physical Therapy yesterday, I had a chance to talk with the technologist who did my EMG  and I can tell you he was quite surprised at how well I was doing.  Three months ago I could barely walk, and, as he put it, was "using my bones to walk rather then my muscles."  Back then he had told me my neuropathy as so bad I would probably require surgery to fix the problem.  Yesterday I did a little dance for him.  "That's simply amazing," he said, and went back to review his report.  When he returned I was already on the table with a 2 lb basketball between my knees doing an exercise which no doubt has some official name, I call it 'move that ball.'  Anyway, he reaffirmed that back then I had extensive nerve problems in both of my legs, though the weakness in my right leg was far more extensive than the weakness in my left leg.  And then he asked me what I had done.  So I told him I live alone and have 2 dogs, and back then Seig was barely 3 months old.  There was no way I could lay around.

Seig & Lilly making a mess of the living room with their black and white checked cow

He looked at my therapist and said "We have patients coming in here all of the time all hunched over and complaining they can't walk and they're in so much pain, if they did what you did we'd be out of a job."  Now I'm sure he was exaggerating somewhat, but I'm also fairly positive there is a lot of truth in what he said.   I know people who wear their ailments like merit badges.  When they bring up their health issues I always change the subject as fast as possible.  It's either that or tell them to just shut up and deal with it.

Yoga and the Dongle

So far a lot of my Physical Therapy has been exercises designed to strengthen my core muscles.  While I don't have a nice, cushy table at home to do them on, I do have a yoga mat I can use to cushion the floor.  Since I tend to be one of the Pro-active people, I've decided to do as much core training at home as possible.  Grabbing ye old yoga mat, I rolled it out on the floor of the weight training / computer room and got down on my back.

Yes, it's purple which is better than pink.

About 2 minutes after I started Seig started sniffing around my ear.  Now he's big for 5.5 months, weighing it at almost 60 lbs.  I said to him "go away," and, of course, still being very much a puppy, he ignored me.  Rather then stop what I was doing, I just closed my eyes just in case he decided to start washing my face.  He didn't.  So, I opened my eyes to see where he was and found that he was now standing directly over my head, sniffing at the weight bench.  This meant that his front feet were on the left side of my head and his rear feet were on the right side of my head... and I was looking directly up at his dongle.  So I laughed and said, "Seig, you got to move buddy, that's a little too close for comfort."

The Hideous Truth about Physical Therapy

Well, I've had several sessions of Physical Therapy as part of the treatment for my lower back issues and I have to say... I am not that impressed.  This is not because I'm not noticing any difference, rather the exercises they are having me do?  I can do at home.  Basically I spend about an hour strengthening my core muscles.  That's it.  And I'm serious when I say everything they have me doing, I've already done.
My Dr prescribed one month of Physical Therapy, and I will do one month.  Mostly, however, I'll be doing much more at home because for all intents and purposes, I have a gym in my house.  I had asked about using my eliptical and my therapist said that was fine but nixed the free weights and the bicycle.  In fact yesterday I spent 15 minutes on the eliptical and was rewarded with a slight burn in my quads and hamstrings.  Every day is better.

What I really need to focus on is not looking around the room when I'm there.  That's when I realize how hideous Physical Therapy can be: people like myself who can do the same exercises at home.  True, there are patients who need help, like the woman with the knee replacement,  But there seem to be more like the woman who came in, threw a white towel down on the floor, took off her shoe, and bent her great toe while pushing her foot front and then pulling it back.  Why is she, and her insurance company, spending money for her to rub her toe across a towel?  And she's not alone!  While I want to get in and get out many more appear to do their exercises in slow motion in order to socialize.  Like the middle-aged woman who had them do moist heat treatments on her shoulders.  She started talking to the therapist about a church bazaar, and how her son couldn't attend because he was going to baseball camp, and how the minister was so disappointed because he'd been hoping her son would be a ringer for the dunk tank.... And the therapist walked away to check on another patient and this woman just kept on talking.  See what I'm talking about?  And this is not an isolated incident.  It truly is hideous.

PT over surgery?

I finally heard from the Arlington Group on Friday regarding the copies of my MRI and my back X-rays.  Elaine told me she had just gotten my voice mails (left Tuesday and Wednesday) because their phone system was working improperly.  Right.  Even thought she was very pleasant, I could tell they were writing me off as a patient,  She said things like "if your insurance company approves the claim you have 6 months in which to have the surgery," and that my insurance company "is so difficult to work with."
My neighbor Karen, who is a claims processor for another insurance company, asked me what surgery the Arlington Group had planned.  After I told her she looked at me for quite a bit and then said "they're doing a 4 level fusion without getting a pre-auth?  Some thing's not right there."  I suspect she's correct, that someone dropped the ball at Arlington, or just did very shoddy work.
On 6/5 I go for my second opinion.  What I suspect this Orthopedic Specialist is going to say is that 5 weeks ago I traumatized the hell out of my lower back, the result of falling down so many times.  five weeks ago I couldn't lift my right foot more then 1 inch off the ground, that problem has completely gone away.  I couldn't go up or down stairs, now there's no problem as long as there is a banister.  I could only get around using a walker - today I only use a cane when I'm out in public.  I think my traumatized back is healing.

What do I think this new specialist will prescribe?  I suspect Physical Therapy and perhaps a steroid injection.  I am sure he's going to take a much more conservative approach to my lower back issues.  Hopefully I will be back at work in a month or so because sitting around is boring as hell.  And I don't mind exercising at all.  Jees, I have almost a full gym at my house, I would really like to start using the equipment again.