Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

My insurance has a case worker following up on my recovery from my hernia surgery. When she asked about my doctor and the endocrinologist to which my doctor has referred me, I mentioned in passing that it is 40 miles one way to the medical center, and the case worker said, "That's awfully far away! Can't we find you someone closer?" I laughed and said, "I live around 30 miles from the center of Reno, Nevada. I don't live in San Francisco or San Jose or Atlanta or Chicago. 40 miles isn't far at all. There's a place in Nevada called Tonopah that is more than 200 miles from the nearest hospital and has billboards advertising emergency medical air ambulance transport to Las Vegas."

She seemed a bit stunned by the idea that anyone lived that far away from a hospital. "Oh, you sweet summer child," I thought, but did not say. "You don't know anything about how rural much of the West is."

I finally got to see my new doctor at Renown Health today, after a multi-month delay. She is very nice. We've sorted out getting my medical records from Sutter Health and my previous, now retired doctor. She and I went over my medications. The tests she wanted turned out to all be buried in what they did in the hospital, particularly the A1C. That had gone as high as 11 the last time Sutter Health tested it, and that's what prompted my old doctor to prescribe Ozempic. Below 7 is non-diabetic. My latest test is at 8.5, which is a move in the right direction.

I'm feeling very positive about this. I now have a regular physician in Reno, and I can get my labs done at Renown Fernley, which is a heck of lot better than having to drive to Roseville!

In summary: I went into the hospital on Friday with a severe abdominal hernia. They did emergency surgery and excised 10 cm of my small intestine, patching me up. I spent the last week recovering in the hospital: 2 nights in the ICU and 4 nights in the regular hospital. I have some hope to be able to write back-dated entries for the past week about what happened each day while I was laid out in the hospital, but will make no promises.

The medical professionals at Renown Health (Reno) decided that the last hurdle (white blood cell count) had been met today, and approved my discharge today. They disconnected the IV I've had for most of the past week, I was allowed to take a shower (showers are okay, but baths are not) for the first time in a week, and I changed back into my street clothes. Shortly after lunch, they brought a wheelchair and brought me down to the Discharge Lounge on the ground floor of the hospital where Lisa was waiting for me.

Around 2 PM or so, they were able to process me. The nurse removed the last infusion port and cut off my patient bracelet, gave me my post-discharge medications and instructions, and after I'd signed off, It was time to go home.

Lisa took us home, where we collected the accumulated mail from the post office and we bought a gallon of milk. (Lisa threw out all of the old milk.) Lisa made me chicken soup, which was delicious.

I am taking tomorrow off but will start working again on Friday. I let my co-workers know what's going on. I have a combination of what's called "protected safe sick leave" plus PTO. Because where was obviously no way to fix my time card from last week due to my not taking any computers with me, I just entered a week off for this week, with this coming Friday counting as last Friday and the total being all good.

Thank you to everyone who expressed concern about my condition. I was unable to directly post because I could not log into DW/LJ through my smartphone. (I guess I had the password wrong.) As it happens, I could reply by email to comments. Email and Mastodon were something I could often read and update. Facebook, DW/LJ, and other social media were not. Also, I did not have the chargers for my phone and was dependent upon the kindness of the hospital staff to charge those devices. When you are that sick, you are not so likely to grab chargers and computers. I came very close to needing an ambulance.

My thanks to Kuma Bear on DW and my other friends on social media to pass the word about what happened. I'm very grateful. But I'm also vastly buried in old messages and may not necessarily respond quickly.

No, I have no idea how much this will cost. I have good insurance (Anthem BC/BS) and a well-funded healthcare savings account, so I'm not expecting to be bankrupted by a week in the hospital. I expect that I will write about this in the future.

Today was the second of nine laser facial hair removal sessions. My skin healed faster after the first session than expected, so we're going to shorten the time between treatments from four weeks to three.

( After Treatment 2 )

The real challenge now is that much of my remaining hair is coming in as gray, and gray hairs are much harder to kill with the laser. If I'd done this thirty years ago, it would have been easier. But thirty years ago the laser treatment they have now didn't exist, and I certainly didn't have the money to buy it even if it did exist.

I had a rather long day Friday, mostly helping kayla_allen, but near the end of the day I wanted to run an errand to Walgreens because I had a coupon that would add $7 of credit in their rewards program for a purchase of $40 or more. I had call to purchase more than $40 worth of stuff that I could charge against my Healthcare Savings Account, so this was a way to sort of turn $7 of tax-free money into spendable credit at a store where I'll eventually buy something with it.

When I got home, I checked with Lisa, who had not been awake for long (she's been mostly sleeping days lately). She did indeed want to go grocery shopping in Reno overnight at WinCo Foods. I'd been up since 3:30 AM, so we put off the start of the trip for a couple of hours. I made myself something to eat and then went to bed, setting the alarm for 2 AM.

I went to my optometrist this morning, which is a simple trip as the office is only a few blocks away down the street where I live, and therefore an 8:15 AM appointment wasn't difficult. Just after my morning staff meeting, I walked down there (bundling up against the cold) and had an eye exam. I didn't do the dilation thing because I paid the $30 extra for a scan where they take photos of the eye instead. This meant that I could go back to work without losing the rest of the day to the dilation process.

I do have a slight cataract that has grown since last year, and the doctor says he wouldn't be surprised if next year it will get to the point where surgery is indicated. However, I'm not scared of that as I know it's pretty routine.

Last year, I did not need a new prescription, but things have changed just enough that it was time for new glasses. It took a little while because of needing to fiddle around with both my regular glasses and my computer bifocals. My distance vision is mostly unchanged, so my prescription sunglasses don't need replacing. Thank goodness for the Healthcare Savings Account, though, as insurance only covers some of the costs of the frames and lenses I want. In a week or two, I should be able to come collect the new glasses.

Of course I will take the full series of antibiotics, but after just one dose, things have improved. But I also think a good part of the start of the recovery was applying the saline spray. It's a bit icky spraying that stuff up your nose, but it helps.

My doctor's office ordered a metabolic panel because we're just over halfway through the initial course of Ozempic plus a potassium supplement. Unfortunately, because it's highly impractical for lab results to move between medical systems, that meant I needed to go to the nearest Sutter Health lab, which is in Roseville, 150 miles from Fernley. However, the weather has stayed dry (which is otherwise unfortunate), so this morning I left for Roseville at 6 AM and got to Roseville three hours later, which is pretty good time including two restroom stops. My total time at the lab was only 30 minutes including check-in and my own fiddling with my phone before I checked in. The draw itself took only a few minutes and was routine.

As I had been fasting for more than twelve hours for the blood test, even with the Ozempic suppressing my appetite, I was hungry. I left Roseville and headed up to Emigrant Gap to have breakfast at The Rustic Table. My timing was good, because the place was nearly empty when I arrived, but shortly after I put in my order, others started showing up, including a very large group that had reserved about a third of the restaurant.

My breakfast was just fine. I deliberately ordered something smaller than I typically get, and it was the right amount. Fully satisfied, I continued toward home. Unfortunately, I realized that something was wrong, as the charger wasn't recharging my mobile phone. Stopping at the vista point outside of Reno, I checked and discovered that the fuse controlling the dome and other interior lights had failed. I stopped by O'Reilly Auto Parts and bought an assortment of fuses. To my relief, the replacement held and didn't immediately fail again, which would have been a sign of something more serious. Not so good was discovering that the switch that adjusts the brightness of the instrument panel lights and also turns on the dome light was stuck. Luckily for me, it was not stuck in the "dome light on" position, which would have run down the battery. I expect that we'll be able to get at the switch and (I hope) and get it back the way it should be.

I stopped at WinCo Foods for a small number of things that Lisa asked me to buy, although I did forget one item for which I hope she will forgive me. I had a few other errands as well, which took a while, and I did not get home until 4:30 PM, more than ten hours after I left.

I also think that I've developed a sinus infection. That persistent nasal drainage that the Ozempic induces I think leads to infections having a path into my sinus. I'd use something like Actifed/Sudafed, but it's contra-indicated for high blood pressure.

I have set no alarm for Sunday morning. Luxury!

I'm still slowly getting better. Lisa is a day or two behind me. Getting lots of sleep it good, but it's boring, and doubly so for Lisa who also has the injured shoulder with which to concern herself.

In retrospect, it seems most likely that Kayla's Big Adventure to the Lottery office was where she picked up the lurgi (presumably a cold, because it's not COVID and doesn't act like flu), and then she brought it home to infect the household. It's also possible that she picked it up on New Year's Day while gallivanting around Fernley.

I have had to do a small number of errands each day. I'm definitely wearing an N95 mask when ever in public. I have no wish to share bug with anyone else. Both Lisa and I remember that we've not been sick since 2019 (save for allergies), and we want to go back to being not sick.

Renown Health called Lisa and me this afternoon with the results of the MRI. Unsurprisingly, the diagnosis is a partially torn rotator cuff. They will be referring Lisa to physical therapy, and we should know more tomorrow. This could take a long time (months, likely) to recover. On the good side, it does not look sufficiently bad to require surgery.