Still upright
Have been having internet issues at the Coast. Silly little USB broadband stick doesn't seem to like my computer. Such is life.
So I'm still alive and well, as are the furbrats. I'm coming back up tomorrow, only to swan off to Stradbroke on Thursday for my intensive training period with QSE. I *think* I'll be back again next Wednesday morning. Goody.
Had my yearly "check up" at the Pain Clinic last week. As per usual it made me feel like pushing a big red button. I've managed to score a referral to the rheumatology clinic at the Mater; if they can organise to write my Neurontin prescriptions, I think I'm going to tell the Royal to take their Clinic, fold it small, etc. You know how in previous years I've pointed out that my pain miraculously got better right around the time my doctor prescribed me narcotics? This year I got to point out that the agonising pain in my feet when I stood up for more than 30 minutes, which I have been reporting to them faithfully for seven years now, miraculously improved right around the time I forked over about $500 to see a podiatrist and have orthotics made. I asked if perhaps the clinic could have, at any point in the last seven years, referred me to the podiatrist that works at the hospital, thus saving me several years of Ow and, incidentally, $500. Apparently they could have, but the budget for the clinic is really really small, you see, and they're all under orders to not spend too much of it on each client, so the Neurontin I receive is pretty much all I'm going to get out of them. *jawdrop* This guy even said that yes, he thinks I could benefit greatly from facet injections in my lumbar spine. But he's not going to refer me for them within the hospital, because it would put too much strain on the clinic's budget. I have a theory that the reason the hospital set up the Pain Clinic was to cater to those of us who have taken the hump with the high heid yin over at the Rheumatology Clinic, yet still need at least the semblance of treatment.
Also I'm very sick of every year having to go through the same shit - for anaesthetists, around whom you're usually asleep, they certainly take what feels like an unhealthy interest in my mental health. This year's guy even mentioned my "previous suicide attempt". Yes. 16 years ago I, ahem, "attempted" suicide. Mitigating factors: I had been put on an antidepressant that is contra-indicated for people under 18, and experienced a staggeringly common side-effect thereof, vis it merely strengthened my resolve when the ideation started and I had the means available. I'm not sure he believed me. He was one of those doctors who doesn't like patients who do their own research and know their own conditions. He even had the temerity to question whether the knowledge that having children is probably not physically possible for me depresses me. Because I recently got married. Apparently not being able to have children is only relevant to your mental health depending on your marital status. The more you know.
Anyway.
The Coast is beautiful, though there seems to be a distinct lack of beach at the moment - just up the road (Mermaid Beach) there's just a vertical scarp about eight feet high that the surf comes right up to at high tide - there's big red flags and bright orange construction mesh up across every entrance from here to the headland.
Oh, The King's Speech and Tangled are fabulous movies that I highly recommend should you wish an excuse to run away from the heat and hide in air conditioned darkness for a couple of hours. And the sweetie shop downstairs from the cinemas at Pac Fair sells real imported caffeinated Irn Bru. It's the little things that make me happy.
So I'm still alive and well, as are the furbrats. I'm coming back up tomorrow, only to swan off to Stradbroke on Thursday for my intensive training period with QSE. I *think* I'll be back again next Wednesday morning. Goody.
Had my yearly "check up" at the Pain Clinic last week. As per usual it made me feel like pushing a big red button. I've managed to score a referral to the rheumatology clinic at the Mater; if they can organise to write my Neurontin prescriptions, I think I'm going to tell the Royal to take their Clinic, fold it small, etc. You know how in previous years I've pointed out that my pain miraculously got better right around the time my doctor prescribed me narcotics? This year I got to point out that the agonising pain in my feet when I stood up for more than 30 minutes, which I have been reporting to them faithfully for seven years now, miraculously improved right around the time I forked over about $500 to see a podiatrist and have orthotics made. I asked if perhaps the clinic could have, at any point in the last seven years, referred me to the podiatrist that works at the hospital, thus saving me several years of Ow and, incidentally, $500. Apparently they could have, but the budget for the clinic is really really small, you see, and they're all under orders to not spend too much of it on each client, so the Neurontin I receive is pretty much all I'm going to get out of them. *jawdrop* This guy even said that yes, he thinks I could benefit greatly from facet injections in my lumbar spine. But he's not going to refer me for them within the hospital, because it would put too much strain on the clinic's budget. I have a theory that the reason the hospital set up the Pain Clinic was to cater to those of us who have taken the hump with the high heid yin over at the Rheumatology Clinic, yet still need at least the semblance of treatment.
Also I'm very sick of every year having to go through the same shit - for anaesthetists, around whom you're usually asleep, they certainly take what feels like an unhealthy interest in my mental health. This year's guy even mentioned my "previous suicide attempt". Yes. 16 years ago I, ahem, "attempted" suicide. Mitigating factors: I had been put on an antidepressant that is contra-indicated for people under 18, and experienced a staggeringly common side-effect thereof, vis it merely strengthened my resolve when the ideation started and I had the means available. I'm not sure he believed me. He was one of those doctors who doesn't like patients who do their own research and know their own conditions. He even had the temerity to question whether the knowledge that having children is probably not physically possible for me depresses me. Because I recently got married. Apparently not being able to have children is only relevant to your mental health depending on your marital status. The more you know.
Anyway.
The Coast is beautiful, though there seems to be a distinct lack of beach at the moment - just up the road (Mermaid Beach) there's just a vertical scarp about eight feet high that the surf comes right up to at high tide - there's big red flags and bright orange construction mesh up across every entrance from here to the headland.
Oh, The King's Speech and Tangled are fabulous movies that I highly recommend should you wish an excuse to run away from the heat and hide in air conditioned darkness for a couple of hours. And the sweetie shop downstairs from the cinemas at Pac Fair sells real imported caffeinated Irn Bru. It's the little things that make me happy.