soundless in the sea of singing
So we now have a new (to us) computer case--it's a 'Great Quality' case (*snerk*!) that Dick is loaning us. Why is he loaning us his computer case (for the computer he's hoping to build around it)? Well, last night our power supply died. We found it burnt to a husk in the back of our old case...covered in cat fur.
Yeah, yeah, I've already thought about it. But what can I do? We can't afford to move.
Mentioned a while back that one of my friends had developed Arnold Chiari Type 1 Malformation of the brain and cerebellar tissue. This is a freakish, weird, rare ailment where, it seems, the brain decides to grow larger and invade the spinal cord. Hostile. What's weirding me out more than a little is this is dragging on and on and on, this thing, while my friend cannot work, drive, or basically leave the house, yet the state's fighting her on disability (they're saying the 'sudden onset' of disability is 'worrisome'; she retorts that's the nature of disability, that 'first you're able, then you're NOT able, THAT's disability'--frankly, I agree with her), and no one wants to operate on her. They just want her to go for more tests. She's unable to even stand some days, she has constant, chronic headaches, throws up all the time, and they don't want to cure this, they want her to go to a Seattle neurological center (she's done so), and now to either the Mayo Clinic or Stanford, depending.
Neither of which she can afford to get to, right now.
And the disease itself is hard to figure out, just on a 'give-me-more-info' angle. Perfect example is this paragraph from the New York Neurosurgery Institute:
The treatment of Chiari Malformation and associated anomalies is controversial, largely owing to a lack of complete understanding of the entity. All would agree that abnormal accumulation of fluid within the brain, when present, must be dealt with prior to considering any other type of procedure to treat a Chiari Malformation. There are numerous treatment strategies for Chiari Malformations. Most of these procedures report a 70% success rate in dealing with the symptoms referable to the Chiari Malformation and its associated anomalies. These procedures can be grouped into four categories:
* Decompression of the hindbrain malformation by the removal of overlying bone (suboccipital (base of skull in the back) craniectomy (opening of the skull) and upper cervical (neck) laminectomy (removal of the posterior portion of the spine to gain access to the underlying spinal cord and nerves).) Opening of the soft tissue coverings over the base of the brain and upper spinal cord with placement of an patch to enlarge the coverings might be included.
* Drainage of the syrinx or syringomyelia/hydromyelia; i.e., removal of bone overlying syrinx, then opening spinal cord to drain fluid cavity (myelotomy) and possible placement of catheter (syringotomy) from cavity to other space to establish pathway for continued drainage.
* Establishment of outflow pathway for fluid cavity by cutting off lower tip of spinal cord (Terminal Ventriculostomy)
* Percutaneous aspiration of the syrinx
As stated above, there is an expected failure rate of up to 30% with these various techniques.
So basically, if I'm reading it right, it must be treated, but the several current treatments are hazardous, hazardous, hazardous, hazardous, permanent and hazardous, structurally damaging, hazardous and ill-advised...and have a 30% failure rate to boot.
So, okay, I get why they're not scheduling surgery right away, but damn.
Worse than that, on the first link, it says this:
Arnold-Chiari malformation (ACM) is a rare malformation of the brain that is present at birth.
And here's where my brain completely seizes, because how in the hell was this missed on all previous medical work? You might be saying, well, maybe she never had brain scans, and I am here to tell you, you are so wrong--because the lady in question already has lupus plus migraines--which means, to diagnose both, required MRIs, CTs, and various other tests which--if this thing had been part of her structure since birth--would have shown up on scans.
But, no. It's showing up now. WTF?
More Two Lumps.
He's on something, that's for sure.
The Martians are at the gates!
Laugh it up, Martian, your time will come.
Must...avenge...THE BUTT!
Vengeance for butt!
Two nights ago, Cat decides, even though we really can't afford it, that she wants pizza. She orders from Pizza Hut, and had them send out a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza. She hung up, and I just stared at her.
"What?"
"No," I said, "it's okay, it's just...I was hoping to have some."
She goes pale. Reaches for the phone. "Oh no, let me call them back--"
"Don't bother."
Because, see, there's three problems here, not just the one. Yeah, pepperoni, okay, I don't eat the meat, but even if that were fixed, then there'd be the issue of my loathing for stuffed crust pizza, primarily because it just doesn't chill well, and also, all that extra grease...And then there was the issue of she told me to tell her not to order a pizza, and I did, and then she whined for two hours, and I told her to go ahead and order it, it was better than the moping and complaining.
It's annoying. It's like, she wants me to tell her what to do, but she won't listen when I do, and then when I leave things up to her she complains that I'm not standing up for myself. This is the definition of no way to win, right there.
Plus, it's not helping that both of us are depressed and irritated. Ever since Dick and Jane moved the birdcage, that damned bird shrieks, in a high piercing tone, every twelve seconds when he's awake. I know, I've counted. What's worse is, when I go downstairs to escape it, and Dick's laptop is on--and it's on practically 24/7--if it's processing anything the fan comes on and the motor revs and it sends out this high, grating, supersonic whine that gets under my skin and makes me grit my teeth and shudder.
Get this. I've told him about the migraine-inducing properties of this sound, but not until I happen to mention to the cousin why La Roommate's had the sudden jump in migraines--coinciding with their arrival on the scene, because her bedroom is directly over the laptop--suddenly, Dick's all worried about the laptop's whine and looking into ways to fix it.
Yeah. I'm just making it up, apparently, but the poor, suffering La R, she must be protected...
I'm telling you, after this, no one else is living in our house, damn it. I don't care if someone lights one of my best friends on fire, they're sleeping outside if they're staying in town. I cannot take this anymore. I actually threatened to stab Dick last night because the whine was going, and going, and going, for more than fifteen minutes, and it usually shuts off five minutes in.
Interesting...I'm absolutely unimportant if I say anything else, but if I mention I know where the knives are and eyes are surprisingly easy to puncture, somehow, people start taking me seriously. I'd laugh at that, but considering I only make death threats when I'm on the verge of collapse, I'd be willing to hazard the guess that I do seem seriously scary at those times. Because I'm not holding anything back--it's all raw homicidal me then.
I am going to have so many issues after this. Who wants to take bets I'm not friends with Dick and Jane if they're here more than two months?
No fashions today; mostly bitching. Fashions tomorrow.
Yeah, yeah, I've already thought about it. But what can I do? We can't afford to move.
Mentioned a while back that one of my friends had developed Arnold Chiari Type 1 Malformation of the brain and cerebellar tissue. This is a freakish, weird, rare ailment where, it seems, the brain decides to grow larger and invade the spinal cord. Hostile. What's weirding me out more than a little is this is dragging on and on and on, this thing, while my friend cannot work, drive, or basically leave the house, yet the state's fighting her on disability (they're saying the 'sudden onset' of disability is 'worrisome'; she retorts that's the nature of disability, that 'first you're able, then you're NOT able, THAT's disability'--frankly, I agree with her), and no one wants to operate on her. They just want her to go for more tests. She's unable to even stand some days, she has constant, chronic headaches, throws up all the time, and they don't want to cure this, they want her to go to a Seattle neurological center (she's done so), and now to either the Mayo Clinic or Stanford, depending.
Neither of which she can afford to get to, right now.
And the disease itself is hard to figure out, just on a 'give-me-more-info' angle. Perfect example is this paragraph from the New York Neurosurgery Institute:
The treatment of Chiari Malformation and associated anomalies is controversial, largely owing to a lack of complete understanding of the entity. All would agree that abnormal accumulation of fluid within the brain, when present, must be dealt with prior to considering any other type of procedure to treat a Chiari Malformation. There are numerous treatment strategies for Chiari Malformations. Most of these procedures report a 70% success rate in dealing with the symptoms referable to the Chiari Malformation and its associated anomalies. These procedures can be grouped into four categories:
* Decompression of the hindbrain malformation by the removal of overlying bone (suboccipital (base of skull in the back) craniectomy (opening of the skull) and upper cervical (neck) laminectomy (removal of the posterior portion of the spine to gain access to the underlying spinal cord and nerves).) Opening of the soft tissue coverings over the base of the brain and upper spinal cord with placement of an patch to enlarge the coverings might be included.
* Drainage of the syrinx or syringomyelia/hydromyelia; i.e., removal of bone overlying syrinx, then opening spinal cord to drain fluid cavity (myelotomy) and possible placement of catheter (syringotomy) from cavity to other space to establish pathway for continued drainage.
* Establishment of outflow pathway for fluid cavity by cutting off lower tip of spinal cord (Terminal Ventriculostomy)
* Percutaneous aspiration of the syrinx
As stated above, there is an expected failure rate of up to 30% with these various techniques.
So basically, if I'm reading it right, it must be treated, but the several current treatments are hazardous, hazardous, hazardous, hazardous, permanent and hazardous, structurally damaging, hazardous and ill-advised...and have a 30% failure rate to boot.
So, okay, I get why they're not scheduling surgery right away, but damn.
Worse than that, on the first link, it says this:
Arnold-Chiari malformation (ACM) is a rare malformation of the brain that is present at birth.
And here's where my brain completely seizes, because how in the hell was this missed on all previous medical work? You might be saying, well, maybe she never had brain scans, and I am here to tell you, you are so wrong--because the lady in question already has lupus plus migraines--which means, to diagnose both, required MRIs, CTs, and various other tests which--if this thing had been part of her structure since birth--would have shown up on scans.
But, no. It's showing up now. WTF?
More Two Lumps.
He's on something, that's for sure.
The Martians are at the gates!
Laugh it up, Martian, your time will come.
Must...avenge...THE BUTT!
Vengeance for butt!
Two nights ago, Cat decides, even though we really can't afford it, that she wants pizza. She orders from Pizza Hut, and had them send out a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza. She hung up, and I just stared at her.
"What?"
"No," I said, "it's okay, it's just...I was hoping to have some."
She goes pale. Reaches for the phone. "Oh no, let me call them back--"
"Don't bother."
Because, see, there's three problems here, not just the one. Yeah, pepperoni, okay, I don't eat the meat, but even if that were fixed, then there'd be the issue of my loathing for stuffed crust pizza, primarily because it just doesn't chill well, and also, all that extra grease...And then there was the issue of she told me to tell her not to order a pizza, and I did, and then she whined for two hours, and I told her to go ahead and order it, it was better than the moping and complaining.
It's annoying. It's like, she wants me to tell her what to do, but she won't listen when I do, and then when I leave things up to her she complains that I'm not standing up for myself. This is the definition of no way to win, right there.
Plus, it's not helping that both of us are depressed and irritated. Ever since Dick and Jane moved the birdcage, that damned bird shrieks, in a high piercing tone, every twelve seconds when he's awake. I know, I've counted. What's worse is, when I go downstairs to escape it, and Dick's laptop is on--and it's on practically 24/7--if it's processing anything the fan comes on and the motor revs and it sends out this high, grating, supersonic whine that gets under my skin and makes me grit my teeth and shudder.
Get this. I've told him about the migraine-inducing properties of this sound, but not until I happen to mention to the cousin why La Roommate's had the sudden jump in migraines--coinciding with their arrival on the scene, because her bedroom is directly over the laptop--suddenly, Dick's all worried about the laptop's whine and looking into ways to fix it.
Yeah. I'm just making it up, apparently, but the poor, suffering La R, she must be protected...
I'm telling you, after this, no one else is living in our house, damn it. I don't care if someone lights one of my best friends on fire, they're sleeping outside if they're staying in town. I cannot take this anymore. I actually threatened to stab Dick last night because the whine was going, and going, and going, for more than fifteen minutes, and it usually shuts off five minutes in.
Interesting...I'm absolutely unimportant if I say anything else, but if I mention I know where the knives are and eyes are surprisingly easy to puncture, somehow, people start taking me seriously. I'd laugh at that, but considering I only make death threats when I'm on the verge of collapse, I'd be willing to hazard the guess that I do seem seriously scary at those times. Because I'm not holding anything back--it's all raw homicidal me then.
I am going to have so many issues after this. Who wants to take bets I'm not friends with Dick and Jane if they're here more than two months?
No fashions today; mostly bitching. Fashions tomorrow.