If you don’t read Dr. Grumpy at least occasionally you’re missing a good blog.

And there’s a very good new post there today
at http://drgrumpyinthehouse.blogspot.com/2011/12/day-in-life.html.

I have very oily skin (that’s about as personal as we’re going to get here, folks) and that is playing havoc with those wonderful 4×7 electrode pads for my TENS device.  The large pads are an excellent alternative to the multiple small pads and wires that I just can’t apply behind my back, but after the third use the 4×7s just wouldn’t stay on.

I wouldn’t have bet on it, but I couldn’t pass up “It’s free to try.”

Medicare doesn’t want to pay much longer it seems, and they will use obviously flawed data to make it happen. 

Dear AAN: 

I don’t buy your studies, and even if someone else doesn’t get benefit, does that mean I can’t?  Is every medication equally effective for all patients? 

It appears there is some growing reluctance for Medicare to cover TENS devices when used for lower back pain.  Obviously nobody who works in the decision making process has had to deal with such real world heath issues.  Specifically,

Well, that’s what I thought, anyway.  I mean, anything with “pool” attached just has to be nifty, no?

As it turns out, not necessarily.  Now, I’m definitely no stranger to PT, but I’ve never done it in a pool.  New experience for me.

Confucius should have said,

“To maintain one’s self esteem, one must avoid sneeze when holding open lab sample in hand.”

It is most difficult to escape to one’s car with pride intact unless one came on a beautiful sunny day with a raincoat for exit cover through the lobby.

Many years ago, basketball was a game of skill and talent, much more so than these days.  For years I’ve chosen to not watch professional basketball because it has turned into a game of muscle and brawn, creating a sport of hard-court mugging.  I don’t find college basketball much different.

Last night I watched the Sunday night football game and the NFL’s outlandish support of breast cancer awareness.  They’ve gone completely nuts, shoving pink into places that are downright grotesque in order to shove “PINK” in everyone’s face.  Good grief, people, can’t you get the message across without becoming color blind?

AD has a post well worth reading (not that most his aren’t!) regarding what one might consider an overabundance of prescription medications.  It reminds me of a time when my mother, now deceased, had 17 different medications on her daily intake list.  It was as if no doctor ever considered reviewing the list and seeing if perhaps there might be some redundancy, or, even more important in my opinion, if there might be conflicts (surely there must have been?!) among them.

Fox News, quoting an article from The Associated Press, reports:

The link/lead-in:

Hospital Brawl Leads to Botched Delivery

The article text: 

Operating Room Fistfight Leads to Botched Delivery
Monday, August 30, 2010 

OK, for the handful of you who actually read this blog, I’ll bet you’ll do everything you can to save someone’s life.  And who knows, you might even go to truly dangerous lengths in your attempt to do so.

I was at the auto dealership yesterday to check on my friend Floyd and to schedule another oil change and inspection.  Floyd is a service writer there, my service guy.  He’s a truly wonderful person and is good at his job — a nice pairing in any environment.

Oh, I can just see Ambulance Driver in the back of the rig with a giant roll of tape hanging inside. 

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,443470,00.html

Peeling Scotch Tape Emits X-Rays, Startling Study Finds

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Associated Press

This post is especially for the younger folks who don’t think much about being hospitalized because they think they are indestructible, or because they think it won’t happen to them, or they are just too busy to think about it at all, in spite of the reality that they are one slip on the ice, one red light runner, one trip on the stairs, away from exactly what I just went through.  My situation is caused by disease and aging and this was my fourth surgery.  Medical expenditures are not always the result of something that is under your control.

ujnews.com

May 2008
Baked Bean Diet Works Nicely For Nell

WHEN DOCTORS told Neil King tbat he risked bowel cancer be decided to change his diet and lose weight.

I’m considering blogging my overall experience with four spine surgeries, two cervical and two lumbar, all with fusion, in order to possibly make the experience easier for others.  I do believe I have some helpful suggestions to make surgical recovery easier for those facing such operations in the future.

The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they will sleep at night.…
and the slight variation,
…

I have about made up my mind that laws are like sausages — the less you know about how they are made the more respect you have for them.
…

So a few weeks ago I bought a bicycle — no gears, reverse pedal for brake, your basic no-frills cheapo.  Just like the Schwinn I grew up on but a lot cheaper, and lighter. 

ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS

Having had one fairly severe adverse reaction to a medication during my childhood and only a few light ones in my adult life, I supppose I am fortunate, considering how many different prescribed and over the counter chemicals I have ingested. 

It just doesn’t appeal to me.  The thought of it just doesn’t make my day.  I’m too busy.  I have no symptoms.  They just want to pad their corporate income.  I just don’t want to.  I don’t need to.

Rest, never mind relaxation, just plain old rest.

The medical profession/industry has come full circle when it comes to assessing the value of rest, and I suspect the change has been spurred by the insurance industry, though I have not heard anyone in the medical profession admit it may be so.

I suppose I have enough experience with the world of medicine to have a credible opinion on the general subject, having had four surgeries and several “procedures” in two different hospitals in the last two years.

OK, that was good.  Now touch the bottom of your foot to the inside of your other leg.  Good.  Now the other one.

Now put your feet on the floor and tap your toes up and down.  Good.

Now touch your thumb to each of your fingertips.  Good, now the other hand.

In the way of surprises, I got one today, and it relates to one of my pet peeves. Actually, it is probably my number one peeve by along shot. When I think of it I can’t even remember what number two is.