The River Green

I had to get a refill on my Percocet, but they gave me Vicodin, which works just fine.

On Saturday after the surgery, the bottom of my finger was hurting very badly because the splint was digging into it. There was a deep indentation and the surrounding area was black and blue, so back to the ER we went. It took like five doctors to come and examine the situation before they took the dressing off and re-positioned the splint. I couldn't even look at it when they unwrapped it. I could feel it pulling, but didn't feel too much of anything else and spent most of the time in my happy place.

On Suday or Monday (the days are blending together, now), I walked to Hollywood video and apparently spent about 45 minutes gathering five movies, including Day the Earth Stood Still, Changeling, Doubt and two or three others, which I do not remember.

Despite the pain medication, it is beginning to feel sore. I have no idea what it looks like or what is happening inside there.

Marieke continues to take care of me and I continue to wait until I can function again.

Labels: Broken finger , surgery

Percosets are nice. I'm asleep all the time and I swear Marieke is calling my name all the time.

The surgery was nasty. I had a lot of bad experiences. The first was when they did an ultrasound through my shoulder to administer a nerve block for my entire arm. It was painful and felt like I was being stabbed by a machete. The damn block barely worked anyhow and I needed some additional anesthetic. Guess what happened then? I had a bad reaction to the anesthetic they gave me and broke into a cold sweat and felt like I was drowning in sand.

What was really scary was that the doctor or whatever was there kept cursing his computerized instruments for not having the correct display or for not working or for whatever... but it was downright scary as shit, especially since I knew what was happening.

Afterward, I woke in the recovery room with mom and Marieke there. My finger is covered in gauze and according to the x-ray, very straight, but one of the four screws has no head. It broke off during the procedure.

My whole right arm was numb and it felt like I had a mannequin's arm instead of my own; I couldn't even look at it. So unsettling was it to have a portion of my own body just completely not function, I had to go for a walk int he hopes that my body would metabolize the anesthesia quicker.

Marieke scrambled to make me comfortable. Within ten minutes, the swivel chair was in the middle of te living room, with a dining room chair in front of it for feet proppage. She was a saint taking care of me. And I know it was difficult because it was just a month since we quit smoking.

Kara came over to keep Marieke company, but had to leave suddenly and without much explanation. She has become something of a bitch since she moved away. Oh well. Back to my percosets. Hopefully I'll be able to write more as the days go on and maybe I'll clean this post up a bit since I am aware that it is a bit shit right now.

Labels: surgery

It is August 13th. I go in for surgery tomorrow at UPMC in Oakland. I got directions, but they're a little fuzzy since I can't frigging write with my broken effing finger.

To 'celebrate' the first game for the Steelers since winning the Super Bowl, we decided to bring in the new season at Hough's with mom. Yes, mom came to Hough's with us. It was about 25 minutes before game time and we just settled into our seats at a high table near the back, before the bar got really super crowded.

Suddenly, our plans were shot to shit and our lives got more interesting as Barb came to us and casually said 'Do you guys wanna go to this game?' I said 'Oh yeah. I'd love to be there, it would be great... I've never been to Heinz Field for a Steelers game before.' Barb then offered tickets to the game, a gold parking pass and the most exciting way possibly imaginable to spend the day before surgery.

We dropped a dejected mom off at her apartment with our heartfelt apologies, raced home, changed into Steelers gear, grabbed the camera, Terrible Towel and off we went to Heinz Field for our first Steelers game. It was against the Arizona Cardinals, upon whose ass we very concisely cracked a bottle of whoop in the last meeting on, of all days, Super Bowl Sunday!!

Needless to say, we were geeked out. It was a great game. In very short order, we found that there were only two ATMs within walking distance of our amazing seats and a line of 13 people takes exactly 28 minutes to render.

We had some snacks, of course and a couple drinks. The parking was primo. The seats were awesome.

Marieke and I had the distinct honor of being one of about thirty-thousand to bear eye-witness to the first pre-season game of the World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. It was truly memorable.

The sixth Lombardi Trophy was among it's five brothers in the hall of champions, but it was surrounded by fifty-thousand people, s we opted for a zoom-in pic.

I would change nothing about that night.

It's just after midnight and I'm nowhere near tired. Just slapped my last patch onto my arm. The next couple weeks are not going to be nice.

Labels: Broken finger , Hough's , sports , Steelers , surgery

...it's official, I need surgery and the guy who is gonna do it is a complete god-complex-egomaniac. The 'fellow' from Africa was very nice and has no problem with *his* bedside manner.

My finger is unstable and requires several screws, which requires knock-you-the-hell-out-surgery. I am scared to death.

It's scheduled for this Friday, the 14th. I'm told that even though it is admirable that I've quit smoking, the patch will complicate the healing process. For the sake of Christ, I'm not even finished with the first step yet and it hasn't been a month. Great. Wonderful. Stupendous. Splendid. Fantastic. Jolly Good. Excellent. Hooray.

This is the worst ever.

Labels: Broken finger , surgery

I know it's been two weeks because August 2nd was yesterday. Did I mention that the hard candy put a hole in my tongue?

Dr. Kaufmann's office finally rendered help to Marieke and I have an appointment next week. This is good because I'm really not able to function at work as I should.

The New York study required a ton of paperwork and I have to constantly request to be put on other assignments. My request is met with inconsistent results depending on who is the designated internet surfer in the office.

Annoyingly, everyone has some kind of comment about either my splint or my condition and almost everyone who hasn't come into direct contact with me since the incident has heard either second or third hand about what has happened. I guess it's not that annoying because I know they care... the whole situation makes me so cranky.

I don't see any major change in anything for the next week... so more after my appt.

Labels: Broken finger