I want to stop by WFUV and drop off some CDs before I go to therapy today so I have to leave a half hour early. I better get started writing.
I’ll start with something from Wednesday I neglected to talk about yesterday. I went back to the rheumatologist. My MRI and x-rays results came back. I don’t have inflammatory arthritis, I have wear and tear arthritis. When he told me that I had to translate to the old medical terms, rheumatoid vs osteo arthritis. They are training doctors to not use technical language even among themselves. I’m old, I learned this stuff when I was a kid as my father had rheumatoid arthritis. The good news is that means it’s not a byproduct of my Crohn’s disease. The bad news is that there’s not much you can do for where and tear.
Now my biggest joint pain is my right ankle. I walk with a severe limp whenever I first stand up until I walk it off. I think it’s exacerbated by the fact that I almost always lay or sit down with my ankles crossed. Guess what the doc told me? You got it, don’t cross your ankles. When you’ve done something your entire life it’s not so easy to stop doing it. I don’t think when I do it. It takes a conscious and constant effort to keep my ankles uncrossed. I’m fighting the urge to cross them as I write this.
What I forgot to write is that my rheumatologist pulled some strings and got me an appointment to see a gastroenterologist. It’s not until December but that’s better than February, all I could get on my own. Unfortunately it’s at the Einstein Campus on the other side of the Bronx. Manhattan would have been far more convenient. I’ll see this doctor then try to find one associated with Mount Sinai. I can get there in about half an hour. They are the best hospital for Crohn’s disease. It’s where Dr. Crohn worked. I haven’t seen a GI specialist in a decade. That’s very bad for someone with Crohn’s and a history of cancer of the small intestine. The most important thing is that I see somebody.
I’m returning to this after finishing this entry because I realized I forgot something. As soon as I read the last paragraph I realized that my ankles were crossed and now the right one is sore. I’m stretching it out now. Perhaps that will be the equivalent of walking it off so I won’t have the bad pain.
Yesterday’s adventure was exacerbating my join pain, especially my back. Jane is back in town to drive her car and cats out to Oregon where she moved and get the apartment ready for sale. It’s tough to dispose of electronics. On Saturday the City is doing there twice a year collection at Orchard Beach, not far from City Island. Jane has a lot of electronics to get rid of; Bernie never threw out anything. Their apartment is a duplex with much of the electronics on the top floor. I went over to help with that. Luckily they had access to a hand truck and a dolly. Unfortunately that doesn’t help get things down from the upper floor. I had to carry them down. To make things harder the lower floor has a very high ceiling, so it’s a lot of stairs and some of the stuff is buried. I didn’t do a full inventory but I carried down six desk top computers, four monitors, two fax machines, two scanners, and an electric typewriter. There were also things I couldn’t identify. We packed everything into Jane’s car. There is still tons more left in the house. I was rewarded with dinner, bangers and mash, at the Snug. That was nice, it was my first meal with a person in over a month. After that Jane drove me home.
I had some mail delivered to Jane’s in the two months she’s been gone. One was a jury notice. Uh Oh. I’ll officially registered my move last week, I don’t think I’m in trouble. I was happy that my free travel mug from New York City arrived. Do you want a free travel mug, spill-proof mug with straw, or shopping bag? If you live in New York City all you have to do is take the B.Y.O Pledge. it took many months but it’s a high-quality stainless-steel mug that won’t leak. I’m excited. I’ll be carrying it around and using it in lieu of a disposable mug when possible. I’ll be bringing it to the WFUV pledge drive next week. I had been using my plastic one from NERFA. This one is much nicer. I love that the City is doing this. Now somebody has to come up with a practical, and reasonably priced reusable straw, along with an easy way of cleaning it.
I seem to have no plans until Sunday. That’s triggering some issues. I’ll have to remember to talk about it during therapy. I’m feeling hints of depression, nothing Prozac and I can’t handle but better to nip these things in the bud.
Wise Madness 