Saturday, April 23, 2022

DEADLY SIDE EFFECTS

Patient Journal 📔 

April 23, 2022

Pain 6/10
Mood 6/10



The sore throat, vomiting, coughing, shortness of breath and hoarseness were all "DEADLY WARNING SIGNS" from the lidocaine medicine they gave me at the urgent care clinic. 

I guess if you had taken me to either of my appointments in Miami for the lumbar facet injections or to the ENT on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday they would have told you that since I found the information on a handout for "caregivers" since I was not supposed to be left unattended after the procedures. 

You had commented that my blood pressure was really low but it was not recorded at the urgent care clinic. 

You told me what it was, but I forgot what it was. 

There is absolutely no information on the bill they gave me regarding diagnosis or vital signs. 

They do not have a telephone number to the individual clinics and I called FIVE of them yesterday trying to locate "Francesco"

I asked how you found that place, if you called and checked that place out before we left. 

You told me that you were on another site (you were searching for a restaurant that had British Fish and Chips for dinner) and that was the last I heard from you until you came to my apartment and said you needed to pee at 12:15 just after my EMDR appointment. 

I also got the bill from AT&T after you went in there with me to change the plan to something more affordable. 

My phone was cut off the day after you left and the password was changed. 

For future reference, it is EXTREMELY inappropriate for you to tell sales people that I am autistic when I am trying to conduct official business. 

It cost me $120 to get the phone reactivated and will cost another $50 if I switch to a more affordable company but I'm glad you had a good time at the beach, the hotel and the fancy restaurants. 

I'm sorry you didn't find my apartment comfortable enough for your taste and had you asked I would have told you about the Free Trolley to the beach, outlets and museums. 

I'm not sure why you spent $100 on the beach pass since you had a handicap pass and it's all public parking but it's your money and I can't tell you how to spend it. 

You should try to get your money back from the rental car company since they made you wait 6 hours to find your reservation at the airport. 

I've never heard of $500 for a rental car unless it was a fancy upgrade like the fancy convertible I rented after graduation from Columbia back in 2002. 

It only costs $7 or so to take an Uber to the beach and it's less than 1 mile from my house. 

We use that as our meeting place for protests to Mar-a-Lago because it's very accessible to the public. 

Loved the photos you sent me from the beach and the restaurant. Too bad you couldn't sit outside because the Ivy and mosaic tables in the courtyard are much more iconic then the tired peach roses they put on the tables inside. 

It's great that you enjoyed the food, because I found it to be very overpriced and the lobster risotto was just ordinary. 

I'm surprised they didn't have a special Easter menu like most restaurants have on the holidays but if you liked it; great. 

Can't imagine it was better than the Lobster 🦞 you had at Bradley's before your flight home; but I guess that's the difference between being a local and being a tourist. 

Here's a video I made years ago with photographs  of all the hidden gardens on Worth Avenue that you probably missed. 

Enjoy.


--
DailyDDose

Thursday, April 7, 2022


Going shopping yesterday was a deeply emotional journey.

First, I woke up four years ago and my body stopped moving like it was supposed to.

And yesterday I went shopping for the first time and my body doesn't look the way it's supposed to.

Who is this person in the mirror?

Swollen from FOUR YEARS of lockdown, plump with prednisone and a myriad of medications; stuffed with pudding to help me swallow the pills when I couldn't move my head or tilt my neck?

Well, none of that matters now. While my friends on Facebook post pictures of their new Cartier watches and their children reaching lifetime milestones, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, High School Graduations, College Acceptance Letters…

I look down at my wrist and I'm not sporting a tennis bracelet. I'm wearing an emergency medic alert band that's monitored 24/7 so I can live independently and I LOVE IT.

I can't say I don't wonder how my life might have been different if I had gone a different route, but when I was in the hospital fighting with everything I had and ever will have to walk again, I thanked my lucky stars EVERY DAY that I didn't have children to worry about.

So as you watch your children take their first steps and leap into this big wondrous world before them, I too am taking my first steps back into society and starting a new rehab program.

After several serious neurosurgeries and a stay at the Miami Project to cure paralysis, il back at home and finally receiving the level of services I need.

I am extremely grateful that I am able to live independently and I can feel my hands again!! The dexterity and mobility have returned though my handwriting is quite awful. I'm able to braid my hair again and it is as long and beautiful as it always was.

I may not fit into that perfect size 6 or recognize my own shadow, but if you look into my eyes, you can see I'm still there.

I have at least one major surgery coming up that will take me off my feet for 4-6 months and I'm DREADING it but I'll never be able to walk properly without it. But first! I'm going to Bermuda to celebrate my 50th Birthday with family and friends.

I'm so excited and can't wait to swim in the caves with the jelly fish 🐟 angel fish and go parasailing over the ocean.

I may not be able to walk very well, but I can swim and in the water I am free!! So all of those years on the Swim Team at LMT paid off.

In the water I am FREE 🤿

Here we go again.

/end

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