Pat's Podcast Episode 32
The following is cross-posted from
my podcast page and is also on my
Health & Medical Wonders Text Blog and my
Health & Medical Wonders VideoCast
In this edition we have....
* Possible Bariatric (i.e. weight loss) surgery (Better known as "The Al Roker Proceedure") for me.
* Promotion of my new Health & Medical Wonders Blog & VideoCast (With a possible podcast from a patient's perspective soon to follow if the demand exists)
* The latest on the relocation process.
PLUS the then-latest audio version of the MissingAlert.com Podcast & MORE!! CHECK IT OUT!!NEXT TWO PLANNED EPISODES:
EPISODE 33 - A Sound Seeing Tour Of
The Taste Of Colorado (This will be very similar to what we did during the sound-seeing tour of The People's Fair in Episode 31 earlier this year).
EPISODE 34 - A Sound Seeing Tour of my new apartment, which will also be the new studio for
The Pat Cook Show as well (I hope to make a seperate VIDEO tour for my VideoCast as well, but that depends on if I can get a good used camcorder really cheap somewhere like at a pawn shop or second hand outlet).
To send feedback, call the PodLine @ 206-203-4744
Just want to quickly announce that
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY my blog posts here will be cross-posted on my
MySpace blog, which will consist of a combination of this blog,
my personal blog &
my medical videocast.
Labels: MySpace cross post blogs
Epilepsy PSA
Courtesy of the
Epilepsy Foundation via
MySpace....
Get this video and more at
MySpace.comYou can find more videos like this on my new videocast devoted to the very same medical issues simply by clicking here.
An Introduction To Sleep Apnea
Courtesy of
CPapTalk.com via
Google Video....
You can find more videos like this on my new videocast devoted to the very same medical issues simply by clicking here.
ANNOUNCEMENT - Blog Transformation
I can see that creating a blog that's just about medical wonders simply won't cut it with my limited knowledge of the profession.
As such, there are going to be some changes.
Instead of focusing on medical wonders, this blog will now focus on DISABILITIES (Namely the ones I have since I have experience with those) and disability-related issues. I may also start a disability podcast and/or videocast which will also be streamed via my radio and/or TV station as well as ON DEMAND via the respective websites. But in order to do either a podcast OR a videocast, I'm gonna hafta start perusing around for guests.
That's where YOU come in.
If you are somehow involved in dealing with people with disabilities (Whether you are disabled yourself or not is irrelevant) and/or the issues we face, PLEASE FEEL FREE to contact me at the email address on the left. The only thing I ask is that you enter
[POTENTIAL PODCAST GUEST] (Just as you see it spelled, but without the bold text) and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can.
But for now, all I ask is that DO NOT expect an instant reply. That is because I will be working on transforming this blog into the new format first. Once that is done, THEN I'll start on the podcast/videocast and coordinate with you as to day and time to get together for the recording (I'd rather do a recording as opposed to a LIVE broadcast, though I can do so with audio, simply because the audio (and if applicable, video) quality will be better as the result will mean a recording without multiplying all the asynchronous bugs that the recording itself would bring.
But in any case, gimme a little bit of time to get things squared away with this text version and we'll go from there. As for the name, I'm not even sure what I'll rename the blog to (
IDEAS ANYONE?). So for now, I'll just keep the current name as the working name until a better one comes along.
Well....Time to wrap this up and post it. I'll be busy adding new links and other content as I go move along with the transformation process. So be on the lookout for those.
In the meantime....Cheers :)
Help Make Poverty History
Making Poverty history shouldn't be a medical "wonder".
TAKE ACTION TODAY!!!
You Wouldn't Believe All The Meds I Have To Take
Did I ever mention a breakdown of the meds I have to take now? Before August 9th, THE ONLY thing I had to take was 3 Phenobarbital (3 pills @ 100 mg. each) at bedtime. Now I have the following to take...
DAYTIME:- 2 Depakote @ 500 mg. each
(Epilepsy)
(??)
(Metabolism)
(Metabolism)
(Metabolism)
On top of that, here's my night time list....
NIGHTTIME:- 2 Depakote @ 500 mg. each
(Epilepsy)
(Cellulitis)
(Choloesterol)
(Metabolism)
Can you say
I have a mini-pharmacy???
Yet Another New Blog Devoted To Medical Issues....
Yeah, it's true. I figured it was time to break down and devote an entire blog to an issue I struggle with on a daily basis - Medical issues.
And boy do I have a lot of 'em - Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, and more recently, Diabetes (the latter stemming from a case of Cellulitis I had - more on that later).
First of all, lemme tell you a little more about myself (i.e. stuff you won't find in my profile). I've had Cerebral Palsy since birth and Epilepsy since at least the 5th Grade (though if you listen to my mom, she'll tell you I've had it too since birth). I'm able to walk, thanks to the MANY MANY hours in PT and the FOURTEEN operations I had in the first 15 years of life.
I also put in some hours in OT and ST as well (especially ST in my early childhood years).
Anyhow, time went on and I grew up and became an adult and the challenges I faced after I graduated High School, which were MANY back in 1985. I ended up graduating from the
Weber Basin Job Corps Center in May 1987 and got a job shortly thereafter.
Unfortunately things didn't quite work out there, but I still landed on my feet when I moved out on my own, having applied for and got my disability (from both the State & Federal government).
As time went on, and moving forward, my medical issues were slowly creeping up on me. And on Tuesday August 9th, 2005, it all came to a head.
After I spent six weeks in the hospital, I came home and later blogged
this post, which I will repost here (You can comment here or there. It don't matter to me).
With that...Here's the repost of
Where Oh Where I Have Been dated Friday September 23rd, 2005.
As I write this, I am amongst the offline world, but not because I forgot to pay the electric bill or got washed up in Hurricane Katrina, though the cable company is expected to be out today to reactivate my account and stuff (I had my cable account suspended since I was in the hospital and didn't see the need to pay for service I couldn't receive because of my obvious physical location). :-)
This time it's because I contracted a case of cellulitis in the left leg which resulted in my getting sick to the point where I came within HOURS (if not sooner!) of DEATH. I came down with a fever so high that it amazed doctors that I was still conscious. The temp was 106.7 (No I'm not kidding either!). I will lead off Episode 22 of Pat's Podcast with this, but if podcasts aren't your cup of tea as it were, lemme briefly summarize what all happened (if that's possible).
It was August 9th. I had just jumped in the shower. As the water hit me, I started getting the chills. Thinking it was just a fluky thing, I continued with my shower. After my shower, I was REALLY shivering. So when I stepped out into the living area, I turned on the HEATER portion of my Heater/AC unit. I think the latter turned out to be my biggest mistake as you see later on.
Convinced I had some type of flu bug, I called my mom on the phone (she lives in the same building as I do, just different apartment :-) ) to see if she had anything I could take, but she said she didn't and reminded me to not be afraid to call the paramedics and get my butt to the hospital to get some antibiotics. Things eventually REALLY got bad as I went to the bathroom and while I was in there and on the way back, it felt as though I was about to collapse. I had this funny feeling of a corkscrew trying to work its way inside my head or (perhaps more accurate) a helicopter blade spinning around inside my head (If you know how a helicopter blade spins around while the thing is on the ground, you have a pretty good idea of what I was feeling). I was also (sic) puking my guts out (dry heaves mostly).
As for the consciousness thing....The simplest way to describe it would be like watching an old home movie (My eyes were batting open and shut rapidly). But instead of the movie, the action was 100% LIVE & VERY REAL.
Suffice to say, I wound up calling the paramedics who ultimately (and almost immediately) took me to the hospital where my primary care provider works out of. After a battery of tests to determine what it was that I had, doctors came to the conclusion that the problem was the cellulitis in my left leg (it was red and swollen. My right leg was swollen as well, but not as much as my left leg nor was it as red). Everyone in the ER was also telling me that I was BURNING UP and that my skin was somewhat warm to the touch even though I was shivering.
Problem was the doctors eventually had to perform a Biopsy on my left leg to confirm what they already suspected. This was because, for whatever reason, they seemingly couldn't find the right antibiotics that seemed to work. Just yesterday (9/22), I was told that I would have a dimple for a "scar" when the would finally heals (it still hasn't as I type this).
They later determined that I had diabetes.
Trust me, there's NO other feeling like being asked if you have ever been diagnosed with diabetes (or other serious and deadly disease), you telling the doc that you haven't, only to be told that you have been now. Surreal and shocking to say the very least.
As a result of all this, I was ultimately admitted to the MICU section of the hospital As anyone who has ever been in hospitals can imagine, I was placed in a private room. I spent roughly ten days there. I was then moved to a regular hospital room. My only problem with that was that the room *wasn't* a private room. As a result, not only was I at the mercy of MY doctors, nurses and their assistants and other people treating me, but also those of the person next to me. What a drag that was. :-(
After about two weeks of this, I finally got my own room (My guess is that the sooner you show signs of getting well, the sooner you get your own room. Really strange). During this stage, there was another problem. This time, it was a complication with the interaction between Phenobarbital (the medication I took for my Epilepsy) and the Anastesia (sp?) they used for my Biopsy. As a result, there was a lot of distention in my stomach and they had to perform a colonoscopy (sp?) to correct this. They also switched me from Phenobarbital to Depakote.
Anyway, enough with the gross stuff. Eventually, after more than three weeks at the hospital (and after the Radiology Department, who was getting to klnow me on a first name basis with my my near-daily visits to them even though I didn't know them from a freakin' hole in the ground was supposedly starting a betting pool as to when I finally might leave :-) *LOL!*), I was transferred to an LTAC center for rehabilitation. Suffice to say, this is a hospital run on the cheap side - IN EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY. I spent almost another three weeks there before finally coming home.
Now since I'm a guy, my overall assessment on the nurses is kinda bland. There weren't any real cuties (I wasn't *that* lucky), but I didn't exactly end up with a bunch of old hags armed with big square needles either (though there *were* a *few* times where this did happen, but fortunately this wasn't very often :-) ). I did however stumble across some GUYS who were nurses though (Is it just me or is the number of male nurses rising along with the number of female doctors?). Also had a couple guys for therapists too.
Anyhow, even though I'm now cured of my cellulitis, it was finally discovered that I have a diabetic condition. Not neccessarily Diabetes itself though as I don't need Insulin. But I do need to watch my sugar intake. I also need to try to lose some weight (I lost some 75-80 lbs. going from 370 to about 290-295 before rebounding back to 310). Also, because of my Cerebral Palsy, my doctor is also prescribing a motorized scooter for me so I can get around (I can walk with the assistance of a walker and have most of my leg strength back now, but that won't be of much help when I'm out in public even after I'm able to put the walker aside). I'm also getting a bunch of other things as well (including a special bed for my sleep apnea, which I also now have).
Hopefully I'll land myself an iRiver with my Rent Rebates soon so I can do some podcasts as I go scooting around town. That'd be REALLY cool. :-) (Don't get me wrong. My Olympus VNC240PC is great, but compared to an iRiver, it's a backup :-) ).
I'm hoping some good will come out of all this in the end. One of which is my biological clock being returned to normal so then this way I get up in the morning as opposed to in the afternoon like before. As it is now, it's now 6:00 AM and I'm wide awake after only about five hours of sleep (Before all thechanges, I would normally be going to bed by this hour. Also, ideally I'd like to push it up to a full eight, but alas....Baby steps....Baby steps. Recovery Road is a long one and I'm only in the middle of it. *sigh* ).
Anyway....That's where I've been for the last six weeks. Time for me to save this for posting later on today when I get my cable and access to the Internet back (I get it via Comcast) but if I think of anything else, I'll be sure to somehow slip it in. :-)You can post comments
here if you'd like or you can leave them at the link below.
Anyway...Welcome to my new medical issues blog. I may even start up a whole new podcast and devote it to medical issues (But that depends on demand from Y-O-U :)).
In the meantime....Cheers for now & Happy Holidays :)
Pat
