Cervical Xrays at (roughly) 3 month mark

So I got my cervical spine xrays done yesterday at the same time I was getting a chest xray and blood tests.
You can see them (hot off the press) here:

http://killerbanshee.com/family/medical/cervicalxrays.html

It is so, umm...real to see it in black and white like that. It was pretty amazing to see.
Funny that one can post their xrays before they even get to the doctor in some instances these days.

So I was on a crazy round to all the doctors over the last few days cuz I was feeling like complete crap. I was sure it was due to the methadone and me having a bad reaction to it. Physical therapy people and my primary were worried it could be a UTI or the flu that is going around, so they wanted to check. I peed in a cup. Got a CBC panel & a chest xray. All clear. I went to the Pain Clinic. My doctor was out of town. Thank goodness. I feel like we speak to completely different languages. Eliot and I both ask him to re-explain things when we're in the office and leave looking at eachother with big questionmarks over our heads. I don't know what it is. Makes me crazy. Like he said he'd give me a prescription for clonidine patches. I asked what are they for? He said to take with the methadone to offset the effects. I asked if it was really necessary, what would it specifically help? I didn't get a clear answer. I asked if it was available in pills because I tend to have scars from adhesives left on more than a day or so. He said ok. I should have checked the prescription, I know. Eliot pages me from the pharmacy and says it is for patches. Ack. So I didn't use them and left a message for my doctor about it. Didn't hear back. So back to the fact that we were at the pain clinic and he wasn't. I explained to the doctor I was seeing instead what all I was taking. I told him my symptoms...difficulty breathing, restlessness, weird constipation/diarrhea combo, drowsiness, decreased appetite, dry mouth, weakness, profuse sweating, muscle spasms, tremors, restless sleep, twitching, back and leg pain, spiking fevers, very fatigued, difficulty urinating, joint pain in all joints...he said it was for sure due to withdrawal from dilaudid. I asked if it was possibly due to the methadone. He said that wouldn't be it because I was taking clonidine for that. I said that I wasn't and that I had left a messasge for my doctor about that. He got all wound up and went and got the head doctor of the clinic. They talked me through what was going on, adjusted my dosages with the methadone and actually got me the prescription for clonidine in pills (took 3 times explaining to them that every medical adhesive I've had on my person for more than 2 days has left a scar). We went home and got the new prescriptions. They set a time for me to come in on Monday. What a difference between this treatment and the odd behavior of the person I regularly see! Any suggestions on how to change doctors within a group?

Amazing how much better I felt this morning. Still not amazing, but as good as I had been feeling before starting the decrease of the dilaudid/addition of methadone. And for those of you out there that have had these surgeries, how quickly did you come off narcotics all together? Did you change from a short to long acting one in the process? They are telling me that I might be on pain killers for a few more months, I didn't think I'd be on them that long, but I'm not sure what is usual.

Well, I better get some shut eye. Enjoy the pix.

Hmmm...MacJournal has an blogger post feature

Just noticed it in the custom menus, so we'll try it.

I feel like crap. Been feeling less than stellar for a few weeks as I've noted. Still waiting for test results on the main feeling like crud theory.

Now, on top of it I'm feeling even more crappy. No appetite. Fluish. Loss of appetite. Tired. Sleepy. Exhausted. Dry dry dry mouth & throat. Thirsty all the time. Super fatigued. Sweating buckets. Enough to have to change my clothes multiple times a day. I'm popping more fevers. Many of these are lasting longer than the usual ones which go up to 101.9 or so. These are only going to 99.x and last a couple of hours and then I go back down to something around 97.7. I'm having urgency about needing to pee. Then it is difficult to pee. (Did a UTI pee test just in case, nope.) I'm still having a systemic behavior that is like constipation, but what is coming out is more like diarrhea. The joint pain is terrible...hips, knees and ankles worst, then elbows, shoulders & wrists. I'm achy all over. I'm feeling much cloudier, like I can't think. Bleh. I'm going to see the pain clinic docs tomorrow. I've just stopped a moment to prepare myself for that tomorrow and the withdrawal of the dilaudid combined with the side effects I seem to be having with the methadone is probably the reason for it. I'm going to ask them if we can try something other than methadone for the long term. I can get through the dilaudid withdrawal if I know that is what it is.

What else. Not much cuz I've been so freakin tired and sleepy that I've not been able to. I've gotta rearrange my sleeping area too, cuz I've woken up in terrible positions a couple of times with my head partially turned and all that. I think it is time to stop sleeping on my devided pillow and go back to a regular one. I'm going to go back to sleep now.

Visiting with my mom

Been a bit quiet cuz my mom came for a visit. That took pretty much all of my energy for the last week. It was great though. My cousin Chellie and her husband and kids came down for 2 of the days. We mostly stayed around the compound, but mom went with me to my new physical therapist. (Yes, I finally got rid of the other one!) The new ones are great. Everyone agrees. It is a perfect fit. They do feldenkrais among other approaches. I like them, mom likes them, Eliot likes them. They like me. Woo hoo.
Mom helped garden, she helped clean, she helped cook. It was really nice. We spent a lot of time on the patio cuz Chellie's husband John is allergic to cats. It was a very nice weekend though. Mom and I taught Chellie and her daughter Haley to knit. I set mom up with her new iBook. I'm still having a lot of pain. Transitioning from dilaudid to methadone slowly. Got some good support shoes to work on walking in. I'm getting some tests done to follow up on the antibiotics thing, but don't know anything for sure yet. And in another 10 days I'll be getting my 3 month Xrays!
More about the physical therapy and stuff a little later. I gotta leave for an appointment now.

is it the antibiotics?

My energy feels like it is slipping. I'm more tired, less clear headed and really feeling pretty weak. The weak part I'm hoping is just part of going from no shape to getting in better shape and building my strength. I was horrified at physical therapy the other day that I collapsed. My legs, just like they used to, went to jelly and refused to hold me up. Frack! I am really pissed off about it. Of course it made my physical therapist go in the completely other direction and not want to let me do anything at therapy. She wants to know if I'm hypoglycemic. No. My legs are trying to do their old tricks. But WHY? she wants to know. Well, that is the question isn't it. Of course she thinks it is impossible to have legs that don't support you and not know why. They recovered after a 4hour nap, but I've been feeling a bit wibbly since. So back to the question...is it the antibiotics? Every time I take megadoses of antibiotics I feel great for about 4-6 weeks. Every time I take a regular course of antibiotics I feel great for a week or 2. It is bizarre.

More about this after I've done some reading. Looking forward to input from those of you reading as well.