In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2) by SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

BRENDA, I doubt you'll see this, but thanks for the explanation.

And, yeah ... it WAS a bad week!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Friday, February 27, 2026 10:16 PM

What do you call 6 doctors at the bottom of the ocean?

A good start.

We need to change their protections.

I've got CGM logs that prove what they did to me. Or at least what they would have done to me if I was as stupid as Ted or Second, anyhow. This isn't hearsay.

I'm writing logs on everything, and my old man will see it all first thing when he comes in the door a week from now when he's trying to call me about what day to come over and I'm not answering because my blood sugar went too low. Not saying that's going to happen, because I don't think it will, but if it does...

The doctor who made it very clear that it was extremely important that I got the X-Rays yesterday was not in today either, and I doubt very much she'll be in until at least Monday. Not a single other person has reached out to me to go over my X-Rays and tell me what the next step is or if I need to be on other meds, as she alluded I would be depending on the X-Ray results.

As of this morning, 23 hours after I got the X-Ray, they still hadn't gotten it. Not only that, but when I explained the high glucose situation and the fact that I'm now basically a Type I and Type II Diabetic at the same time because of these steroids, the girl working behind the computer had the gall to tell me "because of what you're telling me right now, I would recommend not taking anymore of the steroid". I told her "all due respect, but everything I've read about this drug says DO NOT STOP TAKING IT UNLESS A DOCTOR ORDERS YOU TO STOP TAKING IT".

So I called the facility where I got the X-Rays and they swore up and down that it was already sent to them. I told them that they told me that they never got it. So she sent me the X-Rays directly to my email. I'm glad I kept her on the phone, because it was in a password protected zip file. At least she had that. But then I opened it and it was a blank form that didn't say anything about me except for my name and my Sex. Everything pertinent was either "N/A" or "No information on file". So she said she was going to "try something else and send it to me again". She had no interest in staying on the phone while that happened, although she told me she would be resending it to the place where I got my scripts.

This time I got a real form with real results. Not any of the X-rays themselves, but a one page form with a bunch of doctor-speak about the results.

It has now been 2 full days and several hours since my initial visit. I still have not been contacted by anybody there. My only conversations have been with the desk jockeys, and that's only because I called them. Every time I've been told that a "provider" would be calling me back, whatever that means, but nobody has called me yet.

They have my phone number. They have my email. No contact whatsoever.

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Friday, February 27, 2026 10:36 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Trust me, SIX, you'll get nowhere bc you don't have a winnable case. We have “been there and done that“ with our daughter’s catastrophic birth, and lackadaisical followup and misdiagnosis for the first three years of her life and got nowhere.

Even if you were to die, your family couldn't prove malpractice. The best they could get would be "wrongful death".

Find something else to be pissed off about bc this will just eat a hole in your stomach.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 12:39 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Trust me, SIX, you'll get nowhere bc you don't have a winnable case. We have “been there and done that“ with our daughter’s catastrophic birth, and lackadaisical followup and misdiagnosis for the first three years of her life and got nowhere.

Even if you were to die, your family couldn't prove malpractice. The best they could get would be "wrongful death".

Find something else to be pissed off about bc this will just eat a hole in your stomach.

Yeah... if the Methylprednisone or whatever it's called doesn't do that first. That's just one of the 30 or so super-dangerous side effects this drug can cause. Major stomach ulcerations and perforated colons and whatnot.

I used to crap every morning right when I woke up before I started taking it. Just occurred to me now that I haven't had a BM in 3 days now too.

This might really be the end this time.

Oh well... Had a good run.

Not really, but after a lifetime of chasing the truth, I think I'll allow myself that one little white lie.

I do have to say that I appreciate that Second hasn't been rubbing this one in my face. I can't imagine it's because he spent his time while this site was down growing a new soul from scratch, but I always hold out hope for everybody. It's not those two dipshits' faults that they're evil little pricks today. They're not the real enemy. The real enemy is the one that got us all talking this way at each other in the first place.

They know not what they do.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 5:10 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oh, it's not worth being a drama queen over, SIX. Just remember that if your blood sugar gets to 390, call 911. Make the medical professionals work for their money!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 7:01 AM

I'm not one for melodrama.

Put the glucose stuff aside... I'm more worried about the report that said the X-Rays didn't show any signs of pneumonia and something along the lines of a differential showing that whatever the radiologist saw being either malignant or a vestigial infection, which is why they're recommending the CT scan. (I don't have it right in front of me now).

That and the fact that my heartbeat is around 135bpm right now (I'm always high, even when healthy... usually around the 90-95 range, but I've never been up to anything over 120, even when I was working out, busting ass at a job that had a bpm machine, etc., and this appears to just be my "resting" heartbeat now.). Strangely enough my blood pressure is fine in the meantime, which boggles my mind because there are times where I can literally feel/hear my heartbeat in my right ear cavity.

At least I've cut down my smoking to about 6-7 cigarettes a day right now. Maybe I'll ask for the patch and try that out if I can get a scrip for them. Probably doesn't matter if I'm type 4 already. I just watched my friend's dad die of this, and my uncle maybe 8 years ago. They both shrivled up and looked like Jesus on the cross before they died, and spend the last week pissing and shitting themselves before they went.

I won't be doing any of that. If that's the case I'm going to get a shit ton of weed gummies from my friend, fire up my car in my garage with some good tunes on and go to sleep one last time.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 12:18 PM

Well.. I think I can say one thing for all of the illicit drugs, alcohol, nicotine and caffeine I've ingested over the years. I think my body absorbs new stuff quite a bit better than most other folk.

Not going to say that managing this steroid is "easy" or that it's not still having an effect on my insulin resistance still, but the 2nd 24 hour period which is over in a few more hours has been significantly easier to manage than the first. I'll chalk some of that up to being armed with knowledge going into the 5-pill day, over complete ignorance of the first 6-pill day, but I only went over 200 once in the 2nd 24 hour period, and it wasn't by much and not for long either. Unfortunately, I did probably have about 12 glucose tabs because of going too low while I was sleeping and being woke by the blaring alarm, or just being awake and catching myself in the 75 and falling range. I actually did take advantage of those times and eat some legitimate carbs too, with peanut butter since that has carbs too but does a great job of spreading out whatever other carbs you eat with it over time rather than allowing for hard spikes all at once. I never took a single direct bolus shot, and managed everything with the very heavy basal drip.

Way better than spending 3/5ths of the day over 300 and not being able to bring it back down no matter what I did, that's for sure.

It's strange that I only had a 30 unit basal from the pen right before I took the 2nd batch of pills too, despite using way less insulin from my current pod. I know that this pod will be thrown away well before 3 days even with the full 200 units put in, but I'm surprised at how well I was able to manage the 2nd day when I did all of that reading on reddit where people were saying they went into keto-acidosis or were just resigned to be over 300 the entire time they were on the drug.

Knowing this, I'd better really be careful on day 3, now that I'll only be taking 4 pills. I think I might up the pen to 50 basal units today after taking the pills, and lowering my hourly intake from 7 to only 3 and putting a percentage multiplier UP or down on that instead of only using DOWN multipliers on the 7 and outright pausing the insulin delivery for hours at a time when I would go low.

I've only ever taken steroids one other time in my life, when I was a teenager and suffered a Poison Oak outbreak that forced me to quarantine myself from my friends the last few weeks of summer of Junior Year with head to toe nastiness, and Aveeno baths. So I'm kind of surprised to see how well my body has adjusted to it already given everything I've read and the experiences other people have had while on the drug.

The cough is still there for sure, but I'm due for another inhaler and whatever anti-coughing pill they gave me. It's not a cough I can't control though.. more of a light wheeze after holding it back.

Unfortunately, when I do get something up it still tastes pretty vile and looks just as bad as ever, but the amount of lung bits that come up are about 1%-2% of what was coming up before I was put on any of the drugs.

Still feel weak and shitty, but part of that is probably that I haven't had any coffee for 2 days now, and the few days before that my coffee intake was only about 1/2 of usual. I'm surprised my head isn't just throbbing right now due to caffeine withdrawals. I haven't had any ibuprofen for a few days now, come to think of it.

Getting tons of sleep and drinking tons of water. Peeing a ton, even when the blood sugar is low, so that's annoying to have to keep waking up to take care of that business. Still no urge to BM after 4 days, but I know I haven't been eating as much as I usually do.

I don't think I've actually been hungry now for about 2 weeks, but I've never felt I needed to force food down. I didn't eat last night before going to sleep, which is odd for me, but I have been eating during the day before taking the pills, and like I said, yesterday I had peanut butter and dry cereal several times during low sugar events, so I probably ate as much as I usually do, but it was spread out over time instead of before I go to sleep. I'm sure being sick helped with being able to fall asleep easy, but last night was the first night in a long time where I had no problem sleeping without eating beforehand. Quite a feat for a person who's suffered insomnia for more than 4 decades now.

I'm really hoping that whatever I cough up today starts looking more like something that humans should be coughing up now that we're getting into day 3. I only have 3 more Z-Pack pills left, and I've only got 4 more days of the steroid. Hoping for some dark green crap and not fleshy colored poison puss when something comes up today.

Low energy for sure right now, but I probably do feel better than I have in weeks right now.

I like the way everything is trending. I'm just afraid that after I'm off the meaningful drugs that I'll just immediately backslide into where I was 3 days ago.

Finger's crossed.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 2:23 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So, about Zpack (azythromycin): it's very resistant to being broken down and excreted, so even after you stop taking it, with a half-life of almost 3 days it'll be in your system and still at an effective concentration for about 7 more days. https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/long-azithromycin-stay-system-af
ter-you-finish-3120142/ You may worry about not being "on" an antibiotic, but it's still in there, doing its job.

The great thing about Zpack is that it's effective against many bacteria, but also against a special class of bacterium called "mycobacterium" which is incredibly hard to culture and to see under a microscope. Mycobacterium was the origin of a lot of previously unspecified pneumonia.

What is the exact wording on the radiology report? Do you have it to refer to? "Vestigial infection" isn't standard medical terminology, but it's possible you have some scarring in your lungs from a previous infection. I have some weird shit in my lungs, calcified nodules that may have been nodes of infection, or possibly granulomas or angiitis or even cancer that got nailed with chemo, as well as larger areas of "changed lung architecture" (scarring) from radiation treatment. I'm reasonably certain you had Covid at one point, which could be the source of your diabetes and may have scarred some areas of your lungs.

Until you hear otherwise, assume the best bc that's the most likely. It's the radiologist's job to note all this stuff, even if they can't tell what it is. (And you'd be surprised how often that happens!)

Just to satisfy my medical nosiness, what color are you coughing up?

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 3:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by BRENDA:
Just a note. I am at the library because my monitor froze again on Monday. Used it before I went out then when I got back it had turned itself off. Have been trying to warm it up myself to get it working. Paying for help is bordering on the impossible without the bring it in. Easy for them to say. Even the monitor is heavy for me. Every one says it is hard ware. But that is all. Hopefully I can get it running soon and be back.

This has been a really crappy week. Booby prize at mah jong. Was late and the boss got upset. Then I broke tooth yesterday eating cereal. I figure the drilling must have put a crack into it and last night was just enough. Have to call or go in to make an appointment to repair it. This is the only place I can get to because it is the only one I remember my password for. UGH!!! Some one just shoot me.

You said you had another monitor on your other computer when we were talking about this earlier, Brenda. I knew it was only a matter of time before the monitor or the cord failed on you. If you try the other monitor and it doesn't work, you can also try moving your computer to your TV and using one of the AUX HDMI inputs and using your TV as your monitor until you get a replacement.

Sorry about the tooth. That sucks.

Glad you're alright otherwise, health-wise.

Was getting a little worried about you over here.

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One monitor is too old and the other one is full of dust, so cleaning it would be a b&tch. Also my tv is too old to do all that stuff with. It's at least 20years old. Have to look at the cords I got and see what I can do.

This tooth has been repaired before and I don't know if it is repairable again. All I can think is there was another crack in it and all the drilling is what finally let it break.

Yeah. Cough is all gone now. So no worries there.

I know but not much I can do until I figure out a way to sort this all out.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 3:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
BRENDA, I doubt you'll see this, but thanks for the explanation.

And, yeah ... it WAS a bad week!

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

No worries. I am at the library again.

Yeah, it's been pretty bad for sure.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 4:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, about Zpack (azythromycin): it's very resistant to being broken down and excreted, so even after you stop taking it, with a half-life of almost 3 days it'll be in your system and still at an effective concentration for about 7 more days. https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/long-azithromycin-stay-system-af
ter-you-finish-3120142/ You may worry about not being "on" an antibiotic, but it's still in there, doing its job.

Nice.

Quote:
The great thing about Zpack is that it's effective against many bacteria, but also against a special class of bacterium called "mycobacterium" which is incredibly hard to culture and to see under a microscope. Mycobacterium was the origin of a lot of previously unspecified pneumonia.

Double nice.

Quote:
What is the exact wording on the radiology report? Do you have it to refer to? "Vestigial infection" isn't standard medical terminology, but it's possible you have some scarring in your lungs from a previous infection. I have some weird shit in my lungs, calcified nodules that may have been nodes of infection, or possibly granulomas or angiitis or even cancer that got nailed with chemo, as well as larger areas of "changed lung architecture" (scarring) from radiation treatment. I'm reasonably certain you had Covid at one point, which could be the source of your diabetes and may have scarred some areas of your lungs.

I got it all for you here... Except for the BAD stuff, there's a lot of good stuff on there too. I still think it's 50/50 that this is lung cancer, but I think that it probably hasn't spread yet if it is. Strangely, I think it might be TB as well... Maybe I should stop shopping at ALDI, because that's the only place I can think of that I go where I am regularly in contact with people who would be the most likely to have that, and it's probably where I got the "suspected" Covid-19 infection as well. I haven't really left my house all that much in the last few months, and outside of my buddy's house and visits from my old man, the only other places I've been have been my CVS pharmacy and the Dollar Tree.

Quote:

Examination

Description: Chest xray, 2 views

Comparison: None Provided.

Findings:

- The cardiomediastinal silhouette is unremarkable.

- No pleural effusion is noted.

- There is no pneumothorax present.

- The soft tissue and bones are unremarkable for age.

- 8.0 cm left upper lung opacity with a possible cavitary appearance is on the lateral view.

IMPRESSION:

1. 8.0 cm left upper lung opacity with a possible cavitary apperance on the lateral view

2. Differential considerations would include malignancy versus a cavitary infections process.

3. CT recommended for further evaluation.

Quote:
Until you hear otherwise, assume the best bc that's the most likely. It's the radiologist's job to note all this stuff, even if they can't tell what it is. (And you'd be surprised how often that happens!)

Just to satisfy my medical nosiness, what color are you coughing up?

5-6 weeks ago, though rather infrequent at the time, it was a thick green color.

Maybe about a month ago it started changing. Definitely a lot more "fleshy" color. Taste was like rotten chicken nuggets (I dunno where I came up with that, but I haven't been able to eat a chicken nugget since I started coughing like this, and I may never eat them again).

Not too much nasty phlegm at first, but over the last 2.5 weeks it was quite a bit, although there would be 2-3 day periods in between where I didn't cough up anything at all. I'd say that when it was its worst, it was mostly thick and white, with red inside of it. Maybe like a vanilla-strawberry swirl yogurt or something. (Nothing super bright red or anything, but I'm not going to lie to myself and say that it wasn't because of blood and/or necrotic lung tissue).

The night before I started taking the meds (and after I went to the clinic), I had a pretty bad coughing fit that I wasn't able to hold back and I coughed up so much of it in such a short period of time, relative to any point in the past, and I almost vomited. That last cough before I finally got it back under control almost seemd to be acidic, although at that point I may have also been suffering from some acid reflux, which I don't have chronically but when I do get it, it can be quite awful. To note, the very next morning before I went to get the Xray I did have to take a few TUMS for the first time in maybe 3 months because even though I wasn't drinking any coffee I did have some acid reflux.

I still haven't gone back to "normal" color phlegm, but the amount I'm coughing up even after only 1 day on the meds is about 2% of what I was in the 3-4 days before I started taking the meds. But although the color hasn't really improved, I noticed that the awful taste has all but vanished. I do think that overall there is less red in anything now than there was before the meds though. Sometimes it's only been white too. Also, where about 2/3rds of my phlem before would sink like a rock in the water bottle, almost everything I've coughed up since I started taking the meds floats at the top of the water like it should. Not all of it, but most of it.

Strangely, the few rare instances I cough up phlegm now, I dont' really notice any taste at all. But when I do have dry coughs where nothing comes up, I can still taste it faintly.

NOTE: I do think that nobody is probably taking into consideration that if I'm getting help for something it's because I'm literally dying. It's not as if I went to get help immediately and had this 8.0cm opacity overnight. This took months to get to that point.

Thanks for taking time out of your day to look at this, Sigs.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 4:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BRENDA:
One monitor is too old and the other one is full of dust, so cleaning it would be a b&tch. Also my tv is too old to do all that stuff with. It's at least 20years old. Have to look at the cords I got and see what I can do.

Maybe take some time to clean the one up that you think would work with an HDMI cable. Short of that, look for a monitor or smaller TV that has HDMI inputs/outputs which would also work. You should be able to pick one up at a Goodwill or something similar for a song if you manage to find one.

I was afraid your monitor was about to go when we were discussing it. Don't throw it out just yet, but I think you just need to get a working used monitor and new HDMI cable and you should be back in business imediately and you can just toss out the problem monitor. These things happen. I've gone through 3 flat screen monitors over the years now. Those old CRT monitors worked forever and would probably still be working today if I had any of them. These LED flat screens are all pieces of shit that are designed to fail because they want you to just keep buying new ones even if you aren't upgrading to the biggest and the best all the time.

Quote:
This tooth has been repaired before and I don't know if it is repairable again. All I can think is there was another crack in it and all the drilling is what finally let it break.

Yeah. Cough is all gone now. So no worries there.

I know but not much I can do until I figure out a way to sort this all out.

Yeah... Bummer about the tooth. With my dental history, I can totally empathize. Look at the bright side though... You'll still have a lot more of your teeth than I do if this one needs to go.

Glad your cough is gone. Hopefully I see some good news about mine soon. Finger's crossed that I'm not already a dead man walking.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 5:05 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So, as usual (!) with radiology reports, I have to look up the terms ...

Quote:
Cavitary pneumonia, also known as necrotizing pneumonia, is a severe lung infection characterized by the formation of cavities in the lung tissue due to liquefaction and necrosis. It is often caused by bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, and can lead to serious complications if not treated promptly.

Quote:
A cavity has been defined in the radiology literature as (pathologically) “a gas-filled space within a zone of pulmonary consolidation or within a mass or nodule, produced by the expulsion of a necrotic [dead, rotted] part of the lesion via the bronchial tree [coughed up]”

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2292573/

Basically, a portion of your lung rots away and is coughed up. Given what you were coughing up, that sounds like you.

Eeeew!

Given the number of organisms that can cause this, especially pseudomonas bacteria and aspergillus mold, you may need to be on heavy- duty IV antibiotics or antifungals.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 5:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, as usual (!) with radiology reports, I have to look up the terms ...

Quote:
Cavitary pneumonia, also known as necrotizing pneumonia, is a severe lung infection characterized by the formation of cavities in the lung tissue due to liquefaction and necrosis. It is often caused by bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, and can lead to serious complications if not treated promptly.

Quote:
A cavity has been defined in the radiology literature as (pathologically) “a gas-filled space within a zone of pulmonary consolidation or within a mass or nodule, produced by the expulsion of a necrotic [dead, rotted] part of the lesion via the bronchial tree [coughed up]”

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2292573/

Basically, a portion of your lung rots away and is coughed up. Given what you were coughing up, that sounds like you.

Eeeew!

Given the number of organisms that can cause this, especially pseudomonas bacteria and aspergillus mold, you may need to be on heavy- duty IV antibiotics or antifungals.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

Yeah... Eeeew! is right.

Fucking gross, is probably more appropriate.

Your treatment is pretty much in-line with what I heard on the phone today, at least assuming it's not cancer. He may have mentioned a specific drug or both of them, but even though he made no mention of any IVs, he said based off my CT results if it wasn't cancer we would be going from the Z-Pack to a MUCH more aggressive antibiotic than what I'm currently on. I didn't ask, but I would assume the 2nd drug they'd be giving me is probably a stronger steroid than what they've currently got me on too.

What do you think about the cancer though? If I had cancer, do you think that the Z-Pack/Steroid I'm on would have such great results in only a day or two like I've experienced so far?

* Also... that's why I put all the "good" parts of the X-Ray results too, which to me and what I've read online point to no evidence of any spreading of cancer to or from my lungs to anywhere else, and that my heart itself seems to be fine and normal sized as well.

* The "good" parts...

Quote:
- The cardiomediastinal silhouette is unremarkable.

- No pleural effusion is noted.

- There is no pneumothorax present.

- The soft tissue and bones are unremarkable for age.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 5:35 PM

Also...

I will be going to get the CT done on Monday. I just need to verify that my medicaid will cover it. Nobody from the provider, state or any hospital I called would confirm this for me, or even give me an estimate of what it might cost if I did have to pay for it. Some things online say that if the ER visit was warranted, I could face a co-pay of between $8 and $20. Don't care about that. I just don't want to be blindsided 3 months from now with a bill in the mail for $4,000 for a CT scan.

I was told that between Mon-Fri during business hours they have people there who can do preauths, and nobody appears to be on staff anywhere during the weekend that can answer this question for me.

I don't understand this since I've had a CT done before several years ago for my heart after the bad EKG reading that was guaranteed to be covered BEFORE I have the procedure done, but nobody can do that for me now with a much more serious and potentially life-threatening issue like I have right now. I would have gone and gotten a CT already today if I could get one single person to guaranty that my medicaid will cover the process, but looks like I'll have to just wait until Monday.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 8:46 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, as usual (!) with radiology reports, I have to look up the terms ...

Quote:
Cavitary pneumonia, also known as necrotizing pneumonia, is a severe lung infection characterized by the formation of cavities in the lung tissue due to liquefaction and necrosis. It is often caused by bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, and can lead to serious complications if not treated promptly.

Quote:
A cavity has been defined in the radiology literature as (pathologically) “a gas-filled space within a zone of pulmonary consolidation or within a mass or nodule, produced by the expulsion of a necrotic [dead, rotted] part of the lesion via the bronchial tree [coughed up]”

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2292573/

Basically, a portion of your lung rots away and is coughed up. Given what you were coughing up, that sounds like you.

Eeeew!

Given the number of organisms that can cause this, especially pseudomonas bacteria and aspergillus mold, you may need to be on heavy- duty IV antibiotics or antifungals.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

Yeah... Eeeew! is right.

Fucking gross, is probably more appropriate.

Your treatment is pretty much in-line with what I heard on the phone today, at least assuming it's not cancer. He may have mentioned a specific drug or both of them, but even though he made no mention of any IVs, he said based off my CT results if it wasn't cancer we would be going from the Z-Pack to a MUCH more aggressive antibiotic than what I'm currently on. I didn't ask, but I would assume the 2nd drug they'd be giving me is probably a stronger steroid than what they've currently got me on too.

What do you think about the cancer though? If I had cancer, do you think that the Z-Pack/Steroid I'm on would have such great results in only a day or two like I've experienced so far?

* Also... that's why I put all the "good" parts of the X-Ray results too, which to me and what I've read online point to no evidence of any spreading of cancer to or from my lungs to anywhere else, and that my heart itself seems to be fine and normal sized as well.

* The "good" parts...

Quote:
- The cardiomediastinal silhouette is unremarkable.

- No pleural effusion is noted.

- There is no pneumothorax present.

- The soft tissue and bones are unremarkable for age.

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

Well, you can get a good response to ANYTHING with steroids, so that clouds the picture. Also, it's possible to have cancer AND an infection, just staying.

No matter what they find, the doctors have a treatment. Even for me, with my aggressive cancer and rare autoimmunity.

But AFA infections are concerned, what they pick depends so much on the causative organism. Most drugs, even very strong antibiotics, are oral. The latest generation cephalosporins are IV bc they degrade in stomach acid.

Oh, BTWM, cough hard enough and you will bring up stomach acid, just from putting so much pressure on your stomach. Not to worry.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 9:07 PM

Thanks, Sigs.

Feeling pretty good overall right now, but I'm sure the steroids do have a lot to do with that. I haven't actually coughed anything up today, although I still get those dry coughs that don't taste/smell good still, but only on occasion.

Looks like my heartbeat is down to about "normal" right now too, or pretty normal for me. I mentioned that even when I was in good shape I'm usually over 90bpm to around 95bpm. Right now I'm at 97bpm (I did it with a pulse check on my wrist, so probably 95 to 100bpm, anyhow). That's down from 135bpm while at the hospital. I also haven't heard/felt my heartbeat in my right ear at all today either.

I've even had a little bit of coffee for the first time in days too.

Having a much easier time managing my glucose levels today too. Been between 70 to 110 all day long. Only did 30 on the basal pen and been keeping the basal drip at 4/hr and making adjustments here and there when I think about looking at the phone. I haven't had a high/low event to force me to look, but it's not swining so wild that I need to either. I just have to keep remembering to check is all.

I did read after asking you the question about the steroids though, and I realize that this might all be fake news and I'm really not recovering. Won't really know anything concrete until I get a CT on Monday morning. Finger's crossed.

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Sunday, March 1, 2026 4:23 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Yes indeed!

I have my fingers crossed for you!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Sunday, March 1, 2026 8:24 AM

Coughed up my first loogie in the last 24 hours or so last night and it was tasteless, scent-free and though it wasn't clear, it wasn't dark or red at all either. Just whiteish. The first one I've coughed up in about 3 weeks that I wouldn't have thought nothing of if I hadn't had the last 3 weeks behind me.

Still get a bit of a stink with the dry coughs though, but they are few and far between right now.

last 24 hour period+ I've kept the sugar between 70 and 120, even through the night when I slept. I did make several adjustments to the dose when I'd get up to go to the bathroom.

5 days without a BM still though. I'm wondering if the steroids have me using up most of the food or something??? I don't feel any gut discomfort. You'd think I'd be backed up so bad I couldn't move at this point otherwise. Weird.

Feeling pretty good though. But I'm not going to do much today but continue to get rest until I can get that CT done on Monday.

I think I forgot what it felt like to feel good. It's been a while.

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Sunday, March 1, 2026 3:52 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

You do sound like you're on the mend.

But... head's up, SIX! If you're like me, when you come down or get off steroids you're gonna feel like shit, relatively speaking. Tired, blah, achey.

Not getting sick again, just a rebound reaction.

Dang, those steroids are addictive!

Let me know all about the CT. I'm rooting for you.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Sunday, March 1, 2026 6:07 PM

Yeah... I heard about the addiction to the roids. I assumed that's why they started you on 6 and stepped you down to one.

I don't think I'm out of the woods at all, to be honest. I only have one more pill of the Z-Pack, and 2 days left of the steroid. I know I let this thing go a long time, but it's clear I'm nowhere near "good" with only 2 days of meds left.

Not coughing, or coughing up much at all, but it still tastes like rotten chicken nuggets in my mouth if I do regardless of what if anything comes up. Heart is still beating pretty fast and hard at times, while other times it seems fine. I'm not really doing anything, so that's not something I can live with when I'm back to working for a living or even just doing lawn maintenance in about a month from now.

At least I pooped today finally. Yay!

Guess we'll see what happens after the CT comes back.

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Monday, March 2, 2026 12:03 AM

It would appear that God or The Devil aren't ready for me yet.

The nurse practitioner who saw me the other day called me up at around 5PM today. I missed that call since I was too busy raising threads from the dead here for a laugh. I called her back and she pretty much put the fear of god in me that I needed a CT done, STAT! She told me stop dicking around worrying about health insurance because I could be dead by tomorrow morning and I should have gone yesterday when the other practitioner sent me that paperwork.

Alright, alright. Fuck... I guess I'm just fucked if the medicaid doesn't cover it then.

Unfortunately, my paperwork didn't say how serious it was, so nobody at the ER was taking me seriously, since the other "provider" at the clinic didn't put "STAT" anywhere on the paperwork for a CT and they only had "within 7 days" on there. Although when I mentioned she had told me that Tuberculosis was a good possibility here, all of the sudden they took that pretty seriously and they all put on their own masks (I was kind enough to already be wearing one on my way in).

They made me do X-Rays all over again. This time I was down to 6.4cm by 3cm.

Got the young male doctor to admit to me that he thought it was cancer, although while we were talking the radiologist sent him a message that said they were leaning toward a very aggressive pneumonia diagnosis over cancer. I asked him if he was just bull-shitting me now to make me feel better, but he actually pulled the message back up on his phone and showed me.

I may not LIKE being around people, but I'm usually able to get them to tell me things that most other people probably wouldn't.

And finally we got the CT done and I just kind of sat there in a zen state, with the lowest bpm I'd probably had in days, even though I just had a real doctor tell me he thought it was probably cancer...

And then 10 minutes to 10PM the doctor comes in and tells me it's not cancer. There's nothing solid within that massive mass in my lungs. It's all liquid and puss. It's either a staph or strep related pneumonia. So I was able to give my Dad a call before he was going to sleep (at 10). He was thinking about not going to see my brother for another day or two and coming to stay with me, but I told him either way I didn't want him wasting a day with me in the ER tomorrow if I was still there. He told me when we ended our call an hour earlier he said he was going to do something he never did before, and that he was going to pray for me.

So I told him when I called him back to remember whatever prayer he said if he ever wanted to use it again because it worked.

So they gave me two pills of whatever super-aggressive antibiotic they're going to have me pick up at the pharmacy tomorrow to get me started. He told me to use the Z-pack tomorrow, finish up the steroid until that runs out, and use the new antibiotic, and follow up with my Primary a week from now and get a new X-Ray while I'm there and I should be good. They weren't even going to use an IV antibiotic on me for whatever it was that they saw with that CT.

I ain't so easy to kill, but we already knew that by now.

Oh... and I told you all I look kind of like a younger, stronger version of Walter White when I've got my glasses on with my head shaved like this. Since I brought all my meds and toothbrush and my dentures stuff, in my man-purse tool bag along with other things, I decided to make a rare appearance outside my house with my glasses on rather than add contacts and solution to the mix.

So I took the opportunity to wear my Breaking Bad shirt with the police sketch of Walter White that said Heisenberg underneath it.

A few people there got the joke, so I guess it's not that out of date yet. I'll bet my doctor was in high school when that show was originally airing.

Told my old man about that and he was laughing. I told him, before I got the good news, that when he was saying my eulogy he could let it be known that even right up to the end I had a good sense of humor about it all.

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Monday, March 2, 2026 1:23 PM

Hey Sigs...

Whatchu know about Doxycycline Hyclate?

We're not playing anymore, are we?

Got a good dose of it last night, and now they got me on a ten-day 2-pill regimen (morning and night). They told me to wrap up that Z-Pack and the steroid too, and not to worry about any overlap.

My only concern is that there is a possibility of hives breakout because of the Amox allergy from before, but with all the warnings of side effects of the other drugs so far, the only thing that got me was the first few days of insulin resistance from the steroid catching me off-guard. None of the warnings about cramps, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, blah, blah, blah did anything with the other drugs so far. Didn't poop for days, but wasn't in any pain or discomfort because of it.

They are telling me to drink two whole cups of water with this one though, which I've never seen on a drug before.

I thought it was funny that this one warns you not to be in direct sunlight for the whole time you're on it. I guess you can get really bad sunburns while on this stuff???

Well it's a good thing I'm a vampire. It's also March 2nd in the part of the country that's dead for half a year and it's 37 degrees out right now, so I think we're good on that.

I don't think I'll have a problem with the ween off of the steroid either. Only have the 2 pills today and 1 more pill tomorrow, and we're about 2 hours away from today's dose and I'm not feeling like I'm missing it.

I'm coughing a bit more today than I have been in the past, but maybe that's a good thing. The taste is almost gone now, even on the dry coughs, which is surprising given that my mass was still over 6cm by 3cm last night, but maybe that first hit of the new stuff they gave me last night has already been making some inroads on that.

Probably feeling better now than I have in about 2.5 months or so, to be honest. But maybe that's just partly because of getting the good news.

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Monday, March 2, 2026 2:22 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Hey Walter! Good news! No cancer!

I'm in a rush right now so just a few comments on doxycycline:

It works on many gram positive and gram positive bacteria.

Doxycycline is in an entirely different class of antibiotics than amoxicillin. So unless you develop an entirely new and different allergy, an allergy to amoxicillin is irrelevant. (However, an allergy to amoxicillin means you may be allergic to antibiotics in the penicillin class. Anything ending in "cillin".)

Yeah, stay out of sunlight, and if you develop a purple-ish, peeling, burned-looking rash, STOP taking it and call your doctor RIGHT AWAY. RARELY, ppl can develop something called Steven's Johnson syndrome.

It can cause diarrhea by killing off "good" gut bacteria and allowing the overgrowth of something called clostridium difficile. I advocate getting on a multi-strain probiotic, but if you develop watery diarrhea tell your doctor.

Yes, water. To reduce possible stomach upset. Don't take it with antacids or anything high in calcium, magnesium, aluminum, or iron. It binds with these metals and effectiveness is reduced.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Monday, March 2, 2026 2:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Hey Walter! Good news! No cancer!

YAY!

Quote:
I'm in a rush right now so just a few comments on doxycycline:

It works on many gram positive and gram positive bacteria.

Doxycycline is in an entirely different class of antibiotics than amoxicillin. So unless you develop an entirely new and different allergy, an allergy to amoxicillin is irrelevant. (However, an allergy to amoxicillin means you may be allergic to antibiotics in the penicillin class. Anything ending in "cillin".)

I did not know that. Thanks.

Quote:
Yeah, stay out of sunlight, and if you develop a purple-ish, peeling, burned-looking rash, STOP taking it and call your doctor RIGHT AWAY. RARELY, ppl can develop something called Steven's Johnson syndrome.

It can cause diarrhea by killing off "good" gut bacteria and allowing the overgrowth of something called clostridium difficile. I advocate getting on a multi-strain probiotic, but if you develop watery diarrhea tell your doctor.

Yes, water. To reduce possible stomach upset. Don't take it with antacids or anything high in calcium, magnesium, aluminum, or iron. It binds with these metals and effectiveness is reduced.

Thanks for the info.

Nobody mentioned anything about the purple rash or Steven's Johnson syndrome to me.

Although I did read about the antacid/iron. The label does warn not to take it within 2 hours of either taking antacids or vitamins (in general). I read about the Iron online, but the label just plays it safe and mentions vitamins as a whole.

The doctors mentioned not to lay down within at least 30 minutes of taking this too, although the label says just 10 minutes. I guess it can really mess with your esophagus if you don't let it properly start digesting and you get a little creep back up the wrong pipes. I will not be ignoring that advice since I've had a near 30 year on-again/off-again abusive relationship with acid reflux.

If I wasn't wearing a hoodie in the cold house, I'd probably have to move where I sit/sleep because of those window coverings I put up years back. As cold as it is today, it is quite sunny as well. About 1 hour from now I'll really be getting sun in the side window because of how low it is in the sky off that side around this time of day. Should be good though. Took my morning dose at noon, because they didn't have it ready sooner, but I didn't want to skip one. I kind of stay up late and eat late anyhow so not really worried that the 2nd dose will be quite late at night.

Feeling pretty good.

How you handling all of your stuff right now? Managing it well I hope?

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Monday, March 2, 2026 3:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by BRENDA:
One monitor is too old and the other one is full of dust, so cleaning it would be a b&tch. Also my tv is too old to do all that stuff with. It's at least 20years old. Have to look at the cords I got and see what I can do.

Maybe take some time to clean the one up that you think would work with an HDMI cable. Short of that, look for a monitor or smaller TV that has HDMI inputs/outputs which would also work. You should be able to pick one up at a Goodwill or something similar for a song if you manage to find one.

I was afraid your monitor was about to go when we were discussing it. Don't throw it out just yet, but I think you just need to get a working used monitor and new HDMI cable and you should be back in business imediately and you can just toss out the problem monitor. These things happen. I've gone through 3 flat screen monitors over the years now. Those old CRT monitors worked forever and would probably still be working today if I had any of them. These LED flat screens are all pieces of shit that are designed to fail because they want you to just keep buying new ones even if you aren't upgrading to the biggest and the best all the time.

Quote:
This tooth has been repaired before and I don't know if it is repairable again. All I can think is there was another crack in it and all the drilling is what finally let it break.

Yeah. Cough is all gone now. So no worries there.

I know but not much I can do until I figure out a way to sort this all out.

Yeah... Bummer about the tooth. With my dental history, I can totally empathize. Look at the bright side though... You'll still have a lot more of your teeth than I do if this one needs to go.

Glad your cough is gone. Hopefully I see some good news about mine soon. Finger's crossed that I'm not already a dead man walking.

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

Library again.

I've been looking at what I've got and been considering what you've said Also last night I tried putting some extra heat on the monitor a foot or so away. I could see the power button struggling to come on before the heat started tripping safety stuff. Then I had to restart things. I don't want to turf anything if I can help it. Got enough old electronics around my bedroom. Pain in the butt. I've also got the monitor covered, I could feel it warming up before I go to bed of course but I couldn't stay up and baby it as I had things to do today.

Yeah, I have to get to the dentist office tomorrow and talk to them.

As to your health problems. TB is highly infectious even today and you would have to be on heavy antibiotics for that and possible hospital time.

Not to scare you but if this does turn into lung cancer, you will need a biopsy to identify. Surgery could be an option if caught early enough. Other than that you are looking at chemo.

Wish I could help more but the cough I had was why I dragged myself into the doctor as it was hanging on too long. I got lucky with it not being anything serious.

I just hope for you that it doesn't morph into anything worse.

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Monday, March 2, 2026 3:59 PM