Thumper
01-02-2021, 11:39 AM
As most of you know, I had 12 frigging back surgeries over a period of a few years, starting in '09. They had number 13 scheduled, but I'd had enough and threw in the towel. I told 'em I'm tired and will just live with what I have from here on out. The problem is the pain. It's 24/7/365. They had me on Percocet and Morphine every 4 hours for ... heck, I don't know ... 3-4 years. I was eventually told they were scheduling me into rehab to get me off the pain pills. I told 'em I don't need no stinkin' rehab and I only take the pills 'cause they tell me to and I'm not addicted. They assured me I was addicted and I'd need rehab to get me off of them. Yeah, whatever .... I came home, chunked the pills and never took another one. A few weeks later, I received a call that I'd been enrolled in a rehab facility and they gave me a date to check in. I told them I hadn't taken ANY of the pain killers for a frigging month and I DO NOT NEED REHAB! My doc about shit and informed me I cannot quit cold turkey because I could have a heart attack, severe withdrawals, blah, blah, blah. I informed him I'm still alive, I feel fine (except for the back pain) and I don't need rehab. I told him to give the opening to someone who needs it. So, for the past 7 or 8 years, I've "lived with it" and the most I've ever taken for pain is a couple of Advils from time to time.
BUT, there are "side effects" to everything. There's a LOT I can't do anymore. I gave up hunting (scouting, climbing trees and dragging deer out of the woods was out of the question) ... same for my annual bear hunts ... no more. Besides, I sold all my guns to help pay bills since I could no longer work. It gripes me to pay someone to do what I used to do myself. Heck, I have a riding mower in the shed that's been rotting away for 12 years now and I have to [pay someone to cut my frigging grass. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. My "adventure travel" flew right out the door and now a cruise ship full of old farts is my adventure (but Covid put an end to that even). Needless to say, my world was pretty much turned upside down, but I adapted. I don't (can't) do much of anything physical anymore. Just walking very far puts me down for the count. I have found a way to supplement my, now much lower, income with the eBay gig, but that's almost zero exercise and I'm sitting at a computer all day. My exercise is carrying packages to the mailbox! I've even tried gyms (physical rehab centers) but the ol' back simply won't let me accomplish anything.
So, what pleasures do I have left? Lemme see ... between age, pain and all the frigging meds I'm on, even boinking (my favorite EX hobby) is out of the question these days ... even the little blue pills quit working. Oh, I know!! I LOVE to EAT!! I'm not a junk food junkie, although I'd have NO problem eating my weight in glazed donuts, but I enjoy fine dining and eating out. The fact Lynn is a gourmet cook, ALWAYS makes mealtime at home special. We both love ethnic food and indulge regularly. Ok, I've given up all my physically challenging hobbies and interests and have basically become a fat old slug. A few months ago, I scraped the back of my leg when I stepped over a plastic milk crate in the garage. It was "NOTHING" really ... I can't even remember if it bled ... it was just a skinned area, that kind of oozed more than bled. I thought nothing of it at the time, but finally noticed it wasn't healing. Not that there was much there to heal, but I noticed it would kind of scab over, but simply never went away. I finally asked my doc about it and he's had me in a few times (the last time was just this past Thursday, I think?) and that's when I was informed I'm now diabetic.
I'm on HEAVY antibiotics for the minor scrape on the back of my leg. A horse-pill antibiotic to treat the "wound" from the inside as well as an antibiotic salve to treat the wound from the outside. It's a tiny little scrape, but the doc explained that something like that with a diabetic could eventually lead to an amputation if not treated properly. WTF???? He kind'a-sort'a put the fear of God into me with his little speech. I still have to go in for follow-ups and am scheduled for a nutrition class (Lynn and I both will attend). In the meantime, he told me to cut the starches out of my diet. No bread, pasta, rice, potatoes .... now wait a frigging minute there! WTF else IS there???
I thought back about my last meals for about a week long period. I had biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast one morning. Cut out the biscuit? Lynn grilled a NICE steak for me on Christmas Eve, with scalloped potatoes and Crescent rolls. Dang, cut out the potatoes and rolls? I had a nice BLT for lunch. How do you eat a sammich with no bread? I had pork chops smothered with mushroom gravy over rice for dinner. I suppose I could have done without the rice, but I LOVE rice! Well, you get the idea. I then started thinking of the times we went out in the past couple weeks. We went out for sushi ... WAIT A DANG MINUTE!!! Sushi IS rice! I can't live without sushi! Can I? Then there was the afternoon we went out for Chinese in Orlando. It's our favorite Chinese place and had been reduced to take-out only since the Covid thing first hit. They had just reopened their dining room so we went for lunch. We ordered quite a few dishes and I think all of them had either rice or noodles (I guess that's considered pasta? I guess they're RICE noodles). The day I was at the doctor's office, we stopped for Pho (more noodles). Then we stopped at the Chinese market and picked up some of my favorite (Char Siu Bao) to bring home. For you unwashed masses, Char Siu is Cantonese BBQ pork. Not bad, right? Well, "bao" is a BUN (sometimes called a dumpling), but it's basically a "bread roll" to us Yankee types. Yesterday, we went out for Thai ... two NOODLE dishes and one RICE dish! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH! Ha! That's Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai all within a 2 week period. I must have a thing for Asian food, but writing this down made me realize I'm OVERDUE for some Korean bulgogi. I have NO clue how to avoid all the stuff that's gonna kill me! What am I expected to do? Graze in the back yard? At least I wouldn't have to pay some guy to cut my frigging grass!
To add insult to injury, our closest friends own 12-15 (forgot the exact number) Subways in town and we live two blocks from one of them. We get FREE Subs anytime we go into ANY of his stores. How do I pass up a perk like that? "Hey, I'll take an Italian BMT with extra meat .... but HOLD THE BUN!"
Like I said in the title to this thread ... just shoot me. :crybaby
BUT, there are "side effects" to everything. There's a LOT I can't do anymore. I gave up hunting (scouting, climbing trees and dragging deer out of the woods was out of the question) ... same for my annual bear hunts ... no more. Besides, I sold all my guns to help pay bills since I could no longer work. It gripes me to pay someone to do what I used to do myself. Heck, I have a riding mower in the shed that's been rotting away for 12 years now and I have to [pay someone to cut my frigging grass. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. My "adventure travel" flew right out the door and now a cruise ship full of old farts is my adventure (but Covid put an end to that even). Needless to say, my world was pretty much turned upside down, but I adapted. I don't (can't) do much of anything physical anymore. Just walking very far puts me down for the count. I have found a way to supplement my, now much lower, income with the eBay gig, but that's almost zero exercise and I'm sitting at a computer all day. My exercise is carrying packages to the mailbox! I've even tried gyms (physical rehab centers) but the ol' back simply won't let me accomplish anything.
So, what pleasures do I have left? Lemme see ... between age, pain and all the frigging meds I'm on, even boinking (my favorite EX hobby) is out of the question these days ... even the little blue pills quit working. Oh, I know!! I LOVE to EAT!! I'm not a junk food junkie, although I'd have NO problem eating my weight in glazed donuts, but I enjoy fine dining and eating out. The fact Lynn is a gourmet cook, ALWAYS makes mealtime at home special. We both love ethnic food and indulge regularly. Ok, I've given up all my physically challenging hobbies and interests and have basically become a fat old slug. A few months ago, I scraped the back of my leg when I stepped over a plastic milk crate in the garage. It was "NOTHING" really ... I can't even remember if it bled ... it was just a skinned area, that kind of oozed more than bled. I thought nothing of it at the time, but finally noticed it wasn't healing. Not that there was much there to heal, but I noticed it would kind of scab over, but simply never went away. I finally asked my doc about it and he's had me in a few times (the last time was just this past Thursday, I think?) and that's when I was informed I'm now diabetic.
I'm on HEAVY antibiotics for the minor scrape on the back of my leg. A horse-pill antibiotic to treat the "wound" from the inside as well as an antibiotic salve to treat the wound from the outside. It's a tiny little scrape, but the doc explained that something like that with a diabetic could eventually lead to an amputation if not treated properly. WTF???? He kind'a-sort'a put the fear of God into me with his little speech. I still have to go in for follow-ups and am scheduled for a nutrition class (Lynn and I both will attend). In the meantime, he told me to cut the starches out of my diet. No bread, pasta, rice, potatoes .... now wait a frigging minute there! WTF else IS there???
I thought back about my last meals for about a week long period. I had biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast one morning. Cut out the biscuit? Lynn grilled a NICE steak for me on Christmas Eve, with scalloped potatoes and Crescent rolls. Dang, cut out the potatoes and rolls? I had a nice BLT for lunch. How do you eat a sammich with no bread? I had pork chops smothered with mushroom gravy over rice for dinner. I suppose I could have done without the rice, but I LOVE rice! Well, you get the idea. I then started thinking of the times we went out in the past couple weeks. We went out for sushi ... WAIT A DANG MINUTE!!! Sushi IS rice! I can't live without sushi! Can I? Then there was the afternoon we went out for Chinese in Orlando. It's our favorite Chinese place and had been reduced to take-out only since the Covid thing first hit. They had just reopened their dining room so we went for lunch. We ordered quite a few dishes and I think all of them had either rice or noodles (I guess that's considered pasta? I guess they're RICE noodles). The day I was at the doctor's office, we stopped for Pho (more noodles). Then we stopped at the Chinese market and picked up some of my favorite (Char Siu Bao) to bring home. For you unwashed masses, Char Siu is Cantonese BBQ pork. Not bad, right? Well, "bao" is a BUN (sometimes called a dumpling), but it's basically a "bread roll" to us Yankee types. Yesterday, we went out for Thai ... two NOODLE dishes and one RICE dish! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH! Ha! That's Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai all within a 2 week period. I must have a thing for Asian food, but writing this down made me realize I'm OVERDUE for some Korean bulgogi. I have NO clue how to avoid all the stuff that's gonna kill me! What am I expected to do? Graze in the back yard? At least I wouldn't have to pay some guy to cut my frigging grass!
To add insult to injury, our closest friends own 12-15 (forgot the exact number) Subways in town and we live two blocks from one of them. We get FREE Subs anytime we go into ANY of his stores. How do I pass up a perk like that? "Hey, I'll take an Italian BMT with extra meat .... but HOLD THE BUN!"
Like I said in the title to this thread ... just shoot me. :crybaby