In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Friday, September 11, 2026 15:29
VIEWED: 338648
PAGE 673 of 834
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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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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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, be
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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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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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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.
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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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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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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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Wish I could remember my other pass words. Would love to let people know what is happening.
SIX, anyway of doing that from another computer until I get my poor sick thing up and running again?
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Ok, so now I'm gonna nag. Yanno, like a mom.
Consider this infection to be a heads-up that cancer is in the cards if you don't stop smoking. Yanno, it seems to me that everone has an anatomic "weak spot". With me, it's my sinuses. With my mom, her lungs (after decades of smoking). With my sis, tonsils and ears. Hubby? His back.
It seems your lungs are a weak spot. After smoking and breathing in a lot of chlorine and probably working in a lot of dusty /moldy areas, it might be time to treat your lungs gently so they'll last longer
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How you handling all of your stuff right now? Managing it well I hope?
I'm busy which means I'm mostly feeling pretty good, altho I AM looking forward to a knee injection and I definitely get tired at the end of the day. But it's what I'd expect at my age.
So far, so good.
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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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Quote:
Originally posted by BRENDA:
Wish I could remember my other pass words. Would love to let people know what is happening.
SIX, anyway of doing that from another computer until I get my poor sick thing up and running again?
Damn, Brenda... I can't remember what browser you use. I'm going to assume that it is Firefox? I think that's what we decided on ultimately?
If that's the case, on the same line above whatever website you're looking at as the line where the " http://www.fireflyfans.net/"; etc. is, all the way to the right, there should be an icon with 3 horizontal lines on top of each other.
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___
___
If you click that, you'll get a very large drop-down box that pops up underneath it.
From there you have a few options, but for privacy and safety there's really only one you want to do. You could back up all your settings and load all your passwords onto another browser, but you don't want to do that at a library on a public computer even if they were designed to reset after use (I wouldn't trust that... too dangerous). So your going to have to have a piece of paper and a pen on you so you can manually write down your important login/passwords for sites you need short-term.
So on that drop-down from the 3 horizontal lines, select the option that says "Passwords" and left-click. It should be pretty close to the top. Maybe the 4th through the 6th option.
It will pull up a new tab. On the left side it will give you a scroll box with all of the sites you have saved your login info, and on the right it will show the Username and Password for the site selected (it will show the first one alphabetically by default, but you can scroll up/down and left click on any of those to bring up the site info).
The Username will be there for you to see plainly in just about the center of your screen, but the password will just be a bunch of dots. But to the right of those dots will be an icon that looks like an eyeball. If you left-click on that, it will show you the password you have saved for the website. Write both of these down for the first website you want the info for, then on the left side scroll and find the next website you want the info for and rinse/repeat until you have all of them.
Oh crap though.... I forgot. No. You can't bring that up at the library itself. You won't have your browser there. This would only be an option for you if you manage to get your old monitor miraculously working one last time. Or if you get a new monitor it's something you can do in the future just in case something like this happens.
Sorry I couldn't be more help than that.
Really... You need to try to clean up any of the old monitors that have an HDMI input and see if you can get that working. Better if you do it with a new HDMI cable, but if you only have the one cable, that might be a good test on the cable too. I think we still don't know if the actual issue is a broken monitor or a bad cable or power plug. I'm leaning toward a broken monitor/power plug, but there's a chance it could be the HDMI cable too.
I know how frustrating this must be for you. I hope you can find the time/energy to clean up that monitor and try to put it on your computer soon though. That or find an old monitor/flat screen TV with HDMI inputs at a Goodwill.
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