why oh why?

 It has been about 10 days since I proved myself a fool. The intervening time has not been uneventful.

A couple days after being in the ER I saw an ENT doc for the first time since high school. 

Back in the day, I developed a condition known as "swimmer's ear". This was a bacterial infection of the outer ear canal. At the time it was treated by a long cotton wick covered with aureomycin--an antibiotic--inserted in the ear canal right up to the ear drum. I recall that it affected my trumpet playing because of the imbalance of sound between the two ears. Aureomycin was a good drug, not unlike penicillin. Later they found that using aureomycin too frequently in the ears would lead to hearing impairment. Oops. Then it was back in the pool!. While we didn't have one in our family, almost all my friends' homes in Scottsale did, so we were always swimming somewhere. And, of course, there was much less AC in those days and the pool was a way to stay cool in summer. (Quick Google search: Aureomycin is now used in cattle feed. It protects the guts of cows. It was the first tetracycline; it was discovered in 1945. Generic name: chlortetracycline.)

But, I digress.The ENT guy pulled the plug from my left nostril and no bleeding ensued. I had been off my blood thinner several days at that point. I was still sore of nose and scabbed of knee. I was not to blow my nose, or otherwise strain for a few days. No lifting as case in point. He showed me some nasal gels (which have helped) and I was done.

I don't think I have written that the ER doc followed up on the phone with me after my accident, I was surprised because that had never happened to me as a result of other trips to the ER. He wanted to warn me that with a head strike that there was a possibility of a brain bleed several days post-accident. So, if I started to get headaches I was to return to the ER asap. Well, I didn't. Get headaches. (One of my neighbors suggested that these sort of delayed reactions are why insurance companies want to sette quickly after an accident.That way they are not responsible for them.)

Instead, what I got was back pain and it appears chronic. I have been relatively free of debilitating pain now for some 40 years. The fall appears to have rearranged my spine. It feels very much like I have herniated a disc in my thoracic region at about the lower level of my shoulder blades. On a scale of 10 this pain is about a 5, but with spasms--oh yes, spasms--it hits an 8 or 9. Tylenol is getting me to sleep at night and I am relatively better each morniing. But by noon I am really hurting. Tried icing and massage and heat. All provide some temporary relief and then--. So, an othopedic consult is scheduled for Aug 26. I will not go through another operation on my spine.

Meanwhile.....

I was scheduled for an angiogram at the Heart Failure Clinic at IMC Murray. This was not without its own drama. We were scheduled at 7 am so we broke our pandemic rule and stayed overnight in SLC with Lisa. When I was sitting watching my family unload the car--sorry, no lifting--a blood vessel bursts in my right nostril. It is brought under control fairly quickly because I am required not to be on any blood thinners prior to the angiogram. But there is familial concern about the procedure the next morning. 

I inform the docs on arrival and they decide to proceed cautiously. They do not find any evidence of what might have caused my weakened left ventricle. There is some narrowing of vessels and some increased pressure in the aortic artery but not, apparently, enough to stent anything. We are left to conclude that: either the chemo program is what caused the event or as a good friend says we can blame it on TMB = Too Many Birthdays.