Chiropractors: Science or scam?
So with this recent neck/arm/shoulder/numbness excitement, I decided to go to a chiropractor and see if they might be able to help. Buddy of mine is one, is very intelligent, well studied, etc. Went to see him. He told me that it was a muscle spasm – definitely not a subluxation – and that we need to do an adjustment (back, neck, elbow), some shock treatment, and the apply moist heat – ABSOLUTELY NO ICE – to relax it and make it go away. Next day it was worse. He told me to come back. Performed the same procedures on me. Went home to heat. Worse the next day.
Decided I would try another chiropractor I knew. This guy is a bodybuilder, and seems to really understand how things work. He x-rayed my spine. Showed me things on the x-ray (might as well been an x-ray of a brontosaurus – no idea what I was looking at), – told me that it was a subluxation, not a muscle spasm. Did an adjustment (exactly the same as before – back, neck, elbow), and told me to go home and ice it – ABSOLUTELY NO HEAT.  Guess what? Yep – worse the next day – in fact, now I was getting numbness in my arm.
II went to my regular doctor and told him the deal. Got me the MRI, turns out it is a bulging disc. Needs rest, possibly rehab. An answer. Thank you.
Claustrophobia
Had to get an MRI for my arm last night – had pain for 3.5 weeks now, and it’s just not getting better. All I think about is OW MY ARM HURTS, ARM, ARM, ARM, ARM, ARM.  I tried to soak it in alcohol this weekend for Jon’s bachelor party, but that didn’t work. OK – it did for a while, but now it hurts again.
I’ve had MRIs before on my rotator cuff, so no big deal, right? Not right. The guy asks if I’m claustrophobic, and I say no. He says the last two were – it was a big mess. No problem here, I say. I’m a big brave boy.
Get in the thing, all is cool. Then is seems to get smaller. And harder to breathe. He asks if I’m OK. I say I don’t know. He takes me out. I relax a bit. Back in I go. Immediate panic. What the fuck? This has NEVER been the case before. I ask what we can do – he says “We can give you drugs.” Excellent answer. Fork them over, I say. He says no, you have to get a prescription from your doctor. Jeez. Call my doctor, who phones in a prescription for 2mg of Ativan to the pharmacy in the building. I go get my one pill (for $6, thank you very much), eat it down, and wait for it to take hold.
Needless to say, it worked great. They could have put me in a coffin and nailed it shut, and I wouldn’t have cared. Did the shoulder and the neck in about 40 minutes. We’ll see what the deal is. Then I’ll research getting over claustrophobia. With my luck it will be something you have to have implanted. Into your ARM.
Learning
Man – so much learning lately. In no particular order:
- Photoshop – something I should have learned years ago, and now I know why I didn’t – it’s really complicated. All I really want to do is design some simple web elements, cut up pictures, etc. I am NO artist – which means that 98% of the functionality in there is lost on me.
- PHP – I knew enough to be dangerous, but now that the vast majority of my application is going to be written in it, I need to be an expert. Very cool, fast, easy.
- mySQL – again, I was good, but need to be an expert now. We’re going to move some things there, and I’m likely going to write all of our internal apps there as well.
- Linux – more servers over here running that on the back end, so again – expertise is required.
- ColdFusion -Â wrote in it years ago, but now needed to help my buddy Zach with his site.
- Corporate law – I know – this is what lawyers are for, but I’m trying to make the best decisions possible, and it is complicated as hell. Think it’s all worked out now.
- Firewalls – stupid script kiddies trying to hack my various sites. They’ll fail of course, but only because I keep a watchful eye. And hardware.
- Cardio – recent neck and arm pain has forced me to the über boring world of lots of cardio. The ONLy way I’m going to stay healthy is to find things to amuse me. Intervals are at least challenging, and you seem to need to do them for less time to get the desired effects. Seems to me that nothing really beats moving heavy weights around.
42 years
Birthday today. Great weekend of fun. Parties and drinking with friends.
Big changes for me since 40. I was employed at Infosearch Media – the second worst job of my life. First on the list was Zenith Insurance, and both were bad for the same reason – the people I worked for. Ron and Mary were absolute morons, with no idea what they were doing. Steve was just plain mean, and shady to boot. George never, ever, EVER listened to anyone – and imagine he still doesn’t. So I started my own thing. Scary and dangerous. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Health is worlds better. At 40 I weighed 250, took tons of meds, and couldn’t run a mile with a gun to my head. Now I weigh 212, take only 1 pill (and that will go away soon enough), and run 3 miles routinely for my morning cardio.
Sydney was 8, in 3rd grade, and still very much a little girl. Now she’s 10, in 5th grade, and spends weekends in Vegas with her little friends and rockstar dads. She is less of a little girl all the time.
Family is still good, Pammy is still good (very good, actually), and I still fly and golf. If I’m doing this much better two years from now (and I haven’t had to kill someone trying to date Sydney) I’ll be almost TOO happy.
Get your entry in before Jan 1!
It’s time to sign up for the most super-fun contest around! The Stiffs.com, Lee Atwater Invitational Dead Pool. You pick 10 celebrities you think are going to die next year, and if you get the most corpses, you win cash! Woo hoo! What’s more fun than THAT?
Entry information is on this page – I suggest taking advantage of the Pistol Pete Maravich 3 for the price of two deal. Buy two lists – get one free! That’s $30 for a whole YEAR of fun!
Go. Do it. Now.
Medical Myths
From the world-famous Greg Husebye – medical myths that have been around forever. I always knew about the tryptophan myth (there isn’t nearly enough in turkey to make you tired) but the others were new. Enjoy.
Getting old
Three things today that made me feel old:
– I realized that last month was my 25 – that’s TWENTY FIVE – year anniversary of working with computers. I was a full time programmer for Big Five Software. Check out my hair back then.
– I played golf today with two kids who were born the same year I started PLAYING golf.
– I got a haircut, and noticed that it is much, MUCH thinner than I thought it was.
<sigh>
The Return of Stiffs.com
The greatest dead pool in the history of the game – stiffs.com – is back online. After significant issues with hosting, jerk ex-players, and all sorts of other issues, Zach has managed to get it rolling just in time for the 2008 contest. OK – I helped a little.
Go there. Enter. Have fun.
The Monkeysphere
What is the MonkeySphere? Go read it to find out.
The Bachelor
Unreal.
Pam just made me watch the last episode of the Bachelor with her. This is generally fine, because I am spared the pain of watching the whole season, and just get to see the “money shot”, as it were. Excecpt that this guy that Pam thinks is just gorgeous, turns out to be a complete NIMROD and doesn’t pick ANYONE. I mean – is that the charter of the show? “Come on, meet 20 women, and pick one to marry. OR NOT.”
SO stupid.