09:37 – Barbara is doing very well. There’s still knee pain, of course, but she’s taken only four or five of the 5 mg oxycodone tabs since we got home yesterday afternoon (versus the allowable dose of two every four hours). I think she’s holding them in reserve for when her physical therapy sessions start.
I am doing laundry and filling bottles to give me what I need to build more kits.
If I ever have surgery like that I want the docs to give me a prescription for enough damn pills to not feel ANY pain, for however long, without a lotta guff about it, either. If they can’t or won’t do that, I’ll find other means of getting them. Pain makes things worse and slows recovery, and I’m really sick of the medicos’ stinginess out of fear of whatever.
35 here right now and headed to 40; very windy, partly sunny, and rain later changing to snow with a winter storm warning for tonight and tomorrow, a terribly fearful blizzard of maybe 5-6 inches, BFD.
Hey, don’t lissen to ol’ OFD’s dire dystopic rantings, take it from a former high-level State official:
“Ruin is America’s future.”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/01/paul-craig-roberts/revolution-in-europe/
We have criminal scum ruling us and they’re in the process of bringing the whole edifice crashing down on us all.
A stupid parasite is one that kills the host.
I think about half of them are stupid and the other half are insane/evil.
Washington State recently re-classified hydrocodone as a Schedule II, up there with oxycodone and morphine. WA State places restrictions above and beyond Federal. It severely limits the amount a doctor can prescribe and there are no refills. Each Schedule II prescription must be a script printed on special paper with the doctor’s signature, hand carried to the drug store by the patient and picked-up by the patient. The doctor also has to certify how long he/she has seen the patient, that he/she has seen the patient in the last 3 months, and that the patient has received drug abuse and pain management counseling.
Just like the supposedly pro-MJ laws, the effect has been to push more people to the street dealers (easier to get and in the case of MJ substantially cheaper due to no taxes). Not the effect the Bureaucrats intended, or was it.
Paul Craig Roberts exhibits a remarkable lack of understanding of anything.
RBT: My sympathies to your lovely wife, I hope she gets well soon. A good friend had knee replacement about six weeks ago; the first few days were a struggle but after that it was (relatively) smooth sailing. Pain medication is a must, take them before she goes to rehab. Having my knees done is going to be a lot more complex, because the damage is more extensive than in 99% of the folks who have it done.
And relative to the previous discussions of opiates. We have a huge problem here in Florida with people hooked on prescription narcotics, mostly hydrocodone (Vicodin) but also oxycodone (Percocet) and oxycontin (time release oxycodone, which they crush & snort for a powerful instant high). Many doctor’s offices now have signs that parse as “We’re not going to prescribe opiates to new patients. Go away, pillheads.”
Of course, the pillheads get their fix anyway, and those of us who need pain relief have to move heaven & earth. When I re-injured my left leg a couple of years ago, the ER folks gave me a scrip for hydrocodone. When I protested, saying that it doesn’t do me any good, they said “Tough, go to your regular doctor.” So after I hobbled out of the ER that morning, I had to hobble to my regular doctor and beg for oxycodone. He could give it, but only seven days at a time, so when I had to get a renewal I had to go back and pay to look him in the eye and say that I was still in pain. They also gave me a scrip for a muscle relaxer, in a dosage appropriate for (per my regular MD) a young adolescent, not for 200# me.
Washington State recently re-classified hydrocodone as a Schedule II, up there with oxycodone and morphine. WA State places restrictions above and beyond Federal. It severely limits the amount a doctor can prescribe and there are no refills. Each Schedule II prescription must be a script printed on special paper with the doctor’s signature, hand carried to the drug store by the patient and picked-up by the patient. The doctor also has to certify how long he/she has seen the patient, that he/she has seen the patient in the last 3 months, and that the patient has received drug abuse and pain management counseling.
The Feds made hydrocodone Schedule 2. The limited prescription size, no refills, paper scrip, and hand carried to the drug store are federal requirements for schedule 2. In Texas, you have to use a special 3 part form you buy from the state, which has the doctor’s name on it and a serial number. Original goes to the patient and drug store, one copy is for the doctor, one copy mailed to the state police. Unfortunately, very few doctors have them – even surgeons. And the backlog for getting them from the state is several months minimum. Why it takes that long is a mystery – the form is printed on a mainframe line printer on 3 part paper. Seems like they could churn them out rapidly.
We have begun to move into our new house. Picture of it (with our boat) at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-ptFKUhoJ1jWFF3RGJkMjFia0k/view?pli=1
view from our bedroom https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-ptFKUhoJ1jc1BIejVqLW1HVzg/view?pli=1
It was in the 50’s in Portland today. A little rain and a little sun. Nice for January.
Rick in Portland
Just like the supposedly pro-MJ laws, the effect has been to push more people to the street dealers (easier to get and in the case of MJ substantially cheaper due to no taxes). Not the effect the Bureaucrats intended, or was it.
Don’t blame the bureaucrats for the high taxes in Washington. The whole distribution and tax structure was written into the initiative to sell the measure as revenue producer. The news is that there is a surplus of weed in Washington. Starting in July it will be legal to grow up to 4 plants per adult in Oregon. Tax free. It will be interesting to see how that affects prices.
Rick in Portland
We have begun to move into our new house boat.
Nice! Does it have permanent flotation devices or do they rely upon a compressor?
Is there a bilge?
I remember beaching our Morgan Out Island 41 one day. Right after we ran over a pipeline one day and split our keel? bilge? open. It was not cool when the two electric pumps plus the manual pump (yours truly) only kept the water to rising an inch per minute or so.
It hit 70 F in the Land of Sugar today. Looks like winter is over, it was a brutal six days. (yes, I stole that).
Nice! Does it have permanent flotation devices or do they rely upon a compressor?
The house uses a combination of logs and Styrofoam. It is about 1400 square feet. 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms. My wife is looking forward to no yard work.
Sounds like somebody wasn’t paying attention on the Morgan.
Rick in Portland
Sounds like somebody wasn’t paying attention on the Morgan.
Unmarked pipeline. Very common in Galveston bay back in the 1970s. We went from 11 knots to a knot in about 10 feet. I was worried that we were going to be hung on the pipeline. Turned out that was the least of our worries when we start sinking downwind. My mother started yelling, “why am I standing in water?” from the main cabin.
That was a continuous keel Morgan. We had the sloop version (cheaper until we bought out 170% front jib).
http://www.boatus.com/boatreviews/sail/OutIsland41.asp
“…in a dosage appropriate for (per my regular MD) a young adolescent, not for 200# me.”
Yeah, that’s typical; move mountains to even get a pain scrip written and then filled, and then the dose is for an average homo sapiens of probably three-hundred years ago and certainly not me, now at 245 and with a pronounced resistance to any friggin’ dope, LOL. So I guess if I get hurt or sick with bad pain it’s gonna be tough shit for me, unless I can find alternatives. They’d rather see us in agony for months before death than take the chance of us becoming junkies and/or getting in trouble with the minions who prosecute the War on Some Drugs and their accomplices.
Hey OFD, this guy is singing your tune. He was raised in South Africa and lived through the inner city riots there, “Emergency Preparation, Part 11: “How America’s Cities May Explode In Violence””
http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2012/09/emergency-preparation-part-11-how.html
He quotes this article which I call, “The Day the EBT cards died”:
https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/bracken-when-the-music-stops-how-americas-cities-may-explode-in-violence/
I read bayourenaissanceman regularly – good blog and interesting life experiences. Also good SF books – I’ve read his Maxwell series. He has a couple of series going simultaneously, so it’s a bit of a long wait between books, but they’re a good read.
I just read his Maxwell #2 book: “Ride The Rising Tide” (Maxwell Saga) (Volume 2) by Peter Grant:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615848389/
Book number two of a three book series. There are three more books planned in the series at this time. BTW, these books are POD (print on demand). I am not very happy with the font in the first and second books but the font in the third book is better.
http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-teaser-for-my-readers.html
This is the good stuff, Space Opera. Serious tribute here to Heinlein and maybe even significant influence from David Drake.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (106 reviews)
Interesting guy, immigrant from South Africa to the USA, defrocked Catholic Priest, prison minister, prepper, retired military, science fiction writer.
The Star Road books are also available for Kindle at $2.99.