GOODNIGHT, FUCKERS #656: A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR

 Welp. I've gained ten or so pounds since the last time I went to the doctor. That doesn't surprise me considering how I eat big dinners. Small breakfasts and lunches, but huge dinners. My blood pressure is back up in heart attack territory. My sugars aren't great, but at least they're not as bad as they were. My kidneys are doing really well, though, which isn't bad for a couple of organs that tried to stop working once upon a time, leading to an ER visit.

And now down to brass tacks. Do I have rheumatoid arthritis like that immediate care doctor said I probably do? I got the test results over the weekend, and there's some good news and some bad news.

The good news: it's not rheumatoid arthritis. That test came back negative.

The bad news: there's still something going on in my hands and some of my joints. The inflammatory tests came back indicating that something bad is happening. No shit, right? My hands are killing me all the time, now. It's worse in the mornings. But what is this bad something? The doctor doesn't know.

So I'm seeing a specialist next month. I was kind of hoping for some painkillers because aspirin ain't cutting it. Neither is Tylenol. I can't take ibuprofen because that's what led to my aforementioned near kidney failure.

Well fuck. Icing my fingers sometimes helps. So does running hot water over them. But those things only help in that moment. When I walk away from the ice/heat, it's right back to square one.

I wonder if the specialist will give me something at least to take the edge off. It would be nice to go at least one day without feeling this pain.

Well fuck.

GOODNIGHT, FUCKERS #82: GETTING OLD

I'm thirty-six years old now, and I'm doing much better than I thought I would when I was younger, at least when it comes to appearance. I'm sure younger me would not appreciate the pounds I've put on since then, but younger me also thought I'd be bald and toothless by now. (I've always had bad teeth, and my grandfather went bald by the time he was in his early twenties, so I figured that would happen to me, too.)


I only lost the one tooth, which is an implant now. And my hair is just as thick as it was back then. I might have the 'Beetus and a bunch of other health problems, but at least I look fairly decent, and I carry my fat pretty well. Back when I weighed 306 lbs., no one would believe me when I told them that's what I weighed. So I've got a good frame for that.


All in all, not bad for a guy who thought he was going to be dead of a heart attack by 40. I won't get ahead of myself, though. An early death is still in the cards (thanks a lot, pancreas), although as I get closer to 40, the idea is no longer quite as appetizing as it once was. Plus, I have a lot more to live for now, considering how my writing career is finally starting to get some attention.


A while ago, I discovered a couple of gray chest hairs. Then, I found a gray hair on each of my sideburns. Now, my right sideburn is rapidly going gray. So I can only assume when I grow my beard for the winter, it might not be as dark as it usually is. I'm OK with that, because it looks like my hair is going to go gray in a very cool Nick Fury-ish kind of way. It worked very well for Bruce Campbell on BURN NOTICE. So yeah, I should be good on that front.


But . . . the middle finger of my left hand has been killing me the past couple of days. It makes typing very difficult, although aspirin seems to help for a short while. I feel the pain deep down in the bone and at the joints. I'm starting to wonder if I might have a touch of arthritis developing there. I guess it would serve me right, since I've been cracking my knuckles since I was in elementary school. It's kind of funny. Every time I did that, Mom would yell at me that I would get arthritis if I kept that up. It's even funnier because I developed this bad habit after watching her do it several times a day.


Well, hopefully I'm just being paranoid. If I'm not, well, thankfully it's on my left hand. I'm right-handed, and that one's doing fine.


Getting old sucks. Maybe LOGAN'S RUN had it right.