Blackjack's Thread of Illness and Ailments

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yes, I had a virus that passed through me like that a couple of years ago. I worked until 9 or so that night, but by 8:30 I had a headache and the chills. I got out to my car and couldn’t stop shivering for about 10 minutes. I couldn’t drive for about 20 minutes (fortunately I live 6-7 minutes away). I had a fever of around 101. Went to bed at 9:30, slept like the dead until 7 the next morning and felt fine. Very weird.

[iamjs]

Round two at the doc's today. I've now moved onto an inhaler. Just kinda pissed that I was doing good as far as less coughing guys but when into a coughing session that lasted like 5-10 minutes.

What kinda freaked me out was when they did my vitals, I was reading something like 150/110. I questioned it, said that I never ever read that high. They had another PA come in and take the reading, and it read 125/81.

[meow]

Big toe is either broken or severely stubbed. I’ll report back in the morning on how far the bruising travels

[count2infinity]

Gout.

[AuthorTony]

This is a little personal and I apologize in advance for asking, but...

For the fellas out there. Do you ever experience groin pain when you haven't... purged the pipes in a little while? I worry a bit about testicular cancer because the pain radiates into my lower back and it gets pretty darn uncomfortable, but this only happens during those times where I haven't emptied things out, and everything else down there seems normal.

[blackjack68]

Hernia?

[blackjack68]

P.S. Google search how to perform a check. And check.

Also, why you wait so long? Get some Dran-O and clean those pipes!

[AuthorTony]

Yeah, I've done self exams and everything seems well within the normal range, no irregularities, etc. So that's good. I guess I just assumed, at 40 years of age now, the pipes didn't need much use.

[blackjack68]

I’ll be 50 in two weeks.

Don’t neglect your pipes.

[count2infinity]

Go see a doctor.

[AuthorTony]

[count2infinity]

I don’t say that to say something is wrong. I say that to say it sounds serious enough that I’d go see a doctor if I was you.

[AuthorTony]

No worries. I know what you mean.

[meow]

When you...um...evacuate your...ah...you know, does the pain go away?

[AuthorTony]

Yeppers

[dodint]

Are you asking us if you have blue balls?

[AuthorTony]

I guess maybe. But I always thought of bb as getting turned on and not getting to finish. I'm an old man now so I seldom have that problem. But the pain after several days of staying pure is pretty darn annoying. Are you supposed to empty your pipes every few days to prevent this? They never taught me this in Health class.

[blackjack68]

I guess maybe. But I always thought of bb as getting turned on and not getting to finish. I'm an old man now so I seldom have that problem. But the pain after several days of staying pure is pretty darn annoying. Are you supposed to empty your pipes every few days to prevent this? They never taught me this in Health class.

Every other day.

[shafnutz05]

Are you asking us if you have blue balls?

Not sure why but this slayed me. Thanks.

[Shyster]

This is a little personal and I apologize in advance for asking, but...

For the fellas out there. Do you ever experience groin pain when you haven't... purged the pipes in a little while? I worry a bit about testicular cancer because the pain radiates into my lower back and it gets pretty darn uncomfortable, but this only happens during those times where I haven't emptied things out, and everything else down there seems normal.

Not a doctor, but the symptoms you're describing could be caused by epididymitis, which is an infection or inflammation of the tubes connecting the testes to the vas deferens. I had some groin pain back in college that was diagnosed as epididymitis. Its symptoms sound a lot like what you're describing. For example, epididymitis pain can be significant and can radiate throughout the groin and even seem like back pain. Pain from epididymitis can also sometimes be relieved by a "pipe cleaning." It can be caused by infection, or there's also a "chronic" form that happens when there is stress to the lower back. See your doctor, who may refer you to a urologist.

[dodint]

Thanks eveyone, it really does provide some comfort to read these condolences.

Tony, the same exact thing happened with both of my grand parents. It's interesting for sure.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention a very poignant book, Who Will Make the Pies When I'm Gone?: Living the Dark Side of Cancer (No Sugar Added) which was written by the now late mother of a member of our community. He recommended it to me when my wife was battling her own cancer and we both got a lot out of it. That user can out themselves if they want, I don't feel it's my place.

Rather than make this just a list of condolences maybe we can have a discussion to help me work through something. Obviously my wife is in deep pain; a near universal grieving that's part of life. So assuming that everyone is doing everything they can to alleviate that pain for now, I'm curious about some feelings that I'm having which I alluded to earlier.

Query: Was the opportunity cost of my wife and I going out in the world to make a life for ourselves, effectively missing the last decade of her father's life, worth it?

Yes: In 2006 when I committed to joining the Marines I was making $6/hr gluing medical parts together at an injection molding factory. Present day I make over six times that and the quality of our lives has improved at a subjectively exponential rate. I'm confident that I would not have made this progress in Latrobe over the same period of time. I would have bettered myself, but I highly doubt it would've been to this degree over the same time period. Not just talking about money, but every facet of our life together is improved thanks to the path we followed. The cost of this path was we missed out being around our family in a day to day setting. I personally missed the death of my grandparents, whom I was close with, on two different trips to Afghanistan and it gutted me.
On a more anthropological level the purpose of parents is to guide their children into adulthood, presumably onto better circumstances than they had for themselves. By raising a daughter that was competent enough to meet someone with mutual goals and high compatibility he succeeded. The price paid for his daughter to live a better life than he did was her going into the world at all costs. She returned full time a few short months before he died; so he knew she had succeeded and thus he shares in that success inherently.

No: Family is important, and you only have one shot at enjoying them in the last great years. We could've made a life here in Western PA that was serviceable. The decade lost is irrecoverable and could have been spent entertaining countless family gatherings that will now never happen. So long as my wife's overall well-being is the same or better than his, it's her obligation to repay the parents by directly aiding him in his final decade.

My conclusion: Obviously I lean towards yes. The sacrifice we chose to make will pay dividends for us for decades. Rationally it's very easy to say that. But having him die just months after our return stings badly and injects some noxious guilt that otherwise shouldn't be there. I'm not sure if I don't value family enough or if I just place the importance of my core group (me/wife) well ahead of all blood family at this point. How might my opinion change if it were my father? I wonder if he would've found me a failure if I hadn't elevated our stature and what kind of feelings I'd be having now if I had stayed to that end.

Incidentally, her brother has been feuding with her Dad for no real reason over the same time period and saw my Father in Law even less than my wife despite living in the same town. He has boned himself regarding all this.

@Willie Kool I read your thoughts about healthcare and the costs of keeping someone alive well past their natural expiration. For the disagreements I've had with my Mother in Law over the years and the way she carries herself as kind of being a bit simple, when given the choice of keeping him alive on machines for a few more weeks or transitioning to hospice to have him die at home I was startled at how quickly she chose the latter. Her unflinching decision to bring him home to die in peace was almost shocking to me. This was a man who was up and around and well enough to assemble a charcoal grill on the 4th of July this year. The decision was gut wrenching for her but she made it and it was the right call. It's one of the most noble things I've ever witnessed in my life. I have no confidence at all that I could make the same choice. Maybe it's an realm of love that I just have not had the capacity to grow into yet. Thankfully I'm certain I'll be dying first and shouldn't have to find out.

Feel free to comment or not, just working through some stuff while I grieve and it helps me to write it out.

Fairly certain my MIL is going to die in 2018, meaning my wife will lose both of her parents in a span of about 6 to 18 months to cancer. Her cancer has come back, has spread to her bones. They can't pinpoint the origin and chemo is not touching it.

I want to be a good husband as I have been through my wifes sickness in 2013 and all that entails to this day, and her father getting sick in 2016 and dying in 2017. It's the second week of 2018 and now we have this on our horizon, I am not sure I have much more to give.

[AuthorTony]

Damn, that's a tough road. Really sorry to hear that.

[dodint]

I knew she was going to have a hard winter but this isn't what I envisioned. It's selfish to say but I'm just tired of watching my wife fight to be happy and then get kicked in the gutter at every turn. It's hard.

[AuthorTony]

I know what you mean. I saw the same thing with my mom. Her dad died from cancer, then her mother went into a deep depression, eventually leading to 8 miserable years with Alzheimer's. My grandmother finally died in Nov of 2012 and I thought my mom would have a chance to be happy. Then in August of 2013 her husband/my dad was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The hits just keep on coming. Life sucks sometimes.

[crusherstasiak]

@dodint : (
Dude, all the best.