healthcare

Health Update Video 2

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First video

Video Transcript

Update number two. The first one was at the beginning of August and honestly, there isn’t much of an update to give. Started out that in June, the first doctor told me I had carpal tunnel and an ulnar nerve compression. Then I saw my family doctor and he said that I had tendonitis, specifically tennis elbow, and possibly carpal tunnel.

Then I went to the specialist in Carpal tunnel. I did the test where they electrocute you and try to figure out which nerves are working. And at the time, he said that I had no carpal tunnel and he didn’t believe it was tendonitis, that it was myofasciitis.

I then have spent the past month trying to get an appointment with my doctor. He wanted to wait until he got the notes from the specialist. They got it last week. I got in contact with my doctor’s office and I was extended leave because I am still a lot of pain. Pretty much fingers to here hurts right now. And although physio is helping a lot, it’s not fast.

Fast forward to last week, when I went to my doctor’s office to talk to the nurse and to get things signed, I said I was really worried and needed an appointment with the doctor because this is getting ridiculous.

One person was telling me I didn’t have anything and the specialist that I didn’t have carpal tunnel and the nurse goes, “Whoa, no, no. I read the report. He says you have signs of carpal tunnel.”

I have no idea what’s going on, No idea whatsoever. Hopefully in the next week or so, my doctor will call me back, make an appointment, and we can figure this out. Because even WSIB and OHS are getting a little impatient. My work is wondering when I’m coming back. I would just like to heal and get better and get back to work.

I’m also getting a little antsy. I went from writing a thousand words a day up to like six thousand a week, to writing a thousand a month.

And that was really slow. I wrote the sereal story and even with my new ergonomic mini keyboard and everything, it’s… it’s… ah.. hard. Thankfully, the writing still flows out easily. It’s just the… The pain afterwards that is not much fun. So, unfortunately, the update is a non-update, but that’s what we have so far.

Hopefully, I’ll have more news soon and then we can proceed with an actual plan for getting better. That’s my hope. That’s what I want. I want to plan. I’d like plans, I like breaking plans, but in this case, I want to make a plan and stick to it. Hopefully I can start writing again and by the new year. That’s, that’s my big hope. If not, then I have to consider voice to text as a permanent solution and it sucks, but it’s better than nothing.

The other big thing that I’ve been doing is very slowly roasting, and with the help of my children and wife, packaging coffee. So, if you’re going to be at Ottawa Comic Con, we should have twelve flavours, including two that have never been in a convention before.

So that’s exciting. Hope to see you there. Hope that my next update is either by text or way more optimistic.

Bye.

Health Update Video August 2022

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Transcript of Video

Hi!

I decided to try to record a blog post and that way I don’t have to worry about typing long blog posts; so today will be all about my health issues and how I’m doing. 

For those of you who don’t know, I’ll put a link in the comments, right HERE and you can see everything that’s been going on. 

But effectively in June, I started having massive arm pain in this part of the arm and this part of the arm, on both sides, and my doctor diagnosed me with tendonitis and possible carpal tunnel. I was scheduled to go to do some more tests for carpal tunnel specifically; I just got those last week and good news: I don’t need surgery! 

It looks like I don’t have any issues with carpal tunnel; the carpal tunnel specialist said that he thought maybe there was something muscular. 

My physio, which I’m seeing three times a week, is helping a lot. 

She’s a godsend. 

She thinks it has something to do with my ulnar nerve. 

Basically, all this is telling you more tests, more time. 

Meanwhile, I’ve been following the proper procedures and filling out workman’s compensation forms. 

Oh my gosh! 

Filling out forms when you have tendonitis hurts. Pencils, typing… 

Thank heavens for Jen. 

If it wasn’t for her, I would be having a lot of trouble right now. 

Beyond that, I am doing better. 

It’s been a month and a little bit and it’s no longer a burning, sharp pain. 

It’s now a burning ache, and if I don’t do too much, which means not going on my phone. 

too much, not typing too much, not cooking too much, not changing too many diapers, that kind of thing, I’m OK. It hurts, but I’m…

The problem gets when I’m trying to do something. 

So at the end of July I didn’t want to break my own rules and fail on the serial story, so I typed 1000 words over three or four nights and it was hard. 

I’m not going to be able to go back to my 3 to 5000 words a week that I used to do, and that makes me really, really sad. 

Hopefully with Physio, by the end of August, I’ll be able to do a little bit more, but until I know for sure what’s going on, I don’t know. 

I’m also really nervous about going back to work and doing document formatting, which basically means I’m doing short keys and mouse clicks for anywhere from 4 to 8 hours a day. 

And yeah, that doesn’t sound like much fun right now. 

My doctor has me going back on September 1st. 

I’m hoping that I’ll be OK to do that. 

I’m hoping my work will be OK with giving me a little bit more leeway in getting my stuff done. I have no idea what’s going to happen and it’s kind of scary. 

Right now, I am concentrating on the things that I can control. 

Those being slowly, carefully, roasting coffee for Ottawa Comic Con. It’s going to be the first convention, that’s going to be in September, the first convention that we actually get to sell at since COVID started and I’m terrified. 

Not only because I’ve heard so many stories of people getting sick at Montreal Comic Con and other conventions, but also because I have no idea if roasting and preparing for a month… Like, so much stock is going to be sold, or if we’re going to leave with a negative… I’m just hoping to make back our table. 

That’s my basic goal. 

We’ll see; and I guess my other big goal is not to get sick. On that front, Pegasus has gotten his first shot at the end of July. We’re hoping to get the next one by the end of August, early September, so that he’s covered when we go to Comic Con. 

He’s not coming with us, but if we’re going to bring anything back, which is always a possibility, I don’t want him to catch this thing after 2 1/2 years! Gah. 

So back to the health stuff. 

My doctor gets back on Tuesday, which is tomorrow when you guys are watching this, and hopefully he’ll have some sort of diagnosis for me or another series of tests, which I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot of those in the future, which sucks. 

And I really miss typing. 

It’s my stress relief. Even like just basic typing is my stress relief. 

I was really enjoying the stress relief of playing ukulele, but I… I’ve barely touched it. 

Although I did dust, literally dust, the ukulele the other day just because it looked sad. 

All that to say that I am nervous but I’m getting better and I am trying to prepare for Comic Con, so hopefully my doctor will be able to fix things, and my physio will help me fix things and I can get back to writing novels.

Speaking of novels, check out Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. 

Well, I hope you’ve had an enjoyable time learning about my pain. [Fake sobbing]

I hope you’ve learned a little bit about what’s going on, and I hope to see you at Ottawa Comic Con.

Bye.

Blush: Infant foreskin

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I don’t have a penis. I have only rarely dealt with (read: changed the diaper of) an infant with a penis (and don’t remember doing it, so it was a really long time ago). So when an article about infant foreskin crossed my path, I opened it, because, “Hey, new thing I don’t know much about!”

And wow did I learn.

Ovate Mushroom from wildflowerfinder.org.uk.

If the foreskin is still attached to the penis of the infant – you don’t have to pull it back to clean inside it.

Not only that, but you should NOT pull it back.

In an infant, the foreskin is attached to the head by a membrane called the synechia. The membrane dissolves (not unlike the hymen), but this takes time (2-6 YEARS is normal, although earlier or later than that is not concerning), and should not be rushed. The first person to pull back the foreskin should be the child – they will stop if it hurts or if there is resistance.

If the membrane is pulled back, severe pain, bleeding, tearing, infections, and permanent damage could happen to the penis.

Once the child does this the first time, you can teach them how to wash underneath the foreskin (pull back, wash under the folds, rinse away all the soap, push forwards again…references below). But until then, the foreskin protects the head of the penis from all bacteria – including poop! (If I had thought about infant penises before having read up on the subject, I would have assumed that you would have to pull back the foreskin to clean out poop – you certainly have to clean EVERYWHERE with an infant vulva! But nope!)

The only time you should be concerned about the foreskin of the infant is if it gets red, sore, or inflamed. If the child can’t pee, that is definitely a problem. Bring them to a doctor.

The human body knows what it is doing. Let it take care of itself, and don’t pull back an infant’s foreskin!

References

https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/foreskin-care

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/bathing-skin-care/Pages/Care-for-an-Uncircumcised-Penis.aspx

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/phimosis/

If you’re enjoying the Blush blogs, consider learning more with Blush: The Card Game from Renaissance Press.