ProPatient Rides Again!

I am in ProPatient mode again! So we will have a lot to talk about. I find myself, more than anything else, going to see labcoats when I go out. I have the patient versus consumer philosophical discussion fairly often both out loud and in my head. I am sharing personal information with strangers a lot, and you know how much I enjoy that sort of thing.

I have a lot in my head about medical information: how it is shared, used, what direct input I have as a patient, all that sort of thing. I think that this is a terribly important thing tha we almost never discuss, and I want to be a part of fixing that problem.

I am going to have open carpal tunnel surgery here soon. I am in PT for my back, which is a necessary step to get the insurance to do something for my bulging disks, but we are getting a lot of other work done. One rheumatologist has confirmed lupus, another calls fibromyalgia, my GP and I think that, sadly, they are both correct. I am cutting down on caffeine and cigarettes. Or trying to, anyway. 

Since the carpal tunnel surgery is coming up first, it is what I am preparing for the most. I am beyond aprehensive about losing the use of my dominant hand for a while. And hey, if you know of any low cost or free speech to text software, I would greatly appreciate knowing about it! Please share it below.

This has triggerd a long delayed house reorganization. The basement is undergoing the worst of it, because it had become a place to simply store things, and the ablity to work there was lost in piles of stuff. The same was true for my desk: it was buried in all kinds of paperwork not deemed an emergency at the time.

Of course, politics have been formost in my mind as I go through all of this, and the discussions of entitlements and the Affordable Care Act have emphasized the truth: politics are real life! And we need to talk about them. Here, politics are life and death and quality of life.