I'm more broken than you

[Haggis Killer]

I blush...

[Drunk Monk]

Since I'm supposed to be under 200, Mrs. DM has raised an eybrow over my eating habits again. You'd think going veg would be enough. Honestly, I'm most happy to discover that I'm negative for Hep B. Given my free clinic work and my Asia travel, and that I lost a good friend to Hep B earlier this year, that's really good news.

The qigong is starting to kick in. The arthritis isn't so bad now. I have a consultation scheduled with my Doc in two weeks and I'll see more of my Free Clinic professional friends Thursday.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Gimme an "M"!

Gimme an "R"!

Gimme an "I"!

What does it spell?

Mri!

Hmmm. That lacked something. Need more whisky. Helps Mongo think.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Well, the good news is that the one area that Eastern Medicine seem to be consistently, empirically good at is reducing inflammation. Keep us posted!

Maybe you, me and HK can get a group discount thing going.

[Drunk Monk]

i'm on kaiser - company provided - which means anything takes forever unless you're bleeding and then it still takes time. i can't afford an mri on my own.

right now, things seem to be improving. it's not painful anymore, just irritating. i've developed this slightly villainous twitch, constantly cracking my neck. i'm hopeful about the qigong and the msm/glucosamine/chondritin alchemy. the nice thing about qigong is that it's free. the supplements are pretty pricey, but affordable now.

my schedule is totally impacted until mid august. always happens this time of year to me. it's summer in california. i'll schedule more medical tests as soon as i get some down time.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Well, here I sit with three holes in my knee, a cup o' coffee on the table, and a laptop under my fingers. How did a street-savvy Yeti like me get laid out like a dyspeptic yak? Well, it all started when she walked into my office. There were three 38's pointing at me, and I was worried about the one in the middle...

Ok, ok, it is just some cleaning, trimming, smoothing, realigning, of the interior of my left knee. Surprisingly, quite a bit of bondo and chicken-wire was used. Maaco will be doing the painting. I'll be back at The Little Sword Shop of Horrors on Monday and back swatting kiddiewinks with a sword the week after.

In the mean time, Davrvocet beckons....

[thatguy]

I guess this is what I have to look forward to if I keep fencing foil...I'm thinking of doing the BayCup Vets end of the month in Sonoma.

My mom's had both of her knees replaced (she's bionic now). If it's hereditary, I'm sure my lunges aren't helping me any. At least I suck at lunging...

Side note...last Monday Kevin Osborn was in town and there was a big turn out to his challenge. I was fencing Dennis Shleif and broke one of my blades in two places, so I'll be trekking down to your little shop for a new one. Maybe this time I need to move up to the next level in quality.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Naw, that is just from hitting Dennis.

When is Kevin moving back up here?

[Drunk Monk]

I was all ready to post how my sword arm is all messed up before the yetiscragger beat me out with the bad fencing knee. But I'm still in pain, so I might as well complain. Not sure what happened exactly. I felt it tweak a bit over a month ago when throwing some punches in practice. I gave it a good rest on vacation, but when I came back, it was far worse than before. It feels somewhere between carpal tunnel and tennis elbow. I've invested in a new brace to cinch down my forearm and rearranged my workdesk again so I'm mousing with my left.

Oh, and I just got fitted for reading glasses. That's probably not such a big deal to most of you since many already have glasses, but in my youth I had jet pilot vision. I could read things at 200 feet that most people could only read at 20 feet. It's like losing one more of my superpowers.

Alright, back to PPFY and his much more major maladies...

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Naw, I'd rather talk about your arm. Where is it hurting? Shooting pain, with a soupçon of ice-water and numbness? Radiating from the neck down the arm to the fingers, or from the elbow or just the wrist...?

[Drunk Monk]

Well, if it helps with your knee therapy, I'll gladly discuss my malady. Most of the pain is based in the carpi radialis (sp?) bodies, which would be prime suspect for carpal tunnel, of course. I've been lashing that down with one of those thick velcro straps for tennis elbow. Sometimes it's better lashed just above my elbow, other times just below. I'm getting some compensation pain, or perhaps referral pain, in the back of my upper arm and shoulder. It was improving as of last week, but it's still not fully healed. I've invested in a mega-elbow-brace with built-in velcro lash for when I train. All my old braces were too flimsy and worn out.

I've also got a rash on me bum. Wanna chat about that?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Count me in!

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

You doing the usual? ice, ibuprofin/acetomenaphin, compression, accupuncture, herb patches? Brace to wear at night to prevent the fetal curve of the wrist that can exacerbate the carpalling of your tunnels? Whisky?

[The Queen]

Been there, done that! Parafin dips, strengthening exercises (PT), massage and supportive tape got me past the worst bits.

[Drunk Monk]

i don't beleive in ice except for the time of injury. i give ice to my kid when she has an owie. it's a placebo. she usually winds up sucking on it. ice just ins't logical beyond reducing swelling and i'm not swollen. ppfy, did you use ice on your knees? see where it got you?

i'm also not into ibu. too harsh on the liver. i used to be into it, but then i read the research. i only take it in dire situations.

compression, yeah, i bought a new bondage strap. it velcros down so tight that i can make my hand blue. i want one for my whole body, with a zipper for my mouth.

i'm not a big fan of acupuncture. did you read that new study that showed that fake points were almost as effective as real points and that both were far more effective than western med for back pain? gotta love that. haven't gone there yet, but i may soon.

i'm allergic to many topical herbs. did too much when i was young. cf suffers the same problem but from a different chinese bonesetter. there are many of us actually. i keep meeting more.

the night brace, well, like i said, i'm holding out for the one with the zipper for my mouth.

whiskey. yesshhh. in fact, i thimnk i'll pour myselve anither shott...

tell me more about parafin dips. i've seen hot wax drips at the exotic erotic, but i'm guessing this is different.

for strengthening, well, i just spent an hour twirling a kwan do while a monk yelled at me to go faster and more powerfully, again, again, again. does that count?

massage - i am upping the massage schedule. it's one of the benefits of having a top notch massage therapists for a wife.

supportive tape. does that come with zippers?

in all seriousness, i thank thee for the advice. i'm still thinking it's some sort of rsi. i'm also thinking i need to get double checked to make sure it's not spreading arthritis. it feels much different. and i've seen my x-rays. the small spurs on my c4 and c5 are quite visible.