Mornin' gents

Flooding of the Housatonic in New Milford, CT is considerable.
DD's dinner and DS's chowder sounds good.
Poor Pablito! Did he (does he?) have the Giardia? Hope all is better soon.
All I know is that sugar and carbs in excess (christmas cookies!) make the needle on the scale go the wrong way.
Hoping your leg swelling has been accurately diagnosed and is responding to treatment, Bill.
I just discovered lidocaine patches really help with my piriformis syndrome pain. Calmed that sciatic irritation right down. They are kinda weird and icky, like sticking a flat jellyfish on your body, but they work amazingly well. At least for me they did.

Be OP ;-)

Good morning gentlemen.

Visit with neurosurgeon was kind of disappointing. He was kind of wishy-washy when I was hoping for clear answers. The narrowing around the nerves might be causing my pain but it sure doesn.t look dramatic. We can do surgery, or you can keep trying what you have been trying. I told him let's do the surgery. The downside is that it might not help. On the other hand, it might. Doing nothing isn't helping. Rita thinks I am nuts for wanting to do surgery that might not fix the problem. Nothing is going to happen very soon. The doc has to request approval for the operation from a panel at the hospital. Then they would schedule everything.

Sorry about the flooding and rain in New England. California is about to be hit with lots of rain, too. So, of course, our weather up here is pretty good: warmer than normal, in the 50s, and mostly dry.

Too bad about Pablo's dietary issues. Hope you work things out soon.

Good Morning

Dave, I am sorry you didn't get a clear definitive answer yesterday. I know I got a surgery is indicated but which procedure will be determined during the surgery and inspection of the disc. Heather went a similar path where the cleaned out the nerve pathway but it didn't bring alot of relief. She is reluctant to return now. Nerve pain can tempt us to want to do anything. I would encourage you to find a Dr who could talk it through a bit more with you. Either way you need a plan B.

Sam, I hope Pablo's responds to the medicine and expenditure. I hope the antibiotic clears up the sinus troubles. Mine are almost gone.

I had a really good phone call with the PA at my Pain Dr's yesterday. We reviewed all my concerns, now and with the forthcoming radiation treatments need for pain management and she agrees that Tramadol is the way to go right now to provide the flexibility that will be needed and the reviewed several scenarios for taking it and the Gabapentin which she upped another 600mg if needed. So I am back on tramadol throughout the day for now with a double dose in the evening so that pain won't keep me from sleeping. No diagnosis, but leg swelling has improved. The compression sleeve arrived yesterday. I am wearing it 2 hours on and 2 hours off to treat the leg during the day. I slept another 5+ hours last night. Today I will try laying comfortably on the bed a bit so that I may finally return there for sleep. Rainy Rainy today by our standards at least. I have exercise, laundry and making progress so the living room will be ready for Christmas now that my energy levels are increasing with sleep.

Blessings!