Category: Jake

Got another AC adapter for my laptop, so I’ll be back to blogging shortly. Got a bunch of good stuff to clear out of my inbox.

OK, just got off the phone with my doctor. They have the MRI results. I have 3 bulging disks. Two of them are only bulging couple millimeters, but one is bulging a full 10x15mm. So it’s bulging out a full centimeter. They said that that one is probably the one pinching my nerve, causing me all the pain.

They said that surgery is probably the most likely option here. If were just the smaller bulges, it’d be one thing and physical therapy might do the job, but with a bulge that large, surgery’s the primary option.

I still, to this day, don’t know what I did to mess up my back like this, nor did my sister when she had back trouble.

Regardless, they’re going to try to get me into see Kathy Moore, the spinal expert at DB&J, today or tomorrow, or Monday at the latest, so we can discuss options.

My request from before stands: If anybody knows anybody who has several grand they have to get off (for tax/embezzlement reasons <hehe>) have them get in touch with me. I’m always taking donations, as well.

Meanwhile, I’m still working from home on my wife’s computer until my laptop adapter gets here. I don’t know when I’ll be back at the office again, but I’ll do whatever I can do from here.

Thanks again to all of you and your support. It’s helped me through this tremendously.

I’ll keep you posted as to what happens.

Update: Also of note: I’m violating MT’s license by doing this, though as soon as I get enough money to pay for a commercial license, I’ll pay for it, but I’m running those Google ads at the bottom of every page. Please click on those, and I’ll see if I can get a few bucks that way.

I got my MRI last Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving). They said the films would be back to the doctor’s office today. I was getting impatient, so I called them. They, of course, haven’t received them yet.

I’m getting impatient. It’s nobody’s fault, really, but I just want to know if the treatment/diagnosis is going to be something relatively cheap (like some physical therapy) or if it’s something nasty (surgery, cancer, swift kick to the head with a steel boot, etc… .).

Meanwhile, I’m still stuck on the couch, luckily working a bit so I don’t have to use up all my sick time. But I’m still impatient.

It’s 11:15 PM, and my wife’s decided she wants to clean the whole house. Because I can’t help her during the day because of my back, the house isn’t as clean as it usually is. But she’s snapped, and has been scrubbing various parts of the house for about an hour now, and has no intention of stopping. I can’t convince her otherwise. She doesn’t seem to care about being functional dealing with our kids, even though I can’t do a damn thing to talk her into going to bed.

Meanwhile, I’m loopy on pain meds, flipping back and forth between Adult Swim and Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.

I have an MRI tomorrow, and I managed to talk the folks into giving me a 25% discount since I’m paying cash (credit card, actually, but still out of pocket). Basically, I told them that they are only going to get reimbursed a fixed amount from the insurance company, and dealing with them is always a pain in the butt. So it brings the bill from about $1370 down to a hair over a grand. I got that idea from the Clark Howard radio show (a good show that I wish I listened to more often).

So I’m debating whether I should go to bed or wait up. It could be hours. Let’s go play some games, shall we?

I inadvertently overwrote my FeedDemon OPML files. And do I have a backup of the RSS feeds I had in there? Nope. So I’ll be reuploading all those damn things in there now <grumble>.

Because that’s how much money I need to pay for the MRI I need for my back/leg pain. I went to the doctor earlier today, and all indications point to a disk problem (herniated or slipped) in my back. My back pain isn’t bad, but my leg pain is. And from everything I understand, an MRI runs between $800-1000. But they can’t decide whether to go the physical therapy route or surgery route until they get the MRI.

Luckily my doctor was pretty good about trying to save costs. He’s not going to bring me back to the office unless surgery is required. he’ll just call with the results. He only took the bare minimum amount of x-rays, and he gave me samples of the one of the drugs he prescribed so I wouldn’t have to pay for any. He also is using a radiology place that has better payment plans than the more popular place in town, so at least he’s being helpful in that way.

But, certainly, if anybody (or any company) our there has an extra grand to get rid of, I’d like to talk to them. jake at utterlyboring dot com. Hell, e-mail me and I’ll even give you my home phone number, if you’re serious. I’ll even post a permanent button to your site here, if you’d like.

OK, gotta go take my pain meds. I’ll try to blog later.

Tylenol 3 makes the pain go away (at least until I try to walk where I survive about one minute before buckling over), but man, it makes me tired as hell.

The last time I was this tired I had run and hiked 35 miles (yes, in one day) up in the Steens Mountains. But all I’ve been doing is laying down, and I’m tired as hell. How sad is that?

I’ve got an appointment to see a back specialist in a couple days to figure out what the hell’s wrong. We’ll see how that goes.

Expect slower blogging over the next few days. I’ve got about 300 entries/links to post, but have been too tired and uncomfortable to do anything. I’ve been working from home, but it’s been slow going, to say the least, as it’s hard to get comfortable when your back is out of whack. It’s not even my back that hurts, but my left leg, but I know it’s my back that’s causing it (damn sciatic nerve).

I recently applied to receive health insurance through Pacific Source Health Plans based on glowing reviews from not only doctors but patients and insurance agents as well. Everything I’ve heard about them has been good. It was refreshing to hear such good things, considering how many people (including me) hated a company I used before, Lifewise. So I was excited when I applied.

However, I knew, based on previous back, leg, and other problems, I had this gut feeling I wouldn’t get covered. I made it quite clear on the application what was going on and treatment. I was just hoping, I guess. Even if my back problems weren’t covered, it would be nice to have the insurance for other stuff.

Word came today: Application denied. For me, at least. My wife and two babies are covered (for the same premium price, which is annoying, but they charge a flat rate for 3+ people), but I’m out in the dark now, and still paying out of pocket.

Since I was denied, I’m eligible to apply for the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool (OMIP). It’s basically a state-subsidized program for people like me who are screwed. But I’ll still have to pay for it, and affording two seperate premiums is something I know I can’t afford right now. I might have to apply for FHIAP as well.

Why am I needing this so bad? Because my back and leg is still killing me. I did good stretching and exercise for three weeks, and it hurt it even more. I’m in too much pain to work out any more, and everything hurts to bad to even stretch anymore. I can barely move, and certainly can’t do the extra work I’ve got on my plate to make the extra money I need (I have five web sites lined up, but I’m so damn tired and sore all the time that I can’t do them).

I took the day off today (Sunday — I usually work today) as my leg was hurting pretty bad. Damn nerve pinch. I’m skipping out on work tomorrow, too, to see if I can rest my back some more and (possibly) get into a specialist, as yesterday was an awful day. I spent about 4 hours in my parents hot tub (not in succession) and could barely walk because of the pain. I’m pretty doped up right now, and I’m feeling good if I don’t have to walk.

We’ll just see what happens. Anybody know a bone/joint doctor who needs some Web/computer work done? 😉

You want to know how I spent my day here at work? I spent 8 hours converting a beat up Compaq ML370 Server Windows NT 4.0 server to Windows 2003 Web Edition. Initially, I knew the thing couldn’t do a jump from NT 4.0 to 2K3, but I knew it could jump from 2000 to 2K3, so I tried to install 2000 first. Why did I even bother…? Long story short, after a couple failed attempts at just getting Win 2K server to install on another partition (it never took my admin password), I gave up, and did the advance install for 2K3, installed it on top of my 2K directory, and life was good. Thankfully Compaq/HP released drivers for the Ultra-Wide SCSI controller on the thing, otherwise it would’ve never made it through install.

But what are my initial impressions? 2K3 is FAR better than NT 4, but that’s a given, right? I did run into a few quirks, but I kind of expected them. Why? Because I’m running the Web edition of 2K3 which, by its nature, is heavily locked down to make sure that nobody could break into it. It also meant that stuff that used to work before didn’t quite work right before. I had to change some of my ASP code, I had to edit some permissions on some files that I (personally) don’t think I should’ve had to, and I had to change some MIME type settings, but I can see why they locked it down like they did (considering all the problems folks have had with IIS).

Here’s the biggest problem I ran into: I have a batch file that loads on startup a DOS program required by our online reservation system here at Sunray. That DOS program processes online reservation requests, so it’s needed (though I really hate 16-bit programs). So my batch file loads the DOS program with some command-line parameters. Here’s the problem: By default, if you’re logged into the system as anybody but the administrator account, you can’t execute batch files without clicking on a button to make them run. Obviously, I don’t want to have to log in as administrator to have a batch file executed, as the system has to stay logged in for the system to work. So I create an account with less user privledges, and let that log into the system, and run that batch file — and nothing else.

It took me a very long time to figure out how to turn that thing off. I happened to look into the very locked down MSIE install (it was set to “High” in the security settings). I tweaked the settings a bit, and suddenly, the batch file ran without prompting me. What does that mean? It means that Win2K3 uses MSIE’s permissions when it comes to executing files. I don’t know if I like that all that much.

Regardless, everything is finally running smooth on the server. IIS 6.0 is (obviously) far more powerful than IIS 4.0. I haven’t really had a chance to dive into things very deep, but will do so when I have a chance. Right now it’s running (short of my SSL certificate — that’s coming tomorrow), so I don’t want to screw with it.

Sum up your opinion or impression of me in one word. Leave it as a comment in this posting. Then post this sentence in your own journal.

Found via the Bastard, who got it thriced removed from somewhere else.