I'm more broken than you

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I just pay out of pocket for my eye-exam. The former head of UC Berkeley Ophthalmology is also a fencer, so I go see him. Worth every shekel.

[King Bob]

Ironically, since I was never that fit compared to you competitive athletes, it seems that my health is at least as good as yours now. Maybe that's because in my farmer lineage all the weak ones died without reproducing.

On the other hand, I did just break one of my teeth, and am now getting my fourth crown, so perhaps I am gloating too soon.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Blood-clots. How amusing. Now the quest to find enough padding to survive giving fencing lessons while on blood-thinners for a few months.

[Greg]

Fuck, I say. Fuck!

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck, indeed.

[Drunk Monk]

Claat is a rasta curse, short for blood clot by refers to menstruation.

What blood thinner? My dad was in courmadin and that's a very tricky med...

Man, and I was going to post here about how jacked my elbow is now, but you totally stole my thunder.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Coumadin (sp?) Warfarin is what I'm on. Lotta blood tests for the first while (one or two per week, initially). I have to give myself shots twice/day for the first 10 days while the Warf kicks in. That was weird at first and is now merely inconvenient.  The drugs wiped me out, but now I am feeling pretty normal. We'll see. It was like suddenly being at Lake Tahoe: I got winded super easy.

I talked with another fencing coach who is on The Vampire's Friend because I was concerned about bruising. He confirmed that it just takes longer to heal but has not slowed him down any. This was good news as getting stabbed is 2/3 of my income.

My younger bro had a clot that put him in the ER, so I'm glad I avoided that. It took him a year to get off the thinners. I am hoping that my more active lifestyle will get me through faster.

How jacked is your elbow?

[Drunk Monk]

The 'r' is the Spanish spelling.  You roll it, roll it like a motorboat.  Okay, not. 

My dad was put on coumadin after his stroke so we never really knew how it was affecting him because he couldn't tell us.  He had to go in regularly, like every few months, to get the dosage adjusted.  They warned us about bleeding a lot, but that's an issue with any anti-coagulant, right?  My dad did bruise pretty easily.  But he had so many other issues, it's hard to say what was the effect of the coumadin.  I often wondered if it contributed to my dad's incontinence issues too.  

My elbow is like a bad tennis elbow, or in our case, a swordsman elbow (but how freakin pretentious is that, eh Maestro?)  It was nagging me over a month ago.  I think it was triggered by my new car, because I didn't adjust the seat right and caused a little RSI from how I was holding the wheel.  Then last month, I was doing some padwork, basic punches, and it blew out like a retread tire.  Couldn't even close my fist the next day.  Been icing, wearing a brace, taking flexeril and hydrocodone, ditching practice, and getting weekly chiro (that I can't afford).  Now all my basic right punch is gone, one of my few remaining weapons.  

What a drag it is growing old.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Fuck, fuck, fuck! My hands just curled in sympathy. The body just starts to throw in the towel, one joint at a time. I have clearance to get more surgery on both knees (I can barely get in a guard position) but will now put off until after Clothilda is gone and Rio is over.

Cortisone? Mega anti-inflams?

[Drunk Monk]

The universe is poking the crap out of me.

Yesterday, a visiting master who was escorting another master (subject of a future cover story) noticed my tendinitis brace and decided to treat me.  I wrote a cover story for him over a decade ago and he's a reputed doctor....of TCM. It became an issue of Chinese face - I couldn't refuse.  Lemme tell ya, if you're Chinese (none of you will ever have this problem) and you get TCM from a Chinese doctor and you are both martial artists, it HURTS LIKE HELL.  So, during the cover shoot, he is acupressuring the shit out of my shoulder and upper arm, and electrostimming needles in my elbow.  The dude has strong hands.  Hen tong (that means 'very painful').  My elbow does feel a little better.  But my shoulder and upper arm feel like they've been steamrolled.  Sometimes I think TCM works like this: "Doc, I've got a headache." "OK, I'm stomping on your little toe with my big ass boot as hard as I can.  <STOMP!> Does your head feel better or should I stomp on another toe?"  "Uh, I'm good.  Please stop." 

Then today, Patrick and I were hanging our new KFTCD banner in our work space, and Patrick in his usual coordinated fashion, flicked the old banner so I was showered with ejected thumbtacks.  He was impressed by how well I covered my face.  

Then later, I had to go by Kaiser for some tests.  A blood draw, of course, and a retinal test.  The blood draw was smooth as silk, barely felt it, but that's when I realized there is a disturbing pattern developing here.  

I was given a diabetes test kit before I left for Spain.  I opened it this weekend and charged it.  It's ready to go now.  Time for some self sticking.  

[Greg]

I feel your diabetes test kit pain.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Diabetes?! WTF? I thought you were all, like, healthy and martial-artsy and stuff. You mean diabetes just sometimes...happens?!

[Drunk Monk]

It's in my blood. A lot of diabetes in my family.

So far, not poked today. Grateful, I am.

[Greg]

Sometimes your pancreas just gets tired of making Insulin. As opposed to forcing your pancreas to quit making Insulin through a dissolute lifestyle.

[lady_cranefly]

Remember how you used to tell Stacy that I could take all the pressure she could dish out?

What goes around comes around, man.