From alpha testing to the QUERCUS 200

PT reevaluation: "Your condition is unacceptable especially for someone your age. You need to have something done as soon as possible."

I also got a speech reminding me that it won't stay this bad and I had an offer to use a wheelchair to get me to the car. I also cried in front of my PT when I tried to sit up on the table which was rather embarrassing (so lets tell everybody). Not a good day doesn't quite do it justice.

I feel a bit better today. I wish they would hurry up with the appointment. Apparently there may be a lot of soreness and pain after the injection that I will have to recover from. I'm ready to get it over with. I'm not in a bad place mentally today so far. Sitting is much more comfortable today and walking is a bit easier. I'm going to go out for lunch and have a nice spinach quiche. I have chess planned for tomorrow with a couple of coworkers. I had coffee planned this evening, but our friend had to go out of town for work. I'm just trying to stay focused on other things and stay as busy as pain allows.
 
Keeping fingers crossed that the shot does the trick, Q, sorry you're in such pain.
 
Some random contemplation. I may take a stab at cleaning it up and citing sources of info etc., but I might not so here you are.


The Search for Death

The further away from our planet that you go the probability of intelligent life increases. 134 light years is very close in terms of the size of just our galaxy of 100,000-120,000 light years in diameter. If you look at light to observe our planet and you're 134 light years away you won't see much of civilization because that is the year Edison invented the light bulb. From the edge of our galaxy the observer would be looking at mostly Neanderthals.

So there are countless galaxies in the universe, but by the time anyone would see us from another galaxy humanity will be gone. Any galaxy but the few closest and the sun will have long since fizzled out after expanding and incinerating our planet. The same goes for any life that we could see.

Life as we know it needs a medium sized star for its energy and gravity. The "lifespan" of that star effectively serves as an absolute limit to the range at which we could see life with any chance of its planet still existing in a life supporting state.

The average life span of a mammal based on the fossil record is 1,000,000 years (). We are in a known accelerated extinction period. We have been on the planet for about 200,000 years already. That means that there is a good chance we as a species would be gone by the time the closest galaxy could see us.

The practical limit is our individual lifespan. The closest habitable planet is 13 light years away. If the tiny probability of sentient beings with far superior light sensing technology than our own happens to be there, then they could see me as I am today when I am 51. If they left immediately at the site of me and traveled here at 1,758,000 mph (100 times faster than our space shuttle in orbit) they would arrive more than 5,000 years from now. So had they seen someone spear an Irish elk in 3,000 BC they'd be getting here any day.

Probability says we are not alone. Probability also says we will die alone as a species just as we will as an individual having neither spied nor eyed the famed extra-terrestrial being.
 
I'm sorry to hear about the problems with the back and the physical therapy... I hope the injection helps.

Take care of yourself... I hope the shot goes well...
 
I can live without seeing any extra-terrestrials, but it's quite a nice thought thinking they're out there.......somewhere. Q- what a brain you must have! Distractions are good, when you're suffering from pain. I have just been looking up spinal cortisone epidurals and, from what I read, it will probably be a good thing. Giving you the ability to exercise without pain alone, would be excellent. Imagine what changes you could make in a year. I really do hope you can have this soon!!!! xo Cate
 
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.
 
Thank you Athala! I wish they would hurry up and schedule it.
Thank you Cate! I can't wait to be active again.
Thank you LJ!

Good old Monty Python. I'm listening to ^that one now and I will go immediately to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

For the unintiated:
Song fromn LJ's post.
Possible NSFW because of a vector graphic of a birth scene.



Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
A cuss word and blasphemy I suppose.




A happy Thursday to everyone! I have chess this evening. I slept really well last night.
 
That's excellent that you had a good night's sleep Q! Here's a silly chess "joke"-
Q: How does an Australian announce he is attacking your king?
A: Check, mate.
Cheers mate, Cate.
 
So 1-1 for chess last night. I beat the new guy handily, but it was competitive enough that he wants to keep playing and he will be a real challenge really soon. I made a positioning blunder midgame that lost the game for me to my other buddy. The fact that I can pick the move that did it is real progress. I also did something a bit devious. My regular opponent has a rather weak end game. I saw that I was defeated and resigned the game. This was strategic as I would have learned little from the remaining end game, but he would have gotten some much needed practice. He's been playing loads of online chess so I didn't feel too bad.

Feeling a bit better today so far. I was in pretty rough shape by the time I got home last night, but that was following the chess games and I am happy to report that I made it through grocery shopping without having to sit or go back to the car. I even carried in quite a bit.

Still no word on the schedule for my injection. I'm calling the doctor today.
 
Thank you Mandy!

I've been trying to get my injection scheduled, but no luck so far. The latest is that they have received the reference letter and are waiting for insurance pre-approval which will take 24 hours to more than one week. Then they will schedule me. I wish I could transfer my pain to the people I'm waiting on. I'm guessing that would move things along nicely.

I played video games this weekend to pass the time. A friend gave me a super cheap deal on an xbox 360. It's a bit much for me and I don't normally enjoy them, but having to sit so much and being kinda fuzzy headed I am a bit more amenable to the video games. I especially like Portal 2 of the ones I've tried so far. It's essentially a series of logic puzzles that have been jazzed up and there is a good amount of humor in it as well.

I'm eating way too much. Sitting, hurting, and eating is what I do these days.

The wading pool overflowed and dumped after the half foot of rain that we got. It's a bit of a waste to set it back up this late in the year so I'm without that now. I'm going to try a short walk every day regardless of how I am feeling.

I've been eating way too much. I made my wife brownies for her birthday this weekend and had some with vanilla gelato. Mostly it isn't what I'm eating, but how much. I grab a bunch of food and drinks and stockpile beside the sofa so I don't put my wife out waiting on me. The I sit and eat the whole time.

I should only carry one serving of something healthy to the sofa and I have to go get each serving myself. That would be effective, but miserable.

I could resign myself to a holding pattern until something could be done about my back, but I am gaining and that is going to make my back worse. I'm trying not to feel bad about this, but I need to focus on being conscious of what I am eating and how I feel hunger. I'm stressed that I still don't have the procedure scheduled and on the open-endedness of the process. I also still have no concept of how much this is going to cost. I'll feel better once I know those things. In the meanwhile I'll try to feel better by eating better.
 
Hi Q & :( :( :( about the pain & having to wait & not knowing. That sucks!!!! Big time!!!!!
:D :D :D to you doing something about how you're feeling & starting a challenge. I have never joined a challenge & am going away for 2 weeks in there , but am tempted. I need a good kick up the derriere! GO Q!!!!!
 
Thanks Cate! Guideon is signed up and he will be gone during the contest too. We'd be glad to have you.

Well my insurance company refused my refill yesterday so now I am at their mercy as to whether or not they process the preauthorization before the medicine runs out. I would say the fact that the doctor prescribed the refill should count as him authorizing the prescription. It must be frustrating for doctors in this country as they don't get final say to there patient's treatment. The insurance company decides when and if I can get the injection and the prescription.

If you are considering moving to America be sure that you have a super power that makes you impervious to injury and disease. Our insurance companies decide for you and they are pretty sure you don't need anything. Secondary to not being able to get treatment is how much of your compensation goes to pay these asshats to override and withhold treatments.

Meanwhile half of our government tries to defund the neutered worthless legislation that passes for health care reform.
 
I experienced the American health system through my older sister, who lived there for 25 years. It sucks!! She made sure that I had a very comprehensive travel insurance each time I went over there. Access to good healthcare & education should be a right for all, not just the employed & the rich! People in Australia complain about our healthcare system, but I think we have very little to complain about. I don't have private healthcare, but I feel like I have excellent options. I am on a "health plan" & have free access to various specialists. I think I am a very lucky person.
I do hope you are not waiting long Q!! xo Cate
 
The odd thing about our health care system is that heading in either possible direction would be an improvement: heading in a completely free market/low regulation type environment would be scary as hell but likely would be an improvement (for almost everyone) over this, and heading in the other direction to a single payer universal system would be better than this too. Somehow we've managed to cobble together the worst aspects of both systems into one. It only gets worse when in the realm of pain medication.

I hope you get this all straightened out, Quercus. I've signed up for the challenge.
 
Cate my sympathies to your sister. Even as a professionally employed person I wouldn't say I have access to good healthcare, but certainly better than the majority of the employed in this country. Insurance is generally cost prohibitive to low paying jobs. The new "affordable healthcare" that will come into effect in October despite the best efforts of half of our legislature will have a median cost of around $330 a month. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and most minimum wage jobs limited to 30 hrs a week to prevent employees from getting any benefits (paid leave, sick time, or insurance). The working poor with a single minimum wage job would be required to spend 35% of their income to have health insurance. Sadly this is an improvement over current prices.

MrVee I am happy to have you in the contest as you will certainly make me work hard. I agree that either direction would necessarily be an improvement to our healthcare system. I need to folow in your footsteps because the only viable solution at this point is to stay healthy.

This is day 2 of feeling much better. Ironically I think the pain medicine was making me feel worse. I skipped a dose when my refill was refused because I only had 2 pills left and wanted to take it only as necessary. I'm now past 5 doses and 40 hours since the last time I took it. The minimum time to have the drug completely out of your system is 35 hours so I am past the point of residual effect. It helped at first, but apparently it has lost its effect entirely. I will keep it handy as it is all I have if it gets bad. I still hurt and I'll still move forward with the injection, but I'm happy to be off the drugs since they made me fuzzy and shaky apparently with little or no positive effect as of late.

I'm fearful of Saturday's weigh-in. I imagine I will be heavier than my starting weight from 12/12. I will not beat myself up about it. I should have done better, but I will from this point forward. I haven't given up on intuitive eating as my failings have been from not adhering to its principals. The scale and the contest will help me out of this rut and I intend to include intuitive eating principals aside from excluding the scale while competing.
 
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