One Dumm Hikks Blog

[OneDummHikk]

Some day I will figure out why I bought a laptop knowing how much I hate the mouse they come with and the worthless 1/2 keyboard. And yes, its 1/2 a keyboard since its missing the other half of the keys on a "normal" keyboard.

[OneDummHikk]

Another insomniac night for me. I took my medicine again (soma) to try to help me sleep and it isn't helping. I guess I really do need to call the doctor. I was going to call but decided not to since the soma worked the first night. I need to make phone calls at 8am so today is going to be a rough day. I can't keep not being able to sleep at night. It makes days too hard on me. Especially since my dr's can't call me if I am asleep during the day

[OneDummHikk]

Ever have one of those days where you just want to tell the whole world to drop dead and leave you alone? That was my day today. Back been acting up a lot. Have a doctors appointment monday so I am simply going to wait until then and keep the current regiment until I go see him. Hopefully I can get my days/nights straightened back out. At least a consistent routine would be better than the sporadic one I have now.

Trying to figure out a way to bring my 20 breeder back home with me but not sure I am going to manage it. I think I can manage moving it all the distance but having a place to put it when I get back is the major problem.

[OneDummHikk]

I spent most of the day Friday being lazy. I went out to my brothers house and played cards most of the night. I am going back out later today to take pics of a coil denitrator, pics of my DIY tube jig, and to piddle some more. Another day in Hikk-a-dice.

My plans, originally, were to leave town tonight, go to Jacksonville, spend the weekend, go to one doctor monday and a second one tuesday. But, my driver backed out on me so I had to change my plans. I am not allowed (drs orders) to drive more than 20 minutes so I can't drive myself there or back home. When I go to my brothers house, its a 10 minute drive but I usually stop halfway at the store or wander around in Home Depot.

I talked to the Monday doctor today and will see him Tuesday instead. The surgeon can't see me Monday so I had to schedule the primary care to see me Tuesday. So, I found a new driver and will be going down Monday night, go see the doctors, then come back home and be home Tuesday night. At least I hope thats the way it works.

[OneDummHikk]

I got a mock up of a coil denitrator done today. Now its time to make a full scale one and work out a few other issues with it. I think the fittings were the hardest problem to solve and they are solved.

I had to get some more fittings to finish making my ghetto DIY lathe to turn the jig for my DIY tube project. Hopefully I can finally finish the 12" tube jig tomorrow. Then it will be time to make the 24" version and hope I don't screw it up.

[OneDummHikk]

I have to get some Weldon 40 to glue Acrylic to PVC. But, I have spent the last 4 hours trying to decide whether to go to Jacksonville or not. I talked to the nurse in his office today and if I drive 1 hour, rest for 30, I can make the trip on my own. If I leave at 1am, don't make useless stops, I can make it by the appointment time. Its a catch-22 with going. I need to go to get my medication but I don't need to go because of the driving. My medication can't be called in or faxed in, it has to be the written prescription so the only way to get them refilled is to go to the office.

I did a little more to the ghetto DIY lathe today and it works a lot better. Amazing what the idler tensioner pulley and fan wheel off an 82 toyota truck can do on a ghetto DIY lathe.

[OneDummHikk]

I went ahead and went to the dr. I needed to go worse than I needed to stay at home. Seems that everything is "fine" and not problems with the surgery. I have to go back in "4-5 weeks" for another follow up.

I realized my jig is built out of the wrong material. I made it of pine. Acrylic has to be heated to between 350-400 degrees and when it gets that hot, pine secretes tar which is going to ruin the tube. I am going to try coating it with fiberglass and make a first run and see how well the pine/fiberglass stand up to the heat.

More later.

[OneDummHikk]

I want to make this post to thank all of the people in the past, the present and any in the future. I get PM'es, profile posts and even an email asking me about my back. And for that, I say thank you to all of you. It does help a lot when people ask, even if I don't know you personally.

So thank you, to all of you.

[OneDummHikk]

4:40 AM, been up and still can't sleep. Not even my medication will make me sleep. I stopped taking Soma but need to talk to my primary care doctor about something to help me sleep. It makes it hard to do anything during the day when everywhere is open if I can't sleep at night and end up sleeping all day.

[OneDummHikk]

Today was one of those days that I didn't even leave the house. I went outside twice to take my dog outside to do her business. The rest of the time, I stayed in bed. I have to call my doctors office Monday, the pain medication isn't doing what I think it should be doing. I still haven't talked to them about sleeping but I don't want to become a drug addict either where I take something for every little thing that aches me.

[OneDummHikk]

It snowed here today. It freaking snowed in Aleebammer! I left to go to my brothers house to get my medicine (left it there last time I was there) but didn't stay. I saw several people that had run off the road into the ditches from not having enough common sense to drive properly.

Came back home and have stayed here all day. Not a lot going on, other than it being cold.

[OneDummHikk]

Another thrilling day in Alabama. I have to make a trip to Atlanta in the next few days and not looking forward to it. When I had surgery, they fused the joints but they "seeded" it with bone fragments from my hip bone. The first 2-3 weeks my hip didn't bother me. Now, everytime I move I can feel my hips. Makes a 2 hour each way trip to Atlanta less than appealing to me. Not even the medication helps with the hips. Just feels like it was put in a vice and crushed. I think part of it may be inactivity though. Not enough activity to keep it flexible but my back won't allow it. This looks to be a long recovery. Sheesh.

[OneDummHikk]

My hips have been bothering me the last few days and not sure why. I know they took some bone off of one of them (right I think but not positive, he never told me for sure which one) but it seems that both of them are bothering me. The right one is worse but they both bother me. Makes it very difficult to get comfortable enough to sleep but also bothers me when I am not lying down. Can't win for losing with them. The pain medication seems to help just a little but not a lot with the hips. I think part of it may be from lack of any kind of physical activity because of the surgery. The surgeon told me to start walking a little bit but what little I can walk is limited to across the street and back and then I get back in bed to rest from it. But now, its almost bad enough that I want to go to the ER since my doctor is 325 miles or so away. It gets bad at times.

More later.

[OneDummHikk]

GRRRRRRRRRRr. I wish I had a Dwyer Air Meter. Something skimmer related is driving me bonkers and I think the only way to ever know - for sure - is to test it and to test it I need an air meter. I KNEW I should have ordered one but now I can't. GRRRRRRRRR.

[OneDummHikk]

Insomnia. YUCK! I haven't been able to sleep so I have been pricing out skimmers, Ca Reactors, Kalk Reactors. Just taking some popular brands and pricing them out to see what it would cost to build one myself versus buying them new. Not sure if I will ever build any of them but at least it gives me something to do when I can't sleep.

I have to call today and get an appointment to see my surgeon for the next follow up, make some calls to Social Security and some other calls so now I can't go to sleep if I want to since I have to make calls. GRRRRRRRRRr.