Phillip Sherwood

I had an appointment at the VA Hospital in Augusta, VA for my annual medical evaluation at their Spinal Cord Injury clinic. I got to the hotel late Wednesday evening after getting off from work earlier that day and hitting the road. Although the location of my new house shaves about 20-30 minutes off the trip now, it’s still a long and very difficult drive to make solo but it leaves one lots of time to think and contemplate stuff. I had to get up early enough to wake up the roosters and get over to the clinic to begin my rounds but I started with my labs so I could get something to eat after my 12-hour fasting. Next was to take my weight and it turned out I dropped five more pounds since my last visit and 25 since my last annual eval! My cholesterol is now steady in the 160’s so I’ve been told to stop taking my SimvaStatin cholesterol medication. Next was my Urodynamic exam which is a very intrusive examination of the entire renal system. This test thoroughly checks the bladder and kidney function. Luckily all is still well and the elasticity of the bladder is in good shape. This test always makes me nervous in receiving potential negative test results because my bladder on occasion will overfill up to 2½ times the recommended max amount because my kidneys have the ability to go into the turbo mode at times.

I had a really good follow-up session with my psychologist with whom I have a great relation with and am able to communicate effectively. I realized after this session with him I need to not only work on some new and personal coping methods for my situation but also it’s time to get a new psych team here in Huntsville that can actually help me. The one area of great concern with my primary doctor is the new development or changing status of existing blood clots in my right leg that cause it to swell up huge during the day causing the need for me to elevate it for sometimes up to 12-hours just to be able to get a shoe back on or off of it. After several hours of consultation with her (My doctor) peer group, the collaborative opinion of the group to temporarily put me on a mega dose of 100 mg/ml Lovenox injections twice daily with a 5mg dose of Coumadin (Warfarin) blood thinners for two weeks and follow-up with blood tests. This dosage is by far more than I’ve ever taken before and the risk is having a cerebral embolism so for the moment I’m on thin ice but with close monitoring I should be back in the clear shortly.

Today I came in for a scheduled change in the medication for my implanted pain pump that required me to have all the remaining medication siphoned from the pump and catheter going up my spinal cord and refill with 40cc’s of a new pain killer & anti-spaz medication. I was admitted to the Huntsville Hospital this afternoon by my doctor to be closely monitored for 24-hours for any complications. My pain doctor also gave me a “bolus” or extra kicker of meds to “prime the process” that looped me out and nearly made me toss my cookies. It took two full 12 oz. cans of high test Mountain Dew to keep my stomach calm enough to make the trip from the HSV Pain Center on the South side of the street to the main hospital on the North side of the street via the long and freezing cold connecting tunnel. I feel like I live two different lives now. One inside the hospital and the other outside. I was very exhausted after returning back from my trip to the Augusta VA. I slept as late as I could this morning knowing what my day was going to consist of with the zero rest hospital atmosphere. As for the rest of the things going on with the house, I’ll have to get to that later since it’s now past 9pm and I need to prep for bed and my night of continued interrupted sleep until the sun comes up.