THE WEEKEND

Just prior to the Friday night high school football game, it was Senior Night for the band. Eileen and I were down on the track to be with our youngest daughter as she and the other senior band members were recognized. We planned on staying for the entire football game but we only stayed to the end of the third quarter. It was just too cold and windy. Remember, for the first time in years I’m operating without any pain killers…well, let’s call them pain-easers. Anyway, we enjoyed seeing our daughter perform with the marching band for one of the few remaining times.

We got up early Saturday morning and headed to our oldest son and his family’s house. They met us in their driveway and Lindsay greeted us with a big smile. We had a great time visiting, making boiled peanuts, and later that night making smores over an outside fire. In-between, we went to the park and watched Lindsay play on the playground equipment. Lindsay was the center of attention as always; she is very social and gives each of us attention too. It’s fascinating to watch Lindsay’s personality and tendencies develop under the parental auspices of our son and daughter-in-law.

I had my share of arm trouble this weekend but it was nice to have a full weekend of activities as a distraction from my arm and as a blessing to our lives. I’ll get back to figuring out what I’m going to do with my arm and the medications this week. Meanwhile, Gleevec is still a hard medication to take because of its effects. Nevertheless, I have no choice with that one. For now though, I’m just going to rejoice in the wonderful weekend we had and look forward to a great week.  Some of this weekend’s pictures with Lindsay can be viewed at http://michaeleileendoss.shutterfly.com/pictures

DRUG INTERACTIONS

The neurologist printed off and handed me a drug interaction sheet which listed my drugs. He didn’t say anything about it other than to read it. The first drug interaction on the list of my drugs is categorized as “Serious Interactions – Use Alternative.” It appears that the combination of two of my medications causes addiction to opiates. Well, I could have guessed something like that since I can feel the withdrawal effects since I’ve stopped taking the old medicines. I’m not craving the medication, probably because I despise taking it so much, but my body is going through a tough time. No wonder people with chemical dependencies will often doctor shop and everything else to not go through this.

Listed under “Significant Interaction – Monitor closely” are four different combinations that each warn of “significant increased sedation – monitor closely.” I suppose that just one of these combinations could explain some of my fatigue, but with four of them doing it it’s a wonder that I’m ever awake!! However, three of those combinations are going away as they are the ones I’m advised to discontinue. The last sedation combination has to remain because it is caused by my Gleevec and anti-nausea medicine. I need those. The others were helping me deal with arm pain. It seems that unless the drug interactions are life threatening the doctors don’t worry so much about them. After all they have more drugs to counteract any side effects…and on and on. As long as the drug gives the desired effect, the side effects don’t mean so much. I think a little differently… as in risk and reward.

Well, it’s the weekend so I certainly won’t get a call back from my family doctor. As I’ve mentioned since I started this cancer trek, the management within doctor’s offices is terrible. The doctors might be great but it can be very frustrating getting through their atrocious office procedures. Dr. Tan’s office seems to have hired a practice manager; they’ve improved a lot. But there are so many doctors that seem to have major bureaucracies built between the doctor and the patient. Perhaps my question is one they’ve received a hundred times and it’s a low priority. Nevertheless, I’m only asking it once and a lot seems to be riding on the answer.

INDECISION

Well, I didn’t take the new medication. I decided to call the pharmacist and ask the likelihood of having side effects from the medicine. The pharmacist said that I was very likely to have some side effects but not to get discouraged. If the side effects get intolerable then I should call the neurologist.

Well, that wasn’t very comforting and so I decided to call my family practitioner who referred me to the neurologist. I left a message that the neurologist wants me to stop taking the medicines he (family doctor) gave me and to use this new medicine instead. I said that I read the side effects and I’m very concerned about them. I asked what they advised. I sat by the phone for four hours on Thursday waiting for a return call. Nothing. As I write this Friday afternoon I wonder if my doctor’s office will call. The practice management of so many of these doctors leaves a lot to be desired.

Meanwhile, I stopped taking the pain medication prescribed by my family doctor as the neurologist advised, in preparation of taking the new medicine. I’ve gotten the unfortunate opportunity to realize just how much that medication was helping. Right now I’m going without anything and feeling rather vulnerable to the level of arm pain I once knew. I dealt with it then and I can deal with it again but I’m likely to have to make a decision fairly soon as to what I’m going to do. It’s already making my days and nights very long.

When a person takes a medication, many of the listed side effects rarely occur. However, the literature for this new medicine indicates that there is a high incidence of side effects, which was confirmed by the pharmacist. As I mentioned previously, I’m not interested in a cure that is worse than the disease. In this case, I don’t think I’m interested in all of those side effects that I’m supposed to endure for a projected 20% reduction in pain. It’s a dusty road that people go down with side effects and all kinds of medications then added to fight the side effects. I don’t want to start down that path just because an arm problem that I’ve already been dealing with for over twenty years.

PHARMACY CALL

Perhaps it was hasty of me to suspect that the neurologist’s office called the wrong pharmacy. After all, with them knowing that I live in Cantonment, in fact a mile-and- a-half from my pharmacy, what’s the chance that they’d call a different pharmacy that’s twenty minutes from my house? When they asked me which pharmacy I use, what’s the chance that they’d confuse me saying the CVS on 29 and Kingsfield with CVS on Creighton and 9^th? Well, I wasn’t hasty in presuming they called the wrong pharmacy; they did.

So, I drove past my pharmacy for the twenty minute trek over to the pharmacy that called me to tell me that my prescription was ready. The transaction went fine and I got home with the prescription. The pharmacy even told how to transfer the prescription to my regular pharmacy. Even so, I still don’t like it when a doctor’s office messes up like that. There’s even a Bible concept that says if you can’t be trusted in the little things, you can’t be trusted in the big things. Well, I’m not holding the doctor’s office to that exact standard but paying attention to details in medicine is very important.

I have my new medicine sitting next to me which I’m supposed to take three times a day. I looked up the side effects and they are daunting. I don’t want the cure to be worse than the disease. I suppose the warning that caused me the most pause was: “You should know that your mental health may change in unexpected ways and you may become suicidal (thinking about harming or killing yourself or planning or trying to do so.” Otherwise, the potential side effects are only: “Drowsiness, tiredness or weakness, dizziness, headache, uncontrollable shaking of a part of your body, double or blurred vision, unsteadiness, anxiety, memory problems, strange or unusual thoughts, unwanted eye movements, nausea, vomiting, heartburn, diarrhea, dry mouth, constipation, increased appetite, weight gain, swelling of the hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs, back or joint pain, fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough, sore throat, or flu-like symptoms, ear pain, red, itchy eyes (sometimes with swelling or discharge).”

This is one of the things I despise about going to the doctor. These potential side effects are worth the risks to them but they aren’t really to me. I realize that the potential for these side effects might be low but, jeepers, I still don’t like it!! I suppose that I’ll start on the new medication but at the first sign of anything going wrong it will be the end of them. I’ve learned to handle arm pain; I don’t need additional craziness added to my life just so I can hopefully have 20% less pain. Now I wish that the doctor’s office would have called a CVS in Afghanistan instead of just across town!!

NEUROLOGIST

I went to see the neurologist, Dr. Porter, yesterday. My family doctor referred me to him to get an updated evaluation on the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) of my right arm. For those who don’t know, I have a neurological condition in which the nerves in my right hand/arm are very sensitive. When my arm is exposed to a noxious stimulus like cold air, drafts, or vibration the nerves reflex back and tell my blood vessels to shut the blood down to my arm. So, then my arm tissues go without sufficient oxygen which is a rather painful predicament.

I’ve been battling this condition for over twenty years now. I’ve had some marked improvement from a specialized surgery to cut some of these nerves to my arm and nerve blocks. Although I am immensely grateful for the improvements, the residual pain has been a very stubborn entity to deal with. It seems that I’ve been on enough different medications to have my own pharmacy.

My family doctor wanted me to get a neurologist’s opinion since it had been many years since a neurologist opined on my condition. I wasn’t too thrilled about it because I don’t like to go to doctors and I don’t like trying new pharmaceutical concoctions. Nevertheless, I consented to go.

Dr. Porter seemed intrigued by all the surgeries that had been done on my arm and the atrophic shape it is in. After conducting a neurological exam, he explained his strategy in treating RSD. He said that it takes an aggressive approach. I thought, “Oh, here we go again.” But he said that I was too old and my arm too compromised for his normal approach!! I know I’m getting older but it was quite a shock to have a doctor refer to me as old!! However, he said that he had some advanced medicines that he thinks will decrease my arm pain by at least twenty percent without using narcotics. That sounded good to me. Dr. Porter wants me off my current pain killers and narcotic so that he can better regulate my dosage.

With the winter months (cold) approaching, I’m ready to give this medicine a full chance. There’s been one glitch already though. Dr. Porter’s office called me to tell me that my prescription had been called in. I went to my pharmacy and they have no record of it. It’s too late in the afternoon (Wednesday) to get in touch with the doctor’s office so I’ll be getting that sorted out today. I suspect they called the wrong pharmacy.

So, once again I begin a new protocol with ample but cautious hope.

GOD IN WAR

Although I read the Bible daily, I’m not a Bible scholar by any stretch of the imagination. The most I can claim is that I’ve completely read the Bible a handful of times and perhaps some of it has stuck to me. Nevertheless, I’m a neophyte when it comes to scholarly exegesis. Having established that, reading the Bible has made an impression on me.

As I read through the Bible, I’m struck that God had His people fight wars much differently than we do. God has His people defeat and destroy the enemy. That’s how America used to fight too. Now we are all about nation-building and preserving various indigenous landmarks. For example, terrorists know they can hide in mosques and launch attacks from there because we won’t attack a mosque. In my way of thinking, we shouldn’t go to war with anyone that we aren’t willing to defeat as quickly and decisively as possible, regardless of such things as mosques. If we are concerned about mosques, then we weren’t provoked enough to go to war.

Part of winning a war is making the enemy and those with similar aggressive aspirations think twice about provoking us. It’s good for others to wonder if they want their infrastructure and people in ruination for whatever cause they are propelling. It should be known that if a nation provokes America into war that they will pay a very heavy price. The price should be so high that it truly deters others from aggression. We would have a lot less wars and armed conflicts that way.

Fear can be a great thing. No, fear is not politically correct but fear is what keeps people from picking fights with a stronger power. Fear can make peace. We seem to think that we can win the hearts and minds of people we’re at war with. This is not only viewed as a sign of weakness by the enemy but it provokes them to push us farther and harder. Rather than America clearly defeating our enemies, we want our enemies to be able to save face; we want to win without calling it victory. We think that does us good in the minds of people who hate us. The result is that we have inadvertently enabled the dramatic spread and sophistication of radical Islam. Where are all the friends our political correctness has bought us? Just recently the president of Afghanistan said that they would side with Pakistan if we got into conflict with Pakistan. Iraq has essentially kicked us out. President Obama wanted to stay longer but we couldn’t reach a deal to protect our military. Furthermore, Egypt and Libya are beginning a turn against us and Tunisia, known as the most European country of North Africa, has just elected to go Islamic.

Compromising with evil is not just a bad political strategy; it’s spiritual heresy. It’s ordained that one can never win in the long run compromising with evil. As far as that goes, we don’t seem to understand radical Islam. Regardless of what we do to appease them, they will still hate us; we are the “Infidels” - - - the “ones without faith.” While we are fighting a political battle, they are fighting a spiritual battle.

As I read the Bible, God’s people didn’t primarily fight political wars; they fought spiritual wars. In that regard, God’s enemies were to be wholly defeated. God didn’t want His holy people compromising with or adopting any of the enemy’s traditions, values, or gods. As America slides farther and farther away from the Judeo-Christian values which founded us, we become less grounded to God and more vulnerable to those who fervently fight for a different god.

IN DECLINE?

A recent national poll conducted by The Hill revealed that more than two-thirds of voters say the United States is in decline. Furthermore, a clear majority think the next generation will be worse off than the current one. To me, it’s not just United States that appears to be in decline; it’s the whole world.

It seems that every direction we turn that man is relying on his own ways, and we are reaping the consequences of those ways. While it is getting easier to dismiss the impact that Judeo-Christian values have had not only on America but the world, we ignore our founding principles at our own peril. There is often a major difference between what seems good and what is right. Those who govern or live by what predominately feels good will often find themselves doing wrong. Those who govern by what is right will predominately find themselves doing right.

As we look around this world, we are having a hard time doing the right thing. In the places we actively seek to promote democracy we are liberating radical Islam instead. Likewise, in the places we hope democracy will rein radical Sharia law is being planned instead. In the effort to fight our enemies by nation-building rather than defeating our enemies, we have enabled radical Islam. In effect, at the expense of many American lives and treasury, we have made the world less safe for us. Despite our “good” intentions, radical Islam is on the march. That in itself makes the world in decline. That ought to scare all Americans.

I don’t know what the next years will bring for this nation but we need to reawaken to the American principles that yielded this great nation. Otherwise, we’ll continue to shove God and His word aside and rely on our own devices. Two-thirds of American voters say we are in decline. Starting within our shores, it’s time to find out what we hold sacred and dear, grasp it with both hands, and politically defeat those who seek to take it from us.