Tag Archive for: rf rhizotomy

Burnin’

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Welcome to “Burnin’” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

In this episode, I’m still recovering from my last rhizotomy procedure, managing to get to get new footwear, and get out to a show in my wheelchair

Burn Victim

  • Chemical Burns melt your flesh.
  • I have 5 Burns about as big as a dime each.
  • I am using Medihoney, and I was initially confused by the name

They Look Like Sneakers

minnetonka camp moc
Before
shoe
After
  • I got new shoes to wear when I’m on my wheelchair. For the past couple of years I’ve been using Minnetonka
  • I’m switching to white Vans slip-ons

Tiitration Blues

  • I am scared that if I reduce medication that the pain will come back.
  • But I need to reduce the medication so I can enjoy my life.

William Parker’s New Heart Trio

  • I rode my wheelchair to see the bassist William Parker (71) at the chapel
  • In the New Heart tTio with William Hooker (76) and Isaiah Collier (23)
  • My buddy Joe was the driver

Titration Blues, Pt. 2

  • I reduced my medication and the pain came back in the night

Parting Shots

  • I need a new butt cushion for my wheelchair
  • My son is at home because he has Covid
  • Max Headroom was a guy wearing a mask

This week’s selfie

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Burnin’

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Rolling Around The TL

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Welcome to “Rolling Around The TL” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

Lots of people use wheelchairs in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, a pretty rough area between Union Square and Civic Center

Shout outs

  • Shout outs to rocky
    • she’s listened to every episode
  • Shout outs to the people listening through the past episodes
  • Send me a n email via the contact form and I will give you a shout out that is quite possibly the best one you’ve ever received and the maybe best that you ever WILL receive

Dad Butt

  • Dad butt-dialed me again

Travels by wheelchair

RF Rhizotomy Number 2

  • Had trigeminal neuralgia face pain 5am Wednesday morning & had more drugs,, surgery one day away
  • I had surgery and have been clear from major pain since then. But I am still on pain drugs.
  • My nose has triggered some zaps but they are lesser in intensity than they had been, with the caveat I’m still on some medication

I Can Go Down

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  • My AFO brace is broken and it’s very hard to walk.
  • I have to walk all on my heel, and if I put my weight on the outside of my foot or on the front Of my foot I can go down.

Rolling Around The TL

ride in rotary park
  • I went to the deerhoof show in my wheelchair
  • Rolling in the TL, I saw a lot of wheelchairs, but mine was the only one that was electric
  • We ate at Osha Thai which was accessible, a blast from the past, and sadly due for an upgrade
  • We got into the car after midnite- Rock & Roll!
  • I called ahead to the Great American to let them know I’d be coming in my chair, they reserved me a table behind a pillar against the wall. It had poor visibility, but decent sound
  • I started focusing on the audience. Nowadays people wear their pants wider and hemmed higher

This Week’s Selfie

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Rolling Around The TL Selfie

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Poop Burrito

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Welcome to “Poop Burrito” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

The tortilla is fine. Maybe you can save the lettuce. In a poop burrito, you have to go through the layers.

My trigeminal neuralgia pain came back and so this episode is a bit like a poop burrito. I was in the hospital last weekend, and they changed up my medications to get me out of pain. A couple of days ago I saw the surgeon and I’m going to have another rhizotomy next week.

Big Shoutouts

  • Shoutouts to Nathan. His message: “Just wanted to say congratulations. On April 28th the what’s the matter with me Podcast will be 6 years old! Keep it up buddy. And Hoppin Hot Sauce is the best sauce in the world.”

I did one thing right

  • You couldn’t sing to March’s theme song candidate

Speaking the unspeakable

  • You are not allowed to call yourself a Bohemian– It’s not a thing you can call yourself. Lazy hippie is more like it

Round and vacant

  • The security check said, “Click all the pictures with a donut” but it seemed like some of them were bagels

I Was That Guy

  • When my family was in Japan, the kitten didn’t come in one night. Then, I got in my wheelchair and rolled around calling for my cat.

Inequality

  • Of the remaining Beatles that are still alive, we have the best one and the worst one. JK *ducking*.

Boil Water Warning

  • No one takes Cam Likely’s phone calls

Smooth sounds

  • I want to hear elevator music, and I walk out and my wife is playing some violin concerto

Competition begins

  • It’s little league baseball season again and the game is a little more recognizable, pitchers are starting to pitch better, more towards the plate

Sonny in Europe

  • Its 1959, and Sonny Rollins is going to Europe. Back in the states, he’s jamming with Bob Dorough & Mose Allison at the jazz loft. Then, he goes on sabbatical and climbs onto the Williamsburg bridge to practice without disturbances.

Visual Rhyme Time

An aerial view of waves crashing against a shore.
An aerial view of a field. A road runs through the upper right corner.

This Week’s Selfie

poop burrito selfie
Poop Burrito Selfie

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No More Painkillers

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NO MORE PAINKILLERS: After successful surgery, I’m off of painkillers for the first time in seven years.

Welcome to What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast, “No More Painkillers”

It’s a big day for me because I’m finally free of trigeminal neuralgia pain after successful rhizotomy surgery last month. It’s been seven years that I’ve been battling the disease and it feels like a major victory.

  • Shoutouts to Jersey Girl who told me about the Superfest Disability Film Festival happening in Berkeley & San Francisco later this month.
  • Claude Hopper wrote in to say he had a Chubb Rock record
  • Year Of The Tiger by Alice Wong
  • I sent Original Flavor to Amazon for restocking
  • Help support the kids’ school fundraiser by using this link to look through the catalog. for chocolates
  • ICYMI: I recommend the Gary Cannone Interview Special
  • I’m off pills and in withdrawal again – but its GOOD- I can go to my right better and stand on my own 2 feet’ easier
  • I am tolerating alcohol a little better so i can split a bottle of wine with dinner
    • Knock on wood- famous Last words- throwing triple hexes over my left shoulder
  • I am not adult enough to appear in a zoom meeting
  • Musk is back at it
  • A picture is worth a lot of these
  • “Last night for dinner” Journal: Cauliflower pasta
  • We’re going to the ranch

This Week’s Selfie

No More Painkillers selfie
It’s wild

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Body Horror

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I made it through surgery- artist Gary Cannone preview- Helen Garner on fate- awkward dinner party conversation.

Welcome to What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast, “Body Horror”

Cool episode! I made it through a surgery with all the hallmarks of body horror: zombie anesthesia, facial electricity and a burning nerve. David Cronenberg will be perfect to direct the movie version. Plus, artist Gary Cannone interview preview- Helen Garner on impositions- an awkward dinner party conversation.

  • We are running out of Hoppin Hot Sauce on the zon, because I misread a figure on the inventory report.
Gary Cannone
  • Gary Cannone interview preview
  • I want to learn to write hilarious poetry in Japanese but apparently that’s not a sensible idea

Some very dear friends of mine had a three-­year-­old son who was profoundly autistic. They didn’t know what was wrong with him, and there was no name for it back then. He couldn’t really speak, and he didn’t know any words, but songs would reach him where other things wouldn’t, and he had a pure little voice when he sang. It interested me to see how his parents lived around this huge duty that had been imposed upon them—­to see how an act of fate like that would scour you of all your triviality. You’d have to find something in yourself that was much deeper than what most ­people would need to find.

Helen Garner
  • Helen Garner on autism, about trivialities in the Paris Review
  • Chronic illness erases people- thank you for listening to the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast, an anti-erasure strategy
  • I had RF rhizotomy surgery and I finished it
  • It remindeed me of David Cronenberg/”body horror”
  • I went through it and now it’s over
Grape Ice Cubes
  • Now I can chew gum without pain
  • I chew grape ice cubes gum
Farro
  • I went to Berkeley Bowl, and did a lot of maneuvering to get farro in bulk. I knew it would be pretty wild.
  • I went to a dinner party and I felt uncomfortable for reasons I do not fully understand
  • Friends, food, conversation. I think I am not used to it.

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The Return Of Trigeminal Neuralgia

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Small electrical slashes and flashes come back

Welcome to What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast, Season 6 Episode 27, “The Return Of Trigeminal Neuralgia”

Small electrical slashes and flashes come back, but a lot quieter since I had micro vascular decompression

In this episode, the return of trigeminal neuralgia: TN discomfort came back. PLUS, Masonic Auditorium accessibility review, autonomous vehicles for disabled riders, and accessible furniture.

  • Great minds think alike, stupid ones too
  • I said last time that all my friends came over, but that was an exaggeration
  • people are leeching the thing, especially episodes about MVD
  • TN slashes: 2 on Tuesday 7/19, 5 on 7/20..
  • John John wants a year long vacation to Hokkaido
  • 6 Things Wheelchair Users Should Know About Autonomous Vehicles
  • Disabled representation on TV: “Best Foot Forward”
  • Burning Spear at the Masonic Auditorium: I ran into dr. Doug and he sat with @namihoppin & I. Then after the show Lurker & Lucky J – cool seats- way up but front and center.. used my chair. The Masonic auditorium was set up well for accessible patrons
  • Pottery Barn accessible furniture collection “Accessible Home”
  • Having small TN sensations when I drink or eat or brush my teeth. Had 1 at the Barrel House when I had a sip of beer 7.24
  • Had a couple on the deck. Swallowing a certain way 7.24
  • Had a handful for the day and 12 while brushing teeth. 7.25 twinges not pain exactly but more like mild electric shock
  • Planning to drop-off my espresso machine to be serviced in Berkeley aug 5

This Week’s Selfie:

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Feeling OK now

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