"Musta Lost My Head..."

Went for my first follow-up Doctor visit today since starting the Pegasys medication.
Africa hot in beautiful downtown Newark, NJ today.
Da 'Ol Sammy Davis Jr. Liver Center wuz almost empty!
Got a new Dr. today.
An Indian dood who just smiled a lot, kept saying I'm doin' Ok, and asked me to spell the name of the medication they prescribed for my Hep C...
This is a guy who went to collage, studied medicine, studied the English language, is a full fledged doctor who's now going for a specialty in Liver medicine...
asking ME... how to spell the primary medication given for a major liver illness.
Wutz wrong wit dis picture... ???
Also he said they didn't have my bloodwork back yet, told me things totally contrary to what my original doctor told me about making sure I come every 2-3 weeks because the medicine can lower my blood levels and cause a heart attack, and that my blood has to be closely monitored... and I should be very aggressive about my scheduling.
This new guy iz talking like I should come in every 1-2 months...

So basically you get to see one of the underling doctors, and they go over your shit, and then take you by the hand to see da "Big Kahuna" Liver specialist who runs da joint. He is this little freckle-faced, Black Albino Jewish looking guy wit a bad combover, who kinda is sleazy and looks like some tiny, fish-mouthed Jabba the Hut behind his huge desk covered with prescription stamps.
(Last time I was there, my original Dr. and I waited for him outside his office to finish a phone conversation, and I overheard him talking about all the kickback checks he gets from a local pharmacy from his referring patients there... so... you be da judge...)
He barely listens to what your Dr. says, as he signs copies of your paperwork, then if need be, gives you a prescription with one of his many prescription stamp machines.
So I asked him about the scheduling of visits, and he says in his Thurston Howell III voice...
"Oh... we don't schedule that often... every month is sufficient..."
So if I turn up dead... somebody please sue Dr. Leevy at da Sammy Davis Liver Center of Newark...
Thanks.
So he also asked me how I was doing, and I told him I feel crappy a lot, and feel like I got my period, and am weepy one minute and down & bitchy the next...
So against my protest, he put me on looney pills.
First time I'm on an anti-depressant since I wuz 18 yrs. old.
He said for me to try 'em for awhile, and that he by law had to prescribe them, because this bugjuice I'm shooting up every week can possibly make me wanna do a half-gaynor off a bridge someplace.
So... wut da fuck...
Spec sheet says they're also for bedwetting and obcessive/compulsive disorders...
So I guess I won't piss myself while I'm dreaming about the fact that I'm going full tilt BOZO over this fucking computer that I've been fighting with over the past month...!!!

(I'll get it fixed... really... honest... or I'll die trying...!!!)

I took one earlier, and had a lot more to say here...
but for some weird reason now...
I don't seem to give a shit anymore, and I no longer wanna catalog my entire DVD collection...

"I Want An Ice Cream..."

I don't feel good.
Hadda go out to Newark today, to da Sammy Davis Jr. Liver Center to get my bi-monthly bloodwork done, and get my script filled for my Interferon syringes.
It was like 98 degrees outside.
This bugjuice I'm takin' kinda sneeks up on me every so often.
Like just when I "think" I'm doing & feelin' kinda OK...
it turns around and says...
"Oh really muthafuka...???"
Last nite I felt like I was in Hell... sick and on da phone blubberin' to Adrianna like I wuz a lil schoolgirl with her first big menstrual period.
I was getting emotional at TV commercials.
Felt a bit better today... but not so great tonite.
And my computer is on drugs.
I have no idea what's going on with it.
Worked fine for awhile, then the sound started crackling.
I'm heavy into sound on my PC. Music, games, movies, etc.
Need it.
Tried fixing it for 4-6 hours. Still didn't woik.
Rebooted my machine last time... wouldn't start.
Original error message came BACK.
WTF...???
Got disgusted, and have the desk pulled out from the wall for the past few days so I can get to the back of the PC.
It's been like that now for days.
Today... outta the blue I decided to give it a try... it started up.
WTF...?

I feel like shit.
I almost don't give a flying rat's pitoot... about anything right now.
Long weekend with no Adrianna coming up, no money, computer on shaky ground...
I want an ice cream cone and a long nap...

"Sometimes You Eat Da Bear... Sometimes Da Bear..."

OK, this frickin' computer iz driving me nutz!
All that installing, reinstalling, setting, customization...
just to go "pffft!"
Out da window cuz of some weird glitch.
Got it working... then it crapped out. Got it working again...
ZAP!
Screwed up again. And from da get-go... I never got my complete 160 gigs outta my new harddrive. Ran all sorts of patches etc. that was supposed to make that work... no dice. Was working fine up till I turned it on last nite... then it failed.
This morning it magically came to life. So I found a bios patch and a driver online, ran dat... Holy Shitsky-bitskys Batman...
I got my lost 30 gigs of space back!
Rebooted several times today... and da PC worked.
So... I give up... I dunno...

Me and Adrianna (my lovely goilfriend) decided last night to take a 45 min. busride about 3 towns away up to Hudson County Park.
(A.K.A. James J. Braddock Park, named after the same famous boxer guy wut they wrote dat "Cinderella Man" Russel Crowe movie about. He lived around there someplace.)

http://www.jamesjbraddock.com/

Then we walked back home to Hoboken. Like about 6 - 7 miles along a scenic NYC skyline view atop the lovely Palisades Cliffs of New Jersey.
Ah... the view...!
Ah... the excercise...!
Ahhhh... da freekin' sore legs and feet!
We had some fun though.

Medicine is still kickin' my ass... but actually kinda livable.
I say a thank you prayer everyday that I got the new bugjuice... not da old stuff.
Stephie finally got back to Joisey, after visiting her sis down in Georgia.
Dentist visit to try on me new teeth later this week, and a bloodtest Friday, before a Dr. appointment next Tuesday.

One minute da computer woiks... next it don't...
one minute I feel fine... next I don't...
But basically for now... things are chuggin' along.

"Gremlins...!"

So after like 2 weeks of installing harddrives, new operating systems, all my programs, data, updates and customization...
I finally get up and running smoothly again...
then 2 days ago it all DIED!
Got some kinda pre-Windows bootup error message about my "BIOS not being installed because no drives are attached"...
So I'm fah-REEKIN' out!
(and I don't feel so hot either...)
Then I get all sorts of advice from people who either don't have a clue but think they do, or are trying to help but can't... about flashing my bios, changing controller cards, reinstalling Windows, spinning around, grabbing my nutz, and walking backwards chanting "otto"... and various other weird stuff.
So to get on the net to research the problem...
I needed another computer.
And the only PC I have access to...
is my old PC in my daughter & ex-wife's house...
in da next town over.
So being broke... I gotta take my mom's laundry cart, truck up dere by bus.. walk a bunch of blocks from da bus to da house...and bring dat puppy home again.
I get it home, start it up, jack in my internet cable modem...
and it DOESN'T WORK!
Aaaaaahhhh...! Good ol Windows 98!
I give it a rest till the next day, and find out... I need my Windows 98 disks to get the net running!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!
BACK up to da wife's house by bus... in da Africa, Tarzan type heat... to fetch da disks.
But after getting home and wrestling with it yet again...
it STILL don' wanna woik.
So after exhausting all possiblilities, decide...
"Hey...if these cable people want me as a customer...
they'll help me!"
But after an hour on da phone wit da cable guy...
dat don' woik either.
I give up!
Almost in tears... I say a prayer to Our Lady of the Diode... and then putz around a bit more... MY GOD! I GOT DA NET BACK!
So I write my favorite geek newsgroup... and these guys take a bit to answer... but it's not really helping, and the answers are weird and waaaay too complicated and over my head...
I'm sunk!
48 weeks sick on Interferon...with no computer or internet...
Lemme just cash my chips in now!
Almost in tears... I decide... lemme see if I can't monkey around in my BIOS, and fuck wit da settings again.
I switch over to the other computer, fire it up...

OH MY SWEET FIGGEDYFARKIN' JEEZUZ... IT'S WOIKIN' AGAIN!!!

Did resetting my bios actually help before, and maybe it just took time to... ummm..."Set"...?
I'm perplexed...
and think I just had a quasi-electronic religious experience.
Or maybe... it was just gremlins...???

"Ok, Ok... Just A Little Pin Prick... Just Nod If You Can Hear Me... But You May Feel A Little Sick..."

So... first week is over. Second one begins today.
Shot time!
Kinda a bit apprehensive after last week. But at least... now I know what to expect.
I think.
Da last week sucked... but it coulda been woise.
(Hope it don't get no woise!)
Got a weird speckled rash on my inner forearms yesterday. Dunno if it's Pegasys related or what. Med info says I can get rashes...
just dint say where, or when.
Just forty-seven more weeks to go...
<"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!">

Haven't been keeping this blog up much lately. Will try a bit harder.
Crazy week that passed. Medications, being sick, going on long 10 hr. wild goose chases down the Jersey Shore to take my daughter to see her lawyers doctor for a court case she's involved in.
Went to da movies the other day by myself. Was fun.
Saw the Fantastic Four.
Dunno about reviews...but I liked it.
I love comicbook/action movies like dat.
Stopped in a Target afterward to go pee. Saw one of those lil micro portable keychain flashdrives for 12 bucks...
I got a new lil toy!

My younger daughter flew down to Georgia to visit her preggie sister for a week. Was worried about the flight down with the hurricanes and all. She made it fine...but her luggage didn't. It arrived the next day. She sent a few pix of my daughter's new apartment down there. Amazing! Brand new gated community, two bedrooms, all new kitchen with appliances, parking, gym, and a pool...
EIGHT HUNDRED BUCKS!!!
You can't get her closet up here for less than $1500. dollars!
I gotta move!

"Ticking Away, The Moments That Make Up A Dull Day..."

OK... so yesterday's first Pegasys Interferon shot didn't go as well as I thought it was going. About 10 pm last nite the train jumped the track and headed into Hellsville. Queasy stomach, major body, head and joint aches, fevers getting high as 102.6 and super chills and sweats. Just wanted to take a hot bath to ease my aches and chills last nite, but unfortunately in this building... you can either steam vegetables and cook macaroni... or there's no hot water at all.
Last nite... I could make lemonade with the water.
Hadda turn off the AC cuz I just couldn't get warm.
So the time downshifted into slow-mo last nite, and the clock seemed like it ticked once every 10 minutes.
Thought last nite would never end.
Woke up this morning literally in a puddle of sweat.
(Just hope this is an "aftershot reaction", and I don't go thru this EVERY nite.)
But... "I got better" (listen to my sound byte in my profile)
I feel better today.
I made it thru to the other side...
For now.
Dunno what's gonna happen tonite.
If this only happens the day of the shot...
I can deal with penciling in "Tuesday nite....dying." once a week for 47 weeks.
Say a prayer tonite goes better...

"He's Got A Ticket To Ride..."

Well... after about a couple week's vacation of installing new harddrives, installing new Windows XP Pro operating systems, putting back all my drivers, programs, and data...
I'm back!
Frickin' computer fought me every step of the way too...
Video card screwed up, programs refused to install...but finally...I got it all to woik. Now I got a pretty stable system.
Just gotta relearn Windows now.
XP is a lot different than my older systems.
Had a nice Fourth of July. Went to da beach, got a sunburn, went to a BBQ... ate shellfish till I almost puked.
(never thought I'd ever reach a point where I'd ever wanna stop eating king crab legs, lobster & filet mignon... but I did.)
And I am proud to announce that today I purchased my ticket and boarded da "Pegasys Interferon train" for my Hepatitis C... and so far... I am chuggin' along fine.
(Only took the shot about an hour ago... but so far...feel fine.)
Got a few niftyneatowhizzbango games & programs that I can now run on my new system.
And now... I'm only 47 weeks away from ending Hep C treatment.
"woo-hoo!!!"
So... life is good... for now.
More to come...