Doctor Visit Today

Unfortunately not for my knee injury. It was my annual physical with my PCP. A couple of items of interest.

The doctor's office I go to is located in a small office park a couple of towns over. It is a desigated *GFDZ, complete with the signage stating as such and offering the false sense of safety to the employees and patients. I on the other hand, completely ignore such stupidity and waltz right in carrying my concealed firearm. Do you know what? There was no mass murder! Not a surprise really since I am not a violent murderer. As much as I would love to school those people about how useless their policy and ghey little sign in the door is; especially if the enraged jealous ex-husband of one of the girls in the office shows up to kill her and anyone that gets in his way, I just keep my mouth shut. I'm secure in my knowledge of my concealed firearm and ability to use it should the need arise. When I stripped off my clothes I carefully laid my pants on the chair keeping my firearm holstered, safe, and concealed. 

The good thing is they have finally gotten rid of their stupid mask mandate. There wasn't a face diaper to be seen on anyone.

When I checked in, the girl behind the desk handed me a clipboard with several forms on it. She told me they were verifying and updating information. The first sheet was demographics, contact, and insurance info. There... below my name, address, birthday, and SSN were two empty blanks to fill in. My gender assignment and my preferred pronouns. Uh... FUCK NO!! Since there was just a space to write in your answer, I wrote the following:

Your Gender Identity: NO MENTAL ILLNESS!

Your Preferred Pronouns: I'M NOT PLAYING!

I filled out the rest of the papers and put that top one in the middle and handed the clipboard in. I did not stick around for a reaction. Perhaps that will earn me a visit from law enforcement for engaging in thought crime and hate speech.

 

 

*GFDZ = Gun Free Death Zone

Chicken Hospice

I pride myself on being a tough old bastard that does not put up with anyone's bullshit. That said, I do have a caring and compassionate side as demonstrated by my career in EMS and the care of my animals.

This morning I found one of my elderly French Black Maran hens lying on her side in the pen when I went down to the coop this morning. The other birds were stomping all over her in excitement to my approach. I sent the other birds out to get their morning mealworm treat and picked her up. At first I thought she was dead, but she opened her eyes and lifted her head. I carried her into the house to my wife's dog grooming area of the basement. I set her on a towel on her grooming table while I went to get a spare dog crate. After the crate was assembled I placed the hen on the towel inside, put the crate on the table, and raised the table to its maximum level. She is sitting in a tripod position which makes breathing easier with her eyes closed and it is just a matter of time before she expires. At least she has a quiet space to go. I had her since she was a 4 month old pullet, laid hundreds of eggs while productive, and has lived out her long life as a matron of the younger ones.

When I find a chicken dead in the morning, I place their body in an empty feed bag and place it in the trash.

Lite On The Blogging

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been 8 days since my last blog post.

 

For a couple of reasons. First, being out of work means I am not spending the hours of down time at the firehouse sitting in front of the boob tube or a computer and blogging from my phone really sucks. I have been keeping busy doing other things. The other is when I do have idle time, I am on Gab.com and reading blogs which is easy to do on the phone. The following is a few of my "gabs" (their version of a tweet). This first one I have pinned to my profile.

 

 

The following are a couple of comments to gabs of others that don't require much context.

 

As a FAFO message to those that visit my profile page, this is my header. Yes, that could actually be me at an undisclosed location with any identifiers blacked out firing a one of a kind built precision rifle.

 

An update on my workplace injury; I finally have an appointment for an MRI next Wednesday. Then I have to have another appointment at the orthopedic office to see what treatment will be required. At this point I am getting around really well, and hope it is nothing more than some strengthening and rehab without surgery. I have lost 2 weeks of 108 hours pay so far. Between Workman's Comp and 2 supplementals I should not lose a dime in pay.

Fabulous Weather

It is sunny, 82 with low humidity, and a light breeze. The leaves have finally popped on the trees providing shade on the house. I have every window open and it is a comfortable 72 on the first floor and 74 on the second. I am spending a quiet afternoon alone on the porch listening to the WTIC AM 1080 stream on Audacy through my ROKU with the birds and squirrels to keep me company. 

Nothing else to do until after I get my knee fixed and go back to "fightin' fires and savin' lives!"

If this were a normal day off I'd definitely be out on "The Beast." I hear some guys out on the main road rippin' it up on sportbikes in the distance.

Update On My Knee Boo-Boo

This is an update on my "Aww Crap!" post. Since Sunday, I have been getting around without crutches and I ditched the knee brace. My knee actually feels pretty good, but "twingy", meaning I feel as though I am one wrong move, twist, or hard landing away from being back where I was last Friday afternoon. Initially I was OK on flat ground, but struggling with stairs and inclines. Now I can do those too, but slowly and with caution.

Getting the Workman's Comp paperwork filed has been a cluster fuck, with conflicting information and instructions. It finally got filed, getting me the all important claim number, but I believe it is still not right. At this point, I don't care. I got a claim number and was able to get right in to the orthopedist office for an exam yesterday morning at 11:00.

I saw a real nice young and handsome (I can recognize a handsome man without being gay!) physicians assistant. He listened to my story of what happened and then did a physical exam of my knee, by manipulating it in all different directions, and some other joint tests where he sat on my foot while I lay on my back. It was when he tried to bend it straight back as far as it would go that I howled and came off the table. He then did the same manipulations to my my other knee for comparison. He said my joints felt pretty good and strong, and is suspecting a meniscus tear in my right knee, requiring minor surgery to go in and "clean it up." He explained that there is no blood flow to the meniscus, therefore it will never heal. Instead they go in and just remove the damaged cartilage causing pain. An M.R.I. will be required to confirm, which of course, has to be authorized by Workman's Comp before I can even get an appointment. That should be early next week. The P.A. told me that when most people come in for the ten day post-op to get stitches removed after surgery, they are mostly recovered. THAT is good news compared to something that would sideline me for a couple of months like a total knee reconstruction or replacement. I would be out of my mind!

In the meantime, I am getting stuff done around the homestead. I have a Honda self-propelled walk behind mulching mower so I have been able to keep the grass cut without causing myself pain or further injury, although at a much slower pace than normal. Taking care of the chickens is trickier, carrying a 5 gallon waterer or their full feeder down the hill to the chicken coop every couple of days. I just take it slow and cautious. I have a minor exhaust repair to do on my truck that will be tricky. My FIL is around so he can get me tools and stuff while I stay down on the creeper, instead of getting up and down myself.

I had an terse discussion with my wife, who is upset that I am not working and that we are taking a temporary hit on our income. I say temporary because I will receive back pay for lost time. I had to explain that there is only two day time positions at the FD and there is no "light duty." I am a Firefighter/EMT and have to be able to fully perform my duties. Now if I had my old job in I.T. that was mostly a desk job, this would be a no brainer. I probably wouldn't have even filed a claim. Can you imagine me trying to be part of a 2-man team bringing a patient down a flight of stairs in a stair chair? Or being up on a roof trying to cut a vent hole? Trying to remove a victim from a house fire? Or operate the hydraulic rescue tools to open a crashed car? The list is endless. While I am certainly not a top notch physical specimen like the guy on the left and more like the guy on the right, as long as everything works on my body I can effectively do my job. BTW, the guy on the right is actor Kevin Heffernan portraying Chief Terry McConky in Tacoma FD. That show is one of the most accurate depictions of a small fire department on TV, and a favorite at our station.

Another friend asked if I could just sit at a desk and file reports. Nope. Our incident reports, patient care reports, maintenance records, etc. are done as soon as the incident or maintenance is concluded. Reports do not pile up for a clerk to do or for us to do later. Our department call volume is such that we have plenty of time between incidents to get reports done.