trying to stay up

Mr. San Diego is on a flight back home right now. I would like to hear from him when he gets home because he said that his back has been bothering him. So I want to see how he made out on this trip.

I hope that doesn't mean that he'll have to go back to Seattle over Labor Day weekend - we were planning on camping by a lake (either Alamo or Roosevelt).

I found South Park on Comedy Central - I haven't watched it in years. And it's still pretty frickin' funny. Okay, up next is another episode.

I wonder who I'm more angry at

I was watching a borrowed copy of "Hostage" tonight when I was interrupted by a cricket on the floor about a foot away from me. Lucky for me, I had my shoes on the floor not too far away. Unfortunately, the many summers at my folks house in Fountain Hills taught me that you can't easily squish these suckers.

So after the third attempt, the damn cricket landed less than a foot away from Magnum. As I attempt to squish this cricket, Magnum seems interested in the fact that I'm possibly there to pay attention to him. Then the cricket jumps again, but this fat ass pays no attention to the insect. As we pass by Magnum, me still trying to squish the jumping bug, fat ass pulls his paws over the ears as if to say "too much noise, I'm trying to sleep".

I didn't get the cricket after all that, and Magnum's still contently sleeping on the floor. I'm still not sure which to be more annoyed at. If Magnum would have attempted to catch the cricket, it would have been good exercise. But he probably knows that too....

Upcoming ablation - and it's not for me

I forgot to mention. My mom's atrial fibrillation is so bad and for some reason the medication is not working anymore. Her cardiologist thinks it's time she needs an ablation to try and correct the problem. The problem has been that specialists say she's too young, and want to continue medications.

With some discussions with her long-term cardiologist, and about seven episodes in five days, he agreed to try the ablation. She gets back from San Diego tomorrow night, and the ablation should be scheduled next week. She sounded nervous when she was telling me that she's going to have it done. It will be done in hospital, under general anesthesia, and may have to stay overnight.

I had three ablations on my trigeminal nerve in an attempt to stop my atypical pain. If I remember how mine were done, it was done using radiofrequency (like how they'll do my mother's). The first was the most painful because of how the entry is done (I couldn't open my mouth for days).

My mom said that I don't have to be there for her. But she was there for my first two, and I feel like I should be there if I possibly can.

Get me a lawyer - I want to sue too!!!

Okay, not really. But that was my the first thought that came into my mind when I first heard about the troubles with COX-2 inhibitors. Mostly because I had been given Celebrex for a couple years because it was helping control some of my atypical trigeminal neuralgia. After that, I was switched to Vioxx, but I think I was only on that for less than six months because it didn't seem to help my pain at all.

While it was being prescribed by a neurologist, I did have to disclose that I have family history of heart troubles (mostly atrial fibrillation). But if my doctor was aware of potential heart trouble related to COX-2 inhibitors, I wonder if she would have still prescribed it.

Personally, I think that the pharamaceutical companies overlooked the risk that COX-2 inihibtors, and possibly accelerated the FDA review process. While I haven't looked at the preliminary studies, I wonder how many people used in the initial studies were senior citizens. That was the population most likely to be taking COX-2 inhibitors, and have an increased risk of heart trouble before even taking the medication.

The timing couldn't be better considering "The Constant Gardener" will be in theatres in a couple weeks. I do think the pharamaceutical companies made billions off the COX-2 inhibitors, and possibly should compensate for potential deaths related to the medication (after all, the tobacco companies had to). But 1/4 of a billion dollars is extreme, and will be reduced on appeal (after all, Merck will always have money for lawyers).

The biggest irony of all this is that the news program that I'm watching that had the Merck settlement as their first story aired a Merck commercial during the break. "Merck, putting patients first."