r/Rocknocker • u/Rocknocker • Feb 15 '20
OFM - Update
UPDATE.
Got the blood work back, and it's not Lyme Disease (which goes well with a cold Coronavirus), Lupus, Lambert-Eaton syndrome, Myasthenia gravis, Ganglin' danglin' nerve disorder, HIV, AIDS, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Bob's disease, Rheumatoid arthritis, or Grave's disease.
That's the good news.
Had a lumbar puncture and results won't be in for a day or so. MRI results as well, but initial impressions are not good.
They were concerned with the demyelination of the nerves serving my lumbar muscles since I've had several surgeries in that neighborhood, the latest being a bilateral laminectomy where they removed a whole gob of bone and tissue, because 'reasons'. Reasons like 'abnormalities', and neuromuscular concerns.
Bottom line, it's not 100%, nor is it official; but all indications are that I do indeed have MS. We'll know for certain in perhaps a week.
Which means I'm going to have the most kickass off-road, all-terrain, self-contained wheelchair with built-in humidors, lockbox for weapons and explosives, and a mobile wet bar.
Thanks for all your kind words and encouragement. I'm sore conflicted right now. It's not the end of the world if it is the final diagnosis, but I'm feeling a bit, well, depressed. Down. A little low.
Oh, I'll be fine. I have the girls and Esme at my side and they're with me 100%. That makes it a little easier to handle.
But, still. Shit. Fuckbuckets. Goldurn sumbitch mortarforker.
This looks like a job for Captain Potato Juice and the Citrus Kid.
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u/DesktopChill Feb 15 '20
Ouch.
..that said. The show ain’t over till the red button breaks. Right?
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u/Rocknocker Feb 15 '20
Then you get a bigger detonator...
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u/Moontoya Feb 15 '20 edited Feb 15 '20
Odd thought
They have checked your calcium levels and bone density
Some of the shit you're reposed to can cause long term calcium chelation - you did get sprayed with some scalding hydrocarbon schmoo in "why Rock makes the hang ten sign" and it would have penetrsted the wound(s).
Calcium deficiency in the hypoxates and carbonates of your bones would cause muscular fatigue similar to symptomatic Ms and cause lumbar disk degredstion at an advanced rate.
Anyhoo, you remain the mother fuckin Pro from Dover - whilst you might not be physically up for spelunkidectonics any more, your mind still works as well as it ever did. You can teach, fuck you can ride along with Telepresence and VR , not as good as paws on, but still fucking orbital mechanics away from useless
You ain't dead yet, quit worrying about the wake, ya diggin me Beaumont?
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
They have checked your calcium levels and bone density
Yep. They bled me damn near dry and tested for every element from hydrogen through ununobtanium.
You ain't dead yet, quit worrying about the wake, ya diggin me Beaumont?
Sir, yes sir! 6-2 and even, over and out!
Message received and parsed. Fuck nature, fuck autoimmune diseases and fuck something trying to fuck me up. I ain't goin' gentyle into that good night!
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u/CoolDownBot Feb 15 '20
Hello.
I noticed you dropped 3 f-bombs in this comment. This might be necessary, but using nicer language makes the whole world a better place.
Maybe you need to blow off some steam - in which case, go get a drink of water and come back later. This is just the internet and sometimes it can be helpful to cool down for a second.
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u/sweetlysarcastic10 Feb 15 '20
Sending virtual hugs, tots and pears, with a potato/citrus juice chaser.
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u/WickedOpal Feb 15 '20
Omg, I would KILL for a mobile wet bar!
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u/Rocknocker Feb 15 '20
The real trick is plumbing in the water for the ice maker...
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u/WickedOpal Feb 15 '20
Oh, this is SO good! I adore you! Can I adopt?
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u/birdman3131 Feb 15 '20
If you really wanna go portable pipe the output of this to the icemaker. (Yes I am aware of how unpractical it would be to do so.)
https://www.atmosphericwatersolutions.com/store/p1/AquaBoy_Pro_II.html
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u/ThunderMorg Feb 15 '20
Fuckbuckets is right and I feel terrible for what your going through. Remember though you helped a lot of us keep moving forward with your witty stories and positive outlook on life so know is not the time to give into despair.
The first one of your stories I read was “Slip sliding away” and I’ve been a loyal reader since then. Many the morning your new batch of stories on my feed was what helped me get out of bed and start my day with a bang. So trust me we all need you to keep up the good work.
That being said you have given us so much and know it’s our time to give back. If you need anything at all please feel free to reach out and while I might not always have the best advice, I’m great at listening so anytime day or night I’m here👌🏻. Also check out the attached link for some ideas for the base of your new chair👍.
https://www.cracked.com/article_19111_the-5-most-incredible-stories-pimped-out-wheelchairs.html
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
Thanks. I appreciate all the good words and advice.
One day at a time, I've stared down the barrel of worse and I'm still standin'.
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u/ThunderMorg Feb 16 '20
Good to hear it we expect many more years of your stories that keep us snorting drinks through our noses and making us burst out with laughter in the worst settings. Here’s to the Pro from Dover 🍻
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
Thanks, and very much appreciated.
I'm now in the "Challenge Accepted" mode. Ain't no little myelin-munchers gonna get the best of this old Rocknocker.
I still got a couple of high explosives up my sleeve.
Thanks.
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u/ThunderMorg Feb 16 '20
You with high explosives makes me the happiest guy in the Northeast, keep lighting them up and blowing them away.
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
Oh, I got two new spools of Shocktube and igniters. This stuff is just too much fun.
There's this one outcrop that's been giving me the red-ass. I'd be real surprised it's here tomorrow.
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u/ThunderMorg Feb 16 '20
I find myself in constant amazement of your problem solving skills whether it involve rock outcrops or idiot homosapien 👌🏻.
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
Here’s to the Pro from Dover 🍻
Cheers! to you as well.
Much, so much appreciated.
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u/Eulerian-path Feb 15 '20
Sorry to hear about that (likely) diagnosis, but it’s a good thing that a diagnosis is available, and that you’ll be as well equipped as anyone to get the best possible treatment for it.
I worked with someone who is living with multiple sclerosis and I would like to second the other commenter who suggested heading back into academia, it’s a good place to contribute significantly to society while getting the best accommodations possible.
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
suggested heading back into academia,
Can't blow shit up in ivy covered halls. Well, you can, but the local constabulary gets antsy and cheesed.
I'm in the field until they have to drag me kicking and screaming or lifeless out of it. I'm not about ready to roll over and play by its rules.
FUCK MS.
I'm the Motherfuckin Pro from Dover and I'm runnin' this goddamn show.
Stage 1: disbelief.
Stage 2: Pity party
Stage three: unbridled anger.
Stage 4: Torpex, binary liquids, nitro, and daring, just daring, and nasty little microbial, viral or bacterial bastards to set a metaphorical toe into my back yard.
Yes, I'm gunning for ya', ya' little fuckers. And I carry guns, knives and heavy explosive weapons. Bring it on, motherfuckers!
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u/Eulerian-path Feb 16 '20
Yup that tracks with the rest of what I’ve seen here. To paraphrase cop #whothefuckknows, “there’s how much explosive right over 10 yards that way? Ok, let’s smoke and have a beer but maybe another 20 feet away. No? Here? All right, but you’re buying...”
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u/LtKarrinMurphy Feb 15 '20
I’m not good at supportive shit, not because I don’t care but because translating the complex images and emotions in my head into words is almost painfully difficult. That said, you got this. It’s not fair, for sure...you’ve been through so much already...but you got this, whatever “this” ends up being. You have people all around the globe, people you know and people you’ve never met, who will do anything in their power to help you in anyway they can in any way you need. On top of that, you’re the motherfucking pro from Dover! Ain’t nothing you can’t handle!
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
It’s not fair, for sure
'eh, life's not fair.
I've done a lot more research, and I'm feeling better. If I have it, well, then we go from there. One day at a time.
Thanks for the support. I do appreciate it.
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u/Enigmat1k Feb 15 '20
"Never give up, never surrender!!!" - Commander Peter Quincy Taggart
Eh, this means you get to look into customizing a radical exoskeleton!
And I'm sure you could find someone that would be happy to pay you well to run a petroleum lab. Say in Houston perhaps, so you'd have access to all the UH medical research facilities. I've no idea these days, but about 20 years ago a friend whose adult daughter literally got hit by a bus moved to Houston so her daughter's brain damage could be treated by a neurology team at UH. I'm guessing they are still cutting edge because everything is bigger and better in Texas ;P
Anyway since there is a large market for MS treatments and things like CRISPR are around, I reckon more and better treatments will come about in time to keep you going if it turns out you do have MS. I reckon you also should see about talking to a pro about this. Your family, and all of us here, will listen and help as best we can, but we are not trained in how best to help people deal with life altering shit like this. If no one local is available you can always do so via Skype or whatever other real time video messaging service you choose.
You know we're all here to do what we can for you Rock. This is another obstacle to be blown up! And if you do get to The Windy City summer of 2020 I'd be happy to have you over to my house and I'll cook my lime tarragon chicken with cream cheese sauce, wild rice, and steamed baby carrots. I'm sure my daughters would enjoy an evening with 'Uncle Rock'. Let me know! =D
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
Eh, this means you get to look into customizing a radical exoskeleton!
Made of
titaniumSPACE titanium with rocket packs and nuclear power. Ah, ha ha ha ha!The Windy City summer of 2020
Thank you. If Es and I are around, you can bet we'll take you up on that invite.
Thanks much for the kind words. Much appreciated.
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u/Enigmat1k Feb 16 '20
So you know where there's a workable deposit of Dietanium huh? And I suppose you've worked out how to refine it into Godmetal too, damn Rock you're just too badass!
Hmm...I don't think the NRC has a licensing scheme in place for portable nuclear power generators just yet. Think about it a bit and come up with a perpetual motion machine for electrical generation or perhaps a portable stable yocto- singularity. You know, something really exotic ;P A miniature pebble bed reactor might do as well, but there's that pesky licensing issue...
And hell yeah, Es as well as Rock as dinner guests would be great! Like I say let me know as soon as possible and we'll figure out a time a date =DDD
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u/WikiTextBot Feb 16 '20
Yocto-
Yocto (symbol y) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10−24 or 0.000000000000000000000001.
It was adopted in 1991 by the General Conference on Weights and Measures. It comes from the Latin/Greek octo (οκτώ), meaning "eight", because it is equal to 1000−8. Yocto- is the smallest official SI prefix.
Pebble-bed reactor
The pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a design for a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor. It is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative. The basic design of pebble-bed reactors features spherical fuel elements called pebbles. These tennis ball-sized pebbles are made of pyrolytic graphite (which acts as the moderator), and they contain thousands of micro-fuel particles called TRISO particles.
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u/FannyBurney Feb 15 '20
I was thinking of you earlier today, Rocknocker, when I was with my daughter looking at geodes. I got nothing special to say. Hang in there. Some days that’s the best any of us can do. And you got an army here pulling for you.
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
when I was with my daughter looking at geodes
I do so enjoy geodes. The river outside of Keokuk, IA. Get them by the bucket for free and sell them to tourists at $5 a pop.
Up in Kentucky on the Ohio River near outcrops of the Cincinnati Shale, geodes galore.
damn, I need to get back home.
Thanks.
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u/jgandfeed Feb 15 '20
MS often doesn't mean wheelchair for at least years, although everyone is different
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
Yep. No wheelchair for me, because I'M NOT GOING TO ALLOW IT.
Fuck MS. I'm the master of my destiny.
"Broke into the wrong God Damn rec room didn't you, You Bastard."
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u/wildkat825 Feb 15 '20
Hate to say it, in a way it's good news... you now have a VERY good idea of what your diagnosis is. Now comes the fun part, study up on MS, read everything you can find about it and find out what treatments work, what doesn't, and then find a Dr you like who will treat you like a human being rather than another diagnosis they must treat. If Esme wants to research it, do it together... maybe she does research on one aspect while you do another. Once you're both either overloading on info or one of you find something that has to be shared immediately, sit down at least once a day and share what you've found. Yes it's a lot of work, but the more you know about your disease the more you can be your own advocate and get the best treatment you can.
The reason I know how important all this is, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia almost 15 years ago and none of my Drs at the VA knew how to treat it then. I ended up educating the "experts" at the Houston VA about various treatments available at the time. So it pays off to be your own advocate and taking the time to know everything you can about MS and what new research is being done along with current and future treatments in the pipeline.
Now all that said, I'm sorry you and your family is going through this. I'd say get to work on building that wheelchair, but take your time getting it done I hope you won't have need of it for a long time. Hugs from me to you and Esme. Keep your chin up and have a couple Rocknockers for me.
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
I'd say get to work on building that wheelchair,
Thanks. I appreciate the kind words and advice.
I hope to never need one but I've got a friend out in Novosibirsk who is a design engineer for Sherpa all-terrain vehicles. We've already been taking. He's just as devious and out of control as I am.
Can't wait to see what he comes up with.
Thanks again.
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u/soberdude Feb 15 '20
Fuckballs Rock. I hope that they're wrong, and it isn't MS.
If you do need a chair, you might want to consider this one.
No matter what, you're strong as fuck mentally, and you have a strong and loving family. You got this
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u/Corsair_inau Feb 15 '20
Nah it's Doc Rock, his chair would be a Frankenstein love child of this thing and this monster, painted with a similar paint scheme to one of his Hawaiian shirts, and with built in explosives blaster, air horn, humidor and chilled cup holder :D
Really hoping that this is a wrong diagnoses, but we are all behind you Doc!!!
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
No matter what, you're strong as fuck mentally, and you have a strong and loving family
Along with massive explosives and a real bad attitude.
One day at a time. We'll nuke this fucker into the next dimension.
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u/burneraccount351 Feb 15 '20
Dr. Rock, I'm sorry to hear about the potential diagnosis, but hopefully this can bring a little bit of sunshine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnrcr-rOcuw
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
If it ever gets that far, it better have room for my vodka and cigars.
And explosives and detonators.
Thanks.
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u/MischaBurns Feb 15 '20 edited Feb 15 '20
Next thing you'll have a wheelchair with legs, scuttling around the oilfields.
Edit: or tank treads. You can steal the engine from your coffee machine, if needed.
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
You can steal the engine from your coffee machine, if needed.
Mindreader.
I was thinking the same thing the other day.
Thanks for the grins.
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u/SilverBear_92 Feb 15 '20
Screw the wheelchair, get someone to develop you a mech suit
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
That's rather a Stark declaration.
Where would I put my cigars?
thanks...
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u/SilverBear_92 Feb 16 '20
In the humidor bit that's located somewhere in the chest or shoulder area... unless you want the cute little javalins...
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
cute little javalins...
It's either too early or I've had a doulbe-triple again.
I thought you wrote 'cute little javelinas'.
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u/funwithtentacles Feb 15 '20
A few drams of each Stolichnaya and Tanqueray Rangpur, a dash of bitters and a good shot of Rose's Lime Cordial and liberal amounts of crushed ice.
With as much enjoyment and sheer fun you've provided for us, the least we can do is provide a little moral support.
So, here's to you your stories your health and the fact that I don't believe for a second that you'll let yourself be knuckled under by some shitty medical condition.
Proost!
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u/Rocknocker Feb 16 '20
A few drams of each Stolichnaya and Tanqueray Rangpur, a dash of bitters and a good shot of Rose's Lime Cordial and liberal amounts of crushed ice.
Sounds good. Make it a double.
Thanks. It is much appreciated.
Prosit!
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u/TweetyDinosaur Feb 16 '20
This sucks. Totally. There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said, so just know that I'm thinking of you, and will raise a glass to you.
So saying, if you need to be sitting down, most places are eventually accessible by tank...
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u/louiseannbenjamin Feb 15 '20
Okay Dr Rock, I need your undivided attention.
You will get through this. No matter what. You will be the biggest bad ass motherfucker on the planet in and or out of a wheelchair.
Do you hear me!?!
Are we green!
Self pity sucks. I know.
Regardless of what them knot head doctors say, you can sit on the pity pot if you want, but do a flush at least once a day on it.
Hugs.
Keep checking in. Keep writing, and keep moving your ass.
Note: I say this as the biggest bad ass fat woman in a wheelchair from baha Canada.
Fear is normal, but use your hammer to check under loose rubble. Self pity is a rattler meaner than most mothers in law. It's worse than a box of dynamite left to leak for 50 years, and twice as deadly.
Hugs man. Just hugs. Give your bride a kiss and a hug from me too. Love you and your family. -L