The Frying of the Nerves

 A picture of the needles in my neck 

during the last procedure

A long while back I stopped seeing the VA clinic for all my health issues. I forget if I mentioned this before, but here's a quick rundown of events that led to my decision. The local VA clinic as I'm sure all of them are, is very busy. Every time I had an appointment I felt like I was just a number that the doctor was trying to get through so he could get to the next patient. The pros of the clinic are that everything is free, but the cons were enough to make me look elsewhere for treatment. I felt like my doctor (who could barely speak English), would never listen to me and the solution was just more pills. I had a drawer full of various prescriptions I was on. The only ones that really helped temporarily was the narcotics. With all these prescriptions in my body I could literally feel my brain start to fade away. I felt like I was getting premature Alzheimer's or Dementia, and I'm not even kidding! It was getting pretty scary, it was hard to do simple math...remember people's names etc. 

Luckily for me, the place that I currently work has a good health plan and even has a clinic on site that we can go to. I started seeing the doctor at the clinic and it made a world of difference. She had me start reducing my current intake of prescriptions. I wanted to stop everything cold turkey, but I'm no doctor. When I was finally off of everything, the only pills I was taking were vitamins and
Percocet for the chronic pain. The doctor also had me try a number of different ideas such as physical therapy, massage therapy, and so on. The physical therapy made the pain much much worse, the massage therapy was awesome, but gave me only temporary relief. 

Finally the doc gave me a referral to the pain clinic. This is where the fried nerves comes into play. After consulting with the pain management doctor, we decided on trying a procedure which is technically called a "medial branch block". The procedure consisted of 2 diagnostic shots and then the actual "frying of the nerves in my neck". 

The first diagnostic shot had me go in and get an anesthetic shot into 4 different locations between the vertebrae in my neck. Getting the shots was a bit uncomfortable. I had to lay on my side while the doctor injected some numbing agent (for the shots), then put in the diagnostic anesthetic into the nerves. The whole time I had to lay still and listen to him tell the nurse constantly to take another X-Ray so he could make sure he was putting the needle into the correct place. I had this procedure done on a Monday and for the first time since around 2013 I actually felt like a normal human being. I could run around, jump, do all the things that used to put me out of commission. During this time I had to keep a pain diary. The pain was minimal at first, kind of like a stiff neck from the shots. Once that wore off I felt normal. I can't put into words how awesome this felt. For so long I've dealt with the chronic pain every moment of every day pretty much. Imagine having a headache anywhere on the pain scale of 2-10 (out of 10) every day of your life. It can really make life just suck constantly. There have been a number of times where I just don't do stuff because I'm in too much pain. This first diagnostic procedure lasted from Monday until Saturday, then of course the pain came back and hit me like a truck! All that running around and jumping caught up to me. 

The second diagnostic shot was similar to the first one, except the pain came back on Thursday. A couple days shorter, but the doc told me it wouldn't last as long.

Finally the third visit I had the actual procedure done. They had me take a Valium before the procedure and also had me lay on my stomach this time (much more comfortable). This time the procedure took a bit longer and was more uncomfortable than the first two. There was pain, but not unbearable. I just kept still and knew that it was going to help me in the long run. When finished they said it may take two weeks for the effects to kick in. The lasting effects should go for about a year, then the nerves will grow back and I will have to have it done again. A year without the chronic pain will be so worth it! I had my right side done, depending on the results I may have to go in and have my left side done as well. 

Currently it's the day after the final injection and I'm feeling good. I'm super optimistic about the coming year. I should be able to work out, maybe even play some basketball, and who knows what else. One thing is for certain...I will be doing a lot more than I have been for so long!!

Tinnitus & Lipo-Flavonoid Plus

I saw an ad for this on TV a couple months ago and thought I'd give it a try. I figured the worst thing that can happen is that I'm out some money, but according to the ad and the packaging on the box it could actually help my tinnitus! Why am I writing about this on my Miscellaneous Army Info and Posts blog? When I was medically retired from the army, I did receive a VA rating of 10% for my tinnitus. 10% is not much, and doesn't compensate for the annoying ringing I will have forever now.

What is tinnitus? According to the American Tinnitus Association "Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no actual external noise is present. While it is commonly referred to as “ringing in the ears,” tinnitus can manifest many different perceptions of sound, including buzzing, hissing, whistling, swooshing, and clicking. In some rare cases, tinnitus patients report hearing music. Tinnitus can be both an acute (temporary) condition or a chronic (ongoing) health malady".

My condition doesn't include music lol, but I do hear a constant (and I mean constant) ringing in my ears. Sometimes it's really loud and other times it's softer, kind of like the high pitched tones you hear when taking a hearing test. During the hearing tests in the army half the time I didn't know if the tone I was hearing was from the tester or just the ringing in my ears. It's an annoyance for sure, but I can complete most tasks. During my last hearing exam the doctor said I may have issues hearing women and children. I told my wife this and she didn't believe me, I should have had the Doc write that down on a note for me...lol.

So I tried this over the counter Lipo-Flavanoid Plus (Official Website Here) and took the recommended dose of 2 pills 3 times a day for two months. I'm a pessimist, so I wasn't expecting a miracle or anything. I did have a little hope deep down that it may at least help out a little.

The results...nothing changed. Nothing at all (except my pee was a brighter shade of yellow while I was taking the pills). The two months have passed and I still have the same amount of ringing in my ears...all the time...forever. So if you're thinking about giving this product a try, I would suggest don't waste your money!

Government Waste - The Joint Strike Fighter Jet

(from the article linked below)

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in its natural habitat: on the ground

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having a strong military. It seems like my days in the army saw waste on a daily basis, but nothing compares to the article I just read. I've read tidbits here and there before about the Joint Strike Fighter and it's enormous price tag and delays, but like most Americans I never really paid attention to it. This high tech jet fighter was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread man!

The article I just read was shared on Facebook from a friend and is from a website called thinkprogress.org. Never heard of the website before, but the headline drew me in "Americans Have Spent Enough Money On A Broken Plane To Buy Every Homeless Person A Mansion"It's truly amazing that this project has been able to survive this long! A comment from the article stands out though "The political armor of the F-35 is as thick as the heads of the people who designed the airplane and its acquisition plan,” Winslow Wheeler, a former congressional staffer and outspoken critic of the F-35" I swear politicians and special interests are going to ruin America. I've become so fed up with it all that I usually just tune out and try to live in my ignorant bliss. That's what I'm sure the politicians and special interests want all of America to do.

What makes this "awesome" jet fighter even worse is another related article that I just read about it. "The F-35 Can't Beat The Plan It's Replacing In A Dogfight: Report" All this is pretty depressing, but I did find a bit of humor in a statement from this article..."At one point, the pilot’s helmet was so big he couldn’t even turn his head inside the cockpit". I of course pictured something from the movie "Spaceballs"

"Dark Helmet" from Spaceballs

The article continues to state just how bad the jet performs in real world scenarios. What a joke...but nobody's laughing!

Why John Burk Got Out

Watched an interesting video today on Facebook. A guy I never heard of named John Burk had his video shared by U.S. Army W.T.F! moments. I watched the video and saw a guy who was an NCO bitch about the toxic leadership and all the stupid training that soldiers have to do instead of just learning and doing their jobs. He made a lot of great points and pretty much summed up a lot of the same reasons I decided not to reenlist. The army has become so politically correct, it's having a hard time keeping good soldiers in.

Check out the video here:

https://www.facebook.com/Soldierofsteel1984/videos/1542223529439361/

Military Memes

I've come across quite a few funny military themed memes and I figured I'd start collecting them all in one place for all to enjoy.

 We'll start with this one, I'll be adding more later as I come across them...

So true!

LOL!

This is so True!

So many mornings! There were times when

soldiers in formation were shivering

out of control...lol

 Sounds about right

Almost every time!

Dishonesty & Deception...Just the Tip of the Iceberg

 
I just read an article from military.com called "Study: Soldiers of All Ranks Engage in 'Dishonesty and Deception'". It peaked my interest because I've seen this as the norm while serving. First off, let me say there are a lot of good people in the military and a lot of people that try and do the right thing. In fact I think for the most part everyone joined to serve their country...it's just that after being in, things start to go astray. A quote from the article that made me laugh, probably because it hit home is "The most highlighted rationalization to partake in dishonesty is that it is often necessary to lie because the task asked of personnel or the reporting required of them is unreasonable, irritating or "dumb."" The military is filled with so much unreasonable, irritating and dumb things who can blame them? LOL.

The unreasonable, irritating and dumb things in the military were probably what pissed me off the most about serving (after not actually doing the job I signed up for, but that's a whole other story). After that would be the leaders looking out for themselves, taking credit when they didn't deserve it, and getting rewarded constantly for stuff they didn't even do. All of this makes moral suffer, which probably helps perpetuate the circle of engaging in dishonesty and deception.

Take a look at the article and decide for yourselves!

Why is the Army Losing it's Best Soldiers?

 
Just read a great article in The Washington Post about how the army is losing it's best leaders. Here is the original article "How To Lose Great Leaders? Ask The Army" The article is about young officers and why a lot of them quit after their first tour of duty, but a lot of it applies to the regular soldier as well. A quote from this article that really grabbed my attention was "The Army has bled talent for decades, a consequence of a deeply dysfunctional organization that poorly matches jobs with talent and doesn’t trust its officers to make choices about their own careers". This is true even down to the enlisted soldiers as well. I joined as an enlisted PFC with over 13 years of civilian I.T. experience. In addition to civilian work experience, I had traditional schooling and held several industry certifications. My MOS (Military Occupational Specialty...i.e. your job) was a 25B, an Information Technology Specialist. I graduated AIT at the top of my class...the distinguished honor graduate. How often did I actually do I.T. work during my entire career in the army? The answer was only a week, while I was off on an FTX (Field Training Exercise). The rest of the time I did menial tasks such as serving coffee and cleaning.

The problem wasn't just mine, it seemed everyone I spoke to hardly ever seemed to do the job they signed up for. This matches another quote from the article "High quit rates are just a symptom of the deeper problem that too many military members are mis-matched with their jobs". Soldiers are only volunteers the day they sign up, after that everyone is "voluntold" what they will do and where they will be. Soldiers are just a bunch of numbers, and a certain number of soldiers are just put in to fill each gap. Another longer quote from the article goes on to explain this process "The mantra from the central planners in the bowels of the Pentagon has always been that the “needs of the military come first.” That’s dumb. Smart organizations in the private sector have learned that putting employees’ needs first—ahead of corporate ones—only seems unproductive to short-term thinkers. Just look at the way Silicon Valley companies pamper their talent because of how it helps to maximize the bottom line. Compulsion just won’t work in today’s labor market"

I left after my first enlistment and I'm back to a normal job where my I.T. talents are used on a daily basis. I come to work, I do the job I was hired for...every day! It seems like a no brainer.  There is no way I would recommend anyone to join today's military if they are joining for a particular job. The article finishes up with a great recommendation "It will require the Pentagon to establish a job board which allows qualified officers and enlistees the freedom to apply for any open position. And it will mean instituting substantive evaluations that recognize merit more than seniority". Will something like this every happen? I really doubt it, the big army machine is stuck in it's ways and is extremely slow to change. Check out the original article and see what you think.