My Bout with Gout

9-5-13 11:38am Thurs. (1)

      I had a very difficult night and only slept a few hours. It is all because I twisted my left wrist riding home from American Eagle on the bike yesterday. I think I tried to twist the left handlebar grip back up on the bike before I left with this result. My wrist got swollen and painful and I couldn’t find a position to sleep. So I wouldn’t disturb Leona, I moved into the living room but only slept a few hours. She put some Salonpas on the wrist but that didn’t seem to be helping. In the morning, I took an ice bag and that made it feel better. I did sleep from 7-11am in bed. When I woke up Leona’s cousin was here.

      Leona and her friend are trying to find a martial arts acupuncturist to take a look at my wrist and get some treatment. I can bend my fingers and I am typing this with both hands. I don’t know if this will be happening today. I have to be in American Eagle at 4:30 for two classes. I hope I can ride the bike there.

9-6-13 6:26am Fri. (1)

      Another whacky night of swollen left hand and sleeplessness. I moved into the living room after making love to Leona; I had enough feeling for that. Then I left her sleep instead of staying there tossing and turning with my painful hand. I took two Aleve. Evert time I moved my hand wrong, the pain woke me up. The medicine Leona got from her cousin for me isn’t really helping.

      I was able to ride the bike to American Eagle yesterday by not putting any pressure on the handlebar with my left hand. Teaching kept me busy and helped me forget the discomfort of my left hand. Besides going to teach, I didn’t ride the bike up the Han and I’m not going to do it today, either. I hope I can go back to sleep. At noon, I have a check-up appointment with a urologist at China University Medical Center but I’d really rather see someone there about my hand.

9-6-13 9:44pm Fri. (*2)

      Leona and I spent over five hours at the China University Medical Center seeing two doctors for me. The first appointment was around 11am with a urologist. I went in with none of the information from Dr. Reiser in Brooklyn; I had something else on my mind: my painful wrist. As it is, the urologist wasn’t going to rely on the last urine sample and blood test I did for Dr. Lin, my cardiologist. He said my previous PSA of 4.5 or 5.3 wasn’t too high to warrant worry. I didn’t have any complaints and getting up to pee once or twice a night was okay with him, so we left his office with a referral to give another blood and urine sample and go back to see Dr. Zhou next Friday.

      My second appointment was an emergency appointment around 1pm with an Orthopedic Specialist to see about my swollen left wrist. At the interview, he looked at my reddened swollen wrist and believed it was gout that I had. He gave us a referral to go downstairs and get x-rays and blood tests. My uric acid was ‘7’, a little under the 7.5 considered gout but the bone was not compromised. Conclusion? I had gout. He gave me five prescriptions for painkiller, gout, antibiotic, and stomach protection from the pills themselves; Ultracet Tab, Colchicine 0.5mg., Venalot depot dragees Tab, Voltaren SR 75mg Tab (Diclofenac SR. 75mg Tab), and Lichia Tab.

      The second appointment didn’t let us out until 4:30pm and then we had to go back to the first building for me to give the urine and blood sample for the urologist. We didn’t get back to the scooter until 5:10pm. I had called Kenni at American Eagle at 2pm to give them the heads-up that I may not be able to come in. I called back at 4pm and told Zoe that I wasn’t sure how much longer it was going to take. She said I should come in anyway even if it was later than the 4:30pm class time. When I called back at 5:10pm, she still said I should come in if I was late. I told her I was tired. It would take time to get to the bushiban. I was going home to rest. We went home and I fell out immediately for a few hours, I was so tired. My wrist still hurts and is swollen. I took a gout pill and others and will take a pain killer before I go to sleep.

9-7-13 7:57am Sat. (1)

      My hand is a little less swollen and not much painful anymore. The medicine and nature are working. The pain killer helped me sleep through the night. I hadn’t slept well the previous two nights. Leona woke up before me this morning to feed the cats.