Miscellany

   The airpods charging case has been delayed but I should receive it soon. The 3D printed Dice Jail arrived yesterday. Here's a pic.

  You might be wondering why I'd order something that really serves no viable purpose. Dice have no memory so putting them in jail serves no purpose. If a die is biased because of some flaw introduced in the manufacturing process, the die is always going to be biased. Nothing's going to change that. The dice jail is kitsch plain and simple. 

  While my hip has improved quite a bit since the surgery, my legs still get tired and sore when I stand for long periods of time. I'm hoping this goes away over time. Things were somewhat better this last shift. The area behind my right knee didn't get all tight and sore like it had been getting the past couple of shifts. I've been making an effort not to peg leg too much as that just exacerbates things.

  The 4Oceans mask frames are still in Charlotte, MI. I've talked with Post Office people twice now and have even filed a case report but still nothing happens. What's the fucking problem? They have the address that the package needs to be sent to so why haven't they mailed it? Their automated system sucks. It abruptly cuts off speaking before the sentence is completed. It hears answers to its queries despite the fact that I haven't said a damned thing and trying to get a live person on the phone is nigh impossible. I'm going to keep calling them until I get some satisfaction regarding the mask frames.

Hip Surgery Specifications

   I saw my orthopedic doctor yesterday. I'll be returning to work on March 29th. While I was at the doctor's office, I got to see an example of the artificial joint. Here's a pic of the artificial hip joint.

dged

   The ball joint is composed of oxinium while the part that fits into the femur is made out of titanium. The part that fits into the femur is porous and ridged so the bone will grow into it and lock the artificial joint into the bone. The socket is an acetabulum shell. The outer part is composed of titanium while the inner liner is polyethylene. The only part of the joint that wears down is the polyethylene liner. The doctor recommended that I lose weight and not stress the joint too much so as to limit wear and tear on the liner.

  The next photo shows two x-rays of my hip. The right x-ray shows my hip joint before the surgery and the left is after the surgery'

to

  If you look at the right x-ray, you'll notice a dark spot on the ball joint of the femur. This is where the bone collapsed. That's what I've been walking on for the longest time. On the left, you see the artificial joint. You see how the shaft extends down into the femur. A long screw attaches the socket to the hip bone. The hip bone will grow into the outer titanium cup to further lock it in place. 

  I handled the sample joint fitting the ball joint into the socket. The ceramic zirconium oxide outer surface of the ball joint along with the polyethylene inner surface of the socket allows the joint to move without much friction.

  The specs for my artificial joint are as follows; A Smith and Nephew uncemented total hip arthroplasty with a 52mm acetabular shell. R3 with an apex hole eliminator and a reflection. Polyethylene acetabular liner, 36mm neutral with a lateral offset size 3. Polar femoral stem with an oxinium femoral head 36 +4mm inner diameter for a 12/14 taper. I'm not sure what all that means but the doctor said that I need to keep a copy of these specs in my glove box. I've scanned the hip specs document the doctor gave me into my computer and uploaded a copy of file to the MyIHR web page. Copies have also been installed on my eMedTag flash drives. That way should some other doctor need to do surgery on my hip at a later date, they'll have the necessary information regarding my artificial joint.

Random Shit

   I'm presently still convalescing after my Feb. 2nd hip replacement surgery. I'm due to see the orthopedic doctor this Thursday and I'm fairly certain I'll be given a release to return to work. I replaced my old Targus chill mat with a new model. This one is larger, tilts and has 4 USB ports in the rear of the unit. I'm using it right now. My $1,400 stimulus check was deposited into my account. Most of it went to pay for some old medical bills and other necessities. I did indulge myself a little by buying the alternate acolytes and handicap grey acolytes packages for Cthulhu Wars. The handicap acolytes arrived yesterday and the others will be arriving in the next day or so. I've added the standard acolytes for the Daemon Sultan faction, a 6-8 player Earth map game board and Tcho-Tcho expansion set to my Game Steward order. I have no idea when everything I ordered from them will arrive as all of it is based on Kickstarters that have been delayed by the pandemic.

  The Hexacube Kickstarter is getting closer to fulfillment. The seller has received and tested the samples and they passed with flying colors. Now he's negotiating with the manufacturers to get the dice produced. Some progress has also been made with the Go Dice Kickstarter. 

  My federal tax refund hasn't been deposited in my account yet. When I first used the TaxAct software to complete my return, it calculated that I'd get $1,887 back. A day or so later, an update for the program was downloaded and installed. The update lowered my refund from $1,887 to $1,167. I fear that this alteration is what's holding up my refund. I've tried to email and call the IRS with little success. I might have to contact a tax preparation service and get advice from them. I might have to file an amended return.

  My Mom and Dad have gotten their first Covid-19 vaccinations and have scheduled their second shots. They've received the Pfizer version of the vaccine. I'm not yet eligible to receive the vaccine but, as a diabetic, I'm higher up on the list than most other people. There's a chance that I can get the vaccine earlier than I should. I got put on a 'No vaccine left behind' list. If someone can't make it to get their shot, I could get called to get the shot.

  On a political note, 4 former Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama, have been trying to encourage people to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Notably absent was Trump. This narcissistic moron won't go on camera and tell his followers to get vaccinated but he sent out a message stating that, without him as President, the vaccine would've been delayed by 5 years or more and most people wouldn't get vaccinated at all. He wants all the credit for the vaccine for a disease that he downplayed most of his term but none of the credit for all people that died from the disease because of his incompetence. 

  The stimulus bill that passed recently went through without any support from the Republicans. Some of these fascist assholes are now trying to take credit for the bill's passage. These motherfuckers want to reap political benefit from a bill they didn't want to pass. They're also against H.R. 1, the voting rights act. The very party that whined about election integrity voted against a bill intended to increase election integrity. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Republicans don't care about America or democracy. All they want is power and to shovel more money into the coffers of the rich.

Post OP Review

   I successfully underwent hip replacement surgery on Feb. 2nd, 2021. Simply put, after I went under, I was transferred to an operating table that had stirrups. With my legs locked in position, the surgical team cut open my right leg, moved the muscles and tendons aside, dislocated the joint and cut off the top of my right femur. An artificial titanium ball joint was inserted into the femur and the socket was reinforced before the joint was reset. The skin was then sewn closed with dissolving stitches. The hose from a small negative pressure device was inserted into wound before closure. The purpose of this device was to draw off any fluids from the wound and deposit them onto a sterile strip of gauze taped to my leg. Here's a pic of what my leg looked like after surgery.

  You can see both the negative pressure device and the sterile gauze strip in the above photo. Only a small amount of fluid was drawn off onto the gauze and there were no signs of infection. The next photo shows my leg after the gauze, bandages and pump were removed.

  The sutures holding the incision closed will dissolve over time. At the moment, I can shower but I can't soak my leg in water without risking infection. The post operative pain and swelling are decreasing and I'm starting to walk better. There's still a bit of discomfort when I lay on my right side.

  I confess I've been rather lazy during my time convalescing. Other than doctor's appointments, prescription pick ups and going out to eat on occasion, I've spent my time at home. The short term disability and FMLA paperwork has been successfully filled out and sent to both the surgeon that did my operation and MetLife. I found out that I can send faxes from my printer. This saved me having to drive to the orthopedic center in Kenosha. I've scanned and stored copies of all the completed claims forms onto my main computer.

  My taxes have been filed electronically. I'm getting back $1,887 federal and $325 state. Most of it's going to be used to pay down my medical bills. I might splurge a little bit and get me a copy of Cyberpunk Red.

End of the Year Setbacks

   Today was supposed to be the day my hip got replaced. But I got a call a few days back telling me that the surgeon that's doing the operation had an emergency come up and the surgery has been cancelled. This fucking sucks. I have no idea when the surgery will be rescheduled but I'm hoping that the delay won't be too long.

  My financial situation is crap. I'm behind on my bills and I've only recently gotten back up to 40 hours at work. Some unplanned for additional expenses, like both my plates and license needing to be renewed plus medical expenses insurance didn't cover have stuck it to be good. The federal government has approved a new stimulus bill that's supposed to include $600 checks for everyone. They're saying they'll be sent out sometime in January. I could really use the money right now. Hopefully, I'll be able to file my taxes early and get a hefty refund.

  Gen Con is out of the question this year. The money simply won't be there. My credit card bill is too high so I won't be able to cover the hotel bill, gas or tolls for the trip. My debit cards are devoid of funds. I sure as shit hope this doesn't get worse.

  My paperwork regarding the surgery has been turned in to the proper people. From what I've gathered, I've filled out my parts correctly. Now the doctor and the insurance people have to do their part. If everything works out, I should be getting some money during the time I'm recovering from surgery.

  My Mom bought a new iPad a while back. While she likes technology, she doesn't really know how to work it. I'm usually the one that sets up her computers, cellphones and tablets. She had a small Samsung Galaxy Tab A6 that she never really used. She gave it to me. It only has 8 Gb of internal memory but it has a 60 Gb micro SD card in the memory slot. I've set it up so that any photos or videos I take with it are stored on the SD card. I want to use this tablet as a camera in place of my cellphone. I have a pair of Aukey Ora 2 in 1 lenses that I can clip over the tablet's camera lens. One is a 15x macro lens for extreme close ups and the other, a 0.45x wide angle lens, in combination with the macro lens, takes 120 degree wide angle photos. I ordered a combination keyboard/tablet case for the Tab A6 that should be arriving in the mail today.