ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Where are you and where are you going?
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ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

As a former firefighter and EMT I have delivered many people to the ER at a hospital, and yet have never been on the opposite end. Until last Sunday.

I awoke in the early morning to a severe rash across my stomach, and being that it was 3 in the morning and still very tired I chalked it up to possibly poison oak as I had been working in the woods earlier that day, so I went back to bed. By 7 the rash had extended across my arms and down my legs and I felt absolutely horrible. I took some Benadryl and went back to sleep. When I awoke I felt even worse and after using the bathroom I stood in the doorway to my bedroom and passed out. Apparently I hit my chest on the corner of a desk as I fell because I have a nice bruise there now and it hurts if you press on it.

So what happened? I had a severe allergic reaction that I have pinpointed to two likely culprits: amoxycillin or methylprednisolone. Both were prescribed to me by my dentist for a tooth that has succumbed to resorption after a root canal several months ago. Don't know what tooth resorption is? I didn't either until my jaw ached and I had to seek treatment. You don't want it but basically it's your body rejecting your inert tooth and it's taking it out.

Anyway, I took the amoxycillin for a week and then started the methylprednisolone and got till day three when this happened. I have taken amoxycillin with no issue once before for the same tooth before the root canal. I don't recall ever taking methylprednisolone before.

Anybody here with a similar experience? I still have hives over my body which cause incredible itchiness that I keep in check with prescribed industrial strength Benadryl basically. My hands swelled so much I couldn't close them and I looked like a duck with my swollen lips, but thankfully the swelling has left. The dermatologist said that I'm looking at a couple of weeks for all the symptoms to disappear. And I have an appointment with an allergist to determine exactly what caused this hopefully.

I'm all ears if one of you has had a similar experience or know of someone. Or if you are trained in this field. It's been a horrible experience. I need to figure this out as I don't want this to ever happen again.

ertyu
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ertyu »

glad you live, ffj

Henry
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Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2022 1:32 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Henry »

ffj wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 10:08 pm

So what happened? I had a severe allergic reaction that I have pinpointed to two likely culprits: amoxycillin or methylprednisolone.
ffj wrote:
Tue Dec 13, 2022 11:39 am

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My first thought was this plate gave it to you.

7Wannabe5
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I'm happy to hear that somebody got you to the ER! I've had severe peanut allergy since infancy, so have experienced like unto what you describe, with additional symptom of throat quickly swelling shut on multiple occasions. I still have vivid memory of my father running into the ER with 8 year old me in his arms and placing me in the arms of a very large/strong nurse who continued to run with me in her arms. A core danger, as you experienced, is that the reaction can cause blood pressure to drop very quickly, so your own ability to seek help when exposed can be impaired. The last time I was accidentally exposed, I was teaching in an elementary school. I had to yell for another teacher to cover my room, run to the office, and ask the young extremely buff principal to jab me with epinephrine. It didn't work the first time, so he used more force on second attempt, and I wound up with huge purple bruise on my thigh. My doctor chuckled "Good thing he got some practice on you before jabbing one of the kids!"

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@ertyu
Me too ;)

@Henry
That fucking plate. Karma's a bitch. :D

@7
My call for help is when I fell down like a sack of potatoes and my wife heard me fall. Apparently I make a distinctive sound when my legs collapse beneath me and I lose consciousness. It freaked her out but she drove me to the hospital after I lost my confusion. I remember thinking "why am I on the floor? Why are my glasses across the room? Just happy it didn't happen in a worse place, while I was driving or walking the stairs.

Thank goodness I never had respiratory problems like you describe. And what a horrible allergy to have as peanut butter is delicious and peanuts are everywhere. I would have gotten an epi-pen if any breathing restrictions occurred or I could accidentally encounter it again, but it should be avoidable in the future once I know exactly which allergen triggers my response.

What a nightmare that had to have been for your young self and your father. Not good.

Henry
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Henry »

Glad to hear you are Ok. I'd pass that plate on to your worst enemy. It's straight up Stephen King.

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

I am pretty much back to normal health-wise. I have an appointment with an allergist in the near future to help me figure out exactly what I reacted to which will be a relief once that is determined. In the mean-time I am monitoring my vitals, watching what I consume, and exercising more. I've also stopped all medications related to this episode, which is a massive relief as the 'Benadryl" and another anti-histamine was really affecting my day and night for that matter. And for the first time ever, I will be picking a physician for regular primary care. It's time. I'm no longer in my twenties.

I've also gone back and finished the porch I was building.

Day one was securing the top. Fairly straight-forward but always pay attention that your boards are staying parallel to the house. You don't want to get close to the house and find that the last board will require a taper. Visually that will look horrible.

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I kept my ends running wild (long) because I wanted to cut them all at the same time. Both for looks and efficiency. As I had a scrap board, I used it as a straight-edge for my saw, which requires exactly 5 inches from the edge of the sole plate to the blade. Easy math.

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Day one complete.

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Day two consisted of building a wrap-around step, which was a bit of a challenge as the concrete sidewalk sloped in two different directions. So you have a choice, either follow the concrete or make the step level. Both options would look bad so I split the difference. The stair is out of level but not to the extreme of the concrete. Sometimes you have to do stuff like this for the optics, not for precision.

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Can you tell the wrap-around stair is not level? Hopefully not.

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bottlerocks
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by bottlerocks »

Glad you're okay ffj. Stair looks level to me!

I only have one severe allergy and it's anything in the Penicillin family. My reaction is similar to yours, plus respiratory issues. Penicillin almost killed me as an infant and then Amoxicillin was accidentally given to me as a teenager with less severe but still bad results. I just remember a major rash from arm to arm and then my asthma was terrible for months afterwards. Good luck with the allergist. Thank god modern medicine has provided a solid set of antibiotic alternatives.

ffj
Posts: 376
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@bottlerocks

Thanks for the kind words. Praise the gods I finally stopped itching a couple days ago. Itching that is the most intense I have ever felt; it puts poison ivy to shame. And thank goodness I never had respiratory issues. That shit scares the fuck out of me. The hives went away completely 4 or 5 days ago.

I see the allergist Wednesday and I am really hoping she can pinpoint this quickly. Can I ask you what antibiotic alternatives that you know of if I indeed am allergic to amoxycillin? Thanks again for the kind words and your story. Happy you survived your scares.


Well I had a nice surprise this morning in the barn and this is specifically for ertyu:

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It's yellowface! She's still alive and looks healthy. Very affectionate too. She must of found another home that feeds her nearby to look this good. Now if only I knew where the other two scurried off.

ertyu
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ertyu »

!! welcome back kitty

may she cat long and prosper :muscle:

Kipling
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Location: London

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Kipling »

Hurrah for the return of Yellowface. She does indeed look mighty healthy.

Glad that you, FFJ, are also out of the woods healthwise.

ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@Kipling

Isn't that something? I had a lot invested in those cats. I'm glad at least one of them is still kicking.

Regarding my health, the whole incident was a wake-up call to take ownership of my health, even though it was an allergic reaction. I've made time to exercise again daily and I eat much better foods now. I'm still fat, but I'm working on it. I'm monitoring my vitals and taking a multi-vitamin each day. And for the first time ever, I'm going to find a primary care physician so I can have a "doctor". Prior to this incident the last time other than mandatory yearly physicals for my previous job ( and one on the job small injury) I visited a hospital was when I thought I broke my foot after a sky-dive when I was around twenty. My only medication for the vast majority of my life has been ibuprofen taken a few times a year.

So I've been lucky but this streak won't last indefinitely. It's already been broken, so I might as well take this as an opportunity. Thank you for the well-wishes.

bottlerocks
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by bottlerocks »

The only 2 antibiotics I've had to take over the past decade or so are azithromycin (Z-pak) and doxycycline for minor infections. Sorry I don't know much more about their specific use cases over penicillin but I can at least attest to no allergic reactions!

Good luck with finding a decent PCP. It's a hellscape in some regions of the country right now, especially with early year Medicaid/Medicare mandatory appointments. Probably not as terrible in more rural locales though.

ffj
Posts: 376
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

Thanks bottlerocks. I finally visited the allergist and he tested me for a reaction to penicillin, and it seems my body didn't care for it, although to me the reaction seemed rather benign. But he said I definitely negatively reacted. It was hard to have a conversation to explore questions I had because the assistants aren't allowed to voice opinions and the DR. was in and out so fast you literally couldn't get a word out. I felt like they were churning out as many people as they could in a day.

The next step is to go back and test for the steroids and compare results so we can definitively rule out one or the other. We'll see what that brings.



I continue to work to fund my endeavors. And now that I've made enough money to cover all of my extraneous expenses it's hard to stay motivated to go back to work for someone else. I don't mind working, but it just dominates your entire day and leaves you with little enthusiasm or energy for anything else. It's not an 8-hour day that's so bad, but the time to get ready to work and the time to get back home and clean up and that is easily 11 hours of your day gone. Sucks.

But the guy I work for is wonderful and I feel a sense of obligation to finish our latest project.

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These were some of the doors and windows I trimmed out which really are a pain in the ass to do to be honest. Partly because of the method my boss uses to attach the siding and partly because it's just a tedious , detailed job.

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What is funny and a bit irritating on these job sites is that my boss keeps pimping me out for work he doesn't do to the homeowners. He's like "yeah ffj can do that, you should ask him" and I'm like "stop" haha. The last job we did the homeowner wanted a quote from me to finish the plumbing, and on this job the homeowner wants me to finish the electrical and build a deck on her other house. And the whole time I'm trying to find excuses why I can't do the work. Part of the problem is that I am not licensed or insured to do this work and if I do become insured then that is another cost that I have to bear and work a certain amount to justify. Right now the boss incurs all of that liability and I go home without having to think about that stuff. It's nice to feel valued however but when you don't need the money that only goes so far.

I continue to do the YouTube videos when I feel like it and I'm happy to say I am approaching 500 subscribers, which when I was stuck on 17 subs for a month I never thought would happen. And the watch hours are impressive, more so than the sub count. It's a very modest success but I will take it with bells on, and if any of you guys are subscribed, thank you. On that topic, I arranged all of my gear to keep things organized because it was driving me crazy trying to dig through packs. It made my OCD happy.

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ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

Solu-Medrol for the win.

I visited the allergist again to check for an allergic reaction to steroids and boy this test didn't disappoint. Within ten minutes after a pin prick of this stuff I had a hard time breathing and my face and hands were tingling. This lasted for about ten minutes and the rest of the day I was in a foul mood as everything I encountered made me angry. But at least I know what put me in the hospital now.

Tomorrow I go back to try and find a safe alternative. I know I am sharing health issues on a public forum but if this helps someone it's worth it. This episode has cost me thousands of dollars and two weeks of a miserable existence as well as a lot of time spent visiting and traveling to various medical offices. Maybe this will help the next person.

Speaking of bad days, this young lady had to give up her 2003 Subaru yesterday:

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When I stopped to help her the car was smoking heavily at that point but I told her it was definitely on fire and it was going to get worse so lets get all of your valuables out while we can, which we did. And the fire grew to the photo above before the fire dept. arrived. I got some good pictures which I sent to the Fire Dept. afterwards and other than getting her stuff out of the car that is all I could do unfortunately, which I apologized for to the young lady. I'm used to putting fires out, not standing by, but I had nothing in my personal car to accomplish anything.

The rest of my life has revolved around getting the mushroom operation going so check out that thread if you care, and wrestling with other people wanting things from me, namely work. My life is fairly simple, but lately there is always something external that demands my attention and it's quite irritating to be frank. There always seems to be something in the back of my mind that diverts my attention from what I need to focus on and I'm going to have to make a decision here shortly as to whether I am going to allow this to continue.

jacob
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by jacob »

ffj wrote:
Sat Feb 11, 2023 9:59 am
I continue to do the YouTube videos when I feel like it and I'm happy to say I am approaching 500 subscribers, which when I was stuck on 17 subs for a month I never thought would happen. And the watch hours are impressive, more so than the sub count.
Methinks "watch hours" are the most important metric. I used a similar metric when I was blogging. Yes, more popular blogs may have 100,000 "unique" visitors per month, but if the readers only spend 30 seconds per visit, that's only impressive from a monetization standpoint. Whereas having 20,000 visits per month spending an average of 5 minutes each translates into much more influence/impact even if it is not the same commercial success.

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@jacob

Yep. Although having subs does give validation to many people debating whether to give your video a chance. For example, if you've been making videos for years and you have 37 subs, more than likely your channel sucks. So having a minimum number of subs is important from that standpoint.

I would like to be monetized if I'm honest. Now I'm not looking to make much money but there is equipment out there I would like to buy which would compliment my channel, especially stuff that expires such as rope and cordage.

But I still find it incredible that I've gained any kind of footing because even though my information is good, my presentation and video quality are lacking, plus I don't show my face. And there isn't that many people that even care about the subject, especially women. So when I see that the hours watched are significant per overall views it's quite the compliment in my opinion, although the material lends itself to multiple viewings.

It's all fun.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by mountainFrugal »

I really enjoyed your calm teaching and knots channel @ffj! Keep putting out this high quality content and soon your ropes will be paid for. I think your video quality is just fine and the POV is actually really helpful for understanding the knots. I imagine you teaching newb fire fighters while the shit is hitting the fan around you in the same calm voice. "Now this is how you throw a rope over an Ibeam to tarzan swing to the non-burning side of this building safely."

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@mountain

Thanks for the compliment and thanks for watching. Interestingly, when I make these videos I always have the ere crowd in the back of my mind and I try to match the quality of discussion. I think you might be sensationalizing a bit on the firefighting bit though, haha. And most firefighters are the worst students because they don't care about ropes, it's just something they have to learn. They just want to get smoky and put out fires.

Then there are the nerds like me. . .

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

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It hurts me to show this picture. Not only did I lose one of my best trees but it also destroyed part of the new fence I just put up not long ago.

And I finally got power back after being in the dark the last two days. We experienced hurricane force winds for about 8 hours starting Friday afternoon and boy it was impressive. I lost the tree above, a roof panel on my barn, and numerous branches and tops of trees ( eight wagon loads worth that I picked up). I almost lost a bunch of siding on the house but I caught it before it got too large, although I came very close to being swept off a ladder while I was fixing it. The wind would just not stop and I think the top speed recorded was about 78 miles per hour.

As of now there were 5 people killed during the storm and at one point almost 500,000 people were without power in our state. There are blown trees everywhere as well as barns toppled and roofs without their shingles. I think I know what a hurricane is now, haha.

The next two days, including today, have been gorgeous however. What a contrast. Being in the dark the last two nights did give me an opportunity to look at the stars and seeing Venus and Jupiter virtually on top of each other was pretty cool. And a full moon on top of that for a great celestial viewing experience.

I also went to sleep very early and read a book by flashlight. Made my coffee with my camping stove and worked during the day. The temps were fine so we slept well. Was able to take a warm shower even a day and half later after the power went away with residual water in the water heater which surprised me. So other than the tree we faired really well. I've already fixed the barn roof.

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