Suzi, thanks! In fact, the friend I'm meeting tonight was at your firm--the Oakland office--for several years. Now she's at E2 in Emeryville, which just opened an environmental planning shop.

That said, I'm less optimistic than I was a year ago: when I had lunch with my old boss a few weeks back, he said there have been a lot of layoffs lately, at a number of local firms. The ARRA work is drying up, and without that, not as much public work is getting done.

The solution is to place a couple paddles on either side of my spinal cord where the pain is most...painy, and that needs a power source, and the best place to hide it (because I'm a young woman, and I'd want to wear evening wear) is in my butt.

Which is like announcing: "No man is ever going to see you naked again, because if he's not put off by the wiring, he might yank some out in his cyborg-induced frenzy of lust."

There is a test period where I'd carry the battery and the control module (which has buttons--I would now be programmable) on my belt.

I cannot imagine this costing less than six million dollars, to be honest.

This guy has done a shitload of procedures on me--this year and before. Most of them do have a clear positive impact (even the nerve block this year which hasn't worked properly--it's worked some, but absolutely not as well as any of the previous times he's done it), so he's historically trustworthy.

But I don't want to be bionic...

I just re-read a work email I wrote late one weekend night, and I signed off ita !

I hope no one noticed...

Okay, now I close my office door after chortling through the last page.

Cash, how did you not tell off the health coach?

This reminds me of my visit to the nurse after my doctor diagnosed me with diabetes. The nurse gave me a whole harangue about losing weight and was surprised I had gained a pound from the week prior.

My doctor apparently later read the nurse the riot act because given my blood sugar was so out of control and I had gotten back into control after about a week, typically patients GAIN weight in those circumstances because they were expelling water the whole time. That I only gained a pound showed the results of the strict diet I was on.

Ugh ita, sounds super invasive. But being able to control the pain better would be a huge benefit.

Finally caught up in Natter.

I'm sorry for your loss, Theo.

They're talking about pain implants for Hubby. He's not sure he can cope with another surgery. Considering he gets about three months of relief from each fusion, until the next one in line begins to crumble under the stress, I don't blame him.

I assume that the correct response is to get over my anxiety and do everything anyone suggests will make my head hurt less, but...I have a lot of getting over to do in this case.

How invasive is the setup for a test? The amount of relief would be an important part of the decision I would think.

I don't think there is a correct response, as such. There's just your response, and you are allowed to have many different responses over time, even.

What -t said.