I went to the doctor’s for my followup from last weeks’ visit, and ended up having surgery. Nice surprise, right?

Anyway, I feel a bunch better, let’s hope my wound heals properly this time. I finally got pain meds that semi-work and (so far) don’t make me sick. Codeine and hydrocodone both make me ill, so this time I have something else. It dulls the pain, but more importantly it is not a drug known for making people puke, and so far I’m reacting well to it.

I always thought that these serious pain killer just made you loopy and, more importantly, took away the pain. Both are false in my experience. They dull the pain, just bbarely sometimes. And they make you tired, not loopy. It’s way less fun than addicts make it out to be! I’m really surprised that the pharma companies have all these pain meds and still haven’t figured out how to completely turn off pain. I suppose your body wants you to feel some pain as a natural response, so these drugs are fighting an uphill battle to block pain receptors. Still, I was expecting much more.

My pharmacist buddy said that if the pills upset my stomach, take it with 2% milk – and if they don’t stop the pain, take it with a beer. lol!!!

I have another doctor’s appt tomorrow. My neck is still hurting, but at this point I think it is more muscle pain that pain form the infection. I’ve been sleeping badly and holding my head awkwardly in order to relieve the pain from the infection, and as a result my neck, shoulder, and top of back muscles are stressed. I just can’t win! I’m supposed to keep active in order to allow the natural motion of walking/twisting/golfing to move the infection out and increase blood flow. But it’s been going on 2 weeks now and I’m ready to just have my head amputated!

I’m in bad shape this week, I have an infection on my neck that developed into a tumor-like painful marble sized red spot on the back of my neck. Antibiotics and vicoden and I’m still miserable. It sorta scary but my doctor assures me it just happens sometimes and the fact that I don’t have a fever or elevated white count means that my immune system is doing just what it is supposed to – surround the bacteria in one place and not letting it into my body. Too bad that process is freaken painful.

In my opinion, this is in the top 5 places to eat in Milwaukee. It is a new place, so there are a few nit-pick things they need to take care of, but the food is outstanding. I never do this, but for soome reason (maybe a week with my vegan mother-in-law, who thankfully regressed to a carnivorous diet for most of her stay), I ordered a steak. Kil@wat is not a steakhouse, so in general I would not recommend ordering a steak (there are much better places in Milwaukee for steak). But my steak was done just right, the berrnaise was perfect, and the side was an awesome concaction called the Kil@wat Carb – a baked potato dish with cheese custard.

The idea of this place is that the menu is organized by “emotion.” That’s a stretch, maybe “themed metaphor” is better. the sections of the menu are organized by something in common – for example the “COOL” menu is all raw food with cool flavors – the “SIZZLE” menu is all fried/crispy food. The idea is you order a few things here and there based on what you feel like – you could dine tapas style here if you wanted. They also have a tasting menu, and suggested that if we’re curious and adventerous, that we name the price point and let the chef (who brought out our appetizer’s by the way) decide what is best that night. Very cool!

The interior is orange and wierd, but in a good way. Lighting is good, and the drinks were awesome – two martini’s and a few glasses of wine, all average priced (martinis were between 7-11 dollars). They also have a martini called “the shocker.” Hmmmm….