Today Francis facilitated the hour as Julie Whitehead was off. However, he gave the first 30 minutes to a PharmD (Janny Lee), a new member of the Union City Pain Clinic, who talked about pain medications. That seemed very strange to me as one of the cardinal rules of the Pain Management Program that I…
Category: medical cannabis
Kaiser Pain Management Group online, Session 7
Today was a busy day! It started at 0’dark-thirty when we got up early to get to Trader Joe’s by 8 o’clock for the seniors line, which actually went pretty fast today. Safeway took longer, only because I was looking at low-carb ice cream and verified that all three brands—Rebel, Halo Top, and Enlightened—have monkfruit…
Pain Physical Therapy #5
August 10, 2018, 2:30 p.m. It was nice to see Francis again. We talked the entire time! Sometimes I think he is more of a psychotherapist than a physical therapist! But he is both. (Because I’m writing this in retrospect, three days after the session, I may not remember all or many of the details….
Individual Acupuncture Therapy #3
June 25, 2018, 1:30 p.m. I feel a bit differently now that I know my time with Paul Simon (or any individual acupuncturist) is limited to 10 sessions. Today is session #3. This is the last acupuncture session before our road trip, and presumably #4 will be in August. So if I spread out the…
Follow-up Phone Appointment with Pain Pharmacist #3
June 14, 2018, 12:15 p.m. John called two hours early! My appointment was for 2:30 p.m. and he called at 12:15 p.m.! Good thing I was already sitting at my desk. I told him that I had not yet increased to the final dosage of 2 capsules 3 times a day, and he said that…
Pain Physical Therapy #4
June 8, 2018, 1:30 p.m. I woke up at 7:00 a.m. with a bonafide migraine! Got up, took sumatriptan and two Aleve, and went back to bed with an ice pack on my head and my feet on the heating pad. Fortunately, I woke up just in time to get a shower and pour coffee…
Individual Acupuncture Therapy #2
May 17, 2018, 2:50 p.m. Everything is very familiar now in Building B of the Union City Kaiser, where I first went for my appointment with Dr. Sumetanon to begin my Pain Management journey. I am ushered into Paul Simon’s treatment room by an assistant. She asked if I used the table or the massage…
Things I’ve tried and things I haven’t tried
January 28, 2018, 1:55 p.m. These are the thoughts that come to mind today as I think about what I have been doing over the past year to relieve what was first discomfort in my neck and then became painful enough to interfere with my normal, everyday life. These things that I’ve listed here are…

Refilling the “cookie jar”
Life is giving me hard stuff to deal with today. It would be easier with less pain, I think. 11/25/17 Day #5 without a migraine (just a regular headache). Happy Sabbath! 🙂 I had a migraine from Oct 7 to 23. December 1, 2017 Second visit for plant-based medicine. The cookie jar is full again. For…
First Visit to Harborside
After several days of reading and re-reading the doctor’s recommendations and treatment plans, I got up enough courage to visit the local dispensary, recommended by my local friends to be the best, most reliable source of cannabis products. It was actually recommended by two separate friends (who are friends in real time as well as…