A Return to Normalcy

After a layoff of over 7 weeks, on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I returned to the gym to resume my exercise training. Whew...it felt good to be back. I can't lie, a part of me enjoyed sleeping in and reading and watching television to my hearts desire - but it got old, really quick. Especially because the time I was sitting around doing nothing, I was feeling pretty crappy. The spontaneous sweats are nearly gone, as is the fatigue and the moodiness. Hold on - nope, moodiness still around. It's winter, whattya want from me?!

Here's a contest: Closest person to guessing the total cost of my surgical operation (including room and board @ $1300/night - didn't know I was staying at the Ritz), without going over wins a seriously awesome prize. Ok, I'll just tell: over $57,000! When I heard that, I was flabbergasted. 3 cheers for health insurance! (It seriously makes me feel for people without insurance though; how can anyone afford to have a big operation, if you're not one of the lucky ones with insurance? I feel very fortunate to be able to have had this done, as much as the aftermath has righteously sucked; it's very eye-opening to think that 1/6 of the country is without insurance, and with an operation like this costing 1.5 times the average annual salary of this country's workers...Geez. Bladder surgery shouldn't make you have to sell your house.)

On a happier note - Florida in 3 days! On Sunday we disembark for 7 days of fun in the sun. The current itinerary calls for one day at the new Harry Potter park at Universal (good thing we watched all 7 movies in the past month and a half) and a day at Disney's Animal Kingdom, with a few afternoons poolside thrown in as well. Can't wait!

Lazy Sunday

Have we entered a new era of governmental responsibility? Maybe, but probably not. The newly remade House, now heavily lopsided in the GOP's favor, has so far demonstrated a more open and democratic manner of legislating, allowing actual debate to occur, a far cry from the secrecy and parliamentary shenanigans favored by the Pelosi-led House. This is great. But the thing that gives me pause are the bills themselves being brought up for debate. Riding a wave of Tea Party fury, an overwhelming electoral mandate, and the enthusiasm of 87 freshmen representatives, the GOP seized control and promised to shake up the Washington establishment. But I fear they perhaps have overestimated their mandate yet again, just as they did '95, and as the Dems did the past two years.

Upon assuming leadership, they immediately reached into their social issue bag of tricks, voting to remove funding from Planned Parenthood, ostensibly to prevent federal funds from paying for abortions. Well, alert the Department of Redundancy Department: federal law already does prevent that. This defunding will simply take away pre-cancer screening and medical services from low income families. This funding cut and other cuts that eat away at our budget deficit cent by cent are their solutions to our $1.6 trillion deficit? Small potatoes. The President and the Republican House leadership are immersed in a political staring contest, with the first to blink being blamed with taking Social Security away from Grandma, and quite frankly, someone needs to grow a pair, step up and propose some entitlement cuts. I'm looking at you, Mr. President. Your hands-off strategy may end up working, but it would it kill ya to use some of that political capital and that charming smile and get out in front of this issue?


I love a good prank.

Any guesses as to what that is? An award-winning, 3-D representation of the AIDS virus. From National Geographic, "The two-tone color scheme shows HIV (orange) attacking and fusing with an immune cell (gray). The triangular cut-away shows how the virus integrates itself to turn the cell into a virus factory". Vicious.

Robotic Arms...Sweet!

$100 million and ambitious government programs can get you a lot of crazy things. Introducing...mind-controlled robotic limbs!

This could be possible in 4 or 5 years? Wow. And we can't build more fuel efficient cars? CMON MAN.

After reading this about Saudi Arabia's impending peak oil crisis, I'd say energy efficiency should be every genius' number one priority, but robotic arms are cool too.

Top 3 Super Bowl Ads

Did Eminem sell out, making all these commercials? Who cares. This is really good. Still don't want a Chrysler though. And at a $3 million per 30 second clip, this was pretty pricy, especially for a company surviving off the taxpayers' dime.


This is hilarious.


"Hit 'em with the Kenny G". This spot is packed full of hilarity. And I love that car.

Honorable mention:

Short and sweet, with a humorous payoff. What else can you ask for?

Adventures of Bo SuperDog Episode 12

Let it snow! A foot of fresh powder makes Bo a tired dog.

Getting There...

Lots has happened since I last wrote. I interrupted my winter hibernation for a few hours (for the UM Men's Glee Club concert in Rockford - great show!). I have taken many more afternoon naps than I am accustomed to (I typically frown upon naps, but you know, Dr.'s orders, twist my arm...). We have watched many movies (including Wall Street 2, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, Eat Pray Love (ugh), Harry Potter 1,2, and 3, and the entire miniseries of Pillars of the Earth, which I highly recommend.).  So I guess I've been kind of busy...But the best news is that I am feeling much better compared to last week.

I have started cathing myself through my belly button, which, as you might imagine, is a weird experience, but I've caught on quickly and am pretty adept already. I'm not digging the 3:30am wake-up call to pee, but as my bladder expands, which it will, hopefully that will no longer be necessary.

My discomfort level has gone way down though, thank God, as my guts get resituated and everyone gets their personal space worked out. Everytime I ate or drank, I would break out in my sweat-chill-sweat pattern, which I assume was my stomach pressing on my bladder or vice versa. Either way, that hasn't stopped completely, but is greatly reduced, and I'm no longer sweating through 3 shirts per day.

Videos of the week:

Fascinating.


I feel like this is a movie about my life.

Frustrated...

At this point, I'm officially sick and tired of being sick and tired. There's been good news and bad news since I wrote last. Which do we want first? Let's go good news.

The good news is, per my doctor appointment last Friday, which represented the 2.5 week mark since surgery, everything looks good. My Dr. filled my bladder while simultaneously looking at it under x-ray (an odd experience I would not recommend. An observing nurse commented my new, uber-bladder looks like a lopsided snowman. Gee, thanks.) It filled properly and is significantly larger than before. It will continue to stretch out and enlarge over the next 6 months. Like everything in America, the bigger, the better. She then took out the tube that was in my new stoma, in my belly button, and showed us how to self-catheterize through the new opening there. This also was a weird experience. Basically I push a lubed-up red tube into my belly button and ten or so inches later (is there a 'that's what she said' joke in there somewhere?) and pee starts to come out (Nope). During this whole process, I've tried to maintain the tact that it will be 6 weeks of hell followed by total awesomeness and convenience. And therein lies the bad news.

This hell sucks. If it's not the constant sweating, followed by shivering, followed by more sweating, it's a non-draining bladder and the resultant discomfort, all for reasons unknown and unfixable, besides a little word called patience. Easier said than done, my friend. The healing process is a rollercoaster, peaks and valleys swiftly trading places without rhyme or reason. That's one of my favorite Spanish expressions, 'without rhyme or reason'. Sin ton ni son. This whole flipping process has been severely sin ton ni son.  

This also is sin ton ni son.


I love the reactions.