Surgery? Oh, That Surgery
I've gotten a spate of messages over on Twitter and FriendFeed, saying "Surgery? Surgery? Wha' happened???" after Tom made a couple of "Dori's home from surgery and recovering" posts.
No, it's not major, and no, it wasn't unexpected, and yes, I should have said something here in advance. I didn't because I figured it was minor enough that it wouldn't be noticed (and hey, it's not like I'm blogging or twittering that much here lately, anyhow).
A few months ago I went to see the gynecologist (just like all you women are doing regularly, right?) with some concerns. The doc then sent me to get a pelvic ultrasound, and after getting those results, an MRI.
The end result (to make a long story not quite as long): I had uterine fibroids and a dermoid ovarian cyst—two different issues that were completely unrelated and almost entirely symptom-free.
So, what to do?
The doc gave me plenty of options, and (unsurprisingly, if you know us) Tom and I did lots of research. Keeping in mind that I'm 47 (as of last week) and I've had all the kids I'm going to have (as of 1988), my decision was to have a laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy (aka "LSH," links: 1, 2, 3, 4) and left (not bilateral) salpingo-oophorectomy.
If you follow any of those links, you've probably seen the same stuff I have:
- 3 small abdominal incisions
- one night in the hospital
- 1-2 weeks recovery time
all of which adds up to: this ain't your mom's (or even my mom's) hysterectomy. No huge scar across my abdomen, no weeks of bed rest, and no immediate need for hormones.
One of the options presented to me—and one I seriously considered—was to do nothing at all. The fibroids would take care of themselves in the long run (i.e., post-menopause) and the cyst wasn't bothering me. Why I decided to have the surgery (cue rolling eyes) was because, well, the US health care system is seriously broken, and the moment the doc gave me the diagnosis, I then had a "pre-existing condition"—that is, any future insurance I get might not have to cover anything I'd already been told I had. Or anything that might be a result of what I'd been told I had. Or anything that could conceivably be attributed to anything I'd been told I had…
You get the idea. Sigh.
Back to recovery, it's been four days now, and I think that tomorrow I go back to part-time work, and a few days after that back to full-time. I feel fine except for the fact that I get tired quickly and I've been avoiding lifting anything heavier than my laptop. Sean has been doing a wonderful job of waiting on me hand and foot (as ordered by Tom) and Tom himself, well, he went and bought a 61" television just to keep me entertained during my recovery—or so he claims.
Thanks to all who sent their best wishes and good thoughts!
New home theater equipment on the way
A week or so ago, I decided that our current home theater setup had reached its End of Life. Actually, that means that it had reached the Tom's No Longer in Love With It stage. It's been a good setup for the past eight years, and it all still works great, but technology marches on.
The old stuff, which will be moving on to new homes:
- Denon AVR-3300 receiver:
I'll probably sell this on eBay. - Sony KP-53HS10 53" rear projection television:
Big rear projectors can be hard to dispose of. I'm going to try to donate this to a local non-profit that has a residential program, or trade it to my handyman in exchange for some work we need to have done around the house. - Sony DVP-NS700P DVD player:
Might go to the handyman as part of the deal, or I'll donate it to the local cable access station.
I'll be moving the current Zenith upconverting DVD player into the bedroom.
The new stuff, which is winging its way to me as we speak:
- Samsung HL61A750 61" rear projection DLP television
- Denon AVR-1909 receiver
- Oppo DV-981HD upconverting DVD player
I mainly wanted to get this stuff because I'd rather go with HDMI instead of component video from the Dish Network DVR. The old equipment wasn't HDMI capable. The new television is bigger (which is good in itself, though it won't feel that much bigger because the Samsung is 16:9 format and the Sony is 4:3) and more importantly, much brighter, so I won't feel like I have to wait until it's dark out before I can turn on the TV. The Sony is based on three CRT guns, and the Samsung uses DLP technology. Better yet, the light source is LED, which means no expensive bulb replacements, like with older DLP sets. We all trooped over to Circuit City last weekend to look at the TV, and even Dori, who has been very skeptical about the idea of a new TV, liked the Samsung's picture, even in the brightly-lit store.
I decided to go with the Oppo upconverter, rather than a Blu-Ray player, because they're still fairly expensive. Upconverted DVDs aren't as good as HD, but they'll be fine until the Blu-Ray market matures and prices for both players and discs come down. Plus, the Oppo plays DivX discs, which means that I won't have to convert and burn regular MPEG-2 DVDs in Toast for downloaded videos.
Happy Birthday to Dori!
I'm posting this a little late in the day, but in my defense, I have already called her. Though I'm working far from home tonight, I hope you'll all join me in wishing Dori a very happy birthday.
Yes, I did get her a present before I left! She opened it and will be curled up on the couch with the cat and the kid, enjoying it this evening. It's the United Artists 30-film DVD set. She tells me I'll be successfully avoiding Fiddler on the Roof.
Watching her investment?
Watching the news reports of the day-by-day campaigning, I noticed something a bit odd. Almost every time you see McCain, you see his wife Cindy with him. She often introduces him. She's always traveling with him. He recently offered to have her pose topless (OK, she's attractive for her age, but she's also 54; isn't that a bit old for that sort of career change?). I can't remember the last time you saw a candidate with his wife attached to him at the hip like this. Even Bill and Hillary weren't together that much in 1992.
Obama, by contrast, is generally on his own on the road; Michelle shows up for some of his events and does her own events. And of course, she's raising two children.
Nothing is done by mistake on a presidential campaign. Does Cindy travel with her husband to show he has a much younger wife? To keep his famously volcanic temper under control? I don't know the answer, but it does seem a bit weird to me.
2008 ALA Web Builder's Survey
You may recall that about 15 months ago, the good folks over at A List Apart did their first survey of web designers, and at the time they promised that they'd do it again.
Now, they have.
Whether you took the 2007 survey or not, whether you're a full-time web designer or not: if you build web sites, you should go take the 2008 A List Apart Survey.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.
Ladies, he's just not into you
I've been puzzled for months why women are seen as good bets as McCain voters. He has provided many examples of his lack of sympathy towards women and issues that are important to women, including reproductive rights, contraception, pay equity and more. This article, McSexist, has a good roundup of his actual policy positions, which lead Katha Pollitt to say: "[T]o vote for McCain, a feminist would have to be insane."
I hope that some group spends some time and campaign dollars to spread the truth about McCain's terrible record on gender issues.
He's just a bad candidate
It's been interesting seeing how the McCain campaign has been flailing the last few days, while Obama was on his overseas trip. It's understandable; when the Prime Minister of Iraq undercut McCain's primary reason for running, and virtually endorsed Obama's withdrawal plan, there wasn't much room left to maneuver.
But besides the strategy, there's something else I want to mention. I was at the gym this morning, and CNN was on in the locker room. They were covering a town hall meeting that McCain was doing in New Hampshire. Remember, he thinks that these meetings are his strength; he wanted to do ten of them side-by-side with Obama. Now, I couldn't see the screen from where I was changing my clothes, but I could hear pretty well. And frankly, McCain just isn't good in these things. He took a question, and didn't answer it, instead pivoting to an attack on Obama on a different subject. He made a joke which fell flat. And in the few minutes I was listening, he used the phrases "by the way" three times, and "my friends" or "my dear friends" twice. The first makes him sound like he can't maintain a coherent argument. And the "my friends" stuff just comes off as phony or patronizing at worst and a verbal fart at best.
We've seen that horrible grimace he uses when he's been told to smile and isn't really feeling it. He's fine one-on-one with the press, as long as they are tossing him softballs, and he's gotten a lot of them over the years. But he's simply not up to the task when a reporter asks him something outside his comfort zone. And as best I can tell, he just can't connect with people on television. He managed to survive the GOP primaries to become the nominee simply by not giving up when his campaign tanked last year. He didn't have to become a better candidate; he just had to hang in there. But Obama was honed into a much better candidate by Hillary and Edwards and the press over the past year. When it's head-to-head between McCain and Obama, I think McCain will be toast.
All entries © 1999-2008 Tom Negrino and Dori Smith