Drained!

I worked out of the house from 9am until 2pm... normally that's a walk in the park.

Today I found myself very short of breath going up some stairs, and just slightly out of breath all day.

It's been 2 weeks since my gallbladder surgery and I'm obviously not as 100% as I thought I was. As far as stuff around the house, editing and such, I'm okay. But being on my feet and having to actually think made me pretty tired pretty fast.

I was told up to about a month for "full" recovery and now I get it. Even though I don't really have "pain", I'm still not functioning at full capacity. It's weird because my mind says I'm great, but my body is saying "SLOW DOWN."

Thankfully I don't have to do another "outside of the house" day of work until the end of the month. I can sit on my ass all day until then.

I'm shaving my beard today - I don't normally have a beard but I grew one so I could shave it into a handlebar moustache!! Sweeeet. I didn't just grow out a handlebar moustache beacuse I still needed to be presentable for some clients (today) and now that that's done... welcome to the 70's! There's a 70's theme party happening this weekend. I'm stoked!

Sicko

Wow.

Am I ever thankful I live in Canada.

I'll have to look up how much a laparoscopic cholecystectomy costs in the US. And one night in the hospital. Plus my pain-killer subscription (of which I thankfully only needed to take 3 pills). Cause here, I think I had to pay just over a dollar for the pain-killers after what my medical coverage wouldn't pay for.

The US health care system is just so flawed, and while I know the Canadian system has its issues, remind me to never complain about it again, or at least be thankful that it's nowhere near as bad as the US.

Sicko also makes France look very inviting to live. I've always known about the free health care and college, but I didn't know child care was also "free" (works out to $1/hour or so). They also have a minimum 5 weeks vacation there. I'm self-employed so that wouldn't really affect me either, but I know lots of people with only 2 weeks per year that would be very green-eyed when they hear about that.

But then you'd have to hang out with a bunch of cheese eating surrender monkeys, and no one wants to do that.

Considering my daughter has a fever as we speak, some of the parts of the movie were tough to watch. My heart went out to those who lost their children due to system regulations. I could not imagine the outrage I'd feel if my child, spouse, or friend was denied care. As a guy who's been burned (not literally) by corporations in the past, it irks me to see how this bureaucracy and misinformation has created such a brutal system where even people who are paying good premiums are denied the fundamental right to receive treatment due to the bottom line. And to see how rich these corporations are getting... yeesh.

As for whether universal health care is better than the US's HMO system, I think the proof is in the numbers. Canada, France, and The UK have lower infant mortality rates and longer life expectancy than the US. And one thing I didn't know was so does Cuba.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

Now I know Micheal Moore always adds drama to his documentaries for the sake of drama, and I always find his movies to be like essays (where there's likely 2 sides to a story but that's not the point, the point is to present evidence to support your side). He always finds evidence that proves his point, and some of it (as we saw in F9/11) is pretty convincing. But whether you like Mike or not, this movie will boil your blood if you live in the US and you see how simple everything can be just over the border in Canada. I know it would boil mine.

Thankfully if my blood actually boiled in Canada, I wouldn't have to pay squat to get it looked after.

*********** EDIT*************

Okay I found a couple different sources but in the US my surgery would have cost roughly $9000. Wow.

Feeling like new.

I can't explain it but I awoke this morning feeling refreshed and like myself again after 3 days of being virtually unable to muster any sort of enthusiasm for anything.

So that's great. Today has already been productive and I might have time to get a movie in this afternoon while the daughter naps, and then tonight my shows are on!

The joy of being self-employed --- I have some DVDs to burn for some clients and some tapes to capture... Can do it all while watching TV. I've been thinking of getting an office outside the home but this is one of those reasons not to. :)

And I found myself scouring the channels last night for anything Gordon Ramsay related, but no luck... I've become a Kitchen Nightmares junkie - not so much a fan of Hell's Kitchen - but seeing how some of these UK restaurants have everything so ass-backwards is so entertaining to me. That show and Restaurant Makeover have really been floating my boat for quite a while now.

Part of recovery or something else?

It's weird... My laparoscopic cholecystectomy was over a week ago, and I felt sore but generally good up until 3 days ago. Then my energy level tanked and I've slept as much as possible but still feel pretty exhausted. I think I may have over done it and didn't rest enough in the days after my surgery - I pushed the limit of what I could do and am paying for it.

Either that, or I'm actually getting the flu. But other than the exhaustion I have no other flu-like symptoms.

So we'll see how it goes in the next few days and if I don't get better, then I'll have to bring it up at my post-surgery meeting with the Dr.

I was also planning on surprising my buddy Chris by driving up to Canmore today for his goggle party, but I felt like such shit that I simply couldn't muster the energy for the drive. So, there goes that idea. That would have been sweeeet. Instead, it's Saturday and I don't even have the energy to stay awake for a whole Family Guy episode. :(

In fact, writing this blog post was exhausting.

So when I told Shanda I wansn't going to Canmore, I was then invited to dinner at my in-laws, but I felt like such crap I couldn't even partake in a free, good meal. You know it's bad when I turn down "free."

My Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Well if you read my blogs from October 2006 you'd know I had gallstones. I tried an herbal remedy which worked for my wife (she had gallstones & 3 ultrasounds to prove she eliminated them) but it didn't work for me. I was having attacks every 3-6 weeks. Then I went about 4 months without any attacks so it looked like it was all clear. Then I had an 18 hour attack and a 15 hour attacks within 2 weeks. Full-on sweaty, hurty, ouchy, kill-me type of attacks. I then began the quick road toward getting the surgery.

So on Halloween Day, I went to the hospital and got 'er done.

BEFORE. 7:00am



I was put under around 8am and awoke around 9:20am. I wasn't that sore actually. It hurt to get in and out of the hospital bed but I was surprised at how little it really hurt.

AFTER. Sometime around 5pm or so.





Shanda and Maeve came for a visit around 5ish and then they went home to enjoy Halloween. I had a very long and boring night in the hospital. Got a shot of something in my heiny around 1:30am cause I was uncomfortable and couldn't really sleep. Plus my room-mate got talkative around that time so I thought a painkiller would help me fall asleep again so he would stop talking to me! :) Normally I'm up for a chat with anyone but this guy was a few loaves short of a full dozen if you know what I mean, so the conversation wasn't really going anywhere except the same place it was 5 minutes ago.

Shanda and Maeve came to get me around 9am but they didn't release me until about 10:30am or so. All in all it wasn't too bad and the recovery has been pretty smooth. I can't really lift Maeve around that much (anytime I do I pay for it with some chest pain and shortness of breath). I'll be back to work tomorrow (sitting on my ass in front of the computer) but I know I couldn't play a show quite yet. Another couple weeks I think.

But I do feel relieved that I'll never have another gallstone attack! They were BRUTAL. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. Well, maybe I would, but I'm an asshole. :)

Oh, and they had to shave my chest. :)

I'm really impressed at how small the incisions are. I think even without chest hair you wouldn't see the scars. We'll see I guess.

Well, that's it for the first (and hopefully last) operation I've ever had! For anyone who's afraid of surgery and what-not, I have to say that I was somewhat nervous but not afraid, and it really isn't bad. Yes, the risk of dying is on your mind, but really, statistically speaking, you more likely to die on your way to the hospital in your car, so it's not worth getting too crazy over. Not that I can guarantee you won't die. I'm just saying it's rare.

Another thing I can do that I haven't done for the last year... sleep on my left side. If I did, pressure built up in my chest and I felt like an attack would come on... so I slept on my right side every night for the last year. Last night I slept on my left... it feels good. Little things I guess...

And for some reason, my attacks tended to happen on Sundays so I feared Sunday nights for a while. No more!

Speaking of Sunday, my shows are on tonight... gotta go! (Simpsons, Family Guy)

Peace.

I'm back baby!!