Bah bim bim bah, de Bah de bah ….

So much to catch up on. Dozens of diary update notifications I haven’t yet been able to respond to. And quite a few items to update myself as well. I’m feeling a tad overwhelmed at the moment.

OK, for starters, I caught this one over at MoonriddenGirl’s page. I’ve pretty much sworn off quizzes, but this one was interesting enough to grab my attention. If anyone feels like seeing how compatible some random test claims you are with me, then try:

I started doing an update to my diary this morning, but my computer locked up – something that’s happening to me with alarming frequency. The problems started when Microsoft forced me to update to Internet Explorer 6.0 with their last set of critical updates (I’d resisted until then) and seems to be getting progressively worse. I keep hoping my computer will heal itself, but so far it fails to cooperate.

Anyhow, while I was doing this morning’s ill-fated update, I got up to check the dictionary behind me for the spelling of a word. Yes, believe it or not, loyal readers, I do check spellings of words, in spite of the number of typos and misspellings that continue to slip through my fingers. Give me an “E” for effort. In an attempt to prevent myself from digressing any further, I’ll mention that as I checked my unabridged Webster’s, located under the window of my room, I happened to glance out to the parking lot and who should I spy but Straw Hat Man, pulling up cross-wise through three empty parking spots next to mine. As I was wondering what he was up to, the passenger door of his car opened, and his daughter emerged. I don’t believe I’d have recognized her, had she not been with her father. She got out of the car with some difficulty, and walked hunched over with a severe limp (but no cane) towards their apartment. It’s good to know she’s out of the hospital, but it looks as though she’s going to have some difficult physical therapy ahead of her yet. Next time I see Straw Hat mMan I’ll have tell him it’s nice to know his daughter is out of the hospital.

As for me, yesterday’s procedure was straightforward enough. They used propanol for the anesthesia, which is a very good choice for a problem child like myself. It’s relatively easy on the heart, and can be reversed with the administration of another drug, making it easier on my liver to process. The stuff burned like hell going in though, which they’d already warned me could happen. Before putting me out, they made me gargle with lidocaine, a topical anesthetic that was intended to numb my throat and supress the gag reflex to make inserting the scope easier. Blast, that stuff is nasty. By the time they were done with me, I’d lost sensation not only in my throat, but in my entire mouth. In fact, it felt like I no longer possessed my face from the nose down. I couldn’t swallow, and lay there trying to mop up the drool with the stack of gauze four-by-fours they’d handed me until I lapsed into unconciousness. Ugh.

I woke up groggy, and stayed that way for hours. My throat was fine at first, but hurt the rest of the day. It’s been fine today though, so the discomfort passed quickly enough. OK, now on to the good stuff. Wanna see what they saw? I promise, it isn’t too gruesome:

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It seems that I’ve fallen prey to a few of the side-effects of liver failure with portal hypertension. The little erosions are like mini-ulcers, and Dr. Liver said they are what’s been responsible for my intermittent bouts of nausea. The varices are swollen blood vessels which result from the high blod pressure of the liver backing up into some of the stomach’s blood vessels. Both are quite treatable, and have been caught in very early stages. I get to take two more pills a day, one of which is a lovely bright purple capsule. The cost was surprising; without insurance the cost of a thirty day supply of the purple ones would have been $125! I know that’s nothing compared to what I can expect of some of my future drugs, but it still floored me.

They took two biopsies, and will be culturing them for Helicobactor (I have to check the spelling on that, but I’m pretty sure I’m at least close). This is a bacteria that was found to be capable of living in the stomach and could cause ulcers, and they want to make sure I’m not harboring that. If so, a simple round of (yet more) antibiotics will clear that up.

Today The Professor took me to his new favorite favorite CD store. All I can say is: Oh…My…God! Heaven on earth! New CD’s. Used CD’s. Hard to find CD’s. Richard Thompson, Louden Wainwright, Bill Morrissey, David Wilcox, every Simon and Garfunkle ever pressed, Phil Ochs, Jill Sobele (CD’s I didn’t even know she’d ever released), John Gorka, Greg Brown. Everything was lower than chain prices, and there were hundreds of CD’s under $10.00. I ended up purchasing four CD’s plus a three CD set of the complete works of Simon and Garfunkle for $60. I also got a fantastic doo-wop collection that has The Marcels’ “Blue Moon” on it (possibly the best sing-along song ever released), Paul Simon’s “You’re the One”, a Monkees anthology (yeah, I know, but it was only $7.00, and it has fond childhood memories attached), and Adrian Legg’s “Guitar Mortal”, which has the song “Nanci” on it that he wrote for Nanci Griffith and is one of my favorite guitar instrumentals ever (the other two being the theme from “The Deer Hunter” performed by guitarist John Williams and “Telstar”, as done by the Ventures). *sigh* I’m playing “Blue Moon” for the fifth time now. It’s probably driving The Professor mad.

heh heh heh Payback time for all the heavy metal I’ve tolerated for two years. I think I’ll set it up a sixth time.