Category: General

Needless to say, being laid up before Christmas has meant that I’m a little behind the times. This is complicated by the fact that Clara has been getting over a bug and isn’t driving either. Someone posted a picture on Facebook this morning that said what I want for Christmas is more time before Christmas. I could do with that, myself.

However, we are soldiering on. Katrina is coming over to help with the Christmas decorations. Getting the tree up would be good. I did hang the outside lights weeks before surgery, since there was a mild spell and I figured I’d take advantage of it. I have bought most of the Christmas cards and only done some of the shopping, so that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. I’m hoping to get the cards out later today. I did cheat and e-mail last year’s Christmas picture to some people. It’s crass, but effective.

Note: if your card or package shows up late, there are 12 days of Christmas…

More surgery tomorrow morning. And, since the hospital doesn’t have internet access for patients, I’m sort of reduced to Blackberry access with 3 G… which means, here, Good Glorious God, it’s slow. Therefore, since posting here using my phone is tedious at best, I’ll be gone for a week or so.

See you on the other side.

Doug

I am becoming constantly amazed at the level of debate on news web sites, such as that of the CTV, CBC, National Post, Globe and Mail, etc. Really, I’m amazed more at the lack of the level of debate.

Everyone has the right to their opinion. Everyone has the right to express it. I am more than willing to agree with this. However, many people have a tendency to public express opinions of subjects on which they have little or no knowledge and base this profound prose on things like old wives’ tales, political party affiliation, or just plain ignorance.

I’ve read comments on the recent housing crisis at Attawapiskat and wonder why some people feel the urge to offer “their two cents worth.” If you do not have even a little knowledge of northern reserves, the Indian Act, and how financial administration works for First Nations on reserves, you probably shouldn’t be offering your “wisdom.” Bluntly, it has been hard not to respond to most of these comments with the suggestion that they are giving inbred, white trash a bad name. Many of these comments are blatantly rascist and many approach the bounds of hate speech. I’ll spare you the comments as there are lots of examples from lots of online locations to choose from.

Why can people feel so easily about expressing such drivel? It’s easy, since most of these online bulletin boards allow people to post anonymously. While the idea is essentially a sound one in theory, it has fallen down in practical application. Many abuse this process and political parties/lobbyists frequently hire marketing companies to post on them. The federal government has used public funds for this purpose.

These are often easily discernible when the language of such posts are worded in party talking points and often contain substantial amounts of grammar and spelling errors so they look like the handiwork of “regular Canadians.” I don’t so much mind this marketing ploy. After all, if I was the leader of a political party and my communications director wasn’t doing this, I’d have a different communications director rather quickly.  My issue is the demeaning idea marketing companies have that regular Canadians can’t spell.

I think now that it is time that online news agencies change their online board posting rules so that people can only post under their own names and that their identity be verifiable. Maybe people wouldn’t be so quick to put forward stupid comments when it was obvious who they were. Maybe people would be a little less willing to describe the problems of ethnic groups in terms of stereotypes. And maybe, just maybe, the boards could actually function in a manner for which most were originally intentioned, a venue for informed debate on current events. Until such time, they are useless…

The title says everything here, I think. That being said, a given a certain degree of squeamishness and calls of “TMI,” I discovered last night that a few more details may be in order.

I was slightly curious of the perception of my state when one of the local papers contacted me about possibly doing a story on my problems a few weeks ago. I declined, since I couldn’t possibly see any angle that would make the story interesting. Now, I see where they may have been heading. The conversation last night suggested that they may try to contact me again. The reasons given were to cover my problems from my botched surgery and the fact that it had to be done here because the territorial government wouldn’t cover the cost of sending me south to have it done. I’m not sure how that rumour got started, but maybe I should clarify a few points in case others have misconstrued my surgical adventures of the summer. Here are the two main facts you should know before we go any further:

1. My first surgery was not botched. I had a resection leak, as it does in 5% of all resections, because the point were the colon was rejoined didn’t heal. No, the doctor was not at fault. Think of it in these terms. If Alex screwed up the first operation, why would I be looking forward to him doing my final surgery next week?
2. The idea of being sent outside has never been brought up. Honestly, I’m quite proud that we have the capability to treat our own citizens for a broad range of surgical procedures here, rather than having to rely on some other jurisdiction to do it for us. Even if I was sent out, and incidentally, I’m glad I wasn’t for logistical reasons if nothing else, chances are I would have had the same surgeon, since he has a practice here and in Vancouver (note the nice segue to point number 1).

The main points above should illustrate how things are. Now, with them being said, here comes the details. Those who aren’t interested should probably stop reading now. I mention that since one of my brothers gets a bit antsy if either Clara or I mention the word “colonoscopy” on Facebook, since that’s “inappropriate.” I tend to point out the the main underlying causes of my problem are a) it can be hereditary and b) being over 40. On a personal note, I think point “b” beats the crap out of not making it to 40.

My problem started with a condition called diverticulosis. This is where, either from inheriting it or living long enough, your colon grows little pouches. Since my father has had much the same surgery I had and my older brother has had the same issue, I’m suspecting it’s inherited. If these pouches become inflamed, you have diverticulits. When this happens, the pouches can grow and seek vascular tissue to connect to in other parts of the abdominal cavity. Like the ad used to say, reach out and touch someone. My colon got really friendly and reached out and touched a bunch of things. One of those was my bladder. It poked a hole, forming a connection between the bladder and the colon, also known as a coenteric fistula.

This, while reasonably rare, and more common in women than men, is a bad thing. As one doctor mentioned, if left untreated can be “kind of fatal.” Basically, your urinary tract is a sterile system and introducing bacteria that don’t belong there provides a constant illustration of the idea of the bladder and kidney infections from Hell. This, by the way, is the main reason why I lost 40 pounds between June and the end of August.

My first surgery, which took longer than expected, was to remove the inflamed portion of the colon, about 7 inches, patch the hole in my bladder and pack abdominal fat between the bladder and colon to prevent it from recurring. This was quite successful even though I did require more surgery. Where the colon was resected, however, did not totally heal, leaving me a leak the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen. Needless to say, having the contents of your colon leaking into the abdominal cavity is another bad thing, so I had surgery to repair that a week later. Given the leak, my surgeons opted to give my colon a little vacation.

As part of the second surgery, I had a loop ileostomy done, where part of the small intestine is pulled through the wall of your abdomen. This leaves you using an ostomy device to collect the small intestine’s contents. Needless to say, this is an inconvenient and annoying situation and more high maintenance than a 1980s vintage Volvo was. Ignoring the more obvious issues, the dietary restrictions alone are enough to drive me crazy. Given the propensity of any mechanical system to eventually fail, accidents occur with the appliance and these aren’t a lot of fun to deal with either. I also realise, though, that there are many people in my shoes who do not have the advantage of having this being a temporary situation because of either colon cancer or far more serious colon afflictions than mine.

So, next week, for those curious, I’m off to have my ileostomy reversed. If you read my blog post from three weeks ago, I had a sigmoidoscopy and got to see my wonderfully healed colon from the inside… on television no less. I’m looking forward to the end of my problems, to say the least of the situation.

So these, in slightly less than a thousand words, are the full details of my surgical endeavours. Hopefully, those not really wanting this level of detail stopped reading earlier…

I eagerly await my final surgery, which was tentatively scheduled for December 8th. I say tentatively, since it was largely dependent upon the results of tests on Friday. After all, why finish the repair job until you were sure the last repair had completely healed.

This is particularly important since, after the first surgery, I painfully learned that it had not healed and sprung a leak at my colon resection a week after the surgery… and on the day I was probably going to be discharged from the hospital. This made Friday an important day. End result: all has healed quite nicely, although there is some inflammation at the site of the second repair job. In short, my December 8 surgery date is now fixed and I can’t wait (looking forward to surgery is a good sign, right?)

In case you’re wondering how such an “inspection” takes place, picture a camera and light on a tube, the easiest point of access and run with that idea. Remember, the light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train. It could be your surgeon.

And, since the inspection was only the area of the surgery, there was no anaesthesia. Yup, that meant I got to watch this time. For what it’s worth, seeing the inside of your colon on television is actually rather neat when you get used to the concept, particularly when you see surgical staples sticking through the side of it. Although, I don’t mind taking the odd TV gig, that wasn’t what I normally had in mind…

 

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”

W. Shakespeare – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3, 75-77

I’m usually not cynical about helping someone out, and particularly helping out a musician. But, to some extent, Polonius’ advice to Laertes rings true. This is particularly true in the case of a loan I made which did not work out so well for me.

A musician came into to town and needed to borrow a 5-string banjo. I’d actually loaned it to him before with no issues. However, this time he borrowed it and that’s where the story looked like it was going to end. For those curious, I loaned it to him in either 2002 or 2003 and it’s so long I don’t remember exactly.

I was particularly angry because I bought this banjo myself when I was 16 years old. I realise it’s not the most high end instrument, and it only cost me $48 and change, but I’m attached to it. I bought it out of my baby bonus money, which, by family tradition, we were given the $10 per month you received after your 16 birthday to spend as you saw fit. I bought it on layaway from Zellers. Actually, I was one payment away from getting it and my grandmother threw in the last $8 and change to pay it off a month early.

When I was in hospital, the guy who borrowed it called and left a message on the answering machine that he wanted to get my banjo back to me. He left a local number to call. Shortly after I got home and I was feeling a bit better, I called with hopes high. The number he left was out of service. Hopes dashed.

Last week, I thought to myself that, since his last name isn’t that common, I’d try to find someone in town who had the same last name. Since he came up from Vancouver Island occasionally to visit, I assumed it might be to visit family. I actually know someone, a former student who works in town for YTG, with the same last name. So, on a flyer, I sent him an e-mail asking him if he knew where my banjo was… with the additional qualifier that this might be a stupid question if he wasn’t even half aware of what was going on. Turns out, the banjo was sitting at his house. We made arrangements and I picked it up after work. It needs restringing and the 5th string peg needs some repair. However, I have it back.

So, here it is, sitting in my recliner. Picking and grinning to follow restringing and repair. And, I’ll certainly think hard about the next time someone asks if I will loan one of my instruments.

Too bad Shakespeare didn’t write any good banjo tunes…

 

I must not fully be myself as I only bought two pumpkins for Hollowe’en this year. I’ve done as many as 12 once, although I normally restrict it to three or so. I also bought them at Super A, which means they cost about three times as much as they would have if I’d run down to Superstore to get them so this was a consideration in the number I bought.

After you get your pumpkins, you must determine what they’ll look like. Remember, the character of the pumpkin is important and must match the pattern you choose. I use a pattern since I’m not up to freehanding. You can get patterns or make your own. You can buy them, download them from the internet or make them using a variety of methods. Just drawing them is one end of the range of difficulty to using a graphics program to blow the contrast into a photograph and use it as a pattern.

So, here are this year’s pumpkins. I opted for a theme…

I went searching for a new Hallowe’en costume two weeks ago and really saw nothing that appealed to me. I’m not a scary zombie type guy and tend to look for costumes that are better with great names. For example, last year I was Captain Jack Eyepod, CD pirate and hacker. The year before, I had a Roman emperor’s costume and went as Gluteus Bellcandensis, the guy who puts the roaming charges on your cellphone bill.

But, in a separate rack, I found the perfect costume. It’s perfectly ironic. After several surgeries this summer, I have a surgeon’s costume. The shoe is on the other foot now.

Oh, by the way, I had some problem coming up with a name. I finally decided on Dr. Réal Buttuglé, famous French colorectal surgeon…

By now, many of you have probably seen Rick Mercer’s rant from last Tuesday evening. It dealt with how bullying led a gay Ottawa teen to commit suicide and has gone viral, being shared on a variety of social media sites and seen around the world. As of today, it has been viewed almost one-quarter million times on YouTube alone.

While I certainly agree with his message generally, I disagree with one of his key points. Rick calls for all gay people in public life to come out to provide a role model to gay teens. I’m not sure that’s actually the message we need to put forward. Why should the only good role model for a gay teen be a gay public figure? Maybe, a tolerant, straight person who is a decent human being would be a better role model than a crooked, gay politician who isn’t stunning example of humanity. I don’t think a gay role model is any more necessary for gay teens that a male role model would better for a male student. In fact, this kind of restrictive, exclusionary thinking may have been what got us in the sorry state we’re in now.

Let’s be honest here. If, for example, John Baird is gay and he did come out of the closet, how many gay students are likely to say, “He’s gay, so it must be alright?” I don’t think he’d provide the most comforting example. 

Maybe, he should have ended his rant with the following message. People in public life should starting being a bit on the tolerant side. Maybe politicians should exercise a bit of restraint during Question Period. Maybe professional athletes should concentrate on being as good off the field as they think they are on the field. And maybe, those of us not in the public eye… you know, the vast majority of us… should just treat everyone properly and try to be a person that anyone would want to emulate. It might not hurt, you know…