Jet Lag GONE!

Finally, the jet lag is gone...just like that! Yesterday I was still feeling "out of it" and this morning my head is clear as a bell.

I also dropped four pounds overnight...I'm not as bloated as I was before. I think that staying away from milk..this is Day Two with no milk or milk products, is helping. I want to cautiously say that it's helping me to reduce the trips to the john at night too...but I don't want to jinx anything. Last night I only had to go six times....the two night prior to that were just ridiculous!

The big news over the weekend is that we got the new TV...a 52" Sony Bravia with a Sony Home Theater system. We bought it at Sears on Saturday, they delivered it yesterday and Sandy set it up. We moved the "little" 46" Bravia upstairs to the bedroom..where we can lie in bed and look at it head-on. It's a LCD...so to get the best view you need to be right in front of it....the new TV is an LED and you can sit on an angle and still get a great view.

We have to figure out how to get the wires to the rear speakers of the theater system, right now we have them running under the rug...not a good thing. The thing is we have wires there from the previous home owner who had a home theater installed. I think we might snake the wires through the route they used when they installed his system. Of course the wiring for the old system is not compatible with our system.

Anyway, Sandy finally got the home theater all wired up and good to go after 10:30 last night. We put "Avatar" in the blue ray player to test out the system. WOW! We had to force ourselves to shut it off...we really felt like we were in a theater.

I had been wanting to get a home theater for years and Sandy was always resistant. Last night as she was drooling over the picture and sound, I did an "I told you so."
She didn't mind at all. She loves this set-up.

I went to see Dr. Valin last Thursday. He described me as "still skinny" six years after my by-pass surgery. That made me feel good. Later, when I said that I do "what the doctors tell me to do" he said, "you're one of the few." That made me concerned for the other people who don't follow doctor's orders. I know that one has to use common sense, but until the doctor is proven wrong to me...I do what they say. It has put me in good stead for the most part, thus far.

Anyway, he said that I need to be cut open again. He will use the same suture line that he and the other two surgeons have used...this will be the fourth cut in the same place. He said usually hernias can be done laproscoically, but in my case I need both....open and lapro. He will cut me open and then put five slits all around my abdomen and tighten things up, wrap the whole area in mesh and then close me up. It will take three weeks for the tissue to grow through the mesh and then I can "do whatever you want" according to Dr. V.

It is going to be painful...since he will have to move around a lot of things inside me. Well...that's what they have morphine for, that's what I say. Sandy questions if I will have a limit on what I can lift. I just want to be able to lift the bags of birdseed-40-50 pounds. If I can do that after surgery I'll be a happy camper! Hey, even if I can't do that I'll still be a happy camper-to have that lump gone from my abdomen...it looks so weird...it's the size of a baby's head now...looks like I have a baby in there, trying to get out!

I'm going to schedule the hernia surgery for the beginning of November I think. I will have to be in the hospital overnight. First I wait to get the "all clear" from Dr. DiSilvestro after I have the CT scan (tomorrow).

Sandy is rightfully sick of me and my medical needs. She doesn't really want to have to drive me to New Haven and then come back the next day to get me and she really doesn't want to have to "play nurse" again when I get home. I guess I'll see if I can find someone(s) to give me rides to New Haven. I think I will be fine when I get home...I'll have that big TV in the bedroom. I'll just stay there, out of sight. HA HA!

The only things I'm concerned about with this surgery--I have to go through all that reaction to anesthesia and morphine again--the constipation; the diarrhea; and the mental confusion that lasts for about six months.

Oh well...you do what you have to do.

I have been busy today, making an appt for the driveway guys to come out and take a look at our driveway. We need to have some cracks filled and the driveway sealed. Sandy tried last year to fill the cracks, but they are too wide for consumer repair. We need a professional.

I also called to make an appt with Dr. Sansone (I finally found her--in New Britain) to have a colonoscopy. My MD is faxing the referral to her. I hope they call me back today so I can schedule soon. Carol says she is excellent and can easily handle my scar tissue situation and that I will love her, she is really funny and a great person. Sounds like my kind of gal.

I also have another call into the fireplace guy. He called back over the weekend and I missed him. We need him to move our "power vent" for the furnace...the fumes come right in the living room and bedroom windows. We want to have it moved to the chimney. And, we want to see if he can help with getting our fireplace converted to gas.

We seem to be doing OUR best to support the economy and getting things taken care of at the same time. It's the American way.

Oh, I hope to hear from Cooper's today about my memory card for my camera. I brought it down there after I couldn't download my pics from Sweden onto my computer. The computer said that my files were "corrupted." I couldn't believe that. I could see the pics on the camera just fine. Cooper's said they can retrieve the pictures and the cost is right. It's worth it to have them work on it for me.

Once I get the pictures back I have to combine them with the ones I already downloaded and edit them all. I'll boil them down to a manageable level and put together a slide show. Then I'll take it on the road!

Later!