Form: Diary

BP 100/68, pulse 60

Seem to be shrinking a bit.(don’t have extra to part with)

Liver levels normalizing.

Color good. Sutures healing well. Still fighting respiratory infection.

Not sure why blood pressure so low even on a cup of coffee but it is causing me problems. Dizzy a lot. Give it a few more days but may have to cut the bp med again until my stress level increases again.

Amanda found an interesting set of studies that imply childhood measles may persist at low levels producing sulfite intolerance. Going to have to look at that some more.

DOC SAYS NO CRUNCHES

But otherwise weights are ok.

Am still at 168. But have lost muscle mass. mostly thighs and arms. Like to hover at 172 I think with about ten more lbs muscle.

A RETURN TO WRITING SOON?

This nasty bit of illness has just killed my desire and ability to write for the past few months. So I’ve resorted to entertaining myself with warm and fuzzy personal stuff. But, now that it’s mostly behind me, this morning, I went through just the short term work I have to do for the book I wanted to finish this year and was a little overwhelmed by what remains. But its ever onward anyway. 🙂

Seven emergency room visits. Five days in the hospital. Seven days recovering in bed so far – mostly because of this damned upper respiratory infection, not the surgery. Likely three more days in bed to go. Four weeks more to recover fully. And then probably two to four years of being generous to the liver. At 53 I’m already down two organs. 🙂

Lessons learned?

1) Um. Don’t man up to pain. Get problems fixed early. The whole alpha male instinct is wrong on pain. I have an incredibly high pain tolerance. And that’s a bad thing. … Well, outside of business anyway. 🙂

2) Oh, and the one I keep learning all over again: You cannot count on the medical community to get it right. Ever. Especially if you’re on the right of the curve. I had a concierge doctor with cellphone access 24/7, but was absolutely useless, and the only way I got a diagnosis was to tell the ER docs I had no PCP, and needed their help. The only person interested in working hard at curing you early is you. You are your own primary care physician.

OUT OF HOSPITAL – AT HOTEL – THANKS FOR LOVE AND SUPPORT

Thanks for all the kind words. They matter. ( I do have a heart despite what people seem to think. 🙂 Feeling dramatically better. It’s like walking around in a completely different body. It’s awesome. Still pretty high levels on my liver tests. Gotta have a few more. I’m betting it’s just a reflection of how bad it was in there.

I’ll venture that 20 years from now, some doctor in some lab will show why all these gall bladders started failing. (I say this with no knowledge of the current statistics.) And like Ulcers and Cervical Cancer I’ll bet this one is also driven by an infection we just don’t know of yet. Just seems to fit the profile.

The awful chemistry we eat doesn’t help any either, I’m sure. I still cannot find that great work that revisits the Chinese nutritional data, and shows that it doesn’t matter what combination of foods we eat. It just matters that they aren’t processed foods. But I’m glad this is becoming something we’re more aware of. A century of faulty nutritional information is the real culprit.

ONE OF THE FIVE WORST GALL BLADDERS HE’S SEEN

Given that its dinner time here, I won’t go into too much detail. But the surgeon said it was in his “top five”. The top five worst gall bladders he’s removed. Fully infected. Everything he touched bled.

The second surgeon came in and did another procedure that used a basket of some sort to clear the duct between the liver and intestine. So I had a six hour surgery and recovery instead of a one hour surgery and recovery.

I tell people that I have a high pain tolerance. And that’s not a good thing. I should have gotten this out last January.

http://www.capitalismv3.com/2011/08/21/envy/This week has been moving for me. Seeing people I’ve influenced.

This is from a post by a young man who worked for me, and the quote is something I say all the time. I got it from Durant. Not sure the original source. He just paid off his car, early, and with savings. He writes:

“Those tagged have positively shaped/influenced/inspired my financial life in one way or another over the years. …. ‘No man is a hero to his debtors.’

— http://bit.ly/RewOy9 “

And points to one of my posts on envy. 🙂

I beat myself up all the time. I believe that no one ever understands but a tenth of what it is that I’m saying. But I guess that some of time. It works. And I think it makes me happier than anything else in my life.

I love the gentle people best.

I must have worn out my welcome in Seattle because I haven’t got anyone to go to dinner and talk nonsense with tonight. 🙂

So many startup conversations going on that i didn’t expect this lull.

I haven’t hit up the libertarian circuit. Maybe I’ll give that a shot.

🙂

HUMBLED

You know, I’m all pleased with myself for having gone from a convex to a concave set of abs. And then I look at recent pictures of my friend Greg Langlais, the pursuit of self improvement seems hopeless. 🙂

Maybe the recession is good for men’s health. 🙂

HOTELS COMPLETELY BOOKED IN SEATTLE AREA SO….

Drove out to Leavenworth on a lark. A gorgeous drive, especially this time of year on a clear day. Leavenworth is a gorgeous fairy tale town. And nowhere near as kitchy as people say. It’s actually quite pretty with all sorts of little shops and hotels. The hotel I found on Hotels.com is a little below standard, but the charm of being here compensates.

Tomorrow I hit the shops, then drive back, and return to the grindstone (er, keyboard). Lots of work to do.