Life Goes On

It's been quite awhile since I last posted. Everything has pretty much gone the way I had hoped. It was decided that I did not need to have more surgery; the mesh stopped rejecting. In early July, my surgeon released me from her care. Other than having a nice scar and two navels; I am almost back to normal.

Work is picking up with one of our major clients wanting a demo of our product on short notice. In fact right now we are working out the bugs before the demo. Multi-tasking is such fun.

To Slice or not to Slice... That is the Question

Over the last few weeks my surgeon has been monitoring my opening that I talked about in my last post (has it been over a month??). She is concerned that the mesh that she put in during my last surgery was being rejected by my body and needed to come out. I have outpatient surgery scheduled for June 22nd to do this.

However, over the last few weeks, I seem to be healing up quite well on my own. I am feeling much better and everything seems to be getting smaller. I see my surgeon on Monday to get the final decision. I am hoping that I don't have to go under the knife again.

Work is going ok, seems my days are filled with meetings and it's tough to get everything I need to done. Even though I am feeling much better, my stamina is not what it used to be. I am sure that it will come back in time.

Going Pop!

Just when everything seemed to be going well, I have had a set back in my recovery. Last Tuesday, I was going to get some lunch when a 1 cm hole opened in my wound and drained about a pint of fluid all over my kitchen floor.

As you can imagine, I was pretty scared and gave my doctor a call right away. They said that it was a good thing that all that fluid drained. I was scheduled for an appointment for Friday anyway. The doctor took a sample of the fluid to see if my wound is infected. I have not been running a fever or feeling ill but I'll find out this Thursday for sure.

The biggest issue that I was having was that the wound wanted to drain every time I stood or sat up. The doctor has me (well my wonderful wife has to) putting packing in the wound twice a day which helps a lot. On the down side, the removal and insertion of the packing into the wound just about drives me nuts. Of all that I have gone through this bothers me the most. There is just something about having this hole and "stuff" going in and out. I can't even watch. I hope this is all over soon and I can get back to total recovery.

Back to Work

Things are progressing very nicely. I am now on my second day of work and am feeling pretty good. I still get a bit tired but I am sure that will improve with time. I had all the staples pulled from the incision last week and am healing up very nice. I am sure looking forward to having a fun summer this year.

It's hard to believe that this medical issue took almost a year of my life away from me. I know the alternative would have been much worse. I just hope that I can make it up to my wife and family who supported me every day of my illness.

On the technical front (for a change), I am in the middle of a total redesign of the Boy Scout Troop web site that I support. It's really needed a change for sometime and with a new Scoutmaster the time was right. I hope to have it completed by June for rollout to the Troop and parents.

Back from the Hospital

I made it back. The scheduled surgery went well until the gall bladder removal. Mine had completely rotted and at first the surgeon couldn't even find it. Finally got everything out and closed and all was well.

Two days later it was discovered that I had a blocked bile duct in my liver where the gall bladder had been removed. Another surgeon was call in and I was given the following choices: Do nothing and die in a day or so or have surgery that may fix the problem. If the surgery does not go well I will not make it out of the OR. My children were brought in from school so I would have a chance to see them before surgery. I don't mind saying that I have never, never been so scared in my life.

Somebody was watching over me. I made it. The surgeon said that he was able to access the duct and make repairs with few problems. The hospital stay was relatively short (11 days) and I came home yesterday. Two weeks to rest and recover and it's back to work and life.

One Week to Go

These last posts have really been focused on my personal medical issues rather than technical "geek" issues. But it's a true reflection of how my life is now. I am sure that once this situation is behind me I will be better able to focus on moving forward.

Surgery is one week away. In fact, one week from now, I should be all finished and resting in my room. I am scared, but I do have full confidence in my surgeon and the hospital staff. As I have mentioned before, I will have a week to ten days in the hospital then two week recovery at home. I sure hope I feel up to making a post during those two weeks.

I don't know if I will be making any more posts until I'm back. If not, see you soon.

Testing Done - 14 Days to Go

Last week saw all my pre-operation testing completed. Most of it was pretty standard stuff except for my fistulagram which was not the most pleasant way to spend an hour. For it the radiologist had to insert flexible needles into each fistual opening and then inject die to create a "road map" of my small intestine. Not painful, but not fun.

I am now down to counting the days. I hope that everything works out, it's been a long road for everyone in my family.

Work is going pretty well. I still get a bit tired by the end of the day, but I no longer need a nap :) . I am sure that once I get closed up and rest for a bit, I will have a lot more stamina during the day. I am still getting hit with lots of meetings, some days it's hard to get any work done for the meetings. Today isn't so bad. In fact I am making this post while I take a break from some documentation updates.

It's a Go for Surgery

My visit to the doctor (surgeon) when better than I had expected. She feels that I am ready to be closed up!! It's not going to be an easy operation(4+ hours), but the end result is going to be more than worth it. I am going to need some pre-operation testing that doesn't sound very nice but I'll get through it.

My surgery is schedule for the 20th of March. I will be spending a week to 10 days in the hospital and then about two week recovery at home. I think I will be in more pain than after the first operation(s). I am mentally prepared for that, and I am sure I will get medication as needed. I just hope all goes well and I can start to put this episode behind me.

Seeing the Surgeon

Tomorrow I go to see the surgeon for the first time since I left the hospital. I am pretty nervous about it all; I wonder when I am going to be closed up for good. I am praying that it will be within the next two months. I don't know how well I would handle too much longer. In addition, my wife is getting pretty tired of having to change my dressing every three days or so.

Neither one of us is sleeping well and we both worry about my wound leaking all the time. On one hand I have had no physical problems since I came home from the hospital, but this has been such a trying experience, it's hard to be optimistic.

I'll know soon.

Way Too Many Meetings

Last week and this week I am really seeing the downside to this new position within the project. My entire day is filled with meetings, many of which I have about 5 minutes worth of information sharing. Today for example I have meetings from 11:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m. with only one half hour break. For me it's too many and too late. My last meeting is from 5:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. which is not in business hours in my opinion. I know I am going to run into conflicts with my evening activities. I will not give up everything for this project. Folks are going to have to schedule meetings during regular business hours if they want me to attend.

I have been running Windows Vista Ultimate for about a week now. Very few problems, mostly hardware related. My scanner (HP) still does not have Vista drivers for it but they are to be released in about a month. I don't understand how a company the size of HP could miss the Vista launch date for their drivers. The more troubling issues is my video capture device from Plextor. According to their technical support, they do not intend to release Vista drivers for this product. Since it's only a few years old, I find this pretty anti-customer. I don't think I will be buying anything from Plextor in the near future.

I have started a total re-write of the scout troop web site that I support. It's been over a year since the look and feel has been changed so it's time. I also intend to move it from VB.NET to C#. I figure that I will have it done in a month or so. I'll post the URL when it's done.

Running Vista

After sitting around for 3 weeks, I finally got my new workstation up and running Windows Vista Ultimate. All in all it was a smooth transition; I have to admit I am quite pleased. The only piece of hardware that I can't get to install is my ConvertX - PX-AV100U video capture device. I have written Plextor to see if they are going to have new drivers out soon.

I had heard how different the Vista interface was from XP. Sure, some things are in different places but I have not run into too many issues. Now Office 2007 is a different story. The UI is very different from what the previous versions had. I sure that it's going to take a bit to get used to it. When this rolls out into the business world, there is going to be a pretty steep learning curve for some folks.

On the work front, I have been asked to take a major role in the product that I support. I am happy that the powers in charge think that I am able to take on these duties. It's going to keep my busy but I am really looking forward to the challenge.