1. Work
It’s review time. It’s annoying.. but it’s necessary. Everything else is pretty quiet. Most of my projects are on hold until after the new year. The one project that’s not on hold I’m only barely involved in.
I had taken two weeks off to recover from my surgery.. but since the surgery didn’t complete I ended up only taking a single day off. So I took back the next two weeks and changed my PTO so I’m off the week before Christmas (12/18-12/22). I plan to have a STUNNING staycation.
2. Home/Family
Thanksgiving day came.. and we cooked all the food. I admit I cheated on my liquid diet and ate a piece of turkey and a sausage ball.
It turns out if you brine a turkey and then spatchcock it, it only takes ~2.5 hours to cook instead of 5 hours. Our venison roast was also similarly done VERY early in the day. Good thing to remember for next time. We ended up with plenty of food for everyone.
3. Health
Thumb surgery happened.. and I’m mostly recovered from it at this point. It turns out I had (have?) “Giant Cell” (A giant cell tumor is a rare, aggressive non-cancerous tumor). The bumps are removed and the surgical cut is almost entirely healed. It looks gnarly but doesn’t feel too bad. Some parts of my thumb feel a bit numb but I expect that will clear out in a few months.
I did two weeks of liquid diet and went in for my bariatric sleeve surgery. While I was under anesthia the surgeon peeked inside and saw a mass on the underside of my liver (3cm x 3cm), took a sample and stopped the bariatric surgery. So now I’m recovering from lacroscopic surgery (all the burning) but not yet possess a tiny tummy. I’m scheduled for a CT scan of the liver and a consult on 12/12. The biopsy came back as non-malignant “hemangioma” and Teh Intarwebs suggests it’s nothing to worry about. I hope we’ll be able to reschedule the bariatric surgery quickly but I’d be absolutely amazed if it happens before the end of the year. Because of course it will push into the next calendar year.. deductibles to meet.. and other insurance bullshit.
It’s just a comedy of dominoes over here. Get the liver taken care of so I can get bariatric surgery so I can lose enough weight to get the hip surgery to replace my hip so that I can stop taking NSAIDS to manage the pain and avoid getting ulcers. :/
Speaking of, going off NSAIDS for 7 days before surgery was the absolute height of bullshit. On NSAIDS I’m limping a little and my hip is sore. Off NSAIDS I’m barely able to walk and will cheerfully use a wheelchair. It also turns out that more pain leads to less tolerance for bullshit. My tolerance was at an all time low.
The Ortho doctor suggested I might change to use Celebrix instead of Diclofenac. Celebrix is supposed to be as effective but it’s easier on the stomatch with a side of anti-depressants. I’ve taken it the last few days and so far I feel a bit hyped up/jittery but haven’t really noticed a difference otherwise.
4. SCA/Projects
Because I didn’t have surgery I can now go to Yule Toy this weekend. I want to dig out my Kentish stuff since that’s less squeeze-y around the middle.
I think I gifted one of my tunics and maybe one of my Kentish coats to one of my apprentices. You’d think I’d lived here for two years and I’d have unpacked everything by now.. but you’d be wrong.
5.
We ended up driving up to Virginia (5.5 hrs each way) to pick up the truck only to find that it wasn’t actually fixed. So we drove home (fuming) without the truck. The shop ended up keeping the truck for anther few weeks to work on it and Fearghus was finally able to bring it home earlier this week. It’s good to be back to having it home. In the end the extended warranty covered all but $2k of the charges.. and the dealership ate the last $2k. So we ended up spending $300 out of pocket plus one overnight hotel cost and the gas for all the various trips. Our plan at this point is pay a local dealer to extend the extended warranty out to 200k miles. So far the extended warranty has replace the high pressure fuel pump ($10k) and the low pressure fuel pump ($4k). So it feels worth it to pay for the extension.
Future:
Dec 9 Yule Toy Tourney
Dec 12 CT scan and consult
Dec 24 Christmas
Jan 3-9 in California for West Kingdom 12th Night
Jan 20 Nottinghill Coill Baronial Birthday & Investiture
Feb 2-3 Atlantia Winter University Online
