Surgery details and information

I go in for surgery at 5:30 a.m. this Friday at Methodist Hospital in downtown Indianapolis. 1701 N. Senate Blvd. Indianapolis, IN 46206. 1-800-248-1199 is the toll-free number to call for information.

If you want to see me in the hospital before surgery, please come at 5:30. If you are visiting while I’m in surgery, you will need to go to the main information desk to find out details of where I am. The operating room and surgery waiting areas are on the second floor of the A building. Parking garage 1 is the closest parking area.

Surgery starts at 7:30 and should take about 4 hours. After surgery I will be moved to the Cardiovascular Critical Care Unit (CVCC), which is on the second and third floors of the same building, building A. Family members may be in one of two waiting rooms — 317-923-0171 or 317-923-0170. Or you can try to call Stephanie on her cell.

Visiting hours while I’m in the CVCC are: 9:30-11:30 a.m., 12:30-3:00 p.m., 4:30-6:30 p.m., and 8:30-11:00 p.m. While I’m in the CVCC, I can receive cards and mylar balloons. Flowers, planters, or latex balloons aren’t allowed on the unit.

After a couple days, I should be moved out of the critical care unit to a regular room, where I’ll be for a couple more days. I should have more visiting hours there and be able to see people. If you want to come visit me, call the information number to find out where I am and what my visiting hours are. Or you can send me monkeys. 🙂

Stephanie will be sending some e-mail updates letting family and friends know how I am. She’ll also be posting to my Web site, so watch this spot for more information.

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Top Ten Conservative Idiots (#194)

This week’s list covers several issues of personal interest to me… the “Day of Truth” crap, Eric Rudolph’s nutjob anti-gay statements: “with force if necessary.” (Really, Eric? I can fight fire with fire), anti-gay nutjob Arthur Finkelstein’s gay marriage, and Jeff “Defense of Marriage” Miller’s adulterous behavior, which makes yet another addition to the right-wing hypocrite squad. I think at this point the Right-Wing Hypocrites team has enough players to start a game of cricket.

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Big Things Louisville Trip

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Stephanie and I took a trip to Louisville this weekend to take some Big Things pictures. On Saturday, we visited the giant Colgate clock, the giant bat at Louisville Slugger Museum (another giant bat at the costume shop down the street) and a huge coffee pot at the Lynn’s Paradise Cafe.
We also went to the Louisville Zoo to see Gorilla Forest, the huge exhibit of gorillas. The zoo is really huge and very pretty and the weather was perfect for a visit. Gorillas are cool.
Once we got back Saturday night, I discovered I’d left my cell phone at the restaurant, so we drove back down yesterday to retrieve it. We ate again at the Paradise Cafe, which has really cool decor and a neat gift shop. We took pictures of a giant stone statue of hands, too. On the way back, we started brainstorming creating an art car, which Stephanie wants to do, with my help. We have a very fun idea. Also, I want to make a dining room table. It sounds silly, but we have a fun idea for one.
I like Louisville; it’s very pretty.

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CPAP Breathing Machine

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I’ve been using the breathing machine for my sleep apnea since Thursday evening, and I think it’s a success. I feel much better rested now and able to concentrate. The mask part of the machine is somewhat annoying; I can’t read before falling asleep because I can’t wear my glasses, and I have to take my earrings out because they’re in the way. But I’m slept much more soundly.

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Guest Blogger

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Just testing — I’ll be guest blogging and providing updates while Steph is in the hospital. Looks like my new laptop works just fine at Steph’s house. Woo hoo!

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Additional Living Will Pointers

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The Onion provides a few Living Will pointers I hadn’t thought of, but will now factor into my surgery preparation plans. Among them:

Leave at least one reasonably flattering photo for the press. This point cannot be emphasized enough.

Explain in no uncertain terms that, should you die and return as a zombie, loved ones must shoot you in the head without hesitation.

Research medical life-support technology and specify whether you’d prefer to be hooked up to a Danninger Continuous Passive Motion device, an Emerson suction unit, or a Slushee machine.

Comatose people have been shown to exhibit a brainstem-level response to music, so prepare a decade’s worth of mix tapes in advance.

One thing I’m actually doing is the last one… I’m putting together a post-recovery playlist of soothing music to listen to in the hospital on my iPod, after reading that soothing music can help relieve pain.

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