Speed limit: 2,000mg

This past week included a visit to the main doktors overseeing my various issues. Cleveland's visit was interesting. As usual, we encountered a travel fiasco. Our airplane had some sort of maintenance issue, delaying the plane by about two hours to Baltimore. Once the plane did arrive and we were able to board, we were told that some software had to be reloaded prior to take off as the problem surfaced again.

Having worked in the computer industry for as long as I have, I have very little faith in software patches, updates, and especially reboots to "fix" issues. And that's not counting when it's my ass strapped to a seat getting ready to take off!

We eventually made it into Cleveland after midnight instead of 9pm. After the $40 taxi ride from the airport, we got to the hotel around 1am. Of course the person behind the counter was nowhere to be found, so we had to wait. And wait. And wait we did. Once we did get to the room, it was awesome but having to be at the hospital for 7:30am didn't leave us with anything too much to take in of course.

One thing I do enjoy is the international programming on the hotel TV. They have several Arabic channels which are interesting because the movies are of rather poor quality and the crawl at the bottom of the news channels run in the other direction. I wonder what that would look like if I were drunk!

As for the tests, my first was a CAT scan of my midsection. There's no prep for it, so nothing to drink or whatever. The only thing was the dye solution given as an IV, which gives both a warm sensation and at the same time provides a taste in my mouth not unlike sucking on a bunch of nickels, perhaps found in an average shopping mall floor. Otherwise, this test is simple.

I then went to visit my liver doktor, who was fantastic as ever. After reviewing my case, one of my meds was cut back. But more importantly, he advised me to make a modification to my diet. I was told it would be in my best interests to try to keep a daily sodium intake of no more than 2,000mg. Okay I thought, how hard can that be? Well, he then said two foods right in my wheelhouse: limit pizza and spaghetti.

Up until now I've been a good patient and done everything asked of me. But this will be my first real test. I mean, I didn't realize the amount of sodium in most foods. My current addiction, the fantastic Chipotle veggie burrito (black beans, all four salsas, cheese, guac) has over 4,000mg alone. 1,000 of that is in the shell alone, so getting it as a bowl will help, but this will clearly be a treat from now on instead of even a weekly visit (or rather the three or four a week.) Even many of my favorite brands of food such as Amy's vegetarian meals are loaded with salt.

I knew quite a bit of this before, but not having to watch it I didn't realize just how much we eat. Anything processed is something to watch for. And if it's in a can, probably forget that too. Good thing I usually only buy frozen or fresh veggies.

I've decided it's just going to be impossible when eating out, so my plan of attack is going to be to keep a strict low-sodium diet at home. When eating out, I'll still watch out of course and not go nuts all of the time, but it will be easier for me to keep strict when cooking my own meals. Tofu, no salt added canned tomatoes, pasta, rice, potatoes, and other things are actually going to cause me to eat healthier in the long run.

I don't think I'll miss Frito's or whatever since I never was too much into the junk food to begin with. But I am really used to getting a large pizza for lunch. Now, it will be a few slices instead of the whole pie. I will have to figure out something to keep weight on! Maybe go back to the weight gain stuff I had post colon surgery. I'll consult with my doktors to see what they think if I do start losing weight. Good thing I don't eat meat because if I did, I'm sure I would miss things like this!

Now, a note to those of you who I may visit: unless I'm moving in, plan on visits to my usual hang outs for the duration of my trip. I have no desire to go on a vacation and eat plain white rice.

Following a visit to the Cleveland vampyres for bloodletting and a trip to the cardiologist for an EKG, we had lunch before flying back. The burrito place at the Cleveland Clinic, La Salsa, doesn't seem to be as good as before. On a good note, the burrito at California Tortilla in the Baltimore airport was pretty good. But nothing even comes close to Chipotle.

Anyways, my liver doktor also said the CAT scan showed the esophageal vericies are getting bigger and suggested banding. Although the risks are minimal, this is basically tying a rubber band around them to cause them to shrink and seal up. Kind of like tying a string around your finger and watching it turn blue I guess. Up until now the procedure was not recommended for me.

Then on Friday, I went to visit my fantastic colon doktor. I passed along everything from my Monday visit to Cleveland, and she agreed with the banding being necessary. So, the banding will be in two weeks. I don't need a colonoscopy this time (or, in my case, sigmoidoscopy) but I will get another in the fall. The banding will take maybe ten minutes and is an outpatient procedure. I'll be on a liquid to soft diet for a day, then gradually work my way back to my normal (unsalted) solid food within another day or two. I'll probably put myself on an Ensure diet for a few days.

On Thursday I played in a fantastic game of hockey for my old team, with much help from my defense. It was really great seeing several of the guys I've not seen in a while. Their goalie just got hurt again, and hopefully he'll be back soon once he gets repaired. Being much younger than I am, he should be back right on schedule. In the meantime, I'm happy to fill in as needed for them as they are still my favorite team to play for and were actually the first team I ever suited up for in a real game when I first started.

On the music front, tonight I just grabbed the Mobile Fidelity pressing of Permanent Waves from Rush. I've never liked the recording of that album, but this version rocks. The bass line really punches through and the guitar doesn't sound as "boxey" as it has on every other pressing I've heard. Rush fans need to grab this one before it's gone. Same thing for MoFi's Fragile reissue of the 1972 Yes classic. Only the DVD-Audio pressing is better.