No burrito for you!

The sigmoidoscopy last week went okay. The prep of doing two enemas the morning of the test compared to drinking to Phospho-Soda is a winner. The day of drinking nothing but liquids is still difficult, especially around 4pm, but even that was not bad with the many bathroom trips that I’ve endured in the past during the preps. White cranberry juice was a hit this time.

The test itself was different too. Instead of being completely out, my blood pressure was low enough to concern the doktor so I only got enough of the sedation to put me out in the 85% range, meaning I was almost awake the entire time. I remember having the probe put into me this time, something I didn’t have the pleasure of before. It was not nice, and I remember grunting.

I also remember the doktor telling me to look at the screen, as there were plenty of ulcers in the colon, and being told that I am indeed having a colitis flare-up. The downside was that I was craving a Chipotle burrito, but I know better as during a flare-up that would crush me.

So now I am following what I’ve done in the past which is plenty of fluids, limiting the solid food to as close to zero as I can get, and slamming the 350 calorie Ensure shakes. Hopefully it should pass in a week or so. I do feel okay, and thanks to the Ensures (actually the cheaper no-name brands) my bathroom trips are down quite a bit, maybe five to eight a day. Dairy products tend to upset things, so I’m also off of cheese and the such for a while.


I got to watch my first HD hockey game on Saturday, the opening Cup finals game between the Pens and the Red Wings. It was impressive, and seeing more of the ice from the 16:9 aspect ratio alone is huge. T.R. called and we invited him over to watch as well. He brought the jinx on Pittsburgh so we won’t be inviting him over for any games during the finals (just kidding!!!) The Pens looked great in the first period, but four power plays in a row may have contributed to that. It fell apart in the second. At least Fleury looked great in net the whole game, so I’m not worried about that. Once the Pens figure out they can skate with the Wings (they can, right?) I suspect it will be different. It better start on Monday though.

I’m getting used to the DVR function I got for the bedroom. Being able to record anything with the push of a button, even though it’s not HD yet, is fun. One thing though: aside from the NHL games and a few movies on HDnet and MGM-HD, I’ve got maybe 250 channels and I still don’t find anything to watch, so off it goes. Sure, the nature channels are nice and pretty, but nothing really holds my interest enough at this point. I may start recording Mad Money and Letterman, especially with the ability to skip over anything so fast. Even that is okay, but I’m neutral there too.

I really want Bluray, but two things are holding me back: there are no good players, and there are not enough software titles to make it worth it now. I thought Bluray would blow DVD away, and technically it does, but so did SACD and DVD-Audio. Given DVD players are under $100 and even under $50, and movies are under $10 much of the time, and combine that with people are just plain happy with DVD, I don’t see Bluray ever replacing DVDs. Bluray is to DVD what SACD is to CD. Better technology, but the masses were just happy with CD. The jump from VHS to DVD was huge (and overdue), while the jump from DVD to Bluray isn’t offering anything the masses understand. Both use the same size disc and controls, but Bluray is slower, more expensive, and too many people don’t want to re-buy their library for even HD quality.

Again, replacing the VHS library with DVD was a no-brainer, but DVD to Bluray is a much tougher sell and I really don’t see it happening even if prices come down. The only way I see it happening is if the studios start to market titles only on Bluray, but I don’t think that would happen with the amount of money to be made from DVD sales, even with their lower price. Of course, if Lucas came out with a “signature edition” of the Star Wars movies only on Bluray, that may do it. Until I see proof that Bluray is taking off, I’ll wait.

Preppy Liquids in HD

I’m at the end of an interesting day. I’m doing the prep for my sigmoidostomy, and this time it’s pretty easy. I’m on a diet of nothing but clear liquids, and this time I picked the clear Gatorade that isn’t very good, but some white cranberry juice that is awesome.

I am obsessed with food though and I am starving. Buy stock in Yum! Brands tomorrow as I suspect a massive trip to Taco Bell can't be far behind...actually, maybe Chipotle instead.

The biggest change is that I’m not doing the Fleet Phospo-sodas, but rather just two (ahem) Fleet enemas, and not until hours before the procedure. It’s making today tolerable instead of running to the bathroom every few minutes once the first wave starts. I hope this works because given the choice, I like today’s option instead. Little bit of discomfort instead of an entire day of being occupied is fine with me.

I’ll see about writing a post tomorrow following the procedure, as I’m curious what I’d write as the sedation wears off.

I do have to give a shout out for my dad. Around dinner time he sent me an email letting me know the California sweet corn is on sale, and tastes great with butter. A few minutes later he remembered I was fasting and sent an apologetic email. I of course had to call to give him grief about it and tell him he's mean suggesting one of my favorite foods on a day when I'm restricted to chewing ice chips.

I also got DirecTV’s HD package today. At first I was really less than impressed. I then headed to tweaktv.com and found the settings I used to calibrate the display originally. I have to do it for each HDMI input, which is a good idea in case one source is way off from the others on my Pioneer Kuro. Once I used those settings and also tweaked the DirecTV receiver, the picture became almost like 3-D. The NHL channel is broadcasting a junior game that looks excellent. We will get to see the Penguins/Red Wings finals in HD, so that should be fun. If you have a HD display and don’t at least try the settings for it recommended at tweaktv.com, you’re foolish.

It’s only been a few hours, but I don’t want to watch anything else other than HD. Everyone says that, but I’ve never believed it until now.

What is scary is that another thing everyone says is that Tivo changes your life. I’ve already been warned not to get it. Too late- I got the HD DVR receiver for the bedroom. I don’t watch much of anything outside of sports, C-SPAN and CNBC if I’m at home during the day. We’ll see how much the DVR changes things. Maybe catching the odd hockey game when I get home from playing, especially with fast-forward will be nice.

I have not decided if I’m sticking with the Canadian dish. I’m going to cancel that very soon, maybe this week as the switch to HD will also have me switch carriers anyway. Why pay $80 a month during the summer when I really don’t watch it? I never did. I’ll wait a bit, and if DirecTV decides to give me the NHL in HD this fall I may just stick with that. I already have the option to get all of the NFL in HD.

What gets me I that I completely remember being astonished by watching HDTV the first time, which was a demo at the Smithsonian Museum fifteen years ago. I remember watching the demo that had sumo wrestlers, a solar eclipse, and rodeo footage. It was on a CRT, maybe a 32”, and it was crystal clear. Nothing I’ve seen since had beaten that, and I’m counting the demos I’ve seen at high-end stores on properly-calibrated equipment costing into the tens of thousands. Perhaps BluRay will provide the “best it can be” at 1080p, but given the future of the format, I wouldn’t bet on it. DVD is fine for the masses, and for the price, I don’t see them switching in numbers anytime soon. Me? I'll take BluRay, but not until the players get a bit cheaper and less buggy.60 seconds to load a disc, and the players are prone to crashing? Bah.

Another disappointment for me was DVD. When I got my first “real” player, the Denon 5900, I bought Peter Frampton’s disc Live in Detroit. I was amazed at the quality compared to VHS and even DirecTV. Know what? No disc I ever watched after that looked as good. One of the best discs available for features, King Crimson’s Vrooom, also doesn’t live up to the Framp for me. Seeing the incense burner on his amp is something neat.

Did Bob and Doug try it with Ensure cans?

As the time gets nearer for my colonoscopy this Thursday, my system is getting somewhat better. At least I’m not passing as much blood as I was two weeks ago. I’ve got more strength and I’m not fatigued as much as I was. I’ve taken the past two weeks off of hockey, although I’m playing a quick game on Sunday.

Today I took one of the nests out of the two nesting boxes for our wild birds. It was kind of difficult since there was a baby bird in one of them that will be dead by morning, but it is a house sparrow. After watching the house sparrows assassinate the four blue bird babies last year I have no reservations about doing what I did. House sparrows are evil creatures and veteran birders actually recommend capturing them and breaking the necks since they are invasive and will nest anywhere, especially stealing from the native birds.

Our blue birds have the other box, and there is at least one baby in there now. I’m hoping they can get this one up and going soon because I’m sure the house sparrows will be looking for revenge.

This week I decided to change my eating habits a bit to take it easier on my system. I’ve been drinking cans of Ensure all day, eating one solid meal at night. I decided to go out to lunch on Wednesday to grab cans of Ensure at the local Giant near my work. It’s a scary place, and I’m never going back.

I got there, found the generic brand Giant sells which is cheaper, and put a six pack of chocolate and one of vanilla in my hand cart, along with some other goodies. While using the self-checkout lane, I smelled something but didn’t think too much of it as the store was dirty in general.

When I got back to work, I decided to move the chocolate six pack out of the bag. I took it out and jumped, because I was able to see the bottom half of a dead mouse in the package. Not good. I then took it back to the store, and when I explained to the girl behind the counter at customer service that there was a mouse in the box, she took a quick step or two back, and for some reason didn’t want to verify I was telling the truth.

I waited, filled out a form for the return, all the while she would not get close to me as I was near the bag containing the dead mouse. I would have been more than happy to show her. I initially thought about just taking it out of the bag, pointing, and saying I want a full refund now, but I took the high road. The manager was called, and after whispering they thought enough of me to give me a $10 gift card for my trouble. I figured it should be worth more since the McKenzie brothers tried to return a single beer for a full case. Of course, they grew the mouse in the bottle first, unlike me. Giant did offer to exchange the cans, but I said no way.

Iron Man

Since my last post, I can offer that my eye cleared up after four or five days. The doktors were correct- nothing to worry about. At least I don't look like an extra from a horror movie anymore.

But, I’ve had a few procedures since my last post which are probably not related. It all started when I’d go to the bathroom (wait, doesn't everything with me?!?!?) Everything would be as expected, except I was passing blood. I mean, lots of blood, as in the bowl looked like cranberry juice. This was every trip, several times a day. I also began to get weak, and already having had anemia in the past and fainting once, I thought that was the case. I started taking my iron and folic acid tablets again, but decided to go for blood work too.

A few days after the blood work, I got a call from my doktor’s office letting me know my hemoglobin and red blood cell counts were at best half of what they should have been, and to come to the office. I went in, and when I told the doctor I played four games of hockey that past weekend, she said she didn’t expect me to be able to stand up let alone play hockey given my labs.

She then said she wanted to “examine the area” (yea, that) with a probe of sorts. I’ve been through pain of course, and aside from the liver biopsies, this was more painful than anything I can remember. I take the attitude that if I’m ready to go for a test, let’s do it and get it over with. But this time was the first I ever said that I need the test to stop due to the amount of pain I was experiencing in the office. She said she kind of expected me to say that, and that I’d need sedation for a proper exam, thus the colonoscopy. She also prescribed special suppositories (ahem ahem) as a precaution to get the medicine right to the source. Ah, the fun I have, eh?

She set up a transfusion for me at a new hospital (for me at least), Holy Cross near DC. We also tried to schedule a follow-up appointment for a colonoscopy to make sure I’m not bleeding from my colon. But…

When trying to schedule the appointment, I was told I didn’t have health benefits. That was news to me since I’ve been paying COBRA to remain at my current insurance since February. They would not let me do anything until I took care of it, so I had to race home and speak to the COBRA people about this situation. After thirty seconds they admitted the error, saying they never put me in the system and that in fact since February I’ve still been on the plan from my previous employer. So why have I been paying the COBRA? I’m going to fight that to get it back since it was their fault and they admitted it.

In any case, I went for the transfusion, and the place was awesome. It’s a huge room with a dozen or so reclining chairs. I had to be there seven hours, and the staff and facility were so nice it made it almost enjoyable, except for the fact I had a needle in my arm that long. I didn’t know what to expect, otherwise I would have taken my MacBook Pro with me. I did think to take my iPod, so I just chilled to the music. I was served lunch and could pick from a decent menu. I had a fantastic veggie burger, white rice, baked potato and a banana with OJ and iced tea. It was all very good.

The odd thing was when I was done, I didn’t feel the same rush of energy I had the last time I received a transfusion back in 2004. I remember feeling that rush within minutes of receiving the first unit of blood, but this time was different.

I will go back to the doctor in not quite two weeks to get the colonoscopy. I’m at the point now where I’ve been through so many of these it’s no big deal. Other than the urge to vomit afterwards, it’s not bad.

On the positive side, the bleeding today was very minimal. Hopefully the medicine is kicking in. I feel tired now, so I’ve passed on playing hockey for a few weeks. I feel bad since I really want to play and I feel like I’m letting the team down, but they seem to understand and hopefully I can come back soon. In the meantime, I’ll just have to watch the Pens punish the Evil Flyers like they did tonight.