I'm not a big milk drinker- in fact, I rarely consume milk except on cereal or in cooking - but I am rather partial to cheese. I know it is bad for me, but (insert your preferred diety name here) help me, I can't do without it.

Bitmap, do you object to milk on the basis of human health, or on the basis of cruelty to animals? I'm not trying to be confrontational here, but I am curious. There's a lot of hubbub about animal rights out there, and 'stealing' their milk is one of those points often made. I'm wondering which part of the milk issue is your primary focus.

I personaly think that cruelty to animals is not a good thing, but Cows are bred for Food, and the reason of their existance besides contributing to the Greenhouse effect is for us to consume/use their byproducts. I only object on the basis of Human Health. <br>The people that are Lactose Tolerant are actualy the normal ones here. We're the one's that have been force fed Milk since we were kids and have built up an immunity to it. I drink milk Too! it's jsut that I felt like pointing out that It ain't the best thing for you. and might be the cause of some medical issues such as Wolf's Gallstones.


<i><hr>I'm not Here to Swashbuckle the thread i'm just here to entertain while we're waiting to hear back from Wolf</i>

Re: on a semi-different note:<br>while we're waiting to hear back from Wolf:
 

We're one of the few species which gets the opportunity.

But earlier, you were saying the calcium is bad! Besides, broccoli tastes nasty and milk less so. Milk in the form of ice cream is yummy.

I imagine Wolf will get quite a lot of dietary advice from her medical practitioners after this.

Seems sort of funny to be talking about her and no one knows anything. I guess that after awhile we forget that, at least for most of us, we have no contact with each other outside of this board. I mean, when a 'normal' friend is in hospital, someone calls you up and tells you how they are...here, we just have to wait until she gets home, huh?

Yea, I wish i could visit her i've been blogging for while and i've become quite attached to her Humor, and colorfull commentary.. I think she would be great on the <a href="http://cellar.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2998">Photo shop thread</a> we have going right now.

russotto.. follow the links and read up don't just troll. I know your not a troll but those statements are Troll esque.
yes Ice cream is yummy

(*waves*)

I survived ...

Sorry I couldn't get word out earlier ... but I was only able to sit up for so long last night ... I'm doing a lot better today. I should have asked one of the folks I was in contact with to post to the board to let you all know I was okay, but I forgot to ask ... and also I figured I'd be doing it myself soon enough.

I'm in a moderate amount of pain (mostly I say "owie" a lot when I try to get out of bed, if I stay in one place, I'm good) and am taking the nice medicine the doc gave me. I'm not getting high off it, though, which means that I still need it for the pain ... as soon as I start getting that 'happy goofy feeling' I'll probably d/c the meds since that's my marker for no loner needing 'em. Once they get fun, they aren't treating the pain anymore.) As an aside ... because of the meds I'm following the same rule I do when drinking. (i've unloaded for the first time in months ... don't want to be making any hasty decisions about shooting before properly IDing the target. It wouldn't do to shoot my mom when she's just creeping in to check to see if I need another glass of water ;))

I managed NOT to assault anyone either going under or coming out of anesthesia. I only got to experience the joys of morphine while I was in the recovery room. The experience of getting the versed and dilaudid pre surgery WAS pretty cool ... kind of like being surrounded by warm waves. I was too preoccupied by the pain to notice any fun from the morphine (see above theory regarding the meds only being fun when you DON'T need them to control the pain).

My thanks to all who offered prayers, energy, reiki, and general good wishes ... they all worked. (I had QUITE the variety going ... coupla Christian prayer circles, as well Native American, Voudoo, Wiccan, and other neo-pagan groups/individuals ... all were gratefully received.) The process of healing will continue for quite some time, speeded along by all this!

The surgeon told me that the procedure went very well, and he was able to keep it to the 'easier' laparoscopic procedure, although it got difficult when it came to extracting the stone at the end ... yes, STONE, singular. I only had the one, which he said was the "size of an egg". They had to do a lot of pulling and tugging to get it out through the umbilical incision which is only about an inch and a half wide. His description "Yeah, we had to pull and pull on it, and when it finally came out I said 'It's a boy!'"

Prior to surgery he had told me he'd save a stone for me (my coworkers actually wanted me to get one) but since there was only one, it had to go to pathology :(. Hopefully he got pictures.

I have a follow up appointment next week and I'm not allowed to drive until I see the doc. :mad: I was hoping to get some puttering around done this weekend (the original post-op instructions said that I could drive in 3-5 days if I felt comfortable, but the additional tugging and pulling must have been such that he needs me to lay back longer than that to make sure the healing is going well ... I'm going to miss a gun show and a craft show.

So far my only dietary restrictions are "Keep trying stuff and if it doesn't sit well, back off." I'm not brave enough to head straight for pizza, but I want to try soon. I might go for chinese takeout sometime over this weekend, and also am thinking fondly of things like a Chick-Fil-A Sandwich (no pickle). (Simple pleasures) Should I truly want to tempt the fates, there's a chalupa with my name on it over at the taco hell ... with fiery sauce. (mmmmm... junk food).

Luckily I wasn't in the hospital long enough to generate any REALLY good hospital stories (other than my patient without a country story ... there were NO beds available when I was ready to leave recovery, so I got pushed from holding area to holding area for about six hours until they were able to get me into a room on the surgical floor) ... the coolest thing that happened was that I often take psych referrals from the hospital where I had my surgery ... and had spoken with the night psych crisis worker there about the fact that I would be coming in for surgery, mostly to try to get info on my doc's reputation ... well both the day and the night crisis workers stopped in to see me the next morning, which was entirely cool! :) Also, I was lucky enough not to have a roommate during my stay, so I didn't have to listen to anyone else's whining (or TV choices).

So, for right now, I'm surfing the net, and contemplating taking a shower, esp. since I have these great Glow-in-The-Dark SpongeBob SquarePants Band-Aids I can put on ...

I am very glad you are in better health and I missed you here I think we all did. I really missed reading your posts. Hope to read more posts from ya soon

Great news, Wolf...glad it all worked out right. Energy and positive thoughts are a good thing to have in times of crisis, no matter what the wrapper looks like. It all works.

You'll be aiming and pulling the trigger in no time, I'm sure. In the meantime, enjoy the time off, discomfort or not. Even I am able to look back somewhat fondly on the two months off I had in conjunction with the bypass surgery, at least on some level. For instance, it was the last time I had an opportunity to read a book from cover to cover in less than a year...sigh.

Welcome home!

Size of an egg! Oh mah lawd it's amazing to see what our human bodies can cough up...

Welcome back!

I just received a TOTALLY unexpected phone call ... from my surgeon. He just wanted to make sure I wasn't having any problems, to find out what my level of pain was, and to make sure that I scheduled my follow up appointment ...

I've checked with several people ... no one else recalls ever getting a post-surgery follow up call from the doc himself ... not even from other office staff ...

I also got a follow up call from the floor where I was hospitalized. (that was mostly to remind me to fill out the TQM survey I'd be receiving.)

Talk about customer service.

Hey, lady! Good to hear things are progressing.

I had *several* post-op visits from my surgeon, but he knew where to find me because my regimen was a week of bedrest before discharge. They did have pretty good drugs, but you're right: when you need them they really aren't much fun.

Welcome back.

I expect that a doc will visit you as part of grand rounds when you are in the hospital (it's a billable service, after all) ... what blew me away was him calling me at home.

If anyone in the Phila area needs laparoscopic surgery, I recommend this guy highly. Contact me for details.

You told him you liked guns, didn't you?

Actually given the latest AMA "guns 'r bad" push ... it's a topic that i've carefully avoided. Even went so far as to NOT wear any firearms company logos during my visit ... and I don't go ANYWHERE without my Glock ballcap ordinarily, not to mention my Glock ;)

So no, it wasn't because I intimidated him in any way.