2010.03.31 SITREP

Hard to believe it's already March 31st of 2010. I still remember getting off the plane from Costa Rica back in January looking forward to a new year, a new decade, and new opportunities. Well, I've got some downtime right now so I figure I'll post something.

Sinus Surgery: The Revenge
Last week I had my second sinus surgery. This time around, I supersized it. Three surgeries were performed by two doctors over eight hours. The first was a septoplasty to correct my septum's direction and improve breathing. The second was the actual sinus surgery, which involved opening up the sinus passageways more and removing a really nasty polyp. The third surgery was the reconstruction of a collapsed external valve, level 3. What that means, I have no idea, but the doctor said it would also help me breathe better. I'm 5 days post op right now and on the mend, but still disabled and drugged. I truly hope this is the silver bullet I've been searching for. The sinus doctor said that all the steroids and irrigation in the world couldn't help me in the past since there was not enough opening for them to take any effect, so I hope this leads to a victory. I do... 9 years fighting this now, with the last year spent actively looking for cures on a weekly basis. I feel pretty good right now and have incredibly high hopes. I'll let you know how it goes.

Exercise
The last 6 weeks were full of exercise. I was back at CrossFit and started swimming. Now, unfortunately I am unable to exercise for another few weeks, but this gives me time to work through my netflix queue and start reading "Power Training". My workout routine in May is going to involve 3x/week of Power Training and 3x/week of CrossFit. Yes, but midsummer I should be a machine, given that 4 weeks of CrossFit alone is enough to really transform most people's system (when used with proper diet, of course). I also intend to get into a routine of swimming 50 lengths 3x/week, but I am still working up to that and it might not really take form until midsummer.

My MacBook Pro
I love my 13" MacBook Pro with 128GB SSD (soon to be 256GB SSD). I can toss this thing around and never worry about hard disk failure, and it's super fast. Seriously, I could see myself using this model for years to come. They will certainly need to improve some specs beyond CPU/RAM/SSD like an HD camera, a bluray drive, multi-monitor support for DVI output, and USB 3.0, but overall I think this is the best computer I've ever used. I love Snow Leopard and the 13" form and have a feeling I'll be using this line of Mac for years.

Cougar Town
I have Cougar Town in my Hulu queue, but as I casually view it during my recovery, I'm noticing that the show doesn't really even have much to do with being a cougar after the first few episodes. It's basically just a story of a single mom in her 40s and all her insecurities that don't seem to go away with age. It still has some entertaining moments, but the whole cougar part of the story is misleading.

Alright, that's about it for me... back to my rest and recovery.

Ides of March

Today (well, for people on the west coast) is the Ides of March. I haven't updated this thing in a while so I thought I'd record what's been up for the last couple of weeks. I'm still working out regularly, doing CrossFit 3-4x/week, and I'm also swimming more and hitting up some random gym classes like spinning and kickboxing.

I have surgery coming up on the 26th of March, this time involving two doctors and three surgeries. The first surgery is the most important: the sinus surgeon is going to remove the polyps inside my head, open up the sinus passageways more, and generally try to fight the swelling by allowing better ventilation. He examined my first surgery and said that, while technically a successful surgery, was insufficient. The next surgery will be a correction of my septum to help permit proper breathing, and the final surgery will fix an "external valve collapse in zone 1."

The hope is that all of these corrections will help restore proper ventilation, which will fight off both infection and swelling, and allow me to breathe properly. There is still a part of me, the part that is up right now writing this rather than trying to go to sleep, that fears that all of this is stemming from stress. Unfortunately stress goes up even more when I start thinking these thoughts, fearing that no matter how many surgeries I throw at this beast, it ultimately stems from stress and anxiety. On the other hand, I had my blood tested back in January and my cortisol levels were fine. Still, I definitely experience bruxism on a regular basis. I suppose some form of extreme stress management solution is my next last-ditch effort. I'm not thrilled at the idea of doing yoga 6x/week but I could certainly manage 3x/week, I just have never experienced any dramatic relief.

Oh well. I'm hoping for the best here with surgeries, and even if they reduce the pain by 25% that's still a huge step forward. Onward...