csziggy
csziggy's Journal
I just found out they can't schedule my needed surgery
I've been going through tests and finally got approved by my cardiologist to have this surgery- two weeks ago. I was told that it could possibly be done as an outpatient surgery and that the hospital is doing outpatient. But I hadn't heard anything since so I called into the surgeon's office this afternoon. Nope, due to my age, heart, and other conditions, the surgeon wants me to spend at least one night in the hospital.
The scheduling guy told me he had my file in front of him because he's been trying for a week to get the surgery scheduled. Because of Covidiots (not his term) he has not been able to. I made him very happy when I told him, let's put this on hold for a month and see where things are. I'd rather not be in the hospital right now with the number of virus patients or while the nurses and other staff are stressed out. The scheduler was so happy. Now he can set aside my file for the next month and we'll see where we are with the pandemic by then.
This is in Tallahassee where there have been several news stories about how the two hospitals are overloaded, nursing staff overwhelmed, etc.
The procedure is to fix a mid-line hernia which is a complication from a previous operation (removal of a cancerous kidney). So far the only symptom is the protrusion, no sign that the intestine is being affected, no pain. So it's not an emergency and can wait. I just wish I could get it fixed and get the healing over with.
On the plus side, I may have a very good reason to skip family Thanksgiving get togethers! Other than of course, the ongoing pandemic. 
Flooding in Pennsylvania
With the news now about the severe flooding in PA, and with the thread about new car shortages mentioning watching out for cars caught in the floods: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215817394 I'd mentioned my search for my first car in 1972 and how we had to watch out for flood damaged cars from up north. So I looked for info on those floods. Surprise! It was caused by Tropical Storm Agnes:
Updated: Jun. 20, 2019, 1:53 p.m. | Published: Jun. 20, 2019, 5:29 a.m.
By Deb Kiner | dkiner@pennlive.com
Heavy rain on June 22, 1972, was supposed to cause some flooding in the western part of the state – not here.
But, as it turned out, Hurricane Agnes, then Tropical Storm Agnes, had other ideas.
After the storm had been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, it began to move out to the Atlantic then curved back and pounded Pennsylvania with rain.
In the end, the storm dumped 19 inches of rain from Florida to New York. In Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna River crested at 32.8 feet in Harrisburg on June 24 – a whopping 15 feet above flood stage.
More: https://www.pennlive.com/life/2019/06/battered-lashed-flooded-and-paralyzed-agnes-devastated-pa-in-1972.html
Agnes came into the Florida Panhandle at Cape San Blas as a minimal Cat 1 hurricane on June 19, 1972. At the time I was living just off campus (Florida State University) in an old boarding house and had friends who were living further out of town in mobile homes. We decided that the safest option would be to stay in the university library which was normally open 24 hours a day and was a designated shelter. But for some reason, the university decided to close the library as the storm began to really hit the Tallahassee area. The students who lived out of town had no where to go and ended up getting shelter in some of the student dorms. I had to walk back to my creaky off campus boarding house in pouring rain - my shoes were ruined by the time I got home. Tallahassee did not lose power or have significant damage, so we were very lucky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Agnes
Important calendar note
February 22nd 2022 (2/22/2022) falls ona Tuesday so we will be able to call it 2's day - which is really keeping me going.
How to help with efforts in Afghanistan
This is from a Facebook post by my niece in law who is (was?) an annual Guest Artist at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music:
https://www.afghanamericans.org/
She also mentioned:
Also, if you speak Dari and English and want to help Afghans in Kabul who are seeking information re travel please message me.
If you can translate, please PM me and I will put you in touch with her.
UPDATE! Well, this is messed up - good news and bad news today
I've been getting tests to get cleared to have an operation. Apparently, once a cardiothoracic surgeon replaces your aortic valve every doctor is paranoid about putting you under anesthesia without a cardiologist's approval.
So last month I set up a series of tests - echocardogram, blood work, and new to me a nuclear stress test. The echo was no problem, blood work was a breeze. Today I got the last test - my heart is fine, no blockages, nothing to worry about (other than the irregular rhythm that the technician had to go ask about). I am cleared for surgery!
Yeah, but - and this is a very big BUT - the hospital is not allowing anything other than emergency surgeries right now because of the overload of Covidiot cases. So I don't know when I will be allowed to get the surgery. I've left a message with my surgeon and will probably hear back tomorrow. I guess I will be put on a waiting list and hope that the midline hernia does not push out more intestine or that the intestine does not get strangled and start to die.
Undate! The surgeon is still doing outpatient surgeries and mine can be outpatient! So right now they are contacting the cardiologist's office to get the approval on paper. Then they will call me back to schedule the surgery. Yeah! I can get it taken care of! 
We all know Lawrence O'Donnell from MSNBC and the show The West Wing
But did anyone here know that the name "Lawrence O'Donnell" was also a pseudonym for the writing pair Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore?
I didn't realize that until I was reading an anthology of early Science Fiction stories and one was attributed to the pair writing under that name!
"Vintage Season" is probably one of the most famous - published in 1946, it was later loosely adapted into the 1992 American film Timescape, also titled Grand Tour: Disaster in Time, starring Jeff Daniels.
Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken
This year for the first time in decades I'm growing my own herbs. Today's experiment with herbs was Lemongrass Chicken. I was happy to find this recipe at https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/vietnamese-lemongrass-chicken
Far too many lemongrass recipes also include hot peppers - something that I can't eat at all. This one has a lovely, lemony flavor and is easy to make. It calls for putting the chicken on skewers and grilling it - I didn't want to bother with that so I just dumped the chicken and marinade into a large chef's pan and cooked until done. Served over brown rice, it was great! We had green salad with tomatoes to complete our meal.
Our lemongrass is only about two feet tall so the bottom white parts that are used in the recipe were not very big. I used more of them. I saved the tops, cut them into about one inch pieces and made tea with some of them. Delicious!
Simon's Cat: PURRFECT STORM (Pupsitting: Part 3)
Correction - 40% of all Covid-19 cases worldwide in Texas, Florida, and Missouri
That was a quote stated on MSNBC a few minutes ago from someone at the White House Covid briefing. No source other than MSNBC live.
CORRECTION: 40% of all cases nationwide at 48:00 in this video:
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: Leon County, Florida
Member since: Tue Feb 12, 2008, 10:18 PM
Number of posts: 34,136
