Friday, January 23, 2009

The Bellybutton Debacle

So as you know, several weeks ago, I had my gallbladder removed. It was a quite painless process all in all, whose recovery only required me lying on my parent's couch for a few days under a blanket. Oh no - ANYTHNG but that! Ha ha. It was great, especially when my friends came over and I schooled them at Scrablle (EQUATION - first word, using up all my tiles = 77 points BITCHES).
I was back at work a week later and while my abs were still a little sore, really feel quite normal now. I went to go see the surgeon for a follow up on Monday, where he told me that my gallbladder had been 'really quite inflamed' upon its removal. So I think we can all agree that this was really for the best. He had me lie down so he could examine the 4 quite small incisions on my belly (its not like I'm a bikini wearing kind of girl, so I am really not broken up about this at all. I still win the scar war thanks to the one courtesy open heart surgery). They were still covered by small strips, and upon seeing them the surgeon merrily announced 'You don't need this anymore!' and removed them. He then said I was fine, I thanked him effusively, along with his secretary who had been quite patient though somehow unable to locate a fax for long periods of time, and then left.
On my way out, I stopped in to the washroom and decided to have a look at these incisions. The ones on my stomach all looked great, and then I looked down to the one in my belly button. Also looking gr.... wait.
My belly button was smaller. IS smaller. Continues to be smaller thanks to the larger incision which was made into it. It's not incredibly noticeable unless you really look. But I can tell. I was not warned that this would be the price to pay.
The roomie thought I was delusional for a day or two until our good friend, who had the surgery several years ago, came over and agreed with me. 
I haven't decided yet whether or not to sue.
(Kidding!)
(Or am I)
(This post was written as a means to prevent a post ranting about not being able to get into my lab to get work going in there due to the seemingly never ending construction/alterations being made. I may need to have words with someone come Monday if I can't get in then.)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Bad blogger

I've been bad.

I haven't been able to sit down and come up with a blog in the last little while. I got through the recovery from surgery quite well, was back at work one week later but maybe have been overdoing it a bit, am exhausted each day I come home. I'm getting stuff done though, despite unexpected roadblocks which include the PI in charge of the lab area I work in deciding to put in a door between two rooms, necessitating construction and dirt - which are not so good for running PCR reactions. So I'm writing. I'm mainly working on an article based on all my real time results, also need to start working on the poster version of it as I am going to Vancouver next month to present it! Am actually quite excited about that.

Beyond that, been doing lots of extracurricular stuff, it appears most of my Wednesday morning is going to be swallowed up by it. A while ago, one of the bloggers I read ( I just looked around, but can't find who. Someone in the universe of female scientist/grad student bloggers, sorry!) commented in her blog that she didn't think that extracurricular activities really helped you. I have a slightly different perspective, which may be in part due to the fact that as of right now, I don't really want a career in academia. I think it teaches you to work with people from all different parts of the university, to better understand how the university itself works, requires you to have excellent time management skills so that you aren't sacrificing your work for your other commitments, and also lets you flex both your team work and leadership muscles. I am currently applying for jobs outside of the academic stream (c'mon sweet government job, I just want to help my country... in a well organized, stable and convenient locale...) and it only helps me. I don't see how any of the above wouldn't help you in the academic stream either. As a professor, you do not spend most of your time in the lab, rather the opposite, and will be required to serve on committees, task forces, etc. Getting a sense of it early certainly couldn't help.

And when there are big men in coveralls drilling holes in your wall its an excuse to get away from Word and SPSS.

(P.S. due to me applying for jobs that may or may not relate to this country's government(s), I may be doing some editing of the blog. I stand behind all my opinions and don't believe they hurt me in any ways, I just may have gotten carried away here and there.)

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Minus one organ

I had my gallbladder removed today.
The saga of the gallbladder started in September, when only a few short weeks from returning south, I woke up one morning in the worst pain of my life. I almost thought I was dying. After trying to deal with extra strength tylenol and pepto bismol to deal with the nausea, I trucked myself up to the emergency room here in M-Ville. 
First of all, the last time I had seriously been in a hospital had been as a child and they treat you WAAAAY better, vs. assuming you're a responsible adults. My tears throughout the experience handily proved that really, I still needed popsicles.
Long story short, they discovered the pain was from gallstones that had escaped into my bile duct and were interfering with my digestive function. I spent the night in the ER, and then was told I could MAYBE have the stones out on Monday (I had been admitted on Wednesday). After an uncomfortable weekend in Ottawa, I returned and had them out. However, they found more stones and so determined that it would be best to have the whole gallbladder shebang out to prevent any further attacks, which I was all for. Had to wait until now, and so have spent the last few months fretting a bit about what I was eating and having days of feeling MISERABLE. I was nervous about the surgery today, but it went smoothly and now I'm looking forward to not being so neurotic about it after this. Am currently holed up in bed in M-ville, the parentals are here taking care of me and hopefully we will return to O-town tomorrow for further recuperation. It should take me about a week, and I even hope to do some of the work I completed NONE OF over the holidays. In any case, if I  get really bored they may be a lot more blogs. 
If you can eat fat today though, have some ice cream for me, that's a no no for at least a few days still :(.