Well, we're back in Maine for vacation. It's been a very odd year, and not too pleasant.

Dad passed away in January finally falling victim to the many complications of peripheral circulatory disease. He was rushed to the hospital on Christmas eve with sever stomach cramps and it turned out they had to do emergency surgery to remove part of his intestine. While he was still out from that they had problems with his kidneys shutting down and over the course of the next 3 weeks performed dialysis repeatedly to try and clean the toxins out of his system. He never really regained consciousness after his initial surgery so we didn't ever get to say goodbye or have any final conversations at all. He passed away about a week before my birthday on the 14th of January as many of his other organs just shut down completely.

I was taken totally by surprise with the whole incident as I expected him to be around for many years to come. We thought he was past the worst as he had found a doctor that saved his leg from having to be amputated and managed to restore a lot of the blood flow to his lower legs. I guess it was just his time. We weren't close in my childhood but we had mended our fences years ago and gotten to know each other better. I like to think he was proud of me working hard and raising a family even if he didn't understand the more creative and odd side to my character. I'll miss him.

I had my own brush with the reaper Memorial day weekend/week when what felt like a pinched nerve in my back turned into what I thought was a heart attack (pain shooting between my shoulders, across the bottom of my sternum and causing my lungs to spasm). My wife and mother-in-law got me to the emergency room where after some tests they scheduled me for emergency gall bladder removal.

My gall bladder was so infected that it had gone mostly necrotic (the organ died inside my body). They now take them out through your belly button...it is somewhat akin to having a bowling ball pulled through your belly button on the pain scale. Ouch. Of course being "Special" Ed I have to do everything in a big way. The bile duct was so infected they couldn't get a good seal so I was leaking bile after the surgery and eventually had to have a second procedure done to insert a stint overlapping the stitched area of my bile duct, lucky me again.

After the whole thing with my father I was understandably freaked out about emergency surgery, extended hospital stay, etc on top of my already stressful year. Eventually after they had scheduled a second stint procedure the leakage stopped and I was allowed to go home (with a tube stuck in my gut for an additional week). I think the tube removal actually felt weirder and hurt worse than the other procedures, I still ache if I lift too much weight. If I had waited a few more days before going to a normal doctor/emergency room I might not be here to whine about my life. I'm very glad to have avoided the long dirt nap as it were. I feel really bad for my kids as they were extremely worried, especially my 5 year old. He was afraid to hug me for fear of hurting me (not to mention being disturbed by the odd tube sticking out of Dad).

I guess I should look on the bright side (like in the Monty Python movie), I lost 27 pounds on the hospital surgery/liquid diet and managed not to die. Oh, and I was voted nicest patient by popular acclaim of my nurses and doctors, quite the consolation prize after a 12 day hospital stay! Enough of the morbid introspection and complaining. Move along, nothing to see here (well, until the Maine vacation nature hike photos start getting posted).

Remember to live every day as if it is your last and to tell the people you love how you really feel. Life is too short for all the screwing around we do and the suffering we cause.

--- Not-so-Evil Ed