Progression of an appendicitis scar

!!Due to graphic content, viewer discretion is advised.
Do NOT click on the link if you are easily upset.!!

Click here to see how my appendicitis scar has been doing.

And just in case anyone is wondering what those impressions vertical to the scar are, they are created by the medical tapes to prevent bulge.

Something about Appendicitis

There have been some inquiries regarding my departed angry flesh that does nothing. I guess people are curious because this is something 98% of the population will never have. Lucky them. I've heard a lot of the rest 2% describe the pain as "agonizing", "acute" or "just kill me", but maybe I'm half dead, maybe I'm numb, I thought I was simply having a stomachache. Looking back, that should have been alarming since I have a stomach of iron, but who would ever guessed when you have indigestion, a piece of you is actually getting inflamed and unhappy? Two days later, I sat in my office, wondering why the sense of needing to go to the bathroom wouldn't go away. I pressed on my belly, figured out it's the lower right area that hurt most. I thought to myself, wow, isn't that where the appendix is? As the doctor later told me, it sure is. And then I found myself in an ER, fiddling with my fingers for 5 hours before they found a doctor to operate on me.

This whole event enlightened me with a few things.

1. Appendicitis could start with a stomachache. It could be hard to detect. Suck it.


2. If you go to the hospital 3 days into the appendicitis, your belly will be flooded with dirty water produced by the equally dirty appendix. At this point, doctors with less experience will suspect your location of appendix is "abnormal" because you hurt almost everywhere in your lower abdomen where they poke relentlessly.


3. It takes only seconds for the blood to go to your heart. The imaging fluid they shot me with felt warm, and that was how long it took for me to feel it in my heart. So don't ever piss off anyone good with poison injection.


4. When they put you to sleep, you're out like a light switch. If only that's how fast I fall asleep every night.


5. And the anesthesia makes you puke when you wake up. Your entire system is at a halt, so you have to keep walking and walking and walking to wake your intestines up. The downside of this approach is it nauseates you too.


6. Sneezing and coughing right after the surgery won't blow you up. It hurts like hell, yes. Explosion effects, no.


7. It takes about a month or two for the appetite to come back. That really sucks.


8. The scar tissue will form a ridge inside your belly. It's fun to feel and all, but I can't wait to bid it goodbye in 6 months. Ciao. Buh-bye. Adios.

My conclusion is that the older you get the worse an appendectomy could be. You heal so much more slowly. I know the lacking appetite part is very appealing to a lot of people, and you will sport a neat scar you can brag about, but take it from me, it's not worth it. But then, it's not like you can have a say in it if the angry flesh decides to rebel. To health.

Gimme back my 2kg

So I'm on this rigorous weight gain regime in a long shot to get fat. A lot of people must be royally pissed off by now after finishing my first sentence. But really, a weight problem is a weight problem. Being too skinny is just as much of a problem as being overweight. People call you a liar when you say you've never been on a diet. Your mom is upset that you consume all that food without any visible results. Your nephew refuses your hugs because you're so bony that he can't find a nice soft place to rest his cute little head on. It is simply harmful to your social life. Anyway, this whole thing just got out of control after I got an appendectomy. What happens after they cut you open and take out a piece of angry flesh is you can't eat and digest well for a period of time. Probably the revenge of the appendix for being ditched after doing nothing for 30 years. So there went some more of my desperately needed weight. I can't say that makes me a skeleton, but pretty close. BMI-wise, I just plunged from "underweight" (possibly anorexic) to border on "starvation."

Source: Wikipedia, Body mass index

To tackle this problem, I started doing what all people working on weight management do: reading the calories information on the back of the package. The higher, the better. Believe me or not, when you eat because you have to and not because you want to, the joy and gratification wears off pretty soon. I complained to G, and was met with a snapping response: "What do you think this is? It's WAR!! You don't eat for pleasure! It's just like going on a diet. You suffer!" Thanks G. Now I remember why you are my best friend. And hopefully my lost 2kg comes back to me pretty soon. I want to get off this horrendous diet.

Typhoon categories - the way they are supposed to be

Ask anyone who has a job but doesn't have the luxury to work from home and they will tell you this: the weather bureau doesn't know jack about categorizing typhoons. How can you measure a typhoon by its strength alone?! This system leaves out so many important factors. Unbelievable. This is how a better system should look like.

• Category "We Luv U":
  Little wind, little rain, no damage, and paid days off. Please come again soon.
  


• Category "Nuisance":
  Some wind, some rain, some or no damage, no paid days off, and lots of wet pants and musky socks. Smelly and uncomfy and unsanitary but basically harmless.
  


• Category "Average Joe":
  Strong wind, heavy rain, lots of damage and paid days off. Nothing special about them.
  


• Category "Frigging Useless":
  Strong wind, heavy rain, lots of damage, arrival on weekends and holidays, and tens of millions of grumpy people stranded indoors. Please go away and stay away, you worthless mass of clouds.

*************************************************
Supertyphoon Sepat
Typhoon warning: Friday, 8/17/2007 night through Sunday, 8/19/2007
Movement: NW 18km/hr
Maximum Wind Speed: 51m/s
Gust: 63m/s
Radius of 15m/s: 250km
*************************************************

My Associate Totoro

This is such a weird thing to say, but here it is: I think I work with a Totoro. Totoro has small beady eyes, a bulging belly and a distinctive child-like state of mind. It is amazing how in the anime land, this creature makes kids and adults alike wiggle in pure excitement; in the grownup world, not so much. Totoro likes loud music and entertaining phone conversations with friends while everybody else eavesdrops (and no, you can't opt out). His most outstanding characteristic, however, is the chant-like ohhhhhhhhhhhms. From what I can tell, the tones vary depending on the music he is listening to or the thoughts he has at that very moment. Back when I heard the first ohm, I thought it came from the very core of the earth 'cause everything was pretty much shaking. Maybe this is how he connects with his inner self. Or he's communicating with a greater existence. Whatever. These funny sounds always crack me up. I just love such mysteries as a 30 something grownup Totoro.