Now we wait

Hey there readers! It’s been a minute since I wrote. Last week was a roller coaster ride, as I had to re-enter the local hospital on Sunday to have my feeding tube re-inserted. First I had to wait until the next day for surgery, then, when they were unsuccessful, I had to wait another day to be transferred to a different hospital for a specialist to try to reinsert a feeding tube. That one worked, and I am able to use it to “eat” everyday. Now some of you may be asking- why not just chow down on your favorite foods?

A little difficult to explain, but basically a combination of no sense of taste, and an excess of phlegm in the back of my throat makes it almost impossible to choke down anything. And then it comes back up again. Yuck! I’m told these can take 4-6 months to recover. I will be doing my best to lose this tube ASAP, believe me. There are a host of foods, many sugar or grease based, that I am looking forward to enjoying. What would be your first meal if you had to wait 6 months for it?

Now I am really feeling pretty good otherwise. I have my “PhlegmSucker 3000” with me, but everything else is in good shape. I can do pretty much everything, although I get tired easily. I’ve been sitting on my butt so much the last few months, I have to rebuild my stamina. Luckily, the store is humming along without me. That’s good- we have a couple of young women (twins!) who are dependable and handle things pretty well. Plus, since my voice is still coming back slowly (very hoarse) I doubt my sales skills will be as helpful.

On a different note: am I crazy, or does having 24/7 news and sports really not helpful at all? When I was a kid (100 years ago) we had to wait until 6:00 p.m. for the news. Then some stations crept up with a 5:30 p.m., then a 5:00 p.m…but still, there was rarely anything happening that couldn’t wait until the evening news. 7:00 p.m. was for national and international news. And if there was something Really important, then they would break in to your show with a breaking news bulletin!

Sports, too, rarely had (or has) anything happening that couldn’t wait until later. I admit I find myself sometimes looking at sports headlines several times a day out of sheer boredom, but it’s entirely unnecessary! There is not that much to talk about! Baseball is still in spring training, basketball is okay but not in playoffs yet. Football had a free agency period, and now talks incessantly about the draft that is over 30 days away. Yawn. I suppose I could turn to 24/7 weather coverage, since that is such an exciting topic. Wow, it’s cold today.

I propose we scale all of these back to 30 mins. That’s my attention span, and interest in all of them. Of course, with my newly granted powers of dictator, I would eliminate most of the cable channels and cut the cost of subscribing to multiple streaming services. Somehow or other, when the cable people stopped taking $200 a month for basic services that included 100+ channels you never watched, now we add all the streaming we think we need to cost over $200 a month. Progress?

Signing off- I’ve gotta dump a cardboard container of high-calorie, high protein shake into my belly. You all take care, okay?