September 23, 2009

At the Black Wasp Café...

DSC04083

... please carry on without me. As I told you last night, I'm getting surgery on my toe this morning. I'm due at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. Don't weep for me, just keep the blog going. I'll be back as soon as I can. Possibly on drugs.

39 comments:

KCFleming said...

May the blade be unerring,
and the surgeon true;
may the pain be very small,
and the recovery renew.

Blessings.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Get simple surgeries while you can, you may have to wait in line shortly.

Anonymous Patriot said...

Oh Lawd. Ann on drugs.

Pete said...

Will we be able to tell the difference?

KCFleming said...

I say live better through chemistry.



Failing that, try electricity.
And don't neglect physics; gravity matters.

Cedarford said...

Good luck! Hope Meade is around to keep you amused while you have limited mobility.

Does U Wisc at Madison have a courtesy shuttle for the handicapped if you are "mobility limited" for a few days or it's just a pure pain in the metatarsals to walk?

"I didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power-chair! The saps paying taxes for my medicare and my insurer paid for it all!!"

jayne_cobb said...

The weather no longer sucks in Pittsburgh and the G20 starts tomorrow.

On the up side I had a class canceled because of it, on the down side I may be overwhelmed by anarchists/communists/hippies if I go anywhere downtown.

Unknown said...

Tape what she says when she comes out of anesthesia, Meade. It will come in handy when you either need a laugh or a great comment.

WV "menol" - The way Ann will sound coming out from under.

MadisonMan said...

Can I assume you're taking a furlough day today?

Ger said...

What...you're not going to live blog the procedure????

blake said...

Possibly on drugs.

Cue the sitar music.

KCFleming said...

It's simultaneously wondrously amazing and crushingly dull how much the big toe matters.

It's the body's Atlas, and when he shrugs, one becomes immediately aware.

Rialby said...

*TROLLBOT* I am ashamed of you Ann for running your blog this way and then claiming you have to leave for "surgery". For shame, Ann. For shame.

--btw, best of luck, hope all goes well.

ricpic said...

Wikipedia's suggestion if a black wasp has wandered indoors:

Turn out the lights in succession (starting at the back of the room and moving the line of dimness toward the door). Encourages it to fly back outside toward the sunlight.

Commit that to memory...just in case. Har har.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I’m letting my hair grow...

So I can let my hair down.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The big toe represents big government.

bearbee said...

Anyone have Prepaid/Pay-As-You-Go cell phone recommendations?

former law student said...

I already expressed my good wishes for the professor on the other thread.

News for the crack mc -- it's not just for the French any more: More and more Germans are loyal to homeopathy, according to a survey done by the Instituts fuer Demoskopie Allensbach.

Thirty years ago, only 76% of (West) Germans were familiar with homeopathy; now 92% are. Back in 1970, only one in four Germans took homeopathic remedies, now more than half do. Most of these were led to homeopathy by the personal recommendations of acquaintances, pharmacists, and even physicians.

bagoh20 said...

Take the blue pill...er red one, no, no the blue one, yea that's it. Now, take another one.

Anonymous said...

fls, when we lived in Germany, every doctor appointment started with a discussion in his office, sitting in leather chairs and having a beverage.

Then after the doctor had a sense of your entire circumstance, who you were, and what was ailing you, he would invite you back to the colder, more sterile exam room and do the poking.

One doctor in Frankfurt zeroed in on the root cause of my wife's respiratory problem, just sitting in his office talking about her live and her routine.

So, after living in Germany, with this and other experiences, even I believe more in homeopathic medicine.

KCFleming said...

Homeopathy is based on an impossible theory, that a remedy for illness can result from mixing one part of an ingredient to one trillion, trillion parts of water, a dilution unlikely to contain any of the original substance.

Homeopaths claim the water retains a 'memory' of the active ingredient which helps fight illness.

If homeopathy had any proof it worked, it would deserve a Nobel prize because it would rewrite the laws chemistry and physics.

MadisonMan said...

Perhaps homeopathy can help Mackenzie Phillips. But she seems to be addicted to publicity, so maybe not.

KCFleming said...

Ernst-Singh Homeopathic Challenge

16 June 2008
"Professor Edzard Ernst says he will award £10,000 to the first person who can show the controversial treatment is better than a placebo in a scientifically controlled trial."

veni vidi vici said...

Quayle:

That just sounds like good, experienced doctoring at work. My brother's a doc in rural Ontario and is the same kind of "get to know the patient" kind of guy. Insights from those discussions are set against years of experience and ongoing learning/education and used to aid in making a diagnosis.

It gives me more faith in doctors who with time and experience have maintained a passion for what they do, rather than declined into a passion only for what they can charge. Homeopathy, in that instance, has little if anything to do with it.


wv: "verairou" -- Schkooby Dhoubi Dhou, verairou?"

Meade said...

Out of surgery, resting, everything went perfectly. Thanks for everyone's well wishes.

veni vidi vici said...

By the way, "black wasp"?

Racist!




wv: "thamy" -- What Tammy called herself after an extended trip to India.

Joan said...

By now Ann's surgery is probably over. I've had foot surgery and recovery is neither fun nor easy. Every time your feet are lower than your heart, the wound throbs. Not to mention that blood circulation isn't the greatest in your feet, so healing is slow. I hope Ann has a complete and speedy recovery, and that her schedule will allow her to keep her foot up almost all the time.

Regarding homeopathy, I first heard of it about 20 years ago when an old friend from high school started to swear by it. I don't see how anyone who has even heard of the scientific method can believe that it works by anything other than placebo effect. A few years ago I was distraught when my kids' pediatrician left to join a homeopathic practice. I had always had a good opinion of her, but now all the care we had received from her suspect. Fortunately the kids are OK, but I feel like we dodged a bullet.

Homeopathy is about the cash. There's no other explanation for it.

Pogo: I say live better through chemistry.

Amen. Without it, I wouldn't be living at all.

MadisonMan said...

resting

Yes, but what is althouse doing?

Ba-dump. Thank you very much, I'll be here all night. Please tip your waitress.

(Thanks for the report)

bagoh20 said...

Nothing great can be built without a firm footing, but be careful of the consequences of getting your foot in the door. Congrats Ann! Now build on that toehold to recovery.

Chip Ahoy said...

Muammar Gaddafi with his jet-black hair + black brimless flat-top hat = droopy Mickey Mouse ears.

I used to have Mickey Mouse ears. Also had a devil Halloween costume with a pointy red tail that I used for pajamas when Halloween was over. I used to run around the house with both the mouse ears and the devil tail pants until the tail fell off the pants and the ensemble was ruined.

That's what Gaddafi reminds me of.

Chip Ahoy said...

By now Ann's surgery is probably over.

How optimistic. My guess would be the receptionist has just been handed back a clipboard filled with unnecessary information the hospital already has in another another department.

A nurse comes into the room, pulls out a black marker and writes on Ann's good toe, "NOT THIS TOE"

bagoh20 said...

"I used to run around the house with both the mouse ears and the devil tail pants"

Clearly a statement against corporate greed. Michael Moore still wears that for the secret tingly times.

David said...

Is the black wasp named Barack?

Rialby said...

Vera Baker has made her way back onto the wires. Where does it go from here? Will somone pick up the thread? Enquiring minds want to know.

jeff said...

Getting to know the patient. GOOD
Homeopathy medicine. BAD
OTOH, I suppose it keeps the prescription drug costs down, with water being more or less free.

I have my right big toe that will not straighten out thanks to Dr. George Tiller's inaction when I went to see him due to a bit of childhood stupidity back in the early 70's. I always figured I could find a John Edwards type and retire on the millions from my malpractice lawsuit. So much for that. You always want a good, working Sergeant Hulka.

Joan said...

A nurse comes into the room, pulls out a black marker and writes on Ann's good toe, "NOT THIS TOE"

When I went for a lumpectomy a couple of years ago, the marker was purple and I got to write "NOT THIS ONE" myself. I remember thinking it was both funny and deadly serious.

Christy said...

While deadheading flowers this morning I saw a humongous fuzzy red and black ant crawling atop the retaining wall. Turns out to be a wasp called a Red Velvet Ant, a.k.a. a Cow Killer. Only the males have wings. The good news is that they are parasites that eat the larvae of ground nesting wasps.

rhhardin said...

Iran bans mannequins without hijabs.

wv. nucki, Middle Eastern accent.

blake said...

I can't believe everyone here is dissing placebos.

I love placebos.

Also, snake oil.