Update, Vacay style

Hi y'all - yes, still here. Actually managed to get to the office for one day -meetings took up most of the day, but then it was good to get back into it and stay in the loop. Now onto family vacation. Don't you just love the summer?

Following the last post...

Cairo Time - I'm officially in love with Patricia Clarkson (who happens to be the busiest actress this year... can't wait to see her in "One Day" and "Friends with Benefits"). Gone are the days of the great restrained romantic movie.. and then comes this. A love story to Cairo as well. Love.

For the record, I hosted a book club for "One Day" the book... and will post about it later. Love again.

The Fighter - Wow. No other words. No wonder so many Oscar nods.

Toodles.

Cholecystectomy and Bad Movie Reviews

Abdominal surgery equals couch potato. Despite my best intentions, there's no avoiding this really. Although I have been getting out every day for an errand or two (or three - there's always something to pick up) I'm rather exhausted when I get home, and I wonder what my problem is. It's annoying to no end.

But along with prime time catching up with old blogging friends, reading books (some book reviews to come), I've managed to watch some DVDs and have discovered that cholecystectomy has done something - at least temporarily- to my taste in films.

Case in point - Day 2 post surgery: I LOVED the movie "The Dilemma" starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James. I mean, it also starred Jennifer Connolly and Winona Ryder, who I've missed (she had such a great start before shopping dysfunction...). The premise of "what would you do if you found out your best friend's wife was having an affair" provided all sorts of comedic opportunity. And I laughed, to the point of having to clutch at my stomach in case of stitch-rupture.


Second case in point - Day 3 post surgery: I LOVED "How Do You Know" starring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson EVEN MORE. It's a James L Brooks film with wonderful actors - of course I should have loved it! Reese Witherspoon - the tiny thing, yeah, she's believable as a Pro-softball player faced with forced upon retirement; Owen Wilson - the lovable cad, yes, he worked for me; Paul Rudd - what's not to love about lovable Paul Rudd? Yeah, he could be a duped CEO with a loving but dysfunctional relationship with his loud angry father (yes, that would be Jack.)
Rotten Tomatoes gave both those movies squashed green tomatoes.



Case #3 - One week post surgery: I DID NOT LIKE "Somewhere" by Sofia Coppola. I had been looking forward to seeing this film since I first found out about it at the end of last year - I read a write up about Stephen Dorff's return to the big screen while on a work trip in Europe, and some sexy photos of him in those European magazines added to my anticipation of course. I was looking forward to some touching father/daughter scenes between him and Elle Fanning (gorgeous girl - Dakota must be jealous!) and although I must admit they did have some great chemistry, overall the film was one big SNOREFEST for me. Maybe I'm still too out of it to catch the symbolism and the subtleties (yeah, I know the "movie star escaping the trappings of celebrity for something real like the love of their child" wasn't so subtle) and it is a quiet film. But just way too quiet.

Would I normally love movies #1 and #2 - uh, likely not LOVE. Would I normally love movies like "Somewhere" - well yes, I would say so. For example, I really enjoyed the movie "Control", the story of Ian Curtis/ Joy Division that I finally watched a couple of weeks ago. Another quiet type of movie, shot in black and white actually, but it was different and I loved it.


So along with my gallbladder, it looks like my taste in film has also gone by the wayside. Hopefully the effect isn't irreversible.

Let's test it - next up are Cairo Time, The Fighter, Creation, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

A rabbit out of a hat

Hey-I'm on the other side. Four pokes to my midsection and I'm none the worse for wear. Well, relatively speaking anyway. Thanks for all your words of support-it really helped as I was surprisingly nervous. I suppose that even though it was day surgery it is still quite invasive and major in its own way, despite how common it is, particularly in women. My admitting nurse told me there was only one nurse in the surgery department that day who still had her gallbladder -amazing.

My surgery was delayed about an hour -something about a code red in the hospital (ie fire alarm) not allowing them to prep patients for surgery. Awww come onnnnnn -just kidding. But it was rather unnerving hearing this alarm go on and on and on for about 45 minutes before they moved me to the next "station". The worst part was when they took my glasses before leading me to the operating table -blind much??
Once they hooked me up to the anaesthetic and I took a couple of deep breaths I was out.

When I woke up I felt like I'd been hit by a Mack truck. I saw the other assisting doctor give me a thumbs up, saying "We got it all out-it was HUGE!". My doctor confirmed for Ian later that it was indeed "very large" but he didn't have to make the incision any bigger than usual. It's amazing what modern surgical techniques can accomplish these days. I don't even have stitches steri strips are what's holding the holes together. Amazing yet again. As the nurse told me it's like some sort of magic show -all done in the dark with cameras and video screens and presto out it comes. Sorry if it's TMI.

So it's done and I'm on the mend. Although it is incredible how everything is connected to your midsection. Something as simple as sleeping is even affected -I can't get used to sleeping on my back!

Did some work today but it's so deceptive-I feel almost normal, except for minor itching and pain (I weaned myself off oxycontin pretty quickly) but I'm so exhausted after just spending a couple hours on emails and budgets. It's tough to slow down after going at top speed for the last couple of years.

Yeah I know -I should milk it as long as I can! Skim milk, that is...

The Biggest Ever ...

"Hey Karen, haven't seen you in a while - wow, you're looking great - so trim!"

"Thanks, I know I've lost weight. I can actually get into some outfits that I haven't worn since before I had the L-boy. To tell you the truth I weigh about what I did on my wedding day "

How wonderful - there's a silver lining to everything I suppose. It's too bad that I got here by not being able to eat properly for the last couple of months. Not eating is highly overrated.

I'm having surgery tomorrow.

*****

Book Clubs are Hazardous for Your Health

There's this thing called complacency. Complacency mixed with a little vino while noshing on mini pizzas and samosas during an enthusiastic discussion about "The Forgotten Garden", combine that with excitement about the Royal Wedding which was coming up the next day...well, let's just say that can create havoc on an unsuspecting gallbladder.

Yes, remember that little episode? That was over two years ago, and what followed was the darkest period of my life. Little wonder that I wasn't in such a hurry back then to go within a one metre radius of a hospital for elective surgery.

I guess there's no thwarting mother nature. So despite my best efforts with watching my rich, fatty food intake over the past couple of years, it's come back to bite me.

*****

"So what were you doing during the Royal Wedding?"

Well I certainly won't forget April 29, 2011. Nothing like a gallbladder attack to wake one up for historic nuptials. Hey, I was up anyway. I promised myself that if I could get through the pain, I would make an apointment with my doctor to get this looked at. Stat.

*****

"Oh, what's this?"

Not the most comforting words from your surgeon. I figured it wasn't a great thing to have something palpable down the belly way but assumed it was a result of the gallbladder issues.

Cue the CT scan, which ultimately proved that it was indeed my offending organ. It's just that they're not normally so freakishly huge.

*****

Tomorrow afternoon I should feel lighter, both physically and metaphorically. The relief from the chronic pain and relief from the worry of diet is so welcome. The irony of losing weight in time for bikini season, but having surgical scars to show for it, is not lost on me.

Who am I kidding? I'm too old to be wearing a bikini anyway.

I'm looking forward to having a Dairy Queen chocolate dipped ice cream cone. And some Bodyjam to go with that. Summer won't start for me until then.

Walk

Baby Steps. Learning to blog again.

Yes, I'm back from an over four month hiatus.

In that time, my incompetence as a mommy blogger has been evidenced by the following:

• Blogher ads officially requested that I remove their link. That's okay - I was making less than zero revenue;
• I didn't provide any witty anecdotes about a great family ski vacation in Tremblant (well, I didn't ski, but it was fun nonetheless)... no fun pics (including space age inflatable leg boots a la "Lost in Space" that encased my tired legs during a spa treatment), no oohing and ahhing about the private hot tub and the wonderful accommodations, the non-stop gondola rides with the girlie, the pride in seeing my boy survive a bloody ski-to-the lip incident only to pick up and continue another 3 hours of snowboarding...
• Also absent - posts about major life milestones for not just one -the horror- but both of my kids:

My girlie lost her first baby tooth .... and now she's on the verge of losing the second;

My boy turned eleven. He's a tween now, people, and overnight he began eating two dinners and sleeping in every morning;

• I didn't weigh in on any of the hot parenting topics such as the TigerMom/Fun Mom debate - itching, just itching to get in on it but alas, left it too late;
• I missed writing about the beautiful Royal Wedding:
• I didn't reminisce about how I woke up way early to watch the other fairytale Royal wedding as a teen.
• I did not dish about how gorgeous Kate is and how I wholly approve of pretty much all of her fashion choices,
• Didn't note that William is still handsome despite starting to look more like his father than his mother these days ...
• (when we get totally caught up later, you'll understand why I was other wise occupied during the Wedding Day);
• Both US and Canadian versions of So You Think You Can Dance have started and I've said big, fat, nada...
• I didn't mention with glowing pride that both kids got A+ grades on their report cards... (oh, I guess I just did)
• I haven't gone on and on and on about gorgeous, spouse-endorsed crush - he speaks French, Mon Dieu - Bradley the Coop
• We lost a household member (poor Goldie, RIP) but gained a couple new ones. Did. Not. Blog. About. It.

My bad. But here we are.

And what would a post from me be without the occasional musical reference?

I've rediscovered the Foo Fighters. Their performance on SNL around Easter time, sealed it - they need to be on our couples' concert list soon (this just in - found out that I'm traveling when they're playing the ACC in Toronto come August - not happy that the Man may be going without me * sob *).

Can't think of a cooler alt. Dad in their 40s than Dave Grohl.

Enjoy.