Larparscopic Appendectomy and other VERY BAD things in NYC

What a contrast a few days make. On early Monday morning (6/8) I felt this pain on the front part of my stomach. I didn't really know what it was. After a another few hours I then started to feel nauseated. I was worried I had food poisoning again. The hell I went through back in Oct 2008 on my work trip to Germany was creeping back into my mind. This time, I wanted to fight it with all that I had. I didn't have that much to give though.

I wanted to be better for the next day as I was going to be at the Atlantic Design & Manufacturing show and on my feet the entire day. I took a bath and the warm water on my stomach felt better. I left the house thinking I was better but walking from the subway to the Javitz Center was a task in itself. I got to the booth and started feeling the nausea again. Around 12:30 or so I went to search for some probiotic yogurt. I had been driking Kefir all day Monday and brought some with me to the show but ran out. I went to a grocery store/eatery and bought a Dannon yogurt and some chicken noodle soup. I began to feel sick again and had no appetite.

I left the trade show around 2pm and I barely made it to the subway. I got in and my co-worker told me I should get it check out since she thought it was appendicitis. I got back to Nathan's apt and slept for a few hours, laying on my stomach since that was the best position to make me feel good. I decided to just go to the ER at St. Vincent's Hospital about 5-6 blocks away.

I checked in and after waiting an hour I was given a bed. A few nurses talked to me about my symptoms and drew blood and urine. I then waited another hour to be seen by a doctor. He said I most likely had acute appendcitis and they would have to have surgery to remove it. I got an x-ray done and was supposed to have a catscan. Within another hour I was booked in surgery and they didn't give me the catscan.

I have never had a surgery before other than my wisdom teeth taken out. It was weird but the whole thing felt like it took 5 min. I simply closed my eyes and then was woken up in the recovery room. I had the nurse call my mother and J*****. My cell phone was already locked away somewhere. I stayed over night and then I was discharged around 11am. The most interesting thing happened was when my doctor (Dr. Justin Steele) who performed the surgery told me that the appendix was in very rough shape and almost gangrene-ish. He said he was surprised I didn't have symptoms a lot earlier than Monday.

Dr. Steele's words made me think about my supposed "food poisoning" sickness I had while in Germany in Oct 2008. Was this related to that? Had I gone untreated for all this time with an appendix that was ready to burst at any moment? If untreated an appendix rupture will result in death after 8 hours. I am so glad I went with my gut, pardon the pun, and decided to go the ER route.

Since I just got my new insurance through work, there was a slight problem getting all the correct information. I will have to pay $250 since I was admitted to the hospital but all other services are covered at 100 percent. Let's see if this actually is the case. Healthcare in this country is fucked up.

It's so ironic that on Monday I watched the shocking Michael Moore documentary Sicko while sprawled out on the couch in pain. In the film Moore showed us how countries like Canada, England and France have it made when it comes to universal health coverage. In England, you not only don't have to pay when you visit the hospital for any service, but if you don't have enough fare for a train or bus, an actual cashier will PAY YOU MONEY! Crazy. I really hope under the Obama administration we can get universal coverage. It's nice to dream anyway.

Loving every minute in NYC

I am havinc such a great time in New York. I was able to fly in on Saturday since I had to be here for a trade show on Tuesday morning. It was the same price if I left Monday morning, so I thought, "Why waste time when I could stay with Nathan in the West Village?" I'm glad my boss allowed this. And I am not even staying in the hotel room when the show starts on Tuesday ($319 a night at the Westin in Times Square). So I am saving the company money and everyone is happy.

Heck, I didn't even need a cab to the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana since I parked at my work garage, which is 1 mile from the airport. I researched and took the shuttle that runs every 30 min from the front of the Marriott, right next to my office garage in Irvine. Door to door from my apt in Newport Beach to the airport it was 30 min. Then from Laguardia I took this express bus that was only $12 to get to Grand Central. From there I took the subway to the West Village.

It got me thinking, it's amazing how wasteful people can be in Corporate America. People opt to stay at big, fancy hotels when there are so many cheaper alternatives that would save corporations a lot of money and keep a higher profit margin. Granted, not everyone has friends who have empty guest rooms that are convenient to the subway, but you can totally stay at a million hotels in much hipper and interesting neighborhoods.

It reminds me of a time when I traveled to NYC for a tradeshow in 2001 when I was a marketing assistant at now defunct NewsEdge in Burlington, MA. I opted to stay in a hotel through some online hotel site right in Washington Square. It was only $152 a night compared to the $279 per night hotel near the site of the trade show in Times Square. I took the subway everywhere (cheaper than taxis). Bottom line: I wasn't wasting company resources. I have been at group dinners with sales executives and they would order $50 and $100 bottles of wine. They would order like 10 appetizers and the $35 steak. They would order like 4-5 alcoholic beverages each! They felt entitled to do this. I'm sitting there thinking, "Wow, we are about to have layoffs, the economy is shit and you're ordering a $35 steak and 5 drinks on company dime???"

Times are tough, but I know how to "make it work" while traveling on business. Imagine if most people took this approach. Imagine if most people weren't trying to take advantage. Companies would save millions of dollars. I could be a personal consultant and help companies strategize in their corporate travel. If a conscious effort was made a real impact could be made at organizations.

I really love NYC and totally would live here if it wasn't so cold in the winter. They should uproot NYC and place it where Los Angeles is and everyone would be happy. Today I went up to 125th Street in Harlem with my friend Jason to see at the Studio Museum. It was several videos by performance artist Kalup Linzy, who dresses in drag and performs several songs and skits. It was pretty funny. He has a lot of stuff on myspace and Youtube. Oh, and this was totally FREE. We then walked down through Central Park and saw some cool waterfalls before getting too tired (we walked 3 miles) and caught a subway back to the West Village around 77th Street.

I went with my friend Anh to Rice to Riches in SoHo and got their Rocky Road flavor. This is one of my favorite dessert places. What a unique concept. You have about 12 different flavors of rice pudding and they put it in a plastic container that is reuseable. I now have two. A small creation is $6 and worth every penny. There's a sign on the wall that says "No Skinny Bitches" so my friend Anh took a photo of me in front of it. I will post once I get that photo after she posts to Facebook.