For those of you just joining us, I usually post 2-3 times every month.  You may have noticed an almost two month layoff.  Hopefully you did because that means you actually visit here regularly :).  I enjoy creating new content and updating my site regularly but sometimes life takes over and some things need to be put aside.  Unfortunately, this blog was one of those things.  Until now that is!

Layoff Issue #1 – Health Problems

For most of my life I’ve been pretty healthy.  I even had a doctor once tell me that I’m freakishly healthy.  Well, no more.  Yes I’ve had surgery on my spine and a few broken bones here and there in my 45+ years on Earth, but this summer, for the first time, I’ve had something surgically removed – my gallbladder.

Anyone who knows me well knows my stomach and bowels are quite irritable.  I believe in the medical dictionary under IBS there is a nice photo of me.  Turns out, most of my recent troubles were caused by gall stones.  They hurt.  A lot.  After a couple of years of on-and-off symptoms, I finally had the surgery this past August.  It did not go exactly as planned.

They took out my gallbladder and I woke up to hear that because I have two cystic bile ducts (supposed to have only one), the procedure ran long and I had to stay overnight.  Fine.  But then I woke up and had tests scheduled so I was unable to eat.  I had an MRI and then a hida scan which determined that I had a small leak.  Cue overnight number two.

The next day I had a wonderful procedure, an endoscopic one.  They would shove a camera down my throat and then put in a tiny tube (like a miniature coffee straw) to reroute the leak.  I would be out during that procedure (thank God) but because they were working very close to the pancreas, I need to have some meds to prevent pancreatitis.  Needless to say, those meds are not given orally, if you know what I mean.

After another night in the hospital, I was released on day 4.  I was laid up for about 2 weeks before I could really do anything.  Then, after 4 weeks, I had to go in and have the coffee straw removed.  That meant more drugs up my butt and another round of anesthesia.  And that was the end of it.  No more leak.  No more gallbladder.  Tummy issues gone (mostly).

Layoff Issue #2 – Laziness and Music

Let me be honest here.  After the surgery, I had all the time in the world to just sit here and write my heart out.  Unfortunately, I spent most of that time either in bed or in my lounge chair playing Xbox games.  Sitting upright and standing were pretty painful after more than a few minutes.  That said, I should have taken some time to write more.  I enjoy writing and even have a couple of novel ideas in my head.

I also had a ton of gigs in September and October.  Those two months are both very busy for gigging violinists, and this year was no exception.  Now that I am fully recovered, I have managed my time better.  I am still busy, however, now I have time set aside for writing and for practicing.  That is a good thing.  And, it’s November now.  That means it is National Novel Writing Month.  Time to get cracking!

What’s Next?

My layoff is over.  Now I can concentrate on publishing interesting content here, and (hopefully) write that novel I’ve always wanted to write.  Can I do it?  Stay tuned to find out.