To my fellow BOTL's:
I am sorry that I have not been more active on the board. Last time I posted, I said that I was neck deep with work and was very busy, which was true. It was only half the picture though. I was also preparing to have some surgery done to correct my ongoing issues with diverticulitis (4 hospitalizations in 3 years). Even though I did mention it on another board, I am sort of private about things like that and didn't want to make a huge deal out it. I still don't but I feel I owe an explaination to all the botl's on here for my absence and lack of posting. This board is a very close-knit community of some very great people and I didn't want anyone to think I had left the board after making some good friends here.
The surgery has been been in the plan since January and started getting more serious starting in July. I had the sugery on October 24th to have 12" of my colon removed and spent 2 weeks in the hospital. It was touch and go for a while and ran into a couple of small complications. It took all the skill of the surgeon not to give me a colosotomy and he said that I didn't make it easy for him. It was also a good thing I had the surgery when I did. As it turns out, they found out once they were in that one of the fistulas from the diverticulitis had attached itself to my abdominal wall after my last attak in January. This complicated the surgery and made it an open surgery as opposed to laproscopic and required 37 staples to close the wound. Even scarier was the doctor telling me that because of the attachment, had I suffered another attack before the surgery more than likely it would have been fatal since the infection would have spread to my body cavity and I would have gone septic.
The last few weeks have been very reflective and very somber for me. It made me realize that I need to take better care of myself in terms of my diet, exercise and need to lose weight. Once I'm 100%, I can go back to eating healthy foods again such as veggies, fruits, whole grains, nuts, etc. that I couldn't eat becuase of the diverticulitis. It also made me realize how much I have missed being on here and interacting with the membership. In the time that I've been on the board, I have gotten to know quite a few of the BOTLs on here and enjoy the comradarie <sp?>. I can also start enjoying cigars again once I'm 100% healed and look foward to lighting that first cigar up as it's been almost 2 months since I've had a smoke.
I'm looking foward to once again being more active on here as I getting better and I'm sorry to the membership for not being here as much as I should have been and contrirbuting more to the board.
I am sorry that I have not been more active on the board. Last time I posted, I said that I was neck deep with work and was very busy, which was true. It was only half the picture though. I was also preparing to have some surgery done to correct my ongoing issues with diverticulitis (4 hospitalizations in 3 years). Even though I did mention it on another board, I am sort of private about things like that and didn't want to make a huge deal out it. I still don't but I feel I owe an explaination to all the botl's on here for my absence and lack of posting. This board is a very close-knit community of some very great people and I didn't want anyone to think I had left the board after making some good friends here.
The surgery has been been in the plan since January and started getting more serious starting in July. I had the sugery on October 24th to have 12" of my colon removed and spent 2 weeks in the hospital. It was touch and go for a while and ran into a couple of small complications. It took all the skill of the surgeon not to give me a colosotomy and he said that I didn't make it easy for him. It was also a good thing I had the surgery when I did. As it turns out, they found out once they were in that one of the fistulas from the diverticulitis had attached itself to my abdominal wall after my last attak in January. This complicated the surgery and made it an open surgery as opposed to laproscopic and required 37 staples to close the wound. Even scarier was the doctor telling me that because of the attachment, had I suffered another attack before the surgery more than likely it would have been fatal since the infection would have spread to my body cavity and I would have gone septic.
The last few weeks have been very reflective and very somber for me. It made me realize that I need to take better care of myself in terms of my diet, exercise and need to lose weight. Once I'm 100%, I can go back to eating healthy foods again such as veggies, fruits, whole grains, nuts, etc. that I couldn't eat becuase of the diverticulitis. It also made me realize how much I have missed being on here and interacting with the membership. In the time that I've been on the board, I have gotten to know quite a few of the BOTLs on here and enjoy the comradarie <sp?>. I can also start enjoying cigars again once I'm 100% healed and look foward to lighting that first cigar up as it's been almost 2 months since I've had a smoke.
I'm looking foward to once again being more active on here as I getting better and I'm sorry to the membership for not being here as much as I should have been and contrirbuting more to the board.
