More Health Issues & Stuff

  On 7-08-20, I had some stomach issues. My gut felt bloated and uncomfortable. I took some Beano and Pepto and the symptoms went away. On 7-11-20, the symptoms returned. I ended up leaving work after about twenty minutes and went home. I went to the emergency room later that day.
  After receiving an MRI, I was diagnosed with choledocholithiasis with acute cholecystitis with obstruction. In simple terms, my gallbladder was infected. Apparently, gallstones had gotten trapped in the bile duct causing the infection.
  I had to have my gall bladder removed but first they had to treat the infection. Because of the upcoming operation, I couldn't eat or drink anything. I was kept hydrated intravenously. Before operation, they performed an endoscopy where a camera was inserted down my throat allowing the doctors to clear out the gallstones and pus before placing a stent into the duct. Once the infection was dealt with, I underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
  The surgery went well and I was discharged on 7-16-20. Unfortunately, I lost several shifts at work so my upcoming checks are going to suffer. The surgery plus the heat of the recent days have made work difficult. I was sent home early Saturday because I was sweating so much.

  The family dog, Bear, passed away shortly after I came home from the hospital. He developed diabetic ketoacidosis. He was the last dog the family will have because everyone here is getting up in age and can no longer properly take care of a pet. I miss him and all the other pets we've had over the years.

  Gen Con 2020 was a virtual convention this year due to Covid-19. Badges were free and all events were conducted online. I ended up not participating because I didn't want to request more time off from work.

  My visit with my orthopedic surgeon was somewhat productive. My last a1c reading was 7.6 which is still a little too high for my hip replacement surgery. I need to get it down to 7.2 or lower. I'm seeing my endocrinologist on Oct. 27th. Some blood work will be done prior to the appointment so they can get a new a1c reading. If it's low enough, I'm going to make an appointment for surgery. The stent put in place before my gall bladder surgery will be removed Sept. 17th.

  Several Kickstarters I've helped fund have come through. The Better Backstories deck, Tavern Brawl and Book of the Dead games, Critical Hit dice set and Mythroll Armory 4:8/6:12 and 20:10 dice spinners have arrived. I'm very happy with my purchases. The Debunked card game is almost ready to ship. The Overkill and Underkill d20s should be shipping soon. The Hexacube Kickstarter has been running into problems. They've been having problems finding someone that can make a decent set of molds for the dice. They can't get the face ratios and edge geometry correct resulting in biased dice. Two different Chinese dice makers tried and failed. The second company says the molds are impossible to make. I'm not buying that. It sounds more like they don't want to make the effort. There haven't been any recent updates from the Go Cube people yet. Hopefully, they're on schedule and I'll be getting them soon. 

  My Cthulhu Wars order from The Game Stewards should be mailed out sometime in September. The problem is my order is for items from various Kickstarters and if those Kickstarters were delayed by the pandemic, then the Game Stewards won't get the items on time to ship them to me.