An Efficient Hospital? Really?

Last Thursday Wife had her gall bladder removed...a not uncommon procedure especially among women. It is outpatient surgery. Given my experience with having organs removed from one's body, I was a bit skeptical about that. But the surgeon said the gall bladder is just a balloon really that holds bile from the liver and doesn't have a whole lot of blood vessels and other stuff connected to it so is much less invasive to get out.

Wife had researched surgeons her primary physician had recommended and found one she like that worked at a hospital close by...except he didn't. He worked at one that is completely on the opposite end of town. The hospital doesn't update its website that frequently.  Her surgery was scheduled for 7:30 AM and we were required to be there at 5:30 AM to register and get ready.

What then ensued was one of the more amazing demonstrations of precision I have ever experienced in healthcare. After we checked in we went up to the pre-op lounge. We were almost immediately called in to the pre-op area. We were given maybe five different time points as to when the anesthesiologist would show up, the surgeon, when she would be wheeled to surgery, when surgery would be complete, approximate time she would be out of recovery, and estimated time we would be driving home.

Not only were these times close, they were done to the minute. 7:30 exactly of she goes to surgery. 45 minutes afterward - exactly - the surgeon comes out and tells me everything went well. 30 minutes after that - exactly - I am called back. When we put her in the car and I drove away, it was 9:30 - exactly. Crazy.

And thank you Wife is recovering well and doing fine.

Niece Visits - Gluttony Ensues

Our dearest niece, RMG, came to visit us from her demesnes in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is a lot of guilt associated with our relationship with this niece because many, many years in the past, she had indicated a desire to explore professional cooking at a time that I owned an interest in a restaurant. I suggested at the time that she might try out doing this kind of work before plopping down many tens of thousands of dollars on culinary school.

Here is where our versions of the story go in different directions. I claim that she had the opportunity to find out the realities of this profession. She ultimately got a physics Ph.D. So you make your own conclusion. Her version is that I made vast quantities of profit while exploiting poor naive family members (I do kind of admire the Ferengi ethos).  Be that as it may, she is still a person we love and are honored when she wants to come visit.

Her requests were simple - She wanted green chile, red wine and going outside.

She got:

• Multiple hikes
• Cheese omelets with green chile
• Homemade pasta Cacio e Pepe
• a 20 year old Rhone wine
• Homemade gelato
• Homemade French bread with lots of French ripe cheese
• An award winning wine from a defunct winery

We had a great time!

Come back soon RMG!

And On The Joys Of Expert Knowedge

I remember reading an article a long time ago about expert knowledge. The article contended that while many, many types of skills and capabilities diminish with age, one class of skills does not. In fact it just gets better and better with age. This is called expert knowledge. Expert Knowledge is the base of knowledge that comes from one having worked in a particular area of expertise for so long that one develops such a deep experiential base - meaning not just facts but how various patterns work or don't work. This allows a person to understand the logical possibilities for problem-solving in a fraction of the time that it would take a person without that depth of knowledge.

I remember  thinking at the time, "Well at least that's ONE THING to look forward to about the aging process." And of course never really thought about it again. Until the last couple of months.

As I have been going through my renewed enjoyment of the work portion of my transitioned life, I have become aware of these situations where I will be in a meeting, someone brings up a particular subject, problem or challenge and out of my mouth will pour this rather fully formed blast of information that is totally appropriate for what has been brought up. Often I'm rather amazed. It's not that I have to think a lot about these responses. It's as if based upon the stimulus of the question, a door to preformed solutions is opened and they just pop out. And I'll have this realization, "Ah, so this is what they were talking about...expert knowledge."

I have to tell you, it feels pretty damn good. Not in an ego way but as the feeling you get whenever you've worked hard at something to the point that the execution of it almost seems effortless. Sort of makes up a bit for the continuous frustrations of one's body going downhill HA!

On Becoming An Eminence Gris

My fascination with the transformations related to the transition process continue apace. Every time I think I've reached a kind plateau where I can say, "Ah, I've arrived. I can just enjoy this for the next X years until I die" still new revelations occur.

I'm sure you remember my post of February 22, 2015, An End To Tilting At Windmills, (because I know you are faithfully maintaining a searchable database of all my blog posts...right?...you really are doing that...You're Not?...How could you not?...sigh 😢) where I spoke about my life long battle with the dragon ego.

The happy ending to that story was the realization that this was not just some simple issue of lack of recognition for accomplishment, but a deep seeded, karmic attitude that I literally came into the world with and which I could therefore joyfully jettison. Okay now fast forward to 2018.

I've been out in the world doing my business thing with new enthusiasm as I reported last month. In the course of doing so, I have noticed something. I am getting all kinds of kudos because of all my experience and accomplishments and knowledge, blah, blah, blah. You know RECOGNITION. The damn thing my ego yelled in my head for my whole life I wasn't getting.

What the BLEEP is this! Now that I go about my business life not really giving a damn, I have seemed to morph into some eminence gris. Crazy. Who knows what will happen next?

But with no attachment to it, I have to admit it is kind of fun LOL!