This is what happens when the monkeys in my head get tired of sitting at their typewriters, and start throwing poop at each other instead.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Verdict is 2-1 in favor of surgery
So after going to three separate doctors since "the incident," the final decision is surgery. Flashback. The doctor I saw in D.C. recommended surgery, but wasn't on my insurance. I came home to get surgery, by a doctor covered by my insurance. Okay. So I saw that doctor, who was not my first choice. My first choice was Dr. O'Donnell, who reconstructed my finger when I destroyed it playing football in high school. However, I couldn't get an appointment with him initially. So I ended up with the other guy, who took off my long-arm cast, had a look, told me "no surgery," and put on a smaller cast.
Since it was then a 1-1 deadlock of surgery vs. no surgery, I wanted to see if maybe Dr. O'Donnell had 15 minutes or so to give me his opinion. So, x-rays in hand (x-ray films anyways) I headed over to their office and asked if maybe he could just give me an opinion over the phone later on in the week, since I was going home the day after I saw him. Turns out he had a few spare minutes, so I got to see him there on the spot. He cut off my day-old cast, and after a couple additional x-rays, he determined that I do in fact need surgery. He gave me a brace (the fourth cast/brace I've had in two weeks), and told me that I'd have to come back NEXT week to have the operation. So that's where we stand, I'll be in DC until next Wednesday, then back to Durham, then back to D.C. on Friday. Wooo 24-hour turnaround from surgery. They'll be putting in a screw which will be in there forever. And I won't need PT, it's all stuff I can do on my own.
Most importantly, when I mentioned that my season started up again in February, he said that it was reasonable to think I'd be back by then. Until then, I'm working on my lefty throws. No joke.
Surgery! So I have to go home. My parents have some kind of insurance that is only good in the Connecticut area. This makes little sense to me, but then again I know jack shit about insurance. Point is, to have the surgery here in DC would cost up to $1000 out-of-pocket. My pockets are, of course, not that deep, and thus, I have to go home to have the surgery. The fracture is too displaced to leave to heal on its own, especially for someone my age. I think what they're going to do is put in a screw. Anyhow, much to my chagrin I will be home for the majority of the week after Thanksgiving. This semester is pretty much shot for me, in terms of academics. I won't be here for a whole week, I won't be able to write out my finals, and I'm already way behind on essays. I suppose the important thing is that I get healthy, but that's getting harder and harder to swallow as the assignments pile up. Here are my X-rays though - they're pretty neat.
My wrist is most definitely broken. I am now in cast up past my elbow, and I might need surgery. I'm seeing a hand specialist on Monday, and for now I'm just going to try to enjoy the weekend.
It's not easy for me to type right now, but here's what happened. I was out for a bike ride Wednesday morrning. I was riding along the river, when the path got really bumpy ahead of me. So I veered off into the parking lot adjacent to the bike path. There were a few slow-moving cars, and I was cruising, so I treied to pass one of the cars... on the right. He turned very sharply to the right. I couldn't stop in time, so we collided and I was catapulted onto the pavement. I broke my fall with my hands, thus causing me to fracture my wrist. An illustration of the exact injury can be seen here. Given what the ER doctor said, I won't require surgery, and the recovery time is 4-6 weeks. I'm going to see an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow, and I'll keep everyone updated.
Instantly, I went from about a 9 out of 10 on the scale of enjoying life to a 1 out of 10. I'm probably not playing at CCCs, our last tournament of the fall. This is worst of all because I just went out to practice on Tuesday, coming off a variety of other minor injuries. And I felt awesome, other people noticed too. I was so pumped to play. And now I can't help my team because I'm a fucking moron. It's going to be a long, depressing offseason.
Not to mention that I broke my right wrist. Thus, I can't write, and neither can I type with any reasonable speed. And perhaps most importantly, I can't throw a disc. As a depressing side note, it took me 19 minutes to type this. Yeah.
It's hard for me to even consider that there might be something positive in all this, but really, there is. I could have been a lot more seriously hurt. I wasn't wearing a helmet, and aside from my wrist, my only injuries are a few scrapes. Still though, I can't help but be pissed at myself. Why put out my right hand? Why go biking at all? Why the fuck would I be passing on the right in close quarters? Why didn't I just take the damn path? I'm sorry to the team for being a fucktard. I'm so sorry.
This is going to be rambling and vitriolic so deal with it.
I've had enough of politics, political science, poli-sci students, and poli-sci faculty. For many of you who are friends from GW, you'll know that I have long since shed the concern I once had for the political universe. Politics was a good thing to talk about when I was younger, when the people I was around were, for the most part, smart enough to make an argument and defend what they believed. You see, at that time it was about belief, not about party. I'm not saying that none of the people at high school were partisans, what I'm saying is that the people I associataed with tended to be more concerned with the philosophy of it all rather than which party had the majority in the House.
All that changed when I came to GW. In some cases, people are more informed than they were at home. People here can name Congresspeople by their district and recognize all the who's-who of Congress. But beyond that, it seems that nothing else is important. For the majority of GW, if there's an R next to your name, you are the enemy and must be destroyed at all costs. Most people here don't seem to care about anything other than party affiliation. It's been said that whatever you do, in determining your political beliefs, you should want to make the world a better place. How you propose to do that, obviously, varies from person to person.
What I find, though, is that people who invest themselves heavily in politics do not care about making the world a better place. All they care about is that their party is in power. All they care about is cutting down the other party and mindlessly trying to forecast how many districts they'll pick up in 2006. Who is in the majority in the House and Senate seems to be more important than the unemplyment rate, the strength of the dollar, or even the plight of the typical American. Why? Because it's easier to change the people in power. It is not easy to address the root causes of things like racism, unemployment, and a dysfunctional intelligence system. Those things take time. People have convinced themselves that when their party is in power things are going well, and when the other party is in power, things go to shit.
So therefore, instead of concerning themselves with things that take generations to change, they take up their party's flag and start crusading like a flaming idiot. All because they believe that their party can change things for the better. Well guess what, the biggest problems are things that have persisted through countless administrations, and across several generations. If the Democrats win seats in the House, I guarantee you that nothing will change. Nothing.
I'm using a lot of unspecific pronouns here - a lot of "theys" and "peoples." Most of the time, I'm referring to the people that I have to deal with on a daily basis in my political science classes. These people sicken me. And I am deeply saddened that some day they will be my bosses. The people I speak of completely define who they are by whether they are "liberal" or "conservative," "Democrat" or "Republican." They treat politics like it is a soap opera. Like a game.
Tom DeLay is indicted! Woohoo! All the liberals are elated because now they can finally quench their thirst for big-business Republican blood. Don't you see what is happening? The foundations of American democracy have been undermined by someone in a position of incredible power... and you're celebrating!!!!!! Are you people fucking insane? The day that the majority leader of the House of Representatives is indicted for high crimes such as these is a sad day for all Americans, not just those from "red" states. Incidents like these undercut whatever is left of the American public's faith in the system! Why the fuck would you ever be happy about that?!
And you know what, I know what these dumbass poli-sci students would say to that, too. "Oh, well now the Democrats will pick up seats and they can finally set the country on the right course again." Who the fuck are you, claiming that the Democrats have the cures for all of society's ills? Nothing is going to change unless all the dumbass poli-sci students across the country get their thumbs out of their buttholes and start realizing that America will continue on its present course unless those who are in charge of the political machines reject the perverted view of politics being cultivated at institutions such as GW.
Politics is not a game. Politics is not a soap opera. Politics is a serious, serious business. Treat it as such. Stop caring about bullshit things like how many seats one party can pick up over the other and start caring about the direction America is going. Do something to help people. Help keep our citizens safe by becoming a law enforcement officer. Work at a community service organization that helps to get the homeless back on their feet. Become a teacher and do your part to equip the next generation with the knowledge and tools to become great Americans. I firmly believe, with the utmost sincerity, that by dedicating your life to a cause, to helping people lead better lives, your time on this Earth will be more valuable and more fulfilling than sleeping your way to Washington, or worse yet becoming no better than the person who sits at home all day reading TV Guide, obsessing over the latest exploits of the characters on As the World Turns.
I've heard a lot of arguments as to why iPods and mp3 players are the devil, are going to destroy music/civilization, etc. None of them is particularly compelling, but and experience I had the other day really made me hate the damn things.
I was on the Mount Vernon shuttle coming back from class in the climactic roller-coaster that is the Hand Chapel. The Mount Vernon shuttle is weird - some days it will buzz with chatter, other days it will be totally silent. I haven't been able to determine why this is exactly, but it's an interesting sociological question. Anyhow, nobody cares about that, so I'll move on.
A perfectly cromulent individual person came and sat next to me. Cool, I think to myself. Tried to start a bit of conversation, by jumping in on a conversation about one of our esteemed classmates who won't shut the fuck up during class. I swear to God, there are a couple of people in that class that when they raise their hand, most of the room just wants to throw a fuckin brick at them. I'm sure everyone who reads this has encountered the type: they ask a question, shut up for a second, then answer their own question as they see it, then argue with the professor until they can convince themselves that whatever they're saying has some merit. All of this instead of just shoving a cork in it and listening to someone who knows a buttload more about the issue at hand than they do.
Anyhow, back to the perfectly cromulent individual. I jump in on ragging on the guy, because let's face it, he annoys the shit out of everyone. That class, he got owned by the professor, who simply replied to one of his dumbass assumptions by saying "Nope, that's not actually how it was at all." So we all exchanged a few words about how he got put down like an inbred puppy (not actually what I said). I do my part, then a lull in the conversation. I expect a continuation, but hearing none and still wanting to talk, I wasn't even able to go contingency on the whole thing. The mp3 player was deployed, effectively erecting an iron box of silence.
I definitely didn't say anything obtuse, I even got a genuine chuckle at something funny I said. But still, the conversation effectively ended there. And I see this particular individual take out the mp3-a-majig every single time on the shuttle. Why? I don't get it. Do people really love music that much? I know not everyone wants to talk all the time, but in a setting where you could meet someone, why cut yourself off from the chance? So in addition to expense, not wanting to be like the Abercrombie-clad GW blob, and the fact that I just don't have enough songs to put on an iPod, add "being open to meeting new people in ordinary settings" to my list of why I will never buy an iPod or mp3 dealie.
