Doctors would never make it in the business world...

On Wednesday, I had a Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. This means I had my tonsils removed and my uvula reshaped.

The procedure was easy enough. Because I have been wearing a CPAP (used to treat sleep apnea), the surgery was a very simple procedure. It was an out patient surgery that really only took about an hour.

Fast forward to this morning.

I had been eating my applesauce, soup, jello, and ice cream without any issues. In fact, this morning at 6 AM, I got up and ate my applesauce with crushed up drugs without problems. Then about 7:30 AM, I woke up with mouthfuls of blood. I know, pretty gross.

My future wife was kind enough to drive me to an INOVA Access center. To make a long story short, the whole experience was terrible. We waited a while in the reception area (immediately before walking in to the waiting room, I spit out a mouthful of blood). The "customer service" aspect from the receptionist to the "emergency" doctor was very negative. There was only one nurse who seemed like she cared.

In their defense, both of us were somewhat hostile, mainly due to the fact that they didn't seem to be too concerned with me spitting blood into their mini bed pans.

After talking to my ENT, the "emergency" doctor didn't feel comfortable performing some procedure, so they made us drive to the regular hospital. After waiting around for an hour and a half, we finally saw a frustrated ENT. I felt bad for the ENT, because it wasn't her fault we waited so long and she lacked the information and tools to complete her examination in a timely fashion.

My thought throughout this entire process?

Other than being bummed out about having to fork over TWO $100 copays, it is a good thing doctors aren't in the business world. This sort of inefficiency would never be tolerated and put the doctor out of business. Grey's Anatomy is totally fake and the real world of medicine is not a well oiled (Wal-Mart like) supply chain.

My advice to anyone living in the Fairfax County, VA area? Unless you are dying, don't go to the INOVA Access center on Chain Bridge Road. Even if you are dying, if you can make it to the hospital ER, try to hang on just to avoid Dr. Hermes.

I also find it ironic that the whole procedure to get my tonsils removed (approx. 4 hours) took about as long as this morning's debacle.

I'll survive. But, spitting up all that blood this morning did kinda freak me out.
I will leave you with a snippet of what my bathroom sink looked like after I got back from the hospital this afternoon.

50 Cent vs. Kanye West

On our way to Williamsburg, I listened to the new 50 Cent and Kanye West CD's, "Curtis" and "Graduation", respectively.

Curtis is the typical 50 "I think I'm John Gotti AKA Teflon Don" Cent rap album. Why do I draw the conclusion that he thinks he is the Teflon Don? Maybe because he (or his associates) say it at least once a song. Perhaps because "Don" is an easy word to think of rhymes for....john, megatron, ron, con, Ghost Recon, don (rappers love to two end lines with the same word).
Maybe it was because I had a negative attitude going into my first listen with this CD or maybe it was because I listened to it second, but I didn't care for many of the songs. In true 50 Cent fashion, there are several titles having to do with guns and killing: "My Gun Go Off", "I'll Still Kill", "Fully Loaded Clip", "Curtis 187", and possibly "Fire". In his defense, I typically don't like a rap CD in its entirety.
The one thing 50 has going for him is choosing to feature Justin Timberlake on the song "Ayo Technology". If you listen to pop/hip-hop radio, you have probably heard this song and you may also know it is about pornography. Besides that last point, it has a good beat and features JT, all qualities of a great song. (I also liked the song, "Follow My Lead" featuring Robin Thicke)

Graduation is a typical Kanye CD full of good beats, making fun of college, and relevant and irrelevant samples. Like I previously implied, I listened to this CD first. Songs that weren't the best:
Barry Bonds - featuring Lil Wayne - maybe its because I'm just not a fan of many of the Lil folks.
Drunk and Hot Girls - featuring Mos Def - I like Mos Def, but this song is terrible...
Then there are the songs you might recognize from the radio: "Stronger" and "Can't Tell Me Nothing". I enjoyed them.

Did anyone notice both CD's have hits with what I will call electronica in the background? "Stronger" on Graduation and "Ayo Technology" on Curtis (although in Ayo Technology, it sounds more like he sampled background music from a nintendo game)

Kanye makes a reference to not winning some awards, but winning the award for having the most "Chedda" (please see definition #1).

As a side note, what the media hyped record sale contests doesn't report is the rest of what 50 Cent said. According to an article by the LA Times, 50 Cent already has 12 songs recorded for his next album (which he is still under contract to Interscope Records to release), "Before I Self Destruct". He also predicted that Kanye's CD will have a sharp decline in sales in the second week. I assume 50 thinks he will surpass Kanye's sales in the second week.

We shall see what happens...