i guess i owe you guys an explanation...

you probably noticed that i was (by far) the most prolific poster on the animal club blog, and about a month and a half ago, i went suddenly silent. since then, a lot of not so nice stuff has happened to me. i've split the time- pretty much 50/50- between moping around my house and moping around the cardiac care units at two fine chicago hospitals. i'm finally home, and expect to be for some time, which is nice. the staff at swedish covenant hospital won the award for most nurses with sons who performed in "miss saigon" on broadway, while the incredible staff at northwestern memorial won most confused expression when pizza was delivered to my icu room. the two hospitals jockied for my insurance dollars, with northwestern winning in a landslide. i will post a copy of the bill when i get it. the current betting pool ranges from $85,000-$180,000, with an outlier at $250,000 for the whole stay (14 days + 1 surgery).

seriously, i want to thank everyone who came out to see me, brought by a movie or a book, gave a call, sent a card, etc. the outpouting of support made a very difficult time much easier. and so you know, the animal club made sure not a day went by where i didn't laugh. take this picture, for example, taken on day 10 of my stay at northwestern:



it's good to have friends like this. as i become more emotionally stable, i may tell stories of an entertaining nature from my stay. in the meantime, you can read all about my "condition" here, my "device" here, and see me on the cover of my AICD manufacturer's annual report in 2000 here.

thanks again.
-baz