Guilty

 What a sad end to such a sad chapter in American history, right? Right? Or hopefully an end, or at least the indisputable beginning of an inevitable end.

Guilty on 34 counts of 34 crimes. 

More deplorable yet than the criminal, in my view anyway, is the parade of Republicans who are insisting that the American justice system is fixed or corrupt. It wouldn't be so, of course, for any other criminal, but in this special case, involving Mr. Trump, it is. The entire system, from prosecutors to judges to juries, is somehow miraculously aligned against poor Mr. Trump.

Who is buying that sort of conspiracy theory tripe? Very few, one would hope. It is time for America to return to a traditional democratic system, the twin, one might say, of an orthodox religious system. We tire, I hope, of foolish heresies.

Exercising for Trumpstipation

 Well I've been gone for a while, once again, but I'm back now, after a fashion anyway--this time back from the nightmare of hernia surgery. This may not be so bad for many, or most folks, but see I've never had surgery of any kind before. I did not know that it would be so painful. Lol. Luckily for me, my girlfriend insisted on flying here from Jogya and staying with me in the hospital and then afterwards during the first week of recovery, for which I am so very grateful. 

We stayed in what this public hospital refers to as a VIP room, but which in any western country would be considered rather small and shabby. One hospital bed and one narrow cot and a view of ... well, the other hospital buildings. At least the AC was good. Better in fact than mine at home, which is once again broken and blowing just plain old air. 

After coming home, Evelyn encouraged me to try to move about as much as possible. Instead of just sitting and watching the Trump news, why don't you watch it while stretching. The idea being that something positive might come of the Trump news after all. So I began to move about and do simple stretches as demonstrated by her.

On top of the hernia problem itself, I had been experiencing, before, during, and after surgery, a problem with chronic constipation, and this became particularly problematic when combined with a hernia and a new surgical wound in the groin. Ouch! 

So it happened that I named this activity Exercising for Trumstipation.

I'm feeling better now, the Trumpstipation has at last resolved, and I am able to drive the motorbike and walk a fairly straight line from a parking spot to a cafe. Moreover, my stepson, Sasha, has arrived here from America and is currently staying with me out at Louis and Wayne's villa in Renon (Louis and Wayne are in Europe and will return next week). And my God he is big now, and tall, and buffed, while I have somehow shrunken! Sasha loves to talk and laugh and philsophize and critique, and we are having a great time together.

Chicken Feet

 As I was taking my morning walk on the beach front this morning, I came upon a chicken foot lying on the ground. Not the whole chicken, thank goodness. Just the foot. This actually was not surprising, because Indonesians eat chicken feet. They're called ceker. This particular ceker had been discarded for some reason. Perhaps it didn't taste footy enough? I don't know, because I've never eaten a chicken foot. One sees them on the menu in restaurants here, especially in smaller warungs or on the cart of the street seller. Ceker! Yum. I guess. 

Speaking of bodily appendages, I will mention that the young people in the Muslim community here will greet an older person, like me, by taking the person's hand in theirs and placing the back of the hand on their forehead, bowing slightly as they do so. I think that's nice, personally. It's nice to be offered respect, to be honored because of your age alone. You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, the Bible tells us. 

Sounds good to me. Much better than the western concept of the aged worthless eater.

The Surgeon's Knife

 Having spent countless hours in the hospital over the last two days, mostly waiting to see the doctor, to get an x-ray, to get an EKG, to consult over each, and then to perform the bureaucratic trigonometry of calculating and agreeing to a payment contract, I am finally ready for the surgeon's knife (although the knife itself, along with the surgeon, won't be ready for me until next Monday. 

Oh happy day, right? The elderly and unwell man's notion of success. Assuming the surgery itself is successful, that is. 

I am told as well by a good natured, rather cheerful cardiologist, that this all comes with somewhat elevated risk factors, given the aforementioned elderliness and unwellness. Ah well, he who plays it safe never brings home the gold. Or is it the bacon. In any case, the careful man brings home both the body and the hernia, whereas the bold man brings home either one or the other. 

The Beginning of the End

 So, I have discovered that the price for hernia surgery at Sanglah Hospital is half that at Kasih Ibu. Obviously, I will be getting the surgery at Sanglah. This, however, is old-fashioned open surgery, not the newfangled laparoscopic version, because I can't afford the latter at either hospital. Can't really afford the former either for that matter, but what's a guy gonna do? Hope to die before the next big problem shows up, I guess. So I'm gettin' this thing on the road. Tomorrow I go for a second appointment with Dr. Mulyawan at Sanglah, at which time I would guess the surgery date will be set. I do know, however, that I must stop clopidogrel at least five days before surgery, and tomorrow will be only day one. It appears that I will be compelled to stay in the hospital at least one day after the surgery (I would rather just go home and do my groaning in private). Evelyn hopes to come here and accompany me at that time. She's an angel. 

Catpad

 In the brief space of time between my arrival this morning at Lillian and Coffee, ordering the usual, and settling into my chair on the front patio, my iPad had become by some uncanny magic sentient, adopting the character of a nervous cat, such that when I went to pick it up and continue my reading of Me Talk Pretty One Day (a marvelously hilarious collection of sketches by David Sedaris), the newly animated thing leapt out of my hands, briefly assaulted my chin, and then flew across the patio, landing some four feet away with a resounding smack on the cement. As a result, the creature is now broken, dead, having apparently expended its ninth and final life, and my life of reading is broken as well, or at least seriously injured. The good news though is that my stepson, Sasha, will bring me a new Kindle reader when he comes here in June. What a guy, right? My hero! Thank you thank you thank you, as President Biden would say. Apparently, I have done something right, something worthy in life after all. 

Price Wars

 Yes I do have a hernia in need of surgery is what I found out last week at Kasih Ibu Hospital. Not good in and of itself, but even worse is the fee they quoted for the surgery and a one night hospitalization. It strikes me as way too high, and friends tell me as well that it is way too high. Therefore, I made an appointment with another hospital, Sanglah, and I will see the surgeon there on Monday morning. Of course I have to go through the same exam all over again and then get Sanglah's quote for surgery. It is a tedious, frustrating process, and a painful one for the pocketbook in particular.

Next

 I didn't have to wait long for my next big health problem to arise. It looks like it's going to be my hernia this time, which will likely need surgery. I've made an appointment for tomorrow evening to see a surgeon about that. I've actually had the hernia for a year or more, but in the last couple months it has become significantly larger as well as slightly painful and more difficult to reduce then beforehand. I purchased a hernia belt online, and it works well enough to hold the hernia in during the day, but of course as soon as I remove the belt, the hernia reemerges from within my abdominal cavity. So it is uncomfortable one way as well as the other. What consumes my mind now, believe it or not, his finding the best price for hernia repair. Ridiculous, right? But medical costs can vary widely here in Indonesia someone has to shop around. I am worried as well about the question of total anesthesia in the presence of multiple sclerosis and recent stroke. I remember reading once that total anesthesia is not recommended for people who have MS because we might not wake up afterwards 😜 Anyway, more on this as events unfold.