03 October 2012

Either I Am Becoming More Of An Anglophile Or My Attention Span Is Shrinking

My addiction to television is well documented on this blog (here, here, and here, for instance). I have been busy, so lots of shows I used to watch obsessively have fallen to the wayside (or the Netflix queue in anticipation of the next bout of death flu). It would seem that I am unable to dedicate my life to 22-24 episodes a year. The shows I stick with are either comedies that only take 20-24 minutes to watch, which I can do while painting my toenails or folding laundry, etc. or dramas that have a handful of episodes followed by a small hiatus and then another handful of episodes. This is a very British sort of airing schedule and I like it. It requires less of me and less of my time. Also, there is less time to become annoyed with plot lines or characters I don't like. It isn't that I'm not still addicted to television, I just watch it differently. I find I like starting at the beginning of shows that are in their last season now. It makes it easier to watch the rest, knowing there is an end date. Perhaps I have commitment issues, perhaps I have been burned too many times by shows sticking around long past their expiration date. It could just be my attention span for anything is shortened, due to not having enough time to go around. Whatever it is, the list of shows I watch religiously is much, much shorter than it used to be. 

01 October 2012

For The Record

I would give up all the perfect comforters in the universe if it meant that my loved ones didn't have to suffer. 

My poor little niece Bug, who already endured an open heart surgery last year (and a small surgical procedure a few months before that), had some massive migraines after her heart surgery. They went away shortly thereafter, but not before her doctor scheduled a MRI to be on the safe side. The MRI found what is called a Chiari Malformation I. Basically it means her skull is too small for her brain and that her brain is being squeezed through the foramen at the bottom of her skull. It wasn't putting any pressure on her spine, so they just scheduled an MRI in a year to keep an eye on it. 

The second MRI was Friday and the results came in today. It is now putting pressure on her spine and causing some other issues. So, another MRI is scheduled in a year and in the meantime her parents have to be on the lookout for any symptoms (dizziness, motor-function issues, headaches, etc) in case it gets worse before the next check-up. This all means that there are higher-than-average odds that Bug will need to have brain surgery in the next year.

NOT. A. FAN.