All packed up

It’s late Saturday evening, and just about everything is packed. I only got about half a small suitcase for my stuff, with just about everything else being reserved for Bunky. We’re taking the craptop, but I’m not sure if the hotel has free internet. I don’t think I want to pay like $15/day for internet, especially if there is free wireless at least in the lobby. Either way, I probably won’t be able to update either blog very much while on vacation/wedding/honeymoon.

We’re flying first to Chicago and then from Chicago to Hawaii. The second leg of the trip is quite long, and I know that Bunky is going to be annoying on the flight. I didn’t sleep at all tonight, so I’ll be nice and tired on the flight; plus, I am quite used to taking long trips and making it through hours of boredom. We apparently have to pay $5 each for a in-flight meal. Airline companies must really be feeling the squeeze, and it seems like every single amenity costs an additional fee now.

We had our first hurdle this afternoon too. Bunky went to get her hair cut, and the hairdresser offered to put some stuff in Bunky’s hair to give it extra shine. Unfortunately, it also made Bunky’s hair several shades lighter, and Bunky was furious. So… we now have a reservation at the salon in Hawaii to try to reverse the color change. It’s a bummer that the hairdresser would do something like that, but at least the salon place in Hawaii apparently gives you a free spa/jacuzzi pass or something with your hair appointment.

What About Volcano Bears?

Bunky and I have started the packing process for our Wedd-moon-cation to Hawaii. We had to buy some new suitcases for all our stuff, although Bunky’s clothes and junk have already filled about 80% of the space. I also tricked her into going with me to R.E.I.

I really love stores like R.E.I. even though I don’t usually shop there. It’s one of my favorite stores to browse, because they have such cool gadgets that could be really handy in odd situations. I also like how the one we go to has a rock-climbing wall with pulleys so you can pretend you are climbing up the wall, when really the R.E.I. employee is pulling on a rope to make sure you don’t fall.

I picked up a goofy floppy hat for sun protection, and Bunky grabbed a small backpack for the trip. I was unable to convince her that I needed a man-purse, but I always did like the bags at these camping/hiking places because they seem so sturdy and have so many pockets. The best bag of all has to be the dog pack. I tried to convince Bunky that we should buy one for Sydney so we could make him lug our gear along, but she didn’t agree. She also wouldn’t shell out for any of the cool gear that we might need in case we encounter killer flying squids or vicious ninja monkeys.

Royal Flush

When I wasn’t busy obsessing over food and being completely bored out of my mind last week, I did a lot of observation. For instance, I found that Sydney pretty much spends the entire day sleeping in the mdidle of the floor. He lays on his back and with his legs curled up and facing the ceiling. I was also able to diagnose what was wrong with our toilet. If I had had a team, I probably could have made the diagnosis even more quickly. Needless to say, it wasn’t Lupus.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, we had been having toilet problems for a while now. The toilet had a weak flush, but Bunky and I just assumed that was how it was designed. The last two weeks, however, the cistern was completely empty, which meant the toilet would not flush. My first theory was that the Fluidmaster 400 (upgrade over a ballcock) was not working properly. I thought what was happening was that when the water was flushed down from the cistern, the Fluidmaster was not refilling the cistern with water. Initial observations supported this theory.

I tried wiping the Fluidmaster down, thinking that mineral deposits were preventing the float from rising and falling properly. Each time, it would seem like the problem was fixed and then several hours later the Fluidmaster was not filling the cistern again. This was very frustrating! Eventually, however, I was reading about toilet repair and I realized that the Fluidmaster was not actually the problem!

The problem was that the bleach tablets we dropped in the cistern had warped the rubber flapper. This is why the toilet had such a weak flush before; the ripples allowed water to slowly escape out of the cistern and into the bowl, and so the cistern was only maybe 50% full by the time the toilet was flushed. Eventually the ripples got worse, and this is why the cistern was always empty after several hours.

Since the flow through the faulty flapper was still relatively slow, the Fluidmaster never tripped correctly, and so never filled up the bowl (a good thing, or our water bill would be even worse than it already was this quarter…); this also explains why it always seemed like the problem was fixed after a few flushes but would pop up again hours later. I was very pleased with the new theory, so I bought a universal rubber flapper for $4 at the hardware store and installed it (took about 1 minute). Bunky and I monitored the water level and it seemed like there was still a small amount of water loss (maybe 5% over 2 hours). I then rubbed down the bottom half of the valve to remove mineral deposits to ensure a tight seal with the new flapper top I had installed. I checked again many hours later, and the problem was fixed!

So now we have a toilet with a strong flush. We’re using one of those over-the-bowl cleaners instead of drop-in tablets, and everything is fabulous. I wish I’d caught the problem sooner, and I’m a little scared to see the next water bill.

The Matrix

Unlike TheDragOnfruitS, I didn’t get pictures of my “cyst” for record keeping. The silver lining, however, is that I got a sweet Pathology Report:

GROSS DESCRIPTION:
The specimen is received fresh, identified with the patient’s name with initials [K], and labeled as “mass of left cheek.” It consists of an unoriented ellipse of tan, hairbearing skin measuring 1.5 x 0.5 cm and up to 1.1 cm in thickness. The specimen is serially sectioned and the cut surface reveals an intact cystic structure with a smooth membranous lining, which exudes a white, thick material. The specimen is entirely submitted in cassette A.

Gross description indeed! So the final diagnosis is that my lump was a Pilomatrixoma. The surgeon described it as a “benign tumor” to me. The size was not quite what I thought during my still-kinda-groggy state, but perhaps there was extra flesh around it (I was about half an inch off). Interesting that the dimensions were given in the metric system. If you hate yourself, you can click this link and see someone peeling aside a skin flap to expose a pilomatrixoma. Compared to some of the (horrible) pictures I’ve seen, mine was pretty tame. It basically just looked like my cheek had a slight, gradual bump in the middle.

The plastic surgeon took the square patch bandage off and took the sutures out. It was painless. My cheek is slightly depressed in the area where the pilomatrixoma was, and I can see the cut was kinda curved, similar to the way laugh lines run. I have a small piece of special tape holding the cut together now, and I have a checkup in about 3 weeks. I was happy to hear that the growth was benign, and my preliminary web research indicates they do not regrow. I was even happier to hear that I can eat a burger tonight.