Please share what did you get for Xmas this year?

My latest cardiac ablation (for atrial flutter) was emergency surgery in the middle of COVID, so that was quite a performance. Both Anaesthetist and Cardiologist had to get government permission, as Melbourne Private was not their base hospital, but was where the special operating suite and equipment was located.
That is how her heart troubles were found. Previously we had gone on a couple of bike rides together this year, and she really struggled, even at a very relaxed pace. In October, she was looking after our neighbor's cat, and fell in their driveway, which put her into AFIB. I took her to the ER, which led to a cardiologist visit, which led to a stress test, then another that same day when he was troubled by the results. That led to a heart cath, where we were told she had blockages so bad that open surgery was her only option. An ablation was done at the same time. She has been on Eliquis since the ER visit to guard against a possible stroke.

Once again, all of your well wishes and prayers are very much appreciated.
 
That is how her heart troubles were found. Previously we had gone on a couple of bike rides together this year, and she really struggled, even at a very relaxed pace. In October, she was looking after our neighbor's cat, and fell in their driveway, which put her into AFIB. I took her to the ER, which led to a cardiologist visit, which led to a stress test, then another that same day when he was troubled by the results. That led to a heart cath, where we were told she had blockages so bad that open surgery was her only option. An ablation was done at the same time. She has been on Eliquis since the ER visit to guard against a possible stroke.

Once again, all of your well wishes and prayers are very much appreciated.
Tony, I have been told by my Cardiologist that I will always be on Warfarin because of my atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, tachy-brady syndrome, atrio-ventricular block, etc, etc ... Apparently, the new drugs do not help some or all of those things.

Fortunately, my heart and arteries are all in good condition, just that all the electrics are knackered. My smart watch has fun trying to work out what I know only too well. It also doesn't know about my pacemaker, artificial valve or the bedside monitor for the pacemaker. The latter sends all sorts of info to both the maker and the Cardiologist every night at around 0200H.

Close to magical that I am still here at all!
My thanks to all the clever people involved.
 
Tony, I have been told by my Cardiologist that I will always be on Warfarin because of my atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, tachy-brady syndrome, atrio-ventricular block, etc, etc ... Apparently, the new drugs do not help some or all of those things.

Fortunately, my heart and arteries are all in good condition, just that all the electrics are knackered. My smart watch has fun trying to work out what I know only too well. It also doesn't know about my pacemaker, artificial valve or the bedside monitor for the pacemaker. The latter sends all sorts of info to both the maker and the Cardiologist every night at around 0200H.

Close to magical that I am still here at all!
My thanks to all the clever people involved.
John’s cardiologist-

“We can rebuild him. We have the technology.”

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For Christmas I received a nice set of photo frames for my office. We've just moved to a new building and I want to freshen up my prints. Only a couple are going to make it to the new office, most will be new. The majority are unrelated 8 x 10's spread around, either standing on shelves or hanging on a wall. There's one stand-alone 11 x 14, and a centerpiece set of three arranged in a group that consists of an 8x10, 11x14, and 16x20, The 8x10 always seems a bit small in that application, so I bumped everything up for the new set. The new frames are 11x14, 16x20, and 22x28.

22x28 doesn't sound all that big until you hold it in your hands. Man, that's a lot of real estate. Now I'm not so sure that any of the photos that were planned for printing are worthy of that size frame. I'm thinking now that I'll need to keep looking and shooting. Problem is I don't know if I'll ever shoot anything I like well enough to print that big. 🤷‍♂️
 
Could not agree more!

Had my mitral valve replaced in 2003. I was on a ventilator for 2 days after the surgery, and anaesthetised during that time. Horrible bloody thing! They were still removing it when they reversed the anaesthesia. I'm very glad they had told me what to expect before the surgery, as otherwise I would probably have panicked.

It seems to me that being under general anaesthesia for so long caused some minor brain damage, as I have had some difficulty recalling specific words on demand ever since.

I also have bad reactions to general anaesthesia. I'm still allergic to eggs, and GAs are egg based, or were then.

My latest cardiac ablation (for atrial flutter) was emergency surgery in the middle of COVID, so that was quite a performance. Both Anaesthetist and Cardiologist had to get government permission, as Melbourne Private was not their base hospital, but was where the special operating suite and equipment was located.
John, in December 2019, I was hospitalized for a lung biopsy. It was not cancer and that was an expected result but what they did find was a situation called interstitial fibrosis. I had the drain in my side for three days but no breathing tubes when I awakened. The removal of the drain tube to my lung cavity was not fun and I was placed on oxygen and prescribed a very expensive drug called Ofev which luckily was covered by my insurance to the tune of 12K per month. I improved and soon my oxygen was at night only and then as needed. I have continued my sports photography coverage and on my last examination, my breathing score was higher than before the biopsy which surprised my physician.
I have allergies to morphine and was sure to tell them several times since the last time I had morphine was on an in-office minor surgery and they had to administer Benadryl to stop my hives from taking over my body. I am very careful around areas of flu since that would really jeopardize my health.
Slowly the fibrosis will spread but the best word is "slowly". I have lived a much longer life than my father who was 49 when he died of a heart attack which we attributed to 2 and 1/2 full years of combat in WWII in France, Sicily, Italy, and Germany. My mother passed at 55. I can not complain since it has been a long and good life.
My thoughts are with all who are having health problems or are hurting.
 
Now for the presents--well now, I got a 23mm f 1.4 Viltrox lens for the Fujifilm XT 2 and the wife got a bunch of lighting equipment and poles which extend many feet for her light painting of airplanes and cars. I do not know what they do but know they were expensive. I bought an 85mm 1.8 Viltrox for the Fuji XT 2 earlier along with the XT 2 body I bought for $200.00 ( I stole it). Wife ordered more lights just a few minutes ago and I forgot she got her battery grip for her new OM-1 from Olympus. It has been a very great season for B&H and other merchants.
 
22x28 doesn't sound all that big until you hold it in your hands. Man, that's a lot of real estate.
Couldn't agree more, Tim.

The biggest my Epson R3880 prints is 17" wide, with cut paper feed at 17x22". They are BIG when you actually hold them!
Now I'm not so sure that any of the photos that were planned for printing are worthy of that size frame. I'm thinking now that I'll need to keep looking and shooting. Problem is I don't know if I'll ever shoot anything I like well enough to print that big. 🤷‍♂️
Don't worry about it, mate. I have two A2 prints from my 5 MPx Olympus E-1 hanging. They're fantastic.

A lot more from 10/12 MPx cameras, which are also excellent, even looking with a 4x magnifying glass before framing and glazing.

I'm certain that you will find a heap of images that will look really good at that size, when you start looking.
 
Got a surprise gift, a PS5!

Been wanting to get a next gen console for a while now, always seem to be too late whenever they are available. Lucked out and found a Best Buy that has one bundled with the game (god of war ragnarok) I was going to get for it, so pulled the trigger on that.

Quite a few console exclusives that I’ve wanted to hit, so that will be fun.

Been an XBOX One player for some time, and wanted the series X, but still can’t find any of those.

Very happy so far. The PS5 controllers are better for fighting games, so have been playing the new samurai showdown and king of fighters XV quite a bit as well.
 
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Got a surprise gift, a PS5!

Been wanting to get a next gen console for a while now, always seem to be too late over they are available. Lucked out and found a Best Buy that has one bundled with the game (god of war ragnarok) I was going to get for it, so pulled the trigger on that.

Quite a few console exclusives that I’ve wanted to hit, so that will be fun.

Been an XBOX One player for some time, and wanted the series X, but still can’t find any of those.

Very happy so far. The PS5 controllers are better for fighting games, so have been playing the new samurai showdown and king of fighters XV quite a bit as well.
I'd encourage you to get an Xbox Series S when or if you have some disposable income for gaming. I'll have had mine for a full two years now as of January, and it's an absolutely fantastic little console. While it isn't a 4K machine, it's still fast, performs perfectly and actually looks very nice by the TV. I think of it as the more grown-up, less "hardcore" gamer's console... Which is sort of how I want to see myself these days, hahah. It's a perfect Game Pass machine.
 
The way the market is going...I think we may have one more generation of hardware upgrade before things go to a full remote system (google stadia type platform). I also have the XBOX One S but never pulled the trigger on their game pass. I did on the PS5 and am liking it.

There are far fewer exclusives between consoles now, so it really is a moot point for me which one and I just got lucky enough that Sony was able to get the PS5 to be more available to me in this area.

I can appreciate the pricing structure that microsoft is doing, where you sign up for the "game pass" monthly pay model and get the hardware - pay for it over the course of 2 years and then you own it. Makes paying of the price in one lump sum less of a burden. I got something similar with the PS5, as I have a Best Buy account and pay no interest for 18 months.
 
@tonyturley I am just getting through this thread. You and your wife will be in our prayers, friend.


As for gifts. I got some good ole dad stuff. Comfortable, warm, nice looking henleys and flannels. A tee shirt with a Deadpool Pac Man eating a line of tacos. Smaller silicone wedding band wedding band for the size I've lost. A new wallet. And a gift card for the sharpener I've been eyeballing. And the best of all, a happy family.
 
Got a surprise gift, a PS5!

Been wanting to get a next gen console for a while now, always seem to be too late whenever they are available. Lucked out and found a Best Buy that has one bundled with the game (god of war ragnarok) I was going to get for it, so pulled the trigger on that.

Quite a few console exclusives that I’ve wanted to hit, so that will be fun.

Been an XBOX One player for some time, and wanted the series X, but still can’t find any of those.

Very happy so far. The PS5 controllers are better for fighting games, so have been playing the new samurai showdown and king of fighters XV quite a bit as well.
If you're new to PS, Horizon Zero Dawn is a must, IMO. Now you can play it on PC, too. I don't play games much anymore, but that one is a great game, beautiful, with quite a story.
 
If you're new to PS, Horizon Zero Dawn is a must, IMO. Now you can play it on PC, too. I don't play games much anymore, but that one is a great game, beautiful, with quite a story.

Thanks for the recommendation. Will check it out. I've also got a few other games in the queue to check out like:
  • Shadow of the Colossus
  • Wolfenstein: Old Blood, Youngblood and Wolfenstein 2
  • The Infamous sequels
  • Valiant Hearts
  • Heavy Rain
  • Ghost of Tsushima
  • Returnal
 
That name "Wolfenstein" brings back bad memories. In the early '90s, a group of lawyers formed a partnership with me and we moved into a new building. We all had different specialties so we thought we had the gamut covered. We had computers in our own offices and a computer in our conference room. The room was big, had a fireplace and almost cost us our practice since two of the attorneys decided that Wolfenstein all day was preferable to working to make money. It seemed that I carried the overhead while they played games. I was almost always gone from the building in court and finally, a young associate we had hired told me about the games being played non-stop. We took the computer out of the conference room hoping that would stop it but they just hung out together in each other's office. After some come to Jesus meetings, we got them to understand the problem and to try to concentrate on work. Eventually, we dissolved the partnership and went our separate ways.
The final chapter of this saga came a few years ago when one of my former partners that was the major gamester lost his license when he was found to have spent much of a disabled client's money on gambling trips and consoles and games. He escaped jail but is being monitored for his addiction. I am sure that this was a single incident but it has kept me from playing any games and from
gambling.
 
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