Patch Adams and ....Swine Flu

A week and a half away from surgery and the updates I can make regarding the wait is a little thin at the moment. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about something related, but also different: Robin Williams. How is this related? Well I'll come to that in a second but can I just say that he is the funniest man alive! He's a brilliant actor (c'mon, don't tell me you weren't moved by that film Jack!) but the best of him is his interviews and stand up. He's so full of life and energetic. Well a few weeks back I found out that he also has Aortic Stenosis. For those of you aren't patients of this heart disease I'll quickly remind you that it's the narrowing of the aorta and if left untreated it will close up completely. He had his surgery a few weeks back and is apparantly making a good recovery.

I think for some reason it's reassuring to know that someone you admire has gone through what you are about to and made it out okay. No I'm not one of those crazy fans (I realise this post might make me sound like one). I'm sure thousands of people are in my situation at the moment and 95% of them will make it out of surgery, but as I said it feels different when it's someone you're a fan of. Given his age, and the amount of energy he has (the guy literally bounces off walls) it's that cliched thought of - if he can go through it and recover, then so can I.

On a different note...what a time to go into hospital! I heard that there are around 800 suspected cases of Swine Flu in America at the moment. God knows how many there are in England at the moment. Knowing that you're going to have your chest cut open, the sewn up again and be susceptible to infection has made me very cautious. I'm literally ducking out of the way every time someone sneezes. Knowing my luck I will catch the damn thing then infect everyone in intensive care unit at the hospital.

Or is that all a myth and you only catch it if you have sex with a pig?

I joke of course.

No really, stay away from the farmers.