Watching and Weighting

Well, today I made good on a promise that was made some months ago: I joined Weight Watchers.

I certainly don't consider myself really fat, but I weigh more than I should and it affects my self-image. It may also be contributing to my back problem, so dropping a few pounds can't hurt.

Going to my first session I was a bit nervous, not knowing what to expect. I had visions of Richard Simmons jumping out from behind a curtain saying, "Okay kiddies, we're going to burn that fat! Let's go! And-a ONE and-a TWO...I know you can do it....GO!"

Instead, it was fairly quiet as the 12 or so women who attended (yes, I was the only man) weighed-in and took their seats. There was some discussion about willpower and staying with the plan, plus a few more words about sodium as a dietary requirement. Pretty laid back, really.

After that, one of the WW reps sat down with me and went over all the literature, explaining the program in detail. The big advantage is that you don't have to cut out any of your favorite foods, you just need to know how to manage your diet.

I've started a page that will follow my weight watching program, but you have to send me an e-mail to let me know you're interested. I don't want to post the URL publically, but if you want to follow the progress...don't be shy. In fact, I could use the support.

Good News / Bad News

After a couple of delays, I finally got my results back:

Nothing.

Nothing on the MRI to show that anything would be causing me pain in any way.

Back to square one.

Hurry Up & Wait

I went to the doctor yesterday only to find that the results from the MRI had not been processed yet. My next appointment is Thursday.

Gives me lots of time to think about what might be wrong.

Great.

Patient's Guide to an MRI

After swimming against the tide of the BC Medical system for the last 4 years or so, I finally got an MRI this week. As far as medical exams go, it is about the easiest procedure you can endure, as most MRIs are completely painless.

However, there are a few things you might like to know if you are going to have one:

Needles
Some MRI tests require a paramagnetic agent to be injected into your bloodstream so that examiners can identify veins, arteries and internal organs. If you are scared of needles or injections, you need to come to grips with this before the exam.

Claustrophobia
An MRI unit is a tube that has imaging equipment arranged like a ring around the patient. As you lie inside, it rotates around and takes a series of pictures.

Before the exam starts, you have some paperwork to fill out with questions about various medical problems you might have, metal that might be in your body and how claustrophobic you are. On the scale they provided (1 - 10), I marked myself as a 4.

By about the 3rd minute in the unit, I would have confidently circled 8.

The space is incredibly ssmall, with the wall of the unit just a few centimeters from your nose. You can't lift your head, hands or feet because the space is so tiny.

The Exam
The examiner will give you a set of earplugs to wear, as the machine is very loud when it is taking pictures. You then lie down on a padded platform. The examiner will move you into the unit, possibly stopping to mark where various landmarks are, in order to calibrate your position. In my case, he marked my sternum and my right hip bone.

Once that is done, you are sent all the way into the unit. It is a very small space and anyone with claustrophobia will have to deal with this challenge. There is a speaker and microphone inside the unit. You will hear the examiner tell you when they are about to set an exposure.

My exam took about 35 minutes, with a series of 3 and 4 minute exposures during which the machine made a lot of noise. It sounds a lot like a very loud dot-matrix printer. Occasionally, the bed I was on would move a little bit, in order to reposition me.

Tips:

• Earplugs: Make sure you wear the earplugs, otherwise you will be very distracted by the noise.


• Music: Ask to have music pumped in. They will either give you headphones or pump it in through speakers. I found that it helped distract me from the enclosed space I was in.


• Close your eyes: This is the most important tip. If you are even a little claustrophobic, it is a good idea to just close your eyes for the entire test. Tell the examiner to let you know when you can open your eyes. Fight the urge to open them when the unit makes noise or when your bed moves for a re-adjusted look.


• Stay calm: Don't let panic get the best of you. Just lie very still and concentrate on other things, like the music, while in there. Talk to the examiner between each exposure

All in all, the MRI is one of the best options for internal diagnosis. It is a very simple procedure that is almost always painless. But for those of you who hate enclosed spaces, you might be freaked out, so be prepared!

Remarkable Update

After speaking with my Doctor's office a few days ago, my hopes of getting an MRI were waning quickly with the new requirement that all patients submit to a CT Scan first.

That all changed yesterday when I got another call from my Doctor's office saying I should cancel my CT Scan for next week.

A millisecond before I launched into a verbal assault on the secretary, she said, "Because I got you into the MRI clinic for next Tuesday."

I thought I might actually cry at that moment.

I was so shocked that after all the delays that I've had, suddenly I was just a few days away.

I know that having the MRI won't solve anything, but it should dismiss all the theories and offer a much better idea what's actually causing my pain.

New Black & White Collection

Thanks to Christopher Evans and his scanning touch, I have a few more photos available.

Have at 'em.

MRI Update

I just heard from my Doctor's office. They want me to go for a CT Scan before they send me off to an MRI.

Another delay in a seriously long wait. It's getting ridiculous.

I called the office back, but everyone was out so I left a message indicating that if they wanted me to get a CT Scan first, why didn't they mention that 30 months ago?

So, I'm back to waiting.

[ Update: 90 minutes later ]: The Doctor's office just called saying they booked me into a cancellation and I'll be in the CT Scanning bed November 13th. That was quick!

Googlism

Alistair is out of control.

What is Good Customer Service Worth?

For the last week, anyone who has visited here might have noticed that the site looked a little outdated. My hosting company had moved my site to a new server, but incorrectly changed their DNS server to point to an old location. During this process, all of my authentication was also changed, so I had no access to my e-mail, ftp server or aything else on my account.

I tried contacting them for days, to no avail. When I finally got a reply, I was told that they had checked the server (that was incorrectly hosting my site) and the most recent file upload was August 9th. I obviously hadn't changed anything in 10 weeks. Bye now!

I politely informed them that I had made at least 12 changes to the index page, and a significant number of changes to other areas of the site, all of which were missing.

I was again informed that I was wrong and to stop bothering them.

Now I was getting angry.

I really hate being told I am dreaming things that I know happened. Especially when I have no way of directing my rants to anyone human.

I wanted to contact someone who would actually care about the issue and believe me when I told them that the site was outdated. Sure, they have e-mail addresses, but I haven't heard back from a billing issue I submitted over a month ago. They have a support ticket system, but they usually take days to answer it and much of the time the ticket is closed with no notification.

There are no phone numbers to call, no Live Person agents to help you out, no ICQ, AIM, MSN or Yahoo Messenger IDs to page, nothing.

It is a frustrating and helpless feeling to just sit there as your site is crippled with no way for you to fix it.

In total I sent 12 letters and 2 posts on their forums pleading for help. I even suggested a possible fix for the problem, which was immediately disregarded as 'impossible'.

Well, not only was it possible, but it was, in fact, the correct solution for solving the problem.

I got no explanation, no apology for treating me like a fool, no communication at all. No offers to 'make good' with a free month or discounted something-or-other.

So, why am I with this web hosting company? Because the last company I was with (for 6 years) was robbing me blind with monthly charges that were obscenely expensive. I decided to move to one more competitive, a host that supported a lot of newer technologies and had a good plan. This new company had all of that, and more, for a great price.

But in the end, I think I would actually pay more (it works out to just a few more dollars a month) to be able to call someone on the phone and get them to work through the problem with me. Or at least hear someone say "We're working on it."

Bad customer service lasts a lot longer than the service provider thinks it does. People will remember it for a long, long time.

Good customer service is worth a few extra dollars a month for me. And for the service provider? Sure it might take more resources or a shift in attitude toward the customer, but in the end...it ends up being worth it.

[ Update Nov 1st, 2000 ]: I was contacted by the owner of the Web Host that I was feuding with. He apologized for the problems I experienced and offered restitution that I felt was fair.