Don’t fix it if it’s not broken—I hope I’m finally learning my lesson

Can I share a couple quick gripes and then bow out quietly again?   I’ve had a rocky couple of days, and just wanted to vent.  First of all, what you see here is my old Xfinity router and my new X1 Gateway.  I’ve had my old Xfnity router for 7 years and it’s never given me a lick of trouble.

(Well, a few years ago I thought it was dying when my internet stopped working—I jumped thru enough hoops to warrant an actual technician here, who determined my router was fine, someone had disconnected my broadband connector in the basement.)

Anyway—for the last 5-6 months, I’ve been getting texts from Xfinity.  “We noticed you’re still using an old router!  We will be happy to replace that with a Gateway, at no extra charge!  Type 1 for YES, or 2 for NO”   I always hit 2—I was fine with my old one, why fix it if it’s not broken?

But the texts continued, so finally last week I caved and hit yes.  And two days later, this newer gizmo showed up at my mailbox, with instructions on downloading the X1 app and setting it up myself. 

Suffice it to say, I followed the instructions very carefully and everytime I ran a test on the app, got back “It’s not working.  Let’s troubleshoot!”   I troubleshooted until 1:30am Saturday night.  I finally said to hell with it, hooked my old one back up… nope!  That one was now officially a brick! 

The next morning, I got another text from Xfinity.  “There seems to be a problem with your internet.  Would you like a technician to visit you?  Our nearest opening is Sept 30 at noon-2pm.”  I said yes.  It asked me if I was sure.   I SAID YES THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!!

I later figured out (on my own) how to ‘de-register’ and  re-register my old one, and got back my internet high-speed connection again.  And when that Xfinity tech arrives, I’ll be very curious to see if he gets the new one working—but I am REALLY attached to that old one and plan to let him know.  I should’ve trusted my gut to begin with.

It just reminds me of this continued inflammation in my head & face, the return of long covid symptoms after that 3 hour dental appointment.  I wasn’t experiencing any pain or discomfort with my teeth, all I wanted was a good teeth cleaning!  That dentist insisted I had 5-6 developing cavities!  I was 80-90% past the long covid inflammation, until he got in there and started drilling away.  This is Day 21 of it returning.  Again, why fix it if it wasnt broken… I just want to scream.

Finally… yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I was sitting here preparing to eat my dinner, some stewed tomatoes and a Havarti omelet, when my heart began racing.  I said “Oh well” and dug in.  A few minutes later, my heart began pounding and I broke out in a very hot sweat—I raced to the bathroom and threw up what I’d eaten.  Was I having a heart attack?

I called 911, told them what was happening and asked if I should wait & see if things subside.  They said absolutely not, they were sending someone right away.  I raced in my bedroom to change my pants and grab my wallet, by then the pain was spreading out across my torso and I was finding it more & more difficult to breathe.

Two EMT medics arrived within 10 minutes; I was laying on my living room floor but had my front door standing open so they could see me quick enough.  Long story short, I was taken to Mercy Hospital, had an x-ray, CT scan and abdominal ultrasound and they determined I had a large gallstone trapped in my bile duct.

If you’ve ever had kidney stones or gallstones, you know they can leave you gasping.  One feels like a knife in your back, the other like a knife in the stomach.  Here’s the difference though, kidney stones (once passed) leave you achy and sore in your back & sides for a couple days.  Gallstones?  The pain is like an on & off switch.  Once its passed, you’re fine.

I finally passed it a couple hours later.  Mercy was going to send me home, but after learning I lived alone and had no family nearby, kept me overnight for observation.  They even arranged a cab home for me early Monday morning.  Before I left the hospital, the AP asked me if I’d given any thought to gallbladder surgery (considering my prior history) and I did say it’s crossed my mind, what did he think. 

He said my attacks have been infrequent (my last one was a year ago) and as the gb looks healthy and hasn’t given me any real problems yet, why fix it if it isn’t broken.  Yes this time I’m going with that.

Thanks for reading, talk to everyone again soon.

UPDATE:  It took him 1 hour and 39 minutes, but Josh from Xfinity got my new gateway up and running.  The black one is no more, and Josh informed me it was on it’s last legs.  Life goes on...