Ok, that said, I am sure some of you want to hear all the details about the procedure and what it was like. If you continue reading I will be going into every little detail of the procedure. It’s really not that bad, and I do recommend reading it so you know what to expect should you ever have to go through it.

Getting Ready
The day started by getting up at 5:30am and leaving at 6:00am to go to the hospital. I checked in at 6:30 and was assigned to a bed. I stripped down completely and put on the very attractive and stylish backless smock. The lack of anything other than a neck strap I felt added that extra touch that would otherwise have been missing. An IV was inserted into the top of my left hand so skillfully that I seriously didn’t even fell it go in. To this they attached your basic saline solution for maximum hydration.

At 8:30am I was given the ‘cocktail’ containing a Benadryl and a Valium. This combo is designed to keep you calm and sedate during the procedure and then help you sleep it off afterwards. You are not asleep during the procedure and can talk to the doctor throughout the procedure.

The Procedure
A few minutes after the drugs I was wheeled into room where the procedure was going to take place. I slide from the bed over onto the procedure table. Basically this is a real-time X-Ray system with a camera over your chest that swings and rotates around to provide the best views for the doctor. Since they insert the catheter into into an artery in your groin area, there can’t be any hair for the tape to stick to….

Do I get to be shaved by some hot, fake breasted nurse bimbo? Of course not, James, a very large black man, had the distincy honor of shaving my nether regions. As I noted to him, I was expecting the return of the hair to be the worst part of this adventure. Next on the agenda was a nice, ice cold bath of Betadine. I began to wonder if they were slopping the orangeness on with a large mop.

Next up, it was time to numb up the entry point. A few shots of Lidocain were on the menu. I have to admit, that kind of hurt actually, but only for a moment. From that point you don’t feel anything at all. Once in a while you can see the screen that the doctor is seeing which I found rather interesting. As the doctor got into the different areas around the heart he would tell me that everything was looking good. There were three distinct areas that this took place in. The final step was to check for heart function, this required an injection through the catheter of a contrast dye, when this was done I felt a short heat wave for a few seconds, but nothing major at all.

The closure was about the worst part of the whole thing. They put a lot of pressure on the spot and then it feels like they attach about 4 binder clips to the spot. This was pretty unconfortable and lasted about 4 – 5 minutes. After this it was just a pile of guaze taped into place and I was done.

The Recovery
After being wheeled to the recovery room, I had to rest for three hours before being allowed to go home. There really wasn’t any real pain to speak of but it felt pretty tender when trying to walk to the bathroom. Karen drove home and shortly after getting home I passed out for a couple of hours. I should be pretty sore tomorrow and pretty much 100% by Friday or Saturday.

• My heart is only pumping out 48% volume which normal is 50%
• There is reduced blood flow to an area on the left side of the heart
• EKG shows a left bundle branch block
• I have not been told to worry about it, so I am trying not to myself
• The goal is to confirm that nothing is wrong, NOT to try and find out what IS wrong

Tomorrow morning I go into the hospital for a cardio-cathetertest. During this test they will determine what, if anything, is actually wrong. It is entirely possible that this is just a normal condition and is nothing to really worry about. In many cases, a small blockage will be found that can be corrected by inserting a stent into the vein to hold it open. Only in very rare cases these days is anything more drastic than that needed. Of course I am a bit freaked out today but I am in very good hands with my cardiologist and the risks are exceptionally low. He is giving me about a 5% chance that they will insert a sting and about a 0.0001% chance of having to do anything more drastic than that. I will update this site the moment I can.

Overview
I know we pay too much for TV service, if you have satellite or digital cable, you pay too much as well, but what can you do but suck it up and pay for it. We started with Cox digital cable, switch to DirecTV because of the dual-tuner Tivo ability that wasn’t offered on any other service at the time. Now, in a quest to save money I began researching my options.

Cox Satellite Myths
Cox cable’s website has a list of the top 10 satellite TV myths and claims they are all false. Let’s examine each “myth” one by one and see what a great value Cox digital cable service is.

Myth #1: “You get more channels with satellite TV than with digital cable.” 
Cox offers up to 260 channels, Dish Network offers up to 280 – Confirmed

Myth #2: “Satellite TV offers a better HD channel lineup.”
Dish Network offers significantly more HD channels than Cox with more coming – Confirmed

Myth #3: “Satellite TV offers more for the sports fan.” 
DirecTV blows away Cox in terms of sports channels – Confirmed

Myth #4: “Satellite TV is less expensive than cable.” 
After MUCH research, to get comparable packages, DirecTV and Cox are within a few bucks of each other and Dish Network is about $30 cheaper – Confirmed

Myth #5: “I can get video-on-demand service with satellite TV.” 
Ok, well, this one is a technicality. You cannot get TRUE on-demand with satellite TV although their PPV shows start so often it’s pretty darned close. Is it true on-demand, no. Cox is technically correct on this point.

Myth #6: “Cable companies raise prices more than satellite TV companies.”
In the past four years my cable bill has gone up and so has my DirecTV bill. Did it go up more often? No, did it go up less often? No. They raise prices about the same. Moot point.

Myth #7: “Satellite beats cable on reliability and picture quality.”
In four years of having regular cable and DirecTV, I have never had a problem with DirecTV and picture quality is perfect. In the same amount of time I have had basic cable go out twice. So in MY experience, yes, satellite had better reliability. – Confirmed.

Myth #8: “You can get local weather on the 24-hour weather channel with satellite TV.”
Huh? The Weather Channel is national and I get local channels. I routinely check on satellite for local weather and Cox is saying you can’t find out about local weather. I can’t figure out what the hell they are talking about. – Confirmed

Myth #9: “It’s easy to install a satellite dish and all of the related equipment.”
Both DirecTV and Dish Network send out knowledgeable installers that hook everything up for you. From that point it is not more difficult to hook up than a cable system. So yes, it is easy to install a dish and related equipment. – Confirmed

Myth #10: “Satellite TV is a one-stop shop for entertainment and communications services.”
There simply isn’t the technology available for satellite to offer all of the services of cable. With Cox cable you can get high speed internet access and digital telephone service. You simply cannot get these services from satellite. – Busted

So out of 10 myths that Cox is trying to dispel, they blow it on 7 out of 10. Their attempt to steer people away from satellite is totally unfounded based on their arguments.

Cox Tried to “Save Me Money”
I explained to the helpful salesperson EXACTLY what I wanted, what channels we watch, how many TV’s, what premium channels, etc, etc. He put together a package that would save me about $25 a month over my DirecTV bill. This made me happy. I ran to the local Cox store, grabbed my new DVR’s and ran home to hook it up.

After going through and setting up season passes for all of our favorite shows (and I have to point out that their DVR interface leaves a LOT to be desired here) and not being able to find HBO or Showtime, I called into tech support. To my surprise, I got ahold of someone at 10pm who said she just needed to refresh the receivers. After a few minutes the systems came back to life and HBO and Showtime were now available in all of their digital glory. But wait….crap…it totally reset the systems and whipped out all of our settings. We start re-programming the system and now all the other “normal” channels from our “everything” package are now missing. No Discovery, No BIO, No FOOD, No Science, No Lifetime, etc etc etc…so I now call Cox cable back and explain this to them. I am now informed that it is going to cost me another $30 a month to get all those channels back I just had moments before because I “wasn’t supposed to get them”. So now, to get what I was getting on DirecTV is now going to cost me MORE than it DirecTV was charging.

Dish Network to the rescue
A friend and I actually went through this whole process together this weekend and both decided that Dish Network was actually the better deal. At close to $40 less than my DirecTV bill with more features than I had before, this is certainly a good decision. Their prices are the best, their packages are complete, there are very few options so you get what you expect to get, they can install within 1 – 2 business days (in our area), and their DVR is one of the best available.

Summary
Cox is full of crap. Plain and simple. They are losing ground to the satellite providers and are spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and lies about how their service is better for you. Because of this I will even be switching my phone lines away from Cox as well for their bad business practices and how they handled this whole issue. Unfortunately I can’t beat their high-speed internet service so I am stuck with them for that for the foreseeable future but for TV service, they simply are not on the same level as either Dish Network or DirecTV.