Friday, March 2, 2012

All By Myself

This morning Kate woke up and flew back to West Palm Beach, she has her biggest show of the spring this weekend.  Several people offered to help her run the show so she didn’t have to fly back, but with me doing so well, we figured she could go back.  I have worked several shows for Kate in the past and there is a big difference in sales in the shows she works and ones that I or other people work.  So we decided it would be best for Kate to go back and run the show, I told her to buy the tickets before we came for the surgery, but Kate wanted to make sure everything went well and bought a plane ticket on Monday for her to leave today and come back Monday.
We had a very nice visit yesterday from one of Kate’s friend Liz, it was really nice to see her and she was a huge help moving us from one apt. to the other.  I felt bad for Kate and Liz as Ashley and I were only really able to sit around and watch, which isn’t a lot of fun for me, I like to help, but to their credit they wouldn’t let me.  Moving with Kate can be quite the job too because when she moves in to a hotel or one of these apartments she uses every drawer she possibly can (as opposed to me who would rather live out of my suitcase).  I do have to admit that it is nice to feel like you have a place that is your own.
Kate and I definitely feel lucky to have the group of friends we have and all the support we have received over the months leading up to the surgery, and since.  One of my good friends from college Todd will be coming up on Friday night to spend the weekend here with me.  I told Kate that I would be fine by myself, but I am excited to have a friend come up her and stay with me.  Especially one I haven’t seen in a long time, it will be good to have a friend during this time.s
One last story before I sign off for the day, Ashley spend the last day with us even spending the night at our apartment.  It was really nice to have her around and just be able to help out some with her during her recovery.  We also got to go out to an Italian restaurant in Pittsboro that serves a gluten free menu.  This is perfect for Ashley since she has gluten allergies, so she got to have pasta and we got her some Carrot Cake to go since they make a Gluten free version.  She said she hadn’t had Carrot Cake in over 8 years so I figured it was about time she got some. 
The meatball sub I had was delicious and I got a taste of the cake and it was great, so I hope she enjoys it.  I think she is going to be happier about getting the Carrot Cake than getting the kidney, I know that’s not true but it was pretty good Cake.
I will try to do multiple updates over the next couple days so everyone knows I’m fine and doesn’t worry about me too much while I am by myself.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Other people talking about our story

Check out this blog about Ashley and I.

Kim's Thoughts blogging about our story

Day 1 Without Supervision

I thought everyone would like to know that I am doing fine today by myself.  Was able to make breakfast (eggs) and lunch (turkey sandwich) and even get in some play time. 

Why no one writes about the Recovery process


I think I have determined why there really is no information about the recovery process on the internet.  It is boring, it is slow, and really there isn’t much to tell.  My family keeps trying to check up on me day after day to make sure everything is ok, but nothing really changes.
I am moving around fairly well on my own, can do most things that I would normally do, but I am still slow. I can’t drive while I am on pain medication; even if I wasn’t taking it my reaction time is probably about 50% of normal. That means without someone taking me around I am pretty much stuck in the house, and unless you are a museum kind of person there is only so much stuff to go and see.  
College Jeremy probably would have thought this was great, watching movies, goofing around on the internet, but at this point in my life it is hard to waste more than 30 minutes on the internet and movies are OK but you start to get bored.  This is going to make me sound like a spoiled rich kid but we have a 55 inch tv at home with surround sound, so the 29 inch crt tv in this apartment isn’t cutting it.
At just over a week from the surgery I feel pretty much like I expected to feel.  The pain is tolerable; I am down to one vicodin at a time instead of two.  I could probably go shoot layups or hit a tennis ball so I feel like I could be active to some extent but it is important to make sure the incision heals and I don’t create any hernias. 
Basically I have become a baby again. I eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, and then start the process all over again, the only difference is I don’t cry to let someone know(Kate might think differently), and I haven’t started wearing a diaper (yet).  I will let you know if it gets to that. 
Sorry today is short; it has been a little bit of a busy day with Kate leaving tomorrow.  That’s right I am running solo for the weekend, don’t worry I have a buddy from college coming to stay with me, it’s a dawgs reunion weekend, (that’s what we called ourselves in college, and no it wasn’t cool then either).