Home Base

A short note to all…

Thank you so incredibly much for your prayers, care, and well-wishes! It is so humbling to read notes (email, FB, blog comments) from all over the world, being reminded that we are not alone but have so many incredible people in our lives.  (So many friends and dear ones, but even folk we’ve never met!)

This note will be necessarily short (I’ll write in bits and pieces) but I did want to scribble a little.

Yesterday was the first I could read the screen with almost completely clear vision. Angles (esp b/c of glasses) still present a challenge, and limit how much I can do – but I can see it now, and type a bit.  (I can’t remember if Greg mentioned my flickering and blurry vision – for days anything I tried to focus on flickered like an old tv screen, albeit less rapidly each day. CT scans came back clear so doctors were sure it wasn’t anything lasting. It was quite delightful the first time I could finally focus on a face though: I made the young x-ray guy zoom in, and then asked if I could look at his colleague’s face too.  J )

It is so very good to be home; such a gift to be able to see and smell the greenness of outdoors; to be with ‘creature comforts’ (including the creatures…2 cats slept on/against me all the first night, and Vigo-the-dog as close as he could get beside me whilst still on the floor [virtually under my pillow] – I felt well-loved!) The first 36-48 hours were pretty tough though…were we to replay, Greg & I are agreed that I should have really spent one more night/day in the hospital. The doctors were keen to see me off & home, but the nurses were way more reticent, not convinced my pain-levels were consistently low enough yet. But a grace of physical pain is that one can’t remember it: one can remember that one was indeed in a lot of pain, but not exactly how it felt. So, those initial hours are done, and the pain’s much more manageable now (and nausea from pain completely gone).  Still a full morphine dose, and still far from pain-free, but each day is a wee bit better…and physical strength is multiplying each day too. Yesterday I made it out to the pond (barefoot of course: hurrah!!), had a wee sit, and made it back again (ab. 5 min each way?). Today I made it out to survey the marvellous work Ben (with Denver) has accomplished in the veg patch, on to the pond, and then in again: whooped, but happy! Petit à petit à petit. Every day brings a wee bit more independence (it was wonderful having my lovely husband feed me…but awfully nice to be able to do so myself again!). I still sleep lots & lots & lots…

The challenge ahead of course will be deciding what I should do as opposed to what I can do. As my reputation precedes me on this one, feel free to up the prayers!  J We are accumulating dates on things like staple-removal etc.  Various medical people phone us every day to check in on various things. A few friends have asked about physio: I’m not allowed to do any until the collar is off – about 2 months from now. At this point my focus is to be minimal neck movement and maximum scar healing (for both sites, but esp neck). I’ll do my best! The weirdest thing is still the fact that my skull is about 80% numb to feeling…even though it gets itchy, I can’t feel a thing when I touch it (esp weird for – still delicate – hair brushing)…it’s kinda like it’s made of metal. Every once in a while a new area decides to begin ‘coming back to life,’ which usually incurs another reach for the meds. The rest of my body is a little happier to move and flex each day. Of course at the mo’ the RA is creeping back in too (until I can restart at least the anti-inflammatorys), so I’m happy to have my walker and an amazing loan of hot wax hand-soaker!

All in all, I’m incredibly blessed & gift-laden: thank you.