Good morning, everyone, today I (Carrie) decided to do the blog. Brad is in an unusual spot this morning - a local Baltimore tv station newsroom. In fact, about 30 minutes ago I saw him walking in the background with a security guard, behind the newsroom desk. It turns out one of his college classmates from Northwest Missouri is the Sunday morning news anchor on the local NBC affiliate, so she invited him to stop by, watch the broadcast live, and then they'll probably head out for coffee afterwards. He was really excited, so I'm glad that he's there and hope he's enjoying himself. My mom leaves this afternoon for Cleveland, so it's really the last break away from me that he gets before we return to Ohio!
I'm still hanging in there, recovering a bit more every day. My biggest challenge against me has been the hotel room and the furniture, none of it which is really comfortable. The bed is the worst; I've nicknamed it the body buster. It somehow finds a way to penetrate every part of your body that hits that bed and inject it with torturous pain. You lie there feeling horrible, and when you get up you feel like you've just been severely beaten. It goes without saying that I feel it's working a bit against me at the moment. The only other piece of furniture I've been using is an arm chair, rigged with several pillows and a ottoman that the hotel loaned us. This is the most comfortable place to be, but sometimes even this just does not do the trick. I do get up and walk around a lot, but am getting frustrated that I don't have one truly comfy place to go that soothes my aching body. At home I have a couple of great places to be, especially our living room couch, so I am counting down the days where I can be home again. With my mom leaving today I might try out the couch here at the hotel, but just based on looks alone I'm not hopeful.
Overall I'm doing quite well. I'm having a lot of incision pain, and a lot of pain in my right leg. It's a different leg pain than I had before the surgery, as the pain is only on the outside of the leg and not the entire leg, plus I no longer have pain in my foot. My left side feels great - no pain at all - so I've been taking advantage of that. Yesterday I was able to take a real shower for the first time, which was wonderful. Was able to easily get ready on my own, which is a big deal. I'm still taking the Vicadin pretty frequently for the pain levels, and occasionally take a Valium for muscle pains/cramps. I'm slowly starting to eat normal food, though my portions are still small and I'm very picky; it really depends on what few things sound good to eat at that moment.
The last two days I have found I'm running fevers around 100 degrees that usually start around 2pm, but find if I take two Tylenol and sleep for an hour it goes away. I'm thinking I need to break up my days a little more, at least for now. Take more short naps throughout a 24 hour period instead of trying to sleep through the night. It's something I'll probably start to try today or tomorrow just to see if I notice a difference.
In terms of my brain, I think it's functioning pretty well. Played online Scrabble with mom yesterday and actually won...though she's always a tough component! On Monday I am going to start working approx. 2 hours a day, which I think I'm ready for. I won't have a set schedule, but I'm looking forward to dipping my toe back into the work-mode pool. I have amazing staff so I'm not worried about anything, but obviously have my own projects I want to work on during this typical "slower" time in the office. I also have three new books to read that I got as gifts before I got here, so I'm going to start reading those; I feel I'm ready, like my brain can start to absorb things again!
Also, while I'm thinking of it, a few people have asked and yes, I did have to have a blood and platelet transfusion. Unfortunate, but expected. The surgeon told me the amount on Tuesday morning, but have since forgotten. I remember one of the numbers was "3500 ml", but forget what it was in reference too.
That's really all for today. It's a long post, but it catches everyone up. I'm floored at how many people are reading this thing! Today the major thing will be my mom leaving, and though I will miss her I'm glad she's able to head back. I don't think I'll be too much of a burden on Brad alone at this point, though maybe you need to ask him that in a few days! I think it's a little hard for my mom to leave, but she knows we'll be back home soon...less than two weeks! It has been so wonderful to have her here. The woman is the first one to jump up and do anything you need, get you anything you need...she has so much energy! She's also a good out-of-box thinker, so she's good at coming up with solutions to any challenges we've faced along the recovery route. And of course the love and support she provides is invaluable; she is my mom! And now that I'm getting a little teary-eyed, I think I'll end the blog for now. And hey, now Brad's sitting in the "newsroom" behind the anchor desk, so I'm seeing a lot him now. Looking good, Brad - you were ready for your close-up!
To everyone out there, I hope you had a great weekend and managed to survive all the snow and cold that has been hitting most of the country (though surprisingly not in Baltimore)!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Carrie...glad to hear that you are feeling better every day. I hope that you guys have a good Christmas! Sounds like Brad got a great opportunity to have some fun at the newsroom.
We are thinking about you. I just sent some new pictures of the kids to your e-mail.
Have a safe trip home.
Lori, Roman and Zoe
Post a Comment