It’s Good to be Home, Part II
Sunset over Monterey Bay
(I flew back to CA yesterday and made the drive back up to the Central Coast today, a five+ hour drive. And, I head back to work tomorrow.
I am really very grateful that I was able to take some vacation time and go visit my brother Chris during his surgery and help out my sistuh-in-law and nephew. Many thanks to Nicole for the free flight!
As I have been doing since the day of his surgery, I’m blogging for my bruthah the daily thoughts he dictates to me cuz Chris’ fingers are just too big for that itty-bitty iPad keyboard (and he’s not allowed to go near a real computer). So, below are the notes he just told to me about an hour or so ago during a Google+ Hangout, albeit I’ve once again heavily edited them for continuity and have tried as he said to “make it funny” – zoiks!)
I got a good night’s sleep last night after a full day of visitors – apologies to those whom I may have cried with, or slept through as there were so many I couldn’t quite keep my eyes from welling up or my brain from shutting down.
The Marauder’s Map
Today our home health care buddy, Emile, gave me a shower and washed my head, revealing a couple of curious marks made by the vise they put my head in to do the surgery. There’s still that permanent marker where “X” marks the spot that Marvin used to occupy. Okay, it’s not an actual “X” but rather a long black line centered on my head just in front of the row of staples.
I’m having really weird sensations and can hear a tick-tick-ticking, or maybe it’s more like crunch-crunch-crunching. We haven’t asked our doc about this yet, but I think it’s the movement of my skull bits and bytes shifting back into position.
I told Emile that I want to learn new things, and I fully expected to teach him chess and have both of us learn Pinochle and Bridge today. Well, maybe tomorrow. I do feel a wee bit slower cuz you know, my neurons are a wee bit lost in this little gray matter of mine. Cuz, you know, I just had brain surgery (I’m gonna get a lot of mileage out of that one!)
Our wonderful friend and Temple songleader Anita came and sang the Mi Shebeirech to me, and I talked with a few less people in between my two hour snooze. I did get to wish my brother David and his wife a happy anniversary… a month early.
The day was topped off with a yummy dinner of turkey burgers, and then our friend Denise brought over a fantastic dessert. <shameless plug> Lava Yogurt voted best of NOVA 2013! <end shameless plug>
With fewer visitors today than yesterday I was left with some time to fill. So I got up and stumbled about with the walker. Perhaps I will switch to using my Quai Chang cane tomorrow and show off my new moves when my PT comes to help me do some physical therapy (no jogging or jigging, but maybe some zigging and zagging up and down a stair or two).
I’m trying to get m’self back on a normal nighttime sleep-time schedule and go to bed about 11-ish. I want to get up at 5-ish with my son CJ, chat with him at breakfast and see him off to school. After which I’ll promptly go back to bed for a bit of a snooze (and maybe Nicole can get a few more zzzz’s too).
I do know it’s the drugs making me quite weepy (“Here comes the water works again”, as sung by Fannie Lenix), but I have much to be weepy about. So many people have come together to help me and Nicole and CJ get through this, it makes me sputter and I cannot say thank you enough. Perhaps there is something more pithy to be said about my fountain of gratitude…
I’m glad I’m alive. I’m glad I didn’t lose my computer skills. And more importantly, I’m glad I have more time with my family and friends.
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – Andy Warhol