jbailey | (no subject)

More updates:

* I can now walk to the mailbox on my own, and I only need to rest once on the way.
* I'm generally leaving the walker alone. It causes me more grief than it solves.
* I feel confident making the three steps up and down the balcony - which is good because the main doors are still too heavy for me.
* I've had a shower. I smell much better.
* We're starting to take visitors now - Jim and Sarah were here last night, Andrew and Sarah are coming tonight. It'll be nice to feel a little less isolated.
* I haven't spoken to my dad in a couple of days, but they were still scheduling his angiogram when I last spoke to him. All the walking and stuff that I've been doing means that I'm spending the balance of my day sleeping, so hopefully I'll catch up later today.

At this point, I'll probably post updates a lot less frequently, because it feels like the initial touch-and-go part is done. I'm looking forward to being off the steroids, and slowly spacing out the medications and such, but we're just in that zone where I'm getting up and around and am just waiting for lifting restrictions and such to be removed.

In the last few days, I've managed to sort out the various school extensions I need, the short term disability paperwork, the DMV disabled sticker paperwork, and all that.

Phone calls are much appreciated - the number is in my Orkut and Facebook profiles, it gives me a chance to interact with people and I'm starting to worry that I have too much time and am bothering the ones I talk to al the time. I'm still quite behind on emails, mostly because typing on the blackberry gets to be a bit much after a while.

I suspect I'm about to go into that annoying phase of recovery where nothing is urgent anymore, and we're coping, but we go stir-crazy because I'm not actually better enough to interact with the world yet and Angie still has to do almost everything for me. Any suggestions on making that part of the recovery suck less are appreciated! I've watched it a pile of times, but everyone seems to forget about it (including the people going through it).

Sunrise is 7:11 here this morning, I think I'll try to sit outside for it.

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I'm glad to hear that you're doing well!!

It's snowing here again. You guys are missing the silliest winter ever. I'm so envious of your sunshine (though it was nice on Tuesday when I went to the botanical gardens).

I've not had experience with surgery recovery either for me or my partner, so I'm not sure how to make that almost-better-but-not-quite stage go easier. Maybe try to have a number of activities you can handle on your own so you don't get so bored (drawing, music, puzzles, reading, etc) ?

It's weird - we miss the snow and such because we don't get any real sense of seasons here. And americans don't celebrate things like Easter is seems (even the bank was open on Friday), so I'm not feeling any real passage of time. It's disconcerting. Montreal never left me in doubt as to which week, which month we were at, where in the season we were, etc.

Actually, it reminds me of a crazy version of Toronto that way - Toronto was always bad for passage of time, too, because everything was always celebrated in little pockets of the city. I managed to totally miss Chinese New Year one year, because there was just no sign of it in any of the places I went.

I'm hoping that as I get more lucid, I'll take up schoolwork and other things to help pass the time. I'm also vaguely hoping that with the staples coming out next Tuesday that I might get permission to wade in the pool or sit in the hottub soon after that, which would at least get me somewhere else. It's only a few steps out our balcony door.

best wishes to a speedy recovery, dude.

Thanks, Kyle!

Shower! Congratulations. That must have felt *SO* good.

and *how*...

Between showering and shaving, it's amazing how far that gets one to feeling not-sick.

Congrats on doing so well in recovery mode. A few years ago I had the misfortune to spend six months with my 12 year old nephew as he recovered from a horrible car accident. Trying to keep a 12 year old with two broken legs busy was not fun. The tricks we used included trying to create a schedule for everything. It gave him something to look forward to; even if it was stuff like 2PM visit another floor of the hospital, 3 PM video games, 4 PM call friends who just got home from school. Bigger milestones were on the calendar too. Having a schedule, even when nothing is urgent, can go a long way to passing the days.

Other things which might be okay under your lifting restrictions might include planting some small plant or flower seeds, a chia pet? (see if it's hair grows faster than yours!) and "kid" fun like puzzles and coloring, clay, simple crafts? The hospital also bought in specially trained pets to visit with patients which I thought was pretty cool for a hospital.

good luck!

Ah, interesting thoughts. The biggest problem I've had so far is the combination of the lifting restrictions and being doped out. I'm trying to space out the pills a little bit more in order to give me more time with clear thoughts. At that point, I might be able to do a bit of school work, or something as well. I just don't idle that well. =)

The schedule is a nice idea though. I've been trying to do something like that, but mostly in terms of what happens in a given day - so, get the mail, etc. probably moving to a finer grained thing would make it easier.

Thanks for the thoughts!

I was really looking forward to seeing you again last week in Chicago. I hope I make it to California before too long. Pass my love on to the family too.

Thanks, I would really have liked to be in Chicago. Talking to folks, it seems like I really missed alot. I'm under a no-fly restriction until June, but I'd like to find a reason to visit the Chicago office anyway to understand better what's out there.

See you soon. =)