HAPPY WEEKEND! hope you go surfing

I feel reluctant to admit that my days start to blur together. I find myself thinking with true surprise "Oh! its Friday!" Then the that thought is immediately followed by, "well lets be honest, Saturday and Sunday, not that exciting. They'll look just like that slurred together mon-tueswethrurfriday, except with more football."

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm just saying, I have a pattern. So for those of you who are working oh so hard and earning your friday afternoon relief - here are some fun links I found across the world wide web.

Here's to hoping you have a fun filled weekend with absolutely only a little time to waste surfing around!!

I have been thrilled by the fact that I enjoy coffee again and Jerry Seinfeld's web series "Comedians in Cars getting Coffee" has been the most delightful entertainment to accompany a cup of joe. Each episode is about 12 minutes long and dialogue is so easy that you honestly feel like you're sharing a booth with these guys. When hanging out with Neil in the evening, I find myself wanting to say "oh yeah, my friend was just talking about that" when I really mean- "I watched Mel Brooks and Jerry Seinfeld discuss that during a phase of my life when I was alone all day and I had no sense of distance, normalcy, or proper human interaction. In fairness they DO seem friendly."

Here's a list of the 500 worst passwords. ha, people are stupid.

oh. wait.... yep, the password I used for all four years of college is in column two.

Neil and I still have our weekly football bets, but instead of the loser having to do a heavy duty household chore (scrubbing baseboards is a rude task to hand your post-operative wife), we decided to reward the winner with getting a CD of their choice! For one of my wins I went back a few years to Iron & Wine's The Shepard's Dog... wow. just wow.

I have professed my love for the site Letters of Note before but I bring it up again because I think I discovered my favorite note. The 'hotter than a pepper sprout', Johnny Cash, wrote a To Do list that makes me feel a warm and fuzzy sort of way.
Its also nice that at this point in my recovery I can accomplish #1, #5, and #6 and sometimes #7

Even though I don't have a child, I have a sense of humor - so this stay at home father's tumblr, Message With a Bottle, is hilarious!

source

I think the "recently operated" might be the target audience for Network TV's Fall Premiers. I'm truly undiscerning about what new shows I ingest. (by "undiscerning" I mean I watch them all.)
Elementary? why not!
Go On? I have a half hour!
Unfortunately, I have zero advice to give you on which of these shows are good and which are horrible. My television taste buds were numb after I dove into episode 2 of "Guys with Kids"

I have to give Caty Young a big thank you for last weekend. Not only did she share with me so much love and fun and early 90s flash backs- she gave me this diamond of knowledge about the Baby Sitters Club. As I set my sites for my future, now I know I just want to end up better than Claudia.

We are transitioning into some hearty, wholesome fall foods in our CSA and its exciting to dream up recipes. (Then hand them off to my husband to execute, serve, and clean-up!) This weekend its this rustic cabbage soup, with some carrots and corn tossed in for good measure.

And I'll end with something as close to self promotion as I can get... after hours of Neil and I (and some friends) sitting around talking about music, Neil started a blog discussing music. He (and some friends) post with either ideas or actual albums they like. This brand new site is to be a forum where you can gain exposure to good music you may never listen to otherwise - then talk about it.

Happy Weekend! I'll work hard on recovery (and less on time wasting) and report back on Monday!

Running for my Life

It more like walking for my life.

I've officially signed up for my first race since the surgery!

Its the Freaky 5K run/walk on October 27th (and all the shirts say "Run for Your Life" so I went with it in the post title)

So far I can walk 3 miles. This leaves me with a whole month to add one more tenth of a mile. I figured I can most likely make up the difference. I even checked with my Neurosurgeon at my last appointment and got the go-ahead to participate.

I have 12 other friends (maybe more) doing the race too and we're all dressing up!

I wanted a costume that allows me to carry a drink. Recently, I haven't needed to take as many sips of water on my walks, but I feel more comfortable knowing I would have something by my side. Last year for Halloween I was dressed as the Statue of Liberty and my torch was a flashlight taped to a bottle of, um, libations.

I swear that mixture is more iced tea than whiskey.

I have Jack Bauer there to keep me honest. 

This year I plan to recycle much of the costume and fill that bottle with flame colored gatorade so I can hydrate as I stroll through North Park as Lady Liberty.

If there's anything to look forward to - its combining my walking with seeing people I love - AND it feels oh so good to have a race on the calender again!

Follow-Up

I had a wonderful follow-up appointment today with Dr Okonkwo.

- My incision site remains nice looking (and infection free)

- My walking is great! Yesterday we did 3 miles.

- The mobility in my neck is good. I can look 90 degrees both left and right.

- I've been functioning well on no medication for about 10 days now.

- My ability to eat has returned, even if I'm not that hungry. I do eat!

All and all I think he was pleased

We also got some encouraging news for moving forward.

I have to be careful not to strain in any way. The mesh that was sewn into my head will take about 3 months before my dura (the covering of the brain) fully re-grows and incorporates itself with my brain in this new position. Until then, doing anything too strenuous could bust the stitches that my genius surgeon worked so hard to put in place. That's an outcome I'd like to avoid.

So I've put jazzercise and breakdancing on hold for a while. Along with jogging. I'm so very okay with this.

In the meantime, I'm encouraged to walk as much as I can tolerate. To stretch and keep my body moving (even mild yoga). And he even said my 3 lb weights are good (I have all the proper work outs from months of physical therapy that I went through a few years ago).

I can also move forward with other activities - in moderation - as my energy level can handle. That means if I REALLY REALLY wanted to attend a rave (which I don't, this is a hypothetical) it technically wouldn't harm my surgery's success - but it might make me fatigued. And rest is still important.

Overall, I'm so excited about all this!  There's been a few initial post-surgical guidelines that had been strictly enforced in this household (i.e.: "no cooking"). Now they can be lifted in favor of giving me back my discernment and a bit more freedom (I'm not about roast a turkey but can a girl dice an onion!)

Neil I know you are reading this, please don't think me ungrateful for your vigilance... thanks to you I've progressed so well. But please excuse me while I reach above my head to grab that fall sweater off the top shelf - with out assistance.   oh sweet freedom!

over the straw curve

With out even fully realizing it, I've surpassed another milestone.

I'm drinking without a straw.

It became clear to me when I asked Neil to grab me some juice and he said "wait, do you want a straw with that?" I'm not the fastest gunslinger in the west, so my gradual smile and hardly committal "Huh" hopefully told him that it was slowly dawning on me - "This is interesting. I'm over the straw curve."

This seemingly minor feet, is actually quite exciting. It means I'm sitting up when I sip. It means I'm tipping my head back when I reach the bottom of the glass. It means I've been getting my own water because Neil didn't notice right away. It means I'm definitely moving towards normal, at least in the drinking department (as long as you ignore the prune juice in my fridge)!


Don't get me wrong, I'll still say yes to the Krazy Straw.

Of course now it would be strictly on principle - not out of necessity.

September Date Night

We opened our two year anniversary gifts early this year. (I was otherwise detained on the actual day) As always, we went for simple in terms of cost - which means I went overboard in terms of effort.

Of the 12 gifts I got him (this looks like overkill but most were oh so insignificant)...

One particular mason jar was my favorite. It had a special gift that was to last all year long.

It held 12 envelops, with each month of the year on the outside. On the inside of each envelop is a specific date night for us. On the first day of each month this year he gets to open a new envelop and we go forth with our date!

Making this gift was tricky because I had to predict how I might feel in February and July. I had to hope I could be in public at a certain point, and expect I could handle large amounts of fun around, well, who knows when?

Making this gift was a blessing because I could say to Neil just before having surgery, not only do I have no doubt I'll live through this (otherwise, crappy gift right?) but I'll also choose to believe I get better and better and we'll have a wonderful year together.

SEPTEMBER 

For our kick off month I did have to set the bar rather low. I knew we would be inside not just one weekend but ALL the weekends (and ALL the weeknights). I wanted to do something not too straining but somewhat unique...

Thus - Movie Nights - we stay in, we make popcorn, we snuggle under covers, and we turn off phones. But these aren't typical movies. Our theme is to go through all of our parents' and step-parents' favorite films. We are still collecting some data, and gathering DVDs, but so far its been a blast! Can you believe we never asked them what they love most?

And so now we have a way to separate special nights from just every other night. We also have a new (and renewed) appreciation for:

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

thanks to John

Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark

thanks to Dave

(on deck is)

Moonstruck

thanks to Donna

The Shawshank Redemption

thanks to Paul

(which happens to mine AND Neil's favorite as well. triple whammy!)

and guess who picked

Analyze This...

*if you said Joe T, you win!

So far we've lucked out - everyone has impeccable taste, in our opinion - and our September date nights have been delightful! We can't wait to get everyone's final vote and then we might even cycle through some of the second place movies we were given (Ten Commandments, Seabiscuit, Young Frankenstein, The Dream Team, Back to School and Gone With the Wind)

Do you have a favorite movie we could watch? Have you asked any parents or family members what they love the most? I can't believe I waited so long to ask - now that I watch them knowing how beloved they are, they're even better than I remember!

One Whole Month

Today was exactly one month since surgery!

Now sing along with me...

Happy Birthday Month-iversary to youuu, dear mesh thingy holding my brain in place

Happy Month-iversary to youuu, pesky piece of suture thats sticking out but won't budge

HAP-PY MONTH-I-VER-SA-RE...

oh, wait

you don't know that one? 

its okay, its not all that common.

I'm posting this late because I was so busy today with things like

• catching up on some phone calls 
• making coffee (I like it again!) 
• emailing multi-paragraphed emails 
• neck stretching 
• showering (a surprisingly exhausting event)
• walking with Neil around the reservoir - twice - which equals about 2 miles!
• eating a dinner of my favorite take out
• and reading in bed 

I'm so much better than I thought I'd be at four weeks and I look forward to (slowly) adding more good things to my days of rest!

Colin's Inspiring Message

For all the people that have asked about my friend Colin (Neil posted about him recently - he is the biker in the south side that was attacked, stabbed, had his throat slit, and left for dead).

Well, after that kind of intro, I'm happy to announce that he is doing amazingly well!! He is still a bit weak (after losing 1/2 his blood), but he's alive and he's home and he's on the mend.

More than that, he spoke at our church this last sunday...

<<link to sermon>>

I wouldn't normally promote something so strongly, but this message is well worth a listen. (seriously friends, its good. have a listen)

I must say that I'm not surprised at all by his talk. This grace and love he shares now is something he has shown before. He and his wife Carina are the kind of people who are able to take off the heaviness of their situation. While so many wear their tragedies like cloaks, these two are able to shed the things that befall them - then remarkably look at the bright side of things.

Last year, when their house burned down (a huge thing), and when city officials wouldn't return phone calls about stuff like zoning (a small thing), they just shrugged off any justifiable anger or the "woah is me's" that I, quite honestly, felt could have merit.

They would actually walk into our apartment (where they stayed for a bit) covered in ash from working on their home and they would smile and chat, then go to wash off all that grime. Sitting with us in the living room, all clean and fresh, they would amaze me by counting the things in life they could celebrate.

So again, its no surprise that now in the face of violence and malice, Colin and Carina can discard those heavy cloaks of fear and anger and revenge and dispair and hurt and on and on - its their nature to stand tall, to find lightness. They've done it both the great things and the small things.

This reminds me of the parable of the ten servants in Luke 19 - when Jesus ultimately says "those who use well what they've been given, even more will be given." Who you are when it matters little is who you'll be when it matters greatly.

There's a number of things that make this talk so very very encouraging for me to hear. (I mean it, I'm just going to keep posting this same link and telling you to go hear him speak!)...

- First and foremost, I was so elated to listen to the (very alive) voice of my friend.
- But I'm also considering how I will emerge from these years of pain. All this time, the hurt I've carried has been physical and emotional.  If I emerge pain free, as I hope, I'll have to shed all the years of heaviness too - I'm so inspired by Colin and Carina for how they continue to move ahead in the good things, leaving in the past what has passed.
- Finally, this talk resonates because I know how much his message can be applied to the small things in life... traffic, comcast billing, neighbors with a weedwacker before 8 am, etc. It sounds overly simple to say but why can't anger and annoyance at those things be replaced with grace and kindness and the old golden rule.

If nothing else, thank you dear Colin and Carina, for the beautiful example.

 

a welcome fatigue

I'm sorry for not posting for a few days. I have been so very tired, but in such a good way.

My old tired was due to lack of sleep.

My new tired is involves getting sleep (!) in a few hour bits here and there. It's been such a blessing to start feeling rested enough to have a foothold and then begin feeling better and better.

Since then I've been adding many more good things. I can walk longer and farther. I have had a few more visitors. And I was able even to go to get a much needed massage! (I've been to this massage therapist for years because of neck pain and back spasms - this time she was a miracle worker on my hips and low back)

The very nature of the weekend is that I have Neil around all day - that is wonderful but draining as well. I'm not used to having people around all the time!

So you can see why I chose rest over internet posts again and again. Thankfully my fatigue has been the result of healing and I'm being careful not to over-do things.

Now that the week has re-set, I'm back to having my day to myself. (oh and there's the watching Mad Men on netflix between writing thank you notes and trying to nap). I keep doing my gentle neck stretches and patiently await my daily walks... so I can go to bed tired yet again.

thank you for all of your continued thoughts and prayers!