It's February 22nd. We left Dallas for home on January 22nd. Dallas hasn't changed much. It still has highways and overpassess that soar into the sky so cars can drive over and under each other, in addition to around and through.
The drive down was miserable. Melissa is sick with a cold, I am perfect, the weather is dreary, the doldrums set in about 10 minutes into the trip and... wait a minute... I'm not perfect. You were going to let me get away with that. You people... sometimes I wonder about you. I am recovering from SKULL SURGERY! Well, so much for stream-of-consciousness writing. It suffices that we are actually glad to be in Dallas. We will try to drive back with me medicated. Maybe that will help.
Once here, we went on a search (because Dallas is BIGGER than Kansas City) for another wedge for sleeping on. Melissa likes mine so much because it helps her sleep better, that now she wants one, too. We actually pre-paid for one in KC, but no go. Shipment got mis-delivered or some such nonsense. We tried to get one in Tulsa on the way through, but it was Sunday and the store was closed. We finally found a "Relax the Back" store in Dallas, open till 5 pm on Sunday, and arrived at 2:30 pm. They were out. But... they gave us a clue about a mysterious store that existed somewhere to the North of our present location. A store called... "BackRite". After much research and digging through ancient texts (looking it up on my Blackberry and calling) we discovered the coordinates of this bizarre bazaar and made our way there, encountering many adventures along the way. Having been assured this was a business that accepted commerce every day of the week, we were shocked and aghast to find the store... shuttered and barred against the darkening day (it turns out they were closed on Sundays). Once again, our mission was blunted, our target ever eluding us. The Incredible Back Wedge remained a possession still wanted, not owned. We will gather our resources and one day we will try again. But as it stood, that moment, our reserves were empty. We made our way back to our campsite and dug in for the night (we checked into the hotel and went out to eat).
Today we plan to go see the surgeon for my 6 week checkup, one month from the last time I have seen my doctor. He will look at me, exclaim how good I look (even though I now have permanent bags under my eyes), and release me to go back to work with whatever limitations I might have. I created a fairly detailed release form for martial arts. He'll need to fill that out as well so I can actually participate. Right now all I can do is walk around and (verbally) help students with their technique.
As for me, my scar is healing, my forehead lines are coming back, my right eyebrow still will not raise, but I can scowl. Who needs to look surprised when a scowl will do? From my mouth, down to my toes, I feel great. Everything above my nose, however, feels tight. You know how your skin feels tight, sensitive, and numb all at the same time when you have a bad sunburn on your head? That's how it feels. There are still large areas that are numb. I get some striking shooting pains in those areas, but only occasionally and they do not last. My scar burns, off and on. Again, only occasionally. And I still think about my skull being in pieces, constantly. I am hyperaware fo where things are in relation to my head so it doesn't get inadvertently bumped. And speakig of bumps, I also think the surgeons built the bump back in to my forehead. The swelling is down, and if you look, you can DEFINITELY still see the bump that was there before. I'll ask the doc about that.
We have seen three movies on our trip (via my PC and its DVD player) that were all good. White Noise 2, The Invention of Lying, and Law Abiding Citizen. We also watched several episodes of Legends of the Seeker on Netflix Instant Watch. While INCREDIBLY campy, it is fun to watch because it was based on a very good series of books by Terry Goodkind called "The Sword of Truth" Series.
So, that's it for us. What are YOU people doing?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Hi Kurt! I'm anxious to hear what the doctors had to say at your checkup. Are you back in KC yet? I have been sort of out of commission since last Thursday when I had my back surgery.
ReplyDeleteI ran out of my regular pain meds on a Saturday and sent Shari to go get them and the insurance bounced the claim saying it was "too soon to refill" even though this medication canNOT be refilled. I called my insurance customer service where they said I had to talk to another department to override the "too soon to refill" thing, and then transferred me to a department that isn't open on weekends. So I called again on Monday and they said it was the mail-in pharmacy's fault, so to call them. So I called them and they said no, it's the insurance company's fault. By this time I had been 3 days without proper pain medication with two huge incisions and what looks like a mini-football inserted under my skin in my back, so I wasn't really in the jolliest of moods. I finally got the pharmacy to admit they made the mistake, and fix it, and notify the insurance company it was fixed and I finally got it. After I took it, Shari said, "wow, you act normal now!"
Doesn't it feel great to know you aren't the only one punished and tortured by doctors, insurance companies, etc? I didn't even mention that I also sent Shari to buy it on Sunday at Walmart, where it was somewhat affordable without insurance, but she got there about 5 minutes after they closed! Those great cluster f***s are just so wonderful to go through!!
I have been rather homebound since I got home from my surgery on Thursday, especially since up north we got completely DUMPED on with snow. You guys didn't get much, I heard, but we got about 8 inches on top of what we already still had here.
I'm going to try to venture out some time in the next few days. Shari has mono and my boyfriend, Jim is now really sick with a high fever. He was up here tonight, thinking he was better, then started running 103 fever. I told them I was leaving and was going to go to his apartment where nobody was sick. But I stayed home.
Just thought I would share my fun surgery story with you. Not near as fun and extensive as yours. Mine luckily was here in town, out-patient, but getting your spine cut open and a heavy box about the size of a deck of cards as well as electrical leads crammed into my spinal column isn't probably a whole lot more fun than getting your skull opened up. We will have to get together some time and compare scars. At least mine only show when I want to show it!
I love reading your blog. You have such a dry sense of humor and I love it!! I know Melissa is the writer in the family but you should start doing it, too! Very entertaining!
Ahhhh, Cindy. If we weren't in TX we could have SO helped with the pain thing. I am sorry to hear you are recovering from surgery. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers and hope you recover fast. And that you get your pain managed better than I did. If not, call me. We can compare meds.
ReplyDelete