Thanks, John and Molly

The calla lilies are beautiful as well!

UPDATE: Funny story. I heard a noise (boom!), so I went into the living room to see the lilies on the floor with dirt all over, Sam covered in dirt, and Anna sniffing everything. I yelled at the cats and assumed that Anna knocked it over onto Sam, since he was all dirty and she wasn't. The next day, Sam was standing on his hind legs pawing at the lilies again, and I see what must have happened the day before: Sam knocked it over on himself!! I apologized to Anna for thinking she was the bad one, and I yelled at Sam again to get away from the plants!

Thanks, Al and Eileen

The orchid is beautiful!

Thanks, Alice

Today Alice went home. She was here for about two weeks helping out with household stuff and going places with me. It was fun to have her stay with us, and I think the cats are confused now because they were actually able to get used to her. Yesterday, she and I wandered around Georgetown for a couple of hours and picked up some cupcakes.

The back of my head

You may be wondering what my incision looks like. Sometimes I do, and so I ask Phil to take pictures of the back of my head. I think it looks a little freaky, but when my friend Kim looks at it, she always says, "Wow, that's so amazing. It's so perfect." (You can click the photo to make it larger.)

2 weeks post-op

Well, the big day was two weeks ago. I'm now off the steroid, which is making my shoulder hurt more (the inflammation is back). If this issue could just go away, I would be fine. I'm going to do more of the strengthening exercises that the PT recommended, as well as apply ice and heat to the shoulder. I may also look into acupuncture.

I put in my contacts today to see how that would go, and it seems ok. I don't think I'm ready to wear them all day, everyday, but it's nice to have total peripheral vision again.

Yesterday we went to get Phil a haircut and consulted with my stylist about how to even out my hair. She seemed to think that a simple trim to get it all closer to the same length would be fine. I'll probably wait a couple of weeks before having anything done (I'm a little nervous about people touching my head at this point).

Last night as part of the Academy Awards, we held the Cat Oscars. Sam was up for his role in "Other Cat's Food," and Anna was up for her role in "Cat on a Bookshelf." The Cat Academy (the three of us) voted, and Samuel L. Cat won Best Performance. He didn't give much of an acceptance speech though, and the two of them had a pretty lame after-party.

Today I'm planning to go to the Post Office to drop the Magic Scarf in the mail to the next lucky recipient.

Top 5 memories

This is a list of the top 5 things that stand out in my mind from the hospital.

1. Not being able to breathe and being rushed through a bunch of weird hallways with an inflatable bag over my face
2. The feeding tube when it contained a disgusting green substance
3. The breathing tube being removed
4. Waking up and being concerned for my insulin pump but no one really explaining that it wasn't connected to me anymore and that I didn't need to worry about it getting destroyed in an MRI machine
5. Spit kept flying out of the anesthesiologist's mouth and landing on my face when he was telling me about his role in the surgery before the operation started.
   

Feeling good

I've been feeling pretty normal for the past couple of days. Yesterday I took a shower by myself (using the shower chair), and Alice and I walked up to Cleveland Park (probably around a mile round-trip). Today we went to Whole Foods, and it was my first time back on the Metro. The trip itself went fine, but I was tired when we got home. I'm going to start using the Wii Fit again soon and maybe go to an actual yoga class next week. We'll see.

Chocolate is tasting better, but I haven't tried Diet Coke again yet. My mouth is feeling a little more normal, and my eye hasn't been too dry lately. I'm almost done with the steroid, so we'll see how things feel a couple of days after the last one of those.

I've been a lot hungrier the past day or two - I lost about six pounds in the hospital, and I can feel it. I'm sure they'll come back over time though. My clothes are kind of baggy.

My arm is improving. I've been using it more, and I think that's definitely helping. It feels stronger and more of my ring finger is coming back. My right leg is still sore though.

Phil and Alice have been doing a great job taking care of me, even when I get cranky at times. Thanks!!!