written on December 9, 2014
I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything in two weeks! I’m so sorry to everyone who enjoys reading these blogs – mostly it’s been me getting back to reality that has caused such a disruption.
Last week my wife commented on the fact that I hadn’t posted anything in over a week and she asked if I still had anything left to write about. Absolutely yes. For those who might think my time as a blogger has come to an end, let me dissuade you of that idea. I have plenty left to write about and discuss and share. If you’re still willing to read along with this post-transplant journey, trust me when I say there are many more blog entries coming.
Let’s play a little catch-up (there are several blog entries I’ve written in the last two weeks – I just haven’t been posting anything – so expect several entries today and tomorrow).
Last Friday (December 5) was week 7 post-transplant and I’m still doing great.
It’s Tuesday morning and I’m sitting in clinic again. I had a lovely bout of insomnia again last night which woke me at 1:15 am (after having gone to bed at 10:30) and I laid awake until just after 5, when I decided to get dressed and head to clinic (I’m back at home now, so the drive here is much longer than it was from the apartment - it took 45 minutes this morning with traffic).
I moved back home the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the 5 day weekend was very long. I had forgotten how much energy the kids take – especially when they hadn’t seen me in five weeks at that point. Thanksgiving Day was a lot of fun (such yummy food and with my parents and brother, good times) and then my wife and I spent the weekend with the kids and my parents (who were in town until December 3).
Last week (Dec 1) I went back to the apartment for Monday and Tuesday then moved out officially on Wednesday (December 3). I’ve been back at home ever since – unpacking stuff from the apartment, cleaning, organizing and taking care of the kids (both of them have been fighting colds since last week – my son even stayed home from daycare on Friday).
I’m starting to get back into the groove of things work-wise. I went and visited the new offices of the job I’m returning to in January – a much nicer and bigger space than where we were last year. And it’s still so nice to know I have a job lined up and waiting for me. As much as I want to go back to work (I’ve been out of work since the beginning of June), I will also miss this amazing free time I’ve had since the surgery. The rest and recovery I’ve been able to get living in that apartment has been wonderful. It also allowed me to spend more time writing, learning some guitar (I’ve always wanted to play guitar – I still can’t, but I now know how to strum and make it sound decent!), eating well (hard to do when you work in the entertainment industry) and generally taking care of myself.
I’m hoping that when I return to work, I make a daily commitment to continue to write, and hopefully do some walking every day, and make sure I eat well.
The cough I’ve had for the last five weeks is finally gone – I started taking antibiotics last week because the cough had gotten significantly worse. Clearly it had been some kind of bacterial infection because I’m feeling so much better, and not coughing!
The last two weeks have been difficult because of the adjustment back to “reality.” Knowing that I have to take care of the kids – knowing that they’re at an age where they both want my full attention, all the time; knowing that when they fall they cry and want to be soothed; knowing they’re at an age where they pretty much refuse to eat whatever it is you feed them, so meal times turn into far more of a time-suck than you anticipate; knowing that the house is in a constant state of disarray thanks to said kids and about half of my day every day is spent just trying to stay on top of the cleaning and dishes and laundry. I have really become a Mr. Mom in all these months of not working. I don’t know if I’m any good at it, but I definitely do it every day.
January is coming fast, but I still have a few weeks left to enjoy a little more rest and recuperation. Before the surgery, I had a mental list of all the things I wanted to accomplish before going back to work. I think I've managed to get through maybe half of it and I'm okay with that. Mostly because the kidney has worked out so well and I'm feeling so much better that really, that's all that matters. Everything else is icing on the cake, as the saying goes. And as much as I like icing on cake, I'm very happy just to have my cake and eat it too right now.
More soon...