Road to Recovery

It’s 6 weeks post brain surgery and I’m well on my way to a full recovery.  Who would’ve ever thought that brain surgery would be the shortest hospital stay and easiest recovery.  Part of my recovery had to include moving around.  The fear of blood clots was too great to me, having seen others deal with it, to ignore those directions. But also, I had learned over the years to listen to my body and not push too hard. Going all the way back to 2017 when I first was diagnosed and first had chemo, thinking I could still walk like I had before. I went out for my normal 45 minute walk making it 7 minutes in before needing to turn around, almost passing out in the ditch. If it wasn’t for the perfect timing of my neighbor’s, who pulled up beside me, asking if I ever needed anything just to ask. So I asked for a ride home. This time, having that memory still seared in my mind, I walked around the yard, up and down steps in the house, and built up to walking up and down Tweedy Lane, going several times a day for just short little walks. After a bit I was going further and at a little bit quicker pace, but kept in mind that the surgeon didn’t want me to raise my blood pressure until my brain had a chance to heal. I was cleared for driving after being off the Keppra and Dilaudid for a week and took advantage of  that new found freeedom. I took the dog (and myself) for a flatter walk, but further a few times a week, aiming for 6,000 steps a day and getting that or more. It felt good to see my dog happy and to stretch out my legs. Just a few weeks after surgery I was back to a pretty set walking routine.

I’m hoping this week I get the results of my MRI that I had done at the end of last week.  I had really hoped to cluster all of my scans for the day before chemo, but that fell apart and I only got my PET scan in (which, btw, showed no evidence of diseases in my body).  My echocardiogram will be done after my next chemo and my MRI I got done in Lewiston. Not what I had hoped for but I’m getting ‘er done.

The weather has finally turned nice, albeit calling for hotter temps, so my ability to get outside more has increased. I did some pruning the other day and did some light gardening. My daily ritual of checking chickens came was a sad discovery, as one of my brown chickens laid dead under the nesting boxes. No external evidence of what could’ve caused her death, other than me threatening the chickens if they didn’t step up their egg production they would be stew meat. I later discovered the hidey holes the girls had been laying their eggs in.  Twelve brown eggs tucked under a fallen tree and tall grass, 6 white eggs at the corner of the interior coop. I didn’t realize I was having a groundhog’s day of Easter and needed to do a hunt and search for the eggs. But the girls got a stay of execution since it’s obvious they are still laying.

So my life has returned to normal. While in Lewiston I enjoyed a nice lunch with an old friend, did some shopping (thrifting – 3 pairs of shorts at 50 cents apiece you can’t beat), and even stopped in to see if my luck would hold at the casino (it did and I walked away $100 richer). Brent and I celebrated with a date night, something that seems rare as unless we’re in Spokane overnight, we rarely go out to eat.

To sum it up, life is good. Fingers crossed it stays this way.

Happy solstice on the 21st, here’s to the longest daylight of the year.