February & March

February

February is a long set of appointments, tests, and prep. Plus, I had to move because my quarters weren’t ADA friendly and I had lost my ability to walk. My younger sibling moved in with me to be my caretaker. (Shout out Will!). More MRIs, bloodwork, treatments, and so much medication. I wasn’t very nervous leading up to surgery because there wasn’t enough time to allow for it.

The hardest day in February that I can remember was when I had to fill out all the what-happens-if-something-bad-happens paperwork. I had to sit my family down and tell them what I wanted for my funeral, how I wanted to be cremated and laid to rest somewhere that is significant for me. I remember my dad’s face mostly. How hard he was trying to not cry picturing a day where he would have to say goodbye. It broke my heart. Most of my worries at this point were about my parents and what would happen when I leave.

Surgery

The day of surgery comes and I get operated on. I woke up maybe 4 hours later yelling for pudding. They make me blow on some thing that I’ve seen in Grey’s Anatomy a million times and then I get sent to a very annoying ICU evening where I’m awoken every 2 hours for labs and evaluation.

I’m in the hospital a total of 3 nights. I can walk again, use my arm and hand again, I have speech issues due to inflammation, but other than that I’m 100%. They tell me my pathology is going to take 2-3 weeks and so I wait.

March

My first outing was two days post hospital exit. I went to Bob’s Red Mill for breakfast with Francesca, her mom, and my parents. I got the best blueberry pancakes and a coffee. I felt like such an overachiever being out and about so early on in my recovery.

Once a week, I was visited by different types of therapists in my home. By the end of the first week, I could shower by myself. Week 2 I was speaking in full sentences without issues with word fog unless I was sleepy. By the 3rd week, I was walking well enough that I didn’t need help with stairs. I got to ditch my walker by April.

I felt like an anomaly. I conquered recovery and that had me feeling like I could do anything.