Sunday, Oct 22

Hi all! I am touched and amazed at the number of people that I run into who are still checking this regularly, so I will need to get better at updating. Mood better (most of the time!). Mom returned to her home on Thursday, so since then I have been doing all the little things that add up: cooking (not much or very involved), dishwashing, cleaning out the litterbox, etc. I'm having more pain in the back than before, and I guess that's from the increased usage. It is at the thoracotomy site and below: the part I'm worried about since the "incident" during recovery while still in Boston. I'm also trying to get out more, because I need to build up my stamina; return to work is a mere 8 days away! I'm only going to go in Mon, Weds and Fri for 1/2 days to start out with; my boss is being very understanding. Definitely a little nervous about how my energy will hold out. After both the heart surgeries I drove at four weeks, and then started going out and running errands, increasing my time away from the couch (currently my favorite piece of furniture for daytime). Just now getting out and about, and the manual shift is definitely biting me in the a__. Shifting not fun, and the right side is so weak that I can't push the gear shift down to go into reverse--I have to reach over with my left hand to do it. Isn't THAT depressing!! It's weird, because there are other things I can do, but certain others are just too much. Cleaning out the litter box with the scooping of the sand is also quite painful. So I'm still trying to rest and do nothing, which you all should know is incredibly difficult for me! Fortunately my friend Rose brought me books: the two precursors to Mists of Avalon, which I have upstairs but have never read. So I'm 1/2 way through the second one, and then have the longer Mists to go through. HIGHLY enjoyable. I rarely read anymore, because there are always so many medical journals that make me feel guilty if I read for pleasure, so I've done a lot of catching up in the past couple of months--one of those silver lining things. I'm also watching a lot of TV, including History Channel, Animal Planet and Travel Channel: aren't I predictable!

Interest note: forgot to mention that last Saturday a mouse made an appearance in the house.... Poor little guy. Chester chased him downstairs; I think he thought it was a neat moving toy. Still haven't figured out how the mouse got up there, however. Then the rest got involved, although I think Zerla and KC were interested because of the other two. It stupidly went running from sofa to sofa, and Tabitha got a hold of it and did some damage, but it got away and went under a sofa again. Then--no kidding--the cats positioned themselves each at a different corner, with various swipes of paws underneath. A few minutes later Chester was tossing it up in the air. No blood--I think it died of a heart attack!! Or internal injuries. No autopsy was performed ;) AND I am now doing over 3/4 of a mile on the treadmill!! It takes 25 minutes with a recovery period almost as long, but hey, ya gotta start somewhere! Will update soon in another exciting installment! Bye! Laurie