Sleepless in Elmira

No Meg Ryan and no Tom Hanks here. "I'll have what she's having", I know it's a different movie, but what a great line. 

The last two nights have had me waking up at around 1:00 a.m. only to fall back asleep between 3:30 and 4:00. I then get up at 5:30 a.m. to start my day, so the last two nights have been a little rough. I have been laying there thinking, singing(to myself), praying and doing who knows what to try and determine why I am awake and have no idea. There's a lot going on these days, but I'm not worried about anything. 

I unfortunately have also woken up my beloved on both occasions and that doesn't help her accomplish much during the day. Oh she gets everything done., she's just as done in at 5:oo p.m. as I am. I'll have to do some serious analyzing to figure out what is going on here. Rest is a weapon in the battle that we are participating in and I need some extra weapons these days. 

My final medical update (hopefully)

Good day to each and all of you. It's early morning, the sun has risen and the light is streaming through the Maple tree into my office and I'm feeling well. It's been over eight weeks since the surgery and I have so much to be thankful for. It has been a very difficult road at times and those times were peppered with many of you coming unannounced to deliver the "gift of presence". Many of you sent e-mails, brought food(Karen, I loved those banana muffins) and Perry(your dinner was delicious and timely), cleaned the house ferociously and regularly(thanks Janie-Lou), delivered gifts, I can't count the number of phone calls I've received and tons of large double doubles. Many of you have been praying for me(us) and we have seen the answers to your prayers. As I've written about before, many of you helped tremendously during our flood.

I have experienced an awful roller coaster of emotions as I struggled with major infections post surgery, as well as complications with new medications recently. I knew going in that the undertaking of surgery would play with my emotions, I was quite apprehensive as some of you know. My apprehensions were borne out in the weeks following the surgery.

Today, as I sit here at the computer, my heart is full of thankfulness to God, my family and to each of you who have stood beside me during this journey. Your demonstration of love to me astounds me. I am so appreciative to each and every one of you. Some of you are family, some co-workers(practitioners of the Black Art of Mediation), many are church-mates, some long time friends and some are professional contacts. I don't think I missed anyone here. I consider you all to be friends. I can't finish this paragraph without thanking my little family, Jo, Josh and Alex who continue to stand with me through all: the good, the bad and yes, the ugly. They have seen my raw frustration and they still love me.

I am doing well. I have begun to think about some return to work dates, earlier than prescribed by the doctor. I have to do some negotiating before that happens. I am feeling stronger every day(you knew there had to be a musical reference somewhere in this post). I am, unfortunately, still experiencing some parasthesia with prolonged weight bearing which the Dr. says will take six to twelve months to resolve due to the amount of time the nerve was compressed. I will continue to have some restrictions while I recover. I am in less pain than prior to surgery. The physio has already helped, I am completely exhausted for the day when I finish one hour of physio, so I need their help with conditioning. I am doing ok emotionally. I have waves of great sadness at various times during the day, however, I am getting some help to navigate those waters. I haven't purchased my bike yet, I hope to work on that, this week.

As this is my last official medical update(hopefully), let me express my thankfulness again for your many kind gestures to me and our family. We are truly grateful for everything. Feel free to check the blog whenever to see what I'm up to.

I started Physio

I started physio yesterday. I still feel good, and I'm really sore from some of the exercises. I'm going to take this as progress. You know, the no pain, no gain crap. My therapist (the physio kind) just advised me that she will be flying off the Beijing next week to assist with the paralympics, what an awesome honour for her.

OK, back to me, I'm walking still and I am well emotionally. We drove to Chesley Lake on Tuesday, the longest I've sat in a car since I was working. Mind you, I took some breaks on the trip up and down, and we survived it. Thanks Steve and Rose I had a great day. I'm not driving much even though I'm allowed to. I kinda defer to Jo for the driving, except yesterday when I drove to the Dr's and to physio on my own.

You know, just as life has seasons, kind of like the "to everything there is a season" from the Byrd's, who lifted it from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible without formal citing, even though it is public domain, for now. It appears that my recovery has seasons too and this one is rather pastoral. The formal citing thing reminds me about a dream I had last night. I dreamt that I was writing a paper for something and I forgot how to cite my references and I knew that everyone else did, I was freaking out, then I found myself in a battle in Belfast between Protestants and Catholics. I have no idea where those dreams came from. I have never been to Belfast, no interest to be honest and it has been an extremely long time since I wrote a paper that required citing references.

Well it's just about time to do some stretches and other fun filled exercises, those of you who worked in clinics before(you know who you are) know what I'm talking about.

Hey, by the way, thanks for the phone call yesterday Barry, you know I am still the "hardest working Mediator" at the Board, nudge nudge. Love ya two times and miss you more.

I want to ride a bicycle

Good news..................finally.

I saw my orthopaedic specialist today and he is pleased with my progress so far. I get to start physio next week, and I get to drive starting tomorrow, so stay off the sidewalks.

More importantly, both he and my family doctor have given me permission to begin riding a bicycle as part of my rehabilitation programme. So, now I'm in the market for a bicycle. I bought one for Jo for her birthday and may purchase something similar for myself. Now if we could just get some respite from the rain.

There are several flat bike paths locally which Jo has already begun riding. They are former rail lines and pass through beautiful countryside according to Jo. I am looking forward to getting out of here and riding on the trails and through town as well.

I already felt better today and this news really added to my sense of well being. I will take my time and will pace myself. My long term goal is to eventually be able to ride to work one day a week. It's a journey of 21 kilometers as the crow flies(sort of), but I will have to go through the village of St. Jacobs as I cannot go on the highway from the roundabout to Waterloo. That probably won't happen until next year, but a fella's got to have some goals, right?

Update on Rob, Aug.11/08

Hi there, my faithful readers of the somewhat daily entries in the days of my life.

So there I was just a walking down the street (and no I wasn't singing do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do) and going to see my Dr. whom I trust explicitly with my wellness when all I could hear was whammo. That which I thought was real, was not and the unreal was/is more real than anything else you could think of. I was sitting there enjoying the understanding that there were no infection racing through my body when another whammo (just like in the old Batman shows with Adam Burt). Here I was thinking I was doing ok, then my doctor(who I love) tells me about about some elevated white blood cells and a couple other things that showed up on the hospital report.

All that to say, I still have an infection. I am now on my second regimen of anti-biotics and praying that they will work. It appears that the prednisone helped, but really only masked the problem, which isn't a whole lot of help, don't ya know. I'm now off the prednisone and co-incidentally my feelings of wellness should be returning any day now, I hope.

Thanks for being there for me, please don't go anywhere. I believe that this recovery will appear and will enlist the aid of others to get me over this proverbial hump "as time goes by" (can't you just hear Humphrey Bogart say: "you played it for her, you can play it for me"). He never did say, "play it again Sam" particularly since he was speaking to someone named Rick.

Your prayers, calls, gifts of presence, e-mails and visits have done and will continue to do wonders for my recovery.

Goodnight Mrs Calabash, wherever you are,

Rob

Update on Rob's recovery

Good morning and welcome to my blog. For those who are new to this, I have wanted to blog for some time and finally figured out how to do it. So here it is. From now on, all updates will be on the blog, feel free to visit and see what's on my mind as well as for updates on this journey called recovery from back surgery. The Obscure Musical Trivia group has seen the blog already.

I am doing quite well. My lungs appear to have cleared up thanks to the prednisone and other things. I do not have a blood clot, although the initial treatment was somewhat brutal (I still have the huge bruise to prove it). I am extremely thankful that I do not have to get any more heparin needles. I see my surgeon in just over a week and look forward to his assessment of my progress to date.

The basement is completely restored following the flood. At this point you would be hard pressed to know that there actually was a flood down there. One of you has offered to come and steam clean the carpets when everything is returned to its' rightful place. I look forward to another visit. Thank so much.

I have struggled emotionally with all the events from the previous two weeks. It has been tough to sit and watch other people come and do all the things that you did in such a short amount of time. It was hard on me not being able to help. Now, those of you who know me very well, will know that I might have been in the way anyway, but I digress. I have learned valuable lessons from each of you. I have also learned that I can trust the Lord and my friends to be there when I need them most. Thank you to those who have shared the "gift of presence" and have just sat and spent time with us over the past 4 weeks or so.

I have been walking outside almost daily and have been able to get to the end of the street(the long way) and back. I am hoping to extend that and will eventually be walking around the block. When I see the Dr. in about two weeks I plan on asking for permission to start riding a bicycle (as opposed to walking). If allowed, I hope to purchase a new bike (like the one I got for Jo-Anne's birthday) and start taking back control of my health. I hope to make riding part of my recovery program and use it to "restore the years of the locust". That's a reference to the book of Joel, chapter 2, verse 25 if you are interested. There are lots of flat riding paths around here, so if permitted, I will be riding the trails as soon as possible...............happy trails to you........!

I have come to a crossroads, I am in the second half of the game and want the second half to be of better health than the first half. It is my intention to make choices that will prolong my life and make it more enjoyable. What all those choices are I do not know at this time. There are things that I have no control over, however, I can choose many things including my attitude, as Viktor Frankl said:

"everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of human freedoms, the freedom to choose one's attitude in the midst of one's circumstances"

So there you have it, I am well and looking forward to being even better physically, emotionally and spiritually. Thank you to those who have visited, helped, called, e-mailed, lent libraries of books and most importantly prayed. Were it not for your prayers, I'm quite sure that my recovery would be no where close to where I am today.

I miss seeing my work colleagues and I miss the work too. However (it's not but), I will do exactly what I am told by the Dr. to ensure that when I do return I will be in the best physical health possible and ready to serve the people that I do.

I am always open for e-mails, call, visits and large Double Doubles from Timmies.

Rob