Mike and Patience check the waves.It's been quite a while since I've been home, and I am really missing certain things. I miss Mike and John and Woody - in my mind they (Mike and John) are these gangly ten-year olds with mop tops, and every time I hug them I am surprised at how big and hairy they are. I miss my bedroom, which is very comfortable, a den of peace and tranquility. I miss video on demand. I miss that high-speed internet connection. I am crawling along on a 54mb wifi with a weak connection. I miss golfing, going out to the course and just putting around for an hour. I miss the Saturday am surf check with Mike, even though I have been too wanky to go out lately. Only under perfect conditions.
I feel bad to have tied Dana down to sitting around this apartment with me. While she is getting out a bit, she is a very social animal with lots of friends. I miss her ability to get away from me. Likewise, I miss the ability to have a disagreement and walk away, go for a walk, get away from each other for a while.
Healthwise I am chugging along, constant headaches from Prograf, a backache the last few days, and low energy. I really have to push myself to do any exercises or go for a walk. I miss having a lot of energy and some muscles. I did one pushup yesterday! The good news about all this is it will all be over soon. I can have it all back. It will take a lot of work for some of it, but if I want it I have a chance.
The Blood and Bone Marrow Drive was a success, with over 50 swabs for the bone marrow registry. Cyle really pushed to get this done, and had help from Ben, Terri, Rosie and (I assume) other TEC employees. An open thank you from me to these guys for their effort and support.
ok
ReplyDeletejust because there isn't anything anybody can say (besides "wish I was checking the waves with Mike and Patience" doesn't mean we shouldn't comment, right?
guess a better friend might say wish YOU were checking the waves with Mike.
hope you make it home for another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat (remember you gotta sing loud if you wanna end war
and what are all the b-barflys doing to celebrate?
love, and for what it's worth, listening
pat
ohwow the verification word is giness--sound's like Mo's favorite doctor (comes in a brown bottle)
Keep on chugging John.
ReplyDeleteTLW and I continue to hone our skills of mooching from friends for holiday dinners. Next week will be no differnt. However, I will raise my wine glass to you over turkey dinner next week.
Be sure to get out there and at least take in the sights, sounds and smells of those waves. Hell, you might even get to put around on a putting green somewhere.
Mac
Like Pat, I have been listening and enjoying that picture of Mike and Patience checking out the shore. Funny thing when you talked about you and Dana, confined in your space, I thought "how absolutely normal". Well, not quite, because it would be better to have your own home and to be able to go to your respective "normal corners", but I continue to hope, (there's that word again) that soon, with a few tolerable changes, you will be back in the home environment, regaining strength, having appointments with Mo's doctor and attending the church of high and low tide.
ReplyDeleteI'll be in SLO for Turkey Day - Although I am presently healthy, still afraid of tracking germs into your house. Maybe I'll stand outside and wave!
Let's all toast to John's continued recovery and give thanks for _________ (fill in the blank)!
For me, another Thanksgiving with my folks, John's BMT and continued recovery, the great gal pals I have in SLO and around the states, Pat, Mo, Mac, Chrissie and other B-Bar cohorts and PUMPKIN PIE WITH WHIP CREAM!
I will check the waves, for grins, but putting with the hepa mask on doesn't sound like fun.
ReplyDeleteGuinness, another thing that is missed.
John,
ReplyDeleteWished I had brought a camera today. You could have seen pat and mo checking the waves at Narraganset. Pat in a head to toe hooded parka and I, bundled to the max. Little surf, tide way out, sun shinning brightly, surprising amount of people walking. Temps in the mid 20's wind 15-20 knots of wind. Not quite like the vision of Mike and Patience, but it's what we got. It is what it is.
It is kind of interesting how we can rise and muster the fight to hold our ground and hope that we will live and as we quiet ourselves and heal we realize the price we pay and what we have lost.
In the eighties, I worked in a day center with senior citizens, in the Bronx, 160 first and Girard Ave, one block from Yankee Stadium. One day Ben an octogenerian, comments to me how lucky I was. I had my whole life ahead of me. I was only thirty, I told him that he in fact, he was the lucky one. He had lived to be eighty. I had no warranties, expressed or implied, no guaranties, and no mail in rebates.
My grandfather, told me not to get old. Most of my friends are my age. Next to them I dont't seem old. There are things I can't do and things I just don't do any more. But sometimes when I am beat down a little tired, and quieted, sometimes a random song from out of the blue, conjures something lost, or as my grandfather said "back memories", the richness of which can bring me to tears.
I guess I need to remind myself, often, that I have more now. But sometimes, I still wish to run as fast as I could.
Mo
Thinking of you and counting days with ya' till your freedom.....from hepa mask and small confines!!!
ReplyDeleteHi John,
ReplyDeleteIt's Robyn & Curt. We can totally relate to your frustration and as the days seem to drag by. But before you know it 90 days will have passed and you will be on your way back to SLOtown. The day to day aches and pains, monotony and missing your surroundings will soon be replaced with trying to schedule times for all of your friends to come by see what an amazing person you are. We look for your name every time we go back to ITA, but know that we will see you soon here.
Hang in there. you're an inspiration to your friends and still a hero to your kids and soon a BMT survivor!
Robyn