Saturday, June 28, 2008

Home (Again)

Hi all,

It's almost noon on Saturday and I'm back at Dino HQ, working on the home desktop and, all things considered, feeling pretty good.

I checked out of the hospital yesterday afternoon and was given a variety of medications to help control my pain. So far, I have no complaints -- there is the usual stomach discomfort from the incisions, but nothing is too overbearing, and my home bed and all its attendant pillows were quite a bit more comfortable than the hospital bed.

Last night I turned the lights out at 9 PM, and dragged myself out of bed at 8:30 this morning. No, I didn't sleep soundly the entire time -- there was lots of intermittent dozing, occasional forays to the bathroom, and periods of trying to find a real comfortable sleeping position -- but overall, it was far more rest than I've had in the last week. I expect that to get better on a nightly basis as the pain subsides and I get used to being in the home environment.

As I wrote last week when I came home from the hospital the first time around, there is definitely a culture shock in moving from the hospital to home, especially when you factor in the drugs I'm taking and some of their side effects (in this case, general drowsiness and a decrease in lucidity). After a week of constant interruptions day and night, you come to expect these sorts of things and when they don't happen, as was the case last night, the groggy mind tends to ask itself "wait a sec -- how come nobody's busted into my room in the last hour to check my pulse?" Like everything else associated with my recovery, this too shall pass.

This morning I brushed my teeth and shaved my face clean. My head of hair is far too long now, especially given how thin my face has become, and I'm going to have my mom give me a severe haircut tomorrow when she comes back up. (Back in the day, when bowl cuts were all the rage, she used to cut my hair on a regular basis. That ended around 1984, when I finally figured out that it wasn't 1975 anymore.) Once chemo begins, I'm going to shave my pate completely clean anyway, but for the next few weeks, I at least want to keep it in check so that it's not spazzing out all over the place.

Aside from that, I'm gonna rest and relax for the duration of the weekend. The pain meds are still leaving me drowsy and a little bit out of it at times, so I'm not sure about visitors quite yet, but when next week starts and I have a bit more energy, I can probably host a few people here and there for short periods of time... we'll see.

That's about it for right now. I'm off to read on my sweet new Amazon Kindle, maybe play a video game or something, and work in a nap (or several). I hope everyone enjoys their weekend -- get on outside if you haven't been there already today!

With much love,
Dino

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Welcome home! Enjoy catching up on your sleep and tv that doesn't suck. :)

Tucker said...

Hi Dino,
Welcome home from the "two-oh-six". We're routin' for ya.
Tucker

LynnAJ said...

good on ya, Dino!
happy to see that you are back at home. i was wondering.
looking fw to seeing you whenever it's good for you.

take care and kisses from Kenwood,

Lynn (and the Coremeister, of course)

Jason & Catherine said...

Hi Dino, glad you've escaped the hospitality of Hotel Alta Bates once again. Your own bed and lack of 24/7 entertainment must feel pretty luxurious.
Hope the pain continues to subside and you begin to get your strength back. Will you be watching the Euro Cup final or has it lost its charm since Italy bowed out?! We love you and are thinking about you constantly. All our love, Jason and Catherine xxxx

Unknown said...

D...today I did the LiveSTRONG Challenge in Portland. Lance was here for it. He was awesome. I wrote your name down on an "In Honor Of" card and taped it to the board of cancer patients, heros, and survivors. I sent you a photo of it, I hope you like it. Thank you for inspiring me to continue to fight.

As the Manifesto for the Lance Armstrong Foundations says:

Unity is strength.
Knowledge is power.
Attitude is everything.

Here is to hope.
Love, Amy B.

Priscilla said...

WELCOME HOME!!! missing you and thinking of you - aloha from Kauai....Dave, Priscilla, Kelly, Mom, Dad and co. - SO GLAD YOU ARE HOME!!! Hang in there and we can't wait to see you in a few weeks upon our arrival! XXXOOOOO

Unknown said...

Man, three days without updates... people are going to start worrying about you again...

Sara said...

Dino- Glad you're home. Hope you are having some relief from the pain. We have a ton of DVD's. If you're interested, I can drop a bunch over. Thinking of you lots.
Love,
Dalbey