Bicycle Waiting

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 24, 2013

Outside Columbia River Coffee Roasters

Yes, some of us need reminding. I'm still noticing small improvements that add up, but I'm waiting for the huge improvements. I did the math last night, and I honestly think my recovery was set back about a year because it took six months after the first surgery to get the second one. That means six more months of getting sick and six more months that I wasn't recovering. It's like driving an hour in the wrong direction. You lose the first hour, you lose the hour getting back to your starting point, and you lose the two hours you would have been driving in the right direction. I'm so mad about it, but at least I'm on the recovery road now. For some of us who were so incredibly sick before the surgery, this is unconscionable. These doctors were nice to me but I think they made mistakes. I will definitely tell them my opinion afterwards, though nicely. I reserve my greater fury for the doctor who had no clue when he saw the calcium test of 11.3 and would not send me to an endocrinologist. That was in 2004. Oh well, this was about recovery. I know it's here for all of us, but I know I would have had a quick recovery myself in 2004. I was still so very functional then.

I feel a bit like this bench. Waiting. Moss growing. Bicycle waiting. It's a bench for two, and yet it feels so lonely. The background is peaceful, but the real world waits outside the confines of the frame.

I was able to have coffee and visit for awhile with Barbara, Erika, and Laurel. I had fun playing with smiling Inga, still tiny with big blue eyes that sparkle fun. Teagan no longer knows me. We will see what happens with that.

1:30 p.m.: After my Reiki treatment with Angela, my feet gave me just a hint that, yes, they will someday take me places again. It was one of their better mornings. I remember the day - in between my two surgeries - when I was able to walk to the parking lot of Wells Fargo to hear music on Sunday Market day. It has not happened since, but it will happen again.

My Web Page: Tapirback.com.

Night Street

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 9, 2013

Please click photo to enlarge

Today may have been my best day since my second parathyroid surgery on October 30. I've been taking enough calcium to alleviate symptoms since about December 31. Some symptoms of post-surgery low calcium were relieved right away, but then I got very tired, and any expenditure of energy through movement or stress knocked me right down. On January 7, I had dinner with Jane at Pier 11, and felt the best I had felt yet for about 10 or 15 minutes before I got painfully tired again. It was progress. I had showered and dressed just before she picked me up, and believe it or not, this still constituted a lot of activity.

Today, January 9, I went to the pharmacy in the Park Building and continued on to Starbucks. I don't remember feeling shaky, weak, or light-headed, and I came home not feeling overtired. This is big progress, even though I am still getting somewhat bloated. Not as bad as before. Maybe staying off of wheat (except for the occasional cookie) is helping.

I took the photo from my window when I got home, mainly to have a picture for this post. Turns out I like it, especially larger.

My Web Page: Tapirback.com.