Friday, March 5, 2010

Cold Turkeys and Sunny Days

Just the facts, ma'am!

Surgery a success. Tumor removed. Bit of bone removed. Original ligaments kept. Knee stable. Medial gastrocnemius muscle transposed to cover resection site. Half the staples already out. Weight bearing again. Pain levels decreased overall. Annoying pins and needle feeling in entire foot that doc says is nerves responding to the inflammation. No chemotherapy on the table. Stopping all narcotics to try to get off of them completely.

Now the rest of it.

Life has been ... wow. Just a big bundle of wow. Good. Bad. In between.

Finished all the paperwork to try to get a Missouri License. Lots of red tape, and over 500 dollars! 300 for the Missouri State test, 80 for NAVLE score transfer, 10 for Wisconsin license 'good standing' letter, 10 for transcript from school, and then 160 to renew my Wisconsin license to make sure that I am in good standing.

Now, we just need to figure out where we're going, where I'm working, what I'm doing, and ... everything.

We have a lot of pets (5 'traditional pets', 2 'cage pets'), so finding a place to rent may be tough. Two small dogs, three cats. Two rabbits. One of whom I was planning on neutering the week after I got fired. Then I got fired. So he's not neutered. Which I don't like. But right now, really can't afford to pay for him to get neutered and I somehow can't see my former employer being the type to let me bring him in and neuter him myself. So it's going to have to wait. Until I have a job, or we can afford it.

In the last three weeks, we've been to 6 doctor's appointments. We're very good at getting D into and out of the car, knowing where to park and how to drive a wheelchair. Of significant disappointment is that the wheelchairs at the mall 1: don't have leg lifting apparatuses, 2: are only obtainable down a set of stairs (hello, I need a wheelchair. Just go down those stairs. What?) and 3: have a long red pole attached to them so you can't actually sit in them in the theater.

It has been very warm here. In fact, almost as warm here as it was in Florida when we were there! Which either means it's very very warm here, or Florida was unseasonably cold. Given that it was snowing in northern Florida at the time, I'd opt for the latter. Still, it means it's warm enough that the snow is starting to melt, and hopefully, we'll be crutch-free soon and can start taking walks with the dogs again.

I know this is a bland and boring update. Not at all fun or exciting to read. But I don't know anymore that I have things to say that are fun and exciting. Least of all for others to read! :)

On another random note: We got three helium balloons while D was in the hospital. On day 2 of having the balloons, one of them was already dying. Now, we're here, three weeks out. And the other two are still going strong. Explain that?