Four months out

So today marks four months post-transplant for me. Not much to say other than that. I feel fine, haven't had much issue with medication  excepted for the sleeping pills. It varies from night to night, but if I don't take one I tend to lay awake for hours before falling asleep. But hey when you don't have to peel your butt of the Sealy till 10am you can stay up as late as you want.

I do feel like I am in a daze some times. The technical term is "Med-head", you aren't stoned but you're definitely slowed down a bit. I sometimes catch myself standing in a room for minutes at a time daydreaming, then coming to and not knowing why I had gone in there in the first place. If I get my act together early on and get some momentum going I will usually avoid wasting the day in front of the computer or napping. If I can say that I have accomplish one task in the day I don't feel like I have wasted it. Even if it is just sending out an email or doing a load of laundry, I have a to do list that keeps getting updated, so there is always a reason to get up a get moving in the morning.

My throat is much better, I can now eat stuff that I won't think of touching a few weeks ago. The doctors say my blood work and other tests are coming back good, and my daily breathing checks are stable. Weight still isn't coming back, I am hovering at 70 Kg and that doesn't seem to want to change. I picked up some protein powder last week and I'm putting that in everything. Don't know if that will make a difference, but I feel better about using that to gain weight rather than eating a bag of chips.

The novel is going poorly, thanks mostly to lack of focus brought on by meds and comics(web and dead tree). But its my first attempt beyond a short story, so I'm not expecting it to be my magnum opus. Its the process, the experimentation, the comparing it to my previous work, and the practice that I am getting from the whole thing that is the big reward.

Goals this week include: figuring out what I am doing for Yule this year, Christmas shopping, and making some appointments of a non-medical nature. Easy stuff...we'll see how much I get done, no rush really.

First week home

So after my first week home I can say I am definitely doing much better, I credit everything to Calgary tap water. My weight is stable, I think I'm eating better, I'm drinking enough fluid to keep my kidneys from failing (thats a goal, not dying is a friggin goal), and I go walking OUTSIDE regularily...kinda.

The transition from city to city has been challenging due to the removal of a hard set schedule.I can sleep till nine without some coming  and shaking me awake by my leg(seriously place a hand on the shoulder, apply soft pressure and repeat the persons name till they wake up, its easy and less traumatic mom), but then I don't get my daily "must dos" started before noon. I'm back in my old room/bed, but I walk into stuff at night on the way to the bathroom cause I'm not use to were things are. I have all my stuff again, but because the floors were redone while I was away everything is out of place and needs to be put back.

This last one is like a game of pick up sticks, every task needs other to be completed before it can be started. If I try to start one, I realize that I can't till I start and finish two or three others. When I have such a low level of energy I don't get much done beyond the planning phase. Still progress has been made: laundry was done(just not put away), modeling supplies were gathered(but not where they are supposed to be), and stuff that was uncovered during the re-flooring is being evaluated for keep/donate/toss value(is white wine still good after 12 years, serious I found some in my closet that was bottled in the year 2000).

I was told by the head headshrinker to come back to Calgary with a set of goals in mind, and one of the them was to write more. My friend told me to sign up for Nation Novel Writing Month (Google it). Short version is I'm going to try and write 1700 words a day, everyday for the month of November. At the end I hope to end up with enough material that is book worthy to...I don't know, spend three months editing and forget about it. So if you like stories with violence, sex, and violent sex oh boy do I have a story for you.  The real benefit is get in the habit of writing more frequently. So if I start doing point form updates, or go a while without doing one, blame the novel. Also anyone ripping off Stewie and Brian's bit will be shot to death with balls of their own shit, fair warning.

The only other big news is that I drove myself to a Halloween party on Saturday. That was big adventure for me, and I hand a blast and half. Saw lots of friends, and didn't have the worst costume there!(I was in the bottom third no doubt, but it took me like 10 bucks and 20 minutes to make it)

My recovery is more than ever in my own hands, now I need to push myself through these next three months harder than even in the first three. There aren't as many people cracking the whip, the progress needs to come genuinely from within now. Also in case you didn't hear, prego/my sister is having a boy.