A year later....

A year ago my husband was just getting out of the hospital after a very serious operation, followed by a spell in ICU. His at home care took much of my time, as the surgical wound was very large, and he had the complications of several bypasses put in to let his system recover from all the work on him. Happily I was not alone. The hospital arranged a nurse and I had my Mom, son, and daughter all lending what assistance they could. They made sure he always had plenty of water/tea/juice to drink. One of us remained with him at all times ~ usually me.

Tom came home from his last scheduled 'reversal' of those bypasses a year to the day that he was sent home from his first major surgery with this hospital ~ but what a difference! This trip was the smoothest by far. All his nurses were nice this time. Tom was awake, relatively 'with it' and recovered a bit ahead of schedule. He was more ambulatory even before he left than he was for months after the first surgery. God broke the weather around us again. The hottest days were ones we didn't have to travel, and were always less intense than places 15-20 miles away. The strong storms broke around our location instead of over us. Travel days were cloudy and cooler than the others. Praise God!

Tom did so well recovering from the trip home that we were able to celebrate with some take-out Chinese within a few days. :D

So, yeah, it went well. Main problem now is reminding him to take it easy for awhile yet. He's been very alert since he had to put down a (confirmed) rabid fox that appeared in the yard one day. It went after Mom, but she successfully fended it off and Tom responded very quickly and accurately. The animal control guy was very impressed with his marksmanship. Since then, he has been shepherding Mom through the shots they asked her to get. She wasn't bit but she had a scratch, which she is pretty sure came from the bucket she was using to defend herself. Still, no sense in taking chances! Tom isn't happy it happened, but he is glad he is able to take care of her. I am glad he was able to act so swiftly, otherwise it would have been worse!

So, I've been rather busy 'round the house lately. Just the same, I probably would have posted sooner if Mysterium weren't right around the corner. Always gets crazy helping plan that puppy in the last week or two. I helped last year too, when I could, until Tom's condition once again claimed all my attention. By the time the gathering began, I had forgotten it was even that weekend! This year there is still a small possibility I may make it. Won't know for sure for another couple of days. It's gonna go down to the wire again. Actually, I've helped plan 5 of 7 Myst fan gatherings and I've only been able to go to one of them. Personal reward factor has been very low indeed. Well, whatever. I started because I wanted help make the community happier at these shindigs, not just me. I know I have helped there. Besides, everything to do with that group has been on the altar for a long time now. I do what I do because of honor, friendship, and obedience to what I think God wants of me. Can't shake the impression that what I am doing there is still important. I used to spend a lot of time praying for folks, offering whatever practical counsel I could, or at least a sympathetic ear. Haven't had time to really spend on people outside my family in a long while, so its no longer clear to me what this might be.



My birthday was pretty cool. Spent a chunk of each day we remembered it (before and after) watching Michael Palin travelogues & other old fav movies I'd received in honor of the occasion. Mom surprised me with Captain Jack & penguin stationary, a nice shirt, and perfumed talc. (Didn't even know anybody sold those anymore) Becka got me a lovely medieval themed journal. I know just what should go in it. :D My favorite gift, however, was a very nice "Sea World" penguin my son won just for me at Busch Gardens. That was a first. Now that is love, because I know he loved that penguin! (& It was the first carnie game he won by himself) I had a lovely cake a week before we went in. Mom surprised me with one to eat on the day, in case I was home but I wasn't and they ate it before Tom and I got back. I teased them about it but I didnt really mind.

Finally got to see Pirates of the Carribbean II: Dead Man's Chest this last weekend. I must say I enjoyed it very much, even though Jack's character was made rather worse than it seemed in the first film. Still, how could I *not* love a film with so many Monkey Island scenes brought to glorious technicolor...undeadness? One of the more difficult bits in the early Monkey Island game involved sneaking into LeChuck's cabin...and, well, I won't spoil it, but I was actually impressed when Orlando pulled it off in one go. I seem to remember needing a few 'saves' myself. *cough* Anyway, CG work in it is so good you have to remind yourself that such things can't happen. I saw the first Pirates film with Tom for my birthday the year that came out. That feels like a very long time ago.