One month post-craniotomy

It is hard to believe that I looked like this a month ago and I look like this today.

The scar is barely noticeable. I can open my eyes. My peripheral vision is equal on both sides. I’m not light sensitive. I’m not nauseous. I don’t have a headache! I don’t hurt anywhere, actually. My arms aren’t numb, despite still having carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists. I can exert myself fairly hard and the world doesn’t spin and I don’t pass out. My thoughts are clear and crisp. I can write!

Blood flow, man. It turns out to be really, really important!

I seem to have knocked back the infection. (Did you see me take credit for that?!) I still have a few days left of the antibiotics and will of course take them. Scott looked at the scar today and decided it didn’t need anything at all, for the first time. Here is the obligatory scar photo. Pretty soon it won’t be visible at all at the rate my hair is growing back.

Look at the gray coming in. I’m sort of excited to see it, oddly enough. I still don’t really recognize myself if I catch a glance in a window, and if I deliberately look, I see Jeremy. Now he’ll know what he’s going to look like in twenty years.

I did my first bit of real walking this morning, walking up the hill to the swap meet, where I scored a really cute dress, top and shorts for $3. According to google maps, I walked 1.4 miles uphill, 500 feet in elevation. It took 22 minutes, and I was a bit sweaty and a tiny bit winded, but handled the rest of the day fine, and I didn’t exactly slack all day. I did some weeding. I played with all the parrots. I did all sorts of ducky duties. (Socializing ducklings is my job!)

I’m still quite hungry, though nowhere near as ferociously as when I was on the steroids. My weight seems to be stable, despite eating more than normal for me. Today I’ve eaten hippie oatmeal, a taco from the swap meet, a mango, an apple, a banana, a ham sandwich, a salad, a pack of peanut butter crackers, a mango popsicle, and at 4:30, I’m not going to make it to dinner (steak!) without something soon.

I’ve got a fancy loaf of bread about ready to go into the oven, and I’m off to make a lemon pie for dessert.

The Dog Fund is down to $635 to go. Wow! Thank you all so much. It’s all coming together and I’m so excited!

Speaking of dogs, today is this litter’s first birthday, and I have been so enjoying getting everyone’s photos. I miss Nelly! She is happy as a clam in her new home with Finn, Tommy and David, but still! I sure hope she and Finn get busy so I can have one of their puppies. I’ve admired Finn for years! I’m also so psyched to get to continue breeding and raising Icies. YAY!

I’m pretty sure I’m going to continue with Icelandic chickens as well as the dogs. I sometimes feel guilty for not supporting the Hawaiian wild chickens, but they really aren’t a pure landrace anymore. Unlike in Iceland, no one thought to preserve the genetics before they started cross-breeding with domesticated chickens. I’ve got some building to do! I miss the sawmill, dang it.