Back Home and Final Recovery Blog

Let Me Go Already!

So waiting to be discharged from the hospital was probably the most eager I've been for anything to happen.

List of waiting periods that almost drove me crazy (or might still drive me crazy):

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book published.
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II in theaters. (Dear God please get here faster)
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I in theaters.
4. Going home to Houston every summer.
5. Getting out of the Hospital.
6. Pokewalker hitting 1,000,000 steps.
7. The end of Chapel.

So I guess it was more like the 5th most eager I've ever been.  Either way, I had spent 10 nights and 10.5 days in there including surgery day and as much as I loved the comfy bed, I was starting to feel like a useless mass and was tired of being checked up on every hour by nurses.

March 18

March 18 should be a holiday.  I finally got to go home because my bone had stopped bleeding enough that they could take out the drain that was connected to my femur.  Once they got that hole patched up, they said I could go so I made my way down the hallway on crutches (which was pretty hard considering the lack of exercise I had experienced).  We hopped in the car and drove back to Clear Lake.  I got home and set up base in my bedroom.  Being home definitely made it more comfortable to try and get up and move around plus I had way more privacy.

Weak Week

It was still pretty tough to try and do too much because I was still exhausted and hadn't regained my full appetite.  I laid low for a few days just sitting around in bed or on the couch in the living room watching Netflix or playing Pokemon.  I was slowly getting my strength back to the point where I ditched the walker completely and just stuck to crutches.

However, later that week things went downhill and I started losing my appetite again along with my desire to get up and move around.  I ended up waking up one morning to find that I could hardly move and that breathing was tough.  I ended up back in the hospital for most of the day to get more fluids put back in me.  At that point I decided to be more on time about eating food and drinking fluids because seriously, I'm so tired of the hospital.

Improvements

After that crappy day things got better quick and I was eating and drinking more regularly.  I was able to go out to eat with my parents and Phillip and Gary at Ghengis Grill (Mongolian stir fry *drool*) as well as get around the house more than before.  I'm slowly putting less weight on the crutches and more weight on my leg in order to build the muscles back up.  Just yesterday I even went to Best Buy to get the classic controller for our Nintendo Wii so that I could play the 64 games without stretching cords across the living room.  I'm also back to regularly attending my Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology class and my Geochemistry class through the use of Skype.  I'm trying to get as much done as I can because there's definitely no time during my senior year of college to be making up missed classes and I definitely don't have the funds to attend the school for a 5th year.  Besides, 4 years is way more than enough time to spend at Olivet to get the full experience of what living in a Puritan colony is like.

Now What?

Well, I want to go back to school as soon as I can.  This mini vacation has been semi relaxing but I miss being on a schedule and the thought of getting behind in my school work is a science student's worst nightmare.

I also miss people so badly it hurts.  I hated the fact that I had to cut my semester short when I was having such a good time with my friends and roommates.  The summer after my freshman year I missed the biggest field trip my geology department takes which goes out west to some of the coolest parks and landforms in the US.  I have regretted that fact ever since.  I never wanted to miss out on a geology field trip again.  Unfortunately I missed two really good ones this semester.  One to Pittsburgh for the Geological Society of America meeting, and the other to Missouri as part of the Petrology class.  This will probably bother me for years to come.  I was particularly looking forward to the Petrology field trip because of all I had heard about it.

It is great having the tumor out of my leg and being able to sit without pain but the cost was definitely a major blow that I'm still pretty upset about.  The worst thing in the world would be to get caught up in the disappointment so I'm trying my hardest to not just recover my walking but to get on track to graduate on time and finish this semester as quickly as I can.

Sorry, that section was kind of sad and whiny...

No More Surgery Talk

This will probably be the last blog about my surgery and recovery but I will return this blog to its intended use for discussing my favorite things in life.  Now that you all know about the blog I'd love it if you continued to read and share if you find it interesting.  I've also got links at the top right to some other blogs I follow like my roommate Todd's blog on critiquing food places in the Chicago area, and Buddy Stark's video blog that I have actually appeared in numerous times.  Check them out if you have any interest.  I definitely swear by both of them.

Finally...

Thank you to everyone that stuck with me through all of this.  For checking up on me to make sure I was doing alright.  For texting and calling me to keep me company and up to date with what was happening up north.  For sending me cards and snacks.  Thanks also just for reading my blog.  It definitely felt wonderful to know so many people missed me and that you all would help in any way you could.  Continue to be the great people you are and know that I thought of all of you during this time.

Your Grateful Friend (who can walk straighter now),

Brian

or

Schrock

or

Texas

or

whatever else you call me.