Shorts & Answers

Today is a good day. And why, pray tell?

Well, for starters, my catheter came out. Hooray! YOU would be jumping up and down if you had your catheter removed, I promise. No longer do I have to carry around my pee in a bag. No longer do I have to have an inflatable balloon (they used water to keep the balloon inflated in the bladder) stuck up my you-know-what, you-know-where. No longer do I have to sleep in a certain position in bed, for fear of tugging on the catheter. And no loger do I need to wear shorts in sunny SoCal, for fear of showing off my petite folley.

So yes, today IS a good day.

Not all systems are "go" for launch, though (lately, I've been a big fan of the NASA terms. Can't quite figure out why, though. I was sending out an email to a fellow blogger friend yesterday, and I kept saying things like "not much longer till blastoff" and "ready for launch" and "all systems ready for go". Weird, I know. Maybe the folley/catheter combo is made from NASA rubber, which is slowly seeping into my brain. Who knows? If it can help me pee, great. If it can make me super smart, even better. If it can fix my spelling problem, then "Blast-OFf!") - as I may have to self-catheter myself for a while until my Sacral Nerve heals from the crash.

(The sacral nerve controls a lot of the pelvic functions in our bodies. Mine was virtually crushed in my impact, yet strung out and stretched/contorted in various positions from the bone break, and (to make matters worse)had several bone chips and fragments imbedded in it. If you're gonna "go", you might as well go "all-out", right. Sigh. My wonderful/genius spinal/neurosurgeon Doctor who-made-me-cry-50%-of-the-time-I-saw-him, managed to save my nerve, fix the broken Sacrum bone (S-1), and free the nerves from the awful position they were forced in due to my crash. The resulting nerve damage has been mostly controlled to my bladder functions. I have feeling in my "lady bits", more so on the left side than on the right. The right side of my Sacral Nerve was the side that sustained more damage, so it goes to figure that the right side of my body would feel more of the impact. So there's a chance that it may take a few days or a few weeks for my bladder to regain full function. My doctor's have projected a full recovery, and each day I regain more and more sensation. I have no doubt that I'll be at 100% feeling-wise soon, it'll just take time... and right now, I've got plenty of it!)

It's not a big deal. Something that the doc warned me of. And it gives me something else to look forward to with my recovery.

Go figure.

Today, I'm wearing shorts. Tomorrow I'll be able to pee on my own.

Life is good. :)

Ah - and the answers. There were a few questions in the "Comments" section that I wanted to answer. So, here we go:

1) Beth: Love the comment. Yep, today so far has been a "non-sed" day. Thanks!
2) Ness: Heppier? Just put a "ch" sound in front of the "h" and that's how my Czech grandmother would pronounce happier. Excellent!

3)Kate: Yes, Coconut cream shower gel and lotion and lots of sunshine and surf with the hubby. Yum!

4)Erin: Thanks! I LOVE my lurkers. I had so many incredible comments and well wishes out there from "the lurkers". And it totally made my day. I had no idea that so many people read and enjoyed my blog. It really means so much. So thanks for all of your comments. I had to sit and think about your "nuts" comment, and I think you're right. Not in a crazy-loony-bin sort of way, but I think that if you want to do well is something - sport, music, business, life, etc... - you have to be at least a little "crazy". I look at and look up to a lot of the pros and people who have come before me, and I'm simply amazed. After my first sprint triathlon (Janesville YMCA Sprint, Wisconsin back in 2002...) I actually took 2 years of from racing, because it seemed like way too much. I couldn't wrap my brain around how people could "race" Ironman. I think it just takes a bit of time.... and a little bit of crazy to pursue your dreams. What's crazy to me may not be crazy to someone in the business world. I can't imagine working 16 hours a day, then again, those people who work that much, probably can't imagine spending hours upon hours upon hours, day after day, working out, sitting in the saddle.

There are always exceptions, though. You gotta be a little crazy to succeed... :) (Again - in a GOOD way)

5)Danielle: Yea - waterproof scrabble! You would NEVER get me out of the bathtub with that thing. And, I could even entice Nathaniel to hop into the bath with me - bubbles and all.

6) Courtenay: Safe trip to LA. Kick ASS in your race this weekend. Will be sending good vibes your way. Nathaniel and I are flying out of San Diego on Friday morning... so we won't be here for the weekend... so sad so sad.

BUT - I can get back in the water in 3-5 weeks. Or whenever the stitches/incision heals over. The Scary Spinal/Neuro Doc said that my healing was going “beautifully” and that I’ll be at 100% before I knew it. This, coming from the guy who made me cry the first time I met with him. Somehow, I think he’s telling the truth. So, 21-35 days. Already counting down. :)

7) Hi Mer! Like I said before, I love “the lurkers” – write more often! I LOVE and truly enjoy the feedback. Here’s the scoop: Nathaniel and I have fallen in love with San Diego. There’s about a 50-50 chance we could be stationed out here by the end of the summer or beginning of the fall. We BOTH want San Diego. So much, so that my husband – who is pretty tame and rarely shows a lot of excitement – is gathering housing information, rental info, and realtor information. Just the other day, as we were walking hand-in-hand up from the beach, he admitted that he wanted to live in Del Mar, as close to the coast as possible. Or, “any of the little, cut, wonderful towns along the coast!”.

I looked at him and was impressed. 3 adjectives? Wow – he really IS impressed. And happy out here. Naturally, we would have hoped for different circumstances, but I’ll be sure to let you know if we’ll be out here… (fingers crossed). Thanks for the offering of help – I appreciate it!

8) Ashley: Dude, that’s why you’re my SC Soul Sister. J Enough said!

9)Brooke: If its one thing I’ve learned this past week or so, is that I’m bound to have plenty of ups and downs. Lots and lots and lots. Yes, you’ll never know what you’ll get with me. A mixed bag, per se. And, suffice to say, I’ll keep it interesting.

10) Kellye: Hey – you’re totally right. Be “sed” when you’re “sed”, be “heppie” when you’re “heppie”, and figure that the rest will all fall between. No sense rushing it one way or another. Nathaniel just reads my blogs (some times, if he has nothing else to do…), doesn’t bother spell checking them for me. I would probably drive him nuts, if I had him check it every time… Although, if something is horribly off, I’ll tell because he’ll give me a twisted grin and start off by saying something along the lines of, “Sweetheart, you are such a creative speller.”

And then I know my “creative spelling hat” was on while I was writing.

11) Alili: Careful with liquids and keyboards! My Dad would flip out if he knew you had a beverage of ANY sort near your computer. I’ll just refer to Brooke’s comment: You never know what you’ll get with me. And that’s a good thing…

12) Mira: Thanks! Yes – I’m ½ Czech. My Mom was born in Czechoslovakia… so yes, that’s the random connection. I spoke Czech while growing up, can still pronounce Czech words and stuff, and know enough to “sort-of” get around Prague if I really needed to. One day I’m determined to return and learn in “properly”, as it’s such a beautiful language. And FYI: yesterday, I was “miserni”… if you don’t know what this means, you’ll find out soon. I’ve got a blog about half-done that deals with the topic of this word. J

13) Cathy: Most excellent! I’m not alone! Yee-haw! And neither are you.

Hope that everyone has a great day.

Be happy: especially if you can pee. It’s not so fun when you can’t. So when you can, life is GOOD. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to visit “the porcelain bowl office” if you get my drift.

All systems: Go for Launch!