And so day two has mostly passed without major differences. But before i contemplate today, i wanted to make a mention of something i didn't yesterday and that it concerns the response i have recieved considering my hospitalization.
When Mom left somewhere between midnight and 1am on Saturday, she made sure to copy down the phone number to my room which is interesting to have in the first place. At home, phone calls can be for just about anyone under the roof, but any and all calls to RM 837 I know are for me specifically so i have no reason to wait for an answering machine to tell me who is calling (not that my room phone has an answering machine anyway...)
Anyway, as i was saying before, the response i've recieved since being admitted. First off, the first call was a suprise. I had been woken up at 5am, i've mentioned before because my door hadn't been closed and around that time a lot of chatter and noise erupted in the hall. Well, at 7am i was woken up by a nurse to get my vitals checked, and after she left i just kinda lay in bed a while and stared into the abyss, so maybe about 10 to 30 minutes i think (wasn't really paying attention to the clock, i was just wondering how often people were going to come and check my vitals and if it was truly that vital considering that from what i've seen after doing laps around the floor i may be the healthiest and youngest and most mobile person on this floor) suddenly the phone rings. I hesitated at first, thinking i should wait for an answering machine or something, then rationalized that anyone calling this phone is trying to reach me so i answered and, it was Heidi! Kinda suprising, but always a delight to hear from my floridian sister who is now engaged! (Congrats Heidi and Chad! I'll give you a discount if you want me as your wedding photographer ;) ) Thanks Heidi for calling to say you loved me and were thinking about me, and that you'd call back during your work break.
After a while, i ordered my first breakfast via the hospital meal delivery (they actually have quite a nice variety on the menu and all i gotta do is punch in the number code and tell them what i want from the menu and it's sent up to me in about 45 minutes, and for once the rumors of hospital food tasting nasty arn't quite true because i've been able to stomach everything i've ordered) In this case, i ordered two french toast wedges, two strips of bacon, and choco milk. Before the food came i recieved another phone call, this time from Pastor Steve Meck, which definitly suprised me. (suprised as in 'how does he know i'm in the hospital?' and 'just how many people did Mom tell about this?') But it was good to hear from him all the same and Pastor Meck promised that he would visit me later. So after saying goodbye and waiting a bit, the food was brought up, i ate, was happy, and a little while later someone knocked on my door. Of course i said "come in" and found the head of a Pannabecker poking in. Again i had to wonder just how many people knew about my present state of condition, but was happy for my first bodily visitor since admittance. Thanks Pastor David for visiting me and sharing with me your own wisdom as far as healing from neck surgery and other surgery. I know it's Lois who had the neck surgery, but you are married to her so you at least have an idea of what i'll be going through and your insight and advice I will definitly take to heart.
A while after Pannabecker left, Heidi, keeping her promise from earlier, called back during her break and we chatted a bit about the situation. Thanks Heidi for the support!
After Heidi's phone call, Dad came in to visit (and he brought with him some things from home, such as Adelli, my laptop. Just to make it clear, I name any piece of technology i tend to use a lot so that if it seems to be struggling i can encourage it by name. That includes the '98 Camry, my camera, my phone, and my laptop) Thanks also so much for bringing me the 4 doughnuts i bought from Martins yesterday. I had bought them with the intention of sharing with sister Beck (make her sound like a nun why don't I?) but I guess God had other plans for the destination of those doughnuts. (I ended up having one for lunch Saturday and the other 3 for breakfast this morning. MmmmMMM! Breakfast of champions!) Dad changed the day he was going to return to Oklahome City and his job until he knew what day i would be getting surgery, and thanks for that. It would probably cause you a large amount of worry wondering how i was doing from several states away, so you can at least know sooner what's going on. It was also a relief to know you were all right, consideirng how late it was you got home Friday night from taking Shawn, David, and Paul to the beach. (turns out that all was peaceful and Dad decided to stay and watch the sunset, which i agree to be a truly magical experience when viewed from the beach, but next time i'd suggest checking before hand when the sun sets in Michigan so you don't find yourself leaving Warren Dunes State park at 9:30, Dad. May i also suggest you borrow a cell phone or the car charger for your phone so someone can contact you, short of Mom or Beck calling the Michigan State police to make sure there had been no accidents...) in any case it was a relief to know you and the boys were safe. Thanks also for delivering the Saturday comics, the Close to Home comic strip was a hospital themed one and is now clipped out and pinned on the bulletin board on the wall in my room here. (i'll see if i can't post a picture of it to those who wonder what the strip was)
After Dad left, i prowled my room like a caged tiger because even though i'm most likely the most stable person on the 8th floor i'm not actually allowed to wander the hallways unless i have someone with me. (this is because everyone on the floor is a potential 'fall risk' which is identified by the yellow band which says this on my right arm as a warning to all. And i can understand. I mean, this tumor is the answer to the tension and locked muscles in my right leg which has hindered my balance for almost two years now, and I say two years because after thinking about it, i remembered how I had some trouble balancing back in a Modern Dance class I took my freshmen semester in the spring at IUSB. Practicing with one wall of the room full of mirrors I noted more than once that when I jumped and landed, I'd land hard on my right foot, ungracefully, and then much more gently on my left, which makes me wonder just how long this tumor has been growing in my cervical spine (that being vertebrea 1 through 12, I believe, from the base of the skull to the neck)!)
So anyway i started reading further into Red River (which is a manga series Beck has completed) and after finishing a volume I had a sudden thought; that after surgery i may not be able to really type on Adelli as I am right now, and considering that Adelli is a Dell Studio XPS 1640, has quite a few advanced features, one of which is voice recognition. Well aware some computers can be controlled completely by voice, i searched the programs and sure enough Adelli is equipped with a speech dictation program. So after spending an hour or two playing with the program and getting my comp to recognize my voice (and also to gain a real desire for a headset microphone so Adelli can hear me more easily and clearly as opposed to the microphone built into the laptop which picked up on other noises outside the room despite the door being shut.) I stopped, mostly because my voice was feeling raw and tired from enunciating and dictating so much. I ended up dictating half of my first blog entry, which was a true learning experience in itself on familiarizing myself with different commands and such.
After some time i got another visitor, actually two. The Mecks came to say hi! Thanks Pastor Steve and Diane for visiting me. It was nice to see you and chat with you and to know you're praying for me. I also hope you had an easy time running the errands you still had to run after visiting me, which your departure was prompted by the nurse Katrina who took me on my first lap or two around the 8th floor.
After that, my next visitor was Pastor Clapper, hurrah! lol. It was great to chat with you Pastor, and no I don't think your common practice of tugging on my pony-tail caused this tumor in my neck (No more so than Heidi's theory about the 'aliens who planted this tumor in my neck as a desprate trick for me to get attention'). You just may not be able to tug on my hair for a while, but we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.
At the end of the day, Mom visited me and it was good to see you again, to know you did get some sleep considering when you got home and still had to bake cakes later in the morning.
I also must add my gratitude to Beck for taking care of Charle and Mystic, my next-door neighbor's pets who i was supposed to be taking care of while they're gone, instead all i got to do was watch them for a day, experimented by having Charle sleep in my room and found he was fine with that, i just hope Ozzy dosen't feel to jealous sharing the basement with Char. Also if you could remember to give Lucky the joint supplements i keep on my desk that'd be good.
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