I’m having trouble keeping up. For example, I started this post last Wednesday – a week post-surgery. Now I’ve passed the two week mark and tomorrow will be two weeks since being discharged, along with my first day back at work. I’m thankfully only doing about two hours, which should be well within my capabilities but also give me a good idea of how I’m doing. Still, I’m scratching my head over how quickly the event I had to plan the first half of the year around has suddenly moved into the rear view mirror.

It’s been hard trying to write because on one hand I feel like everything is already done and finished, but I also still haven’t tried to drive because of where my incisions are in relation to the seat belt… I still can’t lift anything over 20 pounds for two weeks (or ride), and my current walking goal (with phone tracking) is 2000 steps every day. From those two sentences I can validate that I’m still squarely in the recovery stage, even if it isn’t necessarily in a hospital.

Where the title comes in is my prior assumption that I would have all this time to read, write, maybe draw, and I could also end up bored – but more days than not I’ve found by the time I’m through with one routine (or several) I either need a nap or have another one to start. So far, usually only one of the above-mentioned ends up happening sometime in the afternoon and I’ve yet to think “wow I have absolutely nothing to do.” I also had a self-imposed rule that I couldn’t write until I got the letter for one best-friend-bride-to-be finished, which I ended up chipping at and editing for three days… letters are ALWAYS more difficult than I anticipate!

The good news is that my UPJ obstruction (mine was because of a blood vessel…) was fixed with all of four little holes thanks to a surgery called a laparoscopic pyeloplasty, my youth and pretty decent health resulted in a shorter-than-average hospital stay, and I have just *one* more procedure right after July 4th to remove the stent stabilizing things and for my doctor to take some scans to make sure everything’s as it should be.

In other good news, a couple months ago on a whim I applied for this program through a narcolepsy nonprofit that wants to raise awareness for the sleepy disease by training people with the diagnosis to more effectively share their own stories through either speaking or writing. I actually gave a talk back in March to people in my community through a local nonprofit, but narcolepsy and my story was basically a footnote as I tried to tackle sleep in general. At the time I had been surprised at how much of the feedback/questions were related to me, but it seemed as I explained that, it generated more investment and interest in what I thought was the more relevant content. ANYWHO, I found out just before my surgery that I was selected for the one month long, totally online training that only requires a few hours a week of my time, and I’m really excited to start next week!

Lastly, it’s been wonderful having ALL the horse blogs to read the past week or so. I only got completely caught up yesterday/today, but the outlet is at least tempering my impatience to a somewhat manageable level. My trainer actually has moved facilities in the past two weeks to something that’s smaller and considerably easier for her to manage with her string of horses. Quite unfortunately, it means my drive will be going from less than 10 minutes to more like 25, but she takes care of her horses, students, and is always looking for opportunities to learn and get connected so I’ll be following along once I’m ready to ride again. Or before, because I can content myself watching lessons if I can’t participate. I was going to do a post on this pre-surgery, but ohwell, perhaps later on! I’m just trying to go with my days as they come, take my naps, get my steps and heal up as quickly/safely as I can!