OHIO 11/08
My Sister and Brothers
Well, it has been awhile since I have posted and Many things have been happening. The main thing is that my Drs. said it was ok for me to travel(fly). So after much thought... Ohio or Redondo Beach (actually it didn't take much thought at all) we decided to go back home to see family in Ohio. My two brothers and sister live in Ohio, and Monica's Mom and Sister live in Ohio, along with many other family members. By the way, thank you Susan and Greg for making this trip a reality for me. We had a non stop flight from Phoenix to Cleveland and I didn't even feel weird having to wear my mask on the plane. We sat beside a young mother with a 13 month old son. I thought "Oh boy is this going to be a long flight!" But he was the best little boy during the whole flight. My brother picked us up in Cleveland, the last time I saw him was a year ago, and I was still using the wheelchair to get around. I could walk, but lost my breath after just a few steps. I also was on 4 liters of O2. Needless to say, I was very grateful to be able to walk off the plane to meet him. My sister hadn't seen me since Dec. 9th, 2006, when I was in ICU, in a medically induced coma, medically paralyzed, and on life support. When we got to her house; there was a long hug and some tears. I got to see my other brother too. Again, I felt such gratefulness to be able to stand and give him a hug too. We spent alot of time with both sides of our families. Many special meals, familiar activities- even some new ones like tag sales, rides through our hometown, visits with aunts and uncles, and even a birthday dinner with ice cream cake at Monica's Mom and Bill's house (the cake was for a combined birthday celebration for Monica, Susan, Susan's husband Greg, and me). I got to do so many things I thought I would NEVER get to do again. It just felt great, like I again have a life. One of the things Monica and I like to do everytime we get a chance to go to Ohio, is to go to Amish country. This is something that I have done as a child and something that Monica has always done with her kids when they were younger. We have a routine(for those of you who know me, I have to have routines...routines for everything) Anyway, we start out at the Mennonite Thrift Store in Kidron. We can always find something to buy for CHEAP. We then go down the road to Lehmans Hardware Store. It used to be just a small hardware that catered to the Amish and selling the non-electric appliances they use, but now, it is just too comercialized. They have added on so much, it almost looks like a Wal mart with many reproductions. Lehmans also has a smaller store in Mt. Hope that still has the non electric items. Next stop, the Kidron auction(selling pigs, cows, hay etc...) So cool, that hasn't changed too much at all. I noticed that after getting back to Az. I am pretty tired, so maybe we over did things a bit. But it felt good. Well, that is it for tonight: there are clinics, chest x-rays, and pulmonary function tests tomorrow morning, oh, and rehab. It does feel good to be back HOME with my familiar routines!
