Life Less Ordinary: Recovery

At first, it was slowly. Too slow for my liking. It is not easy, nor fun, to go from 90 MPH to 5 MPH. But, this week has been a new week and every day I feel a little better. J said he is almost ready to drop my nickname "Turtle!"

I had to force myself to slow down and let me body recover last week. We came to NJ so my mommy could wait on me hand and foot. She loves to be the caretaker, so it was a perfect role. The pain has dissipated day by day, with sleeping, sneezing, yawing and coughing being the only challenges remaining these days.

While recovering last week, I spent a little time feeling sorry for myself. I really appreciated all the comments, e-mails and phone calls, but, I was just down about the fact that I have something to worry about. J & I are so carefree in our lives and do things because we can without thinking too hard about the repercussions. Now, there is a little pause before making decisions. And I haven't fully converted to a hypochondriac, but this was an important lesson to learn and to know when to listen to my body, so every little ache and pain has been alarming.

It was also depressing reading online about pulmonary embolisms. First and foremost, 2 out of 3 people usually DIE. And that is everyone's first reaction when seeing me … "Patrice, it is SO good to see you since we almost lost you." It's a hard pill to swallow. But getting back to the Internet world, there's not much guidance about recovery because it varies from person to person. Some people say a few weeks before full pain relief and normal breathing, others say a year. Very reassuring. At least now I have something to talk about with the 55+ group since everyone's mother and grandmother are taking blood thinners! So it's just a whole new world I entered into.

Of course I couldn't sit very still for too long, so J & I hit the road this week and headed south to our house in Danville take care of some post-tour business.

First up, we returned our beloved Sprinter Van to the nutrition bar company in North Carolina, which was very depressing. We spent the majority of our summer nights—58 to be exact—sleeping in the van. We loved that vehicle. And now I can say this without knocking on wood … we went the whole summer without any speeding tickets, accidents, robberies! PHEW!

Next order of business was to buy a car, since the Malibu was floating somewhere in the Boulder River. Unexpected car buying is difficult for the most indecisive couple in the world on a time crunch and a budget. Plus, we were going the "used car" route this time. We happily ended up with a 2003 Subaru Baja named Big Bird. Let's see if we get more looks than we got in the wrapped Sprinter Van.