There is something to be said for old friends and real healing

My friend Kim H and myself, home from the doctor

The day after I posted my blog about spending a week in the hospital, an old friend (Kim H, who reads my blog) contacted me and said "What can I do to help? Pick up prescriptions from the pharmacy, go shopping for you, cook some meals you can warm up later, take you to your next appointment... let me know."

My gosh, she is one of a kind. 

Here's the story on Kim.  We became friends back in 1988 when we both worked downtown at the Allegheny County Dept of Aging.  She had just gotten married, I had just started working at the agency, but we were close in age and clicked right away.  I left Aging in 1998 for greener pastures, and we stayed in touch with Christmas & birthday cards and the occasional phone call or email.  But we haven't gotten together in many, many years.

Anyway, I thanked Kim for her generous offer but when you've lived alone as long as I have you want to take care of yourself.  Several days into things however, I realized I wasn't doing so well.  That's when I made my first home grocery order, and contacted Kim and asked if she would go to my doctors office with me for my 10 day post-surgery followup.  She said of course, and that's us there at the top, home from the doctor on Thursday.

The doctor's appointment went very well.  He removed the last of my bandages, listened to my lungs and heart, checked my oxygen level.  When I told him I didn't feel I was recuperating fast enough, he said "You've been home from the hospital 10 days.  I told you at checkout you'd need 6 weeks to make a full recovery.  Stop trying to be a Steeler."  A Steeler!  I said I was sorry and he said "Mr. Morris, many of my after-surgery patients arrive here in wheelchairs--you're doing great!"

He did make a couple revisions to my recovery plan though.  I have PT & RT (respiratory therapists) coming to my place again on Monday, darn it.  Enough!

I didn't bring up my long covid-nicotine patch idea, darn that too.  I'm going to hold off on that until I'm more my old self.

Afterwards, Kim took me grocery shopping at Kuhn's, then helped carry my stuff upstairs and stayed and chatted for an hour.  We talked about old friends, her grandkids, what our families have been up to.  I enjoyed her visit so much.  

When I was walking her to the elevator, I was thinking how much I'd missed Kim and wished we were closer like the old days.  As the doors opened and she stepped on, she said "I think we need to be better friends and be a bigger part of each others lives again."   She must've read my mind!

A wonderful ending to a great morning.  Kim, if you're reading this... thanks again. 

Meanwhile, life goes on: Thinking out Loud, June 2026

A couple days ago my sister Courtney sent this photo of her & her husband Robert's 3 dogs--Stormy, Shiva & Ace, following her into the basement of their home in Cincinnati Ohio.  For some reason it reminded me of that big dog licking Richard Mulligan's face in the opening of that '80s sitcom "Empty Nest".  

"Life goes on, and so do we... how do we do it is a mystery..."   

I'm sitting here in my customary spot on the floor in front of my couch on a cloudy afternoon, no plans of course (except what I'm making for dinner--a pot of chili) and feeling better than I have been in awhile.

From the neck down, I am healing up nicely.  My four belly incisions from my gall bladder surgery aren't pretty, but no longer hurt.  My stomach's monster swelling has gone down, and last night (for the first time since the surgery) I was able to lie flat on my back at bedtime.  

From the neck up however... the long covid pushes on.  Burning eyes, dry mouth, pressure in sides of my head.  But there is improvement. 

I feel I need to apologize to anyone reading this, as I have a difficult time keeping mum about my health issues.  I've driven a couple people in my life away since the whole long covid thing began, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get them back and frankly I don't think I even want to.  But at the very least I want to thank all the friends and visitors who take the time to come here and read my blog.  I feel guilty sharing so much here, but it sure helps to get it out.  

On a lovelier note, here's a recent photo of my niece Sophia with her beau Luke.  Is it just me because I'm her uncle, or is this young woman as beautiful as I think? 

Heavens.  And speaking of family (and long covid), the morning my whole gall bladder adventure began, I was talking to Sophia's mom (my sister Shawn) who asked if I'd heard about nicotine patches being a possible aid in reducing long covid symptoms.

I did, but never really looked into it until that call.  There's no official studies of course, or documented findings, but some researchers claim 7mg of nicotine daily for 30 days seemed to help a number of cases.  So I figured, why not.

I'm not crazy about the notion of wearing a nicotine patch again (I quit smoking nearly 20 years ago) but at least it's a very small amount of nicotine and right now I'm willing to try anything.   I have an appointment with my surgeon this Thursday (I suppose he wants to review his handiwork) and if everything looks okay, I think I'm going to begin the nicotine patch regimen next week.

Well, that's all I have for now.  After a week of eating oatmeal, bananas & chicken paste I am craving something red.  I'm anxious to see if I can tolerate a bowl of chili without too much inflammation or oral pain.  I normally add a lot of spices to my chili--garlic, ground red pepper, chili powder, etc. but not this time.  My body is way too tender for anything more than ground beef, tomatoes and beans.   Thanks for stopping by, it's much appreciated.

I have Frankenstein's stomach, other weirdness and for 19 things there is a first time

Wednesday morning I got a call from someone named Colleen, my "case manager" at UPMC.  I almost didn't take the call but I'm glad I did, she was knowledgeable and honest.

She had a pretty good understanding of my week in the hospital, and asked what my stomach was looking like.  I said it looked like Frankenstein's stomach, with red slashes and covered in green, blue and brown bruises.  

I said it was also tender to the touch and EXTREMELY swollen. I've eaten so much less since this whole thing began yet my stomach feels and looks like I was 9 months pregnant.

I'm not making this up--I came very close to sharing a photo of my monster belly here but was too embarrassed.

She told me the average patient gains between 10-15 pounds following surgery and a stay in the hospital (from being sedentary and receiving IV bags of various nutrients 24 hours a day).  As for all the swelling and soreness, I have a lot of enflamed organs right now. 

I told Colleen that I was just concerned why I'm not feeling lots better.  A few people have sent me articles or videos on what to expect following gall bladder surgery, people often go home the same day or the next morning, not a week later.  She said "Yours was emergency surgery, not elective.  Plus you underwent two surgeries two days in a row.  And then you got those infections and the pneumonia, so your outcome was different."

I asked her how soon I can begin doing some light exercising again (I always liked to do arm & leg stuff while watching tv) and she said "Nope, none of that.  You can start taking some light walks in 2-3 weeks."   Oh well, I'm still being forced to sleep upright because of breathing problems.

Colleen said I also run the risk of getting a hernia right now, and to avoid picking up anything heavier than a gallon of milk for another 3 weeks.  Easier said than done.

The surgeon wants to do a follow-up with me on June 25.  I hope I'm well enough to go, my dear friend Kim has graciously agreed to go with me.  

As long as I'm doing a health update here, I'm still wrestling with these long covid symptoms.  The left eye and temple inflammation have been subdued for over a week now, but still lots of soreness and weirdness inside my mouth, tongue & gums.  Things like chocolate, salt, tomato sauce are like eating red pepper.  It sucks, but could be worse.

And finally, something I never thought I'd do--I bought groceries online today from Walmart.com.  There was an extra $15.00 added to my bill for delivery & driver's tip, but all the items I requested showed up at my doorstep.  (And no broken eggs.)  A nice convenience but I like my walks to Kuhns.