Chili is now a wanted man*. He took it upon himself today to show off around his house guest (Stewie) and show how he could do whatever he wants. Including eating cupcakes. Yes, Chili hit the cupcakes you see in the previous post. Not just 1 or 2, we believe he pretty much ate "Birthday" and most of "Paul" too. This is after a dinner time offense last night. Tsk tsk, he had gone so long without a food offense.

Note: as I ate one of the 2 remaining cupcakes, (how nice of him to leave us each with 1 cupcake) Chili watched with a "Lemme have some" look on his face. I ate 3 cupcakes the first night and felt a bit sick afterword, I don't know how he can put away 10 of those things.

My neck problems are leading to waistline problems for Chili. Too few dog park trips and too many cupcakes are leading to an expanding belly for the pup. I'd better get well soon and get him back out there.

In other news, surgery has been moved up to 12:00 tomorrow. Should be over by 2:30. And I SHOULD be home on Friday.

*note: cash award not valid until 2080

big weekend

All kinds of activity (well...compared to recent days) for us this weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner with friends to celebrate Ink passing the bar exam (first try!) and the sudden announcement that Ink and Jen were runnin' off to Vegas to get hitched. They left yesterday. We are in charge of the well-being of Stewie, their chihuahua/yorkie(?) mix. He and Chili played some good tug of war battles yesterday.

Saturday we went to Costco and spent way too much. We got a Queen sized AeroBed, so those of you who felt our twin bed wasn't big enough to stay on, we've ditched it and replaced it with the AeroBed so come on down.

Sunday we went to Macy's at Horton Plaza (thanks for the gift certificate mom and dad) and I picked up a new dress shirt and new jacket. Monday we had a BBQ lunch with our friends Jeff and Sarah.

We also celebrated my birthday this weekend. (The picture above is me with some soon to be eaten cupcakes that Cheree made). Cheree gave me a Wii, so come on over for some Wii Tennis, Bowling, Baseball, etc.

Today and tomorrow it's back to work. Then Thursday it's time for the last surgery.

2 down...1 to go (hopefully)

My third (and had better be last) surgery is scheduled for Thursday next week. Dr. says I should be going home on Friday. It'll be hard to swallow for a while, so who knows how low my weight will get this time. Cheree says I'm starting to look more back to normal now.
Last night we went to Cheree's Master Teacher's house and were treated to a ribs dinner. This is our second ribs dinner since my surgery (the other was at Cheree's sister Terri's house). If I would have know neck surgery lead to delicious rib dinners I would have had it done years ago!
If you want to say hey (or offer up your home for a future rib dinner) please post to the blog.

This weekend was supposed to be New York weekend for us. We were going to catch a Yankee game and see the sites. Guess this will have to wait until next year. (After that Yankee stadium is gone so we have no choice but to go next year).

Paul

"Watch Ball!"

Today Cheree and I took a trip to see my baseball team, the San Diego Reds (http://www.sandiegoreds.com) in action. We got there 1/2 hour before the start of the game. We were able to say hey to the fellas and then sit down for our bag lunch as we watched the Reds build a lead. Cheree got cold after an hour and a half so we took off, with the Reds holding a lead that I'm pretty certain they did not give up.

Watching the team really made me miss being out there and playing. It will be a while before I'm running onto any ball field though.

As for me, I'm doing well. My left hand is close to being back to normal and my right hand still has some numbness and other weird sensations, but it's slowly getting better. The numbness I used to have on my back and chest is gone. The tightness I used to have in my abdomen is gone. I can type just as fast as I used to before the symptoms started hitting me. (Before the surgery I had to use my index fingers and look at the keyboard as I slowly punched out e-mails). Thus far I'm very happy (and relieved) with the progress.

Today we also put together a new office chair for the home office. This one has better padding and has a head rest that will support me better. I'll be back working from home again this week. Last week I worked Tuesday through Friday, each day doing more and working longer. It feels great to have that normalcy back. I didn't like waking up before and realizing I had absolutely nothing I had to do that day.

Onward and upward!

after the meeting

Cheree and I met with Dr. Zubay (my Neurosurgeon) today. He took out the stiches, so now I won't have to change the dressings every time I shower. He went over the MRI and said it showed that there's still some fluid in there that he wants to give a couple weeks to drain before doing the next (and final) surgery. I don't have to have this final surgery, but he recommends it since I'm young and active. He said if I were 60 he wouldn't do it. He said if I sat at a computer eating donuts all day he probably wouldn't do it. The reason for doing it is to prevent my neck from twisting over time to the point where I'd be all contorted. The surgery will involve putting in a plate to stabilize my neck (it's missing 2 joints right now). He said this surgery is nothing compared to what I've been through. Then it will be 8 more weeks with the neck brace. Ugh. I was thinking I'd be rid of it in 6 weeks from now, but now it's looking like 10 weeks from now. This will be one wild and crazy summer!

i'm back

Well here I am, writing my first post since surgery. I'm doing much better since I stopped taking Vicodin last Wednesday. I've been up and alert, going for short walks, eating much more and staying up later.

Perhaps I should explain the picture above. Well, today was Mom's last day in San Diego. I had been worried about how Chili would be around her (and her things). He was good for the most part, occasionally wanting her to play too much, but he wasn't jumping up on her or mouthing on her. Then this morning she jinxed it. She told him how he had been such a good boy. So while she petted him from the couch he must have been concocting his devious plan. When she fell asleep he went right for her shoes and tore one of them apart. That's what you see in the picture. Bad dog.

That was his first shoe-misdemeanor in a long, long time. I still can't figure him out.

So mom and I went out for errands: a trip to a shoe store for replacement shoes (that was her only pair she brought), a trip for her first taste of In-N-Out, and a trip to the hospital for my MRI. Then Cheree drove us to the airport to drop her off. It was great having her here for a week. It's not often after turning 30 that you really get to spend enough quality time with your parents. We got to have a lot of conversations, and I got to have a week of my favorite home cooked meals.

Thanks for all your support everyone. I enjoyed hearing the posts when Cheree read them to me in the hospital. Tomorrow we meet with the Dr. to go over my MRI and talk about the final surgery (for neck reconstructive purposes). I'll update the blog after the meeting.

Paul

A splendid Mother's day

When I first saw Paul, I was stunned to see how much weight he had lost and how sickly he looked --a real bag of bones. His color was better after the operation, but he still seemed very fragile. I could understand Cheree’s saying that she was afraid she’d break him when he was released from the hospital. At any rate, he doesn’t seem breakable now. His pain across his abdomen is gone, his feet have some feeling in them, and today he found out that he could type (slowly) again. Chili seems to know that he shouldn’t jump up on Paul or otherwise annoy him. What a good big beast he is (except when he isn’t). I can leave San Diego knowing that Cheree can easily handle Chili and Paul and teaching. In a few weeks Paul will have his final operation and in six weeks Paul will likely lose his neck brace. What a lovely Mother’s day I had with Cheree’s mother, Cheree and Paul, and the red beast. Paul was able to flip pancakes and fry eggs and bacon for our brunch. We continue to feel very grateful for everyone’s concern and support.
Love,
“Mums” Elliott

Things will be changing more slowly now. All things considered Paul is doing very well. He still has times where he feels lousy and has to lie down for a bit. Chili is at the puppy-sitter's so that he doesn't have 100 pounds of excited dog jumping up on him with full force. But even the first night home he was able to hang out with a few friends from out of town. And Paul and Cheree were treated to a quite nice, no work Cinco de Mayo party at the house with a takeout feast from PF Chang's, home-made cookies, and every single dish clean in the rack with a spotless kitchen afterwards. Thanks to all who made it happen. Much more enjoyable than lying on his back in the ICU.

Tonight Paul and Cheree will be swapping out the Kasberger family for Paul's mom. Stay tuned for more links to stories about people with bizarre neglected medical conditions from various corners of the world.

Love,
Kate

It's a homer!

As I write this Paul is now around the corner eating tortellini and salad for lunch in his own kitchen. Yes he's going, going, gone from the hospital! The scan from yesterday looked good, the drain was out this morning, and he finally got to get out of bed and walk around this morning. He passed the road test, the blood test, and the pee test and they no longer had any excuse to hold onto his handsome self. The headaches may have been from the drain so over the next few days to weeks they should improve or disappear. He's getting used to living life with a foam neck collar that doesn't allow him to move his head at all but I think he'll happily get used to nearly anything as long as he can do it back in the real world!

Love,
Kate

Down (with) the drain

Word from the doctor is that tomorrow (Friday) morning he will pull out the drain. Not surprisingly, Paul was in much better spirits today than he's been for a while. He's still getting headaches -- previously they were attributed to the Ambien, but as he's not taking that anymore so we're not sure what they're from. Sick of being stuck in bed in the hospital is a leading theory, so we'll see if changing that soon helps.

I'm now down in San Diego and got to hang out with him for a bit this afternoon. More importantly, I was able to bring him a genuine autographed wiffle ball from the Ross family. We got to see the 4 inch scar on the back of his neck for the first time, which Paul insisted that Cheree photograph with her cell phone so he could see it too. Perhaps it can be framed and hang over the fireplace someday.

Cheree has been printing out all of your comments and taking them to him for his reading pleasure. He really appreciates all of your support (and fantasy baseball updates).

Love,
Kate

Back out of the OR

Paul went back in this afternoon. The surgeon found the hole causing the leak and glued it back together without incident. He's now in the recovery room and eagerly looking forward to a shower, or at least the closest you can get without getting out of bed. He'll still be stuck in bed with the drain for the next few days. The current plan is to get the next scan on Thursday to see how things stand. The doctor expects him to go home around Saturday. We're cautiously optimistic that things are going to be looking up from now.

There, this time I got to write a post that wasn't all bad news!

For anyone in the Bay Area who would like to send cards, books about the Greek Olympics, or other legally transportable items, I'm flying to San Diego on Thursday morning and would be happy to take stuff. Call me at 510-206-5662.

Love,
Kate