Home

I was discharged Friday night.  It's a fantastic feeling to know that you can go home.  Being couped up in a hospital for a week, especially when you feel OK for the most part, is pretty rough.  Heather had planned on staying at home another night, so when I got the news, I asked Dan McDonald if he wouldn't mind driving me home and hanging out with us.  He said yes, which was really awesome.

Dan and I met up with Amber in Ann Arbor, but moved to Ypsilanti for dinner, as the Ann Arbor dinner crowd is pretty rough on a Friday night at 7:30.  Ypsilanti was like a ghost town.  We went to a place called "Smokehouse Blues".  The rolls at this place are perhaps the best I've ever eaten.  I ate a steak, some mac and cheese, and some garlic mashed potatoes to celebrate my discharge.  Real food is hard to come by at UMHS.

We dropped Amber off at her boyfriend's gig and make the hour and a half trek back to Kalamazoo.  It was a drive with great conversation and a lot of laughs.  We made it home around 11:30, which is way past my bedtime.  I ate some cookies, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and then slept in bed like a baby.

We woke up this morning and watched some Anthony Bourdain before we drove to Dustin and Carrie's house to rendezvous for a dog walk and some breakfast.  Carrie had to work, so unfortunately, she couldn't come to breakfast with us.  We made our way to a little greasy spoon place called "The Cooper Cafe".  If you've never been, and are in the Kalamazoo area on a Saturday, you should go.  On Saturday mornings, a local bluegrass group, "The Lonesome Moonlight Trio" plays.  This, coupled with the hearty home cooking and friendly service makes for great food for your soul.  It made me so happy to be there with loved ones that I nearly broke into tears.

We did some looking around at a Goodwill afterwards.  The Goodwill was really busy, and the shoppers there were pretty rude.  We left, with Dustin purchasing a terrible looking VHS tape that we're going to watch  on New Year's Eve.

We went back to Dustin's and played some Tiger Woods on the Wii, which was a blast.  We all then headed for home.  Heather got a call from her realtor.  She wanted to show the house on Sunday.  The house was still fairly showing-ready, since we had cleaned up for one last Sunday when we went to the hospital, but due to snowy weather, they cancelled.  We said yes, and Heather and I relaxed the rest of the evening.

We got up Sunday morning, made some egg, bagel, and cheese sandwiches, and watched some Reno 911.  Heather and I started cleaning up the little bit, and had enough time to watch some Sarah Silverman Project before we had to leave for the showing.  We walked the dogs in downtown Battle Creek, and made our way to Meijer to pick up some groceries.

When we got back home, we got a phone call from the realtor.  The people loved the house.  They are going to get pre-approval from the bank, and after the holidays they are going to put an offer in on the house!  This is the best news we've had in a long time.  We are definitely excited, especially Heather, who has had the house on the market for a few years now.  We spent the rest of the night cuddling and watching stuff on Netflix, trying to recuperate from the previous week.

Today is my Dad's 60th birthday!  Happy Birthday, Dad!  I'm going to give him a call later.  After that, today I need to finish some Christmas shopping.  Going to the store always wears me out, though, even before the cancer.

I'm still feeling pretty good.  My appetite is pretty ravenous now that the fluid is gone.  My BM's are improving every day, and I still don't have any pain.  The catfish are doing their job.  They have big mouths, that stretch out into a permanent smile, and their whiskers are long and thick.  They seem to be happy with their job, which is good for me, I guess.

I've got some pictures of the fluid draining, that I could post, but some may find them disturbing.  Is that something you would like to see?  Maybe if most say no, I could just send them to the ones that want to see them.  Let me know.