Heading Home to Sunny Florida

December 5, 2011

Saturday and Sunday were rough.  Slept in 20 minute intervals at night. I did get over to my daughter Wendy’s house for da’ Bears game.  I grew up a Browns fan, came to Chicagoland in 1973 and got into the Bears in that great 1985 season.  Now a Tampa Bay Bucs fan but frankly, I go with the frontrunner of these three each year.  All disappointed this year and am now a Tebow fan having watched him at Florida for those great years. I get a kick out of the secular liberals trying to put him down.

I have not felt like eating since the surgery and some ginger ale and a few crackers is it.  The surgery limits the ability to open the mouth very far and the effects of anesthesia must kill the hunger brain cells. I regret missing Wendy's birthday party Saturday night--just too much pain--but am glad Judy could make it.

Today is Monday and it is still cold, dark and drizzly.  We have a 2:00 flight back to Florida, thank God.  A follow-up with Dr. Marzo at 10 AM and 20 minute ride to O’Hare from there is on the schedule first.  We arrive an hour early and I am prepared to wait but Eileen, his great R.N., calls us in at 9:05. I explain my pain and they both tell me not to fight the pain but take the pain pills.  I recall Rush Limbaugh getting addicted to pain pills after his cochlear surgery so I have tried to avoid them as much as possible.  They explain body has to work to heal and can’t do that when fighting pain—“Oh”.

Dr. Marzo advises everything is coming along fine and adjusts the pain medications. Feeling better already.

We get over to O’Hare and hangout at the C Concourse food court.  I did classes and seminars in all 50 states for Northwestern University, University of North Florida, ABA, and other groups for 28 years and flew somewhere once or twice a week.  It could be Billings, Phoenix, SFO, Meriden, Ct., Waterville, Me., Paducah, Westminster, Co., Bismark, Bellevue, Wa, Plano, Tx., Charleston, Jacksonville or Honolulu to name a few.  I went non-stop from O’Hare to all of them but ran such a tight schedule with my day job (city attorney) that I rarely had time to graze at an airport.  I tried some eggrolls and Snapple and it felt good to finally eat.

The flight was uneventful.  I refuse to pay for bags or seats on principal so I was relegated to rear scrunchy seats (I am 6”3” and no longer slim) but got lucky.  It was not a full flight and I had a whole row to myself.

We arrived to a beautiful sunset and 78 degrees.  I am looking forward to recuperation by my pool overlooking a golf green across a small lake with a bird and eagle estuary beyond.