One Good Turn Deserves Another

You never know what's going to happen when you post to all humanity on the internet - you might even rethink putting a picture of your 60 year old self with celery coming out of your nose (actually didn't rethink that at all!).

However, because of the series of postings that I did on my recent kidney donation, I got a comment from a lovely young lady who donated a liver lobe (I think I have that right) to her brother in 2006. As a result of her experience she has set up a foundation for living donors, The Greatest Gift Foundation. She also has a blog associated with the Foundation and posted a lovely comment related to my experiences.

If anything I have written, has given any reader an interest in this topic, I would strongly suggest you visiting her. I think her effort is well worth supporting.

Normaliy Seems More Attainable Daily

After a this weekend when I felt totally wiped out, I had a great day today. It was my first three meeting day since I got back and I felt fine. I'm convinced the naps really make a difference even if it they are only 3o minutes or so. I had plenty of energy for making dinner for Wife which she always appreciates.

Thanks for all the ideas for Saturday's first course. Wife and I have come to conclusion and I think it will work out great. Hopefully, I will have my energy and mind together so I can take pictures while I cook and post a true foodie entry.

Sending Out An SOS

I may not be The Police but I could use some ideas from all you foodies out their. This weekend I have Tim de Buffalo and Pulisha coming over for dinner. I belong to this wine club where I get 4 bottles a month and typically T and P graciously agree to be tasters. For once they have successfully gotten a babysitter and so will be coming here for dinner. This is the first time I've had and excuse and hopefully the energy and stamina to really cook in a long time.

I have two bottles left, both reds, one a Chateauneuf du Pape and the other a Bourdeaux so I need to make two courses that go with strong reds. The main course is no problem but I'm having some problems coming up with an interesting first course. I was thinking of doing a duck salad with duck skin cracklings but Mrs. de-I is not a duck fan. Or something similar with salmon but T is not a fish eater. Or I thought of some cheese type of thing but Pu doesn't eat cheese. Then I thought about a fresh made pasta with a very strong meat broth/sauce but that's a lot of work.

I need some ideas foodies!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I was cruising along last week feeling gradually better by day. On Friday, I had a meeting in downtown ABQ (yes we actually have a downtown). I got the location wrong. So I parked in a garage and walked a number of blocks back and forth until I called them and realized I was on the wrong side of downtown. Went back to the car and drove to the meeting.

On Saturday, I was wiped out. I also didn't take a nap on either Friday or Saturday. Sunday was another day to do just about nothing. I did nap. This healing up business just wants to go at it's own speed.

But What If I Miss The Big Guy?

The graphic above was done by AinA for my new business book. If you substitute the "de-I for "Gross" and "Organ Donation" for "Net", you have a good idea of how my mental and emotional condition has been over the almost two years that we were dealing with the decision and follow through on donating the kidney.

Now that it is over, I'm finding that there is this hole in my psyche...the hole where all the thinking, planning, worry, anxiety, fear, blah, blah, blah was. You know that it is dominating your thinking but until it is over I don't think you realize just how much of your energy and emotions it fills up.

So I'm sitting with Mrs de-I having dinner tonight and I'm reflecting on this, telling her it's like this big open space and like there should be something filling it, some new anxiety or obsession. Or, I tell her, I suppose I could just learn to live without all that.

She just smiles and nods.

It's Soooo Quiet

I'm not sure if I know how quite to act without a life changing circumstance hanging over my head. Business keeps picking up. I'm pretty mellow. Mrs. de-I is getting back into her routine. I wonder if I can actually live like this over some longer period?

Slooooowwwwwlllly Getting Better

Major surgery - Smajor surgery - I want to be better now. Did I mention that I am not the best of patients. I don't recall any of the hero stories I've read over the years mentioning a whole lot about the long painful recovery period. Blah, blah, blah.

Actually things are coming along just fine. I feel like I'm getting little bit stronger each day. I was bit worried about a couple of things but I talked to my outpatient coordinator at Hartford Hospital and everything was within normal parameters. She also gave me the OK to start driving (which is good because I already am) but to use common sense. Actually all the street bumps from driving (more than a non-abdominally challenged person would realize) seems to be one of the things that jumbles around my tender innards.

I'm actually starting to get the beached ship of my company back in the water and going again. I got a commitment for two new engagements with existing clients. If any of you remember the scene from the movie Young Frankenstein where Gene Wilder is pounding on the lifeless hulk of Frankenstein and scream "Live!", that's what I feel like.

Fact Stranger Than Fiction

Since many of you also read Pu's Corner I'm sure that you've said to yourself, "that can't be real. No real life can be like that." Au contraire. We saw the Pulisha clan twice this weekend, once here and once at their place and I will verify in all truth that THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT ANY GIVEN MOMENT IN PULISHADOM SOUNDS LIKE. What is equally amazing is Pu's ability to maintain her train of thought in a conversation when every successive sentence she speaks on a given topic is interrupted by two to three commands or exhortations to her brood. Quite a feat of mental legerdemain.

That Guy Going Postal Is Probably Tim De Buffalo

This coming weekend Pu goes away for her first Air Force Reserve weekend meaning Mr. Tim will be handling the Pu clan all by himself. Wife and I told we unfortunately had a trip to Argentina this weekend and would not be able to assist.