Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A blast from the past



As you might have guessed, after the requisite fiasco at the DMV, Caitlin is now a licensed driver. It was so surreal to see her round the corner last Wednesday with her behind the wheel and me standing dumbfounded in the middle of the road. I am so used to seeing her drive from the passenger seat with my right foot firmly planted on the imaginary brake. Now she can drive where and when she needs to and we don't need to schedule our lives around her chauffeur schedule.
Since she is now driving the Prius, I have been relegated to using my bike to get around.

I jest. Now I have the distinct pleasure to drive my BMW 325xi. I haven't really driven this car since my kids took it back to Utah for school two years ago. It is really fun to drive. But Caitlin has not yet learned to drive a manual transmission, so I am stuck with it.

Today I rode my bike 11.2 km (7 miles) only 88.8 km left before I am ready to ride a metric century. I have till October to train for this event. You can't imagine how wonderful it felt to be riding the Lincoln countryside on such a beautiful day. My muscle strength is starting to return so that I don't look so much like 'stick man'. Three weeks ago, Dr Arai, concerned that my pneumonia had not completely resolved, put me back on an anti-fungal called Vfend (more like offend). I immediately lost all energy. After two weeks of suffering, my labs came back showing anemia and moderate renal failure. My test for amyloidosis also worsened. I asked her if I could stop the drug since my follow up CT scan showed resolution of the pneumonia. She agreed. Within 24 hours I went from a 75 to an 83. It is hard when you realize that most of your symptoms are side-effects from the life saving drugs that you must take.

I visited my friend, Debbie, at Stanford yesterday. She is just now starting the BMT process and is in good spirits. it is my hope and prayer that she does well. Our parallel journeys continue.

Kevin

2 comments:

Aunt Renie said...

Uh Oh - you're in big trouble now! But I loved the two pics.
Caitlin's childhood is now officially over.
Kids leave the nest by degrees, which is good for them (and us) to get used to.
Your last child has some excellent role models to follow.
love to you & Barbie

Unknown said...

Dear Kevin,
Glad to hear you are continuing to do so well. My husband and I just returned from our daughter Elizabeth's last choir concert of high school... While I didn't shed a tear at their choir festival performance in NYC, I did tonight. They do grow up so fast (too fast in some ways) Graduation for my baby is going to be a challenge for mom to get through.
Colin will be graduating from Hastings Law on Sunday. It's hard to believe that the three years have past so very quickly. He will take the bar at the end of July with much, much studying between now and then!
Life goes on with so many exciting transitions...
It will be great to see you back at work...Part Time.
Love,
Jennifer