I’m now getting so close to out that I can taste it. Literally. Today, after a visit from a resident and signing a liability waiver for the hospital, I was let out on a day pass with an 8pm curfew. Of course all I did was go home but the drive through the city was almost magical, and it was nice to be in a beautiful space with Carrie and the cat. Carrie took a long nap, of which she no doubt needs dozens more. I took a shorter one on the couch with the cat. Other highlights include sitting in comfortable chairs, reading today’s news today, listening to music on speakers and preparing my own dinner with actual fresh vegetables (the worst of the GI distress appear to be passing, although I played it safe).

Not everything is perfect by any means. In my mind being home was all going to be easy, but I’ve still got enough pain and constriction that doing a load of laundry or preparing food is a little more involved than I remember or imagine it being. The stoma is healing slowly, no doubt slowed by my use of a CPAP at night (a treatment for sleep apnea). And there is an unpleasant swelling behind my right ear that ebbs and flows. I guess I would normally find it somewhat alarming but after the last 16 days I find it mildly bothersome, and since the medical professionals are in wait and see mode, so am I. My voice is pretty weak, probably because my trachea is still healing, making it hard to talk on the phone. I’m not supposed to talk much anyway for the next few days. And just so I don’t forget, I have to press where my trache was every time I talk, cough, sneeze or swallow. Otherwise, I can sometimes hear a little air escape. So now I will relax with some magazines or YouTube, go to bed early, and hope for the best in the morning.