Milestones

Powers on! We're Going Out
Saturday, November 10th

I'm so sorry for so many posts, just trying to get caught up after nearly two weeks without power...almost there.

October 29th Hurricane Sandy hit our area in New Jersey and it was a long 12 days before we finally had our power restored. Thanks to all the out of state crews from Ameren Illinois that seemed to work tirelessly in our neighborhood. Without power we only were able to get glimpses of what was going on all over New Jersey and New York on my iPad when it was charged or the occasional newspaper. It was difficult to get in and out of our neighborhood with all of the trees and power lines down. There's so much to catch up on from the past two weeks that it's hard to know where to start. Finally it was Friday, we got our power on, there was literally no food in the house, and Bob wanted to go out.I had to encourage him to get home early because by the evening I am beat and ready for bed early. There weren't any restaurants open in our area because of the power shortage so we drove to South Plainfield. It was nice to have a meal out with Bob, but also still so challenging to hold my neck up and ride in the car at that time of day. I have a neck roll pillow that really helps for the car to give me some added support since every bump feels exaggerated by my neck muscle's lack of strength.

4 weeks post op

A front view for once - not too bad considering!

My hair actually covers the shaved section

These pictures were taken on Saturday, when we were about ready to go visit Bob's parents in North Bergen. I was glad to be going out, but knew as it got later in the day and the possibility of being out a long time and coming in late that I was going to be exhausted....and I was. We ended up visiting and then we needed to stop for groceries on the way home. We pretty much didn't have any food in the house except for canned food. We had to get rid of or throw all our food away because of the power outage. I for one was craving fresh food. The store was a bit of a challenge....deciding what we needed, and then going to get what we needed, to find that they didn't have things that we usually buy. It's strange to go to a store that is usually so stocked up and find that they don't have the same supplies as usual because of the effects of the storm. So it took us longer than It really should have and by this time I became very hot, a bit unsteady, and really needed to sit. I was sitting or leaning on anything I could find, like the bagging area at the check out. By the time we got home it was 9:00 pm and I had a fever. It seems that this is my body's way of reacting when I've overdone it. I was concerned that If I felt like this that I wouldn't be able to get up and go to church in the morning, so I would have to see about that.