Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Another check up at UCLA

Well tomorrow I have another appointment with doctor Luu at UCLA. He will check the wound on my leg that is still healing from the skin graft. Since I live almost 200 miles away I come down the night before and stay at Extended Stay America who partner with American Cancer Society to give me a reduced room rate. It has been almost four months since my surgery. Doctor Blackwell said the recovery would take a year. I'm only a third of the way there and sometimes very frustrated with the progress. My tongue, left side front is annoying, I think of it as an exposed nerve, feels like it is burned from drinking hot coffee. It has been that way off and on for about three months.

This week there were a couple of birthdays in the household. I wanted to go in and celebrate, however I also didn't. Much of celebrations are food focused, which is hard to be around, Also, I know that my family can understand my speech, I feel robbed of my voice. Most difficult over the phone. Visiting my daughter today, she had a few suggestions. She encouraged me to download the google translate app, type in my name and address, etc. and see it could be used to help people understand me over the phone. Well it didn't work. So we tried a voice recording, that didn't work either. But I do have an old phone that has a recorder on it, so that is the next step to try.

I'm inspired every day. This morning there was a quote in an email I received.

"Don't let what you can't do interfere with what you can do"

                                         John R. Wooden

And with that I accent the positive, the alternative is not an option.

1 comment:

Chelsea said...

Dad you are such an inspiration. I love you so much and am proud to call you my father. Thanks for being so positive and having such a level headed mindset even when things really suck.