Status Report: 4 weeks

That's right, folks! 6 weeks ago today, I went into the hospital, and 4 weeks ago today, I got out! (The following items are not in any order at all, except the order I thought of them in.)

• I can cook and clean up simple meals.
• Yesterday, I stayed at church for not only sacrament meeting, but also sunday school.
  
• I sleep mostly through the night, which is major and only started a few nights ago. When I first got out of the hospital, I woke up every hour (in addition to having horrible nightmares). But the nightmares stopped after a week or so, and I'm much more comfortable laying on my sides, instead of just on my back. This makes for much more restful nights—huzzay!
• I haven't tried driving yet, but I think I will soon. My concern has been that I think the muscles required to move the shifter are the ones that got sliced apart, but my back and side are hurting me much less these days, and I think I've recovered enough mobility in my neck to be able to look around properly, so I think it's time I gave it a shot.
• Kyle and I are just over a quarter of the way through Harry Potter 5 (we took a break for a bit while he had mono, as his throat was extremely sore). P.S., if you ever have the chance to get Kyle to read to you, take it! He does all the voices. ;)
  
• I can do laundry, though I think real cleaning is still a bit beyond me.
• I can carry stuff! When I first got home, I had to have Mom or Kyle cart my stuff around the house for me (really, just between my room and the living room, since that's where I spent all my time). But now I can lift and carry things—well, as long as they're comparatively small. I haven't tried to take out the kitchen garbage, for the same reason I haven't tried driving; those lifting muscles are still not working great.
• I can sometimes open doors, as long as they're not too heavy. You have no idea how much you use those back and side muscles until somebody cuts them apart and you can't.
  
• I'm working again, though almost entirely from home. (Thank goodness for remote access!) But I have been into the office a couple of times for a couple of hours each. It felt good to be there, but I get so tired. Even though the chairs there are nice and don't hurt my back, it's just more tiring to sit somewhere else than to sit at home on the couch.
• I'm getting out of the house a lot more. In the last week, I've been to the grocery store (a mini-trip), Kyle's house a couple of times, meetings at work, dinner at Brick Oven, a wedding reception up in Sandy, and church. For comparison, the first week I was home, I didn't leave the house. At all.
• I only take lortab for flare-ups now. (When I first came home, I was taking it every 4 hours.) But about two weeks ago I started using the lortab lots less, though my use of ibuprofen went way up. And now I only take both of them as needed, and that's becoming less and less frequent. I sometimes go 2 or 3 days without any lortab, which is great.
• My incisions are healing up nicely. I...don't really know what else to say on that front. People keep telling me that the ones on my neck are "really not that bad" and they're sure to "heal up just fine." Of course, they say these things completely out of the blue and with no provocation, so they feel more like false reassurances. Oh well. I'm really not fussed about that; it's not like "being pretty" has ever been a major goal in my life. And I do think they'll heal up alright. Eventually.
• My singing voice is coming back, too. And I think my normal speaking voice is basically back to normal. It was just a little off, somehow, for a while. Or perhaps I've just gotten used to it? In any case, I'm regaining my ability to sing, which is nice.
• AND I can take a deep breath without killing myself, and sneezing is only moderately painful. So both my lungs and my ribs are getting better about expanding, which is excellent.
  

I can't really think of anything else. All in all, I'm doing quite well. I'm improving well, even if it's not as fast as I'd like. And Kyle's been a dear about filling in with all the things I can't do and generally taking excellent care of me, so while there's still a long way to go, I can't complain. At all. :D