I don't mind the rat race but I could do with a little more cheese.

It's been an exhausting ten eight days (obviously exhausting: I can't do math). Last Tuesday, Hubbyfink underwent a thirteen hour surgery -- we were separated for fifteen hours -- to remove what turned out to be a tennis ball-sized tumor from the balance nerve behind his left ear and his spinal cord. Since I had nothing else to do but fret, I wound up putting in a full day of work from the waiting room. Around 11pm, I finally got to see Hubbyfink in the Surgical ICU and did a very good job of blinking back tears and being cheerful for him.

He looked like an extra from "M.A.S.H." His head was covered in bandages, there were bruises on the visible parts of his face, and he had wires and tubes all over the place. He faded in and out of consciousness but we did get to say that we love each other. I drove home in a terrible thunderstorm and got to bed twenty hours after waking.

When I got back to Holy Cross Hospital (in Silver Spring, MD -- about an hour from our home) on Wednesday, Hubbyfink was sitting upright in a recliner. He didn't have an appetite, but he drank Ginger Ale like a champ. His head was still wrapped in bandages, but the bruises had faded and some of the tubes were gone.

On Thursday, he felt even better and was eating breakfast when I arrived. He moved from SICU to a regular room that evening, no longer needed pain medication, and was off the saline drip.

Friday evening, Hubbyfink was discharged from Holy Cross and transported to Shady Grove Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital in Rockville, MD where he stayed until Tuesday morning. During his time in rehab, he underwent occupational and physical therapies. He aced both. I was present for his PT Saturday and Sunday, and during Monday's session, I told his doctor that he would be discharged Tuesday at the latest. The rehab doctor wanted him to stay through this weekend, but Hubbyfink was MISERABLE in the facility. He, his surgeon, and his surgeon's therapist tried to get him discharged, but it wasn't until I showed up in my ass-kicking clothes and boots and bullied the doctor that we got the process going.

Do not question Ass-Kicking Wife.

I sprung Hubbyfink from rehab yesterday morning and carted him over to his surgeon's office for a follow-up appointment. The office staff was amazed by his progress, considering he'd had surgery a mere week ago, and his surgeon told him to get rid of the walker the rehab center made him use. Hubbyfink's homecoming was an emotional affair. It took a little while before the cats warmed up to him, but we wound up with the entirety of our small family in bed last night.

He's moving around very well on his own, although I do watch him on the stairs. He's ecstatic that he doesn't have to ask someone to help him to the bathroom or to move from bed to the sofa. I'm working from home until I feel comfortable leaving him on his own. If he's up to it, we'll take my car over to the campus and I'll let him try driving a bit. He won't be fighting or back on the bike any time soon, but we'll work on getting him back to normal.

Oh, and speaking of my car, it's a good thing I love it so much because from Saturday to Tuesday I put 290 miles on Bebe. Sure, there are lots of folks in this area who put that kind of mileage on their cars in that time frame, but that mileage typically takes me a month!

Frankenstorm is on its way and the right side of my face hurts so badly that I only managed to cat nap with an ice pack on my face, two Tylenol PM, and four Advil. Good times. Other storm-related unhappiness is that I will dismantle and stow away the graveyard and ghosts lest they blow away and create hazards for other people. The one year that I decorate well in advance of Halloween... Ah well. The Halloween weather forecast has gone from dry and sunny to rainy and windy.

Poop.

Saw "Sinister" last night. I alternated between boredom and tension. At one point, I even pulled out my phone to check Fandango to see how long the movie was supposed to be. The jump scares were cheap, the characters were stupid, and the lighting was atrocious. I'm pretty sure that the lighting was supposed to be "atmospheric", but the darkness was annoying and distracting. I should have sneaked out of the auditorium and into "Paranormal Activity 4".

Happily, I am working a half day due to a mid-afternoon hair appointment and getting a jump start on my birthday weekend. Tomorrow is the big four-oh and I've got a lot of celebrating planned. Tonight, I'm heading over to carthew's house to play sous chef as she prepares my birthday cake. Tomorrow, I make the final tweaks to my costume for flonzy and azpapillion's Halloween/Birthday party. I may also jump on a bike and take a forty mile ride if my sinus stops hurting long enough for me to stop feeling like I'll pass out.

Oh, and Scott did get me the Lego Haunted House. It hasn't arrived yet, but he did order it. Yay!

I appear to have succumbed to the New Year plague which is going around. I suspect the VP with whom I nearly collided while cornering a cube passed his cold to me. He was out Wednesday and, I suspect, yesterday. I can't confirm yesterday since I spent Thursday passing in and out of consciousness on the Red Sofa of AWESOMENESS. Today I am back in the cube farm playing the role of Typhoid Mary and stuffing tissues up my left nostril.

I am the epitome of class.

And of course today is the most gorgeous and warm day of this week. I really, really, really wanted to bike commute, but in my heart of hearts I knew that would put too much of a strain on my compromised system. Hopefully I'll feel well enough to take advantage of the beautifully warm weather tomorrow. I'm also hopeful that I can bike down to Vienna for the BikeMeDC Winter Cycling seminar meet-up on Sunday. It looks like the previously-forecast rain will hold off until evening or completely pass to the south. Either is fine with me.

In a weird collision of fate, both my youngest brother and I mentioned immigrating to Melbourne (Australia, not Florida) to our mother last night. My plan is much more of a pipe dream -- if one can call studying the Australian immigration, customs, animal quarantine [only 30 days for healthy animals and not six months], and real estate web sites pipey -- than my brother's. Johnny has dual citizenship going for him and he doesn't have nearly the amount of stakes to pull up that Hubbyfink and I do. He's trying to figure out what to do after he graduates next(?) year and I've got a case of the wanderlusts again. On the upside for the 'fink and myself: both of our employers have offices located in Melbourne. In fact, one of the engineers with whom I regularly work is there...

I don't know how people with IBS and Crohn's manage it. Something from yesterday's lunch (I suspect the salad dressing or broccoli) upset my GI system and I spent the afternoon and evening in excruciating pain plus other unmentionable predicaments. The lower tummy area is still rumbly this morning, but nothing like last night. Holy cow, if I had to feel like that all the time, I'd go mad.

I guess one never knows how good one has it until the shoe's on the other foot, eh.

MucinexDM for the win! The pills are the size of horse pills and taste like ass, but I'm not coughing, not wheezing, and I have my voice back. WHOO HOO!

Also, ( these shoes )

are the cutest things evar. Tarzhay has them in black as well. I think I will go with ( this shoe )

for my black ankle boot needs. Although, ( this one )

is pretty damn cute, too, but I didn't see it at my local Target.

While at Home Depot last night, I strolled through the garden department and drank in the aroma of evergreens. I definitely want to get real evergreen garland for the banister and an evergreen spray for the front door. I am ready to go nuts with the Christmas and winter decorations. First, though, we have to clean the house. It's frightening how badly the place falls apart when I'm down with illness for a month.

Not much going on except for barking with bronchitis and gathering materials for my drawing class which started yesterday. I'm still looking for the right size drawing board and matte spray fixative. Hopefully, AC Moore will have those items.

My sister-in-law has started having contractions. Looks like I'll have a new nephew sooner rather than later. I decided to make the baby visit coincide with Thanksgiving and will fly to Memphis on the 24th and come back home on the 30th. Mom wants me to help redecorate the living room and assist with removing carpet from the upstairs bedrooms. It's going to be a busy visit, but the visits always are.

Or maybe a sharpened melon baller. Something, anything I can use to relieve the pressure in my head.

Things are improving around the Mid-South Home for Disease & Decrepitude. Mom and I are both improving and neither of us has needed cold medicine since this morning. Little brother beaznuts not only left his deathbed, but also went to work. His doctor gave him gooooood drugs. Aunt Trisha's still sniffly, but she's huddled under a blanket watching a movie with Mom downstairs. Somehow Hubbyfink, who manages to be patient zero for most illnesses, has remained unscathed through this round of colds. zipmeister, however, is not doing so well.

Hubbyfink and I met Zippy, Jim, Becky, Andy and Carol at Huey's for lunch. Zippy had to leave the restaurant early because of severe abdominal pain. I had hoped he'd go to a minor medical place or call his doctor boyfriend or something and I called his cell on our drive back home to see how he was doing. His dad answered and said that he was being looked at by an emergency room doctor. Skip hasn't called back with an update; I'm trying not to bite off what tiny slivers of nails I have in worry. I want my best friend to be okay.

How'd it get to be 11? I was up early for an 8am call to Hong Kong and have been revamping port and bandwidth projections based on sales projections ever since. Finally finished that project, looked at the clock and realized that two hours had passed. Woof.

The loss of time could also be chalked up to the amazing head cold I caught last night. I was fine and dandy and then about 8:30pm I sagged on the sofa sniffling and snorting and holding my aching head. Yay! So, Monday I worked from the comfort of the red sofa of AWESOMENESS so I could wait for a UPS package which wasn't for us because UPS STILL hasn't delivered a package. And Wednesday I worked from the comfort of the same sofa because the Prius was in the shop and I can telecommute while Hubbyfink cannot. Today I work from my Homer Simpson-like divot in the same sofa because I'm a snotmonster sick.

Hey, at least we're not flying this weekend. Driving with a headcold is muuuuch better than flying with one. And yes, I'm drinking juice and soup like they're going out of style.