Hope this message reaches you in good spirits. Did you and dad have a decent Memorial Day Weekend? We did too although we didn't do a whole helluva lot. However, we *did* manage to squeeze in a very nice lunch with some MMA "alumni".
Before I tell you about that, I must say that sometimes it indeed *does* take a village.
You may ask: What do you mean by *that*, sonny?? Okay, I'll tell ya! When I got home from that first doctors appointment, and he had explained that I might need MMA surgery, I really didn't know a thing about it. Luckily, between Google and the internet, I was able to learn more than I could ever hope to know, all from my computer. Ain't technology great? As I mentioned, it first started with Rogers MMA blog, and then that led me to the sleepnet.com discussion forums. From there, there are also links to several different blogs (which I am proudly one of now) of other individuals and their personal MMA experiences.
....and I must say. You couldn't ask for a nicer and more helpful bunch of peeps. You have a question, and it gets answered.
Anyway, in reading the sleepnet site and blogs, I realized that there are quite a few "Bay Area" people amongst them, so I wrote to a couple of peeps individually, asking their advice and to ask if they would be willing to meet me for coffee (or lunch) to chat about MMA stuff in person.
The first person I contacted was "Learian", since it appeared she had such a "model" recovery.
Paul and I met she and her husband at Starbucks around the corner and had a really nice time. We both had a lot of questions (I as a patient, and Paul as a potential caregiver) and they were hella-helpful in answering our barrage of questions. We had such a nice time, that we met again for more coffee (Learian LOVES her cafe' mochas!) in Noe Valley a couple of weeks later.
There are a lot of great MMA blogs out there and a few of them are from the "Bay Area". One blogger ("Dreamette"..a.k.a Shelby) who is a clever and very funny writer, happens to live very close to The Emerald City (where I work), so I e-mailed her and invited her to lunch. Cool Chick!! We are also both big Morrissey (who by the way is a singer and lyracist) fans, and both of our boyfriends ARE NOT! Sheeesh!! I guess Morrissey is kind of like cilantro. You either REALLY like him a lot, or you REALLY don't like him at all!! To paraphrase:
Paul said : "Eh, I know him, and he cannot sing"
I said: "That's nothing - you should hear him play piano" ;-)
(Don't worry mama! I don't expect you to "get" that reference!)
Anywoo, she re-capped parts of her MMA journey and gave me some good advice about several post-op issues including pain management and great food possibilities....like warm cake!
Anyway, sorry to get sidetracked. So, it turns out Dreamette and Learian had always wanted to meet, but hadn't. Well, for as lovely and helpful as they both have been, I suggested the 3 of us (and our S.O's) all get together for lunch....so that's what we did last Sunday.
Learian's husband had a previous engagement, so she swung by our house "solo" and picked me and Paul up for the 20 minute trip, south to San Mateo. We met Shelby and Courtland at a nice restaurant and had a whale of a good time. I won't bore you with all the details (although it was anything BUT boring!), but we chatted for quite awhile, had a nice brunch, chatted some more, and then it was time for the photo-ops:
From Left to Right: Dreamette (a.k.a. Shelby), moi', and the lovely Learian!
Learian and Moi'...............................................................Shelby and Moi'
We're all pointing to where our little incisions are (or in my case "will be").All in all, a fine time was had by all, and I sure hope it's not the last time we get together. I'm pretty sure it won't be, though!
It sure is nice to know that there are great people like that out there. Not just in the Bay Area but like I said: almost anyone you ask who's had MMA surgery.
I just hope that after I'm on "the other side" of my MMA surgery, that I can be as helpful to someone else as all of these folks have been to me.
The rest of the weekend was pretty non-eventful. Paul rented a movie that creeped me out, so I stopped watching it (I don't like seeing people getting tortured, but he just LOVES Diane Lane, so he opted to watch the rest of it [Untraceable] later).
Lastly, I stopped at Walgreens to get a small Dry-Erase board. I figured it'll probably come in pretty handy for the times when I have something to say, but still can't be understood.
"an euuu et nee a glsss um wada?", :-)
Poor Paulie! I'm sure he'll be okay! He just worries a lot! "no eely. m-mm fne!"I also have some "before" pics, but they look more like mug shots, so I will refrain from posting them until after my surgery when there's some "after" mug-shots to go with em'!
xoxox:
Pinski
