ANTHONY R. VIZZARI | ARCHTOGRAPHIST

No news is good news. I'm feeling well. My breathing is better but not 100% yet. The wound is healing is nice too and I'm taking almost no pain meds (as needed). I'll post some more tomorrow with some pictures. I'm just checking in with a brief update for now. I've been getting out and walking around. Today the high was 94 degrees and it's brutal out there. Summer is not my season! Photo: A folk painting that I bought from the "American Pickers" folks in Iowa, just prior to surgery. I recently found a place for it on the wall.

A section of my right abdomen, healing in process. It's like moon terrain, or aerial photo...or, a thick line from a painting. It's been almost 4 weeks since surgery and I'm still trying to get out of a funk. I've been coming off the pain meds and switching to Ibuprofen, which I can assure you does not work as well. There are ups and downs...and it seems like more downs, than ups. I can't stand being like this; borderline helpless. I can do just enough to be self-sufficient, but not enough to engage in my old physical lifestyle. Today, I walked a mile and half to pick-up a work truck. It was probably a mistake to embark on this venture. I felt like I was trying to traverse a vast desert. -It took me fifty minutes to walk the distance. But I just HAD to get out of the house... I couldn't take it anymore. And, I probably shouldn't be driving a 16' box truck just yet, but frankly, I just didn't care. Anything to get back to some sense of normal. Even t

So, I've been away from the blog..... Andrea has been away too. It has been 3 weeks since the surgery and things are up and down. Day by day, I am healing and feeling better. Nevertheless, I still spend most of my time doing very little. I've been decreasing my pain meds and the cloud is finally lifting a bit. I've had a few minor setbacks. I've been going back and forth to my PCP for labs and follow-up. My WBC has been high and the Hemoglobin dropping. Lately, the WBC has been going back down which is good, and the Hemoglobin is slowly increasing. The worry is that the hemoglobin could get too low and I might then need a blood transfusion. So, monitoring for now. Parts of my wound were a little nasty, so the doc has been treating it. A culture of some of the ooze showed a possibility of infection (staph...). All in, it's minor and the wound doesn't look too bad. I'm taking antibiotics as a precaution. I've also been having some trouble breathing... Xray

For those who didn't get the notice, we got back home Tuesday afternoon. The 9hr drive was fine for the first 7hrs, the last 2 were tiring. Not much to report here. I'm just trying to settle back in and get some rest. It's nice to be home and the cats are happy to have us. When I start gaining some energy, I'll get back to posting and returning calls, emails etc. Until then, I'll be on the couch...

The Statue of Liberty: A perfect symbol of freedom, long journeys, and triumph over struggle. This a photo post card I found a month ago... now part of the collection. Well, we are headed back to Chicago tomorrow (Tuesday) morning! We met with Dr. Botha this morning and he gave me the OK to take off, if I felt up to it. Well, I'm ready to get home. We're not out of the woods, I'm only running on 30% of a liver and my WBC is high. He's not worried though. We just need to keep an eye out for ascites (excess fluid build up in the body cavity...). If this were the happen, I've have a fever, a ton of pain, swelling and general badness. The fix is basically being admitted to a hospital to drain the area. This happens in about 10-15% of patients, but if it were to happen, it can easily be treated in Chicago. I won't have my next set of scans for a few months when we will look at how the liver grew. Immediately, I'll just need to monitor labs and take it easy. T

Today Andrea and I went to a local antique mall about 15 miles from the hotel. Partly, we just wanted to get out of the hotel. More importantly, we wanted to see how I would handle being in a car again. Pot holes and such were a jolt, but the highway was a breeze. All in, my 60 minutes in the car today tooling around was tolerated well enough. I got some great exercise walking this huge indoor market. Strangely enough, I was very conservative and purchased only one small photo and an old mini 1920's tin of laxatives , with all the pills and directions still inside. ....and no, I won't be taking them. I did come across a creepy drawing of this woman. She was hiding in a dark corner of the store, with the reflections on the glass frame making it look as if she was alive and trapped inside. Otherwise, I'm still in pain but taking it slow and trying to power through it. The medication helps a ton. I just have to keep reminding myself that it's going to take a while to get

Today was a little more difficult with respect to pain. Some days are just going to be better than others. Nothing major, the pain is mostly related with my bowels being so slow because of the pain drugs (ironic I know - which causes all kinds of problems). I've been working with the nurse to try a few different remedies. As crazy as it sounds, It has been 10 days since I was last outside of the hospital, since the hotel is also attached. As the evening approached, Andrea and I took a real outdoor walk. I was a bit slow, but I'm picking up steam -It was nice just to get some fresh air and smell "stuff" again. This photo was from one of the gardens around the hospital campus.