Thursday 10-12-2006

I had some pretty bad knee pain last night and this morning. They just felt really weak and were sort of throbbing throughout the night and this morning it was actually pretty hard to stand and walk. Eva got this little worried look on her face as she saw her husband struggling to walk around the apartment. If this keeps up, I may have to borrow my Grandmother's walker. We chatted as she drank her coffee and the pain was not going away, so I decided to take a couple oxyir (pain meds). I have been very lucky and have only taken pain medication a couple times (outside of the 5 days after my splenectomy) but then again, it can be a little fun, so I guess I was sort of looking for an excuse. This seemed to be a good one as the pain was up around a 5 and wow, it was some good stuff. The pain gradually went from a 5 to a 4 on down to a 1 but the real fun was as I was eating my pancakes (which Eva was wonderful enough to cook for me), a wave of euphoria just sort of swept over me. All of a sudden, mid sentence, it hit me. I would turn my head and my head would follow a second or two behind. My speech was a bit mumbled (even more than usual) and everything just seemed like it was going to be OK.

I spent most of the morning catching up on the blog (while still feeling great) and then took care of a few things around the apartment. Eva did a final bathroom clean and then we were off to pick up her folks from LAX. Once the oxyir wore off, my knees seemed to be fine. I think the pounding from the boat ride to Catalina and back was probably the culprit. It was a small price to pay for a fun day.

We met the parents at the airport and exchanged lots of hugs and kisses. Their flight was pretty mellow. No overactive kids in the seats directly behind them or crying babies (these annoyances are bad on a 2 hour flight, imagine it on a 10 hour flight). Just a little travel tip - sometimes the gluten-free meal is the way to go. Miluse (Eva's mother) was pretty well fed while George (Eva's father) had to choose between a turkey burger or macaroni. We brought them back to SP and reintroduced them to LA traffic on the way. More hugs and kisses were exchanged at home between my parents and Eva's parents and then we all went out and watched a spectacular sunset from the deck. We dined on a wonderful beef brisket and potatoes, shared stories, and had a wonderful evening.

Here is the whole family out on the deck enjoying the sunset.

-TN