Hey this is Rich – Jen is still unable to type or read, so she’s going to dictate this post to me. She says it’s also my job to wake her up if she dozes off between sentences.

“First let me say, this has not gone at all like I had expected. I sincerely believed that aside from some minor discomfort, this was going to essentially be a five day Mayo vacation. Turns out, this has not been fun. As Rich told you on Facebook, last night was rough. Once the local anesthetic wore off, I was in a world of hurt and the only thing that made it even a little better was lying on my back as still as possible and not moving a muscle. We seemed to get ahead of the pain today though, and things got much better this afternoon. Even so, I’ve spent most of the day with my eyes closed. I’m slowly mastering the art of the “muppet head turn” – where I move my head instead of my eyes. What we hadn’t thought of previously is that when you move your good eye, you also move your bad eye, and the bad eye currently feels like there is industrial strength grit in it. So, no eye movement – which totally shoots to the moon all of the reading I brought with me to pass the time. Seriously, I was going to get things done: thank you notes, script writing, all the magazines I haven’t read in the last two months… yeah, not going to happen.

We’ve had some fun here too. Therapy dogs came caroling last night – okay, the dogs visited while their handlers sang but it was nice to have a dog sit at my feet, just like Harper and Wink would be doing if I were at home. And Rich put up Christmas lights in my room and set up a basket of chocolates for the nurses and doctors, so my room is becoming a pretty popular place. And my “damn it doll” from my dear friend Christy has already been on a tour of the unit and was almost kidnapped by one of the nurses – I will have to post a picture for you all. It’s very cute! My Mom and Dad came to visit today. Mom put up all of my “Get Well” cards on the wall. I can’t see very well but I’m told my room looks fantastic. My Dad took a picture of me today wearing a Santa hat but it wasn’t until I looked at it that I learned that the tape holding my eye patch in place is also holding down the left corner of my mouth. So apparently, every time I thought I was smiling at people today, I was actually doing this really weird smirk. My Mom said it’s reminiscent of Sheldon Cooper (Bazinga!).

For anyone who’s planning on visiting, please, please check in with me before you leave. I’m hoping to be more awake in the coming days but if not, it’s a long drive just to watch me sleep.

Thank you so much for all of the support. Rich has been reading me all of the texts, emails and FB messages and they lift my spirits.”