I’m writing this post on an iPad, on the Jet Pack app, which I haven’t ever done before. I only have an iPad, a Bluetooth keyboard, and a braille display here with me in Omaha, Nebraska where I am temporarily living. It is not the most familiar to me, assistive technology wise, to do it this way. So this is my practice post to see if I can pull it off and what kinds of things I need to learn how to do to make it work.
I’m in Omaha because…
I finally got a kidney transplant after 883 days on the transplant list. (Applause, cheer noises!!!)
I was just finishing up the previous post, actually. The one in my guide dog series. I was still proofreading and editing it when I got the call from Nebraska at about 9:00 pm. They would only call me at 9:00pm for one reason. In my rush to answer the phone, I accidentally published that post before it was ready and then promptly forgot about it in the ensuing chaos. I see now that it still needs a lot of editing, which will be another things I will have to practice and learn to do on this application.
But a lot has happened since then. A bit before I left, my retired guide, Marra died. I think I wrote about that. I am still grieving yet from that awful experience. Then, my family’s Christmas plans went up in smoke as I left on December 20 and was in the hospital on Christmas. I may write in more detail at some other point about the roller coaster transplant ride it has been since then, but in very brief summary: My transplant did not initially work. I had many complications and follow up hospitalizations. I had a renal thrombosis (blood clot), then I started literally dying over the next couple of weeks until they found out that I was having a toxic reaction to the main transplant drug, tacrolimus. I now have to do every 28 day IV infusions of a different drug for the rest of my life. Then I got a Klebsiella bacterial infection and had to get a port and be on IV antibiotics. In between all of that, my father was dying. I was able to visit him twice when relatives were nice enough to drive me to his assistive living center three hours away. I was able to visit him once when he was somewhat coherent and knew who I was, and then saw him the day before he died when he was not conscious. He died March 21st, nine days before his 82 birthday. More ridiculous family drama is coming out of that, but I am not going to publicly write about it for now.
Between all of that has been dealing with the FAFSA nightmare this year (If you know, you know and you have probably suffered, too). Trying to get my 19 year old daughter through her last semester of high school and launched into college from afar. Somewhat parenting my 14 year old from both near and far (he was with us for the first three months in Omaha. At first he was a great help, then he became a lump on the couch and I know I had to ship him back home so he could be in his routine with his activities and people and become a productive citizen again. It has been working nicely. And frankly, he is better and holding down our Oregon fort than our daughter has been.) Also setting up our temporary digs and getting to know our way around Omaha. Yes, I grew up here, but where I lived, no busses go…so I am in a completely new-to-me part of town. And then getting used to walking at all, walking with a cane, taking a bus, and walking with a guide dog again.
Mia and I have not had the easiest time, so I’m giving us a lot of grace. She was mostly taken care of by my kid and husband the first couple of months here. Every time I would just get started walking with her again, I would end up in the hospital and disappear on her again. But the last few weeks, she and I have been back at it. I still am astonished by her and my husband’s dog’s large gaps in training and some of their bad habits. But we love them and they are the dogs we have right now. So we work with what we’ve got.
I did plan to write a final post in the guide dog series. And I still want to do that. I have recommendations! Things that I think would improve guide dog training. And expectations that need to be had by all. And I do plan to still do that. But I needed to make sure that I could write and edit a post first.
I will be in Omaha for a few more months before I go back. I want to get a little further out past the six month danger period for rejection while I’ve got this whole team of medical people up the road. I also am enjoying that I am maxed out on my insurance cap here so no more hospital bills for me in Omaha, but I will have to start over when I move back to Oregon. And my big challenge coming up is that I am going to send Nik home for my daughter’s graduation and I need to learn to (and build stamina for) taking care of myself BY myself again without someone here to wait on my beck and call. So, back to doing my own cooking, cleaning, laundry, dog care, etc. I feel like I need to do that for just me before I can go home and get myself out of the ‘sick person’ rut and become a functioning member of society again. I need a bit of time to just resettle and digest everything.
Family and friends in Omaha and Council Bluffs have been super nice and helpful here. I feel at home here in a lot of ways because people are so practical and down to earth and there is not too much woo woo here like I can get a little much of on the west coast. These are my people in many ways. I guess you can take a girl out of the Midwest, but can’t take the Midwest out of the girl.
But, I can’t stay here. The car culture and lack of transit is too crazy for me. A guy (sighted guy) in my apartment building here just got hit by a car in an intersection I traverse nearly daily and I was not a bit surprised. If I stay here too long, it will be me next. Omaha-ans don’t really believe that pedestrians exist. Or that red means stop. It’s not a good combo.
Okay, so I wrote a post! Let’s see if I can publish it? More later if all goes well.
Writebook 