Since being released from the hospital last week I've had NO major health issues. Hooray!

These are not words I ever thought I'd write / think / utter

Seriously, what a fucking couple of weeks!

But yeah, since being released I've been feeling pretty good. I have developed tendinitis in my left ankle, which is likely due to me having to lay in a bed for about 20 hours while I was in hospital, but all things considered ...

My discharge from hospital has lead to a slew of appointments. Between June 23 and July 7 (a two week period) I will have SIX appointments with six DIFFERENT doctors from six different specialties.

June 23: Priority Care Clinic
June 25: Podiatry
June 26: Cardiology to make sure there are no cardiac effects from the Pulmonary Embolism
June 30: PCP Follow up for Priority Care Clinic
July 6: Pulmonary to make sure there are no pulmonary effects from the Pulmonary Embolism
July 7: Surgery to determine next steps for cancer

I mean holy shit, prior to this year I don't think I saw 6 doctors from Jan 2020 - Dec 2025

Yesterday was mine and Emily's 22nd wedding anniversary and this one felt super special for a whole bunch of reasons ... not least of which is that we got to have it at all. Twelve days ago there was a chance I wasn't going to see our anniversary, but I did and I am grateful.

We went out to dinner and celebrated and talked and had a really good time.

Abby comes home tonight and I'm really excited. I've decided to not go with Emily to pick her up at the airport because there isn't going to be anything that keeps me from crying when I see her and that's not something she'll really be prepared for or want at the airport in front of strangers so I'll wait until she gets home. But I'm really looking forward to seeing her, even if it's just for a couple of days before she's off on her next adventure for another five plus weeks.

Because I was off work last week I watched a LOT of World Cup Soccer. That trend has continued this week, though not as much as I would have liked ... many games are in the middle of the day and I have work so ...

One of the things that has happened though as I watch the World Cup games in hospital was a sense of peace and happiness. I couldn't really put my finger on it. I knew it was happening but I didn't really know why until I was talking to my friend Ryan a couple of nights ago.

<side quest>

In 1998 I had just finished my second year on University at Cal Poly. It was my first year of working and going to school and basically being entirely on my own. I got a little bit of monetary support from my parents but it wasn't enough and I was really learning how to be an adult. After the spring quarter ended I really wanted to get out of San Luis Obispo and decompress from a pretty hard school and work year.

So I spent part of the summer at Ryan's parent's house in San Diego county. We watched the World Cup. I can't tell you how long I was there for, where I slept, or any specific details other than

1. France winning the World Cup on Bastille day in Paris and it being a pretty big deal. 
2. A feeling of safety, welcoming, belonging, and love that I hadn't felt in a home in a very long time

</side quest>

And so when I was watching the World Cup last week in hospital I wasn't remembering anything other than those feelings, and it helped me more than I realized at the time. Being in hospital is hard and scary. Being in the ICU even more so. But those feelings wrapped me up like a warm blanket and helped get me through it and it didn't fully hit me until I was talking to Ryan and spoke about it with him.