Today I sort of pushed myself. Donna woke me half an hour before Claire’s karate lesson and I dove into the shower. I’d not been in public since before surgery so this was a new test for me. I was still in glasses at this point (no contacts for surgery) but was able to get cleaned. Donna drove to karate, obviously.

I had woken with a pretty sore throat and need to remember to put on the humidifiers tonight. Grab my meds before running out the door to class and a coupe of people talked to me through class. I did my best and mostly they didn’t let on they knew anything was funny with my speech patterns.

After karate, we hit a few garage sales and then headed home for lunch. I was a little eager to get out a little more and knew SwimKidsUSA was open until 2pm. I asked Claire if she wanted to head up there to practice her strokes and she readily agreed. In hindsight I should’ve taken my suit and relaxed in the heavily humid pool. That might’ve been nice. Claire swam for almost an hour and then I showered her. We ran over to the local bookstore so I could pick up her Peter Yarrow tickets, and she spent a bit of time reading and playing.

I talked briefly to some employees while looking for a book of my own, and I saw a friend who knew I’d gone under the knife. After an hour, I was tired and wanted to go home, though. But it was nice to get out into the real world again.

Our friend was having her 30th birthday tonight, so we laid low until it was time for dinner. This was first real test eating out of the house. I introduced myself at the dinner party and briefly explained my situation to those who didn’t know me. When I took the menu, I knew I needed something soft and bland. We were at a Mexican place, and I found something that was a fancy mac & cheese. I figured it was safe. I ordered that and “luke warm tap water with absolutely no ice”. The guy gave me a look but followed my order.

While eating a meal I could’ve devoured in under 10 minutes pre-surgery, I took small bites and chewed twice as long. Many time my throat wanted to swallow but I forced it to wait a few more chews. After an hour and people asking me if I wanted a box twice, I gave up. I had eaten about half and it was really good. I got the box and ordered some vanilla ice cream for desert. My throat is definitely a little sorer between eating and also talking, which I did a lot of at dinner with these two new couples we’d not met before.

The driving didn’t bother me today and even though I will be the first to not recommend driving on painkillers (it’s actually like DUI), that didn’t bother me at all. I know Tuesday I have to drive to the ENT office downtown, so that will be the real journey. Beyond that, nice day. More beautiful weather and have been really active mentally.