How to puke in front of your family

Life at home is great, or at least significantly better than it started out.

Prior to discharge the nurse gave me a new foley catheter.  The best part of this experience was on her third attempt when unable to pass the tube she remarked, "There's only one place this tube could go??" There is truly something to be said for having a strong internal monologue.

First day home I almost passed out while trying to fix the drainage bag for my foley catheter.  After lying on the bathroom floor for a few minutes I was able to get up, walk downstairs, and have a repeat performance which culminated with some vomiting.
If you choose to have a similar afternoon here are some tips I picked up:

1. If you are going to almost pass out, do so while in the room with your father, while adjusting your    foley catheter.  It's great to have someone to talk to when you are lying diaphoretic on the floor.
2. Vomiting with ~30 staples in your abdomen really ramps up the excitement level.
3.  If you are going to vomit try to do so in the presence of your wife, mother and father.
Luckily the past few days have been full of slow but steady improvement.  Yesterday I ditched the foley, hopefully for good.  Today untethered by any urine collection devices I was able to go outside for the first time in 9 days.  I made it about four blocks but getting out into the spring sun was truly therapeutic.

The sky was immaculate and the Western Promenade offered first class views of Mount Washington as it shimmered in its spring snowpack.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the area Mount Washington is the highest peak in Northeast,  features  some of the windiest, coldest weather in the US.  During Spring/Fall/Winter the park at the end of my street offers amazing views of the Mountain which is about 60 miles off as the crow flies. 

      In the summer the humidity and haze off the lakes and ocean obscure the view most days but for the remaining three seasons the horizon is dominated Washington which marks the pinnacle of the Presidential range of the White Mountains.   During Fall and Spring Washington offers a preview and then reminder of the changing weather.  The first snows frost the peak right as the leaves start to change in September, while streaks of white often linger in the gullies and ravines until early June while town is fully in bloom and Casco Bay as transitioned fully into summer.  

  The upside to the notorious winters is that Washington holds snow until early summer and is a mecca for skiers who hike up the flanks to Tuckerman Ravine,  a high alpine bowl which offer skiing for months after the resorts close  

     It was a perfect spring day, and under different circumstances I would be sweating my way up the the flanks of the mountain for some late spring turns.  This year I was truly excited, thankful, and proud to make it two blocks out to end of my street.  Hopefully a year from now my view will be gazing at the speck on the horizon that Portland becomes when you're standing on the summit of Mount Washington.

View of Mount Washington in the fall from the end of my street.

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Looking at Mount Washington(center peak) from across the valley at Wildcat Ski Area

Up on Mount Washington