Lots of reasons why I haven’t been here. I’ll try to recap/ explain. Hopefully it won’t be too long of a read. I’ll do this in two bits.
January 2025
A couple of things happened in January; I was fully committed to going to the gym to take on the Les Mills RPM classes again, then my gym buddy Vincent got sick and I ended up going only a couple of times, never to return.
We went to Kendal to stay with friends Chris and Sarah as Chris and Ron were signed up for the the Lakeland 50 and they had a test run of part of that trail to do. We also were able to go to a parkrun nearby.
The worst news in January was that dad took a turn for the worse and it would seem our February meet up in Malaga would need to be cancelled. My trip in November to see him was truly the last time I saw him in a kind of “normal” capacity.
February 2025
I went on a stunning nature and photography walk right before my operation. Was really inspired to do more of that!
Had my operation on the 11th and to be honest it was the smoothest surgery and recovery I’ve ever had. The only weird thing was that the epidural wore off pretty quickly! I had the feeling while they were wrapping things up in the operating room that the feeling was already coming back in my left leg. My right leg had an extra nerve block that wore off after 2 days.
I followed my pain protocol to a T, I was allowed to weight-bare, and I used an infrared lamp a LOT to help the healing process.
I changed my Malaga ticket to another ticket to Manchester for another test run later in the year. Fun fact: just because you can change it doesn’t mean you don’t pay out the nose for another flight.
March 2025
My dad went into hospice care. We still talked almost daily, at least when he was up to it. I kept trying to believe that going into hospice didn’t have to mean that he would be gone soon. But there were just so many complications.
My stepmom and I regularly tried to figure out when I should go there. Every day it was “well just wait, he seems to be ok today”. She didn’t know. No one could know.
In the meantime Ron (and Chris) were preparing for the Paris marathon and I was wondering if I would even make it to Paris in April… At least I had my cast off at this point and was able to start walking again in normal shoes (as opposed to a surgical shoe!)
April 2025
Every day was about whether I should cancel Paris or not. We came to the conclusion with the hospice care that he would make it at least until the end of April. I booked my ticket for right after my weekend with Ron, Chris and Sarah.
And then it all changed.
I had to change my flight twice with Delta (they were amazing) to actually get home on time. I left on April 11th. One of my best friends from school picked me up and took me home. Dad wasn’t well. Did he even recognize me? It was painful to see him that way. Agitated. Not understanding what was happening. Suffering so much.
He died the next day.
The rest of the month is a blur. I stayed in New Mexico for 2.5 weeks. I tried to help where I could, I saw my mom, and hung out with my friend and her husband a few times. I tried to spend as much time as I could with my stepmom. We talked a lot. We saw her friends. When I left at least I didn’t feel like I was completely abandoning her.
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