May Day

The scan we did earlier this week of my gallbladder came back negative, which is positive news. There were no signs of blockage or wall thickening or sludge or anything that indicates it should be taken out. It's not even clear, given the new evidence, that the pain and nausea and other from a couple of weeks ago was due to a gallbladder problem. Maybe it was, and the problem has passed, or maybe it was a red herring. I do have gallstones, but so do lots of other people without any negative impact.

So, I get to keep my gallbladder, which means there is no more reason to keep the Hickman Triple Lumen in my chest. It is coming out next Monday morning (May 9), before my now-biweekly Monday afternoon checkup. No visit this coming Monday.

Occasional running partner and local TV sportscaster Aaron Matas interviewed me as part of a story on charity runners and Illinois Marathon. He boiled 45 minutes or so of ums and ers, and some pithy observations, down to a small gem. This broadcast marked the start of a 12-hour  Seeley media trifecta: I was on TV (cameo from Jan), Jan was on the radio, and Paul was on the cover of the local newspaper sports section, by virtue of finishing right next to the winning woman in the Friday night 5K. (Paul wants all to know that even though the picture shows him slightly behind the women's winner, he did kick past her before the actual finish.) If he ever stops loathing to run, he's going to be really fast.

Yesterday was the third running of the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon. Since Jan is a co-race director, it's been crazy hectic in the Seeley household for the last week — even more than it has been for the last several weeks. So far, it looks like Jan got enough sleep, food, and liquid during the week to stay out of the emergency room on the day after, an improvement over last year.

The race went off extremely well. I missed being as fully, physically involved as I have been the last two years. It's draining, but it's also a kind of high, with great camaraderie, reminiscent of working on a theater production (only bigger). This year, I was confined to the house, both to protect me from exposure to infection and to conserve my energy. I have to keep reminding myself that I am still recovering.

I kept the web site updated as we transformed the home page from come-to-our-race to the-race-is-almost-here to the-race-is-here to it's-done! The last couple of days, I answered one of the race hotlines, and I also pretended to be Jan as I processed a backlog of her email. (If you got a reply from Jan that seemed unusually terse, that's why. It's so hard to find good help.)

In general, I have felt quite good since my second discharge from the hospital. Some new medications for confirmed and potential infections probably help, and my mom has been in town since then as well. She says she's like the umbrella you take with you so it won't rain — I am fine when she's here. She is leaving on Tuesday, and we hope it doesn't start "raining" when she leaves. Besides exercising her maternal medical magic, she has done a lot of cooking and yardwork and bringing-of-tea and general errand-running — a big help.

Looking forward to an excellent May.