I've got to admit it's getting better...

...a little better all the time!

Well, it's been five days since I came home and every day is better than the day before. While I am still taking percosets, I am taking fewer of them. I am walking around and have been able to move enough to cook a simple dinner. Still in pain, but it's manageable.

Food has been unappealing until last night. I had cooked and put away a lot of good food before surgery, thinking that I would want something delicious and home made. But even my fantastic short ribs were unappealing. All of the comfort foods I usually crave did not do the trick this time. So mostly, this week I have been eating to heal. I have just been eating raw fruits and veggies and simple proteins in the interest of healing my body. Whole wheat toast to get my digestive system moving. Lots of water to rehydrate. Until last night. Last night I ate possibly the most satisfying thing I have ever eaten. A burger. A Carl's Jr. $6 bacon cheeseburger. With a glass of Safeway diet ginger ale. Just out of this world. Awesome. Yes, my friends, I am on the road to recovery. My appetite is back!

Jeff has been around all week and has been helping out immensely. Just him being here is great. He fetches me things and make the most minute adjustments on things (believe me, when you are in pain, minute adjustments matter). He goes back to work in the morning and it's a good thing because he is getting a little stir crazy. I can tell! But I will miss him being here and the talking we have had a chance to do. Though I haven't fallen, it's nice to know that there is someone there to catch you if you do.

He was cutting a peach up for me and I asked him if the peaches were okay (wondering if was taking him a long time because he was cutting off bad spots). He said that no, he had just never cut up a peach before and it was taking him some time to learn how to do it. Cute!

Every day, multiple times a day, someone sends an e-mail or leaves flowers or goody bags at the door or calls to say hello. I just want to tell all of you out there who sent me a goofy e-mails, and dropped off flowers and gifts, and sent cards that it really meant the world to me. It seemed like every time I got down, something would come from one of you. The outpouring of love from you guys has cheered me up to no end.

Enough of the wallow, it's time to be positive! We are six or seven weeks away from our trip. And I am so excited about it! Jeff has been practicing his Hebrew while he's at home. He says it's getting difficult. Oy! I better start. I got the whole '10 Minutes a Day' book, Jeff is doing Rosetta Stone. We are still waiting for visas. Relocation won't do anything until about a month before, but they have our specs.

Our good friends Ken and Sherri are going to be staying in our house while we are travelling (and while they remodel their house). I am so glad that things worked out because I will not worry at all while they are here. Jeff's sister just put us in touch with a friend who works in the US Consulate in Tel Aviv. Now that's a good connection to have! Another friend put me in touch with a real foodie who is from Israel and goes back nearly every year. This guy, who I have never met, sent me a five page e-mail filled with restaurant and market recommendations along with the cell phone numbers of his whole family there. What a mensch!

We rented You Don't Mess with the Zohan (a comedy about an Israeli terrorist who comes to America to be a hairdresser). There is a scene where he is walking though the streets Tel Aviv and ends up at the beach. It looks great! We are both so jazzed to see what our new home looks like. Until we watch the bonus features. It was filmed in Mexico :)! Anyway, the movie was hysterical (on percosets). I laughed so hard that it hurt (literally).

Other things that I highly recommend watching/reading while on drugs:

* Domino magazine. Nothing like day-dreaming about glorious rooms and shopping.

* Candace Bushnell's new book One Fifth Ave. Gossiply good.

* Van Wilder. Watched this on TV last night. Hysterical.

Not good: Vantage Point (movie), Cosmo (seriously, do women still read this crap)?, any of the news channels (no need to add anxiety to my list of symptoms).

Daytime TV really sucks, but I have been blessed with Law and Order re-runs. Now that I am cutting back on the drugs, it will be nice to have enough focus to get into some good books. I want to finish Kafka on the Shore. My book club meets next Friday and I hope to be strong enough to make it. We are reading Eventide, by Kent Haruf. Any other recommendations?