3 Year 2 Months Update: One Day at a Time

In this Update:

• Taking it one day at a time
• Becoming a Sim Tech
• Vaccination = More Freedom
• Universal Studios
• Prepping for surgery – again

Taking it one day at a time
I am finally sitting down to write this update, just in the nick of time prior to my labral tear surgery next week. I just wish I could be less stressed/worried/overwhelmed, but life has somehow become a world of tasks and responsibilities. I really wanted to go see my mom and take care of a couple of things in Germany, but the slow vaccination progress and continuous lockdown in Europe made that impossible. By the time I would have been able to fly in May, it was getting really close to my hip surgery on June 17^th, and Ralf has not been well either.
Now my mom is desperately waiting for me to be well enough to finally visit, but Ralf’s condition hasn’t improved much, and I really don’t like to be away. Mainstream medicine has no answers as to why he is struggling so much with debilitating digestive issues and pain, which has really taken a toll on our lives. I am also having a really hard time to enjoy even the little things – things I should be grateful for, but I often just feel so tired and empty. Then there is the pain in my hip that reminds me now daily that I am injured, again. I am also fighting Karl-Heinz’s supplemental disability insurance (ironically called IDEAL). They happily collected 70 Euros a month for many years but denied him the promised benefits because he is “not disabled enough.” Seriously? Now I have to file an appeal and fight this, too? At least work in the Simulation Lab continues to be great, but since the VA hasn’t been able to even post the job announcement for the promised Sim Tech, I am really busy managing all the aspects and projects by myself. But soon I will get to work with an amazing anesthesiologist, who will be dedicated to the Simulation Lab, starting with 4 hours/week. I take it...

Well, as I said, I am taking it one day at a time in order to push on and deal with whatever is put on my plate… I hate to sound so whiny, but I had to get this out.

On a more positive note, Ralf and I managed to get a few outings in when he was feeling better. We also went for some swims at our community lap pool (I now swim without leg-use), and we purchased an ECHO assault bike to enhance Ralf’s rehab efforts. It is still hard for me to work, even though I know I should; I just don’t have the energy, but I hope my state of mind will continue to improve. I really need to commit to rehab after my surgery!

We also introduced new activities at home: due to my work with VR, I decided to buy the Oculus Quest 2 headset. Ralf enjoyed swimming in the ocean with various creatures, as well as shooting angry birds at piggies. It’s really a lot of fun. Me, I tried one of the Star Wars games! That was intense, and I ended up (regretfully) crouching behind imaginary walls while being under attack by a bunch of storm troopers…. That is when realized that I am not a Jedi, especially since just getting up from the floor was a painful and awkward process….

Our latest hobby is solving murders at home: Ralf got us a murder mystery box, and I must say it’s a lot of fun! It took us a while, but we found out who killed the bar owner. Now we are hooked and will get more of those cases for sure.

And one other thing happened that really made me smile: we got some home-grown turmeric roots from a friend last year for juicing, but I kept one root and planted it in a pot. Because it was October, I was told that the root will most likely stay dormant until summer... and what do you know? When I checked on Tumi a couple of days ago, guess what???

Becoming a Sim Tech
My work has been a good distraction, and I must say it really makes me laugh when I imagine those poor guys in the warehouse open my boxes to inspect the content, just to find human-looking skin suits, vaginal cuffs for the laparoscopic task trainer, or various other body parts for training.

As I mentioned earlier, it will still take some time before the promised Sim Tech will get hired, and so I had to find a way to set up, configure, and repair my equipment myself. I even created a below-the-knee amputation by cutting and bolting an old rubber knee from another task trainer on this guy....

I also tried to get my innovation projects implemented before my surgery, so I took creepy Norma and the Hololens Augmented Reality technology to the CLC to conduct my Stroke Education Pilot Project with the nursing staff.

And I got the Cleanbox project under way as well! Those boxes are supposed to clean VR headsets reliably with UV lights, so I made three carts to support the other VR innovation projects in the CLC and Whole Health. I love the fact that the face of one of my manikins is visible as reflection of the Cleanbox to my right, lol!

Since Virtual Reality in healthcare education has become my research focus, I got the unique opportunity to demo the Oxford Medical Simulation VR platform to train RNs and providers. Let’s see if we can somehow implement this for the next round of internal medicine residents.

Especially with all the stress and worries that continued into 2021, it was nice to be recognized for my work in the Simulation Lab. First, I was nominated as “Federal Employee of the Year” for Central Florida (I didn’t win but I guess it’s still and honor to be nominated), and then I won the 5S Earth Day Contest for my facility (this was for the transformation and clean-up of the Simulation Lab). This award actually came with a $2000 prize, which was a nice surprise.

Vaccination = More Freedom

With both of us being fully vaccinated, Ralf and I started to venture out into the world again. Our first dinner at a restaurant was at Nona Blue, and especially since we opted for outside seating, we felt pretty good about it.

Our second choice was Chroma, which is also in Lake Nona. Because Ralf’s condition is pretty unpredictable right now, we chose places that are close to home. But just being able to be to do things like dinner at a restaurant gives me some hope of more normalcy…

On my birthday in late May, Ralf took me to Don Julio, which is one of the newer restaurants in Lake Nona. The food was excellent, and I got to enjoy the first (delicious) Margarita in a year and a half!

And then we finally got to spend some time at Nicholas and Sharon's. We used to go out for dinner on our respective birthdays, but due to sickness and the pandemic, we weren’t able to meet up for a very long time. Thank you for the balloons, too!

Universal Studios
In an effort to regain some of my emotional well-being, I decided to spend the day at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. Even though my hip had started to really bother me, I figured if I walk more slowly, take my time, and don’t squat down, I’d be alright. I am so glad that I didn’t have to wear a mask outdoors anymore, only when in line for a ride or when inside. It was very nice to be able to go out to the theme parks again – even though emotionally, I am still kind of “muted.” I have a lot of memories connected with this place, with my mom, Karl-Heinz, and even from the time when I first came to America - I was so much young. It reminded me at times that things will never be the same again.

In any case, my first destination was the Hulk! As a single rider, the wait was not bad at all, and I ended up in the front row!!! Awesome start to address my “need for speed,” lol.

But it got even better: there is a new ride in Jurassic World that wasn’t officially open yet, but they let people in intermittently to do some trials. Again, I got really lucky: right time, right place. The VelociCoaster ejects the ride at 70 mph and offers a couple more acceleration spurs during the ride. So, the Hulk has now dropped to second place of my favorite rides…

But just because I took the day off from work doesn’t mean I didn’t need a reminder from the universe that I am still a nurse… I decided to do the Simpson’s ride, which is a 4D animated ride that really does an amazing job to trick the brain into thinking you are actually on a bonkers roller coaster. In fact, this was the first and only time I heard Karl-Heinz squeal with joy when I took my family there in the past. As I was watching the silly security movie in the holding chamber, the doors opened, and as I waited for the family to exit the ride, I heard a loud “thump”, followed by “oh no! Are you alright?”. Sure enough, a large lady fell out of the vehicle and landed on her knees. So, what is my first instinct making me do? Yes, I squatted down next to her and did a quick assessment to determine the potential injuries. The family gathered around, then it got pitch-black and really loud as the ride behind me started again!!! Thank goodness, at some point the cast member realized that something has happened and stopped the ride. I told him to get a wheelchair, and after we got everyone out safely, I was given two Express Passes as a “thank you” and got to do the Simpson’s ride all by myself. With Express Passes in hand, I added the Harry Potter ride and The Mummy to my agenda before leaving back home.

Prepping for surgery – again
As I am writing this update, I have four more days before the hip surgery. Ironically, even though I didn’t do x-rays for my the three-year anniversary of my disc replacement suregery, I did get updated picture of my ESP after all when I had my hips evaluated…

I joined another support group on Facebook, in order to get a better feel for what I may need during my recovery. It is amazing to see the group’s interactions, sharing of experiences, and questions – which has a very, very similar feel like the ADR support groups. Here we go again, I suppose. At least I think I have my ducks in a row: got my elevated toilet seat installed, got my crutches, and bought some gel ice packs. I still have a two-day course to facilitate next week, but at least that prevents me to think about the surgery too much… Next update will be post op – again.