Sigh...

Holy crap, people. This has been a heck of a month, and not in a good way. To recap:

1. Spinal stimulator surgery ended up not actually working, only knocking me out of work for a couple weeks and setting me up for another (more invasive) surgery in a month or so.
2. Pipe burst in upstairs apartment, flooding my kitchen and bathroom at 4am the morning after surgery.
3. Wall-drying guys tore out a wall of cabinets and the drywall behind it, as well as my bathroom sink, leaving me with a not-particularly-functional bathroom for 2 weeks and not-particularly-functional kitchen for 4 weeks (That is not a typo...), as well as a living room full of boxes and basement full of cabinets.
4. Seven giant dehumidifers running in my apartment tripped several (unlabeled) circuit breakers, none of which actually appear tripped because they're special that way, making it impossible to locate the problem on my own...
5. One week after surgery, developed a serious cold... which was the beginning of 3 weeks of piercing headaches and nausea.
6. Hot water heater exploded. (Well, maybe not "exploded"... but started emitting an incredible amount of smoke and needed to be replaced...)
7. Pedro started acting like he was about to die, thus freaking me out. A few days later, after an expensive dental procedure, Rico was on the brink himself.
8. Saw a doctor about my 3-weeks-of-headaches situation... He ruled out sinusitis and migraines and told me that it was probably a spinal headache (from fluid slowly leaking out of my spine following surgery...).

Here is the flip side of each of the above, which I am trying to focus on instead:

1. The trial stimulator proved that this technology can actually help me. It's just going to require more patience than I was hoping would be necessary.
2. I discovered that my friend T is the kind of ridiculously awesome person who will come over at 4am and spend 3 hours cleaning the overwhelming mess in your partially-flooded house... which taught me a bit about the kind of person I would like to be, too...
3. Ummm.... Taught me to appreciate how totally awesome my apartment is when it isn't destroyed. I love my place more than ever now... Oh! Also taught me that I actually have a really good landlady who was quite reasonable about trying to make things right. I've had some awful ones (Yes. I'm talking about you, Sophie... You and your envelopes of cat poo taped to my door...), so I can really appreciate how great it is to have a good one.
4. Discovered that the electrician is totally adorable and nice... He sort of makes me ponder sticking something metal in an outlet so he can come repair it again...
5. Ummm... Pass.
6. This probably helped my landlady see how dire things were getting around here... which probably helped in her willingness to be so very reasonable about compensating me for the chaos.
7. Cheesy, but it made me realize how much I really love these little guys (especially Pedro, who I'd previously thought I could probably do without...). They're both ridiculously awesome.
8. Discovered that I really like my nurse practitioner, who sent me out for some sinus films and discovered that, despite my doctor's claims, I actually had a gnarly sinus infection... which was great news given that it can be easily treated and that the alternatives were leaking spinal fluid or being a person who now suffers from migraines.

There you have it. My Pollyanna-fied take on life at La Casa de Emmo these last 4 weeks... Vacation coming up in a week, and I am definitley ready...