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den 19 januari 2004
Driving again!
Dear friends,
First off I want to wish you a good continuation of the New Year.
Me, I checked out of the hospital the second of January, after having my gall bladder removed.
That was an adventure. It hurt both internally and externally for several days after the surgery, and this is supposed to be an easy surgery (!). But the pain the gall bladder caused was terrible too and the last week before removing it I had pain for about 12-15 hours a day every other day. So I say it was well worth it.
The reason for the pain was not gallstones, but rather an inflammation of the actual bladder. Doctors think that the long time I spent in bed, rapid weight loss and all the drugs I had to take probably caused it.
Now I hope I am over most problems and this week has really been one of success.
I started rehab on Monday and have managed to do a lot of progress. First off I got rid of the special shoe that I’ve been using on my left leg, which means I now can use a normal shoe when I am up and about. With that I also got cleared to drive a car again. Not on the race track but at least on the public roads.
I cannot tell you how nice it feels to be able to do that. It brings a tremendous sense of freedom. One of the first things I did was to go to the team. It was a lot of fun and I spent quite a lot of time chatting with everybody that works there. The mechanics were in full swing of preparing the new cars. We’ve changed to G-Force chassis for this year and they are going testing for the first time in a couple of weeks in Homestead, Florida. The team has also found a replacement driver, Buddy Rice. He’s fast and has a lot to prove and that, with the information we gathered last season and the improvements in the technical development department the team has done, it should be an interesting year with, I hope, good results for the team. They work really hard and deserve it.
On Friday we took another batch of X-Rays on all the fractures I suffered and all of them have healed up really nice. This means that I now can start to put some weight on the right foot as well. Before I have only been able to do that in the water pool. I get better balance and more strength, which allows me to manage more on my own, nearly without any assistance from my parents or my wife. That’s a big thing!
Karma is also doing well. Of course she is not doing much more than eat, sleep and “poop” at the moment but I never thought something could reach my heart the way she’s done. A newborn is in some ways similar to a little puppy, so innocent and so helpless. It’s kind of “first time love” all over again. Not that it has changed my outlook on life and racing, I am not sure anything can do that, but she has rather added another perspective on things. She’s one of the best things that have happened to me. So although 2003 offered plenty of challenges the year really ended on a high with her birth on New Years Eve.
The outlook for the following weeks is that I will continue with my rehab and the goal is to be able to walk completely on my own. My goal for this is within the next two weeks. I really look forward to that. Then I can start weight training with more heavy weights and put some weight back on. I need it because now I am only about 56 kilos (125 pounds).
Talk to you soon.
Kenny
kennybrack.com
KB
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