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I went to see my ankle doc a couple of days ago, and it was pretty much what I expected. He's recommending that I have surgery, and I think he's right. At this point, things are getting complicated, and I think it would probably be best to not go into a lot of medical details (since I don't totally understand it all anyway). I will say that evidently I have a bunch of arthritis in two different joints (above and below the ankle bone). The joints are eventually going to deteriorate to the point where I'll need a major surgery or two. In the meantime, my doc is trying everything he can to prolong the life of the joint(s).

Right now my doc and I are tentatively planning on doing surgery this summer. I don't think I could do it any sooner because it would be too hard to balance recovery with school. Surgery is never convenient - actually, it's pretty much the opposite of convenient - but it sucks even more when you're 1700 miles from home. I have to figure out how to do my laundry, take care of cats, etc. when I won't be able to put weight on my ankle for like six weeks. I'm sure my friends out here will help me out, but I hate having to rely on others too much. I'll probably come home for part of the recovery time, but then I'll be 1700 miles away from my doctor, which could also be a problem.

I've been pretty bummed out since the appointment because now I have a better understanding of how much damage my ankle sustained. For the past two years, I've been waiting to get "better". I knew I'd never be 100%, but I hoped at least that I'd wake up one morning and not hurt at all, at least for a little while. Now the odds of that happening look pretty slim. It's sad to think that my ankle is only going to get worse from here - it already hurts a lot, and it's keeping me from doing some things I'd like to do. It's hard to sit around while my friends go skiing/snowboarding, rock climbing, etc. I'm young and I should be able to do that stuff too. Hopefully the surgery will make it feel better for a while, but really it's a short-term solution.

On top of this new info, there's some other accident-related stuff that's causing some stress right now. I can't talk about it here, but ask me about it sometime.

Okay, so, yeah....... non-downer stuff....

One thing I'm super excited about right now: one of the percussion DMA students and I were chatting, and he encouraged me to start learning Julie Spencer's "Tribeca Sunflower". It's a marimba solo that was also transcribed for percussion ensemble (solo + accompaniment). It's a really tough piece, but it's one of those that everyone knows and wants to play someday. I don't know why I never thought of looking at it until now, but after that talk, I'm feeling inspired. I talked to my prof about the possibility of playing the ensemble version in the spring concert. He's all for it, and apparently he also wants me to do the solo version for a special marimba concert (also during spring quarter). I'm flattered that he asked me to be in the marimba concert, and I'm totally excited about this piece. I'm going to have to bust my butt to have it ready by then - it should be a good project for me. I've already started working on it.

Another thing I'm excited about: I'll be home late Wednesday night through early Monday morning. Yay!

One thing I'm not excited about: the 15-page-paper that's due in a few weeks. Oh well, time to start obsessing over Prokofiev... or Reich, I'm not really sure yet.... Or maybe Ives, that could be fun.