KYLE BEERY

Kyle Beery is a guest columnist this week. He is a junior journalism major.

As the old saying states, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

I have always been a true believer of that. And now, I have been experiencing that over the past couple of months.

Many of you know I am recovering from a recent open-heart surgery. I had an episode on  Greek Bid Day (Jan. 12), in which I had an irregularly fast heart beat. I was taken from Rowdy Row in an ambulance to IU Health North Hospital before being transferred to IU Methodist downtown later that night.

On Jan. 16 at Methodist, I had a pulmonary valve replacement surgery, which went very smoothly. About a week and a half later, the doctors did an operation to put an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, which will help save my life if I were to ever go into that fast rhythm again by shocking it back into rhythm, within me.

I decided I was going to take the semester off from Butler and take my time to have a full recovery. I have been at home in Michigan, doing exactly that.

I am pretty much past any major obstacles, as I visited my doctors in Indianapolis two weeks ago and got the thumbs up from all three of them. I will be starting cardiac rehab this week to get some stamina back.

As I’ve been hanging around my little hometown, it’s safe to say I’ve been getting pretty bored. And it’s even safer to say I’ve realized how much I have really enjoyed my time at Butler. I’ve also realized that I have been shaped by Butler and the people I’ve surrounded myself with there.

I am enjoying a much-needed break and spending time with my family and friends during it.

But I am really starting to miss Butler, especially my Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity brothers and the great friends I’ve made over the past three years. I miss the wonderful professors that have been helping me grow as a student and have really pushed me towards becoming a better journalist. Despite a rough year, I certainly miss the basketball games—it has been tough watching from home.

I am certainly lucky to still be here, so I can’t complain about being “stuck here” too much.

That’s why I am writing this column.

I want to say thank you, not only to my brothers and friends who were there to help me get the attention I needed on bid day, but to everyone-—everyone who has shown support, whether it be a simple text message, email, phone call,  card, flowers or a visit. Not to mention all of your thoughts and prayers. I can’t begin to express how much that all has meant to me and my family; we are so grateful.

As cliché as we always say it is, I now really see the Butler community of care, and I am so thankful for it.

Throughout the past few months, it has been pretty rough, but that just sets me up for a good summer and a good return to Butler in the fall.

As one of my favorite country singers says, “Bad times make the good times better.”