...wow....

Good news?  I'm apparently 'looking good'.
The incision is healing well.
And losing last week is sort of 'okay and to be expected'.

"It's only been two weeks."
"We shaved and chipped away at that bone, pulled the muscles around and introduced it to a plate with six screws....of course it's not happy."
"No weight, no bending, no marathons."
"This was not a routine operation."
"Relax....let yourself heal."
I had 55 staples yanked out today.....okay...."removed"…I had 55 staples removed today.  And I have steri-strips now, with permission to remove that fancy brace to shower in 3 days time.  THAT'S party worthy!!  And no...they don't endorse use of lacquer thinners to remove yellow gunk.....

And my next appointment ... set for late October.
No weight.
No bending.
No marathons.
And yup...still anemic.  The body needs time to recover from the "trauma".
Oh...and I shouldn't be surprised if I "lose more than a week."

*laughing*  I'm good with that as long as I get to pick which week(s) I lose.  Trust me, there's plenty of weeks I'd like dropped from my memory!

Six weeks of nothingness....

Right.
Doc told me it'd be six to ten weeks of the non-weight bearing deal.
I have books and things....I just can't remember squat or make things make sense.....yet.

I DO have a pile by the couch waitin' for me....Halloween STUFF!!
:-)
The spidery lights are up in the livingroom.....and it the coffee nook.  And tomorrow I'm thinking I'll research web making for the windows.....cuz I CAN.  HA!!!

Daily Diddy

Often fear is seen as bad, but it can be good, if we listen to it. It can be a great mover. When you're afraid, your spirit is trying to tell you something.

I'll list five ways that my fear has taught me important lessons. I'll see that my fear can help me as long as I listen to it and not live in it.

Happy Hummer!!

inches and seconds.....

I have my first follow up appointment tomorrow.
He-who-is-helpful will put me AND the wheelchair into the Jeep and I'll have my first "outing" since they released me after surgery.
He-who-refuses-to-leave-me-alone is quite happy with where things are at:  The incision is continuing to heal with no apparent issue, I've completed one regiment of medications to combat blood clots and I've averaged about one third of what was scripted for pain management.  I look better and make more sense than I did 10 days ago when they released me....so I'm told....
I'm not sure I agree about the 'making more sense' deal...but I'll take it and be pleased that he's pleased.
I figure there's progress cuz it's feeling like it was only ONE Mac truck...as opposed to the whole fleet.  Things make sense to me...at least The information going IN does....notsomuch my responses TO the information...but I'll take any inch of progress!  OH...And I actually have clean hair....still have the furry, yellow leg deal goin' on.  And I've decided that yellow crap isn't to sterilize your bit for surgery.  It's what they varnish ya with so none of your potentially germy gunk flies into their workspace....
Seriously....10 days and still yellow!!  I did discover that nail polish remover WILL take the yellow crud off...which I happily shared with he-who-cares-about-me.
..."as will lacquer thinners and white spirits, no doubt---but we will not be using them on your body."
I smiled.
He noted they were in a cabinet in the basement.


Damn.
There's an indication of how NONfunctioning my brain has been....neither of those (...nor  the can of furniture stripper) even popped into my messed up brain for consideration.


.....until now.......

Fairy Reminder

It is unreasonable to expect anyone to be able or willing to meet our every request. We are responsible for asking for what we want and need. It's the other person's responsibility to freely choose whether or not to respond to our request. If we try to coerce or force another to be there for us, that's controlling. There's a difference between asking and demanding. We want love that is freely given. It is reasonable to have certain and well defined expectations of our spouse, children, and friends.

It is reasonable to sprinkle our wants and needs around and to be realistic about how much we ask or expect of any particular person. We can trust ourselves to know what's reasonable.

His and Hers

Parents and children--  The sister sent on several 'family photos' she's acquired from her 'godmother'.
Mostly, I have no clue who's who and who belongs to whom--but that's the nature of the family tree with all the twists and turns the branches can take, eh?
*I* thought this was a blended family, by the features on the children--It's not.
And apparently this is only 10 of the 12 children. The guy in the back looks older than the dad who's sitting down....as does the gal on the left.  Apparently they're the eldest siblings--charged with tending to the children while the dude sitting down wandered in and out of the marriage and had a host of affairs.

*laughing*  Small wonder no one was smiling, huh.

TFTD

Let's not forget that all experiences, even the dreaded ones, are meant for our good. We are never given more than we can handle, and we will be given a balanced set of circumstances. A measure of joy will follow a period of sadness. As experience has shown, quick on the heels of the fear of loss is the realization that in the spiritual realm we're secure and all is well.

Today's Reading

Sooner or later, we will come to realize that if behavior doesn't match a person's words, we are allowing ourselves to be controlled, manipulated, and deceived. Sooner or later, we will come to realize that talk is cheap, unless the person's behavior matches it.

We can come to demand congruency in the behavior and the words of those around us. We can learn to not be manipulated, or swayed, by cheap talk.

We cannot control what others do, but we can choose our own behaviors and our own course of action. We do not have to let cheap, well-timed talk control us - even if the words we hear are exactly what we want to hear to stop our pain.

Today, I will let go of my vulnerability to words. God, help me trust myself to know the truth, even when I am being deceived. Help me cherish those relationships where there is congruity. Help me believe I deserve congruity and truth in the behavior and the words of those I care about.

Dust

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; 

they merely determine where you start.

Lunch time

Fairy Dust

To assure the best of what is to come, make the best of what is right now. 

Instead of dreading what you imagine in the future, embrace and make positive use of the reality of the present.

Reading for The Day

If today offers us a challenge, we can be grateful. Our challenges are gifts. They mean we are ready to move ahead to new awarenesses, to a new sense of our being. Challenges force us to think creatively; they force us to turn to others; they demand that we change. Without challenges, we'd stagnate, enjoying life little, offering life nothing.

We each are making a special contribution, one that only we can make; each time we confront a new situation with courage. Each time we dare to open a new door. What we need to do today is to close the door on yesterday. Then we can stand ready and willing to go forward.

Summer Breeze

Weak

Maybe it's not about being "old"..

Maybe it's an accumulation of ....everything....
It's been nine months of brokenness.

I just had a 5 1/2 hour surgery and a messy 5 1/2 hours in recovery.

I have a foot long incision with 55 staples...
 I required three units of blood.

I'm trying to manage the pain effectively and responsibly.
And I am tired.  I know that.

I'm weak.
That's a truth I hadn't tossed out there.
I dunno where I'm at with a wheelchair coming to the house.  I avoided that the first time around...but I'm tired.  And I really am weakened by what the body has undergone.
Moving me from point A to point B ....takes a LOT.  No bearing weight on that leg for at least six weeks.  I can't committ to doing that by crutches only right now...I can't see me being able to make that happen....

So ...I said yes to a wheelchair.....  Oh mannn.....

TFTD

 May you live all the days of your life. --Jonathan Swift  

Indeed life is much like a game - both a deadly serious one and one that demands laughter, relaxation, and the ability to play. 

Either way, life demands attention. 

 There is much of life that is truly exciting and fascinating - are we watching for it? 

There is hilarity and humor - do we see it? 

There is that in life which is touching and full of heroism - are we open to seeing it?  

All these are not only present in some general, nebulous way about life, but about our lives! 

Right here where we live, in our lives today, there will be the hero and the goat, there will be disappointment and reason for wild celebration, there will be the beautiful and the horrible. 

The soap opera is not out there; it is right here with us, in us, all around us. 

The task is to be present in our own lives, to get our heads out of others' reality, and to find the enormous meaning and vitality of our own.  

Life is precious.

Rural Route

Daily Reading

Saying No

For many of us, the most difficult word to say is one of the shortest and easiest in the vocabulary: No. Go ahead, say it aloud: No.

No - simple to pronounce, hard to say. We’re afraid people won’t like us, or we feel guilty. We may believe that a “good” employee, child, parent, spouse, or Christian never says no.

The problem is, if we don’t learn to say no, we stop liking ourselves and the people we always try to please. We may even punish others out of resentment.

When do we say no? When no is what we really mean.

When we learn to say no, we stop lying. People can trust us, and we can trust ourselves. All sorts of good things happen when we start saying what we mean.

Ditch flowers

Great fun.

Oh the wonders of modern medicine/technology....

"Of course you can take a photo of that rash that suddenly appeared....in my groin area AND down the hip....she IS a doctor and I'm sure it's neither illegal nor immoral to send photos of those bits to your physician on their phone....omg...."

Oh the blankspots that happen when Mel is on pain medication.

"Benadryl...it's an antihisamine....just ask them at the counter...or drive the 20 minutes and get 'em at the pharmacy?  Ohforcryingoutloud...it's there.  B.e.n.a.d.r.y.l.  ...."

Oh how soon we forget....

The oversized nightshirts I wore the first time around....disappeared.  Mighta tossed 'em cuz they were getting tatty from the cast.  And his bathrobe with the big pockets that I stuffed the thermos of coffee into....* poof! *  Pretty sure I didn't toss his robe...I just have no clue where it wandered off to.

Hey...yesterday I didn't even get INto clothes.  He told me I could have a jammie day.  Darn straight I took it!!

As for the rash...looks less angry and it hasn't spread.  There's no temp and no other symptoms...  And the bit that's on the hip...yup, looks blistered...so yup, very well could be shingles.  Would that surprise me?  Nope.  Not one iota....*sigh*
The little gal that talked with me put her initials on the leg ther worked with...I still have her E.  LOL. Oh what fun things your memory hangs on to!

Maybe I'll bother to get dressed today.
Maybe I can con him into letting the patio be an option.  Nah, the dressing has to be changed today, thinking that pretty well seals my destination for the day.
I WILL get clothes on.  And I WILL get a chair to the front entry, for a little bit of time.

And I will get my pretty "ditch flowers" moved so I can see 'em.  :-)

Dusting

Laughing is the shortest distance between two people.