Recovering Surgery-holic

Blog!!

I apologize for taking so long to get back to you blog and/or readers, things have been predictably chaotic since the surgery and typing is still a pain as I'm mostly restricted to one hand (my left) at the moment. However, I do have that update I promised you, albeit a couple weeks later than it should be. 

Look at how happy she is to be in this sling with
her little squeezy ball! Everyone who undergoes
major shoulder surgery is THIS happy! :D ...

I am now on the other side of my seventh joint replacement surgery (I had to do my left hip twice due to a massive infection, fun times, and I did both of my ankles at the same time so you can kind of count it as one surgery. Either seven or eight surgeries/joints replaced based on how you want to count it. Your choice). I'm hoping that if I do enough of these I'll get the next one free, like one of those punchcards you get "Buy 7, get the 8th free!!", that sort of thing (Surgery Punchcards need to be a thing). Anyway, I wanted to let you all know that my surgery went well and I actually went home the very next day. The surgery took an extra hour due to the complexity of the joint issues, but the doctor says it went well and everything is looking good so far. The pain hasn't been as bad as it was with the other surgeries, but it is a bit more difficult in other aspects, such as typing, which is difficult, but at least manageable for the time being. It looks like I'll be in this highly restrictive sling (complete with squeezy ball and velcro pouch for said squeezy ball) for 6 weeks but I am able to read and do a lot of things on my own, although there are still a lot of things I need help with, but I'm trying to keep as independent as I can manage. 

I saw my doctor earlier a week ago and he thinks everything is mostly looking well, although the shoulder muscles are much tighter than usual after this kind of surgery because of how long I had the problem before I got it fixed. This means I'm probably not looking at full range of motion once I'm fully healed but I'm just shooting for some increase and no more pain, and the doctor thinks that is manageable. I've been doing more exercises to build up my strength and trying to find a good balance between progress and pain, which is somewhat frustrating but not at all unexpected. However there is improvement on a day to day basis and I'm going to go for the silver lining as I know that is always the best way to handle these these things and indeed just about anything in life. 

I haven't been able to do any writing yet but I'm going to do some experimentation on using both hands for typing soon and if I can manage that then I see no reason why I can't get back into writing again and finish my rough draft. I did manage a short writing exercise yesterday with Nick, who came over to hang out and discuss the book stuff, so that's promising progress. 

This exercise is based on a Cragslist ad under "Missed Connections"

An Apology Next to the Graveyard

Susan plopped down next to the worn down gravestone, the early morning dew dampening the underside of her jeans, cool compressed grass flattening under her thin frame. She didn’t mind the wetness, she didn’t mind anything anymore, she had gone numb from the pain. “I’m sorry I didn’t show up when I said I would,” she said to the air, a couple early birds chirping back in response. “I’m sorry that I wussed out.”

She drew her finger absently through the air, swishing through the dense fog like a lazy leaf across a pond, disturbing the tranquil surface without a thought. A couple sparks leapt off her fingertip and dissipated into nothingness. There was a faint creaking noise at her side, seemingly from beneath her, about six feet down. “I just can’t be near you and not have you forever. However long that might be for us. Could be a while, knowing you, knowing me. Do you know where I’ve been? Across the country, wandering town-to-town trying to forget, to move on. I can’t, you have me in your spell. Ironic, isn’t it?”

A muffled groan seeped up through the soil and Susan patted the unkempt patch of grass above the burial site. “ Sorry, I know you are going through a tough time right now Bartholomew. So I won’t bore you with the nonsense. When you want me all to yourself then I will show up again.” Susan pushed herself off the ground and brushed at the seat of her pants, flicking a couple attached dewdrops to the ground with their brethren. “As of now, I feel it’s only for your gain and my detriment. I know they all want to keep you, and to bring you back would just…it would be for my detriment, you understand.” She sighed and brushed a stray strand of pure white hair back from her smooth, unblemished forehead, her gray eyes glazed with unshed tears. “ It kills me to always feel like something is missing and its you. I can’t keep bleeding like this.” She pressed her hands to her chest and traced the scar under her sweater where once a heart had beat. “I just can’t. I’m so sorry. Maybe in another century Bart, but not now.”

A weight felt lifted from her chest as she left the graveyard, unspoken words of a hundred years finally let loose into the air. She would return, as she always did, but now she at least got her say and it felt good. Behind her, a faint, sad, desperate scratching noise started up for a few moments, then went silent. 

All right, that's about all, my arm's giving me a warning that I should be finishing up soon and I'm supposed to listen to it, so I will. 

I'll do updates as they're necessary for new information, but hopefully this will be a boring recovery. There's very rarely anything good about an eventful recovery. 

Ciao blog and the people who look at it with at least one eye. 

Your hobbled, temporarily one-armed creator,

Andrew