I would never have anticipated that I would develop a love/hate relationship with — of all things — an abdominal binder!
But so it is.
Not only is it by nature constricting, it doesn’t work all that well for my body type. Rather than staying evenly distributed along my torso, it gradually works its way both up and down to gather in a bunch at my lower back.
However, when I take it off to shower, I totally miss the security and support it provides and can’t wait to put it on again.
And I get to love it/hate it for almost two more weeks. Oh, goodie.
It’s entirely possible that you’ve never heard of P.D.Q. Bach. But it’s almost certain that you’ve never heard of Peter Schickele.
I hadn’t thought about either one in fully forty years, but seeing on Facebook that Peter Schickele had passed away brought it all back to me.
Schickele was known for the elaborate parody he created around his “studies” of P. D. Q. Bach, the fictional “youngest and the oddest of the twenty-odd children” of Johann Sebastian Bach. A accomplished musician in his own right, his musical gags and jokes were hilariously intelligent and on point.
Of course, I wasn’t exposed to all that much of his stuff back in the late 70’s/early 80’s, because (duh!) we didn’t have the internet. So, I’ve been amazed to discover the wide range of his compositions.
The video below is an entire concert, but I invite you to start at the 54:30 mark to enjoy his absolutely brilliant “Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Sportscast.” Too, too funny!
It’s post-surgery day #5 and I’m feeling close to normal.
Able to go for walks. Able to sit (or lie) down and get back up pretty easily.
Staying on schedule with my pain meds so that my body can relax and heal faster.
Given all of the above, I can’t help but feel surprised that — after yet another night of good sleep — I was so drowsy after breakfast that I laid down (“for just a few minutes”) on the couch and slept until noon!
This level of healing/rest is mind-blowingly new to me.
Or an alternate title for today’s blog post could have been: “Really, Divine Mother?!?”
As in, “Did I really need to break a tooth while taking my third bite of dinner tonight?”
And not just any tooth; a molar on the bottom right side of my mouth, when I’ve been avoiding chewing on the left side because of being halfway through the process of getting an implant.
Yep, thanks to another recently broken tooth, there’s no chewing surface on that side. 🤦♀️
Ah well, instead of another couple of days just staying in, seems I’ll (hopefully) be heading into town to get this dealt with.
Gosh, I love dealing with the material plane. (NOT!)
It’s been raining pretty much all day; perfect weather for sitting at home recovering.
I felt like I had really slept in late this morning. But then I was so drowsy while meditating that I laid down afterwards and slept for two more hours.
I think purple socks showing bear hugs must definitely help the healing process (turns out they’re part of a surgical “warming system” to help patients avoid hypothermia — there are so many new things with each procedure!).
The anesthesiologist came beforehand to describe the whole process to me in great detail, but afterwards I could hardly recall being in the operating room at all. I mean, I know they wheeled me in, and I guess I must have seen the anesthesiologist there as well, but I really can’t say for sure. It’s quite strange, really.
The closest I’ve come to surgery in the past was oral stuff — tooth extractions and such, and although I was prescribed painkillers I never took more than one pill. But there has been no question of continuing to take them this time around! True, I chose to take only one at a time instead of two, but the discomfort level was intense enough that I resolved to stick with them for at least the first two or three days. Then we’ll see.
Yay for prune juice and stool softeners! Won’t be needing the laxative after all.
I’m so much more conscious of the muscles involved in standing up, sitting down, bending over, reaching up, and so on. It’s actually fascinating to track my healing by noticing what I can do more easily, even from hour to hour.
It was a day of two mini-walks (up to and around our parking area) and three naps (quite impressive for me!).
I guess that’s enough random thoughts on healing for one day.
