It's Fron-ken-steeen

The pain pump has been removed, and the bandages have come off! Why the docs felt compelled to draw football plays on my shoulder, I'm not so sure. Hoohaw! Surgery humor! I got a million of 'em.

Feeling better every day even as I feel slower and more lethargic. Is this normal? I wonder if part of the body's natural healing process is to slow everything down, down, down? Makes intuitive sense. Or, I could just be tired because my sleep schedule is disrupted by the meds. For the last few days, I napped everytime I took a pill, so I was 1) sleeping a lot, and 2) sleeping randomly. Last night, I tried to return to a "normal" sleep schedule, and I woke up veeeeeeeeeeeeery tired this morning. I blame the sitting-up-in-bed thing. I was missing sleeping in bed, and my arm felt better (it's all relative, duckies), so I thought I'd just prop up some pillows, nod off, and that would be that. Yeah, not so much.

One, it's hard to sleep in one position all night, especially if that position is: The 45-degree Angle of Death! Okay, not of death, per se, but of discomfort, okay? Woke up a lot during the night, that sort of fitful sleep when your brain needs to remain half awake to be alert to something out of the ordinary. Like, for instance, if you find yourself in a hotel room in the middle of the night in a godforsaken one horse town in East Bumf*ck, Texas, in which the only other occupants seem like a cross between carnies and cannibals, and they giggle at you nervously and watch you walk all the way to your room. Oh, that never happened to you? Did me. I "slept" in my clothes, shoes on, on top of the covers, the bureau pushed against the door. Clearly, something was making me nervous. I discovered our key in the lock the following morning as we were leaving. Dur!

Today was a good day. No pain meds, the arm creakily and protestingly doing its baby steps-level exercises. Feels less heavy, less stinging pain, less cramping. My pop visited and told me that he thought he may have been wiretapped himself. Eeeeeek! This is probably true. All of you reading this may want to get new identities after dialing in. We bemoaned the state of the world and ate homemade soup. Good times.

Comments

[Diane]

Sometimes people feel lethargic for a while because the anesthesia, etc. are still in their systems.

I was wiretapped when I was in college. My roommate and I found the bug.

[ae]

Diane, good to know, because as I feel better, I feel worse! I'm dragging the floor today, but my arm's swinging along just fine. =)

And not happy to hear that you were wiretapped but glad to know you were always a rabblerouser! Though I doubt my phones have been tapped, I'm not under any illusion that my emails haven't been reviewed somewhere. I write too many letters to gov't agencies not to be of some notice. We joke that there are bugs in our house, but, sadly, who knows if it's a joke anymore?

[The Fat Lady Sings]

Glad you came through OK, my dear. Hang in there - it will get better. Sounds like you had a really good surgeon, and I'm betting you heal fast. And the damn thing’s finally over and done with! No more dread or anticipation - finished - so it’s all uphill from here.

[ae]

TFLS, thank you for your good wishes! From this vantage point, I can sincerely say that modern medicine is a marvel, my surgeon is a genius, and I am very lucky to boot. And you're right, the damn thing's over! No more worrying over (cue: horror music) "general anesthesia"! Aaaiiiiyyy! =) Now, it's just a matter of getting my brain back in shape to face the long haul that is...work. Groan. ;->

[David]

The nearest incident re the hotel happened in North Carolina. I was backpacking in January 1981 and got lost in the Nantahala with two with friends. The local paper made a big deal of this. We were "rescued" and stayed overnight at a local B&B!

[ae]

Eeek! Lost in the Nantahala! That could've been bad, but I'm glad to hear you made it out okay and landed in a cushy B&B. Being "rescued" has its advantages! =)