Post-Op Observations: From surgery February 25, 2016

Feb 25 to March 5 - 10 days from Surgery: Post-Op Recovery Observations.
1) Big day today, the staples holding the wound together were coming out this morning.
2) I've looked at the incision with the staples in -- Frankenstein's aren't so bad.
3) Removal tool resembles a stapler remover.
4) Not wishing to rip my skin off due to itchiness. This has settled down to a manageable issue....
5) Can't sit all the way back in the front car seat. Skin pulls too much and I can't get out of the car due to needing leverage to push out of the seat.
6) Doctor appointment this morning. Good news wound is healing nicely. Bad news: it looks terrible and I feel like Frankenstein. Good news: I've never been a bikini wearer.
7) Have empathy for paper when we humans staple it and deeply when we remove those staples with the stapler remover.
8) Asked doctor how many staples I had in me, he wasn't counting. Of course he wasn't counting he was just trying to get them out as I was trying to remember to breath. I guessed 25. Actually number - 27.
9) All those years my mother told me to walk not shuffle. Now I get to shuffle not walk. Nahnahnahnah
10) My toes are getting a work out picking up things I drop on the floor. Yes Wendy Lightbody, I am dropping things: clothing, makeup, money. I dropped the same dime and nickel three times today.

Thursday Day 7 of Post-Op Observations
1) I stretched this morning, or at least my legs did. See Day 6 observation for more info.
2) I sat for longer than 20 minutes at one time. Sit bones are working but back doesn't like it now. Healing takes time.
3) Standing is the best positon.
4) Bruise on hand in now a pink shade. ...
5) Wound finally stopped being itchy and I no longer want to rip my skin off.
6) Coughing and tickle seem to be gone
7) Still have a small portion appetite. Ok with that.
8) Swelly belly is going down, slowly. Healing takes time.
9) First week of recovery ends today
10) Tomorrow staples come out. Something new to experience.

Wednesday Day 6 of Post-Op Recovery: Observations -
1) tongs make a good arm extension to reach things if one can't bend.
2) bruise on hand is more red than brownish gray
3) sit bones don't like being sat on for more than 20 minutes
4) the tendency to stretch upon waking hasn't happened since Feb 26, the day after the surgery. ...
5) my shuffle walk has gained some speed
6) Tickle in throat from tubes during operation = coughing = pain
Suppressing cough, no pain, sighing with relief, sneezed instead. Will take coughing over sneezing. Thought I pulled staples out.
7) Have patience with others. Need to extend that to myself and repeat several times "healing takes time".
8) Had 25 pain pills to take every 4 hours or as needed for 2 days. One or two pills. Got them Feb 27. I have 19 pills left. I'm wondering if the IV was in my wrist where there are lots of nerve endings did my body get so numb I don't feel pain or do I just have a very high pain threshold??
9) Send thank you to Vanessa Bird for her advice on hospital clothing, especially a certain item. I got to take home a swag bag of items including several of that certain item.
10) Thank you to Katrina Pandak and Sara Henderson for all their advice as I entered this unknown territory.
11) and 12) To John Herbert, you are my gentle giant, your help and care are appreciated beyond words. Thank you for my family and other friends for your phone calls, texts, and visiting me in the hospital, as well as your offers to help during my time off.

A whole year and a month has passed since writing.  Time does fly in these hectic times.  During this year the world has changed.  Change always comes.  Nothing  remains the same.  We change too.  My coffee shop campaign hasn't progressed.  The expansion of the deck on our house did progress and finally was finished.  Luckily in June and we were able to enjoy sitting outside, buy a BBQ and finish staining it before the winter rains came. 

Paris go attacked by suicide bombers.  The world shifted.  Muslims and Syrian refugees are in the news.  Here in North America so many are saying "no in my country" and wishing to turn the refugees away.  We are living with fear and fear makes people nasty.  I've been shocked to see incredibly cruel statements made on Facebook about the situation. In a world that wishes to see itself as nonjudgmental we are a judging lot.  We resort to skin colour and differences rather than finding the common thread.  We are homo sapiens, there is no skin colour, we are the same species. 

With such world problems it makes one own problems seem so small in comparison.  These past few days I've been thinking of my parents a lot.  I miss them.  For some reason I miss them more so suddenly and I'm not sure why. The strange part is, twice I've seen or read about the energy of people who has passed.  Mostly via an article on a medium who was here in Victoria.  When things like this stand out for me, there is a message.  Wondering if I am to see a medium or if my parents are trying to connect.  Maybe all due to feeling lonely these days.  I've not heard from either sister.  Have texted without a response.  I've always been sad that I didn't come from a family that was close.  I've discovered some families just aren't and mine is not exclusive in that regard. 

I've made a new friend at work, actually two.  Something I didn't try to do.  It is nice to have someone close to my own age to talk to.  I haven't connected with Angela as much this year.  I'm hoping that will resolve itself and we do start to connect more.  Office friendships can be fragile.  I just hope this one isn't and will last a long time. 

I am trying to figure out how to express my feelings.  I'm tired of not saying what it inside.  I'm at a point in my life where I need to say my truth.  I've bitten my tongue so often it has hurt.  I hold onto things I should let go or wish I'd said something.  Maybe it is time to find the words and let go.

Then there are the surprises.  Such as being told I am interesting, I am cool, I am a lovely person.  The biggest surprise was being told I was the prettiest woman in my exercise class.  That was a lovely surprise.  I graciously said thank you. 

Finally there is my relationship with John.  First I need to start with my relationship with Wayne.  I often think it was the best love of my life.  In many cases it was, I loved him with all my heart.  Plus he is entangled in so many of my memories being there since I was 19.  Most often we remember the good times over the bad.  I can confirm that, my memories of my time with Wayne are loving ones and I forget how I found it hard to please his family.  Being myself didn't seem good enough.  Now here I am in a relationship where being myself is accepted.  John accepts all of me.  We frustrate each other, but there is this wonderful acceptance.  I'm trying not to put my expectations onto John but it is so hard, finances especially.  It is the one thing couples do argue about.  I've gone from a man who counted almost every penny to one who hardly counts them at all.  I find it hard to live with debt, even a bit.  I need to let it go too.  I need to know that it will be ok.  I suppose I'm worried about the future and retirement.  It seems so much closer now when not too long ago it seemed far into the future.  I have panic that I'm not going to have enough. That I will have to work and never truly retire.  Or rather I should say we will not have enough.  I should realize John is in this with me and that is a comfort.  I am not alone.  For all the investing it doesn't seem to be as big a nest egg as I thought.  I'm hoping that changes and I see some major returns on my investments.  Or win the lottery, but then I've always said, I don't want to win the lottery, just enough to pay off the mortgage and have some to renovate the kitchen, bathroom and paint.  Plus some to go to Tofino once or twice. 

I am writing this in the early hours of the morning.  I couldn't sleep.  I was hungry and my mind was spinning.  Instead of waking John to talk, I have come to this blog post to quiet the swirling of my mind.  I think I've quieted some sections and some I still need to ponder.

I also wrote this silliness...

Sitting in the desert
By my camp fire
Munching on my crunchy
Doritoooos

I can hear the coyotes talking to each other
yippee yip yip yip
Howling at the mooooon (howl here)

I don't have any hotdogs
or marshmallows
Just a bag of
Doritoooos

I can hear the coyotes talking to each other
yippee yip yip yip
Howling at the mooooon (howl here)

My hands have turned orange
Orange is a word without a rhyme
I'm having a delicious time
Eating my Doritoos

I can hear the coyotes talking to each other
yippee yip yip yip
Howling at the mooooon (howl here)

From all those chips
My lips are numb
I've got no more words
So I'll just hum
(hum here)
Eating my Doritoos

My Coffee Shop Campaign

I would like to start a coffee shop campaign regarding the options offered for alternative milk.  Most coffee shops offer soy.  Well let's start with soy then.  Women who have or who have had breast or ovarian cancer shouldn't drink soy.  Plus soy is a GMO crop and many people today wish to avoid GMO crops.  Some people are allergic soy as well.  It isn't the best alternative milk option and I really wish coffee shops would stop using it.

The other option is Almond milk.  Ok, not bad.  However what about people who are allergic to nuts??   Other milk options like hemp or rice cost the same as soy or almond milk.  Why not offer rice milk?  It foams up better than any other milk for lattes.  Most people I know can drink rice milk.  I haven't heard of any people being allergic to rice. 

Want to help?  Then start telling coffee shops to provide another alternative.  Maybe start a petition??

Oh dear me, it has been awhile since I posted!  It has just been such a busy last three years.  Some personal things happened with my family and I had to attend to those matters.

One thing that I pondered these past two years was green burial.  Ok not the nicest topic, but with both my parents passing and cremating them it did bring up the question of how to have a greener burial. Plus it is something we all face one day. People do have "green" weddings so what about "green" funerals.

I learnt that Royal Oak Burial Park opened in 2008 and is the first urban green burial interment site in Canada. The first Green Burial Park was in Britain in 1993 in response to the high cremation rate and the emissions released in to the atmosphere.  Cremation does have an impact on the environment. 

In a Green Burial the human body is returned to the earth to decompose in a natural state.  This means there is no embalming, although basic sanitary care is done such as washing, bathing and topical disinfection.  The body is dressed in organic clothing and either placed in a biodegradable casket or wrapped in a shroud. The body is then placed directly into the earth and over time with decompose and contribute to new life.

At the Royal Oak Burial Park there are no headstones.  Plants natural to the Victoria area, selected by the family, are planted on top of the grave. The name of the deceased is then inscribed onto a community  boulder in close vicinity to the grave. 

I'm not sure of the cost.  I've tried to find more information.  Considering the costs of a funeral, and cremation, going a greener route may cost less.  It doesn't prevent a celebration of life either, as that can still take place. In keeping with the green burial, think about keeping the celebration of life as green as possible too. 

Gillian Deacon's New Book

Gillian Deacon's new book There's Lead in Your Lipstick has been getting rave reviews.  I first saw it at Rocky Mountain Soap Company's Spring Open House.  The employees at Rocky Mountain Soap Company mentioned they had tried many of the recipes and were now incorporating them into their daily routines. I'm a big fan of avoiding toxins in my personal care products.

I haven't bought this book yet.  It is on my wish list.  I own Gillian Deacon's Green for Life and refer to it often. I'm looking forward to adding this one to my book shelf.

30 Days to a Greener You | Chatelaine.com

Here's a challenge to make some changes to be greener. It take more than 30 days to make any changes in one's lifestyle into habits, be it eating healthier, eating local or being green. 30 days is a start, you just need 36 more days to make the 66 required days to make a habit stick. So start with the 30 days here, then start at the beginning and do all 30 again and add 6 more that you find online. That's the challenge. 30 Days to a Greener You Chatelaine.com

Learn how to make a soft and silky eco-friendly scarf - Knitting - Canadian Living

In keeping with being a site for "green" tips, here is a scarf pattern using bamboo yarn. Just in time for Christmas gift giving.


Learn how to make a soft and silky eco-friendly scarf - Knitting - Canadian Living