Adjustments

One of the crazy things about this slow life we're living right now is how quickly things change. Words like "fine," "normal," and "ok," mean completely different things than they did just weeks ago. Apparently "Potato Day" needs redefining too, because somehow I overdid it yesterday. This has happened once already and is bound to happen again, no matter how careful and gentle I am with myself. The day after surgery I was so happy to feel energized. I got a bit of a rush every time it was easier to get out of bed and there were several groups of people stopping by. Around 6 o'clock, though, I completely hit a wall. I couldn't get my pain under control and had no energy. I felt like I was backsliding. Already! Nooo!! And then I realized that I'd been awake and active since 5:30 a.m. Right. Maybe I could have taken a nap? Anyway, we blew the whistle at the Jessie factory for the day and I was back on track and improving, with breaks, the next day. I can't decide what I shouldn't have done yesterday but it was probably the combination of three things that did me in. Opening our sliding glass door to the balcony, carrying a folding chair out there with me, and getting dressed on my own, in non-pajamas. Oh well, I say, all of those things contributed to my high spirits yesterday and so what if I took a nap just hours after getting up this morning. What else do I have to do? In light of that, and because everyone who stops by says, "oh my gosh, you're up!" I thought it would be fun to compile a little list of things I can and cannot do.

Things I Can Do On My Own:
1. Get out of bed - I don't have abs of steel yet so this is a big success when it happens, which is most of the time now
2. Scratch my head
3. Carry things about as heavy as a pint of water & ice
4. Kiss people
5. Brush my teeth - thank you, SoniCare

Things I Cannot Do On My Own:
1. Move pillows and blankets around to my satisfaction
2. Scratch my back - in that one spot right between my shoulder blades where I'm so itchy
3. Carry things about as heavy as a laptop
4. Hug people - I hate this
5. Shampoo my hair - although Mark has promised to help me with this tonight and I'm very excited.

Tomorrow we're off to see the General Surgeon, Dr. S of the kindly mustache. He's just going to take a peek at me and make sure every thing's to his satisfaction, which I'm sure it will be. My skin looks great and there's hardly any bruising on me at all. Wednesday, we meet with my Oncologist, another Dr. S, to discuss final pathology reports on the tissue that was removed in surgery. Although it is fantastic news that the frozen section biopsy was negative for cancer in my lymph nodes, there are still a few answers we need to plan my future. Big prayers, please, that this information will indicate that no further treatment is necessary.