The Mailbox

Hi. I procrastinate.

Anyway, I've gotten some interesting mail in the last few days that I thought was worth sharing. The first, on Friday, was my packet of pre-op stuff from Dr. L and approvals from my insurance. I haven't opened the pre-op stuff because I learned last time that Dr. L's office lists pretty much every horrifying possible outcome on most every page, and they never forget to include death. So while I know my operation will be fairly routine, and now I know me and anesthesia get along just fine, I'm saving that for a day when Mark is not working nights in case I get the freak-outs. Boy won't he be happy. Actually, he will, but it will be more 'glad.' The authorization though, I opened, because oddly enough, those ones tend to make me laugh. I find their specificity entertaining. I get two for every test or procedure so I've seen a lot, but this one was the best. So, on October 1st, 2008, I am having "Bilateral Breast Reconstruction With Silicone* Implants, Bilateral Nipple Reconstruction." If they wanted to be supremely specific they would have written: fabrication out of thin air. Or, I guess, random skin.

I'm not too nervous about this and I'll be happy to have completed this stage. Two things concern me though. The fact that I'll be going home the same day this time, managing pain and post-op maintenance without beautiful angelic nurses, and somehow getting over nasty speed-bumps to get into my house. Also the fact that things will be stapled to me for a while. That will be new. I guess these things should better be filed under Things to Get Over. I will.

Last night's mail was more fun. I'm about finished with "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm liking it. She's not preachy, she's funny and sympathetic while passionate. Anyway, the thing I learned that really irritated me was about seeds and seed companies. Mainly, that when you buy seeds from most co.s and plant them, it is then illegal to harvest the seeds from that plant and use them. The book explains this well. So this week I joined Seed Savers Exchange and bought my first seeds from them. I'm hoping to take advantage of the long California growing season and enjoy my Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts in the fall. Props to my mom who made me think of sprouts which (aha!) grow vertically, allowing me to hopefully harvest 50-100 sprouts from a pot on the balcony.

*Silicone. I've read about it and it's my choice, people. You don't need to comment.