Slowing down

Thanks, blogging pals, for all the well wishes. As I enter my third week of recovery post-surgery, I can tell you it has been an eye-opening experience. And sometimes an eye-closing one. (Thank you, Percocet, for making me sleep 14 hours a day.)

Some random things I've discovered:

~One of my husband's students was having surgery at the same time. In the surgery-prep area (where they give you your stylish hat and put in your IV), he tried to chat with me, but I couldn't see him because they'd made me give up my glasses. Poor kid was about to have his face reconstructed after a rugby injury, so maybe it's a blessing I couldn't see.

~Robotic surgery is cool. I had a four-pound benign tumor removed through an incision that's less than an inch long. (It was removed in pieces, if you're wondering how that trick was achieved.)

~I'm a lightweight when it comes to anesthesia. The nurses wanted to send me home and I couldn't stay awake.

~Nausea and abdominal incisions are a bad combo. Ow.

~Best diet when the idea of food grosses you out: jello, apple juice, animal crackers.

~There are way too many steep stairs in my 3-storey, historic, urban townhouse. What gives? Weren't people shorter in 1907?

~Reading is actually more restful that watching movies or TV. Less data to process at once.

~You can't beat a Kindle if you frequently doze off while reading. It powers down on its own and never loses your page.

~The hardest thing to give up was managing my daughter. I was sure her teeth would go unbrushed, her homework unfinished or lost. She was fine, even if she got more screen time than I'd like.

~It's good for one's spouse to experience how the house runs without you (or more accurately, which things don't get done).

~When your ability to achieve is taken away, you realize how much being busy is actually a choice. And often it's a shabby substitute for deeper relationships.

How have your last few weeks been? What's new?

Categories: lists, reading, self-care