Sunday, September 8, 2024

Quandary weekend

Trigger Warning - at the end of this post is a graphic surgical scar photo.  If you don’t like seeing that sort of thing, this is not the post for you…skip it.   So now that you’ve been warned, here is my story about the weekend.  
I had surgery Wednesday afternoon.  At that time, I fully intended to go back to work tomorrow (Monday).  For one thing, I had exactly enough vacation time left for this year that it would be paid.  For another, as I was leaving Wednesday morning, I received permitting for a rehabilitation job that we have been working on for 2 years   I finally, finally had all the pieces fall into place, the stars aligned, and state blessing to move forward   It has been a LONG, long, frustrating process   I was very upset, as the timing was horrible and it was very much out of my control   In a fit of desperation, I reached out to my engineer, who has worked as hard as I have on this,  and told him I had the permit, but was going to be MIA a few days   He took pity and threw me a freebie- taking care of getting my advertising submitted, setting my bid date, and a few other things.  He did this out of the goodness of his heart and I sincerely appreciate it   However, engineers have small hearts, (sorry if you find that offensive) and they generally don’t do free stuff   I know this is a small, short window that I cannot take advantage of   Like at all   And because I let him take care of it, I now have a set in stone date that things have to be taken care of   In other words, it is critical that I return to work   

What I didn’t anticipate was the pain I was going to be in, the difficulty with even basic tasks, and the overwhelming need to basically sit still.  Am I stupid?  Probably   Am I overzealous about my body’s ability to recover and bounce back?  Always   Am I stubborn enough that I will push through it and figure it out?  Yep   It is just my personality to not be down.   I can’t do it.   Do I have a husband and children willing to help me?  Absolutely!  Will I let them?  Absolutely not!   And so I have spent the weekend figuring out what blend of pain medicines work, what positions I can sit in to minimize the misery, and what kind of clothing I can wear that can be manipulated easily but is still decent enough for work.   If I took another day off would it matter?  I’m not actually sure   Is it going to happen?  Also not sure.   I do know this evening will be spent with my husband helping me try on various bras and swimsuit tops in an effort to see what I can tolerate   He will be so excited for this project - because as a guy, you can just never really fully understand the extend of how women suffer with such things   Well that was a lot of “pick me” blabbering now wasn’t it?  

Not everything has been bad this weekend   I had a nice time watching horror movies with Saige and Harper.  The girls have helped me get the laundry done and we have had lots of great meals with their help!  The weather has been amazing and I have loved having the house open and even took some walks around the yard   

We had Sunday lunch, where I took the chicken exit and ordered pizza  the girls helped me decorate for Halloween   Because if it is going to be 70, and we can’t swim, it is officially the season!  


Jim may have had a day where he questioned my sanity on decorating for Halloween the first week of September, but those days are long gone. He has resigned himself to my insane love of this season!   Plus I have so so much cool Halloween stuff, it would be a shame to not have it out as long as possible!  

I was laughing at Wrenley sneaking up on Harper, who was attempting to get organized.  Why on the living room floor?  Why not!?!    Wrenley is very helpful on her organizational skills!  


Mallory brought me a beautiful bouquet of cut flowers from her yard.  I love this!  She is really talented.  



Last night, Andrew and Jim went fishing, I had a movie night with the girls, and Mallory  and Madison took the little girls to the balloon rally.  I was very sad to not make it, but I loved seeing the photos!   Mallory also took fall flower pictures of the girls at the  lake - I need to download them so I can save them but haven’t done that yet.  She did a good job. Of course her photography models are pretty dang cute!  





 
Every year, I add a few pieces to what has become a fairly large collection of Halloween things.  My mom bought me a “surgery present” that delighted me and made Jim laugh. It’s a skeleton on a toilet.  It talks.  And farts.  And his eyes light up. He says funny stuff.  The grandkids were enamored with it, and I absolutely love him (thanks mom!).  



The other new thing I got this year - weirdly is from tractor supply.  One day, right after Quincy moved, I was feeling especially sad and had to run buy feed.  They had the cutest wax melt warmers and you got 2 in a box with the melts for like $20. Harper rolled her eyes so hard I thought for sure they would get stuck, but for some reason, retail therapy sometimes really is a thing.  I plopped it right into the cart and was just as thrilled today to get it out!  Saige got them all set up and I love them so much!   Tractor supply is my favorite store.  And I’m not kidding here.  It gives me weird nostalgia and they have cute junk.  

And now I’m circling back.  I was told not to get this thing wet.  I tried.  Jim got me some waterproof bandages and I have showered and tried hard.  I believe I had an allergic reaction to the waterproof bandages adhesive.  I now have blisters around the incision and will not be putting any more of them on my skin.  This is a level of stupidity I didn’t expect and am not really sure what to do other than leave it to air out. I added some neosporin. Tomorrow I will call the office, but I have a couple nurse friends saying it’s ok to leave the bandages off.  If anyone has any advice on skin issues, I’d happily listen.  I have some aloe at my office - if I can get there I might try that.  My grandma would have been slathering me in it already if she was here!   As I said….one quandary after another.  And now that you have entered the mind of the insane, I probably will either be committed or medicated, but either way, life is pretty good.  It just has a way of showing you that you aren’t always in charge.



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