cosmolinguist | Healthcare success

This will be short because I need to go to bed, but I wanted to say -- particularly for our mutual friends here -- that D had his operation today; it all went just as planned (in his family group chat, his mum his back-on-the-ward selfie looked a bit woozy, and yes, but also he looked just like that before the op because he had to be there at 7 this morning!) and smoothly. He's home, tired and sore but able to watch TV, play video games, eat dinner, watch baseball with me. It's been a nice evening.

I went with him at 7 this morning to see if I'd learn much about what to expect in terms of picking him up, was given a number to call if needed but he was in touch via the various group chats anyway. We had a bit of a backrooms-type experience at first, but it all worked out all right and once he got admitted I went back home, had some peanut butter toast (thinking of how he had to be nil by mouth, I was very wistful about it), and emptied about half of the dishwasher before I burned up the nervous energy and went back to bed. I slept on and off from about 9:30 until about 1, looking at my phone enough to be mostly updated with how D's day was going (and able to update his mum a little, which seemed appreciated). By the time I had to get up, I was just about able to get myself up and dressed, have a snack and be out the door again.

Back on the bus, I remembered how to get back to the ward D was on -- I went along in the morning to orient myself as much as anything; it'd have been annoying at best and likely unfeasible to get him to give me the kind of directions I'd need when he was still in his hospital bed -- and since the staff were busy I was happy to help him get dressed in his own clothes again and collect his things. We listened carefully to the nurse going through the aftercare instructions: out of action for a few days, light duties for a few weeks, and no gym for a couple of months. No lifting more than a cup of tea for now, and 10-15 pounds for the next six to eight weeks. "What's that in real money?" he asked me, a thing British people usually say the other way around (or about "old money") when they want something in imperial instead of metric, but we gym rats are used to weights in kilos. Thanks to a recent episode of Maintenance Phase, I remembered that a kilo is 2.2 pounds! And he could do the mental math from there (4-8kg, approx.).

So I'll be dealing with things like groceries for a while, and walking Teddy -- part of the reason we're walking him in the first place is that while he's a good boy most of the time, he does get Opinionated when he's excited, and that can be unpredictable. Hopefully D will be able to join Teddy and I soon, but I'll be the one holding the leash, which is fine. Pretty much the situation with Teddy's human who had the knee replacement: he's been able to get out in the garden and things, and has taken Teddy for short walks on some of the days we haven't been able to do it.

Of course this surgery would have to have been scheduled for this week, when I'll be away Wednesday to Friday -- lifting things for angelofthenorth, who's patiently dealt with having a flat that lacks some furniture and other things, but is finally able to collect them from southwest Wales. I'd already said I'd be a henchqueer (barakta's word!) for that. And, barring a total loss of spoons for V and D, I still will be. But being away meant I wanted to make sure we have groceries delivered beforehand, enough easy food in the house for them etc. So I did most of a grocery order tonight, for Tuesday so we can add stuff to it tomorrow if we think of more things.

Since we got the L-shaped corner couch, I've had the corner where you put your feet up, due to historical ankle-related reasons, and D sits at the other end, but I've swapped our various things (chargers, his laptop, the incompatible pillow configurations that each of us prefer...) so he can recline. V has lent him their weighted lap capybara (with its tortoise backpack!) to keep gentle pressure on his tummy (the aftercare advised supporting the abdomen with a pillow or something when one coughs or sneezes; a lappybara is even better!). It's very cute.

I didn't get as much done today as I might have hoped, but I did a good job of prioritizing what needed to happen today vs. what can wait until tomorrow. Really hoping I get better sleep tonight; it's been kinda shitty for a couple weeks and that takes its toll on everything else; I've had a low-grade headache most of the day and I think it's largely the broken sleep and weird dreams.