incidental finding: my belly button seems to be full of krazy glue
so she replied: show me someone not full of herself
and i’ll show you a hungry person.
Rest in power, Nikki Giovanni
Got my surgical drain removed today, and Tuesday’s abdominal CT looks good 🎉
First night in over a week that I didn’t completely soak at least one pillowcase with sweat! 🥳
“Illness is a part of every human being’s experience. It enhances our perceptions and reduces self-consciousness. It is the great confessional; things are said, truths are blurted out which health conceals.”
― Virginia Woolf, On Being Ill
Possibly my favorite headline ever: The Dark Energy Pushing Our Universe Apart May Not Be What It Seems
If you’ve just had a laparoscopic procedure, ask your nurse for simethicone. They will probably have to get approval from a doctor, but the doctor will usually say yes. Most of the pain you’ll be having will be because of excessive gas in your abdomen, and simethicone will help much more with that than opioids. It’ll be a lot safer too.
I’m sure most people are at least vaguely aware, as I was before today, that “home from the hospital” does not necessarily mean “well.” I am acutely aware of it this morning.
Here’s how it currently is with me: Although my temperature is now within what is considered normal limits, it’s still slightly elevated for me. I have night sweats. I’m still coughing quite a bit as my throat continues to recover from being intubated for the surgery. I move slowly, and I don’t have much stamina. I’m a little dizzy. My belly still hurts sometimes, and it has a surgical drain hanging from it.
That said, every day so far has been a slight improvement. I’m moving more easily than I did yesterday, and the coughing jags are briefer and less violent. There’s less pain.
And of course, it is a great pleasure to be home: to sleep without being woken up for blood draws and temperature checks, to eat when I feel like it, to get my own pills, to spend time with Dave and Chili, to hear the rain on our roof.
today
every other morning this week
I pooped this morning, so they are sending me home today 💩
The bed breathes and stretches and sighs, trying to prevent bedsores and clots. Even in moments when the bed is still, sometimes the room feels like a giant slo-mo washing machine
Rude awakening: 4:30 blood draw happened at 3:45 today
Got my third roommate this evening (it’s a double room). Weird to feel like an old timer after being here less than a week
Why on earth would you call something that you’re asking people to pee in, “a hat?”
Four phlebotomists have now failed to get a sample out of my poor roomie
4:30 blood draws. Good times. There’s someone speaking Spanish in the hall, and I wish the door was open so I could have a better chance of successfully eavesdropping
My roomie’s inflating and deflating leg cuffs, and my IV pump, are singing an almost insectoid duet. Can’t see the moon from here, though, just a bright login screen in the corner of the room below the TV (which is mercifully silent)
Still in the hospital. Have given myself a new job title: fartist
The two hardest things about the hospital for me: constantly needing help, and people constantly touching me and my stuff without asking. I guess I am lucky to be able to be grumpy about those things, though
Oddly, I have been here six hours and I am still wearing the clothes I arrived in
In the hospital with appendicitis ☹️
Our neighbor reports that her dog killed a rabid skunk Saturday night (yikes!), which explains why our house was kinda stinky Sunday morning. Today the house smells like curried chicken. The dog is fully vaccinated and has had a rabies booster, so she will be fine.
This is true. We spotted yesterday’s bobkitten in the yard again this morning, with its sibling. I heard from a reliable source that their names are Ren and Stimpy.
Yesterday afternoon Chili and I watched a baby bobcat hunting in what used to be Chili’s territory, along the edge of our meadow. This morning the house smells a little like skunk, and we’re watching bird feeder videos together. I just saw a chipmunk stuff an entire unshelled peanut into its mouth.