Yesterday afternoon I had my post-op appointment. I'm coming along fine. My stitches are just beginning to fall out, and there's no sign of infection. If you've never had dissolvable stitches in your mouth, my experience has been that they don't simply disappear. They dissolve in spots along the thread, then short lengths fall out. It will feel like a loose thread hanging inside my mouth. Often, if I simply do a salt water rinse, that short length of thread will fall out. I've just begun losing bits. My surgeon tells me that these stitches typically take between 7 and 14 days to completely dissolve. After my last procedure, it took about 10 or 12 days before those thread bits stopped falling out. TMI, I know.
Anyway, I'm very gradually resuming some of my workload around the house.
Today I managed to work in the garden in three brief spurts for a total of about 45 minutes over the course of the day. I transplanted some more petunias to some pots, collected viola seeds, mulched the potatoes beds with grass clippings, did a little watering, and harvested a large container of lettuce to be used in the next couple of days. That was it for me. Yesterday I harvested a bunch of turnips, washed them, bagged the roots and leaves to use in meals this week, and chopped and froze the stems to use in stir fry meals next fall and winter.
I also spent some time just inspecting everything outdoors. The strawberries are ripening quickly. The marigolds are growing and looking great. We lost a couple of cucumber plants, but I had planted extra, just in case. We should be good. We have a bird nesting in a hanging basket. We are trying not to disturb the little family, but I spied the basket swaying a little (on a very still day), and one daughter said she could hear tiny squawks. Although I feel like I missed a week of summer life, nature allowed some of our trees to flower just a little late. Two of our dogwoods are in full bloom this week, about 2 weeks later than usual.
After my little bursts of garden attendance, I went out to the mailbox for the first time in just over a week. Yikes! That was a lot of mail. I paid the bills and discarded the junk mail. It feels good to catch up on ordinary chores.
Bit by bit I'm getting back into the swing of things. What's been going on in your week?
When you've been sick, it does feel good to get back to everyday things, doesn't it? That was not TMI. We are happy that you are sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteYes, it does feel good. It seems to be part of the healing process to be able to resume regular life.
Oh good. I was a bit afraid that I'd overshared.
These are all signs that healing is happening! Take time and don't get yourself too overwhelmed with stuff.
ReplyDeleteOther news, we visiting our daughter, son in law, and new grandson. 2.5 weeks early, emergency c-section, a short NICU stay, otherwise pretty healthy.
Alice
Hi Alice,
DeleteThat is about the happiest news I've heard all day!!! Healthy baby and healthy mama are what matter. Wishing you a wonderful visit with your new grandson, Grandma! Babies are such a blessing in this life. Thank you so much for sharing this good news, Alice.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Alice!! How exciting to welcome your new grandson. Glad he and your daughter are doing fine.
Lili, wonderful that your surgery incision is healing well and you're gaining strength every day.
We're in a short lull before having to babysit our son's three dogs for 18 days while the family goes on their summer trip to Japan. We already have a dog on our property (grandson's), so there will be four. One of the dogs is very old and needs special care. The other two dogs are still puppies so we're not sure how they will behave. We were going to watch only Ollie, the old dog, but I felt we could save them the $1200 boarding fee by watching all three. We are unsure how our grandson 's large dog will interact with the puppies so we will divide up the property. It will be a three ring circus literally, and we're preparing contingency scenarios. Today we will set up the puppy area on our deck, install temporary fences, and tomorrow we will do last minute shopping. We plan to be housebound until they return. We don't have meal plans but we've been stocking up. My husband agreed to this reluctantly. He thinks it's not doable, but I'm an optimist. I'm going to forgo my crafting and be on dog watch 24/7 since it was through my insistence. Our son lost a $200 nonrefundable deposit since he didn't think we could watch the puppies, but now will save over a grand after tax. That will help buy the little extras on a trip.
Have a beautiful rest of your day,
Laura
Hi Laura,
DeleteOh my! You are going to have your hands full for a couple of weeks. But what a wonderful thing you're doing for your son and his family. Those doggies will be happy to be in your home, too, and not at a boarding facility. I think all of your thoughtful planning and organization will pay off, Laura. You seem to have a good sense of what will work best. Will your grandson be around to help out at all? I will be thinking good thoughts and praying for you that all goes well and that this turns out to be a joyful experience. Good luck with the rest of your preparations. And I also hope your son and his family enjoy their vacation in Japan. Keep us posted on all of the puppy antics!
Lili, thank you for your uplifting words. I am looking forward to the doggies, but it will be a handful. We watched Ollie last year for 3 weeks. It was his firsme with us and took about two weeks before he accepted being abandoned. It's not possible to communicate with a dog that his family will see him again. This is another reason I want to watch the other two puppies at our house, so Ollie will be less sad. He's nearly a centurion in dog years we think, so anything we can do to keep his spirits up will help.
DeleteOur grandson is hardly home working long hours, but he mentioned to call him when the dogs arrive so he can be there. Hopefully they will get along.
Laura
Congrats on the grandbaby, Alice! :)
ReplyDeleteLili, it sounds like you are progressing well. Since I work in patient care, I don't easily get queasy with people sharing medical information. It might be helpful for someone else to know your experience, if they have to go through something similar.
Our week hasn't been quite what we were anticipating. There were really bad storms with straight-line winds earlier this week and at one point, 50% of the roads in my county were closed due to storm damage. Somehow we never lost power through the whole experience, but I think we were the exception. I haven't heard of anyone I know who had major damage to their home, but I know there are a lot of people struggling with the aftermath of the storm. That's been our excitement around here.
Hi Kris,
DeleteThank you for your support on my mouth stuff. What you said is why I've shared as much as I have. It really helped me deal with losing a tooth and going through the process of getting an implant by hearing from other people about their experience. Just last month, as I was sitting in the dentist's chair having a crown seated, the person in the cubicle next to mine was talking about her husband's tooth extraction, sinus lift/bone graft procedure and now the implanted tooth. So often, people keep these details of their lives hidden. So when it happens to us, we feel we're the only one to have to go through this.
I hadn't heard of the storms in your area. (Of course, I've been out of the loop for stuff going on around the nation lately.) I'm glad that no one you know had any serious damage, and glad you didn't lose power. My prayers are that those who's homes were damaged will be surrounded by helpful and caring people. Hopefully summer will settle in for a nice calm few months in your area. When the roads were closed was that because of trees on the road? That sounds like a very big storm system to close half the roads.
Yes, trees and power lines were across the roads. Our weather probably didn't merit national attention, and because the winds were straight-line winds rather than tornados, I'm not sure that the news takes as much notice. It's so odd how some areas were hit really hard and others were minimally touched throughout our county. The roads are mostly open now, but I feel badly for the people with house/car damage. It will be a long road for them.
DeleteI'm an advocate of people sharing the nitty gritty of what happens to them in medical procedures (obviously, in a tasteful manner). I find that I am less fearful if I feel like I know what I'm getting into, and I prefer the honesty. My dad had prostate cancer and had surgery for it, and he was scared and felt some shame about it ..... but afterwards, other men with similar issues sought him out to ask him questions. He told them how he coped with different issues. I was proud of him for that.