Days Nine and Ten: Blending In

Yesterday was Day Nine and I felt much better. My walk took a shorter amount of time and I kept moving (albeit slowly) the whole day without much pain or problem. I feel more confident that I am on the road to recovery. I also talked to my mom for a long time. Sometimes when we talk, it’s more of an “mmm-hmmm, mmm-hmmm” conversation, but yesterday we really got all up into talking, and it was a real treat to be able to take the time and not feel pressured…even though she kept asking, “I can tell you’re doing something, what is it?” When I would tell her (laundry, putting away dishes, etc.), she would protest and tell me to sit down, I was just like my father.

Here’s a funny story about my father. I call him, “the man in motion” because he always is. He’s either cooking, tidying, working in his garden, or doing his train (he’s a trainiac and his model trains have infected our entire basement). One day, he had a medical test where something was inserted near his heart to monitor it. The doctor told him he had to take it easy or the thingie could move and he could die. My mom set him up in the living room and then went to do something. The next thing she heard was the vacuum cleaner. After she gave him the business and settled him back down, she went off to do something else. “Tck, tck, tck” she heard…he was wet mopping the kitchen floor. She gave him the business again and he promised he would sit still. Off she went only to hear, a few minutes later, the dustbuster going…she arrived on the scene to find him bent over (naturally) in order to tidy up some crumbs he had spied from the sofa. She told him he was going to give her a heart attack if he didn’t stop.

Day Ten is today. For the first time since my surgery, I got out of bed early. Sleep is still not coming easily, but still, I didn't like to get up so early! I went to my post-operative appointment with my surgeon and after he and I discussed how I’d been feeling (all very normal, and he suggested I take Benadryl for sleeping—duh, I should have thought of that), he said he had gotten the pathology (!) report back from the lab, and that my gallbladder had been not only inflamed, but acutely inflamed. I don’t know what the difference is between the two, but he was even more confident this would solve all my pain issues and that makes me very, very happy.

When I came back, I decided to take a nap, but couldn’t sleep, so instead I watched the rest of “Downton Abbey” which is magnificent! Mr. Collins, who knew you could be a romantic figure? And I’ve heard a second series is in the works. Excitement!