The Daily Rave

[rosarugosa]

That is wonderful, Catherine! I know how much you love your DH, so hopefully this will mean more healthy years together for you!

[nswef]

Catherine, I'm so happy for you and your husband!

[catherine]

Thank you all. We feel either lucky or blessed to be where we are right now, and no matter what happens in the future, I hope that when the time comes, we can gracefully accept that, too. Life is good.

[SiouzQ.]

Sixteen days since surgery that I finally slept better, woke up feeling much more refreshed and had about six hours in which I really felt like my old self! I got some stuff done that was lingering on my desk and made my PT appointments for September and October.

I have to go back to St. Louis in exactly two weeks for my one month follow-up appointment.

It's a little hard to see progress on a day-to-day basis but on the whole, things are looking up. I still have a bit of pain and weird numbness, which is to be expected for quite a long time but my range of motion in my left arm and shoulder is improving with the gentle stretching exercises I have to do 2 -3 times a day. And with being on the extremely low-fat diet I have so far maintained the 6 lb weight loss. After riding in the car with K. yesterday to go to Santa Fe to run errands, I realized that I'm not quite ready to be driving myself. I can't quite turn my head enough in either directon to feel safe while driving. I also still tire very easily.

[iris lilies]

Sixteen days since surgery that I finally slept better, woke up feeling much more refreshed and had about six hours in which I really felt like my old self! I got some stuff done that was lingering on my desk and made my PT appointments for September and October.

I have to go back to St. Louis in exactly two weeks for my one month follow-up appointment.

It's a little hard to see progress on a day-to-day basis but on the whole, things are looking up. I still have a bit of pain and weird numbness, which is to be expected for quite a long time but my range of motion in my left arm and shoulder is improving with the gentle stretching exercises I have to do 2 -3 times a day. And with being on the extremely low-fat diet I have so far maintained the 6 lb weight loss. After riding in the car with K. yesterday to go to Santa Fe to run errands, I realized that I'm not quite ready to be driving myself. I can't quite turn my head enough in either directon to feel safe while driving. I also still tire very easily.

How was your airplane/airport experience going back home? I hope it wasn’t too miserable.

I find flying to be pretty miserable even under the best of circumstances.

[SiouzQ.]

It went better than I expected, but it wasn't great. I had a full-body patdown at the St. Louis airport because I told TSA I wouldn't be able to lift my left arm. The woman who did it was very professional but it was quite invasive. It is so silly to think that this 62 year old with greying hair would ever be considered a threat by TSA but that's the world we live in post-911.

I basically took as many painkillers as I needed to that day, so I was a bit zoned out - it was the only way to do it. By the 2nd flight from Minneapolis to Albuquerque I was just really, really dying to be home.

Of course since yesterday went so well, I am paying for it today. Recovery is going to exactly like that - two steps forward, one step back. I am mentally prepared.

[happystuff]

Good to hear there is healing progress, SiouzQ, even if it is "two steps forward, one step back." Continued good luck and healing energies out to you.

[iris lilies]

It went better than I expected, but it wasn't great. I had a full-body patdown at the St. Louis airport because I told TSA I wouldn't be able to lift my left arm. The woman who did it was very professional but it was quite invasive. It is so silly to think that this 62 year old with greying hair would ever be considered a threat by TSA but that's the world we live in post-911.

I basically took as many painkillers as I needed to that day, so I was a bit zoned out - it was the only way to do it. By the 2nd flight from Minneapolis to Albuquerque I was just really, really dying to be home.

Of course since yesterday went so well, I am paying for it today. Recovery is going to exactly like that - two steps forward, one step back. I am mentally prepared.

You sound realistic about the two steps forward, one back, healing process.

[rosarugosa]

We have a hummingbird visiting us regularly each morning! For some reason, I've never been able to attract them to a feeder, but I'm trying to grow many of their favorite plants, and that is turning out to be more successful. She thoroughly works over the coral honeysuckle that's on an arbor right outside our back window. She also likes the cardinal flowers growing right beside it. Just outside our front door, we have salvias that she enjoys, 'Skyscraper' and 'Amistad.' I bought the 'Amistad' largely because there was a hummingbird enjoying it at the garden center - a great advertisement! We also have a lot of firecracker plants 'Vermillionaire,' and next year we will have scarlet beebalm (only little baby plants this year).

[Klunick]

We have a lot of wildlife come for a visit. Deer, raccoons, possums, foxes, coyotes, feral cats/kittens, and even a groundhog once in a while. I am forever looking out a window if I happen to go past one just to see if anyone is out there. I think I have as many deer pictures on my phone as I do of my two indoor cats (which I take a lot of pictures of btw).