Yin and Yang

According to  many early philosophers, there are always good things and there are bad things but in the long run they even out and life as a whole has a median of null.

Then there are those who say "hey you think this is bad? Ha! Just wait"

Then the idiots I've known who say "If your god brought you to it, s/he will bring you through it."

This week was somewhere in the above.

 Last Friday, my wife of 43+ years had the opportunity to experience rotator cuff surgery. The doctor who performed the operation is a very wise and experienced man who had originally thought it may take about an hour or so. Well, friends, he found so much damage in that area, he was working for almost three hours to clean up and fix up all that needed fixing up. We were sent home with her left arm immobilized in a supportive contraption designed for someone about 2/3rds her girth. There is a myriad of velcro type fasteners to hold it together. I think it was modeled after some middle ages torture device. But she got a wonderful set of medications that helped her pass out and not be aware of the painful experience she was involved in.

My job is to make sure there is ice in the bucket for the circulator machine. I also get to massage her arms and legs as necessary (and it is always necessary). I am also to prepare the food, clean up afterwards, and do all the other stuff I normally do.

Yesterday (this falls under the second statement above), we had a quick lunch at a favorite restaurant and came home to nap. At about four in the afternoon, I thought I was in an episode of "Alien". My gut was wrenching, my bowels exploding, my stomach was threatening to regurgitate everything I had eaten in the past week. I will assume it was some sort of food poisoning. And of course, the wife was going through the same stuff. After the initial onrush of symptoms, our systems settled down a bit, but she was having a distress attack. She decided that I should sleep on the couch so I could be right next to her if she needed me. So I tried to sleep on the couch. There is no way on god's green earth that I can get comfortable enough to sleep on that couch. I passed out for an hour or two only to wake with the feeling that Hulk Hogan had just slammed my back on a very hard mat. After going through the get her comfortable routine, I just went to my bed.    And slept for almost ten hours.

My grandson who lives with us has been having trouble sleeping at night. On Thursday, I took him to the doctor who gave home medication for an ear infection. He said it should also clear up the drainage problems and the stuffy nose.  Because he can't sleep, his mother can't get the sleep she needs. Even though he is the happiest little guy in the house, he gets loud and miserable when he can't sleep. The daughter is also massive miserable because she has to teach 120 ungrateful little turds how to read and understand the English language. Well, not all are ungrateful, but there are a couple of sniveling little bitches who will not do the work and then report back to their moms events of such hyperbolic exaggeration that not even on her worst day on earth could they happen. But you know who the moms believe.

On the plus side, whatever channel my wife is watching is airing reruns of "Hart to Hart" all day long. These are playing as she sleeps in her new recliner, covered with ice packs. This does mean that I am unable to watch any college football, but I'm not really following anyone this early in the year. The first few game are normally BIG ENORMOUS vs itty bitty. And we all know how those turn out, don't we. But I get to catch up on the shows I missed back in the seventies and watch to see if Robert Wagner or Stephanie Powers ever get their perfect hair messed up. Of course there will be "Murder, She Wrote", "Colombo", "Diagnosis Murder", "CHiPs", "Emergency", and I'm sure many many more that we used to watch back when we were young.

Well, I hope the paint is dry on the box I am building for my other grandson. I figured to piant it before assembly to make sure I got a good coating on everything.

Until next time......

Trapped

My wife just had shoulder surgery because of torn ligaments and rotator cuff problems. This means that she is medicated every six hours to help ease the pain from the procedure. It was an arthroscopic surgery, which means there are four tiny slits on her left shoulder where the surgeon entered her skin and used little instruments to either cut, trim, reattached or sew together whatever he could to repair the new damage and alleviate the old non-repairable stuff.

She is now home in her new recliner, with an electric motor, under several ice packs, trying to tolerate the pain associated with having a brace and sling attached to her torso.

An interjection here: I was going to comment on her reaction to and frustration with the discomfort. There have been tears and yelling and sobbing. Adjustments to the harness, adjustments to the pillows and padding, changing out the icepacks. Get that pill, no that one, can I have my pain pill early, okay, then when?

But then I recalled the incident of a knee flare-up on my part. Might have been gout, maybe not. The doctor wasn't totally convinced either way. But I made a fuss every time I had to sit down or stand up or get in my truck. It freakin' hurt! So I guess I am meaning to say we are all wusses when it comes to pain tolerance.

But she is still a drama queen.

Now, because she is limited in activity and ability to do certain things, like get out of her aforementioned power chair, or adjust whatever needs adjusting with her left arm and hand, I am here with her to help. This also involves food preparation, clean up, medication dispersal, laundry, grandson care, letting dogs in and out, washing her legs and feet for her comfort, watching the chick flicks she is addicted to (not all, but several), deflecting phone calls from both concerned parties and telemarketers, rubbing where it hurts and "other duties as assigned".

I am sort of trapped. I can go places, but only within a short distance and for a limited time. This time on the computer is while she is sleeping.

By the way, I tried to get this time off as Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) unpaid leave. he requirements were that you have over one year with the company and have worked at least 1250 hours in the past 12 rolling months. I have 1226 hours of paid time. I was gone almost all of December, with the lady who is now medicated n the living room, on a trip to Europe that a lot of people could only wish they could take. I may have written half a blog earlier about that. Part 2 never got published. SO. I am 24 hours of paid time short of the requirement. I have now put in that I am taking all my accrued personal time as well as my remaining vacation time. To be honest, I really had no other plans for that vacation time, other than being here when my son and his wife came to visit around Thanksgiving time. But still, after almost 26 years with the company.......

We saw the doctor yesterday and he showed us photos of what he did. I am amazed, given that his hands are almost as big as mine, that he could perform such micro surgery with such wonderful accuracy. The next step in all of this would be "Waldoes" much like the Robert Heinlein story in the book Waldo & Magic, Inc. Interesting reading, seeing as how it was imagined over 50 years ago. You need to look it up, and maybe even read the book.

Of course, no one ever reads this stupid blog anyway, so nevermind.

Oops, the wounded wife has awakened, I must go.