More assistive capers

 The view from the sofa

Complete with leg strap which is the only way I can raise that leg onto the sofa today.

Nice night, sleeping well. Then it got to four thirty am, dark,  and sleeping was done. I'm sleeping on the sofa for a couple of nights until I get the go ahead to do the full flight of stairs to the second floor and my bedroom.

Handsome Son and I had an awful struggle to remove the compression socks last night as instructed, but this morning he got them back on me like an expert, easy.  Great relief to us both.

And I'm getting the hang of things -- exercises, breathing with a measuring thingie, and five minutes walking once an hour.  That part is fine.

The bit that now feels funny but didn't then, was when I first woke, decided to organize my many medications that came home with me, and were in a heap on the dining table.

They came with a chart of when and how and why and how long to take them. My not quite returned post-op brain had a struggle but eventually figured out the morning doses.

Some of them go on for many days, some are my established meds I know, some are taken as needed. It takes a three credit course to sort it, so I planned to calculate the last days to take these various pills, then enter them on my phone calendar. 

At that point I dropped the phone under the table. And I had to cross the room for the grabber. Tried to pick up the phone for maybe twenty minutes, like catching a live fish in your hand.

So I thought maybe the dressing stick hooky end might help, Walker and I went off to the hallway to get the dressing stick. 

Got hold of it and instantly knocked down the grabber to the floor. I can't safely bend, so with both grabber and dressing stick on the floor, I tried to loop the wriststrap of Carol Cane, lucky she was there,  around a hook of the dressing stick. Many times, no luck.

Finally retrieved the grabber with Carol's help, and the dressing stick using the grabber. Then I returned to the table where it all started, realizing I still didn't have the phone. This meant I couldn't text peacefully sleeping Handsome Son upstairs.  He'd never hear me call.

So another titanic struggle took place and finally  I got Carol Cane's wriststrap looped around the phone with the helpful edge of the rug lifting the phone enough for the grabber to seize her firmly and finally land the slippery little customer.

At this point it was getting on for six am, getting light, and I was exhausted. And the phone battery was nearly down. Another Walker Two-step to plug it in. 

Back to the sofa to read about bees. After a foray to the kitchen to get a glass of water and a snack to go with the morning pills.

Handling assistive equipment isn't for the fainthearted. All ended well though this was an unexpected expenditure of energy. 

And I was able to message Handsome Son to bring some things I needed downstairs. It's odd to message in the house, but it worked. I keep realizing I need things from upstairs and can't yet go get them.

Dear Emil texted this morning to ask how the first overnight home had gone, and I said fine, all's well. Meaning now all's well! I may recount the comedy of errors when I see him Tuesday.  Or I may be glad to forget it!

Lasagna for lunch, to recoup my strength.

Happy day everyone, hang onto your phone and your wits.

Sometimes you're the little fuzzy one, sometimes you're the bear. I may have found a way to be both.

Colder, but fields of daisies rule

 

Any field of flowers is good for a person's spirits, and too much of a good thing is wonderful!

Handsome son visiting today with a med he picked up for me, and while he's here I'll give him sugar cookies, tea and a request to assemble a tub bench to make it easier for me to shower. It's the kind you slide across, instead of stepping into the tub.

Here's the bench installed 

And Handsome Son assembling the handheld showerhead, ready to install it

Quite a few of the extras I've had to buy because of surgery are in fact going to be generally useful anyway. I'm already using the hip kit items, and I imagine I'll be glad of the tub bench long after I heal.  So it's more long-term, really.

I'm thinking about shopping for seeds, in the hope I'll be able to do the flower containers again. I have potting soil and containers. Maybe by mid May I can do that. We'll see.  

Happy day everyone! Make stuff, resist, enjoy!

Self care in a time of high anxiety

The next couple of days are about keeping my nerves in order by watching favorite Trollope productions with great actors 

While sipping on the new favorite, oat milk with honey.

And future, winter,  self care involves these 

Artisan made, Somerset Designs, suede slipper soles, with fleece lining. You can get a pattern and knit socky things to attach, holes already punched. But I have another thought, which is to attach them to current handknit socks to make slippers a different way. If it works, it will probably cut down on darning. Either way, happy customer here.

She has a range of leather items, worth checking out.  No, she isn't monetizing this shout-out, I just like the quality and prompt shipping and correct color, size, all that. 

About Carol thee Cane, I have to admit it was bit difficult to acknowledge I needed to try it.  

Our house is a testament to the gradual decline of Handsome Partner into almost total paralysis. From the portable ramp, often lent in recent years to people for visitors, to grab bars everywhere, bathrooms, entryway, staircase, the shower stool in both upstairs bathrooms, currently used to hold stacks of towels. Then there's Carol Cane, a walker and a transport wheelchair.  I kept everything for lending where needed, and now I find I'm needing the cane to help me walk. I do use the bathroom grab bars though.

So, not an easy decision, because it may be the new normal. Then I found it helpful. And I thought well, this body is doing a terrific job, all these old parts still ticking over nicely, getting to do things I like. So it's okay to get a bit of help where needed. As for Ruth and Laura, the journey to actually saying okay I'll try this, was fairly long. 

But considering how many of my contemporaries, those still around, that is, have all kinds of aftermarket parts installed, I'm doing fiiine! 

And here's a great passage from Padraig O'Tuama, Irish poet, whose newsletter I read. That's exactly why I write about food in this blog, sometimes with recipes, often not, just to add a connection point with you, and invite yours in return. I think people who wouldn't dream of cooking what I do, especially the multi ingredient multi stage recipes, still like to know someone does.

Meanwhile, breathe