Have you ever thrown a bottle (with message) into the sea? I tried doing that when I was a little kid, like 8 or so. I was on the beach in Waveland (or Bay St. Louis - they're right next to each other), Mississippi. I was with my mom and I had a message that I carefully put in a bottle and threw "into the sea." It was actually Bay St. Louis and, since I was just at the end of a pier, the bottle ended up getting washed back up on my shore, not some distant shore. I know this because some other kid found it and wrote back to me! I was mainly disappointed that I didn't get a message from somewhere across the world. And, sad to say, I don't think I responded to his letter. (Hey, I was a doofus 8 year old!)

I've been working at losing weight since last January in order to be eligible for hip replacement surgery. I need both hips done. They are bad enough that I haven't been able to work since last January and I have a really hard time moving around. It sucks.

Anyway, the first surgeon I saw gave me a BMI (body mass index) goal and, before I reached it, he left the practice to move to another state. When I reached that goal I saw the doctor who took over his patients and he let me know that he has a lower BMI requirement. I could have asked to be transferred to a surgeon who would have done it at what I was but I work in the medical field and I understand how BMI can affect surgeries and outcomes so I then worked on reaching that lower goal. I finally did it and my surgery date is June 1st. Left hip to be done first followed by right hip 3 months later.

This past week has involved going to other doctors as part of the pre-surgical work-ups. I had to go to the cardiologist for an EKG and to get a cardiac clearance and I also had to visit my primary care doctor to have a bunch of lab tests ordered and he also needed to provide a surgical clearance. On Tuesday I go in for the blood work and in the last week of May I have a pre-surgery appointment with the surgeon.

The surgery will in-and-out; I will go home the same day. The surgeon wants me to have someone with me 24/7 for the first week. I live alone. I have a Best Son and I have friends willing to help me out. And, while I understand he wants to make sure I have help should I need it if I fall or something, the idea that I need to have someone else with me for a whole week is giving me pause. I am already feeling twitchy at the thought of someone - even a dear friend or Best Son - being in my space for SO LONG. I will be on pain drugs post-surgery so maybe I won't care as much then as I do now.

This won't be my first surgery experience - I had carpal tunnel release done on both hands several years ago. Hip replacement is more involved, though. I'm currently an MR Tech but I trained first as an x-ray tech and I was involved in hip replacement surgeries. They are brutal and involve power tools. I won't be awake for it, of course, but just knowing the process is a little bit nerve-wracking.

Listening

Some podcasts I've listened to this week:

I had said just last week that I was starting to listen to the Renaissance English History Podcast via my podcast app instead of on YouTube but I'm back to listening on YouTube because I don't have to put up with commercials like I do on the podcast app!

Reading

I finished Shadows Linger, the second book in The Black Company series by Glen Cook and have started the third, The White Rose.

In between those 2, I read The Truth of the Aleki, the second novella in the Forever Desert series by Moses Osi Utomi. I have the last book in that series, The Memory of the Ogisi, and I might pause The White Rose and read that since those 2 are library books and have to be returned. This has been such a great fantasy series. It takes place in a Sahara-inspired world and each sequel takes place 500 years after the preceding book. There's a good interview with the author but there are some spoilers, so reader beware.

Watching

I decided to start watching my horde of Babylon 5 movies, starting with In the Beginning. Man, I love B5 but the video quality is potato-like. I can't remember how far I had gotten but I lost my place (shut down the computer and thought for some reason VLC would have my back and save where I was) and haven't gone back yet to figure out where to pick it up again.

Other than that, I think I'm pretty much in between any series I usually watch. Except for All Creatures Great and Small. One of my friends, who also loves the series, said something about us have a girls' night binge watch but that was months ago and I keep forgetting to ask her about it when we see each other. And, I don't want to watch in case she's waiting for me!

Link Lagniappe

On hiatus for this week!

OK, that's about it for this week!

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