a frog with his mouth wide open on the left staring at a disco ball on the right. Above, in pink and white letters ALL PANIC and below in the same colors NO DISCO

I'm still working on my medieval working cats cross stitch project but I'm at a boring point with wide single color borders so I took a little break and stitched up something fun. I think the disco ball would have looked cool with some metallic thread but I do not have any on hand and, also, metallic thread is referred to as "the devil's pubes" on certain cross stitch forums FOR GOOD REASON.

This past Monday I had my left hip replaced. The surgery itself went fine and I was supposed to go home the same day but apparently I do not do well with the anesthetic used in the spinal block. My blood pressure kept crashing and they had to keep me overnight until it stabilized. I felt so sorry for my PACU (recovery room) nurse - it was her day off and she picked up a shift to help out and then got me as a patient. I also felt bad for the physical therapist because we thought I was doing OK, he got me standing and then next thing I know I'm being laid back in the bed and they're putting me in the Trendelenburg position (feet higher than head). I've had patients pass out on me and having to handle sudden deadweight is no fun at all.

For the rest of the day I'd be ok, then my blood pressure would tank, they would elevate my feet and pump me full of fluids, I'd stabilize and then it would happen again. That was so not fun. My blood pressure finally stabilized in the evening, even though it remained low, and I was released the next day after doing a few rounds with the physical therapist and the walker. One of my friends stayed overnight and part of the day with me but I was feeling well enough that I sent her home and had Best Son on standby, just in case I thought I'd need someone with me overnight but I didn't.

I am doing surprisingly well! I am amazed at the lack of pain. I thought it would hurt more just because this was some pretty major surgery. The surgery site initially stung and burned a little which I was told is normal. But my new hip feels just fine. I haven't even had to take any of the oxycodone that was prescribed. Extra-strength Tylenol and an NSAID is doing the job.

The other hip is giving me some trouble - it's twinging a lot and I suspect it might be in part because the operated leg is now 5 mm longer. The doctor said that would happen and that when the right hip is replaced he would match them up but until then I'd be noticing it and hating him for it.

There is no official physical therapy that I have to go through. I have a set of exercises to do 3-5 times a day, I'm supposed to be getting up and walking every hour and elevating the leg and applying ice several times a day. My doctor believes in a thorough recovery between surgeries so the other hip won't be replaced until late summer/early fall.

Listening

Some podcasts I've listened to:

Reading

Last week I had just finished up some novellas and wasn't sure what I was going to pick up next. I ended up picking a couple of books that the Libby app had recommended. Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home by Stephen Starring Grant. You can read about the book on the publisher's site. I enjoyed this story about a man finding out about himself and also reading about the inner workings of our Post Office. I am heartbroken and disgusted at the constant attempts of a certain segment of American politicians to decimate this institution and privatize it for the benefit of a few when this institution was created as a service to the nation. The book doesn't really go into that but that thought was at the back of my mind while reading it.

After I finished that I had another Libby pick, The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong. This was the sweetest, warmest, coziest book I've read in a while! It was SO LOVELY. It's all about a wandering fortune teller, the family she finds and the good she tries to do. This was a standalone book but the author has another book, The Keeper of Magical Things which I'm going to put on my list of books to check out.

I still have some Grace Draven novellas to finish up so I might dive into those next.

Watching

Despite having saved up a lot of TV shows for my convalescence, I haven't really felt the urge to watch them. I think part of that is just because I'm really tired and I'd rather not sleep my way through them. I did manage to stay awake for and watch a movie I'd been interested in seeing for a while, The 13th Warrior, the 1999 movie with a so-very-young Antonio Banderas. It was good fun and I'm glad I finally watched it.

Here's a neat sci-fi short (3 minutes) that I found via one of the blogs I follow, Nag on the Lake: Rebels - "When a group of mining robots flee into the canyons, a powerful crystal gives them a chance to fight back against their oppressive creators."

Link Lagniappe

On hiatus!

OK, that's it for this week!

When I first started using Zonelets I had Disqus set up as a commenting system but it looked obnoxiously ugly and I ditched it. Some people are happy to not have blog interaction but I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts you want to share! You can respond through my guestbook or email. If you found this link on Discord or the 32-Bit Cafe Discourse, you can message me there or leave a message on my Neocities profile page.