Quote from my Mother: “I’m Doing Two of my Favorite things: Drinking and Swinging!”

This was told to Jill while my Mother was on the front porch sipping a Manhattan and swinging on the front porch swing at the house in Ogunquit.

So here we are in Maine…I know I’ve been a bad little blogger so I will give an update on the progress this past week.

Fortunately I have continued to heal very well. I have thought at times this past week the pain management reminds me of the beginning of a Dickens’ novel – it’s been both “the best of times and the worst of times.” Percoset is really the Holy Grail of Pain Meds. Those were gone by the first weekend. Next, the viocoden – except it really does not provide the same magic. The good news is I’ve done so well with healing, that by this time I am off all prescription meds right now and have moved on to OTC Motrin. Wish me luck with that!

The swelling has decreased significantly and in fact, if you didn’t know me well, you may think this is normally what I look like. I still have swelling around the incisions, and my bottom lip and chin are still numb.

I’m trying to do my best of moving beyond the “nursing home diet” of butternut squash, creamed spinach, and mashed potatoes, but it is still hard to eat. Of course I have had many wonderful soups, broths, etc but I’d love to be able to chew and have one of the wonderful soft, fresh, lobsters that everyone keeps eating around me. Mom and I did scarf down fresh angel hair pasta with a jar of Ragu last night. After not eating for a week it was scrumptious! I’m mildly embarrassed to admit we devoured the entire package! Ooops.

Now, to entertain you:

The other night I went to wash my face with a spray on cleanser they gave me at the hospital. While in Good Sam’s, I quite enjoyed it as it was quick and soft and made a nice lather. I thought while healing I would stick with this until I was well then switch back to my regular Clinique face soap. When I got to Maine and have become far more cognoscente as compared to when I was in the hospital, so I decided to read about my new happy face cleanser. Especially since I had thought it had said “Face” cleanser on it, but now that some of the drugs have worn off, I see I was mistaken – instead it has this word I don’t recognize, “Perineal.” It does say its Ph balanced, which is good, right? And that the cleanser is for “sensitive skin” which is on your face, right? I decided to read the back of the bottle, which reads, “…skin cleansing with ingredients designed to dissolve fecal soils resulting from incontinence.”

I was washing my face with butt cleaner!

The weather has been beautiful and Mom and I have made several trips to the beach. We had a wonderful visit from Kim and Ryan from home (NY State), although it was much too short. Thanks also to Jill for bringing me up here last Sunday! I’m so glad she was able to stay and hang out up here for a day. This evening, I am looking forward to seeing my old friend Justin from back in my NYC days…

I’ll sign off now but just say that Dr. Ferraro has been very pleased with the results thus far. Wait until you see me!

Love,
Heather