Is it possible to go to sleep one person and wake up a completely different one? Ok not completely different. But in certain areas…
You know when someone asks “Are you hungry?” and you respond “I could eat.”? Not anymore dear friends. Now, I find myself entirely disinterested in food. I now realise that I used to feel hungry constantly. Like 24 hours a day. And I thought about eating or not eating ALL the time. I mean, I didn’t eat all the time, I often wouldn’t eat a thing till dinnertime but I was thinking about it, that’s for sure. Now, it barely crosses my mind and I have to be reminded. It’s very liberating. Don’t know if it will continue but that’s today and today is all I’m focussing on.
Changed in other ways too… not quite so amiable. Have had a propensity towards lactose intolerance for years. If you don’t know what that means, well, imagine steadily building gut pain followed by explosive diarrhoea. Too much information? But wait, there’s more! Now I’m the opposite. Goddam surgery has got me backed up like a pair of testicles in a snow storm. They ain’t coming out for nothing. Yes, I’ve swallowed a bucketload of laxative but still nothing damn it! Tonight I’m cracking out the prune juice. Desperate times, people!
And in other physical news, the requisite shoulder pain seems to come and go. I presume as the post-surgical gas builds up the pain increases because as soon as I burp or fart (my husband is loving me right now!), the pain goes away again. Till next time of course.
All things considered, it’s Day 5 post-knife-shenanigans and I feel damn good. Was going massively stir crazy I must say. I’m really not one for staying in the house for any sort of extended period so the lying in bed (only place I could get comfortable) just about killed me. Woke up yesterday morning and told my husband he’s taking me for a walk. Not far, just up to the park behind our house and back again (with a little reading stop in between). But oh, to have the sunlight on my face and to get my legs moving! Heaven!!!!
And, for the first time since surgery, I wanted to read. This is so foreign to me. I am a voracious reader. I read for about an hour a day, every day, no matter what. Since surgery I just can’t engage my brain properly so for the past 4 days I couldn’t bring myself to pick up a book. Or watch an intellectual movie. It was all “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “He’s Just Not that Into You”. That was as much as I could get a handle on. But to pick up a book again and read, in the sun, was so restorative. I feel a thousand times better.
Last night, we even went to the movies. Thank god, for the oh-so-comfy, stretch-out-able armchairs in Gold Class. Inglourious Basterds, you were ok but the cushy chair was even better. The only thing missing was popcorn and a blanket. Can’t have everything I guess!
