Day 4: Feminine again

Day 4 started with a jolt of pain and a visit from my surgical fellows at around 6:30 am. I wasn't sleeping in the bed any longer and had moved to the straight back chair. My leg was about 20 on a scale of 1 to 10 so I could not manage the bed and one of them arranged to send me off for a DVT ultrasound on my leg, just in case.

My lovely care aid from yesterday remembered our conversations and came to bathe me first in the morning. So nice to feel refreshed.

I was told the reason some of the nurses did not know the protocols on the spinal ward was due to the fact that it was coming onto a holiday weekend...Canadian Thanksgiving...so all the senior nurses were able to take the week off and get an extra day off for their vacation time. A lot of the nursing staff present, were working with us on Overtime. They came in from other wards and were not always familiar with the ways of the ward.

That explained some of the weird things that had happened so I breathed a little easier knowing this. My doctor dropped by and OK'd me to have a shower. I was not expecting that until tomorrow so it was a real surprise. The nurse volunteered that I had already had a sponge bath and I quickly blurted out that I didn't mind having both...I could force myself to take that shower! hahahaha Ya... right! Even the surgeon smiled!

I knew where the towels and facecloths were, I had found them on my ski poling expeditions out into the ward so off I went.  I only needed a waterproof dressing applied over my incision bandages..

The joy of washing my hair properly with real shampoo was such a treat. I let the water get quite warm and felt like it was going to turn my day around! For the first time, I put on makeup and tried to style my hair a bit with some sculpting mud. I never knew a hairstyle and a bit of lippy could feel so feminine!

A dear friend came to visit that afternoon and we had a great natter and catch up. She lives in a lovely part of the city itself and I worked with her for many years. Over the years, we shared a variety of departments and so it was always fun to catch up on what the other girls were doing now.

The ultrasound was clear and I am one lucky monkey...

A sponge bath, a shower, a good friend visiting and good news all in the same day. What more could a girl ask for!!!

My next card is another type of hand made card. My husbands sister who lives in America came to visit. She takes photos and makes them into cards. She often sells them at the craft fairs in her area.

Her choice of a lighthouse was so apt.  This operation is allowing me to regain the steerage of my life. I am learning to be a bit riskier and push myself a little harder to get better each day. Each day, my job is to go a little farther than the day before. Add a little more variety, than the day before.  When you push like that, there can be danger to do too much. The lightouse  is my husband and he is there, beaming through the mist,  to help me steer right now, and guide me...and be counted on.