First week

I had the staples holding my right buttock together removed on Monday.  I had visions of the doctor wielding a large magnet to suck the staples out,  after the fashion of Grinchy Claus  taking down the Who's stockings down in Whoville. Somehow that seemed more plausible in my mind than the use of  office staple removers like the ones I use at work on stacks of paper.  Nor, use of a wire cutter to cut the things in half and needle nose pliers to pull each half out of the skin.   Neither vision was correct, and in the end it was a medtech, not the doc, nor even a nurse that removed them and it was entirely painless.  Another example that  worrying is like paying a debt that you don't owe.

I am up at 6am today because Tina called around 5am from Dale's crew vehicle somewhere near Parker, AZ to check whether there was gasoline at Salome or Congress.  Dale is riding the RAAM course faster than he did RAW last year.  I think she called me by mistake.  But I heard the call because I was awake, the vicodin having worn off from the night before, the right hip  aching something fierce.  It was good to have something useful to do.  Regretably I cannot accept epic games of Shoots and Ladders as constituting useful work, although of all the activities available to me at the present, playing games with my kids should be the top priority and is ultimately most useful.

Its Wednesday and I have been home from the hospital one week now.  I can move my leg much better than 1 week ago.  When I arrived at home, I could not slide my heel towards my butt while laying flat on bed at all. Now its no problem.  I couldn't previously lift my right leg up in that position-  again, now its no problem.    It still hurts a great deal if my right leg rotates inwards  as for example it would if I slept on my left side.   There is a pretty constant dull ache.

I am using less vicodin than before.  This is good since it seems to screw up my mood and memory.  Under the influence of the prescribed vicodin,  I entered my SSAN incorrectly on a state on-line form last week.  Incomprehensible.  Also, extremely difficult to correct.  It cannot be done on-line.  However there is a help-desk number.  Great!  And so I have spend several hours on the phone navigating voice menu systems to get to the desired operator help line only to get the message "the maximum number of callers has been reached.  Please hang up and try calling at a different time".  This sort of experience should be required for anyone in favor of universal, government run health care system.  Sit while in pain and navigate a government computerized phone menu system, only to be timed out again and again.  Then go out and preach government health care.  I should think that news of 12 month waits at the VA would clue people in, but hey?  I am just  a neanderthal.

OK enough of the sour attitude.  I resolve to do something fun with kids today.

Chocolate covered bacon

A few days ago I made such a resolution and the outcome was:  Chocolate covered bacon.  Fabulous. Today I will continue soap carving with my young son, which we began yesterday.