An Update and Christmas Wishes

It's been a week and a half since my surgery, and it's time to get online and give all of you an update. First of all, thanks to all of you for your good thoughts and prayers my way. As it turns out, evidently somewhere along the line the MRI was misread, and the tear in the rotator cuff wasn't nearly as severe as they feared. So my time in the sling is not 5 weeks (as a matter of fact, I'm out of it right now as I type to you), and I'm beginning exercises now to get back in shape. I've still got a steep road of rehab in front of me, but it's not nearly as bad as we all thought.

Richard, in his own unique way, decided to document my surgery for me and for everyone. Here I am pre-op, waiting to go in: He said the thermometer on my forehead indicated I was about "medium rare" at this point. The incredibly cute sheep (dubbed "Lambie Pie" by Horace, my mom's minister, who was there with us to stay with my mom and who is an incredibly good guy all around) is a gift from DF Andy, who saw it and knew it had to come live with me -- when you pet it, it moves and "baaaa"s.

What the thermometer didn't indicate was the thundering migraine I woke up with that morning. At the time this picture was taken, it was about 11:15, and they had promised someone would be in with something for it. Notice the smile. That's because I believed them. At 12:30 when they came to get me, I still hadn't seen anyone, and the smile had turned to tears. When the nurse in the holding area said she was sorry I was so upset, I calmly explained that my head was about to pound off, that I had (if she would look at my record) a history of migraine, and they had *promised* someone would be there to give me something. At which point the anesthesiologist showed up, and I explained that were I home, I had Imitrex I would have taken that would have taken care of it, to which he replied: "Well, you should have gone ahead and taken it."

What??? Am I the only person on earth who understands what "Nothing by mouth after midnight" means?? Hel-lo?? Am I crazed to not want to mix drugs when they're giving me **more** at the hospital???

I was quite proud of not decking him with my good arm. Besides, he was the one in control of the narcotics at that point.

So they put some combo of something in the IV that caused a nice nap, and when I woke up, I looked like this:Admittedly, not my best moment. Give me points for actually publishing this. Most people have destroyed all pictures that look like they've been on a 3 day bender. Mine was only a 3 hour one.

So, recovery is going pretty well. I can get my arm up over my head (bringing it down is a new adventure in pain), and while I had hoped to avoid PT, I'm afraid that I'm resigned to the fact that I'm going to have to do it. I still can't stitch -- pulling the needle through the fabric moves the shoulder too much and is painful, but I've found that I can hold the arm stationary and knit a bit. To that end, I give you two completed projects: My first knitted dishcloths, which I have given to my mom. I'm starting to like knitting dishcloths.... got some yarn and a pattern for a Dale Jr #88 cloth to work on over the holidays. The dishcloths are relatively low concentration and quick gratification, so they're what my attention span craves these days.

Before the surgery I finished this baby sweater for my friend Toni's daughter's little one who is scheduled to make his/her debut in January:The parents elected not to know the sex of the child before it was born, but both of them went to UGA. At great personal cost, this die-hard Georgia Tech alumna knit a red and black Bulldog sweater to please them. *sigh* The sacrifices we make for friends, eh?? :)

Richard, Oscar and I are ensconced at my mom's here on Christmas Eve. We'd like to wish all of you who celebrate as we do a very Merry Christmas. To the rest of you, may you have a happy and safe holiday season.

I hate whiny people....

....but I fear I'm about to become one.

It's been one of those days. I'm trying to get a ton of things done before surgery next week. One of the things on my list was to get a business license for our new business location in Woodstock. Being the good little researcher I am, I pulled up "Cherokee County Business License" on the web (being that Woodstock is located in Cherokee County) and it told me I needed to go to Canton. So off I went. Circled the administrative complex a few times before finding a parking spot and went in to talk to the helpful people there only to find out...

...I was in the wrong spot. Evidently our new business address is within the city limits of Woodstock, so I needed to go to the Woodstock city hall to get the license. Back in the Hummer I go to Woodstock city hall, only to find out....

...I was still in the wrong spot. You get a business license in Woodstock down the road near the fire station in some other building. Back in the Hummer I go to this other building where this nice lady says "Oh, you're the one from Creekstone, right?" (Evidently the people in Canton had called ahead.) I'm finally in the right place. We're filling out the application when the very nice lady says "Did you know the state has dissolved your corporation?" WHAT?!?!?!?!!!!

Well, it seems the state didn't send me the paperwork to pay them the lousy $30 dollars I had to pay for corporate registration one year, so they did me the fine honor of deciding I no longer wanted to be incorporated. Keep in mind that this paperwork consists of one easily lost in the incredibly efficient postal system postcard (Remember how in previous posts I said I didn't trust the post office? This is why.).

The nice lady at the business license office took my license application and fees, but explained that it would be held until I straightened this fine mess out. When I got home, I contacted the Secretary of State's office and yes, there's even more paperwork, which I asked them to please expedite because of my operation next week. We'll see.

Well, since the business license office was near The Whole Nine Yarns, I decided to stop by for a short visit. Yeah, I bought yarn. And joined the new sock club. Seemed the prudent thing to do at the time. :) But my day of adventure wasn't over. As I was backing out of my parking space, a young mother lost control of her 2 to 3 year old darling daughter/kid/spawn of Satan who dashed out into the parking place where my MOVING HUMMER was. Trying to see the kid, I did not notice the Honda parked directly behind me (not in a parking space, might I add, and any of you who know that parking lot know that it probably shouldn't have been parked there, but I digress).

Hummer 1, Honda 0.

There was a "K1P1" tag on the Honda, so I guessed the owner was in the yarn shop. Went back in and announced I'd just hit the Honda belonging to a knitter, and I was sorry, but I figured better it than the kid (and curiously enough, that whole family disappeared into thin air after the "crunch"). The lady was very nice about it, and we exchanged insurance info and I called my agent. Not a scratch on the Hummer, BTW. There are certain benefits to driving a street-legal tank.

I figured after that I'd better head home and put my head under the covers. Many of you know that December's not my favorite month. Is today some kind of omen to warn me to reschedule the procedure next week???