Karmic-Dragonfly

Starting a "staycation" for this next week.

I was originally booked to visit college mates in Chicago for a long weekend to kick the vacation off, but a couple weeks ago, I hurt my back! It was my first time with a back injury, so I didn't recognize the warning signs of the first back pain, meaning I kept doing my normal activities. So after some work on the house and a trip walking a trail, taking photos, and doing some rock hopping at the river, that night I was in the worst pain I have ever felt!

It was the kind of pain that you couldn't get comfortable with -- no sleep at all that night. And each time I slipped out of bed to go to the bathroom, I would yelp, and have to stand and hold onto the bed until the pain might subside a bit. Then there was the "crab" walk to the bathroom - bent over, holding onto any support I could get. Finally that night, I pulled out the plastic jug (the "urinal" as it was called) that I received from a surgery years ago. I peed into that plastic jug for the 1st night.

Luckily, things are much better now! I have been to the doctor, who gave me a muscle relaxer and steroid, along with stretching exercises. It is healing, and I'm feeling much better!

To kick off vacation, I made a big breakfast. Southern biscuits are not my speciality, but they taste good!


At least during that last trip to the trail, I got some decent damselfly photos!

I'm now 2 weeks out from starting my Sabbatical and still in the process of decompressing! For the most part, I've been trying to catch up on things around the house that I have been putting off for a long time -- just ordered a replacement for a broken toilet, weeding in the garden, cleaning the house (omg, so much dust!), etc.

I've also been going to local parks as part of a need to increase my physical activity -- I mean really, just how long can I blame the pandemic for my increasing girth?!

I've also been spending more time w/ the camera, something thet makes me happy.




Speaking of the pandemic, one thing I have noticed is an ongoing 'tension' and lack of courtesy around town. These last few years have been hard on everyone. School / grocery store / worship space shootings, wars, viruses, disinformation, inflation, disrespect for established political process, valuing ignorance over education -- the last few years have been rough!

*** Gum surgery with donor (=cadaver) tissue! Things are healing nicely. Sucks getting old. But glad I could get this work done.

*** First neighborhood get-together - I realized I had missed our quarterly meetings.

*** Took a couple days off work and got some house stuff done. And some house stuff made worse off -- I changed the mechanicals in the back of the toilet -- which I have done several times before -- but this time I managed to over-tighten and crack the tank.🙄 So I'm figuring out what to do next to get my downstairs toilet back in shape.

*** Spring flowers have come and gone. The lavender is blooming, but the summer flowers have not really started yet.


*** I want to travel again.

Unless something changes, this will be my last post about the hernia surgery. The wound is healing nicely...and the ridge is starting to flatten out as the wound heals ... and maybe the stitches are starting to dissolve.

Pain is minimal -- just intermittent aching if I turn the wrong way. The wound itches a bit.

I had a virtual follow up appointment last week, and I'm still under the limitation of not lifting more than 20 lbs until end of this month. Interestingly, she wanted to look at the incision, so I pulled my pants waist down and positioned the laptop and myself so she could see.

I drove to a couple of stores within 10 minute drive this past weekend, and it was fine. It was aching some after the last store, and on the drive home. But no real problems.

Looking forward to when the wound is completely healed and I can ignore it!

I just happened to notice last night that probably 80% of the purple bruising is gone! And that is good news! I still have burning in the incision when I get out of a chair, or when I bend certain ways, but that sensation is also moving away from "burning" and more towards "soreness". Although I don't see any swelling, I do think part of my groin is warmer than it normally would be, so I think there's still a bit of swelling.

I woke up this morning with an erection -- also a very positive sign! So I'm definitely on the mend, and I think I will try a short drive tomorrow.

It's the third morning after hernia surgery, and some observations:

Day of Surgery (Day 0):

Surgery was Thursday morning, and I had no pain when I got home. As a matter of fact, the whole area in my groin was completely numb -- I couldn't even feel the freezing cold of the bag of ice, so I had to be careful not to leave the bag in one spot for too long. I learned to position the bag in a way that overlapped the numb area of surgery with a part of me that was not numb, so that I could tell when it was time to move the ice.

Day 1 After Surgery:

So Thursday evening I felt no pain, just numbness, and on Friday I was feeling pretty good! I did a (slow) walk around the block on Friday afternoon to enjoy the warm temperatures, and I walked up and down the many stairs in my house with little problem.

Then...then on Friday evening came the 'incident' (shudder). I was lying on the couch watching TV, and I noticed the need to go to the bathroom. And since I was not in pain, I forgot I was injured. So in a normal fashion, I threw my legs out into the air, and at the same time pushed myself up from the couch. At the same time, I was reaching for my eyeglasses, which had fallen down behind me onto the sofa.

And then it happened: I found myself poised in a V shape with my legs in the air, and my torso off the sofa and my entire weight felt like it was now supported by the incision in my groin! I immediately felt the pain and I let out a deep groan and just sank back into the sofa sort of in shock! It was not a sharp pain, but it was definitely a pain and not pleasant!

It was after this incident that my pain level increased, and I had to carefully time my Ibuprofen to every 4 hours Friday evening.

Day 2 After Surgery:

I became distinctly aware that the soreness had increased Saturday. I rested a lot, and ate lots of ice cream, lol. Ice cream is my go to treat when I'm injured. It may not be the best snack, but it makes me feel better emotionally :)

It was Saturday morning that I noticed the bruising starting. Now, this is going to be 'too much information', but the bruising was NOT where I expected it to be! I thought the bruising would have been in my groin or down my leg or something -- because bruising happens whereever the blood drains.

In reality...the blood seems to have mostly drained into my penis and scrotum (!) -- they both turned a deep red-blue on Saturday! This could have been a natural occurrence, or it might have been related to the incident Friday evening -- hard to tell. I just did NOT expect the blood to drain in that direction! I'm not too worried about it - everything still seems to 'function' properly, and sensation is normal, and no pain. So it just seems to be where the blood decided to drain!

In any event, I continued to recover Saturday and I had great sleep Saturday night.

Day 3 After Surgery:

I have just awakened and had breakfast Sunday morning. I slept great last night, and the soreness is much reduced. I'm still taking the Ibuprofen -- because no reason to take any chances right now!

My intent is to continue to rest, and I would love to get another walk around the block today.

As for the bruising in my penis and scrotum -- that has mostly turned dark purple now, following the normal progression of a bruise. So I'm hoping any bleeding has stopped, and the bruising will start to yellow and then disappear.

The numbness has been going away, although there is still one area that feels numb. I'll post another update soon.

I'm still doing fine "staying at home." Well, mostly. I have had a couple of social times with small groups of friends, and even though we "said" we were social distancing, in reality we were closer than 6 feet. But electronic communication is just not very satisfying. And don't even get me started about the lack of physical touching - whew!


The family has not been meeting at all though -- not for birthdays nor holidays like Mothers Day. I'm not sure when my parents will feel comfortable for face to face encounters -- maybe after restaurants are open for dining in again? But I don't plan to dine in at a restaurant any time soon -- even after they are open, I intend to wait and see how the virus count increases to determine the risk level.

Book club will be having our first Zoom meeting this week.

***
More flowers in the yard have been blooming. The peonies have mostly come and gone now.


And even though I no longer spray roses for black spot (a near necessity for hybrids sadly), a few have been able to stay alive.




***
After making banana bread, I remembered why I don't normally make it. It is so sweet! I suppose there are less sweet recipes, but overall the bread is always sweet, like cake. I froze 1/2 of it so that I didn't eat it all -- but later found that even when frozen, it still cuts just fine. So I have raided the freezer a few times!


***
Being in quarantine and off work has been a lot like retirement for me, so I find myself being concerned not to waste anything. And that's a really good mindset to have!

I had a candle that was burning a small tunnel down the center of the candle. When I bought it, I did not know the rule to burn a candle the first time for one hour for each inch of diameter. So I should have burned this candle about 3 - 4 hours the first time. To fix it, I cut it off, and dug the opening in the center wider to try to force the candle to burn properly. Here it is after I dug the center wider.


Lopping off the top of the candle meant I had A LOT of wax left over which I did not want to waste. So I melted it, poured into a jam jar, and made a new candle! It seems to burn just fine!




***
I've been out to the parks a few times for exercise.






***

Got another small bike ride in this morning! It was easier today, so I'm getting stronger. It's amazing how much strength I have lost in the past few years of sloth!

***
Also been working around the house -- I got a guy to re-hang a window on the stair landing -- it's a really nice big window that I have been unable to open for years and years because both cords are broken. It was on my list to fix when I first bought the house -- I remember that I even looked up the process for taking the window out and opening up the space where the weights are in order to re-hang the sash -- but I never got around to actually fixing it. So I paid someone to fix both the window and a tread on the stair. #oldhouse

It's really nice to lift that window now! Since he left, I've been touching up trim around the window. I also decided the stain he used on the tread was too light, so I have re-stained slightly darker, and added polyurethane this morning.

***
I've been sleeping much better since I gave my notice at work!

***
Had a less than satisfactory dinner with a friend the other night. He's really grumpy because his job is stressing him out so much. And I totally get it! His job stress is impacting his relationships, and I wonder if he knows that.

Had a friend over for wine a couple nights ago, which was pleasant as usual.

And I'll be doing the same thing with another guy Monday...I say 'guy' instead of 'friend' because I don't really know his status with me. He's someone I use to fuck around with, and that didn't work out well. But somehow we have kept in touch for intermittent wine and whiskey nights now and again.

***
Had an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in the garden out front yesterday -- she was there for several hours feeding on the cone flowers! I say "she" because females are the only ones who have a strip of iridescent blue at the end of their hind wings.


***
I heard the first cicadas buzzing today -- a very 'summer' here and a sound I look forward to!

***
Totally applying the 'brunch rule' today -- having wine on the porch very early, lol! I wonder if my neighbors think I'm a lush, lol. Not that I would care about them, nor would I necessarily really disagree!

***
All in all, it was a pleasant week and weekend!

We don't have them often here, but the area experienced multiple tornadoes yesterday. There are pictures on Twitter of many funnels around town, and the tornadoes touched down and caused damage in at least 2 places.

At work, we were in the stairwell for 20 minutes or so, after which I just came home. Tornadoes are not unheard of here -- but it has been a while!

It made for a tense evening, so I self-medicated with white wine and "chill" music, lol.

***
On a different note, I am becoming a gentlemen d'une certaine âge, and I now have more than 1 doctor.

For example, today I had an appointment with a urologist, an appointment I made at the request of my primary care physician. A couple years ago, I previously saw a urologist (and even had a prostate biopsy to make sure there was no cancer!), but I didn't particularly see a reason to continue going.

Today's appointment was at the local medical school, and the young resident doctor had the job of giving me the standard digital rectal exam....let's say he was, um, just a bit more thorough than some.

Some DREs are very quick, to the point that you barely realize it happened. This one? No so quick! He felt up one side of the prostate, and down around the other side. I may be a gay man, but having your pants and underwear down around your ankles with you bent over face down into a chair at a doctor's office is NOT sexy, lol! But also, as a gay man, I probably have less problem with the exam than some hetero guys.

Luckily, no cause found for concern, and no appointment needed for another year...

It's been cold lately....which makes me hibernate! I've still been keeping myself occupied inside.

Amaryllis

I have 3 Amaryllis bulbs inside in pots. I posted the time lapse of the white one blooming here. And the pink one has bloomed now --


The red one is in progress of blooming. It's nice to have growing things inside when it is so cold outside!

Frozen Bubbles

Speaking of cold...it has been so fricken' cold here! I'm not used to -3F (-19C)! While it was cold, I attempted some frozen bubble pics ---

Low Carb Diet

To get rid of some unwanted pounds from the holidays, I have been on a low(er) carb diet, which is the first time I have ever done this. It's been interesting! The diets tend to call for 25-50g of carbs a day, which was a non-starter for me. I love my oatmeal in the morning too much! I settled on 50 - 55 or maybe sometimes 60.

Here are my experiences so far --

1. My jawline is sharpening, so I’m already losing weight. Probably water since you lose water on low carb.
   
2. I have had some of the ‘keto flu’ or ‘low carb flu’ — feeling low energy even when I’m eating plenty of calories! Pecans help that a little. It reminds me of when I fasted for 3 days once — by day 3 I had no hunger at all, but day 2 was a drag. The lethargy went away today (Day 4).
   
3. The top blood pressure number seems to be better today, although the stubborn bottom one is not improved. But if it helps the blood pressure, that will be great!
   
4. My wine taste has shifted a bit, away from red to bubbly white or rosé. Not sure why, but sparkling Prosecco tastes better now.
   
5. At first, I was very, very thirsty — constantly drinking water, and then constantly peeing it out! That passed after a couple of days.