Musings on Montreal Pt. 1A: A Few Updates

Sunday, November 12, 2017


Hi all - hope everyone is doing well.

I do have several longer posts in the works; I hope to get one of them finished and posted by the end of this week. In the meantime, just a quick update on a few things I've written about recently.

My nephew C is slowly improving, fortunately. He's lost quite a bit of weight, and, consequently, strength. He has a ways to go to get back to normal, but he's on the right track. thankfully.

I'm doing well too. I have some soreness, and I wish I was able to do more in terms of exercise, but I'm being careful not to overdo it. Not surprisingly, I was having a great deal of trouble sleeping, even by my lifelong insomniac standards.

Without going into detail, it was because nerve endings are slowly regenerating as part of the healing process. This is a good thing, needless to say, but it also resulted in an unfortunate side effect: it was very difficult for me to get comfortable while trying to sleep. I tried all of the suggestions offered by the staff in Montreal, and by my sister C (a nurse practitioner), but nothing worked for more than a single night, if that.

For several weeks I was fortunate if I got three or four hours, which is insufficient even for someone used to getting by on six hours. Fortunately things finally seem to have improved the past few days, a trend I hope will continue. There's still some discomfort, but at least I'm able to fall asleep, and to go back to sleep when it wakes me up.

On a totally different topic, I was greatly heartened by the number of openly transgender candidates who won office in the elections here in the United States last week. Danicia Roem, in particular, demonstrated a level of grace and class inversely proportional to the disgusting, transphobic tactics employed by her opponent. Congratulations to all of you for your courage and commitment to public service.

I think that will cover things for now. As I mentioned, watch this space for a longer post - hopefully by the end of this week. I certainly have no shortage of things to write about; I have a lot to look forward to, happily. :c) However, trying to sort them all out in a coherent manner is a challenge. But as my friend B says, all will be revealed in the fullness of time. :c) In the meantime, be well, everyone, and I hope you have a wonderful week.

***

I'll be writing in more detail about my experience with the surgery and recovery process in future posts. For now, I can say that music plays an important role for me. And the one band I've been listening to more than any other the past two months is Blue Rodeo. I've loved them for a long, long time, and find their music very comforting. It has helped more times than I can count to relax, take a deep breath, and keep the big picture in mind during that time.

I'll post more of their songs in my upcoming posts, but here's a terrific live version of one of my favorites: "New Morning Sun," from their excellent 2013 album In Our Nature. I've listened to it, and them, over and over, and will continue to listen to over and over as the healing process continues. Check this out to see why:


The introduction shows why they've been together for so long: they genuinely like other. That is no small accomplishment after 30-plus years together. :c)

5 comments:

Halle on November 12, 2017 at 11:48 PM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Halle on November 12, 2017 at 11:52 PM said...

As you know, Blue Rodeo is a big favourite chéz Halle. This one and You Should Know are one-two for us.

Glad your sleep is getting better Hon. The nerves are really coming along here. You won't have to wait much longer.

Hugs, 
Halle xox

Jenna on November 13, 2017 at 2:23 AM said...

Glad your nephew is getting there.
I struggled sleeping for the first few weeks after surgery. The worst bit for me was getting home and having to sleep in the same bed as my partner. As much as I'd been determined to sleep in the bed prior to going to Brighton, that first night home, I got up and went into the spare room where I slept for the next couple of weeks until I was sure that an inadvertent know by arms or legs in the wrong place wasn't going to cause me any hurt.
It does take a while for the nerve endings to sort themselves out, I was getting twinges for quite some time afterwards.
Take it easy and get rest when you can x

Stace on November 13, 2017 at 7:11 AM said...

Glad to hear that everyone is on the road to recovery!

As for the exercise - just you take care to not over do it! Look after yourself. There is plenty of time for getting fit again, and that is when you have recovered! <Stern English face here!>

Sleep... Once the anesthetic and morphine wore off it was a while before I could sleep. And then, as you say, once things started repairing themselves I could sleep, but would find myself waking up with major shooting pains and then having to try and settle down once they were gone.

Incidentally, at least they were in private, my colleagues got quite concerned about me suddenly jumping and clinging to the ceiling in meetings once I started back at work. 'Anything we can do?' <concerned faces> 'Really, really not!' <with a grin on my grimacing face allowing the others to join in...>

Take care,
Stace

Cassidy on November 26, 2017 at 12:59 PM said...

Apologies for the (very) late reply, everyone! As you all know firsthand, time flies when you return to work and are still in the three-times-a-day stage of recovery. I'm doing well, but I'm usually too worn out by the end of the day to do much writing. I drop down to twice a day on December 22nd; you know I'll be thanking Santa that day. :c)

I'm still getting the twinges, but based on your comments it seems as if I'm getting closer to the end of that road. Even with what my doctor and Dr. Brassard described as a very high pain threshold, I'll still be glad when this particular phase of the journey draws to a close. :c) I'm doing my best to rest (I don't want to risk further incurring Stace's wrath, after all!); that being said, I cannot wait to be able to start exercising regularly again. Again, December 22nd is circled on my calendar. :c)

Take care all, and thank you again for the comments! Ciao for now!

Hugs,
Cass

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