2 weeks on

It's been 16 days now since my surgery,

and I still feel very much a patient.

My days are spent mostly sitting,

watching Downton or movies, reading blogs on my iPad;

and reading books or magazines (when my eyes can cope with that).

Which all sounds ideal, until it's all you can do.

Sometimes I've had to go back to bed, too tired for anything.

 I'm still enjoying flowers around me.

Above are the last of this bouquet from some of my students:

I think I like them better as they are now ...

Yesterday I spent an hour ordering groceries online,

with the aim of getting our non-perishables for the next month delivered,

plus some fresh food for the next few days.

Now my kitchen is filled with 37 bags of groceries 

I'm not allowed to unpack

(because of the bending and lifting).

But at least I won't have to send Steve out to the shops 

quite so much for a while.

Thank goodness I've been able to crochet these weeks,

I think it has kept me sane.

This was one of my projects, you might see more of it later.

I've also finished my poncho and started knitting a cowl,

projects for another post.

Another little project I finally managed was making 

a little shower cap for my ear!

I still can't get my ear wet, so a shower cap works fine for most days, 

but after about a week I really need to wash my hair, 

and am nervous about just using

a vaseline-soaked cotton ball (standard post-op protection advice)

so I cut up a shower cap and added elastic to make this itsy-bitsy ear cap,

and tried it this morning (plus the cotton ball and vaseline) with much success. 

Lunches have been haphazard, depending how I've been feeling,

this was one of the best ones - leftover potato

and a chickpea omelette.

Laura has been home sick with headaches and nausea

four out of days this week.  Meaning she has missed most of her Year 9 NAPLAN tests.

The thought that we might be headed for a repeat

of last year is just too much for me to cope with, at the moment.

I'm thankful she is old enough to look after herself

and have never been more grateful for the invention of the iPod.

Hopefully she might improve when things go back to normal with me,

she's a sensitive (but sweet) little thing that way.

 In my mind, today was to be the last day of my convalescence.

(I finished Downton season 4 just now, so it must be time to get better!)

Next week I plan to ease back into my normal activities,

starting with piano teaching. 

But I still feel foggy and tired and sometimes dizzy for a lot of each day.

I'll see how I go on the weekend before I confirm anything.

Fortunately I usually feel much better in the evenings, somehow,

the other night I cooked most of the dinner and dessert by myself.

So, I'll keep rolling with the ups and downs a bit longer,

ever grateful that my surgery has been successful,

I can hear well, and the sun is shining.