Hey there,
So rehab continues. It is now day 8. There was a part of me that thought I'd be walking normally, little pain, etc. by the end of the first week, but of course that is insane as they removed freaking bones and sliced a foot long gash into one of my supporting limbs. Don't think I mentioned it last time, but the Friday after I came home from the previous Tuesday's surgery, I was at home with the caregiver Enez and thought I could make it to the local veggie market 3 blocks away to get stuff. Of course Betty/B-doll coulda done it, but I'm a tough guy so off we went. Next morning, they look at my foot and it is all swollen and bruised. I feel hot so they take my temperature and am over 101. I don't feel any worse for wear, but since they freaked me out with facts that white boys clot easier, I am more amenable to their instructions of RICE (Rest/Ice/Compression/Elevation). Was over 102 for a while and if it stayed that way woulda have had to go back to hospital, but we've managed to get the swelling/fever down, so all good?
Pain after one week isn't piercing, but more of a constant throb. There is no position I can get in where it goes away so am constantly shuffling, which knocks off the ice packs and is just annoying. Also leads to frustration for not being able to do stuff like go to the store or drive the car. Stir crazy is something we all understand in this era. I do try not to turn on the TV and waste the day watching shows, but do settle in after dinner to watch stuff and the one I've been enamored by this week is Cobra Kai. It's the Karate Kid set in the present. Have two episodes left in season one and cannot wait till after dinner tonite to watch. Really clever how they mix Daniel and Johnny's present lives and that of their kids. Love it and highly recommend if you remotely like the original Karate Kid.
Couple of tips/observations on caregivers and rehab. First, anesthesia is constipating. Haven't had a normal BM in a week and the gas buildup is like the San Andreas after decades without an earthquake. Had never tasted prune juice before cause the word on the playground was that it tasted awful, but was desperate and got a bottle. As advertised, it certainly got things moving, but the revelation is that it tastes really good. As people in my circle are of similar ages and you start getting these kinda procedures done, invest in some. Or just experiment with it. Relatedly, these caregivers entire job is to make sure you don't hurt yourself and so are at your back every step of the way. Have already mentioned that feeling of always being watched is disconcerting, but what also happens is that they get to experience every emission up close. There were a bunch of times the pressure was building so I thought I'd be able to poo-poo (with language barriers, poo-poo and pee-pee are medical terms)., so she'd get me to the bathroom and while I could get up and down off the toilet without her, she would close the door so I could do my business. But she waits right outside. More often than not, all I had to do was let out some gas, but it would be those high decibel sustained kind. They would be ones you'd record for funny noise makers or morning zoo radio shows. Knowing she was right outside the door is humiliating, but again, have just got to let that kind of feeling go. Caregivers are amazing people. I remember how they would come into wash and cleanup my mom but did so with such grace and would let her keep her dignity. We can't pay these people enough and it is a crime they get paid so little.
A couple of my baseball heroes passed this week to note. Hank Aaron was always the greatest in my early life. The first book report I ever wrote (3rd/4th grade) was on a biography of him. Wish I could see what I wrote then, but I'm sure I didn't comprehend the racial crap he went through at the time and that he weathered it so elegantly I only learned as an adult. If you're a baseball fan, a reading of some of his stats is my evidence as to why I still think he is the greatest there ever was.
And Tommy Lasorda. I quote him all the time. The dude I coach with will sometimes say I am like Coach Buttermaker from Bad News Bears, but my coaching style is unquestionably influenced most by Tommy. I was a bit saddened that almost every eulogy to him focused on his relationship with his son, who was gay and died of AIDS, and how Tommy could never wrap his mind around that fact. I don't like to be one of those excuse types that dismiss it as being a different generation, but it was different then. Tommy always loved the kid, but his mind wasn't programmed to know how to process it and there wasn't anything like being woke in those days that was mainstream at all. There'd be no excuse for it today in America, but in some/far too many parts of the world they effin' kill gays just because. Mention it, learn from it, call pieces of shit that are homophobic pieces of shit, but damn, was kinda pissed that they only saw that as Tommy's legacy. Not gonna rehash all of his funny quotes or times his tributes to baseball and people made me choke up, cause there are easily dozens, but I did hear a quote of his that I hadn't heard before (and I thought I'd heard them all) that I have already adopted and incorporate in my teachings. Talking about one of his own players (Danny Heep from the immortal '88 team) and why he took him out of a game for defensive purposes, Tommy goes, "Heep's so slow, he could race a pregnant woman and finish third."
To finish off today, three items from the local news for your enjoyment.
It gets cold here for a few days over the winter. Cold in this place means the low 50's, but in the mountains it gets cold enough for a dusting of snow. It might as well be Antarctica for the locals when that happens. Saw this article titled Taiwanses police fight cold weather with unusual method and had to click. The cops in the mountains are wrapping their socks with menstrual pads to help insulate their boots from the cold. What else can you say but 'well played sir'.
Second story was one that made the rounds here but then got picked up by US news sites, so you may have seen it. The headline describes her as a 'foreign woman', but she is obviously American. It is a video of her being scolded by fellow passengers for not wearing a mask on the local subway, then losing her shit in that uniquely American patriotic way. At first viewing, it is obvious this lady has some mental issues going on and further reports confirm that she is widely know to be mentally unstable. I understand the stink eyes I get from some of the locals and know that it could be worse.
That was probably a bigger story than it normally woulda been now because there has been a local Covid cluster outbreak that originated in a hospital. We're talking a handful or two of cases all related, but there are maps and times of where all these people went, the entire area went into a lockdown that affected 13,000 people, and all kinds of Chinese New Year celebrations (Feb.12) are already cancelled. The scuttlebutt at the schools is that we're all gonna remote learn for a couple weeks after the CNY break in fear that people will spread it at family gatherings. They do not mess around here and I love 'em for it. But what does worry me is what I saw today in The Taiwan News. The headline...Beijing mulls anal swabs as COVID cases surge. It is the accompanying tagline that makes Taiwan News the absolute best..."Beijing authorities may roll out anal swabs to seal cracks in epidemic prevention system". Apparently, the Covid survives longer in the anus and feces, so science. Swab the deck and shiver me timbers.
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