Out of The PIT

I witnessed a dumpster fire today. Yes, a literal dumpster fire. I think it was SYS who noticed it first, but in any case, it took me a while to call the fire department and it was raging pretty fiercely by the time I got EMS on the line. A local restauranteur came out and doused the fire with a couple of extinguishers to bring the blaze down to a smolder. The fire truck came quickly though and finished the job. One of the firemen even gave SYS a couple.of stickers.

It finally happened. I caught COVID-19. It was only a matter of time really. We had started going back to our regular routine so there were so many possible infection events, especially for the kids. In fact, that is how I got sick. But then again, even before the pandemic, this was still the case. But at least with the boosted vaccinations, and drugs, my symptoms have been akin to a bad flu. I have had worse flues, so I feel as if vaccines are only partially effective for me. In any case, the family will be staying home for a while and life is put on pause again. At least I can work from home, if I don't get bothered by the kids that much..

I got my staples removed today. No more appointments until the followup next month. As such, once these bandages come off, I'm pretty much done, but will need to take it easy for the next month and a half so as not to damage myself. It should not be too hard, as long as I do not get wet, run, jump, lift, dance, get buried, stomped, etc. Other than that, I do feel better than I did last time. I need to stay active to continue improving. Mobility leads to mobility! Or was that motility? Either is good actually. I also started working today. Well, technically I started doing some work yesterday to catch up, but it does feel good to be productive..

So I have a low grade fever. I have been taking acetaminophen since I got home to deal with the pain so there was a good chance that I have had an actual fever for a few days now. I have noticed huge temperature swings with me feeling cold for an hour, then hot for an hour, etc. This while I was still popping pills. I did have a normal temperature when I got my dressings replaced a couple of days ago so maybe this is a relatively new phenomenon, but I was pretty sure I started feeling temperature swings before then. The chance that I picked something up from the hospital is actually kind of high. When I was coming to and the nurses were wheeling me into my recovery room, I overheard one of them saying that I could not go to that particular bed because the unit was on outbreak. I ended up getting my own room to recover which was nice, and helped with my rest. However, due to my nausea issues, I could not keep my mask on for long periods of time and I did spend a good chunk of time un

I am looking forward to having a full night's sleep. The pain medication regimen requires me to stagger my two medications such that they don't end up wearing off at the same time. As such, the most time I have in between notifications is four hours and possibly down to one. Even so, it takes a while to fall back asleep after being woken up by the alarm so I have been basically taking 2-3 hour naps throughout the day since Monday. It is allowing me to get some rest, but I am started to get pretty exhausted. One of my pills is running out so I will be getting 6 hour naps tomorrow, and hopefully I can wean myself off of everything this weekend and get back to a regular sleep (and eating) schedule. Then I can really start recovering my strength..

The recovery so far has been a lot faster than the first surgery. A little bit of hindsight has helped a lot and have compounded over the week to allow for a much quicker healing process. A number of things that helped: Excluding any excessive baggage at for the hospital stay. (To make transportation easier.) Bringing an eye mask. (To actually get some rest during the day.) Staying on top of the pain medications at the hospital. (To allow for better sleep and mobility.) Ambling around as much as possible. (To help with healing.) Limiting solid food intake when famished. (To limit nausea.) Utilizing liquid supplements. (Lets me eat less so as not to stuff myself.) Maintaining pain medication schedule while at home. (Lets me sleep better and amble around more.) Having gone through this whole ordeal did prepare me for what was to come and I have been able to definitely improve on the last time. I got a lot more rest from the eye mask and pain medications. I was able to get out of bed more