Kind of a monumental day.

Sunday is laundry and plant watering day.  After sitting around the majority of the past two days, I decided that today was a good day to do a little bit more around the house and see what happens.  What happens=1)how good/bad I feel 2)how much extra I record from the drains.

So about the drain thing (can’t remember what I’ve mentioned already and I’m not gonna go back right now and double check).  I can get the drains out when I’ve recorded <25ml for two days in a row.  I would love to get these motherfuckers removed on Thursday when we meet with Dr Berry, so that means Tuesday and Wednesday I need to be down to no more than 25-30ml.  My output has been decreased slowly but steadily.  This morning I was 10 on the left side and 12 on the right (this is after recording like 80 on the right side the total day after surgery, so huge decrease overall).  The feeling is that if I overdo it, my body will tell me to FUCKOFF and the way that is expressed is measured by the stuff that comes out in the drains.

So I figured I would water plants and sort laundry in the morning and see what the afternoon drain recording looked like.  I was careful not to carry the heavy planters after they were full of water and not carry the laundry baskets to the basement (Hello Useful Husband Person!).  Also we took the dogs on a short walk this morning, with me holding Camp’s leash (Camp, for all his faults, doesn’t pull on leash that bad) for part of the time.

All in all, quite a big increase in activity level for me compared to Friday and Saturday.  And my mid-day drain readings hadn’t exploded!  In fact they were the same, 10 on the left and 12 on the right.  And I feel good!*  I can straighten my back more–doesn’t feel quite as constricted and I haven’t had a pain pill since Friday night.  And I went to the bathroom!  Not the Epic Shit I was hoping for, but not half bad considering the narcotic-pill-constipation-nightmare scenario I had read about.

*”good” is a relative term

So yeah, all in all, a bang-up day.  I upped my activity level, made myself useful around the house, felt good physically, drain levels were not adversely affected, stayed off pain pills, went poop.

A friend from Dance Mom** days came over for a visit this afternoon.  She brought us dinner (ingredients to make Korean Beef Bowls, excellent, will share recipe) and we had a lovely time catching up.  It’s good to have people checking on me, but also to function socially like a normal human.  I had a shitty thing happen, I appreciate everyone’s consideration and kindness, but I’m still me and we can still laugh and bitch about our daughters and our dogs and our parents and us, getting old.

**Scout was an Irish Dancer for 13 years.  The dancers and dance parents we met during that time are some of the best people I know.

It was good to feel more normal today.