More snow, hair, and the Boss
and no amount of wistful recollecting
can bring back any air of summer.
– – – Shirley Jackson “Raising Demons”
We did get yet more snow last night, but it only amounted to about two very fluffy inches. It was still a pain to have to clean off my car this morning though. My feet are so swollen that my boots no longer fit, and I have to brave the elements in the only footwear still available to me, my trusty old navy and brown docksiders. I got to work with very cold, wet feet, even though I’d turned the heater in my car to full blast on my legs for the drive in. It would appear the February just couldn’t bring itself to leave without hurling this final insult at us.
Tomorrow I have my next appointment at the hairdresser’s. I told her when I went to get my hair colored that I had to make the next appointment while I was still there to keep me honest. I know me, and since I hate going to the salon I’d have just put it off if a new appointment weren’t committed to. I’m hoping she can show me how to “poof” my hair at the top to make it look fuller. She did it the last time, and made it look so easy. Flick, flick, flick with a comb, then toss, toss, toss with her fingers and I looked a million times better. I went home and flick, flick flicked, toss, toss, tossed, and ended up looking like a Don King clone. The Socialist has brought up several time how much he liked my hair when I first came home from the last salon appointment, and asked “why didn’t I continue to wear it that way?”. I’ve already admitted to him that I’m a do-a-doo-failure, but maybe my hairdresser can work another miracle and teach this old dog new tricks.
Had a nice little chat with the Bossman after lunch today. He wanted to know how I was feeling, and laughed when I paraphrased a quote from Tolkien that I felt like too little butter spread over too much toast. I told my boss I felt badly because I knew I wasn’t pulling my weight at the moment. He said not to worry about that. Nobody was expecting any more of me and he was pleased that I was still managing to do as much as I am. He mentioned in passing that my name came up at a recent meeting of department heads he’d attended. Another department head had commented how amazed he was that I was still continuing to come into work considering how much strength I’ve lost, and the rest of the people at the meeting all agreed that I was a “real trooper”. I had to laugh at that, and explained to him that they had to realize that I really didn’t have any alternatives. If I didn’t come into work, I’d just be hanging around the house moping and thinking too much all day. Work is therapeutic at the moment, even if it does get aggravating at times. It’s nice to know that my efforts to stay at my desk haven’t gone unnoticed though.
Still no word from Dr. Liver concerning the weird MELD score. I will definitely see him Monday when I go for my next paracentesis, and I’ll ask him about it then. I also want some more definitive help with figuring out what I should be eating. Reading stuff on the web has gotten me totally confused. Some doctors recommend high protein diets, others low protein. I’ve seen several mentions doctors restricting liquid intakes on patients with ascites like I have; is this something I should be doing? With any luck, I’ll come away from Monday with some answers, and a chance to set myself a new plan of action.
Reading recommendations for people who are awaiting transplant, I came across one that said to make sure you had a bag prepacked with the things you’d need in the hospital. That sounded like good sense at first, until I started to actually try to make a list of things I’d need to pack. What exactly does someone need in the hospital? The provide gowns, robes and slippers, and based on my previous hospital experience, really don’t want you to use your own. They supply toothbrushes and toothpaste. I guess maybe I’ll want to pack a couple of books and a comb. That hardly seems to me to be worthy of prepacking a bag for though.
I don’t remember being provided with toothbrush and toothpaste…perhaps I was…hmmmm..I’d pack em anyway. I’m sure their’s are the ultra cheapy weird tasting kind…
I’d pack….
toothbrush
toothpaste
brush/comb
make-up
breath freshener (mints, listerine strips etc.)
yummy make me feel better lotion as opposed to smelly hospital lotion…ick!
slippers/slipper socks
robe (surely you don’t want to walk around in that gown!)
a craft? You can only watch sooo much tv without losing your sanity
books – easy reads, the meds always seem to make real reading difficult
Money for the gift shop!! A girl has to shop LOL!
I always feel like I have dry skin, a pasty mouth and stir crazy when I’m in the hospital…and trust me…hospital provided stuff is just so clinical smelling. I can’t stand the smell when hubby resorts to using their lotion etc. when he’s at work…ick!!
~Qe
I hope your next parachutensis, or whatever it is, goes well. Did they put the tap in the right place last time?
The correct answer to why you don’t "continue to wear it that way" is that you didn’t choose to become a cosmetologist.
Meanwhile, off the top of my head and based on my own experiences, I suggest:
pack creature comforts, but have the professor bring them in after you’ve got a room. Take mints or other hard candy (or gum), if they’ll be allowed to you. You probably know that hospital air is dry and that sometimes general leaves you a bit nauseated. Take a hand lotion that works for you and that you enjoy. Definitely pack a lip balm. Bring warm socks that you can wear in bed. If you have any favorite toiletries, definitely bring those. I’d also bring your own nightgown, if it will be allowed. You know hospital gowns are scratchy and uncomfortable. At least consider a bed jacket. Bring a pen and notepad so you or your companion can write down instructions or notes from and -for- medical professionals (can be very useful, if you have concernts, to jot them down so you remember to ask during the blitzkrieg visits!) or messages from callers. Bring a calling card and address book, if you have phone calls to make. Bring a walkman if you have one. In addition to your books, consider packing crossword puzzles or magazines, useful if you find it hard to concentrate on longer fiction after surgery.
The correct answer to why you don’t "continue to wear it that way" is that you didn’t choose to become a cosmetologist.
Meanwhile, off the top of my head and based on my own experiences, I suggest:
pack creature comforts, but have the professor bring them in after you’ve got a room. Take mints or other hard candy (or gum), if they’ll be allowed to you. You probably know that hospital air is dry and that sometimes general leaves you a bit nauseated. Take a hand lotion that works for you and that you enjoy. Definitely pack a lip balm. Bring warm socks that you can wear in bed. If you have any favorite toiletries, definitely bring those. I’d also bring your own nightgown, if it will be allowed. You know hospital gowns are scratchy and uncomfortable. At least consider a bed jacket. Bring a pen and notepad so you or your companion can write down instructions or notes from and -for- medical professionals (can be very useful, if you have concernts, to jot them down so you remember to ask during the blitzkrieg visits!) or messages from callers. Bring a calling card and address book, if you have phone calls to make. Bring a walkman if you have one. In addition to your books, consider packing crossword puzzles or magazines, useful if you find it hard to concentrate on longer fiction after surgery.
I’ve never stayed in a hospital, but I should echo the lip balm recommendation. When Dad came out from anesthesia last year they wouldn’t allow him liquids for awhile, and his lips got so dry they looked like they were fraying.
You know what I’ve really gotten into lately? Books on CD. Shay got me a walkman CD player and a recording of Les Miserables for Christmas (the book, not the musical). I listened to it on my daily walks. Now I have "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sidaris that I got out of the library, and it makes me laugh. I really never thought I’d enjoy listening to books, but it’s lots of fun. So I’d recommend that, especially if, as someone said above, you’re going to be on meds that making reading difficult.
Hey Pali! Like the friendship vibe there… I feel welcome already. 😉 When my father was in the hospital getting ready for biopsy, he found a great distraction from the nervousness he was feeling: He complained at great length about having to change into hospital socks from his own, and also about having to wear one of those flimsy ridiculous gowns. Helped him subvert the worry a bit by concentrating on something more trivial (and by making my Mom and my sister Hannah and me laugh a bit in the process). That day I finally figured out who Jack Lemmon reminds me of in Grumpy Old Men. My father. Lemmon’s character had a similar "grumbling charm" style at times, if that makes any sense. 😀
Hope that didn’t seem like a tangent. I’ve been dying to find another excuse to tell that story.
Cheers, Char… er, Shambles
C|:-=
I wouldn’t bother bringing too much. From what I have seen in my clinicals, most of the hospitals have everything, even lip balm. Maybe a toothbrush, toothpaste and hairbrush…reading material.
Max just colored my hair for me…I am catching up with diarys while I wait to rinse it out.
I would say a definite yes to the lip balm, toothbrush and paste. Some hospitals have these funky thingies that are just a mint impregnated sponge on a paper or plastic lollypop stick. Yucko. Trust me. Socks are good because they give you funky acrylic slippersox–silppery on the floor, sticky-scratchy in the bed. If you take slippers, take the open-backed style. Last thing you want to do with major abdominal surgery is have to bend over. Again, trust me. (Gall bladder removal, 1999.) A robe is good for trips to the shower, if there isn’t one in your room, and later for short walks in the halls. The address book idea is great. You will probably need it. Notepad, too. I find reading material rarely gets read. Pain meds and attention spans do not mix. Oh, nail clippers and a file is also good. Take off your jewelry before you leave home. I lost my wedding ring when I had my son. Of course, it was never found.
The laptop, you cant go to hospital without a laptop. There has to be a phone plug somewhere.
🙂
CK
OK, did you do that?
I got a hit for Hugh Jackman today, and it is just too much of a coincidence!
Alli
Sounds like you have gotten some good advice. Definitely bring a book or something though.