Lurking in the Lair

[izmeina]

 I was officially discharged from the hospital at 1pm today but lurked around the gorgeous gardens reading and squiggling before catching the bus at 15.20.  All the connections were timed perfectly so by 15.45 I was already sitting in the garden in the Lair.

God very kindly watered the weeds for me this morning. A pretty good trade off for no proper sunrise from my bedroom window. All clouds, no sun wasn't  such a big deal since I' d seen 2 already. 
Especially since I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than 2 kilos for the next 6 weeks.

I had a serpent snooze from 6 to 8pm and had no problem at all going up & down the stairs or in and out of bed.

The nurses have  given me a list of medications a mile long but still half what it would have been if the hospital goblins booted me out as originally planned last Thursday. Thank God the Doc put them in their box.

So far so good. But it's the next 2 days that the chickens come home to roost now I know longer have the nurses to dish out my meds.

I've been a bit behind with Nanowrimo and made do with a measly 666 words for the day.
But I know I've got 4 work free weeks to catch up.
Two days should do it.

For me it's been the most magical Halloween ever.

Comments

[ozfille]

Good to see you home safe and sound and more importantly, happy!

The Green Zone

[izmeina]

Thanks Oz. I am still in the Green Zone in spite of being at home now and doing DIY meds,

I am simply following the list given to me with no need yet to resort to the nuclear option of Tramadol.

I felt toasty all evening so that was a good sign.

What I have noticed, the meds don't seem to be affecting my head. Or if they are, it is to keep me from being my usual obsessive neurotic self.

What is more likely I think is that the uncertainty of waiting for the operation and what to expect from the operation itself is now all in the past.
It was like a giant roadblock in my brain. The mental equivalent of the Blubberberg in my belly.

I have basically been living in limbo since starting an assortment of ultrasounds and other assorted nasty tests way back in January.

I imagine you experienced something similar when waiting for test results and wondering what procedures would be next on the agenda.

Now I feel all that brain fog is gone. My head is empty and I am able to remain in the present moment without constantly being distracted.

Last month I had decided to bail out on National Novel Writing Month (which started yesterday) on account of being such a brain dead zombie and believing that I would either be a brain dead zombie on steroids or in so much pain post op that I would be totally incapable of stringing two words together.

Since none of those things happened I was able to spend most of my time in hospital in Martian Mode - observing the antics of these curious humans and the so many ways that things are done so that everything flows smoothly.

Having worked 17 years in a nursing home, I was more attuned to these sorts of issues. The way meals are ordered and organized, the number of nurses on each shift and how many patients per nurse (I would cheat and look at the bed list for the day at the nurses station so that I usually knew the name of the nurse in my section before she introduced herself) I was especially fascinated by the heavy duty bed pans (and urine bottles) and the way the all the staff always verified identity every time they first interacted with a patient. You would have to be Frank Abignale to end up getting the wrong meds or even the wrong meal.

It was interesting to see how they juggled the balance between risk reduction, paperwork and basic human decency.
All of these people are just doing a job but they always made the patients (sample size my room mate and me)feel cared for and valued.

Every nurse I encountered had mastered the art of giving injections so that you find out they had already done it while you are still waiting. Pity the anaesthetist hadn't learned their technique. I thought he was poking the bones in my wrist. Lucky I went under pretty soon after that.

I encountered a really interesting woman on my night time wanderings in the Transit Lounge. But I have decided to cut it from this comment because the story really needs to be told in a locked post. She was in hospital on account of being seriously assaulted by her ex who is on a restraining order. Which reminded me that mine expires on 11th November and it is not automatically extended. I have to go to the court to get an extension.
So I will save the story later for a locked post.

I'm not having all the staff's good work go up in smoke by having that jerk lurking around.
Once I started getting 6 to 8 hour bouts of nausea that all had in common that they were preceded by visits or phone calls to or from the Grinch, it did not take too long to decide to get that divorce.

Since he is the sort of jerk to hold a grudge and is obsessed with perceived threats to his AUTHORITY, I would not put it past him to be sitting in his Grinch Cave tearing pages off the calendar while plotting his revenge. He always forgot his wife's birthday, his children's birthdays and even the birthday of his only grandchild. But I bet he hasn't forgotten 11th November ;)


He probably thinks that I have forgotten all about it. In the same way that he reported me to the police as a missing person in the first week of November 2019. According to his impeccable Grinch logic, if HE doesn't know where I am then obviously no one else does either. He even went to all of my work places in his mission to 'rescue' me and accused the staff of lying to him and hiding stuff from him.

I turned that dirty trick right back on him and that's how I ended up in the court.

I am most definitely not going to let any Grinch trash this green zone.

Re: The Green Zone

[ozfille]

It surprises me that he has not been more persistent over the last 2 years but perhaps his attention has been drawn to another victim. From how you describe him, he seems to need someone to harrass/abuse to maintain his own happiness. Or is he incapable of making friends with anyone? I remember you said he had a new female friend not that long after your mother's death but then I gather this woman's interest may have been stirred more by the potential to take advantage and extract money or other assets from him.

At least you can't forget the date as 11 November is Remembrance Day.

Re: The Green Zone

[izmeina]

I think when the police who served the summons explained that breaching the order could result in big fat fines or even prison terms, that knocked some sense into him.

Like why would you risk such consequences to see someone who want nothing to do with you? And since there had never been consequences for him assaulting my mother on several occasions, the fact that I had moved the goal posts may have made him see the light.

Sharkie the new female friend but officially his 'carer' gave him up a while ago as too high maintenance. Not least because another one of her investments left her such a tidy sum in the will that she could afford to buy a unit in Grinchville with the proceeds.

When she first met the Grinch, she was living in council housing and was very economically insecure. She thought he would be easy money. Especially when he sold the house. But when he didn't give so much as a crumb to his only surviving grandchild, I guess she figured that her chances were even slimmer. But never mind, she already got the SONY flat screen TV and an assortment of other goodies from the house.

I actually met her on the bus on Monday 18th October. She got on and sat next to me and did her usual smiling and pawing me. I hate it when people get all touchy without ever bothering to ask if it is OK. The pink unicorn t shirt and all those horrid little butterfly ornaments were just the last straw. I kept thinking of that creepy book "Brenda is a Sheep" which is hilarious until you realize that it is NOT a parody.


Luckily for me, I only had another 4 stops before getting off. I also managed not to get an attack of nausea which happened very frequently until I unofficially divorced the Grinch in February 2019. He came stalking around the street 3 times known to me between then and when I got the restraining order and each time I saw him I became violently ill within an hour and the nausea lasted for between 3 and 8 hours.
And how many times have I had nausea after being on nuclear pain killers after my operation? Not even ONCE.
It's not for nothing that I also call him the walking talking toxic pot of Polonium tea.

One day I might get around to posting snippets from The Polonium Papers which is my official title for the divorce letter I gave him in February 2019.

It even happened when I escaped down to Eden Vale for Halloween that year. Instead of tricking or treating, I curled up in the serpent sack and did the same thing until 2pm the next day. The feelings of nausea just came out of nowhere and went as suddenly as it came.
How is this even possible? Eden Vale is as unGrinchy as it is possible to be. Now miserable Manjimup. The town of tree choppers. That is more like his spiritual home.

Later I learned that he had been hanging around the house on those very same days once he got it in his head that I had gone MISSING. Because the police had left a welfare check calling card which I found when I returned on Monday 4th November.
This is Rupert Sheldrake level spookiness Dogs that know when their owners are coming home

The indignant question to his doctor which he insisted on telling me about while driving back from the funeral director the day after my mother died
"Why should I go on lithium and turn into a zombie just to please my wife who is dying anyway?"
It says everything you need to know about him.