who asked for this cool weather?

*i did!* blame me. i love a happy 20c day. it's like heaven.

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so, life is going well here in the land of no gallbladder, knock wood. my surgical stuff is mostly healed [externally], though my belly button still looks like someone fought a battle in there. [sorry. tmi.]

last night when going to sleep, i absent-mindedly flopped onto my tummy [my preferred sleeping position] and instantly was told by my internal organs that I AM NOT READY TO DO THAT YET. ow. except for stuff like that, not much hurts now. i'm really amazed at how quickly i've recovered. whoever discovered laparoscopic surgery, thank you!

[hey, a picture of the procedure i had done is on the wikipedia page for Laparoscopic surgery. click for big. wow.]

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so, Massimo is fine and safe and bored out of his mind, not having been ridden since the day i went into emerg. i've [as is my habit] been obsessively googling Vespa accessories, like the proper boots and cool-weather gear to wear, while waiting to get strong enough to ride again.

[did you know Blundstones are not suitable to be used as scoot boots? because if, god forbid, you go down, the elastic gores at the sides provide zero protection. crap. i already own a pair and thought i was set.]

i have found SUPER CHEAP dr martens 8-hole boots in pure white for so cheap, it's almost offensive, and would take permanent markers to them and make them insanely fun. does anyone know if these would do? are they good at the non-slippy thing [because good traction underfoot is essential for me]. has anyone tried to fit orthotics into a pair of these? [i use the standard Birkenstock footbed as my orthotic.] advice welcome.

when it comes to cool-weather gear, this was one of the first things that caught my eye. a blankie that keeps out wet and cold, so you can be toasty as you scoot! i believe i'll have to get one, and soon.

and regarding my seat, which does look like tan suede from a distance, but is actually waterproof somethingorother, it's just a little too normal for me. so at the end of my west-coast adventures, i ordered a seat cover from crystal. you'll have to wait to see which fabric i picked.

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oh, and i'm also working on getting fall Knitty® ready, too.

wait -- what's that thingy after "Knitty"? yes, it's a little registered trademark symbol. it's official. rock on.

it's been a week

I'm here!

My folks had scheduled a visit for this week, and I've spent the last few days with them, but not exactly as we'd planned. It was damned nice to have my mama here to take care of me [mentally, mostly], and hub and dad had lovely adventures, including covering for me at the Stitch n Pitch game last night -- I just couldn't do it. [So there are some great photos that you'll see in Knitty, thanks to dad!]

I managed to get out of the house for a few hours yesterday so I could take Mama to Americo and Lettuce Knit. She does knit, you know, and she can touch the stuff I can't, so it was nice to share my favorite places in town with her. Americo is 100% mom's style, but she's a maddeningly focused project knitter, and without something specific to make, she doesn't buy yarn, so she left empty handed. [I know...gasps are being heard 'round the knitblogosphere. It shocks me, too.] I didn't...I had to have more of the cotton/silk in the icy blue/green color. The last two skeins in the shop, to go with the ones I bought on the TTC Knitalong. Still don't know what I'll do with them, but I'll figure it out.

The surgery ouchies are mostly gone now and all I'm dealing with is stuff you don't want me to talk about. Those who've had the surgery will know them quite well. I've been eating as little fat as possible to give my body time to adjust to having no gall bladder [it's the organ that squirts out stuff that helps your stomach digest fat, in case you didn't know that part -- without one, your liver does the same job, but slower], and have been told that this should calm down in another week or so. I'm tired, but fine. This is also my first major surgery in my life [do you count tonsils or wisdom teeth?], and it's been a huge learning experience. General anesthetic makes me weepy. Who'd have guessed? [My mama knew.]

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Meanwhile, in knitting land, I've done little. Really, too tired to think about it and the process is still a little physically uncomfortable. But when I feel up to it, I am working away on the Artfibers silk coat and I absolutely adore the fabric that Gypsy produces. It's nothing like any other silk yarn [or any other yarn, period!] that I've ever used, and I mean that in a good way. I'll take a progress picture tomorrow, I think, and then you can see how much it's grown. I'm already past the waist shaping!

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So it's been a week and I'm going to try to get back to getting some work done today. I know I've got to start small. Just typing this, I'm already ready for a nap.

you guys. :-)

Thanks again to everyone for your support and kindness. I'm starting to feel more like me today [finally!] but am still taking it easy, no worries. Maybe a movie today and some knitting.

Here's the short recap for those who like to play House.

- I've known I had gall stones for a while, but they were small and I wasn't having any symptoms, so the doc said we should just let it be for now.

- Monday, I went to bed feeling mostly fine, and woke up with a horrible backache and pain in my tum area that got worse moment by moment. Pretty hard to describe, but I knew something was wrong.

- Made poor hub drive me to emerg at 3am, despite the Telehealth Ontario nurse's recommendation to take an ambulance [she was right. see next point.]

- Sat in agony for more than 3 hours while people on ambulance stretchers were seen ahead of me. Shocking how there is absolutely no communication until you're actually being treated, and how upsetting it is not to know when you might have a hope of being seen by a doctor until it's actually happening.

- Then it all got better: got into emerg, saw the same [nice] doc that treated hub when he scratched his cornea several months ago, got a near-instant diagnosis of gall bladder attack and first dose of morphine/gravol all within an hour.

- Surprisingly, the morphine only dulled the pain, but it was still better than before. I slept.

- Then there was a day of waiting to see if fasting would stop the gall bladder attack [it did] and if they could get me into a bed on the surgery wing [they did].

- After that, things slowed down. I wasn't in much pain and just had to wait for the surgery. People were mostly very nice to me, especially my day nurse.

- The best gift you can give someone who is stuck in hospital is a fully loaded iPod. Hub brought mine and it kept me sane and allowed me to sleep at all hours, no matter what gross hospital-type noises were going on around me. And it likely prevented me from having a panic attack more than once.

- Also, a hospital bed is a very cool thing when bending at the waist is the last thing you want to do. I love my bed at home, but that bed was really an amazing help.

So that's all. The surgery went according to plan and everyone in the waiting room with hub, waiting on news of their own loved ones, only got good news that day. Rock.

Okay, typing this is the most effort I've expended in a week. I need to lie down now.
Happy Sunday, everyone!