Saturday’s Over

I have a feeling that yesterday was the hardest day of the healing process. By the time 4:00 came around, I was feeling pretty rough, emotionally. I’d been rather absorbed in constantly monitoring the swelling around the incision, hoping to see it reducing but seeing no progress at all, wanting to feel better RIGHT NOW!

I was restless, not wanting to read, not wanting to rest, not wanting to do much of anything (I didn’t even want to knit!), but wanting time to pass by quickly. Thankfully, a couple of weeks ago I picked up this little toy. It has been invaluable over the last few days. In the hospital, the music and audiobooks I loaded on to it got me through the night when I couldn’t sleep because of the lights, the sounds, the unfamiliarity of the hospital and the comings and goings of the nursing staff (the room I was in was directly across from the nursing station).

It was the first thing I unpacked when I came out of surgery and stayed close at hand, and still does. It is, as you probably recognize, an iPod Touch, and was on sale at London Drugs in their back to school flyer. This one is the 8 GB version and I’m very happy I bought it. I have since been told, though, that I have enough toys now! I’ve been having fun looking at apps and have downloaded a few of them, including a knitting row counter, a flashlight (who’d have thunk it?), an e-reader and a level. Yes, a level, like they use in construction. It’s just cool! By the way, if you know of any other cool apps, pass on your suggestions.

I’ve also discovered that our local library system has audio and e-books available for download. I love it! It’s great to have while I’m convalescing, but it’s also great for those mundane tasks at work. Thankfully, my boss doesn’t mind. As a matter of fact, he even suggested numerous times that a radio or mp3 player would be a good thing to have for those jobs that were mindless but necessary.

As far as the healing is going, today is a much better day. The swelling has gone down noticeably and my neck isn’t feeling as tight as yesterday. There’s still a lot of bruising, but that will fade with time. I am still having to take pain killers every four hours, but I think that I’ll try reducing the amount or alternating with regular Tylenol rather than just Tylenol 3 (with codeine). Now, it’s a matter of keeping the incision clean and lubricated to reduce scarring. There are no stitches on the outside; all the sutures are subcutaneous (under the skin) and will be absorbed in time. My doctor says the resulting scar, while raised and red to begin with, should become nothing more than a thin white line, about 4” in length, in time.

Yup, today is a much better day than yesterday.