Given all the help I’ve received to get me to yesterday’s surgery and my recovery ahead, I think today’s earworm has to be “Lean on Me”.
Here are Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder and John Legend singing in
at 2015’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Withers.
Crank up the volume.
Okay, today the great adventure begins. At 1130 EST I’m scheduled for total knee replacement on the right knee. I hope to be back at home late afternoon, early evening.
Thanks to everyone who’s helping me with this—offers of rides
to/from hospital, staying with me for the first days, grocery shopping/errand
running. And thanks for the lending of the walker and cane.
I have a bowlful of prescriptions and some major gripes with CVS
and CVS/Caremark, who suck eggs. (Here’s something you don’t want to hear from
your pharmacist WRT prescription labeling: “It’s a mistake.”) My portion of the surgeon and hospital bills are paid (are they afraid I won't survive and therefore want to collect days/weeks before?) I have post-op exercise instructions from
my physical therapist (who is, in fact, in-network, even though the jackass at
Anthem told them they weren’t), and an in-person appointment for Monday.
I had an afternoon yoga lesson yesterday, to mark the transition
from Everything Before to Everything Next.
There’s a cot in my livingroom, courtesy of the friend I had
dinner with on Tuesday.
Friend: Do you want to borrow a cot to set up on the ground
floor?
Me: No, they want me doing stairs.
Friend:
Me: Wut?
Friend: Not while taking those drugs.
Me: Oh. Okay, thanks for lending me the cot.
My PT also reminded me to bring my toothbrush and toothpaste to
the powder room on the ground floor. Good call—I wouldn’t have thought of it.
I’ve got a supply of Lean Cuisines and a stack of Agatha
Christies (which are entertaining without requiring a lot of intellectual engagement), so I think I’m good to go.
See you on the other side.
On behalf of a faltering humanity, let me just ask the question: who the ever-loving hell ever thought it was a good idea for someone facing surgery to have to register with the hospital via mobile phone?
Reston Hospital Center did that several weeks ago. I told them
to quit sending me texts because I wasn’t going to do anything via mobile. And
yet, here we are:
Well, after going to the website (not via mobile), what do I find but this:
I swear, they can not knock me out soon enough.
I confess that my mind is focused on other things this week, so my posts will probably be somewhat lightweight.
I was gunging out some files and came across the pix I shot at
Charles de Gaulle airport when I landed in October, so here’s what struck me
about it.
First: the sunrise:
Then this ceiling light in one of the corridors between the gate
and passport control (which may have been in Belgium, considering the distance
I walked—plus taking a train):
But things on the floor also caught my attention:
And this:
Because in every airport in every country but the United States,
these luggage carts are free! What the hell is up with US airports
charging you $8 for them? It’s not like people are going to leave the airport
with them. Man, that burns my bacon.
Finally, the TGV station at the fringe of CDG. I love the
architecture.
You may be aware that tech companies have been shedding employees at a rate of knots recently. My employer is among them.
But last week I learned I’m not among the thousands who’ve been
let go, and I am sincerely grateful.