The surgery is set for Wednesday, March 4th. OTRmama (my mom's best friend), with her dog, is coming down to take care of me that week. She's already planning to ask for 'the rest of the stories' while I'm on pain meds and vulnerable to telling all.
Yesterday we spoke with a design team from our company headquarters in Car Capital, USA. Thanks to the failing auto industry, they have no work--which means, we get their A-team, not the dregs we got from Bean Town. I'm already happy with what I've seen from them thus far. Apparently, it takes two people to replace me (a designer and a web guy), plus we get a production designer who will continue to work with me throughout the rest of the show cycle. I'm now tasked with working myself out of a job over the next week and a half. Feeding everything over to Car Capital.
Yesterday we told our internal team. Ms. Anxiety started the meeting with some general announcements and then said, "OTRgirl is with us today to make an announcement."
All eyes turned, panic and foreboding haunting their gazes. I laughed, "I'm not quitting!" They all sighed in relief until I continued, "But, it's close! I'm going in for a procedure that will require 2-4 weeks of recovery. I may be able to work from home after 2 weeks, but we'll see. I'm fine, it's not cancer or anything, but I'll be out of commission. That's why we've been working so hard to get a protocol in place and why we've got Car Capital helping out. We'll tell the client early next week, but wanted all of you to know."
The sad truth is that I'm looking forward to surgery as a "vacation"! I'm not looking forward to an overnight in the hospital (they'll have to intubate me during the surgery so they have to watch me after). I'm too busy to really worry about it and even if I weren't, I feel totally fine about getting this done. I like being married to a doctor so I can ask him my paranoid questions and get nice mental pats on the head in return.
Any books or movies I should watch? Will I need a lap desk for working on the computer in bed?
10 comments:
wow...
first of all, i am glad you are getting a 'vacation' even if it has to come like this!! and, it does sound like now you can rest easier knowing that you will leave things in good hands. when you take over again from the 2 people who are replacing you, maybe you can get their combined salary?? (since that is obviously what you are worth!!)
if you feel like reading-- some recent good fiction finds have included a passage to india (in the middle of it now), the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay, and last fall the inheritance of loss. (you will notice the india theme :)
That's great!
Will Car City be willing to give you back the event when you come back? Who gets to make that call?
Book recommends:
The 13th Tale
The Last Town on Earth
This Book Will Save Your Life
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
i just enjoyed the Hawk & the Dove Trilogy by Penelope Wilcock, The Last Lecture, and a book by Lynn Austin.
As for movies, I just watched and enjoyed the Ultimate Gift. If I'm going to be really honest, I'll also admit to enjoying the kid's movie Nanny McPhee, which has one awesome line in it that totally makes me think of us as the Bride of Christ.
After my surgeries, early on the pain meds made me so very sleepy that books and movies were not necessary. I didn't have the attention span for books so one of our Agpe friends brought me a huge bag of movies and the dh set up the tv in the bedroom.
About two weeks into recovery, I was able to start on books and it was somewhere at the end of week two or three when I was able to be of more use to the office.
Eventually, I started re-reading some of my favorite books because it was less frustrating to me if I fell asleep after twenty pages.
Make sure you have some extra bed pillows around. It can make the difference for a good night's sleep.
Book recommendation: Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor
YAY!
Hm. My all time favorite recovery thing to do is Monty Python and/or Fawlty Towers. I think that has something to do with being on medication... :-)
I generally don't like to read books if I'm on pain killers... but if I am going to read while recovering, I like to read mindless mysteries.
Couple books that came to mind that I think you might enjoy (or may have alread read?) are:
Hula - Lisa Shea
Ellen Foster - Kaye Gibbons
Good luck with recovery!
I liked these books:
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I've been soooo into all John Ortberg books. They're really good. I think audio books are a great idea while in the hospital. =) When I had my c-section, the hubs and I watched a lot of Friends episodes on dvd.
I have a hot tip for you on getting an operation. They'll have you in a hospital gown with a bare behind. And they'll put you on the gurney. They'll give you a blanket, and you lie there freezing with your teeth chattering waiting for sedation and the operation. Also, you have a tiny pillow that doesn't support your head. They have programmed you for maximum discomfort.
You don't have to put up with that. Call the nurse. Tell her you need more blankets and pillows. When she brings them, have her tuck you in. Get comfortable. You'll suffer enough after the operation -- don't suffer going in.
Books and movies? I suspect --
1) You already have a stack.
2) You'd ignore my recommendations.
Actually, I remember only one book that eased a convalescence: Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. On a July 4th picnic in 1954, I joined others in running through the brush down to the Potomac River, and I caught the worst case of poison ivy in my life. (That was my Washington, DC, summer.) It was hot and muggy and awful, and I was away from the office for a week and a half. I tried reading romances, and non-fiction, and nothing felt right until I joined up with Raskalnikov -- and there was a poor SOB I could identify with and feel sorry for.
hope you enjoy your vacation. you'll be able to sit at the table and do whatever you want. i don't think you'll require a lap desk. just my opinion, of course. :)
you can take up space on the couch and enjoy Anne of Green Gables or something!
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