Dunkirk NY – This is too easy. 28 hours after surgery, I hardly feel a thing. I’ve been using the ice machine pretty much continually. No problems walking or getting up stairs. I can bend the knee easily. There is little to no pain. I took one Oxy at about 4 PM yesterday and one before bed as a preventative measure, but not out of any real need. I slept with a wedge pillow under my knee and the ice machine humming. Got up at 3 AM and 5 AM to pee, and then at 8 AM this morning for the day. Made the coffee as always, and took out the garbage. Everything is really very comfortable and pain-free. About all I need is a bowel movement; haven’t had one since Wednesday morning. The surgeon did say to my wife that the tear was pretty big. He showed her the pictures, but I did not get a chance to see them. I’ll probably get a look next week when I go for follow up.
I also signed up for a 14-day trial with the Criterion Channel web site for movies. Between TCM and the Criterion Collection I have a wealth of good films to watch. I looked into the PBS app to see if I could watch anything but it appears PBS is now subscription-based. You make a $60 donation to your local PBS station and you get a “passport” entitling you to watch a lot of their series. I have been boycotting PBS for a long time now, not giving them any money, because they spend it all on British imports and never invest in American talent. That’s BullShit. But since I can direct my donation to the local PBS radio station and still get the passport, I may go that route. Since I use YouTube TV as an alternate to cable, I don’t get PBS over-the-air broadcasting, and I’m too far from my major city to pick it up via antenna. I hate thinking about going back to cable TV, but continually adding subscriptions adds up. If I decide to stay with Criterion after the 14-day trial, it’s $99/year, and I am not sure I would watch enough movies to make it worthwhile.
My other major recovery project is to re-read Catch-22. I read it in high school, and it occurs to me that a lot of books I read in high school I should re-read. Catch-22 was like a bible to me back then, and I could actually recite parts of it by heart. I found it when I was cleaning out the attic (not my original copy), and thought it might make a good re-read.
The weather is quite cold, so I am not regretting being able to go outside. It actually feels quite good to rest here and know that all I need to do is rest. Nothing on the calendar, no projects to attend to, and the ability to say “no” to just about everything because I’m recuperating. Who knew minor surgery could actually turn out to be like a vacation? -twl