As I said to the doctor when he checked in on me pre-surgery, “I like you and all, but we really have to stop meeting like this.” It’s definitely helpful when you have a doctor with a sense of humor. He’s a good guy.
Once he got in there, he was able to see what had happened. Suffice it to say that my bones liked the original implant a little too much. Yes, officially it’s termed “rejection,” but to me it sounds like way too much acceptance—the implant had sunk down into my toe bone, leaving nothing between the two bones in the joint. Gee, no wonder it kinda hurt. I’m one of the less-than-10% of people who have had problems with the new implant materials. Aren’t I just special?
I’ve now got the traditional titanium implant, the one that’s been in use for the last few years and has a proven track record. This one ain’t getting absorbed by anything. I told my family that the convenient thing is that I’m sure that titanium implant has a unique serial number so when my body is found burned to a crisp in a field the forensic scientists will still be able to identify me by my big toe. These are the kinds of comments my children love me for making, LOL. “Wow, Mom—that went dark fast.”
And, of course, the anesthesia in the foot wore off around 2:00 a.m., and it was too dang cold (and complicated) for me to get myself out of bed to take more meds, so I had a fitful night’s sleep. However, losing sleep didn’t bother me too much because, hey, what am I going to be doing today, anyway, except stretch out on a couch under blankets?
Anyway, now we’re just into recovery. Fingers crossed.
Recovery Reading:
I got my PageHabit delivery yesterday—very well timed, thank you, Book Gods. My genre of choice is historical fiction and I was really pleased to see this month’s book is Jennifer Chiaverini’s Enchantress of Numbers. I enjoyed the first couple of books in the Elm Creek Quilt series, although eventually I stopped reading them as they began to sort of fizzle out for me. However, I liked her writing style well enough, so I’m looking forward to seeing how she does with a “weightier” topic. This book is a fictionalized account of Ada Byron King, “Lord Byron’s daughter and the world’s first computer programmer.” King was a brilliant mathemetician who came up with algorithms that would have been computer programs had computers existed yet. Or something like that. I’ll let you know once I’ve read the book.
One of my clergy-colleagues is the Executive Director of the Susan B. Anthony House here in Rochester, so I’d sent her a message last week explaining that I’d be laid up for awhile and would be enjoying some reading: I asked for her recommendation of her favorite book on Susan B. She recommended Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words, by Lynn Sherr. I bought it paperback rather than Kindle because I suspect it’ll have an image gallery in it, plus it felt like a “keeper book” that I’d like to have on my shelf.
I’d also decided to re-read the Wrinkle in Time trilogy by Madeleine L’Engle, given that Disney is releasing a movie based on the first one this spring. I’ve already read Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door, and am partially through A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I’ve found, sadly, these books haven’t aged well for me. I enjoyed them when I read them as a kid, but I’m struggling with some of the characterizations and dialogue now. The gender roles are particularly hard for me—they’re very enmeshed in their time—even though L’Engle is trying to write strong women characters they’re still somewhat dependent and expected to be homey. In that regard, I’m really looking forward to what Disney does with that because I strongly suspect they’ll bring the gender roles into the modern era. Apparently L’Engle had written two more books in the series at some point after I’d read the original trilogy. I bought both books when I got the trilogy because they were all on sale in Kindle that day, but I’m not sure I’m going to force myself through all five. They’re young adult novels so a pretty fast read, but still—I have a LOT of books I really want to read, so even giving up a few hours to books I’m iffy about and am only reading because I have that annoying need for wholeness and completion...I think I’ll work hard at getting over myself, just finish Planet and move on.
I’m not set up to do any embroidery yet—that may come in the next couple of days. Right now I tend to doze off at random moments and don’t want to do that with needles and scissors in hand. Meanwhile, there’s this face wanting some attention.
Any favorite books you’ve read lately?
(P.S. I’m writing this blog post using the app on my iPad. The photos are looking funky when I post them, but hopefully it’ll look okay once it’s delivered. I can’t be on my computer right now so I can’t do anything to fix it. I’m sorry if it’s wonked!)