The Bag Lady

I feel like the "bag lady" this week.  The surgeons installed my very own built-in drains to keep the swelling down at my surgery sites.  (Now I REALLY look like a Borg!)  I have spaghetti-like tubes coming out of my sides that connect to little rubbery bags I have to pin to the inside of my shirts.  Talk about making me look fat!  More than ever, I resemble one of the bells my mom collects: slender top and very wide bottom.  Hopefully, someday, I'll be able to balance my shape a little better, preferably toward the "slender" side.

I haven't had a whole lot of pain, at least less than I expected.  When my pain meds lapse, it feels like somebody locked my chest in one of those colonial wooden stockades and I have to lug it around everywhere I go.

But all of that is nothing next to the boredom.  I've decided it takes a great deal of patience to recover from surgery.  I guess that's true of many other types of recovery--including emotional and spiritual ones.  Some things just take time, and you can't exactly rush the process.  Lucky for me, I live in the age of electricity and computers.  I can download video games and watch T.V.  But even that gets a little tedious at times.  (Hard to believe, I know. ;)

Yesterday, Steve took Jess and me for a drive up the canyon to help me combat my cabin fever.  The leaves are turning, with patches of bright red and yellow everywhere you look.  This is my favorite time of year.  I love the colors of fall, the cooler weather, and the holidays.  For those who are wondering if I'll manage my annual spook house, I admit I'm already scheming.  I hope I'll be recovered enough by then to pull something off--probably scaled down from my usual ambitious project, but fun, nonetheless!  Hmmm.  Maybe the theme this year should be "For whom the bell tolls."

The above pictures were taken the last couple of weekends.  I really enjoyed being out on the mountains and having the strength and energy to heft logs into our truck bed.  Steve had a good group of girls to help him prepare for winter. :)  We all had fun, and it was great to be able to get some work done before surgery incapacitated me. 

Here, Jess appreciates the cream of a banana-cream pie. She's enjoyed being the only child this week, although I think she gets bored too.  We both miss her sisters.  Luckily, we'll be home in just two more days!