WolfWeave

Birthday celebration on Sunday mostly consisted of feeling hot and tired of lying in bed so I took a sponge bath and then was taken to the hairdresser so she could wash and cut my hair. I had in mind those “pixie cuts” we used to get for summer camp? Well that’s me…except it’s sort of Lou Reed I see in the mirror instead. Hmmm. It definitely requires makeup and earrings!

Went out to enormous birthday dinner at Osteria di Tramonto (a wheel broke on the wheelchair so I’ve been using the Turning Leg Caddy knee scooter we rented) and came home and promptly fell over the side of the walker trying to get around the bathroom—the klutz move of all time. I was afraid I’d cracked some ribs so we spent Monday in the emergency room where they thoroughly x-rayed my ribs (ouch!), shoulder (double ouch!!) and neck (triple ouch!!!), then slapped one of those enormous cervical collars on me and sent me off for a neck CT scan. Finally they let me go—no broken ribs, just contusions and bruises and ripped muscles that will take as long to heal and be every bit as painful as any breaks would have been; a separated shoulder (they forgot to give me the sling they promised); and a lot of upper cervical junk going on that they decided was old so they ignored it and took back their cervical collar (“Go see a good orthopedist!”).

Yesterday my dad brought me soup from Corner Bakery which I promptly spilled all over my lap and the bed (burning my thigh). Today I whacked my knee on the corner of the bedframe and then, again, on the doorway. It’s hard to maneuver around on the scooter or the desk chairs. So now I’m REALLY lying around in bed and feel like I should be swaddled in foam rubber for safety’s sake! I had some friends visit today with lunch and treats and that was such a nice time. I don’t know when I’ll be independent again and I hate being unable to do the things I normally do and having to depend on others who usually rely on me. Sigh—this getting older isn’t all it’s cracked up to be (cracked up, get it?)!

On the plus side, I’m knitting—in between the medication-induced naps and all the movies I’m watching. So I should have some photos to put up soon. Hang in there, okay?

because I had my foot operated on yesterday and I’m supposed to be lying in bed with it propped up on a pillow, not sitting in front of the computer screen but it’s only been one day and I’ve about had my fill of scooters and rolling chairs and the walker and the boot and the pain and my bones so soft and hollow that they couldn’t just put a pin into my 5th metatarsal but had to put a washer in to hold the pin in place. Whew! Guess it’s time to take that darvocet again!

Thanks to Lynn Hershberger for turning me on to this very cool video. Consider it a late Mother’s Day present (it’s not even 3 minutes long and very enjoyable to watch!):

(if you can’t get it to play, then go directly to YouTube here to watch it. It was made by eggman913, is entitled “Women in Art,” subtitled “500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art.”) A lot prettier than looking at all those cicadas, eh?

Welcome to Cicadaland! To think we waited 17 years for this. Somewhere my kids still have their tiny toddler t-shirts that read “I survived the cicada invasion of 1990!”