Day 14: Sunday 24th March

The weather outside is frightful. Snow, wind, below freezing temperatures.

Charlie Snow is still alive and well and sitting on our picnic bench.

The conditions inside are windy. No more thinned-down lentil and parsnip soup for me, thank you very much. Although I am heartily sick of yogurt, it is doing me such a lot of good, that I need to continue with it. Thank you Mum.
Water is also still going down well. 

Having a shower this morning was a revelation - the last of the paper stitch-things came off, to show the extent of the damage. I am happy to say that any redness, external sore bits and tight areas all seem to be calming down. 

Not that I am up to full-on vacuuming status yet - no. Neither am I considering mopping the kitchen floor or dragging bins around. Picking up clothes off the floor is still a challenge. 

I would like to point out that this is NOT our home!
Just an indication of how it could be ...........

C1 has obliged by staying asleep way past her usual morning wake-up time. I think she has finally given in to allowing herself a bloody good catch-up. Why she won't let herself be tired beats me. She needs her sleep. Life it far too busy for her at the moment. 

C2, however, woke up at his normal time, having kicked his laptop off the top of his bed onto the floor while having some kind of ninja moment in his dreams. All is not lost. The laptop is fine. C2 is fine, installed now on the sofa, with laptop, Spiderman sleeping bag, cup of tea and a bit of cake. This is his idea of a perfect Sunday morning experience!

My dear friend The Lincoln Imp rang for a lengthy discussion on weight loss, farts, burps, wine and driving in the snow. All of these subjects are normal. This is why she is one of my very dearest friends. And the fact that she knows so much about me, that if we ever fell out, she would have to die. (Love you, TLI!!!)

Once, long ago, a mischievous Imp was blown into my life in Lincoln by a ferocious storm, coming to rest, at last,
at the grand door of the Duke William pub on The Bail.
Exhausted, and seeking shelter she entered - but on seeing the  splendour and magnificence of the furniture all around her,
her natural instinct for evil doing was awakened.
In a wine-fuelled frenzy she began to unscrew a knob from the top of a chair, dance on the table singing 'I'm Climbing Up Sunshine Mountain' at the top of her voice (breaking several windows in the process) and tripping up the captain of Lincoln Rugby Team. I immediately decided that she was going to be a friend for life.
The Guardian Angels of Lincoln Minster saw this mayhem and in an instant turned her into stone, and placed her forever out of harm's way, high above the Choir in the Cathedral, between two enormous party-sized bottles of Country Manor and a shed-load of B&H Silver, where she can still be seen to this day - grinning cheekily.
She comes out on high days and holidays, and can often be spotted hiding behind bushes waiting to leer and gurn at unsuspecting fit young men.  XX

C2 is now awake. I hear her moving about upstairs, and will now halt my writing in order to put the kettle on, and assume the position of loving Mummy, ready with hugs, a kiss, and an offer of help with the grim project on The Gambia which needs to be completed today. 

The project WILL be complete by the end of the day.

C1 is living up to this mantra. 

Please note: I have tried, Lord knows I have tried, to consume enough calories to keep body and soul together over the last 4 weeks.  But........

Fortisip is a Food for Special Medical Purposes for use under medical supervision. Fortisip is a nutritionally complete, ready to drink, nutritional supplement for the management of malnutrition. Fortisip can be used to supplement the diet of patients unable to meet their nutritional requirements from other foods, or used as a sole source of nutrition.

Every time I try to consume anything from this range of 'food' dispensed to me by the hospital to aid my recovery, I suffer with dry-heaving, queasy weirdness and have to go for a proper lie down. This will be discussed tomorrow afternoon with the lovely Emma BD and Karen BN during my post-operative appointment/check-up.


Back again on the road to health via Captain Runny Yogurt and her buddies Water and Bovril.