Feb 4
Asbury dreaming
I woke this morning to the unbelievable fact that it was suddenly Thursday. Losing time, and even days, isn’t new for me — I can’t even blame it on the pandemic since that just normalized the phenomena for me. Aside from a few very early nights my body demanded, I can’t begin to understand just where my time was spent. It’s not like I was binge-watching Hot Bench, though that would have been acceptable — Hot Mess, as we call it, is a phenomenal study in humanity (and sometimes a lack thereof).
What I do know is that I’ve been stashing plans for when the restrictions and brace come off. I’ve been jotting down notes of what I want to do more of, and what I want to do less of this year. One note was super clear: Asbury Park. It’s one of my favorite places to lose time. I aspire to a house there one day, but in the meantime, finding a week getaway is where I my head gets lost these days. And my AirBNB list is growing.
On the less list is pain and discomfort. While the pain I was in before surgery is basically gone, discomfort is still the rule of the day. I won’t lie, I over did it on the weekend a bit and come Monday, I was feeling pretty rough. The day was called at 7:30 p.m. when I crawled into bed and was pretty much out for the night. Of course there were the four bathroom wake ups but that’s par for the course these days.
And on that subject, just when I thought hospital bedpans and commodes were the most embarrassing it could get peeing after surgery — it turns out, I was wrong. Peeing on myself trumps a bedpan any day of the week. The nerves that signal my bladder are still “under construction” and I feel like I always have to pee. So, if I don’t get up to use the bathroom on a regular schedule, I may miss how dire it becomes suddenly. A new low as I made my way to the bathroom earlier this week and fought to get the brace adjusted/off so that I could go.
Well, Nikki, why don’t you just pull your pants up over the brace to prevent this? It’s a legit question. For those unfamiliar with this sheath of armor, it adds a good 4–5 inches to my body. Most of my pants won’t go over it…and the few pair I have that are stretchy enough end up in the laundry quickly. To be honest, many of my tees don’t go over the brace easily and I end up stealing Joey’s (at least it is a valid excuse, I didn’t have one before for stealing his shirts).
So there you have it… I want a week in Asbury and have a strong desire to not need to google the pros and cons of Depends. I really don’t think I ask for much.
Song of the day: Tenth Ave Freeze Out, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
