Kind of a strange day

Today seemed really strange. Getting up at the crack of dawn, taking two Valiums, and then being anesthetized for surgery all by 8am was a bizarre beginning. It was seriously cold outside, too, 19°F (or -7°C). For this area, that's low. The ground was crunchy under our feet and everything sparkled with ice and frost. I was glad of the cold when we left the office because it helped to clear my head a little bit. I don't remember very much about the ride home, though. A nurse told Gregg to get me a milkshake right away so I could have something on my stomach. Milkshakes are cold and don't  require chewing so apparently they're the ideal food when you have fresh stitches in your mouth. He went through the Burger King drive through and ordered a strawberry shake for me to eat while he headed to the drugstore to fill my prescriptions. It  was kind of surreal, riding around in the bitterly cold early morning sunshine, eating spoonfuls of ice cream while avoiding the right side of my mouth (which was packed with gauze) and still pretty high from the anesthesia and valium.

As soon as we got my antibiotics and painkillers, we headed home. Gregg gave me a Percocet, a cold ginger ale to wash it down, and tucked me into bed. I spent most of the day dozing and reading by turns. Gregg kept checking in and asking me what I needed or wanted. He stayed home from work to take care of me and was really sweet about it. How I love that man!

Late in the afternoon, Marco started calling for me from the other room, so Gregg brought him to me for a little visit. He put him down on the foot of my bed, and quiet as a mouse, Marco crept up close enough to peek at me over the quilt:

"What's going on, mom?"

Luckily, I haven't had much pain. Gregg has been adamant that I stick to a strict schedule of taking pain medication. After all of his health problems in the past, he's a big believer in staying on top of pain and not letting it set in if you don't have to! So I've been comfortable. I tried to make progress on a new novel I'm reading, but my concentration wasn't very good. I finally put it down and stuck to two old familiar favorites: Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede and Elizabeth Von Arnim's Elizabeth and Her German Garden. It was almost a treat to spend the whole day in bed, reading and napping and being waited on and pampered. It was odd, though.