Convalescing at Mom’s

The day of my surgery, I stayed at my mother’s home that evening. I returned to my own home the next night, April 3rd to sleep in my own bed, only to wake up so sore at my surgical site that I felt like I was on fire. On top of this, I was nauseated from the pain medication, of which I have only been taking one pill per evening to facilitate a restful sleep – otherwise, I’ve just been bearing it. Opioids are not worth their constipation and nausea side effects, in my opinion.

On Thursday, April 5th, feeling so nauseated and on fire, I feared infection. I did not have a thermometer, so I called my mom and asked if I could go to her place again. She brought me fugasse bread from the local bakery and I ate this with some salami and rested on her couch, while she brought me the digital thermometer my dad had used to monitor his temperature while being treated for cancer. I was a normal 36-point-something.

Later on, still feeling like dog shit, I let her look at the wound site. She used to be a nurse so has some idea of if there’s infection and what should be done. She didn’t think it looked too bad for being 2 days out from a surgery. We watched Palm Royale on Apple TV, and she started drawing me a bath around 7:30pm in my childhood bathroom, where the plumbing has been out since my dad passed.

She thought it felt warm enough when cleaning it. After 3 kettles of boiling water, and two pots heated on the stove my lukewarm sitz bath was finally ready.

I managed about 5 minutes of soaking before getting chilly and getting out to dry off, I took my dose of Percocet and went straight to bed. The next day, infection paranoia persisting. I called homecare but given that they cannot prescribe medicine of any sort, they suggested I go to the ER. So I did.

The wait wasn’t too bad, just over an hour to see a doctor when you present with a potential post-surgical infection. The doctor said it looked like mostly bruising, but to be on the safe side he wrote a prescription for Amoxicillin. He also said an ice pack was okay when I asked if I could use one.

i went back up to Rossland and filled the prescription to start taking it immediately. I felt well enough to eat Colander that my mom brought from the mall. I quickly gobbled 2 meatballs and a little over a handful of pasta. I watched some Modern Wisdom podcast on YouTube, and then some news with mom, and then we checked out the new show with Colin Farrell, called Sugar.

Saturday morning, I finally felt well enough to go home and take care of myself. She sent me on my way with the bag of wontons. They’ll probably be my dinner tonight. Back to light eating after gaining a couple kilos while healing; not that I care about the # on the scale – more just body composition.

I’m so fortunate to have my mother. She was a good nurse and is very caring and thinks about a lot of things to increase my comfort. Today, the pain is finally manageable enough that I may not need to take any medicine to sleep.

We talked about how she wants to sell her home. She just wants money to be able to comfortably make travel plans. This may be a fever dream induced by taking pain meds, but I’m doubled down on the goal of being able to purchase her home from her, while still letting her live in it.

My dad built that house when I was 2, and my brother lives in a house he also built. Thinking about generational wealth, and all that jazz, I know buying that house and keeping it in the family is the best thing for my brother and I. I’m unlikely to ever have children of my own, but i’d love to be able to leave that house to a nephew or niece.

Now I just need a plan to get the money it’s worth. This may have to wait.