October 20, 2023 - Surprise

      How is this for a surprise?    There is a reason I didn’t write a blog yesterday.
      Not knowing how swollen is good or bad, early yesterday morning I called the surgeon’s hotline and asked if I could have someone take a look at my neck. 
      In a few minutes the appointment secretary called and asked if I could be at the Clinic in less than an hour.
      The nurse looked at my throat and said, “It looks really good.  The amount of swelling is normal.  It may take it a month to flatten out.  You are good to go.”
      “To go” she meant to go home.  Teresa came and got me, we packed up and loaded the car, and we headed home.
      The hardest hour of the trip was the last hour because it was raining.  The second most difficult was the first hour.  The longer we traveled, the stronger I became.
      And by midnight I was tucked in my own bed, not nearly as weary as you might think.
      The swelling does give a new meaning to the phrase, “a lump in my throat.” 
      We didn’t heed the advice of several folks to “take it easy.”  With two days at home that we didn’t anticipate, it might be a good time to heed that advice.
      There was an added blessing of seeing the nurse.  I was trying to be careful to keep my head from moving much, trying to make sure that I wouldn’t hurt what the surgeon had done.  I would turn my body instead of my head.  The nurse noticed that I was doing that.
      That wasn’t in the plan for recovery.  She said to exercise my neck area at least once an hour, moving my head from side to side and from front to back.  The trip home more than met that requirement.
      So far things couldn’t have gone better.  For that we are more than grateful.
      This is the day the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it