Recovery and Peace

I'm burning clove incense (clove is good aromatherapy for pain) and listening to soothing music tonight. It's a peaceful end to another odd day. Gina came and (bless her) finished cleaning the rat cages for me. She also helped me with some room stuff like sweeping under the bed, putting up a little hammock for doo dads and securing my bedside caddy to my recliner. What with the room projects and the nice dose of hydromorphone I was ready to do some more work so I did. Mostly I worked on tidying my meditation space which consists of a footlocker full of my writings and some very special memoribilia, two cushions for sitting on and some pretty focal points placed on top of the footlocker. Right now there is a beautiful peony my mom picked for me and put in my favorite blue bottle. I love having living things as part of my altars but I tend to kill most plants so I've ended up with a medium-sized collection of bamboo. I believe everyone, especially the ill, should have living plants around the house. They are so very healing.




I've been feeling very odd lately. I had my couple days of recovery and pain but there have been other things, too. Since the surgery I've had increased physical anxiety and restless leg. My breathing has been worse and I've been very dizzy. I seem to have more of an ammonia brain, too. So I apologize for any strangeness of lack of communication or forgetfulness. I've also had some weird nausea patterns. I plan on calling UNMC and updating them. There's probably nothing to be done, but I should be letting them know.

Me with my port bandages.

In the meantime, I've been trying to help myself along with extra rest, meditation, healthy food and the like. Last night I was up to going to my bellydancing class (something I actually have a talent for). It was a blast and didn't wear me out. It did me good to get out of the house and get my circulation going. It cleared my head quite a bit, too. However, today it was back to being spacy and weird. Even so, I spent the morning outside reading, meditating and doing a bit of yoga.

I've made appointments to see my first chiropractor/acupuncturist. He also does some other therapies that may help me too. Then tomorrow I'm going to see my yoga teacher to do some restorative yoga. I know these things will help me to feel better. I really don't believe in drugs for the most part (although they have their place). Don't get me wrong, I take my medication. I'm just not happy about it. In my experience, holistic methods have always delivered deeper, more profound results.

The meditation altar:

The foster rats are getting bigger and crazier. I'm uploading some new videos to YouTube and some pictures of Pearl's new litter, who are almost 2 weeks, are up on Photobucket (links go to my accounts).

Just an FYI: My sister's graduation party is next Saturday from 6-10 PM at my Gramma's house. Everyone is welcome!

Sweet dreams, everyone!