Brand Loyalty and Stuff

(That's where I was today, in case you missed me.) I got up at 5:00 this morning to get myself to the Washington Hospital Center by 6:00 to be prepped for surgery. They were putting a catheter in my abdomen, although the only one of "them" I can conjure up in my head is the anasthesiologist, whose name was Dmitri. He took one look at my pale face and wide eyes and pronounced "general."

A nurse named Laverne wheeled me into the OR and covered me up with these wonderful warm flannel blankets, I thought to myself that this was someting Washington Hospital Center did exactly right, everywhere I went there was a warm blanket. Dmitri stuck something on my forehead to run an EEG, I asked him what it was and he told me, saying that it would show how asleep I was. I closed my eyes and that, as they say, is pretty much all she wrote. By the time I came to, I was in recovery, with no memory of having even seen the surgeon. I felt bad, so I figured they'd done something to me.

They gave me two shots of something, which did a little to dull the pain, and then two percocets about half an hour later. Within an hour I was dressed and on my way home. I found it difficult to climb up into my bed and arrange myself in a "comfortable" position; still, it was my bed with my pillows and my Lola sleeping next to me. This was good.

I remember thinking that with all that pain-killing chemical running through my bloodstream, I should be able to fall asleep fairly quickly. I puzzled that I was not yet asleep for roughly three minutes; next thing I knew it was 7:00, and I had not moved in six hours. Mom brought me a grilled tuna sandwich, and I fixed a glass of berry iced tea, and now I knew I was glad to be at home with edible food available to me.

All in all, I'm pretty happy.

~~~~~

I share Krapsnart's Lush fixation. My current favorite products are Silky Underwear dusting powder and Potion lotion. The powder smells marvelous and it's packed with little chunks of cocoa butter; the lotion carries the crisp, fresh scent of carnations and roses and leaves my skin beautifully soft. While she is a devotee of the Butterball bomb, my favorite is the orange and neroli Feel Good in the Southern Hemisphere. The catalog copy mentioned euphoria; after using my first one, I stepped out of the tub feeling lighter than air with a smile on my face.

If you are feeling blue, I urge you to visit Lush on the web and order some bath stuff. This is not anything like visiting one of their shops, but opening the box is still a lovely experience. Then run yourself a bath. Toss things in it and relax. You'll feel better!

P.S. Dear Everybody: Despite two hospital visits in three days, I'm OK. However, I appreciate your concern.

before - after