Healing
Welcome to Willow’s weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul, I’ll be your barista today and I’m happy to be here once again. Please come in and make yourself comfortable. Willow has plumped the cushions and started a cozy fire so we can warm ourselves while we have a cuppa and chat. As usual, I’d be pleased to bring a pot of whatever beverage you prefer – we have a wide range of teas and coffees to satisfy ourworld-wide readership. Also available is a large selection of spirits for addition to your cuppa or in its place. We can relax while we discuss the affairs of the week both personal and/or worldwide. How has your week been?
Well, this week has been basically a recuperating time for me after my operation last week. I seem to be healing well and had the nurses remove the dressing from the incision in my neck last night in dialysis. It looks great and has healed nicely. We are watching my meds closely with blood tests during each dialysis session (this is very simple and just involves taking blood from the dialysis needles before/after/during dialysis depending on the particular test). So far everything is within normal range and we have tweaked two meds slightly – adding an extra pill here and deleting one there. I am starting to notice a number of small improvements already that indicate that we are on the right track. I’ve noticed that any scrapes or scratches on my skin are healing much faster and cleaner than before. It is easier for me to stand up and sit down and walking is getting more fluid and pain free. So far these are all small changes but it has only been 10 days since the operation, and if the improvements continue the procedure will have been very successful.
One of the outcomes is a serious positive improvement is my ability to sleep. Which is actually why I am late getting this post to Willow this week. Because of medical issues, I haven’t been able to sleep more than 1 1⁄2 hours at a time for many years now. I will get up for a short while and then go back to bed. I am getting my total sleep necessary but never in periods long enough to get to REM or achieve the rest that I really need. Well, it turns out that the chemical imbalance that my recent operation targeted has been a contributing factor in the inability to sleep. I was up most of Friday night after dialysis, and then went for a nap early Saturday a.m. I slept for 5 hours straight – something that hasn’t happened for years now. Surprised, I had a bite to eat, wrote a bit and went back to bed and slept another 3 hours. To get 8 hours sleep in two sections is a major improvement. However, I wasn’t expecting it and that put me behind in getting this post out to Willow. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Ha! Do you sleep well at night? Do you take naps during the day? (I enjoy this.) I haven’t slept normally for so long that I forget how it works.
Have another cuppa? Oh, while we are on the topic of personal medical issues, I came across the funniest (and oddest) piece of medical information in a post by a good Doctor that I follow. Victo Dolore on her blog “Behind the White Coat” recently wrote an hilarious post https://doctorly.wordpress.com/2015/03/14/the-antidote/ that included the somewhat obscure information that flatulence may actually be healing. Apparently the smell component –Hydrogen sulfide – has medicinal properties. ((http://time.com/2976464/rotten-eggs-hydrogen-sulfide-mitochondria/ and http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2014/jul/14/silent-not-deadly-how-farts-cure-diseases ). I thought I would mention this piece of obscure information because I would have delighted in knowing this at the age of 12. And even if it is a bit later in my life – the information is still delightfully indicative of the absurdity of life.

what;s my secret
Would you like another cuppa? A sweet perhaps? So, that’s about all he news on the personal front. Pretty tame but positive. On the national front here in Canada it has been a slow week as well. Sadly today we are burying a member of our special forces who was killed by friendly fire on Iraq – Sgt. Andrew Doiron. There are a number of other local stories as well – the usual reports of fraud by a public official and discussion of our bill C-51 (a piece of legislation that allows our secret service to spy on citizens for purposes of addressing terrorism). On the international front, the story of the week seems to be the disappearance of the Russian president – Vladimir Putin. Very strange and not even a sign of explanation yet. Time will tell. Personally I think he has always been a construct of the old KGB and they have been hiring actors to play his role for years. (Just kidding!) That explains his occasionally odd behaviour and changes in looks and attitudes. I suspect they have run out of money to pay the actors who play him and so now find themselves without a president. (Ha!)
On that note, that’s about all we have room for this week, so it’s time to settle in with another cuppa and watch the fire. Sweets anyone? Please join me in thanking Willow for her invitation to tea. We are all honored that you dropped by today to visit. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and the conversation and please look around at Willow’s other posts while you’re here. Willow is over there serving her guests and chatting it up. Let’s go see how she is today. Have a great week. We look forward to seeing you back here for sweets and beverages of your choice again next week.
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