My Pet Head-Rock

My husband and I did not do all of the things I list here, but we realized after the fact that they would have been helpful. 1.      Cleaning. a.      Do all your laundry as close to your surgery date as possible. Make sure that your comfy, lounge-y recovery clothes are ready for you. b.      Clean your house, especially the bathrooms, and change your bedsheets the night before leaving for the hospital. c.      Take out the garbage! d.      If you live in a house, do all or as much of the seasonally appropriate yardwork as you can.   2.      Pay any outstanding bills. You probably have a stack of medical bills sitting around. If you are able, pay off everything you can before surgery because you are liable to forget such things afterward—and you don’t want to pile up overdue charges just because you’re recovering from surgery. This will also ...

This big guy is getting the ax for Thanksgiving! (The rampicante squash, not Brian) Before I get to my gratitude list, I have a couple Thanksgiving-related anecdotes to share: ·        Two weeks after surgery, a friend took me to get my staples removed. We discussed our plans for Thanksgiving, which for both of us meant a trip to our hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I mentioned that I was feeling so good that I was considering going to Chicago the day after to visit a friend who had just returned from Portugal. When Brian & I celebrate Thanksgiving with his side in Illinois, we stay in Chicago at the historic Palmer House , which usually has crazy-cheap rates that weekend and is beautifully decorated for the holidays. I suggested that my friend could come with us, too. She was totally up for it, though she said, “Let’s see how you feel.” I was so excited by this plan that I emailed our Chicago friend the next day to make sure he’d be around....