Friday April 30th, 2010

The exercise:

Your four line prose prompt this Friday shall be: a full moon.

Wow, it's the end of April already? Very exciting!

Still making steady progress with the healing thing. Only moderately stir crazy so far.

Mine:

The moon is full, yellowed and lurking just above the horizon as though its weight is too much for the night sky to lift up. The air against my skin is still warm but cooling all too rapidly; I wish I'd thought to bring a jacket when I'd left the house this afternoon.

The grass in the meadow tickles my calves as I walk towards the tree line, my hands buried in the pockets of my shorts, the fingers of my right hand toying with the object I'd found on the porch this morning.

I don't know what I'm going to say when I reach Miguel's house, but I do know I'm not leaving until all my questions are answered.

Thursday April 29th, 2010

The exercise:

Your prompt today: so we meet again.

The Canucks made it through to the second round of the NHL playoffs and now they're set to meet Chicago, the team that knocked them out last year.

In other news: remember that Badass of the Week site I mentioned on Tuesday? I went back to read another article yesterday and came across this.

Let me sum it up for you if you don't have time to read it all: Leonid Rogozov. Surgeon. Went to Antarctica as part of an expedition. Developed severe appendicitis while there. Had no way to get out. Performed an appendectomy. On himself. Successfully.

Holy. Hell.

Mine:

I thought I'd left you

In the dusty lanes of memory.

Freed from your burden

I searched for joy but found misery,

Unaware that my

Pain was really lurking within me.

Now we're here again,

Neither of us know where we're going.

We are trying but

These healing words are just not flowing,

And all I can think

To say is that your age is showing.

Wednesday April 28th, 2010

The exercise:

I think it's time for another musical linkstravaganza. But I'm looking for your help this time around.

I've been working on a playlist for our wedding reception and require your recommendations to help fill it out a bit. So: give me some songs that you can picture yourself dancing to outdoors on a hot summer night. Please :)

See below for a sample of what I've come up with so far.

Mine:

The first song after our official first dance will be Sweet Rose by Matt Costa (from the ridiculously great Songs We Sing CD that will be getting a lot of play that day). It is pretty much perfect for the occasion, so anything remotely like this would be great.

Another song that's definitely getting played is Girl by Beck (from his brilliant Guero CD). This just has that sunny, happy feeling I'm looking for. Despite the lyrics, somehow.

A song I discovered recently, thanks to Kat actually, is New Soul by Yael Naim (from her self-titled CD). What a treat this find was. I love the lyrics and the upbeat instrumentals that go with it.

Last up is Put It On Me by Ben Harper (from his Lifeline CD). Ben has been one of my favorite artists since I was introduced to his music while backpacking around New Zealand and this will be just one of a handful of his songs that will be helping to make July 31st extra special.

Now it's your turn.

Tuesday April 27th, 2010

The exercise:

Your Two Haiku Tuesday prompt this week: battle scars.

The pain seems to be a bit less today, so that's good. My mobility is still pretty laughable though.

Mine:

Beneath the bandage

a scar is lurking. I hope

that it looks badass.

*     *     *

In my youth I left

my heart unprotected. Now

these scars keep me safe.

Random note: while checking to see if badass was one word or two, I came across this site, which I have decided is insanely awesome. So go check it out.

Monday April 26th, 2010

The exercise:

Your prompt today: pickup lines overheard in the hospital.

Because, hey, why not?

Day one at home is going pretty good. Getting some rest and reading a lot. Still incredibly awkward to do... anything. My current list of the worst things ever: coughing, laughing, sneezing, and getting out of bed.

Mine:

As a surgeon, I'm very good with my hands.

* * *

That's not a stethoscope in my pocket.

* * *

So... your gurney or mine?

* * *

Come over to my room later and we'll have mashed guck, mystery meat, and apple juice by candlelight.

Sunday April 25th, 2010

The exercise:

Your prompt today: in the hospital again.

Mine:

Alright, here's the full story of my Saturday, as promised earlier.

I woke up before my alarm, which is not a common occurrence... ever. I was in a fairly significant amount of pain in my abdomen but I really thought it was just gas or something. I went to the bathroom, felt slightly better, and went back to bed.

The pain returned full force not much later and I began to think that maybe I got food poisoning from the fish we had for dinner Friday night. I tried having a bit to eat for breakfast and felt immediately nauseous but nothing wanted to come up. After a few more rounds of this Kat convinced me to go to the walk-in clinic up the street.

"Sorry, we're not taking any more patients today. Come back Monday."

Er, awesome? Kat told the receptionist that I probably had food poisoning and she recommended that we go to the emergency room. I had no interest in going to emergency for that, so went back home and hoped the pain would leave me alone.

It, of course, did no such thing. At least it had the decency to not get any worse.

We went into emergency at Mount Saint Joseph hospital around 3:30. They checked me out, said it was likely appendicitis, and away we went. I had a CT scan which indicated it was likely my appendix but wasn't conclusive. But with all signs pointing in its direction that was good enough for me. I was not interested in being checked in and observed to see if it got any better.

I went into surgery around 8pm and I guess everything went pretty smoothly. I got to spend the night there, not far from where I spent four of my nights when I was diagnosed with diabetes. Being there brought back some pretty unpleasant memories, I'll say that much.

The surgeon came by to see me in the morning and, among other things, said that I had one of the longest appendix she'd ever seen. Rawr. You know it, baby.

Anyway, I got to go home before lunch and Kat has taken fantastic care of me ever since. I'll be missing at least two weeks of work but considering how little fun I've been having there recently I can't say I'm too bummed out about that.

I'm in a bit of pain at the moment but it's not too bad. Moving around is pretty awkward, so I'm trying not to do too much of that. I'm hoping to enjoy the rest as much as possible and maybe catch up on some reading while I'm at it.

So, there you go. My weekend in a nutshell. Not the best weekend ever, but certainly not the worst. Let the sleeping in begin!

Saturday April 24th, 2010

The exercise:

Your four lines of poetry this week shall be based around the word: blindsided.

Apologies for getting this up late, but I had a pretty damn good reason...

Mine:

I'm sure it's just indigestion,

Of that there can be little doubt.

But let's get it checked anyway...

Your appendix has to come out.

More details in Sunday's post, when I get around to writing it.

Oh and I'm not counting this as a missed day, since I wrote this (in my head) last night. I just didn't have a way of posting it until today :)