Love Song

My work includes a significant amount of orthopedic anesthesia.  The fit patients often have an aura of disbelief surrounding them.  How can the fitness quest be connected to malfunctions that need surgery?  The contradiction is too big for immediate comprehension.

I tell them,"You have a choice.  You can either wear it out, or you can rust it out."  Humans are still beta versions with no middle ground on this.  Knees.  Hips.  Ankles.  Shoulders. Thumbs, for heaven's sake!

I found a birthday card some time ago that I love too much to send.  I scanned it in.  Click to read.

 Mr. Etherknitter and I live by this. 

So what does a random, twitchy knitter do while her husband is having rotator cuff surgery? 

First she knits.  A sock, of course.  Gary (of the long-stalled vest) asked for socks.  It is the least I can do to make up for the Straker vest debacle.  (Yarn is DyeDreams BFL, colorway eggplant.)  Then she plays WhirlyWord on her iPhone. 

Lunch is a brief diversion.  She paces.  More time has passed than the surgery was booked for, which often means conversion from arthroscopic repair to open incision repair.  She hopes she is wrong.

The computers in the waiting room beckon.  She sits down to Ravelry, and sorts through her queue, her favorites.  A written list of all shawl aspirations seems like a good idea.

The left column is MUST KNIT NOW.  The right column is on reserve for the future.  The small list on the left is an incomplete assembly of sweaters that MUST BE KNIT NOW. 

Sobering, that. 

Finally, the husband is ready to go home.  He is an advertisement for block anesthesia (numb up just the shoulder, not the brain).  He has no narcotics to make him throw up.  (Yet.  Wait til the block wears off.)  He has no general anesthesia to make him feel zorked.  (Yes, we use that term.  I am working on getting it included in the next edition of Dorland's Medical Dictionary.)

He is slam-dunked into bed so that the ice-cuff can do its job of decreasing swelling.  I will be his cook, nurse, laundress, and cheerleader for the next few weeks. 

Maybe lots of knitting will happen.  Sure needs to, from the looks of things on that list.

 

(Shoulder to the right of the picture, rest of man on the left.)

Comments

[Angie]

Mental picture of man on bed, gradually covered by a pile of shawls fresh off the needles.

Hope all goes well.

[Cheryl S.]

Oh, dear! Hope he has a good recovery.

[Manise]

Speedy recovery to your Iron Man. :-) Those ice cuffs are wonderful I hear. The card is priceless! Definitely a keeper.

[guernseygal]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery :-)
My Dad had a knee replacement op last month under an epidural - said it was wonderful not to be fuzzy afterwards, but he missed all the fun because he dozed off on the table!
I ask you, who dozes off on the table while they are basically sawing on your leg! - my Dad apparently :-)

[Martha]

Hope his recovery is quick and painless!

[Lynn]

Oh, dear, poor Paul! I hope everything goes well, and quickly, too.

As for your list - heh. And you seem so sane on the outside.

[Carole]

The card is awesome and my father-in-law, who will be 85 in July and still goes to his auto repair business every day, says "if you rest you rust" is his mantra. He must be doing something right! I hope Mr. E will recover quickly but not so quickly that you can't knock out some of that knitting queue!

[margene]

Mr E will heal well and quickly because that's just how he rolls. You will make sure to keep him line as much as you can, as that's how you roll. I see much knitting in your future. Tear the list up into little pieces. Throw it out. Enjoy what you're knitting now, enjoy the process!

[PumpkinMama]

I wish him speedy healing, and you patience as his nurse.

[Anne]

What was wrong with the UltraSling I? I always wonder stuff like that. Was it really in need of an upgrade?

Best wishes for a fast healing time and, by the looks of your list, lots of knitting hours for you as well. ;)

[Kathy]

Had NO idea. Many hugs to my fave, Mr. E.

[claudia]

Those of us who chose to use it up really have nothing to say to Mr. E. except, heal up quick! There is more fun to be had!

To you, I offer deep commiseration and a nice glass of wine and a snack.

[kmkat]

Healing vibes to Mr. E, although with the excellent surgery and post-op care he will do fine without them ;-)

[gayle]

I'm afraid to commit my Must Knit Now list to paper, because it would like strikingly like yours. (Possibly with a second page.)
You realize we'll have to live to be at least 200 in order to get all that done?
Speedy recovery to the Mr. Is the ice cuff one of those gravity-fed systems? Madman had one for knee-surgery recovery. I thought it was very clever.

[Judy]

ouch!! Hope it went well. 5 months out and getting better everyday. I remember well the first few weeks. No pain meds for C and our first blizzard of the year. Long January.
Give him a hug for us and another for yourself.

[Caroline M]

I think you need four or five items on the NOW list, anything longer than that will be out of date by the time you've worked down it. There's something new published every day.

It's no fun having your steak cut up for you, get well soon Mr Etherknitter.

[June]

Gaaaah... Hope the recovery is going well, as I do your gig as cook, nurse, etc. Do you have time for knitting, really? Your little spreadsheet (on graph paper, no less!) made me laugh.

Random, but I just got my latest edition of Dorland's (now 32nd edition, just came out in May?). If you're the type who consults it often, I have an Elsevier 20% e-coupon good till the end of June. I got the online edition only (which I run with graphics shut off, because MY GOD it has a lot of pictures that completely freak me out, I could never be a doctor).

[gaby]

OH No !! Hope his recovery is FAST !

[Melissa G]

That is one impressive ice cuff! Huge fan of nerve blocks, ice, and NSAIDs here, but we spoke of that. What was Mr. E doing to earn this? And...what Margene said. Best wishes.

[sarah]

Wishing him well fast - that looks like frustration incarnate. I hope he's right-handed!

My Pilates instructor took me to task for my failure/refusal to engage wholeheartedly in the relaxation exercises. I waffled. What I wanted to say - and didn't, for various reasons - was that I'll have time to relax when I'm dead.

[Marcia]

Oh, my. Do I ever feel for you, Laurie! Wishes for a very speedy recovery!

[Marcia]

Hmm, on second thought, this does give you an opportunity to surge ahead of the old boy in certain pursuits......

[TimH]

Neil Young's song "Hey Hey My My" from the Rust Never Sleeps album has the line "..better to burn out than it is to rust." Last February's trip was so good that Nancy and I have altered plans to allow a repeat - presume he should be ready for the glades again by then..

[Mary Lou]

Good luck to the patient, and thanks for the advice. I will share with a riding buddy who is having a hip replacement this week.

[CindyD]

Hope he recovers asap! Thank goodness for knitting!

[Sharon]

As a new hip recipient, I say about surgery....bring it on! I hope you BOTH recover quickly from the ordeal. And I look forward to seeing all that knitting you accomplish during the recovery period. :)

[Kim]

I am sending healing vibes to Mr.E and peaceful ones to you. How GREAT that he was able to have this done without general anesthesia! Having had a number of saddle blocks in my life, I can say they work pretty darn good and I bet they are even better now than then. ;-)

Hugs to you both!

[Hillary]

I am so far behind on my blog reading. I hope that by now Mr. E is well on his way to healing.