Matt said at some point that being low key and unremarkable is precisely what one wants from a postoperative patient.

Low key. Unremarkable.

Andrew got some of his staples removed this morning. I found it funny that the medical assistant who was doing the staple removal was so deliberate and almost tentative! I’m used, when removing staples, to getting in and whipping the staples out as fast as I can. On the other hand, my patients don’t usually lie calmly in one place either. This gal, whom I really do like, was almost too careful, stopping and checking in with Andrew at every other staple or so, fussing and worrying about the staples that were rotated a little bit. I was tempted — a little bit — to snag the staple remover from her and do the job myself. But I’m trying to be good about not being a medical nudzh.

Mostly what Andrew has been in the last 2-3 days is fatigued. The surgical incisions are, obviously, healing well and less painful in general, but he’s still sore pretty much all over. His skin is irritated in half a hundred places because of incisions, surgical scrub, IV catheters, blood draws, TAPE, and general wear and tear, and transplanting a kidney didn’t do much to improve the state of his lower back which has also been griping, but has kind of faded into the background (sorry) over the last couple of weeks.

So Andrew has been sleeping a lot, avec or sans cat, and I’ve been puttering.
The little men are feverishly working to finish the stone work in our back garden so I’ve not been able to putter in the back garden, but I’ve been working on the front garden, I’ve transformed three grocery bags full of apples from Mom & Dad’s tree into dried apples and applesauce, and I’ve been working on my mending basket which is empty for the first time in…. In…. Years?

One of these days I intend to set fire to the garage, or at least pull both of the cars out, set the leaf blower to “high” and put back on shelves everything that doesn’t get blown out. And I’ve got to do the same with my garden shed as well.

Two weeks in and we’re no less grateful to everyone for their support and we’re still brought to tears with gratitude to Curt.