More Long Silences (Mea Culpa)
But the good news is that Shawn's recovery is proceeding apace.
On Wednesday, she had her two week check-in with Dr. Herseth, the knee surgeon. Just even GETTING to these appointments is kind of its own challenge. Shawn officially graduated to a cane on Monday (according to her physical therapist), so that made some of our manuevering a LITTLE easier. But, there's just a lot of rigamarole to do to get her, her cane, and the walker (which we took in case she felt unsteady) into the car and then to get her, her cane, etc., deposited at the front door of the clinic. I still have to park, get the ticket, etc., and get to her.... and I swear to god that I walk ten steps to her one.
Regardless, we had a good appointment. We were first seen by Dr. Herseth's assistant, Ryan. Ryan removed the bandage that Shawn's been wearing since the surgery (impregnated with SILVER to repell werewolves!) This was the first time we got a good look at her scar. We both remarked at how neat the stitches were. Ryan perked up and said, "Oh, be sure to tell Dr. Herseth that." I asked, "Why? Does he not get a lot of compliments?" Ryan smirked and said, "No. He doesn't do the closing. I do!"
Ryan checked Shawn ability to straighten her leg (she was close to 1 or 2 degrees, with 0 being perfectly straight). This was up even from Monday, when the physical therapist officially measured her at 4. Then he checked her ability to bend her knee. She was at 128 degrees. Later, when the doctor redid these tests he, being very Minnesotan, raised his eyebrows, paused, and then drawled, "Well. I was going to tell you that you should be working to make that 90 degrees, but I guess you're ready for more advanced goals." <--for my out-of-state readers: THIS is a Minnesotan doctor losing his ABSOLUTE SH*T over how good Shawn is doing, just to be clear.
On Monday, the physical therapist apparently said to Shawn, "I wouldn't go posting your flex of 128 degrees on social media... unless you want your car keyed."
Dr. Herseth said her knee looked like it was more like it was in week three or even four, not two.
This would be cause for celebration, but Shawn is having really intense nerve pain. Dr. Herseth's only response was, "Yep. That's going to happen. It will get better." He also agreed that the only real solution for it at the moment was continued (if judicious) use of oxycodone. Shawn very much would like to get off the oxy, but, on the other hand, because of all of her other medications, she really can't take very many other drugs for pain. She is keeping very careful track of when and how much she takes, however. I don't think she's a big risk for addiction.
For myself, I've been very slowly getting back to normal. Mason came home on Monday. He's technically in the middle of finals week, but he only has papers due (no tests), so he decided to come home early for the holidays to help out.
With Mason around, I felt comfortable leaving Shawn last night to go to Wyrdsmiths. We are trying to meet in-person again (with limited success.) Even though a number of people insisted that in-person meetings were THE BEST and they absolutely hated how isolated they continued to feel on Zoom... we're lucky to get half the group to even show up when we host in-person. I feel pretty f*cking vindicated that I insisted that we keep our second meeting of the month on Zoom because sometimes that's the only one everyone shows up to. I mean, I get it? I am very aware that it is a pain in the butt to leave the comfort of your own home, in the dark, on a Thursday night, in the middle of winter, drive the car halfway across town, sit around for several hours and then have drive home, in the dark, in the winter. THIS WAS WHY I DIDN'T WANT TO CHANGE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I knew we'd have attrition! Yet, even though I was fully against returning in-person, I have dragged my sorry a$$ to each and every one of these in-person meetings. I find it deeply ironic that the people who insisted it was so f-ing necessary for their mental health that we do this, can't seem to show up to a single one.
/rant
Moving on.
Tomorrow, I have not one, but two gaming sessions planned. Saturday morning, I'm gathering the Reprised Drunk Girls* for my attempt at a manor house mystery D&D session. We'll see how that goes. As noted often, I'm a novice GM and a murder mystery can be kind of complex. Though really, if my plans fail and the party quickly sees through what I think are oh-so-clever clues, the whole thing just becomes whack-a-mole and we roll for initiative, as it were. Currently, I am MOSTLY prepared. The manor house and all its clues are set (that part has been done for months), but there are still a couple of out-building maps that don't yet have potential monsters. And with this crew? I need to be prepared in case they just decide to leave the main building and wander the grounds.
Plus, I had to add an oubliette once they decided to capture the Green Knight instead of killing him. I'd complain, but honestly that's the part of GMing that I like the best.
Then, at 7pm on Saturday, I will be a player in our ongoing Star Trek campaign. My flighty former-Chief Science Officer has accepted a promotion to XO and, frankly, I am uncertain if he is actually up to the shift to command staff. I mean, technically as Chief Science Officer he was always part of the senior staff, but XO is a whole new ballgame for Ro. I, personally, have been prepping for this by watching WWII submarine movies and practicing shouting things like "all hands on deck!" "man overboard!" and "what's the scuttlebutt?!" I'm pretty sure that's also about as much as my character knows about how to lead a starship crew, so WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
On Wednesday, she had her two week check-in with Dr. Herseth, the knee surgeon. Just even GETTING to these appointments is kind of its own challenge. Shawn officially graduated to a cane on Monday (according to her physical therapist), so that made some of our manuevering a LITTLE easier. But, there's just a lot of rigamarole to do to get her, her cane, and the walker (which we took in case she felt unsteady) into the car and then to get her, her cane, etc., deposited at the front door of the clinic. I still have to park, get the ticket, etc., and get to her.... and I swear to god that I walk ten steps to her one.
Regardless, we had a good appointment. We were first seen by Dr. Herseth's assistant, Ryan. Ryan removed the bandage that Shawn's been wearing since the surgery (impregnated with SILVER to repell werewolves!) This was the first time we got a good look at her scar. We both remarked at how neat the stitches were. Ryan perked up and said, "Oh, be sure to tell Dr. Herseth that." I asked, "Why? Does he not get a lot of compliments?" Ryan smirked and said, "No. He doesn't do the closing. I do!"
Ryan checked Shawn ability to straighten her leg (she was close to 1 or 2 degrees, with 0 being perfectly straight). This was up even from Monday, when the physical therapist officially measured her at 4. Then he checked her ability to bend her knee. She was at 128 degrees. Later, when the doctor redid these tests he, being very Minnesotan, raised his eyebrows, paused, and then drawled, "Well. I was going to tell you that you should be working to make that 90 degrees, but I guess you're ready for more advanced goals." <--for my out-of-state readers: THIS is a Minnesotan doctor losing his ABSOLUTE SH*T over how good Shawn is doing, just to be clear.
On Monday, the physical therapist apparently said to Shawn, "I wouldn't go posting your flex of 128 degrees on social media... unless you want your car keyed."
Dr. Herseth said her knee looked like it was more like it was in week three or even four, not two.
This would be cause for celebration, but Shawn is having really intense nerve pain. Dr. Herseth's only response was, "Yep. That's going to happen. It will get better." He also agreed that the only real solution for it at the moment was continued (if judicious) use of oxycodone. Shawn very much would like to get off the oxy, but, on the other hand, because of all of her other medications, she really can't take very many other drugs for pain. She is keeping very careful track of when and how much she takes, however. I don't think she's a big risk for addiction.
For myself, I've been very slowly getting back to normal. Mason came home on Monday. He's technically in the middle of finals week, but he only has papers due (no tests), so he decided to come home early for the holidays to help out.
With Mason around, I felt comfortable leaving Shawn last night to go to Wyrdsmiths. We are trying to meet in-person again (with limited success.) Even though a number of people insisted that in-person meetings were THE BEST and they absolutely hated how isolated they continued to feel on Zoom... we're lucky to get half the group to even show up when we host in-person. I feel pretty f*cking vindicated that I insisted that we keep our second meeting of the month on Zoom because sometimes that's the only one everyone shows up to. I mean, I get it? I am very aware that it is a pain in the butt to leave the comfort of your own home, in the dark, on a Thursday night, in the middle of winter, drive the car halfway across town, sit around for several hours and then have drive home, in the dark, in the winter. THIS WAS WHY I DIDN'T WANT TO CHANGE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I knew we'd have attrition! Yet, even though I was fully against returning in-person, I have dragged my sorry a$$ to each and every one of these in-person meetings. I find it deeply ironic that the people who insisted it was so f-ing necessary for their mental health that we do this, can't seem to show up to a single one.
/rant
Moving on.
Tomorrow, I have not one, but two gaming sessions planned. Saturday morning, I'm gathering the Reprised Drunk Girls* for my attempt at a manor house mystery D&D session. We'll see how that goes. As noted often, I'm a novice GM and a murder mystery can be kind of complex. Though really, if my plans fail and the party quickly sees through what I think are oh-so-clever clues, the whole thing just becomes whack-a-mole and we roll for initiative, as it were. Currently, I am MOSTLY prepared. The manor house and all its clues are set (that part has been done for months), but there are still a couple of out-building maps that don't yet have potential monsters. And with this crew? I need to be prepared in case they just decide to leave the main building and wander the grounds.
Plus, I had to add an oubliette once they decided to capture the Green Knight instead of killing him. I'd complain, but honestly that's the part of GMing that I like the best.
Then, at 7pm on Saturday, I will be a player in our ongoing Star Trek campaign. My flighty former-Chief Science Officer has accepted a promotion to XO and, frankly, I am uncertain if he is actually up to the shift to command staff. I mean, technically as Chief Science Officer he was always part of the senior staff, but XO is a whole new ballgame for Ro. I, personally, have been prepping for this by watching WWII submarine movies and practicing shouting things like "all hands on deck!" "man overboard!" and "what's the scuttlebutt?!" I'm pretty sure that's also about as much as my character knows about how to lead a starship crew, so WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
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