Typing with one hand is incredibly frustrating.

However, one of my homework assignments for Friday’s follow-up dr. visit is to flex and release the fingers on my left hand. Right now, my fingers hurt terribly since my wrist area and fingers are so swollen. It’s like having painful little Vienna sausages as fingers. My sister suggested that I consider it practice for waving like a princess; “but I’m not a princess,” I replied.

“Yes, you are. You’re Princess Vienna Sausage Fingers.” And then she kissed the icepack I have over my fingers.

Overall, I’m doing ok now. The surgery itself took longer than my surgeon expected (2 hours versus his original estimate of one hour) since they had to “finesse it a bit” and realign tendons and stuff so my wrist can heal nicely.

I also ended up staying in the hospital overnight since I had some pretty bad after-effects from the anesthesia (I couldn’t keep anything - water, Saltine, painkiller - down.) I got two intravenous anti-nausea meds, then an anti-nausea shot in my arm and another shot that had to be administered into a muscle (my gluteus maximus in this case) and an anti-nausea patch behind my ear. I got home at 1 in the afternoon Saturday and was finally able to eat and drink.

The pain in my wrist is pretty bad whenever I move that arm (I’m in a cast up to my elbow) but the Percocet helps a little with that. I’ve got more than enough pillows to support it and keep it above my heart, so that’s precisely what I’m trying to do. I’ve been sleeping a lot, and drinking lots of fluids since Percocet tends to dehydrate me.

I was also painfully dehydrated after anesthesia, but I couldn’t drink, so that sucked. I was intubated during the surgery, but didn’t get a sore throat.

Right now, I’m going to get into bed and read. I’ve been too dizzy and sleepy to do much of that, but I’ve decided to stop the Percocet and use Motrin instead since the pain isn’t quite as severe.

Theresa & Kofi came by yesterday to visit and we watched several episodes of “House” together, which was fun. They also brought me a feel better basket containing three types of tea, a vampire novel, a pincushion plant, a beanie-baby ghost named Ghoulianna and leaves from outside. My brother actually brought me a bouquet of flowers and my other brother and his girlfriend brought me lunch from Boston Market yesterday (because comfort foods rock.)

Now I’m feeling dizzy; time to lie down.

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And trying to type with one hand. I’ll need to practice before I return to work. Actually, it’s not terribly bad if I type on a regular keyboard - so I might have to bring my regular non-ergonomic keyboard to work. We shall see.

Today, my co-worker/cubicle neighbor brought me a cannoli from the bakery in town, and then another co-worker brought me some Buffy episodes on DVD for me to watch while I convalesce. I went into my boss’s office to review a bunch of stuff that she would need to know about during the next week, and while we were sitting there, I was ambushed!

All of the people in my department, along with some of my buddies in other dept’s, gathered ’round my boss’s door and surprised me with a pretty grand send-off and two “get well soon” cards, signed by all my peeps. It was so nice and sweet and touching; I felt the love all around… which just made me think, “Wow - I really work with some great people!” Not that I don’t think it usually, but this made it all the more obvious.

(OK - I just typed those 3 paragraphs with one hand. It wasn’t tragic; just slow.)

I got a haircut/trim so that my hair is more manageable over the next few weeks and months. Now I have a crazy kickin’ headache and neckache and lower backache - stress, anyone? I might take a nice soak in a bubble bath with some Epsom salts. Though I don’t know if Epsom-salted water will respond to the surfactants in bubble bath and actually bubble. Hrm. That might be another experiment for tonight.

First, though, I have to eat something light and drink plenty of water since I’m not allowed to eat or drink after midnight tonight; I need to fast prior to the anesthesia. An apple. That would be nice. Maybe some pretzels. And then I need to get to sleep soon since I have to be at 5 or 5:30 to get ready and report to the hospital by 6:30.

OK. Water, fruit, bath, sleep. Sounds like a game plan.

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I’ve been doing some cleaning since I won’t really be able to do much for the next few months - at least, not easily. I went into the bathroom to wash my hands and realized that I was low enough on my current green tea scented hand soap that I was having trouble pumping it out. That’s the last thing I need come Friday, so I replaced it with the backup bottle I already had in the hall closet - pink grapefruit scented.

The smell is spot-on and it automatically made me crave pink grapefruit. I only had an apple for dinner, so I might just be hungry in general. But I had a pretty big lunch; I went out for sushi with my boss - in celebration of my one-year anniversary. I enjoyed some spicy crunchy tuna roll and then a crunchy dragon roll (with tuna and avocado and tuna roe). I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish them both, but my boss told me to get both since I was having trouble picking one… and I brought the last few pieces home with me. I am probably going to go downstairs and eat those in the next few minutes since sushi is not one of those foods that “keep” well.

My little brother got a new car and he took me for a spin in it tonight. He might have a new car, but I have nice new sheets on my bed. I’m trying to convince myself that it’s an even exchange. Since he has a long commute when he goes into the office, having a reliable and comfortable car is important to him. Since I’ll be spending the majority of the next two weeks in bed, it’s important for me to have some nice comfortable sheets.

At this point, I’ve got pretty much everything I can have pre-arranged pre-arranged. I have a haircut on Thursday night so that my hair will be easier to style and dry and stuff. I have an order from Amazon en route, as well as three new Netflix rentals. I’ve got my mom taking the day off on Friday to come to the hospital with me and then get my painkillers from the pharmacy afterwards. The rest of the weekend will probably involve much sleep.

I think my sister just got home from her weekend away, so I’m going to go say hello to her and see if she wants some tasty sushi.

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Despite my best efforts to avoid it, I got an invitation today for my 10-year high school reunion.

•Fact: I will not be attending.

•Dilemma: How - and should I even? - communicate this fact to the organizing party?

The request has been made to RSVP via email. The Emily Post-reader in me says, “You must RSVP - it’s only proper.” The bitter teenager in me says, “Why bother?”

I am torn between simply writing: “I will not be attending” and then my name - no salutation, no cordial anything… just the basics.

Another more socially acceptable option: express a modicum of regret (which would be totally false) and keep it short, “I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to attend the 10-year reunion.”

Another option: give a reason that makes it seem like I wish I could be there, e.g. “Unfortunately, it’s taking place right after some surgery I’m having,” or “Unfortunately, I’ll be traveling for work that week.”

Third option: go all out and provide a totally incredible (as in, not credible) excuse. Something like:

Dear So-and-so,

I won’t be able to attend our 10-year high school reunion since I will be in Africa performing missionary work. And by missionary, I mean the sexual position, not the religious ministry. Just kidding. Seriously, though, it’s not that I don’t like religion, but I’ve tried them all in the ten years since high school and they just don’t work, you know?

There’s too much guilt inherent in the Judeo-Christian side of things, I just can’t get the hang of learning another language or wearing that scarfy thing for Islam, and the Eastern religions are just so much like philosophy that it makes my head hurt.

I see you got married - congratulations! You’ve become one part of paired unit that only really helps you with your taxes and inheritance should something happen to your spouse, or should you feel inspired to pay someone to have something happen to your spouse. Because marriage, at this point, is a totally antiquated ceremony and process. You’re no longer your family’s chattel and I highly doubt there was an exchange of land or political alliance resultant from your marriage. Unless your husband’s family is from Connecticut. But I digress. It’s sort of cute, really.

Anyway, too bad we won’t be able to catch up on those golden years of bad skin, bad mid-90s fashion and music and… um… well, there isn’t really anything else to talk about, is there? We weren’t ever chummy or anything - though I didn’t hate you, so you can tack that up on your list of achievements.

By the way - your use of exclamation points on the invitation was mildly nauseating. Next time, look over the text before you OK it to the printer. Two exclamation points for a total of four sentences (plus date and time information) is entirely excessive. It might have made me hate you - until I realized that you were more of a “math person” and probably don’t know any better.

In closing, have fun! I’m sure you’ll all have a great time!

Ciao!

-eva

I welcome feedback on this issue. Though, in the end, I’ll probably just do the socially acceptable thing and express a modicum of regret, etc. Sigh. What a crock of shit this whole nostalgia thing is.

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I got to talk to my surgeon today and here’s the deal…

Surgery - Friday, October 27th, bright and early
He wants me off the job for 10 days afterwards… which means the entire following work week… so no typing for me (unless I use only my right hand) from the 27th all the way through to November… uh… 6th, when I’ll return to work to type with only one arm.

I talked to my boss tonight and she said we’ll work things out somehow. I might just be a slower typer for a while.

Additionally, the doctor confirmed that I’ll be in a cast between 4 and 12 weeks, depending on how I heal. Once I’m out of the cast, I’ll be in a soft brace indefinitely - but it will take up to a year to heal fully. I’m going to have to go for physical therapy 3x a week. That’s going to be fun to work around my work schedule, and to get my family to drive me to. I HOPE I can find someone who is either really close to home or really close to work and who can do early morning or late evening hours so I can make it work with my schedule. It’s not going to be easy. At all.

I’m still very much in a funk and I’m ready to go to bed already, though I only got home from work at 8pm. Just constantly drained. I won’t know my blood test results until Saturday… so no answers on the hypothyroidism question until then.

Between my physical and mental and emotional ailments, I’m really ready to exclaim, “Twenty-eight is really too young to be falling apart!” But I feel like I am. More often than I’d like. Gonna go to sleep now.

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… strangers on the train ask you what shade of nail polish you’re wearing…
… a person in the elevator at work asks if that’s the sold-out shade of Chanel nail polish you’re wearing…
… a co-worker says, “Where did you get your nails done?” and you can reply, “I did them myself.”

Yeah. I did my nails over the weekend with two coats of cheap-ass Wet & Wild black nail polish (”Black Out”) and then added one coat of Sally Hansen’s “Always Asher” (a deep red, like black cherry) and then threw on some top coat. Yesterday, I had the the co-worker and elevator person. Today, a woman on the train roused me from my iPod induced trance and asked me what shade I was wearing. I gave her the instructions (though I quoted the wrong deep red shade - though it’s a very close color - Essie’s “Rock the Croc.”)

This cheered me up since Sunday’s dinner with the family included my father criticizing my nail polish and saying it’s garish and awful, and that it makes my fingers look shorter than they are. Oh, well. At least they’re neat and nicely polished.

I also wore my new shoes today - ones that I won on eBay last week for $10 whole dollars. I saw them in a shoe store on 14th St (in NYC) for $60, but found them on eBay for a whole lot cheaper. They look like this:

I found two other things on eBay that I will probably bid on over the weekend: one is a set of two tubes of Murad Acne Spot Treatment (which sells for $16 a tube at Sephora - the “Buy It Now” price for 2 on eBay is $23 for two tubes with a nominal shipping fee) and Bumble and bumble Hair Powder in brown ($38 retail). The reason for the second one is the surgery - with this powder, I will be able to wash and style my hair every other day since it works as sort of a “dry shampoo.” It helps absorb the natural oils and keeps it looking nice. We’ll see. I wouldn’t pay $38 for it, but I’ll try it for under $20.

Another thing that people with lighter-colored hair can use is corn starch or baby powder - powder it on the roots of your hair, shake out the excess and then brush it. But if your hair is darker - scratch that. You’ll look grey. The hair powder is actually in a spray (like the Baker’s Secret baking spray with flour already included, I guess - kind of. But better for your hair.) and you brush it through after you spray your hair.

I overslept this morning (well, until 7:15) so I didn’t make it to the blood test in the a.m. I am going to make it tomorrow morning, so I’m getting into bed right about now so I can read for an hour or two and still fall asleep before 11 and get up at 6 or 6:15. The testing center opens at 7 a.m. and they accept walk-ins ONLY; no appointments during the week. So, I might get right in or I might end up waiting a half hour. I want to be there first thing in the morning.

If I finish up way early, yay - and I can treat myself to a breakfast bagel or something and then either sit at the train station for a while reading, or even catch the earlier train, depending on the situation. We shall see.

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It seems that some trends are coming around to see my side of things… or at least things that I enjoy are appearing in the press/world a little more obviously.

In September, the New York Times printed an article by food critic Florence Fabricant about the changes in tea. The article is now marked as premium content on NYTimes online, but I managed to find it reprinted in a foreign publication in toto. Here ’tis.

Humble teabag finally gets a makeover, fuller and longer leaves
New York Times

The tea bag, a clever enough idea at first, went terribly awry somewhere along the way, at least in the view of people who love to savor their tea. Now it is in the process of large-scale reinvention, and some of those who currently shun it with almost ostentatious disdain are very likely to be won over.

At age 100 or so, the old bag is increasingly being filled with fine whole leaf tea, the kind connoisseurs brew in their teapots, and the bag itself has been redesigned in shapes that are not only elegant but constructed to allow those flavourful leaves to show what they’ve got.

With tea sales in the US now four times what they were a decade ago — about $6.2 billion annually, according to the Tea Association of the USA, a trade group — the American tea drinker seems ready for a change for the better.

The change, some say, is overdue. Look closely at a conventional tea bag in your cupboard or in the paper cup from the local deli. Chances are that instead of leaves it is filled with indistinguishable bits, the detritus left after tea leaves are sifted and graded. The tea industry calls it dust, and the beverage it makes is likely to be rusty-looking and often bitterly tannic. But it no longer has to be, nor is it necessary to brew a whole pot of tea to achieve something better tasting.

Perhaps the surest sign that the tea world is changing is this: Lipton, the world’s largest tea company and a division of Unilever, will start selling tea bags containing long leaf teas in supermarkets nationwide next month.

Instead of paper, the leaves will be enveloped by nylon mesh bags in a delicate pyramid shape.

Lipton is following the lead of American businesses like Harney & Sons, Mighty Leaf, Adagio and the Highland Tea Company, which for several years have sold tea bags filled with high-quality full-leaf teas, ones with complex, often floral, herbaceous, spicy or fruity nuances.

Smelling a trend, new companies, like Revolution Tea, Numi Tea, Two Leaves and a Bud, and Tea Forté, have formed expressly to sell fine teas in tea bags. Harrisons & Crosfield, from England, and the luxury Parisian tea purveyors Le Palais des Thés and Mariage Frères have also introduced tea bags.

“We decided to put some of our teas in tea bags because that’s the way most people drink tea,” said Wanja Michuki, the president of the Highland Tea Company, in Montclair, N.J., which sells fine teas from Kenya, the leading exporter of tea worldwide.

Lipton’s new line, called Pyramid, took the company two years to develop. It offers six varieties of long leaf tea, all but one flavored with bits of dried fruit or other seasonings. Only Black Pearl, a black tea blend, is unflavored.

Even the best tea companies have introduced flavored teas in response to consumer demand, but over the years their reputations have been based on the quality of their oolongs, Darjeelings and senchas.

Joseph P. Simrany, the president of the Tea Association of the USA, said tea sales are projected to grow 10 percent a year for “the foreseeable future,” fueled in part by ready-to-drink bottled iced tea and by an increasing belief that tea, especially green tea, is healthful. Tea bag sales are lumped in with figures for loose teas, so there are no statistics for the growth of the tea bag segment of the market. But, Simrany said, “the new tea bags are changing consumer attitudes toward tea; the snobbism is gone.”

- FLORENCE FABRICANT

Yay, tea!

Another little something I noticed the other day is a trend towards books ABOUT Jane Austen and retellings/different views on “Pride and Prejudice.” Clearly, I’m a little late getting on board with noticing this trend since I just discovered a blog called, AustenBlog. Appropriate. They have a page on the blog called, “paraliterature.” Also an appropriate term. Some of the titles listed there are titles I saw this weekend at Barnes and Noble and Monday night at Borders.

For example:

•Darcy’s Diary
•Mr. Knightley’s Diary
•Darcy’s Story: Pride and Prejudice Told from a Whole New Perspective
•A Single Man, Good Fortune (Must Want Wife)
•Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife
•Mr. Darcy’s Daughters
•The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy
•The Man Who Loved Jane Austen

These are all fairly recent publications - within 2006 - with the exception of the second and third from the last, I think. There were others, but this was only a sampling for all y’all.

I just got “Iris” from Netflix, so I’m going to watch that:

Iris Murdoch was l’enfant terrible of the literary world in early 1950s Britain — a live wire who thumbed her nose at the conformity of the era via a voracious sex life that included male and female partners. In this snippet of her life, Murdoch (Judi Dench) faces the onset of Alzheimer’s disease alongside her adoring husband (Jim Broadbent). Kate Winslet portrays the young, free-spirited Iris in flashbacks.

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