Cochlear Implant 12 - Progress Day?

Some wags in the convent used to refer to March 4 as "Progress Day" (MARCH FORTH....groan). Day 4 (which also coincided with Progress Day this year) dawned with Sally driving back to NJ to do last-minute prep for the week ahead with her family. Day 3 (Saturday) had been mostly uneventful save for visits from Cathy and Lida, a brief walk down to the corner for supplies, and a quick shopping trip to Whole Foods with Sally. She and I had agreed that I was coming along fine and strong enough to take care of myself, especially since Cathy was available at the flick of the Blackberry if anything came up. I was a little dizzy when I got up on Day 4 to see her off, but nothing bad. Went back to bed for a snooze, then woke up about 10 a.m. or so.

Whoa! I was not only VERY dizzy but nauseated this time when I tried to get up. The docs at JH had given me a prescription for suppositories to be taken "as needed for nausea." Well, the papal we didn't need any suppositories, did we?? After throwing up all over the bathroom and going back to bed, I still didn't get the picture. Looked up natural remedies for dizziness and nausea in Alternative Cures by Bill Gottlieb, a very handy book from Prevention. Ginger, it said, was one of the primary cures for nausea and dizziness. So I staggered to the fridge, found the last bottle of ginger ale from last summer, and sipped it.

Got up to retrieve a glass of water and threw up again, this time in my handy little Ikea wastebasket. Decided to try the suppositories. An hour or so into that, I could sip water and ginger ale and even nibble on saltines. The idea of eating or drinking anything else was impossible. I didn't like what I saw in the mirror, either....lots more bruising, hair looking (in the immortal words of Flannery O'Connor in Wise Blood) "like ham gravy trickling over her skull."

And so it goes. This morning Cathy stopped by on her way to work and called CVS to renew the prescription for suppositories. I finally got up, took a bath, fried a couple of eggs, and made a piece of toast. After eating that, I slept until 2:30 this afternoon.

Healing never occurs in a straight rising line....it's up and down, up and down, then finally up. I'm somewhere between up and down right now, having cancelled two visits (from Mary, my niece, and Barbara). But no more throwing up so far. Food, btw, tastes WEIRD, and that's a certified side effect of getting a CI, too. Don't know if this is from the implant disturbing my sensory perceptions or from the tube they had down my throat during the operation.

It's been lovely lying in bed watching the day unfold itself outside my big window. Paula wanted to know if I spent the time meditating. Um, no. I can't separate the spirichal from the physical right now. It's just me, being here now.