I got a better night's sleep last night and I'm not so whiny. D's in a LOT of pain - she just weeps from it. She did one set of exercises yesterday, but she overdid it and tried to achieve what she's supposed to do by next Friday. Today, I wouldn't let her time the exercises, I made her listen to her body to determine what is "too much". She did two sets today. (e:bluevelvetjack) hung out with her today while I went to the office for a while.

(e:Dianne)'s surgery went well yesterday. There wasn't a partial rotator cuff tear, so it was a lot of clean up. They used words in this article to describe it to me: and said these words too but the recovery listed in the second article seems incompatible with what the nurses and doctor said after the surgery. So confusing. The staff at the surgical center were super nice and remembered us from the last surgery in July.

Tanya brought two huge bags of ice and sat with D for nearly three hours while I attempted to acquire the critical pain and anti-inflammation meds. I only partially succeeded and I'm very frustrated by that. (e:Terry) visited so we could talk about work - we've seen each other in the office two days in the past three weeks. (Really, three weeks??) Our associate (e:ejtower) had a new exciting job fall into his lap and is leaving Monday. We hired a replacement for him and they're hanging in the office transferring knowledge and skills. We're adding a part-time tax person and trying out a part-time admin/data entry person. Crazy growth this year!!

Keeping D's ice machine filled with ice is one of my biggest challenges in this process. The machine has no insulation, which is just idiotic. Very similar to this It needs refilled about every five hours, which means getting up in the middle of the night to fill it with ice and water. (Ones with insulation like a cooler exist, I don't know why we have this one.) I'm glad there's a bit of snow left because the freezer is full of food, so one of the big bags stayed out in a snowbank last night. Luckily this part only lasts three-four days, although she will need ice as she does her physical therapy exercises for the next several weeks.

My brain is fuzzy from worry, anxiety and lack of sleep and my eyes hurt from crying.

having a romantic dinner at coco before the dead show at the tralf.

great tits!

(e:Dianne)'s second shoulder surgery is scheduled for Monday. After a week of being sick and then a blizzard, we're rather behind in our prep work. the apartment is reasonably clean, but we need to do laundry, get the brakes fixed on the truck, go to bloss, go grocery shopping, hit up target, and still have as much fun as possible in the limited time left. if her recovery is like the first surgery, it'll be close to two months before D can drive again, a few weeks before she can shower on her own, and at least a month before she can sleep in bed with me. that's probably the hardest part of it, not sleeping together. I will miss her touch the most. I'm treasuring each time she wraps her arms around me.

the cold and snow will have a significant impact on her independence - she just can't risk falling- and shivering hurts tremendously. hopefully I've prepared her pretty well (new coat, boots, gloves, hats, layers).

it's been a hard month. my beautiful puppy Nisha died, we've had ongoing bad news about D's legal situation, she got into that fight, then a sweet but somewhat lonely Christmas, flu, cancelled new years, blizzard... the wedding was a real joy, as were our couple of game nights (never enough gaming). I cherish our friends and hope that we don't strain those relationships because of our neediness over the coming weeks and months. oh, and for really fun things to look forward to... tax season starts now!

I hope to make the most of the next five days by being present for each precious moment, holding D every chance I get, and dancing wildly Saturday night at the Tralf. join us? :-)