Dilemma

I faced a dilemma this weekend over whether to return to work today, at least part-time. I estimate I'm at about 60% now, and can work from home if nothing else.

In the end I decided not to. I still feel a little fragile, tire and lose focus easily, and know that stress or tension causes my right jaw joint to flare, so it would be best to give it another week and see if I can regain some more energy and give my jaw joint a chance to improve. I originally made arrangements to take an entire month off for surgery starting June 17th, and not return until the 15th of July, so to that schedule I will now hold.



I read on someone else's MMA blog that it took them about thirty days to really start to feel human again. I think I'm about on track for that. I took a four mile hike (with breaks) yesterday, which is shorter than I normally did before surgery, and it left me feeling a little wasted afterwards. Then last night I had bad sleep and dreams again, which I thought had been going away. My body letting me know that I pushed myself too hard, I guess.

I guess I am settling into a routine, though. Eat my meals, try to get out once or twice a day to take a walk and/or go shopping, keep up with friends, play some games, watch some movies. Filling my time, basically. Yesterday, looking for something new to eat, I went to the local supermarket after the hike and visited their hot bar, picking up a precooked turkey cutlet and stuffing dish plus some powdered gravy, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers.

Thus, for my Sunday dinner, I did a three-course meal of the turkey chopped up and pureed in broth and gravy, stuffing in broth and the rest of the gravy, and the tomatoes and cucumber plus onion in Italian dressing as a pureed salad of sorts. It all came out pretty well--taste recognizable, hearty and filling. Can you guess which is which?

Lightest liquid is the turkey, darker brown is the stuffing, the back is the salad.

Expect my posts to be a little more infrequent from here on out because there's not so much day-to-day changes now as a slow, gradual improvement. My next post, I'll have new pictures showing my face at the three-week mark.