[present tense]

2003.07.08: On Being Taken Care Of

My recovery is coming along nicely. I no longer need to take pain-killers and I'm almost back up to normal walking speeds again.

Tree promised to take good care of me during my recovery. I am somewhat crestfallen to discover that this does not entail Tree actually doing anything for me. It merely seems to mean that she gives me more time to do certain tasks.

For the past week, I have been doing all of my standard household chores. I wash the dishes every day. I fold the laundry and take out the trash. I water the garden. The day after my surgery, Tree attempted to vacuum, but she gave up in frustration and I was forced to do it myself. It is still my job to fetch things (especially anything that is up high) and to do anything that she finds troublesome (like attaching hoses to faucets). I have cooked less than normal, but not enough to be statistically significant (extra eating-out throws off the calculations too). I went grocery shopping and I load and unload things from the car. Tree has graciously exempted me from weeding the garden, which is interesting because that wasn't my job in the first place.

In terms of household chores and activities, its been an absolutely normal week, except with added pain. The only perk that surgery has bought me is a weeklong extension on cleaning the bathroom.

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Admittedly, my recovery is going very well and I was not in nearly as bad off as I had expected, but this is not my idea of "being taken care of". This is my idea of "normal". I may have set my expectations too high, but in order to have had my expectations met, I would have had to have dialed them down to zero.

Ah well. The fact that I was able to to do everything without undue difficulty proves that I didn't need much taking care of in the first place. So no harm done, really. Just lamenting that I was not able to milk my surgery for more pampering.