Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

Yesterday I got to experience surgery for the first time. Well, sort-of. I don't remember anything about the surgery, but I'm pretty sure it happened, because my lower back is in plenty of pain and my right leg is not. So something must have been done. Plus, my back was painted orange with iodine, and I have an occlusive dressing covered by a transparent dressing on my lower back. That, and my throat hurts. Which makes sense if someone placed a breathing tube down into my trachea. Oh, and I have some lung congestion and atelectasis (my small airways aren't opening all the way and have some mucus in them. This is because artificial breathing does not really work at fully opening airways, since the positive pressure needed to force them open usually ends up damaging the lungs. Yeah, breathing naturally is better, since the diaphragm and abdominal muscles can create negative pressure to pull air into the airways and open those little alveoli up). I'm sad I didn't ge

Unless you're spineless. Like jellyfish. I have had two more epidurals than I ever thought I would have in my entire adult life, and I'm not even pregnant, let alone giving birth. [I should say that I know epidurals are used outside of birth; thoracic surgeons at work used to use epidurals a lot for pain management, but most of the patients are in the "geriatric" category] I have taken off from work way more time than I ever thought I would for a non-maternity-related reason. And it's all because this lumbar herniated disc thing is taking longer to work through than I thought. Which is why, after prayers, sweat, tears, and sleepless nights, I'm going to have spinal surgery. Because I just haven't made significant-enough progress with just the epidurals. They have reduced my pain, but they haven't restored my function. I still have plans to travel and lose at more sports and give piggy-back rides, run around, and have children that will step o

I am giving myself a writing prompt. The topic: onions. Turns out I have a lot to say about onions. For one, I get a pretty fierce physiological reaction from slicing onions. It definitely makes me cry. A lot. For a long time (mostly under an hour, but still, that's too long). I tried assigning chopping onions to Mark, but I would still cry because whatever chemical they release was still in the air in our kitchen. So now I buy frozen chopped onions. More expensive than a whole onion, for sure, but a great time- and pain-saver. At some point, I should do a cost-benefit analysis on continuing to buy frozen onions or investing in onion goggles  so that I can do the chopping myself...or assign it to Mark. One of those. [you should check out the link. they're totally cool] For two, I really like onions in things. Which is why number one is so hard to work with. Onions are SO delicious cooked. And maybe sometimes raw, in hamburgers, if they're sliced really  thin. I can'