The Feed

Packing bags is my specialty, you guys. Anyone who travels with me will tell you I over pack, but also that I'm Boy Scout level prepared for everything up to and including the apocalypse. And that I'm ridiculously organized about it. Old pin. Though, it's extra ID for my bag (everything you bring in will get a sticker or tag linked to the MRN on your hospital bracelet, for ID purposes), it's not incorrect exactly, and I don't mind if I lose it because I could use some updated

That's Bob all stretched out on the teal blanket, Milosh keeping watch at the window, and Penelope curled up by the pillow pile. This is how I woke up this morning. Tonight's the night I'm not supposed to have any animals in my freshly sanitized bedding. Look, if God didn't want me to have cats in my bed the night before surgery, He wouldn't have given me shitty joints and clingy cats.

And we're in the home stretch.... I'm waiting for a dryer load to get to the freshly clean and sanitized new panties and silk sleep bonnet in there, and once they're in my bag I am fully packed and ready to go. So, the checklist is as follows: ✅ MyChart e-check in & Pre-registration. ✅ Everything I'm wearing to and immediately after the hospital needs to be laundered and sanitized. ✅ Hospital bag is packed and ready to go. ✅ Walker is tricked out with the cup and phone holder

So... I've had the panic pukes all this past week, which means I'm eating very blandly and sparingly, and the extra brown rice I made for the meatloaf didn't get eaten. And since the family dinner tonight was very allergy-unfriendly, I decided to turn it into Sardine & Brown Rice Croquettes and freeze whatever I don't have for dinner tonight. If I have two per serving, I have seven meals worth in the freezer. I didn't talk myself out of the binder this time! And it adds plan

My mom got the ancestry.com swab kit and membership on Black Friday special, and all the leaves started popping up in earnest today... So, my grandma on my mom's side was raised Cherokee. Now, this was the 1940's/1950's and while she spent every summer with her Cherokee family, and she knew full well she was Cherokee, she dgaf. She passed well enough, as far as she was concerned she was a "modern American girl" and didn't really care about her ancestry. Her brother did, but u

Well. "Owala." It's the "Freesip" design, but I have no idea if it's "real" or not. Nor do I particularly care. The Freesip bottle seems to be number one on everyone's "What I'm Not Buying in 2026" lists. I didn't buy mine! [ cue lil' Miley Cyrus singing the Hannah Montana theme song ] I'm at my Surgical Optimization Appointment a few weeks back, and my Nurse Navigator comes in with all my goodies - the itchy af pre-surgery wipes (they're basically off-brand Hibiclens), the E

One week to New Hip Day!! My BFF and surgery buddy is under the knife right now, lots of good thoughts to her! And I finally have meal number 1 in my freezer! So, I made up a meatloaf recipe with pork sausage, brown rice, and mushrooms. I use flax eggs instead of chicken eggs because I'm allergic to chicken eggs, and I went back and forth on whether the starch in the rice would be enough of a binder or not. I went with just the rice... why do I always blow 50/50 shots? It def

I have a sauteed pan of mushrooms and onions on the back of the stove, and brown rice in the instant pot. That'll all get mixed with the pork sausage I thawed last night, a few flax eggs, and some herbs and be baked in the cast iron bread pan I got for Christmas. When the meatloaf is cooled, I'll slice it down, freeze it on a sheet pan, and store the frozen slices in a bag, so I can grab one and microwave it with a pricked and oiled potato, that'll bake in the time it takes t

I have finally figured out my meal plan, hallelujah!! Edit: I had a great initial plan, at least. This is exactly what I want to avoid if possible while healing large bone. The initial plan: Steak & Pinto Beans with Cornbread Marinaded & pan fried chicken breasts with a recipe I just realized never made it on my blog - cornbread dressing with lentils for added plant protein. Kofta-spiced meatballs with chickpea flour as my binding flour for the plant protein, with a recipe

I'm at 2.5 weeks to New Hip Day! Officially the halfway point of pre-op. I have today and tomorrow left on The Pill, and one more week with anti-inflammatories. Knowing this, I was trying to front-load my pre-op, so I can spend as much time in bed with a heating pad as possible once the pills wear off. post-op be like... So, how am I doing with the pre-op checklist? ✅ Parking Placard procured. ✅ Surgical Optimization completed; walker, pre-op wipes, and glucose drinks procure

I just spent the last 3 hours making the personal care products I do make - namely coffee-infused scalp oil, chebe butter, and deodorant. And my phone was on the charger and not taking photos or video 😅😅 That’s okay, I’ll give you recipes instead, probably more useful! Why do I make these three products, specifically? Cost and ingredient control, mostly. Wild Growth Hair & Scalp Oil is what got me on the scalp oil train to begin with, it’s a wonderful product… but $10 for 4

I had it confirmed today that I have to stay off of my birth control for six weeks - two weeks pre-op, and four weeks post-op. I’m not just ready, I’m not fucking around. Wish me luck 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Yesterday morning was my Pre-Op appointment with Surgical Optimization, and I don't remember one of these being so difficult to personally process. If you've never done this before, you go in to meet with a bunch of RN and NP's to go over general health and fitness, get fitted for your mobility aid, get your pre-op instructions for carb drinks and itchy body wipes, and get told when to stop taking what medications before you go under. I told you this would veer pretty quickly

I’m watching the Joint Replacement Class video… no Meloxicam for 7 days before surgery. That was bad enough before spine surgery, without Meloxicam right now, I’m at a constant 8.5 pain level with my hip. Deep breaths, deep breaths… Also, no pets in bed with you the night before surgery. Again, someone needs to inform Penelope of this, she’s not going to take it very well…

If only. I need to start meal prepping. Yes, this early, I want to make sure I pace myself so I don’t wear myself out - my battery drains real fast right now. I’m aiming to put up 4 portions of 3 meals, for a total of 12 meals… I don’t need to put up for the entire recovery, my family does know how to cook to my diet, but I want to have some convenience comfort meals ready anyway. If you follow my other blog , you know that I can’t eat dairy, egg, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, or

Just girly things. So, how do you pre-surgery panic? I am well medicated against panic attacks, they have to be really, really bad to break through the med barrier and manifest as a full-on attack. I was expecting this recent major medical malady, so I haven't gone into full panic mode yet... but the nausea and vomiting has started. Especially at night. Now, the first thing I was taught at Fibromyalgia Clinic is that the first rule of Fibro Club is that we do not talk about F

Violet, Michael Myers, and my new panties TW: weight loss, weight gain, weight loss medication. The problem with learning you need surgery in five weeks on literal Black Friday is that shipping isn’t any “two days” like it usually is. This is why we order early! As long as it’s here by January 4th, we’re good. I’m getting an anterior hip replacement, so my surgeon will be going in from the front… and I need Hi-Cut panties that won’t sit the leg seam right on the incision. Bu

Penelope was rescued from living rough in a McDonald’s parking lot by a daily patron who couldn’t bear to see such a little cat suffer through a Michigan winter without a home. Said patron connected with me through Facebook, and made a late-ish night Penelope drop around this time of the year in 2023. I have been Penelope’s Special Human ever since. She likes the other humans in the house well enough, but everyone jokes that I’m her emotional support human. The thing about ha

Hey, look! I actually went to the Secretary of State and got my handicap hang tag this morning despite having the application paperwork from my doctor in hand since August! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ Bob displays my snazzy new parking hang tag. Yeah, that ADHD is something sometimes. I fully could have benefited from having the tag in the intervening months, yes. Anyway, that’s a big one off my pre-surgery checklist! ✔️ Here’s the rest of the checklist, for those of you playing along at