{"id":5389,"date":"2025-07-24T10:21:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T08:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/?p=5389"},"modified":"2025-07-24T10:21:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T08:21:42","slug":"the-current-thing-stitches-are-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/24\/the-current-thing-stitches-are-out\/","title":{"rendered":"The Current Thing\u2122: Stitches are out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&#8230;and there&#8217;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/19\/the-current-thing-post-surgery-short-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"giant hole\">giant hole<\/a> under my arm where there was a drain instead of stitches. <br><br>I was doing OK until I saw that giant hole.  The stinging pain along the incisions isn&#8217;t helping; it&#8217;s hard to find a comfortable sleep position and then if I move the pain wakes me back up. I got sort of used to that when <a href=\"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/16\/die-kaputte-linke-hand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"my hand was all messed up\">my hand was all messed up<\/a>, but this pain is sharper and more intense.  <br><br>The absolute worst part is the smell. I&#8217;m cleaning my underarm area with water twice daily, and I still reek of BO. I&#8217;ll try to daub some <em>Deo<\/em> in there today&#8211;got some German hippie crystal thing that can&#8217;t drip into the giant hole&#8211;but I was told &#8220;only water&#8221; so just a tiny try.  <br><br>FUZZ is doing his best to help by demanding to be picked up at random times of the day, then holding me immobile until I doze off.  He&#8217;s still not a fan of &#8220;left side only&#8221; but it&#8217;s just the latest entry on his list of insults and injustices he&#8217;s suffered throughout our many years together. Lol.<br><br>And I have no idea when I&#8217;ll be able to put on a bra over the incisions and go for <a href=\"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/19\/images-of-the-freisinger-riviera-a-continuing-series\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"a walk again\">a walk<\/a>.  This is actually worse than the ten-day <a href=\"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/26\/the-cursed-project-strikes-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"house arrest\">house arrest<\/a> in 2022, because 1) that was bullshit, and mocking it was entertaining, and 2) there was an end in sight.  <br><br>OTOH,  it&#8217;s cold and rainy, so I can cook and eat real food. Underrated blessing right there.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"463\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CurrentThing_Petunia2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CurrentThing_Petunia2.jpg 463w, https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CurrentThing_Petunia2-185x300.jpg 185w, https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CurrentThing_Petunia2-93x150.jpg 93w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 463px) 100vw, 463px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>This has also been a good year for petunias.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Yeah, we already knew you&#8217;re a whiny head case, tell us about the thing? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Pathology report wasn&#8217;t finished on Tuesday, so nothing to report there. All the chopped-up bits &#8220;look normal&#8221;, for some definition of normal anyway. No news is good news. A twelve-week course of once-a-week chemo is expected at some point, but if I can get a bra on I can walk to the appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Next update?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Next appointment is Tuesday (literal See You Next Tuesday, lol), so next week after that sometime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can I help?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Send more pet pictures! Also kick my ass if you see me doomscrolling instead reading or writing or stitching or blogging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">We were promised ice cream.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Highlight of my week so far!  I had an unrelated errand out by the Mecces (German nickname for McDonalds) after the appointment, and as I was unsupervised I treated myself to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcdonalds.com\/de\/de-de\/product\/grimace-shake-202587.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Grimace Shake\">Grimace Shake<\/a>, which was advertised as &#8220;purple&#8221; with an &#8220;indescribable&#8221; flavor.  Must have purple. Must have Grimace.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"425\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/HFCake117_GrimaceShake2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5392\" srcset=\"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/HFCake117_GrimaceShake2.jpg 425w, https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/HFCake117_GrimaceShake2-170x300.jpg 170w, https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/HFCake117_GrimaceShake2-85x150.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Of course I have the app. I&#8217;m 49 points away from a free cheeseburger.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The whipped topping melted by the time I got it home and parked the car, but it tasted amazing.  Mostly blackberry.  Finally a promotion that actually lives up to the hype.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Graphic content warning, but there&#8217;s ice cream at the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-5389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-c-thing","tag-flowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5389"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5398,"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5389\/revisions\/5398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}