(morning writing, work, us, cats, health, cabbage)

[elainegrey]

Christine's surgery plus work prep for the in-person meeting at the end of the month has sent me into a withdrawal from everything else. The surgery turned out well and her recovery state is far better than the general recovery for the type surgery she had.

The lack of proactive communication before and after the surgery is the most frustrating because it seems so resolvable. I understand uncertainty, i don't understand crap communication. Anyhow, my poking at possibilities on the internet and finding general surgery recovery instructions helped us (over) prepare for after care. I recognize that is my own soothing action:over prepare. Like i took EVERYTHING to the hospital and ended up just reading on my phone (but i did eat my healthy sandwich). Management for her recovery catheter - antiseptics, antibiotics, gentle soaps and various other cleaning things listed in keeping up catheters -- did get used for a few days. In general, she seems to be recovering more quickly than i did from my nose surgery.

--== ∞ ==--

I am heading to Ohio at the end of the month and spent week one working full out on getting clarity on complexities that were being ignored by product in writing stories that the engineering staff knew too little to question, then coming up with alternatives, and documenting the complexities.

This week was trying to come up with ways to communicate the complexities of the new product product wants to build and how that overlaps with the engineering executive director goal. I think i have come up with a simple place to start which can create a common cognitive grounding from the executive directors to engineers, and on which i can add the complexities in an iterative fashion. Next week is a short work week, so ... eek. Four workdays to the next meeting.

--== ∞ ==--

In Bruno news, i convinced Christine we should buy a "cat gate" -- two clear plastic doors that we can tension mount against ceiling and floor to partition Marlowe and Carrie from Bruno, while allowing more visibility, scent, and air exchange. My biggest worry was that if Christine was overwhelmed while i was away, i could at least ease her worry about Bruno being isolated. Christine bought in when it was clear it was a way we could have Marlowe and Bruno more exposed to each other in a controlled way.

It arrived yesterday morning, and we set it up during lunch. Bruno has pretty much stuck to his safe places since. He's clearly learned over the past months the open physical door means Marlowe or Carrie can show up. Unlearning that will take a while, although maybe not weeks. Marlowe has tried hard to break in, comically. I'm pretty confident it's secure against her. It's probably not secure against a medium sized animal intent on breaking through: i think if Carrie threw her body weight against it  repeatedly she could dislodge the tension supports. Fortunately Carrie is a Good Girl and accepted there is a barrier.

--== ∞ ==--

Meanwhile, i have kept gaining weight. Essentially, my "wish" when i moved to NC in 2016 would have been to loose 35 pounds, but meh. No medical nagging, lots of other things to worry about.  By late 2023 i'd gained ten more pounds. Since then i have gained twenty pounds, most of it through last year. The Fatigue hasn't helped as i know i would eat expecting that to provide energy.

I need to fit into my work slacks at the end of the month! And, i suspect my joints will appreciate loss.   My stress eating -- such as yesterday when i was reading specs appropriate for the new product and reflecting on how expensive doing it right will be, and figuring how we could do it economically, and documenting the gap between the cheap and minimal viable solution and the spec solution -- needs crunches, so i was able to mostly eat celery and carrots plus my high fiber  soup until the end of the work day, when i broke down and had sandwiches and nuts. I think of how my brother lost weight, and it seemed to be exercise and cabbage. I don't know that i will master the running he took on, but cabbage i can do.

Comments

[weofodthignen]

Oh good, I'm so glad Christine's surgery and recovery have gone well.

Good for you facilitating communication between Product and Engineering. Well done, even if they wind up not optimally understanding each other.

Best of luck with the weight.