Cut. Cauterize. Stitch.

Monday, May 20, 2024

We call our eldest to wish him a happy 44th birthday, still in yesterday's timezone. Mt. St. Helens blew up the day before he arrived. I was ready for him to be shaken loose: he was born 15 days overdue (doctor's estimate, so who knows.) I remember the fun of a beautiful baby and the hard work of caring for an infant with a milk sensitivity. 

We ignorant young parents (and the doctor) didn't know what was wrong until he was 9 months. Poor kid pulled his feet up to his stomach and screamed on the half-hour or hour until then - night and day. My mom was a blessing: she answered my baby-care questions and took him overnight a few times when I needed a rest.

After a morning walk, our 3 satpams (security guards) curl up inside the gate to rest.

W and I start our morning meetings with a strong pot of tea. After, we stock up at the grocer. And I cook some giveaways.

Tuesday

Chacha and I meet for coffee in town. She's a sweet and ambitious entrepreneur. I encourage her to follow her heart as well as her mind.

Finally, she gets the floral arrangement made for her salon last year! We haven't seen each other in person for 9 months.

In the team meeting, Shibli presents his talk for Sunday. He gets encouragement and suggestions from the others. He's at our place; the others are online. Hybrid meetings may be a pain but they are new normal.

Angie leads her last workout session before she moves back to Europe at the end of the month. We aren't a big group tonight, but it is good exercise. Angela and Veronica picked out a pretty farewell gift: a silk batik scarf.

Angie's husband sends home some plants with us - everything from durian and grape to peach seedlings. He's a true gardener; he's multiplied what he has. We'll have to prune the peach small enough to fit into our fridge once a year. It needs cold to fruit and thrive.

Wednesday

At date breakfast after our walk, W orders toasted bread and sugar. He scrapes off most of the sweet pile. I have my usual noodles.

I haven't looked forward to this appointment at the hospital. The dermatologist cuts for biopsies of skin tags and moles. At each site, she uses several needles of anesthesia. Numb. Cut. Cauterize. Stitch. Bandage. She is utterly professional, her staff is efficient, and it hurts less than expected.

When I say thank you, the doc replies: "The staff and I like you because you are so calm." What she doesn't know is that I count breaths for each surgery to distract me: 13 breaths for the first, 24 for the second, and 33 for the third. Mind you, I'm taking 1-2 slow breaths per minute. I sit up afterward, feeling relaxed and sleepy.

"What took so long?" W asks when I get back to the waiting room. (He went first.) We are handed antibiotics and sign releases before paying and exiting. It's efficient and stress-less, unlike the hustle and bustle of American doctor's offices or hospitals, where every part of a procedure is handed off to the next person and you have to keep coming back to finish what the first few people start.

One day, 2 hours, one ordeal. Not bad. They'll email us the results and we'll return to get checked and remove the stitches. We admire this arrangement in the foyer.

Thursday

We walk the dogs because they can't go with us on the River Walk later in the morning. This beauty is on the road but we don't touch it: some caterpillars have hairy tips that sting like poison ivy.

By the hedge, the half-rotten jackfruit is sitting where the yardman left them yesterday. He forgot to throw them out. We move them away from our new plant pots so the worms don't spread.

I rescue the hydrangeas from Sunday's bouquet for the entry.

The 10"(25cm) tropical leaves sit in a carved vase on the glass coffee table.

And then we're out the door for a hike downstream and through the River Walk.

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*Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

Prayer: Thank you God for the living hope of Good News in Jesus. We know we are purchased for you - we are your own possession. That you for your kindness and affection for us, as well as the promise of being with you forever. You are powerful. And you are good to us. We worship you in the name of Jesus. Amen.